THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280612
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SYRACUSE, N.Y. LENGTH: 56 lines
Mike Fyhrie's left knee still bothers him now and then. But it hurts less with every victory.
After the Norfolk Tides' 4-3 win over the Ottawa Lynx in front of a season-high crowd of 10,142 at Harbor Park Thursday, it probably felt good enough to dance an Irish jig.
It was Fyhrie's sixth win in his last seven starts and it lifted his record to 9-4, tops for wins in the International League.
``I don't want to make an excuse for what was happening earlier in the season,'' Fyhrie said after going seven innings and giving up five hits and two runs. ``But I developed patella tendonitis and it was bothering me a lot.''
When the knee was hurting most, Fyhrie's pitches were climbing in the strike zone. But since identifying the problem and following some alterations in his mechanics with Tides pitching coach Bob Apodaca, he's been unbeatable.
So, it seems, have the Tides (46-31), who have won 10 of their last 13 and lead the IL West by 5 1/2 games.
The Tides big inning came in the fifth as they got to Ottawa starter Rodney Henderson, who surrendered leadoff walks to Kevin Roberson and Luis Rivera. After a sacrifice bunt, Fyhrie grounded to Martin at short, who cut down Roberson at home for the second out.
But Rivera scored on a wild pitch and the Tides strung together a run-scoring bloop single to left by Gary Thurman, an infield single by Benny Agbayani and a sinking line drive by Matt Franco that rightfielder Tony Barron gloved, then dropped. Franco's run-scoring single came off reliever Dave Leiper.
After the Tides had started the scoring in the first, the Lynx answered in the third when Fyhrie hit two batters and walked another to load the bases. He then gave up a run-scoring single to Yamil Benitez.
Ottawa's Kevin Castleberry homered deep to right in the seventh, cutting the lead to 4-2, and Fyhrie gave way to reliever Rick Trlicek, who pitched a perfect eighth inning.
The Lynx threatened again in the ninth when Barron drilled a single up the middle off Tides designated closer Derek Wallace and Castleberry singled one out later to put runners at the corners.
Bert Hefferman lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Barron and Castleberry stole second one pitch later. But pinch-hitter Steve Bieser flew out to center to end it, giving Wallace his 15th save.
TIDAL WAVES: The Tides have called up Terrell Lowery from the Binghamton Mets to replace Alex Ochoa on the roster . . . The Tides will give away baseball's with the Tides logo to the first 2,500 on hand tonight under age 18. ILLUSTRATION: THE TIDES ARE IN
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[For a copy of the charts, see microfilm for this date.] by CNB