Green takes exception to Kemp comment

SAN DIEGO — Padres manager Andy Green read Matt Kemp’s address to Braves fans in the Player’s Tribune and said he appreciated Kemp’s sentiment and his candor. Green says he’ll be cheering for Kemp from afar — that is, until the Padres and Braves meet at the end of August.

But Green did take exception to something his former right fielder said.

Kemp, who was dealt to Atlanta on Saturday for Hector Olivera, told MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, “I’ve never really played in a baseball town before. So, I am excited about that.”

“That one bothers me,” Green said. “In a sense, too, because they’re going through the same things in Atlanta, and there’s more people showing up here right now. So this is a baseball town. It’s a baseball town that’s hungry for a winner, and I understand that. I don’t think there’s going to be anything more gratifying than, in time, when we deliver that.”

Indeed, the Padres’ average attendance of 28,910 per game ranks 16th in baseball, while the Braves are drawing an average of 23,200, good for 25th.

Green was quick to defend San Diego’s status as a baseball town, but noted that — like anywhere — fan involvement ebbs and flows with results on the field.

“Where we are right now, it’s not fun from a fan’s perspective, and understandably so,” Green said. “You wait a long time to have a winner on the field here in San Diego, you pay money to come here. There’s still 20-some thousand plus fans here everyday. We’re playing the Brewers on a Monday night after the Trade Deadline after a lot of our guys are …

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