Padres Viewing Trouble Times

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch doesn’t listen to talk shows or read newspapers. He refuses to succumb to negative distractions.

The trouble is that after losing 4-0 Monday to the St. Louis Cardinals in front of 12,211 fans, Riddoch no longer can ignore the loud grumbling at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Discontent surrounds him.

The Padres, who got only four hits off rookie Mark Clark, have lost four of the last five games and are on the brink of falling out the National League West race before the All-Star break. The skid has left Riddoch in danger of losing his job.

Joe McIlvaine, Padres general manager, refused to say whether he is contemplating a managerial change, but sources say Riddoch is under close scrutiny.

Several players, sources say, have met privately with McIlvaine to voice their displeasure with Riddoch. The latest meeting involved a pitcher who wished to remain anonymous.

There’s little doubt that if the Padres (43-40) don’t soon win, Riddoch might be fired before the end of the month.

Considering the Padres have been hard hit by injuries this season--losing two starting pitchers and catcher Benito Santiago--will Riddoch last the season?

“I just won’t comment on that,” McIlvaine said. “I’d like to see what we can do when we’re healthy.”

By the time the Padres get healthy, they might be spectators to a pennant race. They fell 7 1/2 games behind the division-leading Cincinnati Reds, and the prospect of them winning the division gets more remote daily.

If the Reds (49-31) continue at the same pace the rest of the season, the Padres would have to win 56 of their remaining 88 games. Most difficult is that the Padres have only 31 home games remaining after the All-Star break. The Reds have 44.

“I don’t know what will happen, I really don’t,” Riddoch said. “It’s just been so frustrating because it’s like we’ve been playing on five cylinders all year.”

The Padres can’t recall a recent game in which they’ve been more lackadaisical. They made Clark look like Bob Gibson. They gave first baseman Andres Galarraga a lift and offered the Cardinal offense some respect.

The Padres provided the most excitement in the seventh inning. And it had nothing to do with their bats.

With Padre left fielder Phil Stephenson standing at the plate, the crowd in the right-field corner started buzzing. Soon, the Cardinals bullpen began clearing. There pranced a skunk.

The skunk ran through the bullpen, broke toward the infield, backtracked toward center field, and slinked along the outfield wall before finally being captured in the Padre bullpen.

The delay lasted four minutes . . . about as long as it took the Padre clubhouse to empty after bitter defeat.

It was a game that not even Padre starter Craig Lefferts, 10-6, could rescue. Although he easily has been the Cinderella story of the Padres’ first half this season, he was welcomed back to reality in cruel fashion.

Lefferts lasted only 4 2/3 innings, surrendering 10 hits and four earned runs. It was since the most runs he has given up in a game since May 1, and second-shortest outing since April 20.

This hardly was an offensive machine that was blistering Lefferts. The Cardinals had gone six consecutive games without scoring more than a run in a game. They had scored only four runs in their last 60 innings.

This night, they had four runs in the first four innings.

The Cardinals’ offensive explosion came from unusual places. Catcher Todd Zeile, who had only one RBI since June 23, drove in the game’s first run on a first-inning double. He finished the game with a career-high four hits.

Clark, who won his first game of the season, obtained the first RBI of his career in the fourth inning with a two-out single.

Still, there was no bigger surprise than the occurrence of the third inning. Galarraga, who has failed to obtain a single hit this entire season with two outs and runners in scoring position, came to the plate with a .185 batting average and measly .262 slugging percentage.

Lefferts fell behind on a 3-and-1 count. The next pitch was a fastball over the middle of the plate. It landed in the left-field seats.

Galarraga, who had gone 126 at-bats without a home run before Sunday, suddenly had two homers in five at-bats.

It also was quite unusual for Lefferts to see zeroes on the Padre half of the scoreboard. They had been averaging 6.4 runs a game in his 10 victories.

Right fielder Tony Gwynn, who left the game after the sixth inning with back spasms that have plagued him since Friday, didn’t produce the Padres first hit until the fourth inning. They didn’t get another until Darrin Jackson’s infield single in the seventh inning.

“It was ugly,” one Padre said. “We just stunk.”

Who would ever have guessed the Padres’ brightest moment was when exiled bullpen stopper Randy Myers pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out two batters.

“At least I got some work in,” Myers said. “You get four or five days off, and you’re not going to have the control. I pitched two games in a row, and you see what happens?

“My confidence never has been at a point where it needs to be rebuilt, I just need to pitch.”