Bochy Trying to Be Seen--and Heard

SAN DIEGO — After all the years of near obscurity, Padre catcher Bruce Bochy finally got his teammates’ attention in spring training this year.

First he received a traffic citation for speeding. Then he was ticketed for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.

“Nothing major,” Bochy said. “I still have my license.”

Now that the baseball season is two months old, Bochy still has his old position. He’s the backup to Terry Kennedy and is lucky to play more than once a week.

Welcome home, Mr. Near Obscurity.

Teammates haven’t totally forgotten Bochy. They have placed a “Mr. Magoo” sign above his locker, obviously not wanting him to forget the spring training citations. (At least he thinks that’s what the sign is for.)

At times, Bochy does just enough to make people remember that he is a very capable ballplayer when called upon.

Wednesday in the Padres’ 11-7 victory over Houston, Bochy drove in San Diego’s first two runs with a second-inning homer. He hit a one-out double in the eighth that advanced John Kruk to third base, setting up the Padres’ winning four-run rally.

“When you get to play once a week, you don’t want to lose the game you play in,” Bochy said. “The last couple of times I played, we got blown out by Philadelphia and lost to Atlanta. You don’t want to dwell on those losses for a week.”

Manager Steve Boros, often questioned on radio talk shows for not playing Bochy more often, is thinking about making Bochy more noticeable. After all, Bochy has batted .323 in 10 starts with two doubles, three homers and five RBIs.

A perfect time to start him would be when left-handers Fernando Valenzuela and Rick Honeycutt pitch Friday and Sunday for the Dodgers in the three-game series against the Padres.

“When we run into a string of left-handed pitchers like now, I might have to think of ways to get Boch in more often,” Boros said. “When Terry’s mechanics are off, left-handed pitchers throw him out of whack.”

Bochy said he had felt out of whack in batting practice much of the time lately. However, he said his batting-practice groove returned earlier this week.

The groove carried into Wednesday’s game. Bochy’s fourth homer of the season gave the Padres a 2-1 lead in the second. His double came with the score tied, 7-7, in the eighth.

“I liked the double better than the home run,” Bochy said. “It came late in the game when we needed to get something going.”

After the game, Bochy talked about not getting complacent.

Mr. Near Obscurity becoming complacent?

“It’s easy to become complacent when you don’t play,” Bochy said. “Some guys say, ‘I only play once a week, so why stay ready?’ That’s the quickest way out of baseball.”

The quickest way into the lineup for Bochy should be to produce. Or so it seems.

But former manager Dick Williams and Boros have considered Kennedy an everyday player and Bochy a once-a-week player.

If Bochy played every day, the possibilities would be intriguing. He has hit four home runs in 39 at-bats this season. At that pace, he could hit 60 home runs in 585 at-bats.

“If I played every day, I wouldn’t be seeing just left-handers,” he said. “Who’s to say what I could do? I’m curious myself.”