THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 13, 1995 TAG: 9509130534
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: OTTAWA LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Tides and their Cuban shortstop, Rey Ordonez, received a scare at the Ottawa airport when an immigration officer was unfamiliar with one of the official forms Ordonez needs to enter Canada.
Ordonez, who could not come to Ottawa with the Tides on their last trip here because of improper paper work, was detained two hours before enough calls were made to verify Ordonez's forms and status.
Accompanying Ordonez through his limbo was Mets minor league director Steve Phillips, who said he was prepared to call the baseball commissioner's office to get Ordonez in.
Gerry Hunsicker, the Mets vice president of baseball operations, chalked it up to an overzealous border cop.
``We ran into a guy who wanted to show us how important he was,'' Hunsicker said.
CROWDED HOUSE: The Lynx received impressive fan support when Tuesday's game almost sold out Ottawa Stadium, capacity 10,332, though the club had only a few days to sell tickets.
Ottawa finished the regular season fifth in the International League in tickets sold, 482,143, for an average of 6,888 per game. The Tides led with 560,211 sold and 8,119 per game, but couldn't break 4,000 tickets sold for either Game 1 or 2 of the finals.
A couple interesting fan behavior concepts quickly noted here: In contrast to Harbor Park, every still moment on the field is not blasted with a sound effect from the P.A. system.
Also, fans clap politely as in a theatre for introductions or good plays then settle back into silence. Except when there is a sacrifice bunt. For some reason, when Ottawa pitcher Barry Manuel sacrificed early in Tuesday's game, maybe a third of the crowd rewarded him with a standing ovation.
Must be a cultural thing.
WELCOME HOME: The Tide Watchers are organizing a welcome home celebration for the Tides at the Norfolk International Airport upon completion of the Governors' Cup finals.
The team is scheduled to arrive at 9:22 a.m. Thursday or Friday, depending on when the series ends. The celebration will be held whether the team wins or loses the series. Fans are to meet at the USAir gates.
GAME 4: Tides lefthander Chris Roberts will make his first postseason pitching appearance tonight. Roberts, a former outfielder at Florida State, has pinch-hit once in the playoffs. He struggled to a 7-13 mark and 5.52 ERA in his first Triple-A season.
Ottawa will send out lefty Gabe White, who spent a few months with the Expos this season. He is 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA in the postseason. by CNB