Milton Bradley needs to learn his place.
He is a left fielder now, a wing man, a defender expected to defer on balls in the gap. When Mike Cameron calls for a fly ball on the Padres' perimeter, Bradley needs to clear out as if the place were on fire.
He needs to confer more and converge less.
That said, what do you say we look at that replay just one more time? Or maybe twice.
If the catch Bradley made yesterday afternoon was not the best snag yet seen at Petco Park, it was surely the most difficult to duplicate. It involved a collision, a deflection and some inspired, impromptu juggling.
If you haven't yet seen it, you haven't been paying attention. Like the skateboarding bulldog, this was a moment meant for YouTube.
“I saw the last part of it,” Cameron said. “It was crazy.”
With two outs in the third inning of the Padres' 8-5 victory over the Braves, Atlanta's Chipper Jones launched a deep drive to left-center field. Bradley, a center fielder by training, tracked the ball in anticipation of a reasonably routine catch.
“My center-field instincts,” Bradley explained. “I called (for) it a few times, (but) I don't know if Cammy heard it or not. Then he called it at the last moment, so I kind of got behind him (and) I bumped into him.”
The two players collided just short of the warning track in front of the Padres' bullpen, right about where the 401-foot sign interrupts the flow of outfield wall advertising. Since neither man was moving at top speed, the contact was comparatively incidental.
Yet the impact was sufficiently jarring that the ball caromed off Cameron's Gold Glove and struck a glancing blow just below Bradley's right shoulder. Here, his center-field instincts resurfaced, as well as his latent talent for legerdemain.
Reaching for the ball with his bare right hand, Bradley twice frustrated the forces of gravity with upward swipes and then grabbed the ball with his third stab as he tumbled to the turf.
Whatever else might be said of Milton Bradley's tenure with the Padres, the dude sure knows how to make an entrance.
“When I caught it, I was glad,” Bradley said later at his locker. “ 'Cause the last thing you want to do is bump into a guy and then drop the ball in your first game.”
Yesterday marked Bradley's debut as a Padre, his first big-league game of any kind since June 20, and his first appearance in left field since 2004. If he hit town bearing some hefty baggage – if his talents have sometimes been overshadowed by his temper – Milton Bradley was a model of decorum beside teammate David Wells, who was ejected in the fourth-inning for prolonging a strike zone argument past umpire Ed Hickox's warning.
Bradley lost his grip twice during yesterday's game, but only literally. He threw his bat into the tunnel beside the visitors dugout on one right-handed swing-and-miss, and later flung his bat against the backstop while hitting from the left side.
If you didn't know better, you'd think someone had spiked the pine tar.
“I don't know if I was just trying to be loose with my hands or whatever, but (the bat) was flying out,” Bradley said. “A few years ago, I had the same problem.”
Tony Oliva was plagued by the same problem during his distinguished career with the Minnesota Twins but persevered to win three batting titles. If Milton Bradley has no more serious lapse than flinging his bat on his follow-through, at least it acts as a deterrent on infielders inclined to charge the plate in sacrifice situations.
Bradley contributed an infield single and a walk to the Padres' cause yesterday, and scored twice. He also helped to prolong a seventh-inning rally with a hard slide that prompted a throwing error by Atlanta second baseman Yunel Escobar. He made himself useful in every phase of the game.
“I got kind of out in front with some change-ups,” Bradley said. “But you know, that's to be expected. I haven't seen pitching in a couple of weeks. But all in all, it wasn't too bad. I didn't embarrass myself too much out there.
“It's just a good feeling to be somewhere where you're wanted and people have a lot of excitement about you being here and value your efforts and your talent. I hope I can live up to expectations and keep smiling.”
He could not promise to keep juggling.
“I can't juggle at all,” he said.
Tim Sullivan: (619) 293-1033; tim.sullivan@uniontrib.com
