Giants Will Have to Wait; Padres Win, 5-3

SAN FRANCISCO —  The fans filtered into Candlestick Park Friday night preparing for the funeral. This was the night, they figured, that the San Francisco Giants would bury the Padres once and for all.

There even was a vase of flowers, seemingly proper for any morning, from an anonymous donor awaiting the Padres in the clubhouse upon their arrival Friday afternoon.

Just how confident were the Giants before the game?

“For us not to win it now,” Giant outfielder Pat Sheridan said, “we’d have to be hit by a plague. Look at us. We’ve got two of the best pitchers in the league in Scotty Garrelts and Big Daddy (Rick Reuschel). No one has got two better hitters than us with Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell.

“Really, there’s no doubt in our mind we’re going to win this thing. Our biggest concern is if we’ll win it by the end of this home stand (concluding Sept. 24). We want to have it all wrapped up before we go on the road for those last six games.”

Well, it’s not over yet.

But please, hold onto the flowers.

The Padres, overcoming the collapse of third baseman Bip Roberts and a ball that bounced off the noggin of Chris James, defeated the Giants, 5-3, in front of 33,920 well-wishers at Candlestick, keeping their faint playoff hopes alive.

The victory, the Padres’ 18th in their past 22 games, moved them back to within five games of the Giants with a precious 14 remaining. The Padres say they still need to sweep this three-game series, but Act 1 is complete, leaving today’s confrontation as the latest biggest game of the season.

It hardly was easy, and the hard, cold facts of the outcome were that it might prove to be quite costly.

Roberts, whom Padre Manager Jack McKeon was acclaiming before the game as the man most responsible for the Padres’ surge into the pennant race, collapsed screaming in anguish in the dugout in the middle of the fifth inning.

He complained before the game of a mysterious pain in his left side that first arose Wednesday while putting on a sweatshirt. It was diagnosed as muscle spasms, but Roberts was not so sure.

“I can’t even raise my arm above my head,” Roberts said. “It just doesn’t seem to be getting any better, and really, there’s not much I can do at the plate.

“But I’ll keep on playing. I’ll play until they have to carry me out of here.”

Well, in the fifth, they had to do just that when Roberts collapsed on the bench and was carried from the dugout on a stretcher into the clubhouse.

The diagnosis was a rib-cage muscle spasm. Roberts was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was scheduled to spend the night for observation and evaluation. Padre officials said that they do not believe the injury is serious, and that Roberts was feeling comfortable and breathing normally.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. But after the Padres quietly watched Roberts being carried off the field, it appeared to inspire them.

Padre pitcher Dennis Rasmussen shut down the Giants one-two-three in the bottom of the fifth, and the Padres broke open the game in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs for a 5-2 lead that they never relinquished.

Chris James, who entered hitting .167 (six for 36) in his past 11 games, opened the sixth with a single up the middle.

Garry Templeton followed with a double into the right-field corner, scoring James.

And Benito Santiago completed the one-two-three punch by lining a zero-and-two pitch into the left-field seats for a two-run homer.

It was Santiago’s seventh homer in his past 22 games, including his eighth-inning homer Wednesday in the Padres’ 3-2 victory over Atlanta, and it hushed the crowd for the rest of the evening.

The Padres know they still have a long way to go and still cannot be taken off the critical list, but at least for another day, the pulse is steady.

“We just have to take them one game at a time,” McKeon said. “We had to win the first one, and we did. Now, we’ll concentrate on the second one. We’re not going to look ahead any further than that.”

Besides the Padres’ much-needed victory, there was a bonus: Gwynn went three for five in the game and passed Will Clark (zero for three) for the National League batting lead. Gwynn, bidding for his third consecutive batting title, is batting .341, Clark .339.

“I really don’t give a damn about the batting title,” Gwynn said. “Not now. I just want to win. And I want to win bad.

“Believe me, that’s the only thing on my mind.

“I’d sacrifice all of my batting titles, and all my future batting titles, for a championship.”

Will Clark, who took over the batting lead Sept. 6, likewise said the batting race is the least of his concerns. Not now. Not when the Giants are so close to winning the title now.

“We’re still in good shape,” Clark said. “Actually, we’re in great shape. There’s no pressure on us. We control our own destiny.

“They’ve got the pressure.”

If the Padres indeed were under a lot of stress, they failed to show it, overcoming a 1-0 deficit in the second, and taking a 2-1 lead in the third.

It was Roberts who led off the rally with a walk. Roberto Alomar followed by hitting a ball to the warning track in center. Although center fielder Brett Butler was under the ball, he looked at left fielder Kevin Mitchell at the last second, and the ball dropped between them. Alomar wound up at second, and Roberts at third.

Gwynn grounded out to first, scoring Roberts, while Alomar moved to third. With the Giant infield playing in, Jack Clark failed to get the ball past him, grounding out to shortstop Jose Uribe, who held Alomar at third.

No matter. James ripped a three-and-two pitch into right-center for a triple, scoring Alomar.

The Giants came right back in the bottom of the third and tied the game on right fielder Gwynn’s fielding blunder. Robbie Thompson led off the inning with a single into right field. Gwynn ran over to pick it up. Oops. The ball trickled through his legs. Thompson kept running until he reached third.

Somehow, the official scorer ruled it a triple, perhaps revealing just why Thompson leads the league with 11 this season. Will Clark wasted little time driving him in with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, tying the game at two.

After the Padres scored three runs in the sixth, the Giants threatened to come right back when Mitchell and Matt Williams opened the sixth with back-to-back doubles. Greg Harris came in for relief, and calmly finished out the game, recording his fifth save of the season.

Padre Notes

Security officials at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium estimated about 6,000 people were in attendance by 8 p.m. Friday as the Padres-Giants game was shown on the Diamond Vision scoreboard. . . . Padre pitcher Ed Whitson, who left the game Thursday night after 2 1/3 innings with a mild strain of the bicep tendon in his right shoulder, was given a injection Friday to reduce the swelling. “I should be all right in about two or three days,” Whitson said. “The doctors told me I just have a tired arm. I haven’t had an extra day off in months, and I think it just wore on me.” . . . Whitson’s injury has put his growing cap collection on hold. There are 16 caps, consisting primarily of college teams, sitting atop Whitson’s locker. They represent each of his 16 victories this season. The next one, Whitson said, will be a cap from the University of Alabama, with Florida, Mississippi and LSU caps waiting in reserve. “I must have four boxes of caps at home.”

Also hurting is third baseman Bip Roberts, who has a mysterious pain in his left side. It’s been diagnosed as muscle spasms, but whatever it is, Roberts said, it’s keeping him from raising his left arm above his head. “There’s not much I can do at the plate,” Roberts said, “but I’ll keep going out there.” . . . Padre Manager Jack McKeon, still marveling over rookie pitcher Andy Benes, who is 4-0 with a 2.88 ERA in his past five starts, said: “He reminds me so much of Dennis Leonard (the former Kansas City Royal 20-game winner), only this kid’s got better stuff at the same stage in their careers. He might even be tougher. The thing I like about him is that he throws inside. He won’t back down to anybody. . . . I’ll tell you what, the way the kid’s pitching now, I wouldn’t hesitate to start him in the first game of the playoffs if we got there.”

Padre third baseman Mike Pagliarulo, visiting Candlestick Park for the first time in his career after spending the past 4 1/2 years in the American League: “The thing I hate about going to these new places is that I always have to ask where the bathroom is.” . . . Pagliarulo was kept out of the starting lineup for the sixth straight game, replaced by Roberts at third, with Darrin Jackson playing center. . . . In backup catcher Mark Parent’s past five at-bats since Aug. 27, he has four hits with one homer, one double and six RBIs. . . . The Giant bullpen has 44 saves--three shy of their record set in 1983. . . . The Giants have 16 shutouts, their most since 1978, when they had 17. . . . The Padres will play the second game of their three-game series against the Giants at 1:05 p.m. today at Candlestick Park. Calvin Schiraldi (5-6) and Scott Garrelts are the scheduled starters.