Riddoch Says He Won’t Quit Job as Manager : Baseball: Before Padres’ 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros, manager says he wants to return next season.

The media have taken its turns chastising Padre Manager Greg Riddoch. Fans have taunted him. Departing players have ridiculed and berated him.

“If (umpire) Gary Darling can file a suit for defamation of character,” said Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, “then Greg Riddoch has got an outstanding case. The media in this town have tried to destroy him. It’s been a character assassination.

“It’s been an absolute disgrace.”

Neither McIlvaine nor anyone else could blame Riddoch if he simply walked away at the end of this season. If Riddoch wanted to move to a role in the front office, there would be no shame. If he wanted to leave the organization, how could anyone fault him?

“Maybe that’s what people are hoping for,” Riddoch said Thursday before the Padres’ 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros at the Astrodome. “Maybe people think I’m going to take the easy way out, and just quit.

“I tell you what, if they’re waiting for that, they’re going to be awfully surprised.”

Riddoch, in an emotional interview Thursday, said he’s more determined than ever to retain his job as Padre manager. There might have been a time this season when he wondered aloud if he still wanted to continue managing. McIlvaine has even hinted occasionally that Riddoch’s own decision might ultimately determine his fate.

“But I’ve decided that I want to keep on doing this,” Riddoch said. “If they don’t want me anymore, they’re going to have to fire me. The survival instincts are kicking in.

“If you shoot me, you better shoot me in the heart.

“Because if you shoot me in the arm or leg, I’ll just get up.”

Riddoch, whose contract expires at the end of the season, plans to talk with McIlvaine during the Padres’ 10-game home stand beginning tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. He’ll tell McIlvaine that he would like another year. He’ll tell McIlvaine that after enduring this troubled season, he’d like to prove his managerial skills with a set team.

Then, with everyone else, he will learn at season’s end whether he’ll return.

There has been constant speculation since spring training that Riddoch will be fired at the end of the season. Jim Riggleman, the Padres’ triple-A manager, has been mentioned as a replacement. If not Riggleman, some say, perhaps the Padres will go after a big-name candidate.

The Padres, it is believed, already have contacted Whitey Herzog, trying to determine his interest in returning to the field. They also might have telephoned Buck Rodgers. Herzog, though, says he is not interested in any job in which he does not have control over personnel acquisition. Rodgers is rumored to be headed to the Angels.

McIlvaine insists that no decision has been made. He refuses to evaluate Riddoch’s performance fully until October.

“Greg, under the circumstances,” McIlvaine said, “has held up very well. I’ve been impressed with him. People have been condemning the guy all over the city, he’s weathered so many storms, and he’s still standing.

“I think a lot of other people would be devastated.”

Riddoch, who is one of only three National League managers without a contract for 1992, says he has no indication whether McIlvaine will want him back. He’s proud of the job he has accomplished, considering the Padres (52-56) are only 1 1/2 games out of third place, and 9 1/2 out of first. The clubhouse dissension that riddled last year’s team has been kept at a minimum. The competitiveness remains intact.

“I really want to do this again,” Riddoch said. “I want it bad. I know I’m nobody famous, and I don’t have a proven track record, but I know I can do the job.

“I also know I’ve made mistakes. I’ve made plenty of mistakes. I admit that. But I also think I’ve learned from them.”

Riddoch, like any manager in the major leagues, has his supporters and detractors in the clubhouse. Several players, such as Tony Gwynn, Craig Lefferts and Ed Whitson, say Riddoch deserves the opportunity to be back. Others, who don’t want to be identified, would just as soon Riddoch be fired.

“I think we’ve done as good a job as we could do in the situation we’ve been in,” said Gwynn, who equaled his season high with three RBIs Thursday. “He hasn’t given in to all the adversity and pressure. He believes in what he’s doing, and it shows.

“But what’s happened is that everything’s been so one-sided. Guys leave here and rip him, and he doesn’t say anything. He just keeps it inside. It’s frustrating for me because the fans don’t know the real story. Sometimes I wish he’d just let it out.”

Indeed, when Jack Clark called him a snake, Riddoch forgave him. When Garry Templeton called him the worst man he had met in 15 years of baseball, Riddoch shrugged it off. When reporters scorch him, he says it’s their privilege.

“There have been times, believe me,” Riddoch said, “when I wanted to tell people what they’re really like, what really took place. Sometimes, I think I should tell the truth. For some of these guys, it would devastate them.

“But that would take me down to their level. You don’t want to raise stink with a skunk, because then you come out smelling, too.”

Riddoch instead chooses to ignore the abuse, and as he always tells Padre starter Andy Benes, sometimes you have to endure the worst before fate finally deals a good hand. Benes (7-10) certainly can relate to that. After winning four games through July 27, Benes now has won three consecutive games, yielding six hits and two runs Thursday through six innings.

The only reason he was taken out was to preserve his life. Benes was hit in the left wrist and right shoulder by two hard-hit bouncers up the middle. He also was hit by a pitch while batting.

“I was like a dart board out there,” Benes said. “It was like there was a bull’s-eye on my chest. I had to put ice all over my body.”

Still, Benes left with a 5-2 lead after six innings. Jose Melendez came in for two innings, and Craig Lefferts pitched the ninth for his 17th save, only his third save since June 22.

“We’ve got two months to go now to make this deficit up,” Riddoch said. “I know people don’t think we have a chance, but we’re still fighting, and that says something.

“The same goes with me. I know I’m going to fight to the end. After everything I’ve gone through, I’m stronger now. I’m a better person for it.

“I know it’s not my call. I’m not the one making the final decision. But I’m not walking away. I’m just not.

“If they don’t want me, they’re going to have to fire me. And I’m not going down easily.”