1998 – San Diego shuts the door on Houston’s best season ever with a 6-1 verdict in Game Four of the N.L.D.S. to claim the series, 3-1. After a Jim Leyritz homer, Jeff Bagwell plates Craig Biggio with a single to tie it. An error by Sean Berry gives the Padres the lead before they break it open with four runs in the eighth.
1998 – Mark McGwire hits a home run in his fourth consecutive game to start the season to tie the mark set by Willie Mays in 1971. McGwire’s home run helps lead the Cardinalspast the Padres, 8 – 6, and also ties another league mark as it is his seventh long ball in a six-game stretch, dating back to 1997.
Houston deals outfielder James Mouton to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Sean Bergman. Bergman contributes a 16-15 record on two division-winning Astros clubs.
1997 – The Marlins trade ace Kevin Brown to the Padres for 1B Derrek Lee and pitchers Rafael Medina and Steve Hoff. In the next two days the Fish will send P Dennis Cook to the Mets for OF Fletcher Bates and P Scott Comer, and trade IF Kurt Abbott to the Athletics in exchange for P Eric Ludwick as the fire sale dismantlement of the World Champion team begins in earnest.
In Chicago, the Cubs erupt for 21 hits in clubbing the Padres, 16 – 7. Sammy Sosa goes 4 for 4 with a career-high six RBIs. Brian McRae also has four hits for the Cubs.
On April 19, 1997, a major league game is played in Hawaii for the first time. The St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres play a doubleheader at Aloha Stadium, with the Cardinals winning both games, 1-0 and 2-1.
1996 – The Seattle Mariners acquire righty Scott Sanders‚ (9-5‚ 3.38 ERA) from the Padres for lefty Sterling Hitchcock. Hitchcock was the ace of the Mariner staff after Randy Johnson went down with back surgery. He finished with a 13-9 record‚ but had a 5.35 ERA.
Due to a conflict with the Republican National Convention being staged in San Diego, the first major league game ever played outside of the United States or Canada takes place in Monterrey, Mexico, with the ‘home team’ Padres out-slugging the Mets at Estadio de Beisbol, 15-10. Fernando Valenzuela, a native of the Mexican city of Navojoa, opens the three-game series and goes six innings to get the victory for the first-place Friars.
Dave Winfield announces his retirement at the age of 44
The Padres play their one-thousandth home game without having a rainout. The streak, which began on April 20, 1983, will end on May 12, 1998, a total of 1,184 games over a span of 15 years.
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