Stars closer Cunnane may be next call up for Padres

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 10:41 a.m.

Will Cunnane had a little more room to kick back and eat his postgame meal of spaghetti and meatballs Wednesday.

On the left side of him was the empty locker of Heath Murray, who was called up by the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

"He took off on me," Cunnane said with a smile. "He was my apartment mate, too. Now I'm going to have Spence in there."

Spence would be Stan Spencer, who was sent down by the Padres to make room for Murray and who is scheduled to report and start tonight's game against the Fresno Grizzlies at Cashman Field.

The question these days, however, is how long will it be before Spencer is looking for a new roommate?

There already has been speculation in the San Diego media that the hard-throwing Cunnane, who pitched in 54 games with the Padres in 1997, will be the next Las Vegas pitcher to join the Padres this year.

And why not? Cunnane pitched another scoreless inning in Wednesday afternoon's 4-0 blanking of the Grizzlies, extending his scoreless inning streak to an amazing 19.

Other than one run that he surrendered against Omaha on April 11 in his second outing of the season, the 6-1, 195-pound Cunnane has been perfect in 17 appearances, accumulating five saves and a microscopic 0.39 ERA.

"He's stepped into that later-inning role and has been darn near untouchable," Stars manager Mike Ramsey said. "He's still young (Cunnane turned 25 in April), too. That's a big thing about him. He's still young."

Cunnane has been clocked in the mid-90s with his fastball. But he also has a good curveball and slider as well as a changeup.

"He throws all four pitches," Stars pitching coach Tom Brown said. "But as a closer you don't get a chance to use them all that much."

Cunnane struggled at times last year with the Stars, compiling just a 1-2 record and 5.25 ERA in 33 games. He had just four saves.

"I think my control has been a key," he said of his turnaround this year. "I'm getting my walks here and there, but I'm settling down and finishing. That's where my success is coming."

"His command is sporadic at times," Ramsey said. "He still needs to learn how to pitch. He has quality stuff. His fastball is above average and he has a pretty good breaking ball. I believe he can come on and do a lot of things at the major league level."

Cunnane's biggest problem could be the pecking order above him. The Padres already have arguably the best closer in baseball in Trevor Hoffman. That means Cunnane's best shot to make the big club might be as a setup man.

"That would be the perfect opportunity but they already have a pretty good guy in that role already named Dan Micelli," Cunnane said. "Whatever they want me to do, though, I'm here for them."

And as for those whispers that he might be the next pitcher headed to San Diego?

"I'll be happy as hell when they call me and, if they don't call me, I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing right now," Cunnane said.

"Once you start worrying about what they're going to do up there (in San Diego) you start losing focus on what you're doing here. I learned that last year. It's all just a waiting game here for everybody."

* RECORD PACE: The Stars are on pace to set three season records, but two are not exactly the kind of records they hope to break.

Entering Wednesday's game against Fresno, the Stars had scored just 171 runs in 38 games, a pace that would give them 648 for the season. The team record for fewest runs scored in a season is 709 set in 1992.

The Stars also had just 304 hits through 38 games and were on a pace for 1,152 hits. The record for fewest hits in a season is 1,290 set in 1984.

On the the positive side, Stars pitchers are on a pace to tally 1,095 strikeouts this season, which would easily eclipse the team record of 986 in that category set in 1994.

* GAME RECAP: Bryan Wolff threw seven shutout innings and second baseman David Newhan had three hits, including a two-run homer, and three RBIs to lead Las Vegas (20-19) to a 4-0 blanking of PCL South Division-leading Fresno (22-18) on Wednesday afternoon at Cashman Field.

* UP NEXT: The Stars continue their series with Fresno tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Cashman Field with right-hander Stan Spencer (0-0, 0.00), demoted by the Padres on Tuesday night, scheduled to make his first triple-A start of 1999 against Fresno right-hander Ryan Jensen (4-2, 4.50).