Padres Seem to Excel in Making Complaints

I read and hear over and over again that Greg Riddoch should be fired as Padre manager, that he has failed to get the expected performance out of a “talented” team. Let’s look more carefully. As of Sept. 12, this “talented” team had outscored its opponents by exactly one run, 561-560. Truly talented teams--the Atlanta Braves, for example--outscore their opponents by wide margins, because talented means good offense (lots of runs scored) and good pitching (relatively few runs allowed). A team that has given up as many runs as it has scored would be expected to have about a .500 record. Yet what was the Padres’ winning percentage as of Sept. 12? It was .532! That’s 75-66. Maybe they’ve just been lucky. Or could it be that their manager has skillfully blended the limited talents of his team into a reasonably successful effort?

Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff are having superstar seasons. But at least five of the seven other lineup spots, including leadoff, have been only marginally productive if not downright awful. Riddoch has had to juggle an assortment of mostly journeymen pitchers--only two pitchers will complete the season with over 150 innings pitched--and has gotten pretty good results. In spite of this marginally talented team, Riddoch kept the Padres on the brink of contention until reality caught up with it this past week.

Greg Riddoch should not be fired. He should be Manager of the Year.

MATTHEW SHUGART, La Costa