ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
Bad habits revisited themselves upon David Nied and the Salem Avalanche on Thursday night.
Neither Nied nor his teammates resembled their recent selves in a 15-8 loss to the Durham Bulls that harkened back to the disappointment that has marked this season for both parties.
Twenty-four hours after cuffing rehabilitating big-leaguer Bill Swift for seven hits and three runs in four innings, the free-swinging Bulls chased Nied in the third in taking an 8-1 lead.
Nied, whose struggles for the Colorado Rockies and their Class AAA affiliate at Colorado Springs have led him to Salem, in no way resembled the pitcher who had given up two earned runs or fewer in all four Salem appearances. His ball stayed up in the strike zone and his sinker stayed flat.
``I pitched like I did in Colorado Springs,'' Nied said. ``I really don't know why. I'll chalk it up as a bad game and try to stop it right there. I felt good about the way I've been pitching, then I go out and pitch the way I have for the past year-and-a-half. That's not good.''
Nied (2-2) was hit harder in 21/3 innings than he had been in his first four outings with Salem. He was strafed for six hits and eight runs, five of which were earned. In the process, his ERA nearly doubled, from 1.63 to 3.00.
The game was the worst of a 6-3 homestand for Salem.
``You can't take way the good things we did on this homestand,'' said Bill McGuire, the Avalanche's manager. ``We played some of our best baseball of the second half.''
Except for Thursday. The tone was established from the outset, when Salem made three errors in a comical top of the first that ended with the home team trailing 4-0. It would have been nice to have blamed the miscues on poor field conditions, but that was not to be, since grounds boss Stan Macko was named the Carolina League's groundskeeper of the year Thursday.
On a night when the defense sprang holes like a torpedoed ship and pitchers were used as personal batting tees, Salem's most memorable play came on defense and on the mound. That was in the top of the fifth, when Avalanche reliever Patrick McClinton snagged Gus Kennedy's hard grounder behind his back and flipped to first for the out.
It was ``Plays of the Week'' material on a Plays of the Week Night. There were six errors, three by each side. Durham (29-29) finished with 17 hits, eight of them in a nine-man span in the eighth when 12 batters went to the plate and six runs were scored off Scott LaRock.
Salem (23-33) trailed 15-3 in the bottom of the eighth. Even Kyle Houser's RBI single and Blake Barthol's three-run homer only cut the Avalanche's deficit to a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
It was so bad in the eighth, Durham manager Randy Ingle did everything but throw a net over his runners to hold them at third rather than continue to pour it on.
``We had a good-sized lead; there's no need to rub it in,'' Ingle said. ``What goes around comes around. We just put the ball in play, found some holes and they helped us out a couple of times. It kind of multiplied.''
The Bulls were led at the plate by Gabe Whatley's four hits. Ray King (2-6) gave up three runs in five innings to pick up the victory.
``We hadn't been scoring any runs for him,'' Ingle said. ``We kind of made up for it tonight.''
SNOWBALLS: Avalanche third baseman Tal Light was scratched from the lineup because of a sore back. ... Ingle managed the Pulaski Braves to the 1991 Appalachian League championship. Ingle also managed the P-Braves in 1992. That team included current Bull Ray Nunez at third base. ... Swift will throw in the bullpen today in Denver to determine whether he will join the Colorado Rockies' rotation or go on the disabled list.
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LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB