ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604220010
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BASEBALL
SOURCE: RAY COX
His fastball is humming, his pitching arm feels fine and he was wed March 30.
So what's eating Philadelphia Phillies farmhand Nelson Metheney?
On the whole, he'd rather be in Pennsylvania. And if he can't be in Philadelphia, he'd just as soon be in Reading.
As it is, he's in neither. Instead, he's back with the Clearwater Phillies of the Florida State League, which wasn't at all what he had in mind heading into this season.
Not that Clearwater is such a disagreeable place, especially now, before it gets too hot. It's just that Metheney had his heart set on the Rust Belt.
``I was sure I was going to [Class] AA,'' said the Salem High School alumnus, who played his college ball at Clinch Valley. ``During spring training, I played with Group 1, which essentially is the AAA guys. Then I was playing for the Group 2 team, which is mostly the AA club.
``Then I didn't give up a run all spring''
Under those circumstances, it would stand to reason that his place on the Reading roster would be as secure as the White House living room.
Alas, in baseball, sometimes it isn't what you do but who you are. Metheney was neither Wayne Gomes nor Larry Mitchell. In other words, he was neither a first-round draft choice (Gomes) nor on the Phillies' 40-man roster (Mitchell).
``It's discouraging, obviously, but what can I do?'' said Metheney, 24. ``They moved Gomes back to the bullpen and converted Mitchell to a reliever. When I heard, I went to talk to the brass about it. They told me that I had good enough stuff to pitch in Double-A. But with Gomes and Mitchell ahead of me, I have to be patient.''
Maybe one of the most irksome points about the whole deal for Metheney is that Gomes and Mitchell gained the Phillies' attention when they were playing college baseball in Virginia, Gomes at Old Dominion and Mitchell at James Madison.
After some reflection (and one run allowed in his first nine innings pitched this year) Metheney had simmered down a little.
``If I keep pitching well, somebody is bound to see me,'' he said.
CLYBURN UPDATE: Danny Clyburn, a player fans of the old Salem Buccaneers may remember from his days in the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization, has surfaced down on the Baltimore Orioles' farm.
During spring training, Clyburn was voted the leading position player in the Orioles' minor-league camp. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound slugger had his best season last year after moving to High Desert of the California League, batting
QUICK PROMOTION: Another development in the Orioles' organization involved the promotion of Frederick Keys manager Tim Blackwell to the same post with Bowie of the Class AA Eastern League this past week.
The mustachioed Blackwell's last Carolina League game was at Lynchburg on Monday night. The Keys had been in Salem during the weekend.
Promoted to manager at Frederick was Keys coach Julio Garcia, who had been ticketed to manage the Orioles' Appalachian League team in Bluefield. A replacement has not been named for Bluefield. Garcia, incidentally, was a player for manager Rocky Bridges' Salem Buccaneers in 1989.
Garcia, it would seem, knew the eloquent Bridges well.
``Rocky always had something to say,'' he said.
BIBBY INDUCTED: Pitching coach Jim Bibby of the Lynchburg Hillcats, maybe the most famous Carolina League personality ever, has been inducted into the Lynchburg Area Sports Hall of Fame.
Bibby, in his 12th season as a Lynchburg coach, is a stranger nowhere he goes in the Carolina League. In Salem, for example, somebody always will yell, ``Hey, Bibby!'' and the big man always obliges with a smile and a wave.
LINE DRIVES ONLINE: Instant Sports, Inc., one of many new Internet-related businesses, is offering animated, pitch-by-pitch updates of every major-league game in progress at a given time this year. The free service, accessed at http://www.InstantSports.com, provides updates including who is pitching and batting, ball and strike counts, number of outs, base runner position, line and box score and detailed descriptions of every play.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB