PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / SCOTT MILLER : Does Lefferts’ Victory Total (10) Make Him Contender for All-Stars?

The Craig Lefferts Becomes a Starter story was hard enough to believe. But Craig Lefferts Becomes an All-Star? Has this become fantasyland?

The NL pitching staff will not be named until next week, but the Lefferts/All-Star team question is becoming more intriguing.

Lefferts, at 10-5, is one of only three NL pitchers with 10 or more victories. Atlanta’s Tom Glavine (12 victories) and Pittsburgh’s Randy Tomlin (10) are the others.

Strictly by the numbers, it appears Lefferts deserves a spot on the All-Star staff.

“He’s one of the top three guys in wins in the league,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “He’s certainly pitched well enough.”

The biggest problem may be Lefferts’ teammates. Fred McGriff, Tony Gwynn, Gary Sheffield and Tony Fernandez are all deserving as well, but how many people from one team can be selected?

“It would be nice, it would be great for him, but who deserves to be there, that’s a tough question,” Padre pitching coach Mike Roarke said. “A lot depends on which other pitchers are available.”

As for Lefferts, he just attempts to avoid the subject.

“My job is to start every fifth day,” he said. “I’m not worrying about anything else.”

Does Lefferts think he deserves to be there?

“That’s not for me to decide,” he said. “Let somebody else decide. It would be an honor to make it--I’ve never made it. Beyond that, I’m just worrying about Monday (when he starts again).”

Roarke is among those who doesn’t think it should be solely the manager’s job to select the non-starters for the All-Star team.

“To be fair to the manager, really, the league should pick them,” Roarke said. “If you don’t pick a pitcher, who’s fault is it? The manager’s. How many guys can you take? And if someone’s not picked, it will be, ‘Oh, (Atlanta Manager Bobby) Cox doesn’t like me.”’

Catcher Benito Santiago hit off a tee before the game. That doesn’t sound like big news until you realize it is the first time since Santiago broke his right pinky finger May 30 in St. Louis that he has swung a bat.

“It felt good,” Santiago said.

He also said it hurt to swing the bat but wasn’t worried by that.

“That’s normal,” he said. “I’m going to have that for a while.”

Santiago said he has been working hard throughout his rehabilitation.

“That little finger gave me a lot of pain, man,” he said. “I didn’t know it was going to be that bad. But I’ve been taking care of it day by day.

“I love this game, man.”

Padre trainer Bob Day said Santiago should be ready to play in another week.

More All-Star Game: Riddoch’s wife, Linda, is in town now, and the two will attend the game with their youngest son, Raliegh.

It will be Riddoch’s first All-Star game. And no, he didn’t have a problem getting tickets.

“You’ve got a little pull when you’re the manager of the host city,” he said.

Montreal’s visit is the first since Riddoch’s close friend, Tom Runnells, was fired as Expo manager. Riddoch said he didn’t particularly have any bad feelings entering the series.

“It’s the nature of the game,” he said. “It will happen to me and it will happen to others, too.

“It’s like when we played them before. It had no impact when a friend was in the other dugout. Once the game starts, (friendship) is a whole different situation.”

Right fielder Tony Gywnn left the game after the third inning because of back spasms in his lower back. . . . Third baseman Gary Sheffield, who has been bothered with a sprained left thumb since Sunday, remained in the starting lineup Thursday. The thumb has improved, he said. . . . The Padres have changed the starting time for their game with Philadelphia on July 10 to 7:35 p.m. to accommodate ESPN. That’s the Padres’ second time change next week--the July 8 game against St. Louis will begin at 6:05 p.m. because of a postgame concert by the Temptations and Four Tops.