THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604250562
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Norfolk Tides leftfielder Kevin Flora swears he caught the ball. Unfortunately, umpire Jerry Meals heard Flora as he kept swearing long after the play.
With the bases loaded and two out in the third inning, Charlotte's Jerry Brooks hit a sinking line drive that Flora contended he snagged. He even remained on his belly with the ball in his glove above his head while two runs scored.
Meals' call brought Flora to the infield grass to argue while Tides manager Bobby Valentine joined in the discussion.
After order was restored, Darrell Whitmore's single to center plated another run.
And that's when Flora gave Meals a full critique of his abilities. Meals responded by giving Flora the thumb.
After that, the Tides went down meekly 6-1.
``The last time I was thrown out I was in Class A ball,'' Flora said. ``I didn't expect to get thrown out and I'm not the type to say much to an umpire. What I said was not that bad and I was 100 feet away from him when I said it.
``They've heard a lot worse. But I was mad because the call cost us three runs.''
With the Tides (11-7) snakebit offensively - they stranded 10 runners - that was too many runs to spot the Knights (9-5).
The winner of tonight's game will leave this four-game series atop the International League West Division. Antonio Alfonseca (0-0, 1.64) is slated to start for Charlotte against relief pitcher Joe Crawford (0-1, 9.00), making an emergency start after Sunday's doubleheader in Syracuse caused disorder in the Tides' rotation.
``I couldn't tell if Kevin caught the ball,'' Valentine said. ``But he thought he did. The thing is, we weren't going to win that game tonight just scoring one run.''
Kurt Miller (2-0) went seven innings, scattering four hits, for the victory. Pat Ahearne (1-1) absorbed the loss.
The Tides' one run came in the first when Roberto Petagine delivered a run-scoring double to the rightfield corner. But Petagine didn't stick around much longer, leaving following the third inning after experiencing some tightness in his right hamstring.
The unplanned absences of Flora and Petagine eventually left Valentine strapped for pinch hitters when the pitcher's spot in the order came to bat in the seventh. He sent Crawford to the plate to pinch hit for reliever Jason Bullard. Alas, Crawford struck out. It was one of those nights.
Brooks delivered again in the fifth, driving a monster, two-run home run over the picnic area beyond the leftfield fence for a 5-1 lead. Tommy Gregg had doubled with two outs prior to Brooks' shot, which tied him for the International League lead with five home runs.
``I used to see him hit shots like that when I was in Edmonton and he was in Albuquerque in the Pacific Coast League,'' said Knights manager Sal Rende. ``I'm glad he's hitting them for me now.'' ILLUSTRATION: MIKE HEFFNER\ Virginian-Pilot photo
Kevin Flora shows umpire Jerry Meals the ball on a third-inning
play. Meals called it a trap, and two runs scored. After a single
brought in another run, Flora got mad and was ejected as the Tides
went on to lose.
by CNB