THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150448
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 58 lines
All J.R. Phillips wants is a chance to prove what kind of player he can be if he plays every day in the big leagues.
Since being sent down by the Philadelphia Phillies two weeks ago, Phillips has shown what he can do every day at the Triple-A level. And opponents are quickly becoming wary of his power.
Phillips blasted his seventh home run in 13 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Friday night as the Red Barons beat the Norfolk Tides 2-1 at Harbor Park.
The lefthanded Phillips drove a fastball from relief pitcher Rick Trlicek into the picnic area beyond leftfield with two out in the ninth.
``I swung at a lot of bad pitches tonight,'' Phillips said. ``In fact the pitch before, I'd looked pretty bad on a slider in the dirt. But I was looking for a speed pitch up and got one.''
Trlicek had never faced Phillips before, but had enough of a scouting report to know his capabilities.
Both were in the San Francisco Giants organization last season, Trlicek with Triple-A Phoenix, Phillips with the parent club. Phillips was traded to the Phillies on May 2, but hasn't had a chance to play regularly in either organization and has a lifetime .186 average in the major leagues.
``It wasn't the pitch he hit out as much as the location,'' Trlicek said. ``If I throw it down and away I'm OK. But I got it up. The Giants were always talking about the talent he has. He's obviously a good hitter. He hit that ball on the end of the bat and it went out. He's got major pop.''
Tides starting pitcher Rick Reed fashioned another strong performance, scattering three hits over seven innings. But it was another hard-luck evening for Reed, who has given up two earned runs or less in eight outings in which he pitched five or more innings, only to have a 1-1 record in those games. He's 3-5 on the season.
Reed helped his cause in the second inning when his grounder through the middle scored Brian Daubach, who had singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Scranton starter Donnie Elliott.
The Red Barons evened matters in the fifth when Jon Zuber singled to left, stole second and scored when third baseman Matt Franco's throw to first on a grounder by Bob Zupcic ended up in the Tides' dugout.
``Routine play,'' said Franco, who had to range to his left and spin before throwing. ``I should make that throw 100 out of 100 times. I just threw it (away) and it cost us the game.''
Scranton's Bronson Heflin pitched two innings of relief to earn the victory and Ricardo Jordan sat down the side in the Tides' half of the ninth for his first save of the season.
The Tides, however, had been knocked out of rhythm by then by Elliott, who Tides manager Bobby Valentine characterized as ``effectively wild.''
``Good term,'' Franco said. ``His fastball was all over the strike zone. There was no pattern. And we ended up getting frustrated and swinging at everything.'' ILLUSTRATION: BOX SCORE
STANDINGS
TEAM STATISTICS
[For a copy of the charts, see microfilm for this date.] by CNB