THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 8, 1995 TAG: 9508080373
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Jeff Ware and Trey McCoy grew up around the block from each other in the Royal Grant neighborhood of Virginia Beach. Four years apart in age, they are friends who attended First Colonial High School at different times and played for the same coach, Norbie Wilson, but never on the same team.
Nor did Ware, a 24-year-old righthander, ever face McCoy, 28, a righthanded-hitting first baseman, in a minor league game - until Monday. McCoy stepped up for the Tides against Ware, starting for the Syracuse Chiefs, with a man on and two outs in the second inning at Harbor Park.
McCoy went down swinging on four pitches.
McCoy was the last batter Ware, the Toronto Blue Jays' first draft pick in 1991 out of Old Dominion, faced Monday. Sidelined since late June with a muscle strain in his back below his shoulder, Ware was on a 30-pitch count as he eased back into action impressively.
Pitching for the first time in Norfolk as a pro, Ware gave up only a single to Alex Ochoa, walked none and struck out four, all swinging, in his two innings.
``I was a little worried about it,'' Ware said, fearing he might flop in front of a couple dozen friends and family members in attendance. ``To have the chance to start here was a great opportunity. To succeed is icing on the cake.''
Ware said his injury was not related to the two rotator cuff surgeries he's had, which is fortunate for him. The unlucky part is that Ware, 6-0 with a 2.95 ERA, almost certainly would be in the big leagues now if he had remained healthy. The Chiefs lost four pitchers to the Blue Jays just last week.
Still, if he is sound physically, Ware should get his first look at the major leagues in September.
``After being out a month and a half, you lose confidence a little bit, you don't know how your fastball's going to react, if it'll still have the same pop,'' said Ware, whose previous start was an eight-inning one-hitter against Pawtucket on June 21. ``I was glad to be able to come out and throw strikes. I was able to get ahead of hitters with my fastball and put them away with the split-finger.''
The strikeouts raised Ware's total to 61 in 55 innings.
ONE MORE SHOT: Dave Telgheder's promotion to the Mets last week probably surprised Telgheder more than anybody, Tides pitching coach Bob Apodaca said. Telgheder, who got on Mets manager Dallas Green's bad side with a disappointing stint in New York last season, figured he would play out the season in Norfolk and look forward to free agency in the winter.
But Apodaca's strong endorsement when Green and Mets pitching coach Greg Pavlick called looking for help after Pete Harnisch went on the disabled list sent Telgheder, 5-4 with a 2.24 ERA this season, back to the majors.
``I told them if I needed one guy to pitch the ninth inning of a championship game, I'd want Dave Telgheder,'' Apodaca said. ``I can't assure them he'll be the same there as he was here. But he's a better pitcher than he was a year ago. He's worked hard to improve himself.
``He might be a notch below having what you'd call average major league stuff, but he makes up for it with his makeup and quality locations of his pitches.''
HUSKEY'S HONORS MOUNT: Butch Huskey, the Howe Sportsdata batter of the month for July, continues to garner honors in August. Huskey was the International League's batter of the week through Aug. 5 by hitting .520 with three doubles, four home runs and 10 RBIs. He was also the batter of the week in early July.
With 27 home runs, Huskey is two short of Randy Milligan's club record of 29, set in 1987. Huskey's career high had been the 26 he hit in 1991 in Class-A Columbia.
ANOTHER NEW PITCHER: The Tides, who have undergone a rash of changes in their pitching staff in the last two weeks, will pick up lefthander Joe Crawford, 25, from Double-A Binghamton today to help in the bullpen.
Crawford, who spent much of spring training with the Tides, is 7-2 with a 2.23 ERA as a middle reliever in Double-A. by CNB