THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507230211
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
It's not his call, obviously, but Norfolk Tides general manager Dave Rosenfield thinks the writing is all over the wall regarding the fate of his friend Dallas Green as the New York Mets' manager and the chances of another one of his buddies, Bobby Valentine, stepping into the job.
``To me, the only question is whether Dallas will finish the year,'' Rosenfield said of Green, who, it is widely believed, will not be rehired when his contract runs out after this season. ``My guess is, if they weren't playing well right now, I don't think he'd finish the year. I think he'd have been fired about this weekend if they were going the way they were.''
The Mets won six of their first seven games after the All-Star break to take some attention off Green. At the same time, Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines, perennial losers in the Japanese League, made a push above .500 and are in a playoff hunt for the first time in years.
Valentine managed the Tides last season and, among possible familiar candidates, would probably be the front-runner to take over the Mets, in Rosenfield's opinion, ahead of current Tides manager Toby Harrah or Mets third base coach Mike Cubbage, also a former Tides manager.
``Bobby would probably have to take a huge pay cut to come back,'' Rosenfield said. ``But I think he would.''
An ability to work with young players will be incumbent upon the Mets' manager next season. And while Valentine fits that bill, Rosenfield said, it is perplexing that Green has had such well-documented trouble dealing with kids, such as Jeromy Burnitz and Eric Hillman, breaking in to the majors.
``I've known him 25, 30 years. He was such a good farm director (with the Phillies),'' Rosenfield said. ``I wouldn't think he'd be so hard on young people. Dallas was the right guy at the time they brought him in (in May 1993). The inmates were running the asylum.''
Though his time might have passed with the Mets, Green probably won't walk away from the job before the season is over, Rosenfield said.
``I think he'll play it out,'' he said. ``He's a hard-nosed guy and not a quitter. I don't know that he wants to come back, but he'll want to finish what he started.''
LET THE MUSIC PLAY: One of last year's key promises in WTAR's package to win the Tides' radio rights will be seen Saturday when WKOC (93.7-FM), WTAR's sister station, co-hosts a concert at Harbor Park before the Tides-Toledo game.
In general, WGH's proposal to cover the Tides seemed superior to WTAR's. But the lure of promotion on both stations and a concert series, with the Tides taking a major portion of the income, was attractive to Rosenfield and team president Ken Young.
``It was certainly a factor,'' Rosenfield said of the concert series. ``It alone wouldn't have made the decision, but we thought it was an attraction that would be very nice to have in the ballpark and very successful financially.''
All tickets for the game and the concert, which features a local act to be announced, Jewel and Peter Murphy, are $9. The concert starts at 3 p.m. and the game has been pushed back to 8 to allow about an hour to tear down the stage that will be set up around second base. There will be no seating on the field.
A HUSKEY PACE: Butch Huskey set a blistering power and RBI pace in his three seasons before arriving in Norfolk last season. And after a dismal Triple-A debut, he is matching that clip this year.
Huskey averaged 23 home runs and 91 RBIs in Class A and Double-A before falling to 10 home runs and 57 RBIs last season. Through Friday, though, Huskey had 19 home runs and 67 RBIs, both tops in the league.
When Huskey, 23, goes up to the Mets, however, it won't be his first time. It is easy to forget that Huskey, because of injuries on the Mets, was an emergency call-up at the end of the 1993 season, after he had been home from Double-A a week.
Huskey batted .146 in 13 games, going 6 for 41 with 13 strikeouts, three of which came in his major league debut, when Houston's Darryl Kile no-hit the Mets.
NOTABLE: It appeared that Steve Springer might have reached the end of the line. But the longtime Tide signed last week with the independent Winnepeg Goldeyes. Springer, 34, one of three men to play as many as six seasons with the Tides, was released from the San Diego Padres' Las Vegas affiliate June 26. He had played in only 35 games and batted .218. . . . It has been a season of winning streaks for Tides pitchers. Jason Isringhausen won nine in a row before losing. Jimmy Williams (9-2) is up to six in a row and Reid Cornelius, with five consecutive wins, has yet to lose as a Tide. . . . Jim Lindeman, who played briefly for the Tides last year and was cut by the Mets this spring, turned up recently with Triple-A Oklahoma City, the Texas Rangers' top farm club. by CNB