Padres Win Fifth in Row, Feel Feverish

ATLANTA —  Padre Manager Jack McKeon sat in his office Tuesday with a pen and pad in his hand and an eye on the National League schedule on the wall above him.

Sure, sure, he knows the Padres can’t afford to look ahead. He tells his players every night just to take care of business at hand and let the rest fall where it may.

But there he was, figuring how his pitching rotation would fall the rest of the year. He calculated the opposing pitchers for the next week. He even computed how he’d alter the rotation if there were a rainout later in the season.

Yeah, as much as he has tried to resist the temptation, the old skipper himself is getting caught in pennant fever.

“Hey, why fight it?” McKeon said, lighting another victory cigar Tuesday night after the Padres’ 7-5, 10-inning victory over the Atlanta Braves.

The Padres--who have not been this hot since 1985, when they last were in a pennant race--won for the fifth consecutive time and the 11th time in the past 12 games. The only thing different about this game was that hardly anyone was around to see it. Just 1,528 fans were on hand at Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium, the lowest crowd since 1979.

The Padres moved to within six games on the first-place San Francisco Giants, and if not for the Houston Astros’ late comeback Tuesday over the Dodgers, they would have moved into sole possession of second for the first time since May 5.

Knowing that the Giants already had lost, the Padres rushed into the clubhouse after beating the Braves, turned on the Dodger-Astro game on TV and cursed every hit of the Astros’ comeback. When the Astro victory was official, and it sunk in that the Padres would remain tied for second, the clubhouse became quiet.

Only momentarily.

Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn suddenly shouted out: “Hey, what do we care? We’ll take care of them tomorrow. The team we want is the Giants, right?”

And just like that, euphoria continued once again in the clubhouse, with the Padres believing perhaps for the first time since April that they really can win this division.

“Early in the year, we had a lot of problems, a lot of finger-pointing,” Gwynn said. “It took a long time, but we finally got that part resolved.

“We just have to hope now it’s not too late.”

Tim Flannery, who has announced his retirement effective at the end of the season, was the Padres’ latest hero in this streak of comebacks.

After failing to drive in a run since July 16 and going hitless in three pinch at-bats since Aug. 23, Flannery was called upon to bat with one out in the 10th with Roberto Alomar on second and Jack Clark on first.

The count had reached two and one when Flannery saw the sign from third-base coach Sandy Alomar. It was a hit-and-run. Miss this pitch, and surely there would be two outs and just one strike away from an end to the inning.

Joe Boever threw a slider. The runners took off. Flannery hit a bouncer through the right side. Alomar scored, Clark slid into third, and Flannery stood on first, pausing to soak in another memory.

“No, I’m not coming out of retirement,” Flannery said, “but I’d sure like them to extend it for two more weeks. I’m getting greedy now. I want to play in one more World Series.”

The stage for the Padres’ latest comeback actually was set in mid-afternoon. McKeon and his coaching staff were sitting in his office when pitcher Mark Grant stepped in. He asked if everyone could please leave, that he needed time alone with McKeon.

McKeon got up, moved behind a wire screen separating the coaches’ lockers, and said, “Hey, buddy, confess your sins.”

McKeon knew what was on Grant’s mind. He had given up five hits and four runs in 1 2/3 innings Monday, nearly costing the Padres the game. It didn’t take a Casey Stengel to figure out what he was going to say.

“I didn’t want him to lose confidence in me,” Grant said. “I told him I just wasn’t myself last night. I’m going to have those kind of days. Please, please give me another chance.

“I think deep in my heart, I knew he still had confidence in me, but I wanted reassurance. I needed a confidence-builder.

“He was just great. He told me exactly what I wanted to hear.”

The Padres, who blew a 4-0 lead when the Braves scored five runs in the sixth inning, triggered by third baseman Mike Pagliarulo’s throwing error, tied it in the seventh on Roberto Alomar’s two-out double. It broke a streak of 18 consecutive runs the Padres had scored on homers.

With the game still tied in the eighth, and McKeon needing another reliever, he called to the bullpen again. He wanted Grant.

“It’s funny,” said Grant (7-2). “When I went into the game, I just told myself, there’s no way they’re going to score off me. No way.”

They didn’t even get a hit off the guy. Grant turned the ball over to Mark Davis in the 10th, and for the 36th time, Davis came away with the save.

“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” said Alomar, who went three for five with a home run and three RBIs. “It’s like we can’t lose. Everything’s going right for us.

“The way we feel now, I’m telling you, we ain’t afraid of nobody.”

Padre Notes

The Padres made it official Tuesday, acquiring left-handed-hitting first baseman Phil Stephenson from the Chicago Cubs as the player to be named in last week’s trade that sent Marvell Wynne and Luis Salazar to Chicago for Calvin Schiraldi and Darrin Jackson. Stephenson, who’s expected to join the team in Houston today, hit .300 for the Cubs’ triple-A club in Iowa this season, with 13 homers, 62 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. He’ll be used primarily as a left-handed pinch-hitter and could be used as a pinch-runner for Jack Clark in the late innings. Stephenson stole 206 bases in 222 attempts during his college career at Wichita State, including an NCAA-record 87 stolen bases in 1982. . . . Padre pitcher Bruce Hurst said that his groin area still is stiff after his last start Saturday against the Phillies, but that it is not enough to deter him from his next start Thursday against the Houston Astros. . . . The Padres’ last 13 homers have all been with men on base--two grand slams, seven with two men on and three with one man on. . . . Pitching coach Pat Dobson has altered the delivery of starter Calvin Schiraldi, who will make his Padre debut tonight against the Houston Astros. Trying to improve his control, Schiraldi now will use a three-quarter delivery instead of being straight overhead. “He’s got just a great arm,” Dobson said, “and every pitch he’s got is above-average or at least average. And for this guy to be a below .500-pitcher? It just doesn’t make sense.” . . . Brave Manager Russ Nixon on his team’s bullpen woes: “You know it’s bad when I’m using people I don’t even know.” . . . Brave center fielder Oddibe McDowell extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games.