Not to worry: Padres shine when facing adversity

By: STEVE SCHOLFIELD - Senior Sports Columnist | Wednesday, October 4, 2006 1:41 AM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres got the St. Louis Cardinals right where they want them.

Letting the Cardinals win the opener of the best-of-five National League Division Series may be the best move the Padres have made since stealing Cla Meredith from Boston.

I mean, the Padres are hardly frontrunners.

They are at their very best when adversity nips at them.

Losing a 5-1 decision to the Cards on Tuesday was not by design. Chris Carpenter was brilliant for the Cardinals, limiting the Padres to no runs and three hits over the first five innings as his team built up a 4-0 lead.

The Padres don't have the firepower to overcome such large deficits and were really no match for Carpenter, power-hitting Albert Pujols ---- who ripped a two-run homer ---- or a defense that came up with several fielding gems.

Does this mean the Padres, who lost three straight to the Cardinals last year in the division series, are toast? Is this playoff over? Should the Padres start booking vacations and tee times?

Not at all. History tells us these resilient men respond well when challenged:

> When the Dodgers hit four straight home runs in the ninth inning and another in the 10th inning on Sept. 18 to score an incredible 11-10 win, there were many who figured the Padres' season was over. They responded by winning seven of their next eight games.

> When Arizona beat the Padres 3-1 last Friday to deny them a chance to secure a playoff berth, they didn't panic. Instead, they strung together two wins in the final games of the regular season to secure home-field advantage.

Is there any reason to think they won't bounce back from this loss? Right fielder Brian Giles believes the Padres will react like they did most of the season ---- with success.

"There have been several times this year we lose a big game and people have written us off," Giles said.

Then he put the game in further perspective. "Their No. 1 guy beat our No. 1 guy (Jake Peavy)," he added, "and we can't take that back. We got beat."

He's not about to lose any sleep over what could have been done. As far as he's concerned, the game is history.

"We can sit here and mope and pout about what could happen and it isn't going to change the score," Giles said. "Thursday is a new day and we are going to have to win that game."

His attitude was reflected throughout the Padres' locker room.

"If we are going to win the World Series, we are going to lose a few games along the way," infielder Todd Walker said.

Walker was on a Boston team in 2003 that went down two games to Oakland but came back to win the next three.

"The first thing you learn in baseball is you don't let one day affect the next, but it isn't easy," Walker said. "You can't let one game, one inning or one play affect what you are going to do next and, as a team, we won't let that happen."

Said Dave Roberts, who led the Padres with three hits: "We've had our backs against the wall many times and were forced to rebound and this is just one of those situations. I expect to win on Thursday."

Does Thursday's game fall into the category of a must-win for the Padres?

"You hate to put it that way, but you do have to play with a sense of urgency," outfielder Mike Cameron said.

The Padres will use veteran David Wells on Thursday in the hopes he'll have the same kind of game he had last Saturday, when he shut out Arizona over six innings.

Peavy, who was rocked for 11 hits and five runs, has confidence his team will rebound.

"We know St. Louis is a good team, but we absolutely know we can play with them and win the series," Peavy said.

Maybe that is true. But it would help if the Padres got a little better pitching and more timely hitting or their season may be coming to a quick ending.

-- Steve Scholfield is senior sports columnist for the North County Times. He can be reached at (760) 740-3509.