Gossage Preserves 3-2 Victory

ST. LOUIS —  After Bip Roberts scored the go-ahead run with a belly-flop Tuesday night, Goose Gossage bellied up to St. Louis’ Jack Clark with two out in the bottom of the ninth and struck him out with a wicked slider.

As players from the San Diego bench ran toward Gossage to celebrate the 3-2 Padre victory, Clark--who had looked at the third strike--hurled his bat in their direction, nearly decapitating half of them.

“It was no strike,” Clark screamed later. “Trust me. I can’t hit that pitch, no matter how well I’m going.”

And, he’s been going well lately. Earlier Tuesday, his sixth-inning blast into the left-field seats off Mark Thurmond tied the score, 2-2. Before that, Tony Gwynn--batting .356--had homered to give San Diego a 2-1 lead, but the Padres kept hitting (13 hits total) and then stranding (eight runners left on base).

In the ninth inning, leadoff man Marvell Wynne, a late-inning substitute, singled to center but was forced out at second on Graig Nettles’ grounder. Roberts entered to run for Nettles.

Manager Steve Boros was about to signal for a hit-and-run play.

But Garry Templeton struck out before he could call it.

Up came pinch-hitter Jerry Royster, who said later he’d never been more prepared to pinch-hit.

Here’s why:

Minutes before he was called upon, he’d been up in the clubhouse with Dane Iorg, a veteran pinch-hitter himself. Iorg was talking to himself, swinging the bat.

Iorg peered at Royster and spoke: “(Ken) Dayley’s coming in for St. Louis. He’s a lefty. It’s gonna be you. Here’s what he throws . . . “

Royster: “Thanks, man.”

And, man, Royster ripped one. He hit Dayley’s fastball to right-center, the ball rolling to the wall. Roberts, huffing and puffing like a track man, was waved home and little did he know, there would be no play at the plate.

He slid head-first anyway.

A belly-flop.

Some of his cohorts, thinking this was funny, described the slide afterward.

Hitting coach Deacon Jones: “He looked like a big whale.”

Gwynn: “Someone said he looked like a seal at Sea World coming up out of the water with his head up.”

Now, Dayley’s move to the plate had been confusing to Roberts. Dayley had no intention of throwing over to keep him close at first base, yet with every pitch, Roberts would be leaning back to the bag. How could he ever steal off this guy?

It didn’t matter, though, when Royster doubled.

Of the slide, Roberts said: “Awesome. . . . I scored the winning run. . . . Great. . . . We win.”

Tim Flannery, who was on deck, should have signaled for Roberts not to slide.

Flannery didn’t.

“I wanted to see him slide,” Flannery said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry anyway.”

Roberts: “I’d have slid anyway.”

Meanwhile, the Padres did a miraculous job of keeping St. Louis’ best sliders off the bases. Speedster Vince Coleman scored a first-inning run, but he was thrown out at third base in a crucial stage of the game. With the score 2-2 in the seventh, Coleman singled, went to second on Craig Lefferts’ balk and took third on a ground out to the shortstop.

He blurred by Templeton.

With one out and the Padre infield playing in, Tommy Herr grounded one to the left of second baseman Flannery, who fielded it and threw home. Coleman was about a third of the way to home, and third baseman Nettles nodded for catcher Terry Kennedy to throw it.

Kennedy did.

And Coleman was out.

“I thought he (Coleman) would be going on contact,” Flannery said. “So I threw to the plate. Sheesh. When a guy who goes to third like that when we were holding him on? I figured he wouldn’t play it safe.”

Earlier, Kennedy had thrown out Willie McGee--another blur--trying to steal second. Kennedy thinks that’s the first time he has ever done that.

But give some credit to Thurmond, who used to give stolen bases away like Hare Krishna pamphlets. He used to be so slow going to the plate. Now, however, he uses a lower leg kick and is much quicker.

“Just being a second quicker helps,” Thurmond said. “Shoot, a second is three steps for Coleman.”

In retrospect, Gossage’s slider was more important than Roberts’ slide. Gossage had blown a game in San Diego last week when Bill Almon hit his fastball for a three-run homer. Tuesday, he threw few fastballs. He started the ninth by getting Coleman and McGee out on grounders. Then, he walked Herr.

Clark was next, and pitching coach Galen Cisco came to visit.

“Galen said let’s start him out with a slider,” Gossage said.

The count got to 1 and 2.

“Terry (Kennedy) must’ve thought I had a good (slider) tonight because we stayed with it,” Gossage said.

The next pitch was another one, and it looked to be a little outside. But it was so hard for a slider.

And umpire Bob Davidson said it was strike three.

“He’s supposed to be a fastball pitcher,” Clark said later.

Padre Notes

Tony Gwynn’s home run was his fourth of the season, and he didn’t hit his fourth last year until June 16. Since April 23, he raised his batting average 94 points to .356. “I’m hot, huh? Well, I don’t have the slightest idea (at the plate). I’m just standing up there and seeing it and hitting it. I’m not thinking no more. I’m not changing my stance no more. I used to worry too much. That’s the honest truth. Ask Deacon (Jones, hitting coach). I told him I’m just gonna see it, hit it and run as fast as I can, except on home runs.” He trots on those. “That’s ‘cause my (right) shin hurts so bad.” . . . Kevin McReynolds was moved to fifth in the batting order for the first time this season. It’s only temporary, but Padre instructors want him to close his stance more because he has been opening up too much on his swing.