PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Riddoch Gets Some Bad News About an Old Friend From Home

The phone call Padre Manager Greg Riddoch didn’t want to get came on Friday morning.

Tom Runnells, the new former manager of the Montreal Expos, was calling to give his friend the news. After 37 games, with the Expos 17-20 and in fourth place in the NL East, Runnells was fired Friday morning. Expo coach Felipe Alou has been promoted to replace him.

“He’s in shock right now,” said Riddoch, whose house in Greeley, Colo., is about five blocks from Runnells’. “(Thirty-seven) games to manage? Big chance.”

The sarcasm in Riddoch’s voice was obvious.

“Sometimes it doesn’t boil down to what kind of job you do,” Riddoch continued. “Sometimes it boils down to the fact that they would rather have somebody else.”

Riddoch said he didn’t know if Runnells was expecting the ax even though many published reports predicted that Runnells would be among the first to be fired this summer.

“I don’t know if you see it coming,” said Riddoch, who once managed Runnells in American Legion ball, then worked with him in the Cincinnati organization. “There was a lot of rumbling about me last year.

“You don’t know what to say. It’s like somebody passes away in your family. There’s nothing to say except to be supportive.”

Riddoch said he and Runnells spoke for about 10 minutes sometime after Expo General Manager Dan Duquette stopped by Runnells’ house to deliver the news.

“I think part of it is that the general manager who brought (Runnells) in is no longer there,” Riddoch said, referring to former Montreal and current Florida Marlin GM Dave Dombrowski. “That makes a difference.”

Part of it, too, Riddoch said, is that Runnells is a young manager who is still relatively anonymous.

“How many times did you hear of (Kansas City Manager) Hal McRae being fired when he was 2-20?” Riddoch asked.

Batting practice for both the Padres and Cubs was canceled before Friday’s game because it actually rained in San Diego.

Although a hastily arranged grounds crew including Padre coaches Jimmy Snyder and Rob Picciolo and Padre bullpen catcher Ron Oglesby pulled the tarp onto the field at 4:30 p.m., the game was never in danger of being called.

In fact, a game has not been rained out in San Diego since Sept. 28, 1983, when a Padre-Dodger game was called off. Including Friday’s game, the Padres have played 668 consecutive home games without a rainout.

Still, no batting practice and the rain kept the Padres amused.

“What is this?” pitcher Craig Lefferts exclaimed when he saw the rain after walking out of the tunnel and into the Padre dugout for batting practice. “You’ve got to be kidding me! It’s never rained here.”

Fred McGriff was amused to see the tarp being unrolled.

“In Toronto, we’d be playing,” he said, grinning.

The best rain line, though, came from Tony Gwynn as he talked about the tarp first being unrolled.

“I thought there would be a family of skunks coming out from behind,” Gwynn said.

He was serious, too.

“In the sixth inning of the last night game (Wednesday), in the field level seats, there was a skunk coming right down the stairs,” Gwynn said. “He came right down, jumped onto the field and went right behind the tarp.

“When they pulled the tarp out, I figured, hey, there would be six, seven, eight skunks coming out like somebody took their home.”

Gwynn, who fractured the tip of his right middle finger by slamming a car door on it Tuesday, took batting practice for the first time since the injury and also caught some fly balls in the outfield.

“It felt good,” he said. “It should be feeling great because it shouldn’t have happened, but it happened and I’m dealing with it.”

Riddoch left the second spot blank in the lineup he posts in the clubhouse in hopes that Gwynn could return, but after batting practice they decided he wasn’t quite ready.

“I’m a day or two away,” Gwynn said.

Second baseman Kurt Stillwell (tendinitis, right wrist) said he will return to the lineup tonight. . . . Pitchers Dave Eiland (disabled list, back) and Gene Harris (disqualified list) each pitched two innings of a simulated game early Friday. Harris said he is ready to go at any time; Eiland said he needs a couple of more simulated games. . . . Pitcher Larry Andersen (disabled list, forearm) said he will throw off a mound again today. He last threw off a mound Wednesday and said he was more sore Thursday and Friday than he expected.