PEORIA, Ariz. -- He had been pinned with the dreaded label of utility guy, which is really just a fancy way of saying that a player isn't good enough to hold down an everyday position.

Mark Loretta came to San Diego before last season as the jack of all infield trades but master of none. In eight years in the major leagues, all but part of one with the Milwaukee Brewers, Loretta had played 328 games at shortstop, 190 games at second base, 170 games at third base and 160 games at first base. More than anything, he craved a home on the diamond.

"It's something that every player wants to eventually get to in their career," Loretta said. "I had a lot of years where I didn't have a set position. I was playing pretty much every day, but it was one day at third, one day at second, one day at first. Just to settle in was huge for me."

This spring training, consider Loretta settled. Established and confident, he is unequivocally the Padres' second baseman -- and a pretty darn good one at that.

"Mark did everything for us last year," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said.

That's a fair summation of the 32-year-old's value to the Padres in 2003, one of the few silver linings in another dark, last-place campaign. With Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko sidelined by injuries for long stretches and Brian Giles in Pittsburgh until late August, Loretta was the Padres' rock, leading all regulars in batting average (.314), runs (74), hits (185), total bases (260), RBIs (72) and on-base percentage (.372).

By socking a home run in his final at-bat of the season, he broke Roberto Alomar's franchise record for hits by a second baseman and became the first Padre to exceed the 180 mark since Tony Gwynn had 220 in 1997. Loretta recorded five hitting streaks of more than 10 games (the only National Leaguer to do so), had all but three of the team's eight four-hit games and batted .346 with runners in scoring position.

"He's so good at keeping rallies going, moving runners along," Bochy said.

"He's a good RBI man. He's a tough out up there, and he's going to put the ball in play. He's a professional hitter, and any time you have a guy like that in your lineup, you can do a lot of things with him."

Just as Loretta's steady place in the lineup helped his hitting -- he batted either second or third in all but 11 games -- his stability in the field benefited his defense. He led all National League second basemen with a .990 fielding percentage, which he's as proud of as any of the several career benchmarks he set at the plate.

"You're taking the same ground balls every day at (the same) angle and you can work on the subtleties of your position," he said. "When you're moving around, you're just concerned with catching the ball and not thinking so much about positioning and first step and that kind of thing.

"If you can have the confidence of the pitcher, knowing that if the ball's hit to you, you're going to make the play 99 percent of the time, then that's a good feeling for him and helps the team in general."

The Padres were so tickled by Loretta's scorching summer following a relatively slow start -- he hit .356 in June, .371 in July and .314 in August -- that they rewarded him with a two-year, $5.25 million contract extension, which includes a club option for 2006. With the bigger paycheck, however, does not necessarily come added pressure. This season, Loretta's load should be lightened by a considerably sturdier lineup that welcomes back Nevin, Klesko and Giles, and welcomes center fielder Jay Payton and catcher Ramon Hernandez.

"I think our lineup is going to be as tough as anybody's for opposing pitchers to get through," said Loretta, who will bat second between Sean Burroughs and Giles. "It's going to be contagious. When guys starting hitting well, then everybody's going to get confidence. I'm sure you've noticed the optimism in the clubhouse is so much better this year than it was last year."

And in that clubhouse, for a change, Loretta is an integral part, not a spare part.

Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com.