Familiar Face Helps Mets Beat the Padres

NEW YORK —  Memories pop up in the strangest places and times. Tuesday night, in the Padres’ 1-0 loss to the New York Mets, the place was Shea Stadium. The times were the sixth and seventh innings.

The memory was Kevin McReynolds.

“Oh yeah, him ,” John Kruk of the Padres said later, shaking his head. “Good thing we traded him.”

And Kruk hasn’t seen anything yet.

--Sixth inning, left field. The Padres’ Carmelo Martinez hits a two-out single with Randy Ready on second. Ready should score and the Padres should lead, 1-0.

But a former Padre outfielder named McReynolds, who has played left field for the Mets for two seasons, picks up the ball in medium left field. He tries to throw to the cutoff man for the relay home but can’t get it out of his glove. So he double pumps and throws it all the way home.

It gets there. On the fly. Catcher Barry Lyons makes the tag and Ready does the jig, jumping out of the dust and hopping around in frustration.

--Seventh inning, left field, still a scoreless tie. Kruk hits a fly deep into the corner. It’s an easy play for McReynolds, but that’s not the point.

On first base is Benito Santiago. As soon as McReynolds makes the catch, he dashes to second. McReynolds winds and throws. Santiago slides in ahead of the throw, but overslides the base by a couple of inches. The throw is perfect. Santiago is out.

--Seventh inning, home plate. Padre starter Dennis Rasmussen is throwing a four-hit shutout.

Up steps McReynolds, 0 for 7 lifetime against Rasmussen. Not anymore. He lashes a double into the left-field corner. Gary Carter, making a rare start at first base, follows with a single, McReynolds scores the game’s only run.

“Yeah, McReynolds,” Kruk said. “Think he could play a little for us now? Maybe a late-inning defensive replacement or something?”

“What’s the big deal?” Manager Jack McKeon asked. “Guy hits a double and throws a guy out. So what.”

Oh, those memories. McReynolds, whose 14 assists lead all National League outfielders, and whose 20 homers and 77 RBIs are among Met leaders, was given up by the Padres in the winter of 1986.

When we say given up, we mean just that. Given up.

In return, the Padres received third baseman Kevin Mitchell, outfielders Stan Jefferson and Shawn Abner, and a couple of minor league pitchers named Kevin Armstrong and Kevin Brown.

Not only have none of those five players worked out, they now play for five different teams on four different levels.

Mitchell, the key to the deal, couldn’t get along with Larry Bowa and is now with San Francisco. Jefferson is on the Padre bench. Abner plays for triple-A Las Vegas. Brown plays for double-A Wichita. Armstrong plays for cLass-A Riverside.

Of the latter four still in the Padre organization, only Abner is still considered a top prospect.

Which should tell this: Of all the trades made by McKeon in his nine seasons with San Diego, this one might taste the worst. Tuesday night’s game reinforced that, and afterward most of the explaining was centered on that.

After all, what else were the Padres going to talk about? The fact that, after losing 6-0 Monday, they had been shut out on back-to-back nights for the first time this season?

Not really. The Mets’ team ERA of 2.95 leads all of baseball. Their staff has thrown a league-high 19 shutouts, throwing them back-to-back three other times.

Or would they talk about the fact that the shutout was thrown by the Mets’ starter with the most losses (12), Bob Ojeda? No, because he already held them to two hits in 8 innings in San Diego earlier this year.

“Don’t look at us, look at them,” Tony Gwynn, who had one of the six hits, said. “It’s not that we did that bad--they pitched that good.”

Which brings this back to McReynolds, whose throw in the sixth was perhaps the best against the Padres all season.

“I wasn’t mad at the umpire, it was a good call,” said Ready of his post-slide dance. “I just couldn’t believe I was out.”

“I know Ready,” McReynolds said. “I know his speed and I figured I had a chance. Doing something like that felt better than making the hit.”

And felt lousy for the Padres, who realized this guy could still be on their team. Kruk, looking back as McReynolds’ roommate during his final year in San Diego, can’t understand why he’s not.

“I was in Mexico when he got traded, and I couldn’t believe it,” Kruk said. “He’s a great ballplayer, and that’s all there is to it. If he can play every day for a first-place team, he can sure as heck play every day for a last-place team.

“I guess they traded him because they were making a commitment to youth. Makes sense. He was what, all of 26 or 27 years old? Whatever, he is showing them that they were wrong.”

While not defending the trade of McReynolds, who was 26 at the time, McKeon took time to explain it.

“We had to make a deal to get a third baseman, and the only way we could get one was with McReynolds,” McKeon said. “And we got the third baseman we wanted, we got a good young third baseman.”

So what happened?

“All of a sudden, Larry Bowa didn’t like the guy,” McKeon said of the former Padre manager. “He told me he had to get another guy in there. So we had to go out and get Chris Brown.”

Why give in to Bowa? While McKeon wouldn’t spell it out, part of the reason was that Padre President Chub Feeney was backing Bowa at the time.

“I had to figure that the manager was going to be here a while, and the pressure was on to get him what he wanted,” McKeon said. “Sometimes you are stuck. A manager won’t play a guy, you’ve got to trade him.”

And as far as that deal is concerned, it is the Padres who now appear stuck. For Mitchell they picked up Brown, who is no longer a factor on the team. But Mitchell also helped bring Mark Davis from the Giants, and he’s the Padres stopper.

“OK, you make a lot of deals, 60% work out, 40% don’t, it happens,” McKeon said. “So it’s history. You get on with it.”

Or, at least, you try.

Padre Notes

The deadline for acquiring players who can be eligible for postseason play is today at midnight. A player must be with that team by then, which means any pennant contender who wants to pick up any Padre will force a deal by this afternoon. “I’d say the chances are 40% we’ll do something,” President Chub Feeney said Tuesday. “We’ve been talking to several clubs, we’ve had a few discussions with Detroit, but it’s been nothing real serious yet.” The Tigers are said to be interested in first baseman Keith Moreland and reliever Greg Booker. The problem with Moreland would be his salary. It’s $1.25 million guaranteed through next season, tough to swallow for an organization that let catcher Lance Parrish get away because it wouldn’t play him $1 million. The reason they want Booker, who has only pitched 47 innings for the Padres this season, is because they have no right-handed setup man for their beleaguered bullpen. Booker would also come cheap. He makes just more than $100,000. . . . It is a tribute to Moreland’s fine career that a pennant contender would be interested in him. It certainly has nothing to do with this trip, during which he’s gone 0 for 13, making him hitless in his last 16 at-bats and dropping his average to .264. And the count from his last homer has reached 267 at-bats. He also made an error Tuesday dropping a throw at first base from third baseman Randy Ready. “I’m terrible, that’s the truth, I don’t know what else to say,” Moreland said Tuesday. “I’ll get it (hitting ability) back one day, one year. It just doesn’t up and disappear.” . . . How bad is third baseman Chris Brown’s right heel hurt? Well, he has been spending time lately with his right ankle heavily wrapped in ice, yet Manager Jack McKeon said he’s fine. “Sure, he’s OK, I just haven’t used him because I haven’t used him,’ McKeon said. What does Brown say? “I can’t talk to you,” he told a reporter Tuesday. “The other day I told Ed Whitson that if I ever talked to another reporter this year, I wanted him to punch me in the face. So if I talk, I get hurt.” From the other side of the clubhouse, Whitson agreed. “I’m doing what the man asked,” Whitson said. “He talks, I break his jaw.” Brown hurt his heel stepping off the field in Montreal Saturday and has not played since.