THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, August 24, 1995              TAG: 9508240671
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

FORMER TIDE WILLIAMS WISHES HE HAD NEVER LEFT NORFOLK

Jimmy Williams is no stranger to bouncing around baseball. This latest involuntary move, though, which put the former Norfolk Tides' lefthander with his eighth organization in 12 pro seasons, really hurt. And Williams isn't too proud to admit it.

``I was devastated,'' said Williams, who won an International League-leading 11 games for the Tides before the Baltimore Orioles chose him on Aug. 17 as the player they wanted to complete the trade for Bobby Bonilla. Williams was back at Harbor Park on Wednesday as a member of the Rochester Red Wings, and he will pitch against the Tides tonight.

``I thought I'd be around till the end of the season and maybe see what happened in September with the Mets, but it didn't work out,'' Williams said. ``I can't hold my head down. I guess I want to blame somebody, but I don't know who. It's tough, you've been here all year . . . It's just tough to start all over again.''

His time with the Tides, Williams said, ``made baseball fun again for me.'' After an inconsistent start working out of the bullpen, Williams settled in as a starter and, despite battling control glitches, became one of the more unhittable pitchers in the league.

Williams' debut with the Red Wings, however, was a five-run nightmare against Columbus in which he didn't get out of the first inning. His head wasn't in the game, Williams said, and the results were predictable.

``I had heard from a reliable source, one I thought was reliable, that the Orioles were mostly interested in Ricky Otero (as the player to be named), so I was like, I'm scot-free,'' Williams said. ``I was so close to all these guys. I miss them a lot.

``It's an entirely different atmosphere. I was here, I had a nice apartment, I had a bunch of friends, I was comfortable. When you take that away and put a person in a new environment, it's tough to adjust. There's two weeks to go; I guess I'll get used to it.

``The fans here were good, the management, the players, the people. The whole city was just great. Being in Rochester isn't my type. Rochester or New York period, as far as that's concerned.''

HARRAH WINS ONE: Tides manager Toby Harrah played 16 seasons in the major leagues, but the only championship he'd ever been involved in before the Tides clinched the West Division pennant Tuesday was in 1989. That wasn't in the majors, though, but with the Palm Beach entry in the now-defunct Senior League.

``I've got a couple of All-Star rings, but that's all,'' Harrah said. by CNB