DATE: Monday, July 28, 1997                 TAG: 9707280174

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   71 lines

GREENE'S HR LIFTS TIDES IN 12 NORFOLK GETS 1ST WIN 10 DAYS, ENDS 6-GAME SKID AND RETURNS TO 1ST PLACE.

With the Norfolk Tides mired in a six-game losing streak, a garlic wreath was hung on the door spring leading to the training room in the team clubhouse prior to Sunday night's game.

Everyone paid their respects to the cloves. And although it took 12 innings, the curse was lifted.

The Tides won for the first time in 10 days, beating Syracuse 7-6 when Charlie Greene, the Tides' No. 9 hitter, drilled a two-out home run into the picnic area beyond the leftfield wall of Harbor Park.

It was Greene's sixth homer of the season and second of the evening, the first coming on a three-run shot in the sixth.

``I didn't touch it, but I smelled it,'' Greene said of the garlic. ``I don't know if I actually like garlic, but my wife sure does cook with it a lot.''

The win pulled the Tides (60-45) back into a tie for first in the International League West Division with Columbus, a 7-1 loser to Rochester Sunday. It also ended the worst slide by the Tides in 3 1/2 seasons and eased a clubhouse that was becoming a bit tense. But not too tense, Greene said.

``We've got some veteran players who've been through it before,'' Greene said. ``We knew we weren't playing well and you can't expect to win when you're not playing well. It's just been a bad week.''

The Tides were so desperate for something to break their way that manager Rick Dempsey came off the top step of the dugout to coach third base in the middle innings. It was the first time he'd done that all season.

``Hey, I got five runs out of it,'' smiled Dempsey.

Still, the Tides needed a ninth-inning rally to force extras.

The Tides' 5-3 lead following Greene's first homer was short-lived as the SkyChiefs answered with three runs in the seventh.

Tides' starting pitcher Keith Shepherd walked Tomas Perez and Shannon Stewart to begin the inning, then was pulled in favor of Jim Dougherty, who promptly gave up a run-scoring double to the wall in left by Rich Butler. Dougherty then uncorked a wild pitch behind the back of Ryan Thompson, allowing Stewart to score.

After Thompson popped out to first, Dougherty walked Tom Evans, then gave up another run-scoring double, this one to the gap in right to Rich Aude. Jeff Patzke was intentionally walked and the Tides escaped without further damage when Rob Mummau grounded into a force play at home and reliever Ricardo Jordan coaxed a soft liner to short by Sandy Martinez.

Norfolk tied it in the ninth with the most fortunate of bounces. With one out and Benny Agbayani on first after walking, Roberto Petagine hit a sharp one-hopper at first baseman Aude that had the makings of a game-ending double play. That hop was a wild one as the ball easily cleared Aude to put runners at the corners.

Jason Hardtke, who had four singles in six at-bats, then drilled a 3-2 pitch from Ken Robinson through the right side to score Agbayani, making it 6-6.

The Tides loaded the bases with two outs when Wes Chamberlain walked on four pitches, but reliever Tim Cain got Kevin Morgan to ground into a force to end the inning and force extra innings.

Jordan, Mike Welch and eventual winner Jimmy Myers, meanwhile, shut down the SkyChiefs in the last five innings, with only one runner advancing to second and that coming on a throwing error by Hardtke as he tried to turn a double play.

``We're still in this race,'' Greene said. ``We're not out of it by any means. In fact, the way I see it we're in the driver's seat.'' ILLUSTRATION: Side Bar

Tides Long drought

[list of wins and losses and rained out games]

For complete copy, see microfilm

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