SAN FRANCISCO — If Jason Schmidt can’t derail the Padres’onrushing express train, who the heck can? Padres manager BruceBochy called the hard-throwing Giants right-hander “the bestpitcher in the game right now,” which is probably not a minorityopinion around the league. A season after finishing as therunner-up for the National League Cy Young Award, Schmidt hasbecome darn near untouchable, carrying into Thursday afternoon’sgame a gaudy streak of 12 consecutive victories, including a pairof one-hitters, and a stingy opponents’ batting average of.173.
And the Padres treated him like just another journeyman pitcherdealing in the thin air of Colorado.
Yes, it’s safe to say the Padres are in quite a groove, the kindthat leaves a top-shelf starter pounding the mound in frustration– the kind in which the floodgates to a 9-4 rout before thelargest crowd in SBC Park history (42,686) are opened by a two-outinfield single.
“We’ve put together a good stretch, and hopefully we cancontinue,” Padres starter David Wells said after the team won forthe sixth time in seven games since the All-Star break to assumesole possession of second place in the NL West, 2 1/2 games behindLos Angeles.
“I think that these guys came in here knowing what they’re upagainst, who they’re facing, because they have a solid team overthere.”
Apparently not as solid as the one in the visitor’s dugout. Oncea house of horrors, SBC Park is suddenly a carnival funhouse forthe Padres. Since dropping their first game of the season here onApril 19, they have won the past five as though the opponent werethe University of San Francisco, outscoring the proud Giants by acombined total of 45-14.
“They’ve scored a lot of runs off of us,” Giants manager FelipeAlou said in the obvious statement of the day.
Said Bochy: “We like to think we can play with anybody. If we’regoing to be in this and win this (division), we’re going to have toplay well against the Giants and Dodgers, and we’ve been doingthat.”
The Padres roughed up Schmidt in his second start of the seasonback in April, scoring seven runs off him in a season-low fourinnings. That began to look more and more like an aberration,however, as he posted a sparkling 1.97 ERA over his next 16starts.
Thursday’s outlook didn’t look promising for the Padres. Schmidtstruck out the side in the first inning after allowing hits to thefirst two batters, and Wells served up a booming double to BarryBonds and a two-run homer to Pedro Feliz to start the second.
But the Padres have thrived lately because of excellent two-outhitting, and Thursday was no different. With the bases loaded inthe third, Terrence Long beat out a slow roller to shortstop DeiviCruz to score the Padres’ first run and extend the inning.
“(That) was a key in the game,” Bochy said. “It kept the rallygoing.”
Next to come through in the clutch was shortstop Rich Aurilia,starting for injured Khalil Greene, who’s day-to-day with a shinbruise. A day after collecting three hits in his Padres debut, thelongtime Giant burned his old team again, rapping a 1-2 fastball upthe middle to give the Padres a 3-2 lead.
Jay Payton completed the carnage by pulling a shoulder-highpitch to left field for a three-run homer, his fourth of theseason.
Schmidt (12-3) allowed two more runs in his 5 2/3 innings ofwork, the last one by none other than Wells after he joined theoffensive party with a sixth-inning single. It marked the firsttime Schmidt yielded eight runs in a game since 2001, when hepitched for Pittsburgh.
“I think he didn’t have command of his fastball the way henormally does,” Aurilia said. “We just got some big hits. Even theball Jay hit out of the park was a ball. That’s a tough pitch toget on top of when it’s 97, 98 (mph).
“You can’t fault Jason for anything. Today was just not a goodday for him.”
Wells failed to pitch beyond the sixth inning for the secondconsecutive start, but he stuck around long enough to win hisfourth decision in a row and improve to 6-5. He worked around 10hits and two rare walks by escaping a couple of dicey jams,including a bases-loaded situation in the fifth by inducing a popupto the catcher from A.J. Pierzynski.
“I don’t like day games. I can’t stand them,” Wells said. “But Iknew what was in store for me, so mentally I was prepared and I gota good night’s rest and I came in here focused. … This guy(Schmidt) is not going to get beat very often.”
The Giants mounted one last challenge in the sixth, trimming thedeficit to 8-4 and loading the bases again off Blaine Neal. Butdesignated fire extinguisher Scott Linebrink came in and retiredFeliz on a fly ball to center.
Contact staff writer Brian Hiro atb_hiro@hotmail.com.
