THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 3, 1995 TAG: 9507030138
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
The Norfolk Tides, who are doing practically everything right, had a runner, Rey Ordonez, score from second on a ground ball to first base Sunday. The Richmond Braves, who are as inept as any team in the International League at the moment, made three errors and allowed four unearned runs.
The Tides gave their pitcher, Chris Roberts, the bunt and the hit-and-run signs in subsequent at-bats, and the former Florida State outfielder delivered a sacrifice and a single to help compose a 9-6 victory at Harbor Park. The Braves gave their pitcher, Jason Schmidt, the bunt sign twice with men on base. Schmidt failed each time.
The Tides saw Derek Lee walked on purpose to bring up Butch Huskey, their leading RBI-man, with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth. Huskey poked a two-run single to right, then added a two-run home run to left-center later in the game. The Braves, after surfacing for four runs in the ninth and having a man on second with no outs against Phil Stidham, had their next three hitters retired meekly, with only one hitting the ball fair.
Bottom line: the Tides' fairy tale season continued with their 12th victory in the last 14 games and their fifth in a row. The Braves lost for the 12th time in 13 games and fell into a second-place tie with Toledo in the IL West, 10 1/2 games behind Norfolk.
Against the Tides, Richmond manager Grady Little said, ``You can't afford to make bad pitches. You can't afford to not execute. You can't afford to boot balls. They'll capitalize just like they did in the three-game series here. They've got good pitching and it keeps them in the game till the other team messes up.''
Even better news for the Tides than Roberts' performance with the bat was his outing on the mound. Dogged by recent shoulder trouble and winless since May 11, Roberts went seven innings to even his record at 5-5.
``I hope I won't have to go through another streak like that this year, or forever,'' said Roberts, who had three losses and three no-decisions in his previous six starts. ``I've had some trouble with my shoulder, but I think I came back and pitched well tonight.''
Roberts was just as proud of his hitting, though. His hit-and-run single in the four-run fifth helped the Tides' open a 5-0 lead.
``I kind of expected (the sign). Toby has told me he has confidence in me handling the bat,'' Roberts said of manager Toby Harrah. ``He thinks I have a pretty good feel offensively.''
And for the first time in a while, pitching coach Bob Apodaca said, Roberts showed a consistent touch with his deliveries.
``Too many times he's been up in the strike zone and sinkerball pitchers don't pitch up in the zone,'' Apodaca said. ``He made a real effort to get everything down. I saw a big improvement.
``The next start is important, because that would give him two sharp games under his belt. Ability and confidence is a tough, tough combination to beat.''
The Tides have told the rest of the league a little bit about that all season.
NOTABLE: Huskey moved into second place in the league with 13 home runs. He has the Tides' last four home runs and is the only Tide to hit a home run since June 16. The blast was also the Tides' first in eight games. ... Carl Everett was ejected from the game in the eighth inning by umpire Sam Holbrook on a called third strike. ``I just kept saying, `The ball was low, the ball was low, the ball was low,' and he threw me out,'' Everett said. ``I didn't even tell him that he (stunk).'' ... Ed Alicea ended an 0-for-21 slide with a seventh-inning single. ... Omar Garcia sat out the game with a bruised little toe on his right foot. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Christopher Reddick
Tides second baseman Edwin Alicea leapfrogs over Eddie Perez after
the Richmond runner was called out.
by CNB