THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608310855
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 58 lines
Filed under things that don't go together:
Plaid and stripes.
Al Gore and the Macarena.
Norfolk Tides pitcher Rick Reed and run support.
It happened again Thursday night. Reed pitched solidly and the Tides hitting was anything but in a 2-1 loss to the Charlotte Knights at Harbor Park.
The Tides just hope the trend ends here, seeing how Reed is the Game 1 pitcher in Norfolk's upcoming playoff series with the Columbus Clippers.
That series moved that much closer to starting Wednesday at Harbor Park as Columbus beat the Richmond Braves 3-2 to shrink its magic number to one game.
Norfolk (78-59) must sweep its four remaining games and Columbus (82-56) must lose its final four for the Tides to overtake the Clippers in the International League West Division race.
``Certainly when the year begins you'd like to be champs of the regular season,'' Tides manager Bruce Benedict said. ``But we've talked about it as a team and we're reserved in the fact that if we finish second it gives us an off day at home and two home games to start the playoffs. That's not all bad and we're comfortable with it.''
The Tides, who managed just five hits Thursday, aren't as comfortable with the fact that Reed has been their hard-luck pitcher. Despite a 3.16 earned run average, Reed holds an 8-10 record. The Tides have been shut out six times. Five of those times, Reed's been the starter.
``In the history of baseball - What's the cliche? - every team has one,'' Benedict said. ``We've tried to downplay it.''
But were it not for a monstrous seventh-inning home run to right by Kevin Roberson, his seventh of the season, the Tides would have been blanked again with Reed on the mound.
``I don't know what it is or why,'' said second baseman Jason Hartke. ``He's been pitching great the whole year. That's something you can't explain. It's not like we don't want to score runs for him.''
It's been feast or famine for Reed. In mid-July, the Tides averaged 9 1/2 runs during four consecutive Reed starts.
Charlotte's Reynol Mendoza (7-4) went eight innings to earn the victory, although half of it could have gone to second baseman Quilvio Veras who robbed the Tides of three base hits with superb glove play.
``Quilvio made a couple big plays for us,'' Charlotte manager Sal Rende said. ``That's usually what it takes to win a 2-1 game.''
Charlotte's Chris Clapinski homered in the first inning.
The Knights (60-77) got their other run in the fifth when Marquis Riley singled, moved to second when Reed balked on a pickoff attempt, went to third on Mendoza's sacrifice bunt and came home on a two-out single to right by Clapinski. ILLUSTRATION: CHARTS
Boxscore
Team Statistics
Standings
See microfilm for charts by CNB