Padres Report

By Johnny McDonald

They’ve placed speed at the top of a stand-pat lineup card, bolstered the middle relief corps and beefed up the bench.

In a nutshell, that’s how the San Diego Padres’ strengths were appraised by general manager Kevin Towers and manager Bruce Bochy before a roomful of TV cameras at the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park.

The first spring training game in Peoria, Ariz., against the Seattle Mariners, was March 3.

“The lineup has changed some,” Towers said. “There’s Dave Roberts (acquired from Boston) in center field. He’s a dimension we have not had for some time. This guy can make things happen.

“Our everyday lineup is going to be pretty much the same. We have a pretty good chance with what we have.”

Bochy added that with Roberts, “you can be a little more aggressive instead of sitting back, waiting for the double or relying on homers.”

“It’s time to go to work,” Bochy said. “Last year was pretty good. But they have a taste of what it’s like to be a contender. We’re going in with a great attitude...that we can get this done.

“Have to do better than what we did at home last year. We just have to make Petco Park our home. We had the third-or fourth-best road record in the majors.”

Towers pointed out that the bench has changed quite a bit and that the organization has added to the bullpen. “We’ll have Woody Williams rather than David Wells (as a starter) and (we) got Darrell May from Kansas City as a fifth starter.

“Woody is a tremendous athlete,” Towers said in appraisal. “Tremendous in the clubhouse as well. He’s a much different pitcher than when we had him before.”

The two men agreed that in 2005, they want to finish the business they started in 2004.

“We won 87 games and came up short in the last series to reach the playoffs,” Towers said. “We feel the NFL West will be one of the most competitive divisions. We want to be playing in October.

“We want to follow in the footsteps of the Chargers and create some excitement.”

In the division appraisal, Towers said the San Francisco Giants can score runs but “their defense is a little scary.” This coming from a man who had to eat his words about the Dodgers’ character last year.

Bochy might have leaned a bit on Ryan Klesko’s performance. “It’s important to us that Klesko has a strong year. He didn’t get the home runs we are accustomed to, but his on-base percentage was good.”

Players complained last year about the difficulties at Petco Park and Bochy indicated it was a learning curve, stating: “Players know where the ball carries.

“They have to realize our power numbers will probably be down. But we had more doubles and triples. To go out there and challenge the ballpark will work against us. We must realize that.”

Bochy said it’s going to take a surprise or two. “We did a good job defensively last year. Fewer balls got through our left side than any other team in baseball. We have the speed to go with the balance of our lineup.”

Bochy likes his lineup, particularly when he has Khalil Greene, Ramon Hernandez and Sean Burroughs in the bottom of the order.

“You don’t have to wait for the first three or four guys to produce.”