THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406240679
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH: NORFOLK
For one, instead of being at Harbor Park, Tides manager Bobby Valentine was resting in a local hospital after a bout with an intestinal problem as third base coach Marlin McPhail ran the team.
{REST} For another, 22-year-old righthander Joe Roa actually won a game.
After pitching well enough to win four of his last five starts, but getting no decision each time, Roa gained his first victory since May 21 by holding Pawtucket to three hits over eight innings in his finest effort of the season.
Changing speeds well, Roa (4-2) walked no one and had retired 16 of 17 hitters before Jose Munoz reached base on an error to start the seventh. Two outs later, Greg Blosser's home run cut the Tides' lead to 4-2 and ruined Roa's bid for his first Triple-A shutout.
``I've had some good starts rolling, but I could see that sometimes I was trying to overthrow and do too much,'' Roa said. ``Today I decided not to worry so much about overthrowing and just try to hit my spots, more so than I have probably my last six or seven starts.
``I told myself, OK, go out there and let's see if you can go nine without walking anybody. That was my goal. In order to do that, I had to maybe take a little off my fastball at times and hit my spots.''
Roa yielded to Mike Cook for the ninth, and Cook got his eighth save despite giving up two hits. However, a line drive to first baseman Omar Garcia, who caught Munoz's shot and stepped on first for a double play, foiled a Pawsox rally.
It preserved the Tides' third consecutive victory, and fourth in a row over the best team in the International League. The Tides (34-40) swept three games from the Pawsox (46-27) in Rhode Island last month.
They prevailed Thursday by including four doubles and a triple among their seven hits. Butch Huskey's RBI double in the second scored Jeromy Burnitz, who tripled and scored the final run in the sixth. And Kmak doubled to start the fifth and scored on Doug Dascenzo's fielder's choice.
Presumably, Valentine still got to watch it, which was something else different about the night - a rare local TV appearance by the Tides.
Sentiment, though, played no factor, Kmak said.
``Granted, we thought about him. But I think we're still trying to go out every single game, play as hard as we can and try to win.''
by CNB