PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Sudden Back Problems Baffle Gwynn, Who Will Miss Weekend

SAN DIEGO — Tony Gwynn has checked his swing who-knows-how-many times before, but one checked swing in Thursday night’s game looks as if it will not go away for a while.

Gwynn was not in the lineup Friday, and trainer Bob Day said he expected that Gwynn will miss the entire weekend with a strained back.

“I don’t know, I don’t have an answer,” Gwynn said. “I don’t even know how it happened, to tell you the truth. You never have back problems in your life and then all of a sudden you have back problems.

“I can’t even grab my shorts (off the ground).”

Gwynn said he initially hurt his back when he checked a swing in the first inning of Thursday’s game. Then, when he made a running catch in the second, it got worse. He left the game after the third.

Gwynn, who is fourth in the NL with a .324 batting average, said the most frustrating part of the injury is that it came while he was trying to straighten out his swing.

“That’s what eats at you the most,” he said. “I’ve been struggling for a couple of weeks. I’ve been working on a couple of things trying to get my consistency back.”

Now, there isn’t much he can do except wait.

“I have to stand up or lie down,” he said. “Because if I sit down, I don’t know it I will be able to get back up.”

Day said he thought Gwynn improved overnight.

“He improves with treatment and stiffens up an hour later,” Day said. “(Thursday) night, he didn’t get better with treatment.”

Day said that catcher Dan Walters suffered a “worse but similar” injury before spring training and took about two weeks to get back on his feet.

“I don’t expect (Gwynn) will be that long,” Day said.

Gwynn is undergoing treatment five times daily, according to Day. For now, that is mainly ice and electric stimulation.

Given their bullpen situation, the spotlight is on Randy Myers nearly each time the Padres are in a tight game. And so it was Thursday, when Riddoch left starter Andy Benes in to pitch the ninth inning of a 2-2 game. Benes allowed a run and the Padres lost, 3-2.

When asked if he lacks confidence in Myers to work situations like that, Riddoch pointed to Myers’ struggles and suggested that the Padres are attempting to boost his confidence.

“We would like to give him situations where we can build his confidence and not just throw him into the fire,” Riddoch said. “You don’t know when that situation will occur.”

Myers, though, said he has not lost his confidence.

“I need work,” he said. “It’s up to Riddoch to put me in when he wants to.”

Asked his feelings on only being used in two save opportunities since May 29, Myers replied: “That’s up to the skipper. I’ve got to pitch to stay sharp. I thought I was pretty good in May. He felt I was only capable of being in two save opportunities in June. You’ll have to talk to him about that.”

Asked if he thought he was being buried, Myers replied: “When the manager doesn’t want to put you in games, you have to be prepared for when he does put you in.”

In their continuing search to find to a reliever they can use extensively late in games, the Padres are expected to make a move this weekend. The most likely source of help from triple-A Las Vegas is Tim Scott, who has 14 saves. In 27 innings, he has struck out 28 and walked three.

Reliever Pat Clements, who is most effective when used to face only one left-handed batter, is the most logical candidate to be demoted.

Former Padre infielder Tim Flannery was at the game working on an hourlong All-Star special Channel 8 will run and talking about his new band, Buff’d Out.

The band (named for Jimmy Buffett) is playing at Raintree in Carlsbad on July 16, 23 and 30 and at Jake’s in Chula Vista each Saturday beginning on July 11.

“We just started having fun,” Flannery said. “We play everything from Buffett to the Everly Brothers to Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills and Nash.”

The band is taking one Saturday off later this summer, though: Aug. 29. No way, Flannery said, is he going to miss Buffett’s concert in Irvine on that night.

Benito Santiago (broken finger) is becoming a regular again during Padre batting practice. For the second day in a row, he played long toss and hit off of a tee. . . . Thursday night’s game was only the third of the season the Padres lost when they hit two or more home runs. Fred McGriff and Dan Walters each hit bases-empty homers in the 3-2 Padre loss. The Padres are 16-3 when they get two or more homers. . . . Minor League Report: Dave Staton hit his 14th homer Thursday during triple-A Las Vegas’ 12-5 loss to Portland.