Hometown duties

2004-06-05

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

The Padres’ Friday night game, a 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, ended an hour earlier. That meant Brian Giles could depart Petco Park and be at his year-round home in minutes rather than retreating to a lonely second home in a far-off baseball town.

But on Friday nights Giles doesn’t head straight home.

There are benefits and drawbacks for an athlete playing for his hometown team, but for Giles Friday night is when he fulfills what he considers an obligation. After every Friday home game, the Padres right-fielder makes himself available for questions on the Padres’ post-game radio show aired by The Mighty 1090 from Redfield’s, a bar in the Manchester Grand Hyatt just a few blocks down the street from the ballpark.

The questions on this night will no doubt be about the Padres’ continuing lack of punch in their hometown park, but Giles arrives striding into the bar right on schedule. John Kentera, the host of the post-game show, announces “Brian Giles is in the house!”

Tim Flannery, Kentera’s partner and the former Padres player and coach, yields his seat next to Kentera. Giles slides into the seat and pulls on at headset.

The audience, pulling chairs from all corners of the bar to fill in open space in front of the broadcast table, is wearing a wide variety of Padres hats, shirts and jerseys. The fans clap for Giles, the hometown kid from Granite Hills High in El Cajon. He responds with a wave as Flannery, still connected by a headset and standing next to Giles, asks the first question.

“We’re getting some strong pitching efforts, but we’re just not hitting well right now,” Giles says. “It’s not that we’re not prepared. Guys are doing what they have to do in batting practice. We’re just going through one of those times when we’re not hitting.”

Maybe a fan listening at home is griping that isn’t a good enough answer. But the fans listening at Redfield’s, close enough to approach Giles for an autograph, listen appreciatively. They’re here for a chance to connect with a player.

“This is an opportunity for me to give back to the community by letting people know what’s going on in the clubhouse and how guys feel,” explains Giles, who isn't paid for the apperances. “Fans don’t get to see everything that’s going on and how everybody is feeling. The good thing about this team is we have a good group of guys who get along. There is a good opportunity for us to win right now.”

Giles, the former Granite Hills running back who plays with linebacker intensity, is in his first full season with the Padres after joining the club for the final 29 games of the 2003 season when he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Giles, who turned 33 in January, was an two-time All-Star with Pittsburgh who was drafted in 1989 out of Granite Hills by the Cleveland Indians.

After four seasons in Cleveland and five in Pittsburgh, Giles said he has discovered unexpected pressures that come with playing in your hometown. When he joined the team at the end of 2003, the Padres were a last-place team playing out the season while attention in the city was focused on the start of football season.

But this year enthusiasm for the Padres was running high with the opening of Petco Park and a lineup expected to contend for the National League West title. With tickets at a premium, Giles found he had a lot more friends than he thought.

“If you would have asked me about the positives and negatives of playing in your hometown during the first home stand of the season, I would have told you it’s all negative,” Giles said. “It’s tough to try and accommodate everybody.”

Giles, who started the season slowly with a .238 batting average through April, soon recognized the importance to sticking to his routines despite the increased pressures on a hometown player.

“Sometimes you have to hurt people’s feelings,” Giles said. “But this is my job, and I’m paid a lot of money to do it. Sometimes you have to separate lunch dates and other things so that you can stick to your routines. I think your real friends will realize that.”

By the second month of the season, his offense picked up. Giles hit .330 in May with five home runs and 20 RBI.

But like the Padres’ other hitters in the middle of the lineup, Giles hasn’t been hitting at home as well as he has been on the road. The Petco fences are deep in right field, and Giles didn’t find the seats at home until April 28 against Montreal. It was Giles second home run of the year in the team’s 21st game and 11th home game.

Giles’ early numbers weren't up to the career standards he established in Cleveland and Pittsburgh with a .300 average, 1,114 hits, 217 home runs and 715 RBI.

Patience helped Giles make it to this stage of his career, and he’s counting on the characteristic righting his ship for the remainder of the 2004. He was 24 before he made it to the Major Leagues and 28 before he posted his first season with 500 at bats with Pittsburgh in 1999.

He credits his coach at Granite Hills, Gordy Thompson, for his ability to stay focused and improve. The retired Eagles coach developed several athletes over the years who played in college, were drafted or made it to the Majors, including Giles’ younger brother, Marcus, a second baseman with the Atlanta Braves, and Shane Spencer, an outfielder with the New York Mets.

“I think the biggest influence he had on my brother and me is to keep everything in perspective,” Giles said. “Things aren’t as bad as they might seem. You have to continue to focus on the task at hand. I learned that at an early age.”

As the night at Redfield’s progresses, a local band sets up and plays music. Flannery, a musician himself, makes the arrangements each week with his contacts in the local music community.

On this night Steve Poltz, who wrote Jewell's No. 1 hit song "You were meant for me," is performing. A couple of Giles’ teammates, pitcher Jake Peavy and Scott Linebrook, also make an appearance.

Later it is pointed out to Giles that there are plenty of Trevor Hoffman jerseys among the fans in the bar and even a Rollie Fingers jersey from the franchise’s mustard-and-brown uniform era.

“Where are the Giles jerseys?” he’s asked.

Giles just smiles and says, “They’re starting to come out more.”

But self-aggrandizement isn’t why Giles is out on a Friday night at Redfield’s. He’s there to tell the fans to be patient, that the club will eventually start hitting in Petco Park and there isn't a sense of panic in the clubhouse.

He has decided the positives far outweigh the negatives to playing in your hometown.

“It’s been awesome,” Giles said. “I love it here in San Diego.”