Fernandez Joins Group, Takes Shots at Riddoch

In a season that shortstop Tony Fernandez should be savoring, he instead feels only pain and scorn.

It doesn’t matter to him that he made the All-Star team this season. He could care less that he silenced his critics by being a competent leadoff hitter.

Fernandez grimaces at the thought of returning to the Padres next season. After the Padres’ 5-4, 11-inning loss to the Dodgers at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium on Monday night, he wondered aloud if he even wanted to come back.

“It’d be very tough coming back,” Fernandez said, “especially if they don’t make some changes.”

Such as?

“Good changes,” he said. “You know what I mean. You can figure it out. You don’t need the words to come out of my mouth.”

Fernandez is the latest player to be critical of Padre Manager Greg Riddoch’s managerial style, joining numerous veterans who already have complained.

“How can I be happy, or anybody be happy,” he said, “with this season. It’s been unbelievable.”

The Padres (76-67), who have lost five of their last seven games--including five of their last seven to the Dodgers--no longer are in a pennant race. They are 11 1/2 games out of first place.

Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, has yet to announce whether Riddoch will return to the 1993 season, but Fernandez is hoping for a change.

“You’ve got to have the manager behind you, 100 percent,” Fernandez said, “and I don’t feel that happening here. I don’t feel the people here are behind the players like they should be, and that begins with the manager.

“He doesn’t give us the protection.”

Fernandez, a four-time All-Star, is most critical of Riddoch for not giving him enough days off, and failing to argue in the players’ behalf on close plays. He has played in 137 of the Padres’ 143 games this year, and questions why Riddoch hasn’t used Craig Shipley more often.

“You’ve got to know when to give a guy a day off,” Fernandez said. “Past managers I’ve had know when to give me a day off. But not this manager.

“They don’t know how to use me right here.”

Said Riddoch: “I ask him all the time. I leave it up to him. I tell him if you need (a day off), come in and let me know.”

Fernandez: “I’m not the kind of player that says, ‘Get me out of there.’ When you’ve got a baseball team, you’ve got to use all your players.”

Riddoch, growing irritated: “I’m trying to devise a system now that I can hook up to the brain to figure out what they want two days in advance.”

It appears that Fernandez may be out for awhile. He sustained a hyper-extended knee during the game, and is expected to miss at least the rest of the Dodger series.

Fernandez, however, is just as agitated by what he says is Riddoch’s passive approach with umpires. He believes Riddoch should be arguing more often with umpires on close plays.

“This whole year there has been a lot of close players, but where’s the manager?” Fernandez said. “He doesn’t want to come out on the field and argue.

“I’ve been in the big leagues for nine years, so I know something about this game. Believe me, that’s something you want from your manager.”

The Padres have a $2.3 million option on Fernandez’s contract for the 1993 season, which they are expected to exercise. Fernandez is eligible for free agency after the 1993 season, and if he doesn’t see changes, he won’t be around for 1994.

He says if the Padres aren’t going to make a competitive bid for free agent catcher Benito Santiago, why would they make one for him?

“I don’t think you can be a good team without having a good catcher,” Fernandez said. “The key to any good team is having a good team that’s strong up the middle.

“Benny’s just getting better and better. We won’t be as good a team without him. They know that, and we know that.”

The Padres are having enough trouble as it is. The Dodgers have beaten the Padres eight times this season, the most of any team in the National League. The Padres dropped to 5-12 in extra-inning games, the worst record in the league.

The Dodgers certainly did their part in helping the Padres win. Despite fielding a lineup that’s more suited for triple-A Albuquerque, the Dodgers made blunder after blunder.

Let’s see now, they made two more errors . . . turned a routine fly ball into a double . . . made two absurd baserunning blunders . . . committed a balk . . . missed a cutoff man . . . fouled up a sacrifice bunt attempt . . . and generally played all-around lousy baseball.

Now you know why the Dodgers (58-86) are assured of finishing in last place for the first time since 1905.

It’s also why a season-low crowd of 8,690 bothered to show up at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, the Padres’ smallest crowd since Sept. 17, 1991.

Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia drove in the game-winning run in the 11th inning with a single off Padre reliever Jeremy Hernandez. The Padres threatened in the bottom of the 11th, but their rally stalled when Roger McDowell induced a pop-up from Kevin Wrd, and a double-play ball by Shipley.

The game also left Padre starter Greg Harris winless since May 31. He is 0-3 with a 5.29 ERA in six starts since his return from the disabled list, yielding six hits and four earned runs in seven innings.

Dodger starter Kevin Gross allowed eight hits and four runs (three runs) in eight innings. He was two innings away from his second consecutive victory over the Padres when second baseman Lenny Harris booted Oscar Azocar’s ground ball in the eighth, which turned into the game-tying run.

Triple Crown Watch

*Batting Average

Gary Sheffield, Padres: .333

Andy Van Slyke, Pittsburgh: .331

John Kruk, Philadelphia: .327

*Home Runs

Fred McGriff, Padres: 34

Gary Sheffield, Padres: 31

Barry Bonds, Pittsburgh: 28

*Runs Batted In

Darren Daulton, Philadelphia: 100

Gary Sheffield, Padres: 95

Terry Pendleton, Braves: 95