Padres' bullpen tries to make due without Beck

By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer | Sunday, April 11, 2004 9:21 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- As Rod Beck's absence stretches into its second month, the Padres' bullpen continues to take shape without him.

Padres general manager Kevin Towers said near the end of spring training that he hoped to have Beck back by the middle of April at the earliest and the beginning of May at the latest. One week into the regular season, a return date isn't even on the horizon. Towers said Sunday that he hasn't talked to Beck since the first week of March and that he still doesn't know the nature of the personal issues that have kept him away.

With Beck on the restricted list in the meantime, the Padres are doing their best to make due. First-year Japanese reliever Akinori Otsuka has filled Beck's shoes well with a 2.08 ERA in four appearances, but the bullpen as a whole is still finding its footing. Entering Sunday's game, the relief corps had given up as many earned runs as the starters (eight) in half as many innings.

On Sunday, what would have been an ideal Beck situation turned into a disaster, as four Padres relievers combined to give up five runs in the eighth inning and permit San Francisco to tie the game.

"We certainly miss him. We'd like to have him," Towers said of Beck. "He's going to make our bullpen that much better. But until then, we have to rely on what we have here. Maybe we'll find some good things in some of the younger players that might not have been on the ballclub if he would've been here."

Said manager Bruce Bochy of his relievers: "Overall they've been OK. A couple of them are trying to find themselves. I think overall the bullpen is going to be fine."

Talking timing

After he ripped a three-run home run on Opening Day to spur the Padres, cleanup man Phil Nevin said he was still trying to find his timing from missing three weeks of spring training with a strained left shoulder.

On Saturday night, Nevin went 4-for-5 to increase his average to .391, best on the team among regulars. How's his timing now?

"It's close ---- closer," Nevin said. "Last night I felt great, but the whole part about getting your timing is feeling it for several days in a row. That was one night. I got a lot of pitches away that I could handle.

"We'll see on a daily basis how the timing is. But it's definitely getting a lot closer. I'm close to feeling pretty darn good up there."

Nevin is far from the only Padre who's feeling good at the plate. Through five games, the Padres were hitting .311 as a club, good for third in the National League.

Short hops

LHP Sterling Hitchcock (oblique, rib-cage strain) is "very doubtful" to make his scheduled start on April 17, manager Bruce Bochy said. Unless Hitchcock's condition improves, RHP Ismael Valdez will start in his place. ... Bochy said the Padres plan to shorten the outfield grass at Petco Park in time for the team's next homestand, which begins April 26. "In talking to (right fielder) Brian (Giles), he would like it a little bit shorter. The way it's playing, the ball is kicking up quite a bit." ... OF Terrence Long started for the first time this season, giving CF Jay Payton a day off.