In a Slugfest, Padres Throw Most Punches : Baseball: They rally from six-run deficit and, behind homers by Sheffield and McGriff, top Pittsburgh, 10-9. Bonds has six RBIs for Pirates.

PITTSBURGH —  Pull out the picnic tables and lounge chairs, and break out the beer.

The Padres have turned the National League into their own playground. They look like the guys playing slow-pitch softball on Sundays, seeing who can hit the longest home run and challenging anyone to stay with their offense.

The Padres spotted the Pittsburgh Pirates a six-run lead before coming away with a 10-9 victory Saturday in front of 34,474 at Three Rivers Stadium.

In the clubhouse after the game, however, the Padres weren’t talking about their biggest comeback of the season--during which a six-run deficit after the second inning became a 7-6 lead after four.

Nor were they talking about the relief corps of Rich Rodriguez (4-2), Pat Clements, Tim Scott and Randy Myers (10th save), who rescued starter Greg Harris after his third consecutive miserable outing

The defensive play made by Padre first baseman Fred McGriff--saving a run in the eighth with a diving stab of Orlando Merced’s line drive--wasn’t a hot topic, either.

The Padres’ big debate was whose home run went further into orbit, Gary Sheffield’s or McGriff’s. Close, but McGriff wins, 452 feet to 436.

“See, see, I told you so,” said Padre shortstop Tony Fernandez to teammate Oscar Azocar. “I knew it went further.

Said right fielder Tony Gwynn, whose three-run double tied the game in the fourth: “All I know is that I’m embarrassed to hit my four-hopper through the hole after watching you guys bomb away.”

The Padres’ big comedy was the wild pitch thrown by bullpen stopper Myers--one that went 30 feet outside of home plate.

“For some reason, Randy, that pitch didn’t surprise me,” teammate Andy Benes said.

Myers: “What pitch?”

Benes: “The ball that took out the first row of seats.”

Myers: “Oh, that. It was a slider-forkball. I thought (catcher Benito Santiago) was going to get it. He just got a bad jump.”

Said Pirate shortstop Jay Bell: “I almost swung at it.”

Bell happened to be in the on-deck circle. Merced was at the plate.

No problem. Myers got his save, albeit he had Barry Bonds at the plate with two runners on base and no one out in the ninth. He was able to retire Bonds on a ground ball to McGriff, giving Bonds his career-high sixth RBI of the game. Lloyd McClendon then flew out, and Myers ended the game by striking out Don Slaught.

“Randy does make it interesting,” McGriff said. “Uh, real interesting.”

Of course, who’s talking? On a team with a league-leading .272 batting average and a league-leading 32 home runs, there is McGriff.

He watched Bonds hit two home runs, including a grand slam in the second that gave the Pirates a 6-0 lead off Harris. He laughed when he saw Sheffield blast a two-run homer in the third inning that carried 436 feet to straightaway center. He applauded as the Padres came back in the fourth and scored five runs off starter Bob Walk, triggered by a wild pitch on a strikeout and a throwing error on a potential double-play ball.

Finally, it was McGriff’s turn. He couldn’t let Sheffield steal his thunder.

“I had to catch up to Gary,” McGriff said, grinning. “I’ve got to let him know I’m still the boss. I hit that one pretty good.”

The ball was hit so far, so high, so long, center fielder Andy Van Slyke stood frozen on the field as the ball cleared his head.

“I thought it was a meteor,” Van Slyke said. “There was no gravitational pull.”

It was the second-longest home run in McGriff’s career, surpassed only by his 500-foot-plus homer that bounced into the upper deck at Yankee Stadium.

“Every time I do something,” Sheffield said, feigning anger, “he’s got to top it. That was unbelievable. That ball sounded like a tornado when it took off. It was like a bomb exploded. Man, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

The Padres (19-17), who have won three consecutive games and six of the last eight, are saying the same about this entire team. They have five players hitting higher than .300. No team in the major leagues can make that claim.

In the past eight games, the top four of the batting order--Fernandez, Gwynn, Sheffield and McGriff--are hitting .422 with 11 doubles, two triples, eight homers, 35 RBIs and 33 runs scored.

It’s as if they’ve told the rest of the league to step aside. They’re going to stage their own batting race: Gwynn, .368; Fernandez, .338; Sheffield, .318; McGriff, .316.

“I’ve never, ever, seen anything like this,” Gwynn said. “Come on, you see it for one or two guys, but all four?”

Fernandez is hitting .487 in the last nine games, so no one is accusing the Padres of making a mistake by trading away leadoff hitter Bip Roberts.

McGriff is leading the league with 30 RBIs, to go along with his 11 home runs, so no one is questioning the trade that sent Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar to Toronto for McGriff and Fernandez.

Sheffield has six homers and 29 RBIs, so nobody remembers pitcher Ricky Bones, the only major leaguer the Padres gave up to get Sheffield.