THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407310198
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
It's not his long-suffering shoulder this time, but a hernia that has interrupted another baseball season for the Tides' Tito Navarro.
A shortstop converted to centerfield this year, Navarro will be examined by the Mets team doctor Wednesday in New York and faces possible surgery. It's just further aggravation for the 23-year old, who has had surgery twice in the past two years to repair ligaments in his right shoulder.
``Injuries have been killing me for three years,'' said Navarro, who hasn't played a whole season at full strength since 1991. ``I can't run at all. Before, it wasn't that bad; at least I could run. Now, every time I run I pull something.''
Navarro, a switch-hitter batting .275 in 51 games, said he first felt pain in his right groin about six weeks ago. He continued to play, but the problem only worsened. He last started July 21 and hasn't played since pinch-hitting the next day.
Last season, while recovering from shoulder surgery that forced him to sit out 1992, Navarro hit .282 in 96 games, almost exclusively as a designated and pinch hitter.
Nevertheless, the Mets brought him to the big leagues in September. Navarro, still considered one of the Mets' top prospects, had one hit in 17 at-bats.
He spent the first six weeks of this season with Class-A St. Lucie learning to play the outfield and had impressed the Tides staff with his skills.
GOPHER-LESS: Reliever Mike Cook has pitched 53 2/3 innings this season (45 with the Tides, the rest with Rochester) and has yet to yield a home run. All other International League pitchers with as many innings have given up at least one homer.
Cook also was one of the toughest in the league to go deep against last season. In 81 1/3 innings with Rochester, he gave up three home runs. That was the fifth-fewest among pitchers with at least 81 innings.
Tides pitching coach Bob Apodaca said Cook, who leads the Tides with 12 saves, fits the usual description of a pitcher less vulnerable to homers - slightly wild, hard thrower, lots of high fastballs.
``The best control pichers this game's ever seen have usually given up a lot of home runs - Catfish Hunter, Ferguson Jenkins, Robin Roberts,'' Apodaca said. ``Hitters know they're always around the plate with their pitches. It's just a matter of them missing their location slightly.''
Cook, Apodaca said, ``basically stays away with a fastball he cuts, so a righthander's going to have to hit it the opposite way on him. With a lefthander, he makes sure he gets the ball in on him.''
CONTROVERSIAL NOTION: The Braves are taking heat in their hometown for a proposal they've concocted called the Richmond Braves Players Community Action Pool. It was formed to raise $4,500 to help the 15 Braves who were suspended in their recent skirmish with the Tides pay their $300 fines.
The idea: The Braves would do fund-raising appearances and put the money toward the $4,500 loan they've taken out. Anything beyond $4,500 would go to a ``special need'' in the area.
Pitcher Brian Bark was quoted as saying: ``We've done lots for the community in the three years I've been here. I don't think we ever asked the community to do anything for us (before).''
In a column, Howard Owen, sports editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, lambasted the Braves' gall and ridiculed them for essentially asking for handouts: ``To ask the people who (support and cheer) you to pay for your mistakes is either arrogant or extremely uninformed.''
NOTABLE: An American League scout following the Tides recently said third baseman Butch Huskey appears in the best shape of his career and has impressive speed. That's an accomplishment considering the weight problem that prompted the Mets to send Huskey to a nutrition clinic during spring training. hitting streak and was batting .303 (10-for-33) in July to raise his average to .227. . . . Jim Vatcher's 11 outfield assists are second in the league to the 14 recorded by Pawtucket's Greg Blosser. However, Blosser also is tied for the league lead with eight outfield errors. . . . Charlotte's 77 errors are the fewest in the league by far. The next fewest are Richmond's 94. by CNB