Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508150102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's how Friday's doubleheader ended at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium, and the Bulls got a split with a 5-4 victory. What a difference two weeks make!
In the Avalanche's last home stand at Municipal Field, Nate Holdren's blast would have been a two-run homer. Salem sweeps and ties first-place Kinston in the loss column in the Carolina League's Southern Division race.
For the 44 summers pro baseball has been played in Salem since 1939, it has been played according to the dimensions of Municipal Field. Dialing long distance was easy.
It's a new area code up the hill at Memorial Stadium. The fences are twice as high. The power alleys are much deeper, and the wind doesn't seem to blow out as often as it did in the confining confines in East Bottom.
``Down there, with the nets [above the fences], we called it Arena Baseball,'' said Avalanche pitching coach Billy Champion. ``Like Arena Football, everything was smaller.''
What's smaller in the new park are Salem's numbers. Sure, statistics can lie, and the Avalanche only finishes its first home stand in the new yard tonight, but it doesn't take a Branch Rickey to see how the game has changed for the local team.
``It's a game we need to play now,'' said Avalanche manager Bill Hayes. ``It's the game the way it's supposed to be played.''
In the first six games at Memorial, entering Saturday night's contest with Durham, fans had seen three homers and only one by Salem - John Giudice's shot in Friday's nightcap - and that one hit the top of the 20-foot fence in left-center before skimming into history.
In the 49 games at Municipal this season, 121 homers were belted. That's an average of 2.5 per game. Salem had 60 of those. The Avalanche has had 37 homers in 63 road games, nine fewer than its opponents.
``Offensively, the old park helped us,'' Hayes said, ``but it was a disadvantage development-wise, because it wasn't the game the way it's supposed to be taught. However, you knew you were never out of it, no matter how much you trailed.''
Hayes believes Memorial Stadium ``plays even bigger than the numbers,'' which include 367 feet to the power alleys and 401 to center, plus those double-deck fence signs.
``And the wind hasn't blown out yet,'' Hayes said. ``Opening night in batting practice, we hit three balls out. Frederick hit one. Down the street, we would have hit 30.''
Besides the Avalanche's supply of baseballs lasting longer now, there also will be less pencil lead used by fans coloring in scorecard boxes for runs scored.
At Municipal, the average game this season had 10.8 runs, including 5.29 by Salem. The game average is 4.7 runs at the new park, with the Avalanche scoring 2.17.
Salem's team batting average was .280 at Municipal Field. It was .224 in the first six Memorial games, with only six extra-base hits and three stolen bases.
That's one reason Hayes and Champion were working with Avalanche runners on getting leads and jumps off second base three hours before Friday's double dip. Salem is last in the league in base thefts, but there's more to running the bases well than just being a burglar.
``The pitchers love this new park,'' said Champion, an eight-year major-leaguer with Philadelphia and Milwaukee. ``They could make a good pitch in the old place and give up a three-run homer. Here, they can make a mistake and there's a good chance they won't get hurt.
``The home run hitters will still hit them. The 7-8-9 guys in the order aren't going to come up and launch them out like they did in the old park.''
Salem pitchers gave up 61 homers at Municipal in 434 innings, and two in the first 56 innings at Memorial.
The club earned run average is 4.19 for the year. That includes a respectable 3.90 on the road, a spectacular 1.45 at Memorial and a scary 4.91 at Municipal.
Champion spends a lot of time on the top step of the dugout watching his pitchers, but at Municipal he wasn't there to pound them the way hitters often did.
``I made a point of staying away from talking about'' the short fences, he said. ``I pounded in them `the new park ... the new park,' [and what it would mean]. In the old place, I was more a psychologist than a pitching coach.''
Maybe the numbers will jump - with the ball - with the return of torrid weather, but Salem's Colorado farmhands aren't expecting their new park to suddenly become another Coors Field.
Yes, there's a new air about baseball in Salem. It doesn't appear those runs will come in avalanches any more.
by CNB