THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 20, 1994 TAG: 9408200375
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
No time would have been good for the Norfolk Tides' magic at The Diamond to dissolve. But when it finally did Friday in a 1-0 loss to the Richmond Braves, it was especially hard to reconcile.
In a game aired nationally on WTBS and played before a sellout crowd of 12,316, the Tides lost for the first time in eight games in Richmond's ballpark.
``When we looked up there at the sky as it started getting dark and saw that full moon, we figured something weird might happen,'' Richmond manager Grady Little said.
A Richmond victory here over the Tides was strange enough, and how it was accomplished only added to the novelty - and to Norfolk's aggravation.
A guy who went 0-for-4, Jarvis Brown, essentially beat the Tides with his speed and arm.
In a place where they have regularly reached double figures in hits, the Tides were limited to six by Mike Birkbeck and three relievers who worked an inning apiece after Birkbeck left with a toe injury.
Acrobatic centerfielder Pat Howell, whom the Tides expect to catch nearly everything from pole to pole, lost a critical single in the lights that preceded Richmond's run.
And it didn't figure that lefthander Jason Jacome would lose this one. He turned in a standard strong performance - a five-hitter over seven innings - in his first start since coming down from the Mets before the major league players strike.
But it was Jacome's fielding error in the fourth, followed by the tainted single to center and a sacrifice fly, that produced the defeat which dropped the Tides back to 7 1/2 games behind the second-place Braves in the West Division with just 14 games left.
``That's a good ballgame,'' Little said. ``It's good that in a nationally televised game, that both teams could put together a ballgame like that. We were fortunate to come out with a victory.''
Especially the way Jacome looked. Despite what he called a shaky warmup, Jacome was perfect for three innings until Brown started the fourth with a dribbler up the first-base line.
Jacome scampered over and intended to pick up the ball and tag Brown, but the ball rolled under his glove.
``It was an easy play,'' Jacome said. ``I was thinking what I was going to do with it before I got to it. I looked up for a second to see how close he was, and when I looked down, it was past me.''
Brian Kowitz then ripped a sinking liner that Howell saw, then lost. As Howell slid to where he thought the ball would land and knocked it down with his body, Brown alertly sprinted to third and barely beat the relay throw.
Mike Mordecai hit a sacrifice fly, and the game's only run was in.
Then In the next inning, Brown foiled the Tides' best scoring chance with a throw to the plate that nailed Shawn Hare. Hare had doubled to lead off the fifth, and after Joe Kmak and Greg Graham struck out, Howell singled sharply to right. by CNB