ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
OK, so this Larry Walker fellow might just be good enough to get out of A-ball.
It was not unexpected that the National League All-Star would make a healthy contribution to the Salem Avalanche during his two-game rehabilitation assignment, even though he sat on the shelf for nearly two months after breaking his collarbone. His bat certainly looked healthy enough against Carolina League pitching.
Even though the Larry Walker era ended Thursday night with an 0-2 record following Salem's 4-2 loss to the Winston-Salem Warthogs, the Colorado Rockies outfielder put on a good show with his second leisurely 2-for-4 performance, highlighted by a pair of doubles.
``I had a blast down here,'' said Walker, whose next stop on the road back to Coors Field will be with Class AAA Colorado Springs this weekend. ``I'll miss it. It's a great bunch of guys down here. They have fun.''
They had fun despite losing. For the second night in a row, Salem's bats looked like they needed to go to rehab. Walker scored all three Avalanche runs in his two-game visit.
``Without him, we don't score nothing,'' said Bill McGuire, Salem's manager.
Too bad Walker can't stick around. His presence overshadowed the fact Salem finished 2-5 on this homestand, dropped to 16-28 in the Carolina League's second half and was 9-11 at home during that same stretch.
But most of the Thirsty Thursday crowd of 4,396 wasn't thirsting for victory as much as hungering to see Walker put on another hitting clinic. In his two-game purple-pinstripe stint, Walker was 4-for-8 with three doubles and a mammoth homer struck in Wednesday's 4-1 loss.
He doubled down the first-base line in the first Thursday night and scored when Nate Holdren followed with a two-bagger. After grounding into a double play in the third then hitting a smash back to the mound in the fifth, he doubled to the base of the left-center field wall in the eighth and scored on Tal Light's single.
``It's tough to tell anything after two days,'' said Walker, whose left shoulder and collarbone were wrapped in ice after the game. ``I don't think I made a lot of progress, but I didn't go backward. That last time up, I was swinging for the lights and everything felt good. That's about as hard as I can swing.''
Also obscured with the pomp of Walker's appearance was the best Carolina League outing yet by right-hander Chandler Martin, who is 0-7 since being called up June 20 from Asheville, where he was 9-0.
Martin gave up four hits and three runs (two unearned) in a season-high seven innings. Winston-Salem had seven hits. Salem's 10 hits yielded but two runs. Right-hander Paul Runyan (1-0), who pitched an inning of relief Monday, scattered nine hits in winning his first start.
The Warthogs used their trademark speed to manufacture their runs on a paucity of hits and four steals, even going so far as to plate their first run without a base hit when Justin Towle reached on catcher's interference by Blake Barthol and eventually scored to make it 1-1 in the second.
The Warthogs have burned baselines around the league in accumulating a league-high 176 stolen bases.
``That's how we have to play,'' said Phillip Wellman, the Warthogs' manager. ``When you play like that, you have to execute offensively. Everybody on our ballclub has a stolen base. If we get a guy to second base, we can score him with a solid hit.''
Barthol led Salem with three hits, but once again, Walker stole the show.
``It was a pleasure to have him here,'' McGuire said. ``All the guys could watch him take batting practice and see his approach to the game. He had a lot of fun with the guys. He's big-league all the way.''
SNOWBALLS: Pookie Jones, who hasn't played since re-injuring an ankle Monday, gave up his No.33 to Walker for the past two games. Jones wore No.13 on Thursday. ... Winston-Salem (24-20) is the only Southern Division team with a winning record.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. National League All-Star outfielderby CNBLarry Walker obliges autograph seekers before Thursday night's
Avalanche game at Salem Memorial
Stadium.