The Padres, smarting from consecutive losses to a last-place club, staged a clubhouse meeting before facing the first-place Dodgers last night at Petco Park.
“We wanted everybody to get on the same page,” said center fielder Mike Cameron. “It wasn't anything special. We just tried to get everybody together.”
When the game unfolded, Cameron set himself apart by hitting a three-run home run, a triple and a double in a 9-1 win that moved the Padres two games out of first in the NL West.
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
Brian Giles, the next batter, high-fives Mike Cameron, whose three-run homer has given the Padres an 8-1 lead in the fifth.
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Padres pitcher Chan Ho Park (4-3) got strong support; Dodgers starter Aaron Sele (3-1) was betrayed by his team's defense. So with the score 9-1 in the seventh, the only drama left was Cameron needing a single to become the first Padre to hit for the cycle – in the franchise's 5,933rd game.
But without taking a swing, Cameron accepted a five-pitch walk in his seventh-inning at-bat, prompting boos for Dodgers reliever Odalis Perez. Cameron said the only hittable pitch came on 3-0, but swinging at it would've been unsportsmanlike.
“You can't swing 3-0 when you're up eight runs,” Cameron said. “It's a good way to get yourself hurt the next day.”
Said Park: “That's why he's a great teammate.”
Cameron doubled off the right-center fence, tripled off the left-center wall and rifled a 395-foot home run off the Western Metal Supply Co. building that made it 8-1 in the fifth.
A dynamic player when in good form, Cameron is enjoying his best run since the Padres got him. He said on Friday that in May he struggled to turn on pitches, perhaps because of the first oblique injury of his career, suffered on March 30. He has six extra-base hits in the past four games, including his second and third homers.
Cameron said he is seeing the ball so well that chasing Perez's errant pitches would've been unwise. “I'll take it,” he said of the walk. “I've been swinging at enough bad pitches this year already.”
Park was thrilled even before he beat the Dodgers, his original club, for the first time in four career starts. “It's a great day for me because the Korean soccer team won its game in the World Cup,” Park said. “It makes me very happy.”
Park displayed a red South Korean soccer jersey and spoke of going to Germany should the Koreans improbably reach the final. Park also enjoyed more time in the batter's box. He put down a sacrifice bunt. And with a single, he raised his batting average to .375, despite an 0-for-10 start.
“I'm having fun with hitting; I'm having fun with pitching,” said Park, who allowed three hits and one run in six innings.
How did the Padres jump ahead 4-0 with an offense that ranks last among the 16 NL clubs in home scoring average? It was simple. They hit the ball to Rafael Furcal, the $39 million shortstop whose 13 errors were the most of any major leaguer at the position. Furcal made two more in the first inning, leading to four unearned runs. The final three of those runs came when Vinny Castilla clubbed a double past center fielder Kenny Lofton, who misjudged the drive, which hit the 7-foot-6 wall.
Sele departed after four innings, and the Padres dug into the pastry cart rolled out by Jao Seo, who recently lost his starting job. Cameron owed Seo, who had struck him out five times in six at-bats, usually by getting him to chase sliders. Cameron vowed to fare better when they next met, and he made good, scoring Josh Barfield (double) and Dave Roberts (walk).
Perez, another banished starter, allowed Eric Young's first career pinch homer and Roberts' eighth triple this season – five short of Tony Gwynn's franchise record – before he walked Cameron. If Cameron had singled, he would've joined Lou Gehrig, Chuck Klein and Gil Hodges as the only players to hit four home runs in a game and hit for the cycle.
Cameron was aware that no Padre had attained the cycle.
“I definitely knew what was going on,” he said. “I know it would have been special. Hopefully, the chance comes around again.”
Tom Krasovic: (619) 293-2207; tom.krasovic@uniontrib.com
