Major League Baseball

Rookie pitchers have big impact in race

Published Oct. 3, 2010 4:09 a.m. ET

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On the biggest day of his professional life, Tim Stauffer was asked if he recognized a name even more obscure than his own: Vance Worley.

“Sounds familiar,” Stauffer said.

It should. Stauffer saved the San Diego Padres’ miracle season on Saturday, carving up the San Francisco Giants in a 4-2 victory before a festive-yet-bewildered sellout at AT&T Park.

But it was Worley, the bespectacled Philadelphia rookie, who buttressed the Padres’ postseason chances with a concurrent gem more than 2,000 miles away. Worley, in only his fifth major-league appearance, tossed five shutout innings against the Atlanta Braves. The Phillies won, 7-0.

Now, after 161 games, the Padres and Braves are tied for the National League wildcard. As with a good TV drama, the two-part season finale is best. The baseball world will be engrossed in two games on Sunday: Phillies at Braves, 1:35 p.m. ET; Padres at Giants, 4:05 p.m. ET.

Suffice it to say, Stauffer and Worley weren’t on your short list for the fantasy draft. They were probably unknown to many serious baseball fans as recently as, oh, Saturday morning. But then they put on their spikes at roughly the same time, handcuffed a pair of desperate lineups and became the unquestioned heroes of the season’s next-to-last day.

Quite a sport, isn’t it? And on Sunday, we may step into a dramatic realm that even this madcap game has never witnessed.

A three-game, two-team tiebreaker. It would be a first in Major League Baseball history.

Please, allow me to explain.

At present, the Giants have a one-game lead on the Padres in the NL West. And the Padres, as previously mentioned, are knotted with the Braves in the NL wildcard standings.

The Giants could simplify matters by beating the Padres on Sunday to win the division crown. But at this point, who expects an easy resolution?

If the Padres and Braves both win on Sunday, they would each have 91 wins. The Giants would, too.

And then the following scenario unfolds:

• The Padres and Giants travel to San Diego for a one-game playoff on Monday to decide the NL West title. The Padres host because they won the season series against San Francisco. The winner makes the postseason as the NL West champion.

• The loser’s season isn’t over — yet. That team opposes the Braves in a one-game playoff for the NL wildcard. The game takes place in Atlanta on Tuesday, because the Braves won season series against both the Giants and Padres.

It would be boring by comparison if both the Padres and Braves lose on Sunday. Then the Giants would take the NL West, forcing San Diego to play at Atlanta on Monday in a regular old one-game playoff.

That would be routine. MLB has had a one-game tiebreaker at the conclusion of each of the past three seasons.

But for the chance at baseball history, we have the Giants to thank.

They arrived at their home ballpark on Friday with a chance to beat the Padres and spray champagne. Didn’t happen.

They arrived at their home ballpark on Saturday with a chance to beat the Padres and spray champagne. Didn’t happen. Again.

In both games, the culprit was a starting pitcher who didn’t perform well enough, or long enough, when the moment was big. That is the telltale symptom of a baseball team in mid-collapse. That’s not to suggest that the Giants will choke this away. But they certainly look like a team that could.

Matt Cain, one of the best pitchers in either league during the second half, lasted just four innings on Friday. Barry Zito, he of the $126 million contract, was even worse on Saturday.

In the first inning, Zito walked in two runs. That proved to be the margin of victory. If the Giants don’t reach the postseason, that fact will haunt them until spring training. Maybe longer.

So low was the Giants’ confidence in Zito that he was ordered to walk Adrian Gonzalez intentionally with one out in the first, thus loading the bases.

Gonzalez, mind you, was the only left-handed batter in the entire San Diego lineup. And if you can’t trust a left-hander against a left-hander in the first inning, when can you?

This year, Zito’s salary is $18.5 million. Stauffer’s is just north of the $400,000 league minimum. Yet there was Zito, walking Stauffer to lead off the fourth inning. That was it. Bruce Bochy pulled him for Chris Ray.

Stauffer, meanwhile, was the feel-good story on the feel-good team. The Padres selected him in the first round of the amateur draft — fourth overall — in 2003. But then he was found to have a partial tear in the labrum of his right shoulder.

That caused two big problems. First, he agreed to a much lower signing bonus — a reported $750,000, down from $2.6 million. More importantly, he altered his mechanics and was achy and/or ineffective for much of his minor-league career. Finally, he decided to undergo shoulder surgery that cost him the entire 2008 season.

“It got to the point where it wasn’t working,” Stauffer said. “I had to get it fixed. I took a chance, and it paid off. I feel much stronger now than at any other point in my career.”

He’s been a valuable swingman for the Padres this year, pitching even though he missed two months due to appendicitis. But with the No. 4 overall pick, teams aren’t looking for a valuable swingman. They want a stud. And on Saturday, Stauffer was the pitcher the Padres drafted him to be.

His fastball clipped corners. His slider reached 87 and 88 miles per hour. His viability as a big-league starter won’t be questioned anymore.

“I finally get to show what I’m capable of,” Stauffer said. “It’s just fun to be part of a team like this, to do it in that situation.”

A team like this. Soon, we will learn the legacy of these Padres. The overachievers led the division for so much of the season. Then they “collapsed” or “normalized,” depending on your view. Now this. It figures that the inexplicable Padres have the chance to participate in an unprecedented tiebreaker.

First, though, there are two crucial games on Sunday. The Phillies could win themselves a lot of fans on the West Coast by beating the Braves. The Stauffer family, in fact, includes a number of Philly fans, and Padres outfielder Matt Stairs is famous for his recent postseason exploits as a Phillie.

Stairs was asked if he’s been texting his former teammates, asking for help. He smiled. “No … Yeah … No … Not really … Just, you know, nothing I’ll talk about.” Another smile.

For the record: Stairs had never heard of Vance Worley, either.

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