Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210111
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Oh, sorry, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. The 6,000-seat baseball stadium that has had more scheduled first dates than a New York call girl won't open for another five weeks.
However, Salem's field of dreams is much closer to reality. The Avalanche took some infield and batting practice Tuesday at the new Yard by the Boulevard.
For those of you scoring at home, Avalanche first baseman Nate Holdren hit the first home run, over the 20-foot left field wall. There won't be as many of those when the Avalanche rumbles up Eighth Street to 367-foot power alleys and improved earned run averages.
``I still think it's a long ways off,'' Salem manager Bill Hayes said Tuesday afternoon while his team took BP before the second-half Carolina League opener at Municipal Field. ``In my mind, it won't be ready on [July] 25.''
Hayes said the one-hour workout at what will be christened Salem Memorial Stadium ``for the most part went very well.'' Fielders lost some flies, probably because the blue seats still are to be installed atop the white concrete in the upper sections.
``It played out at the 325-foot foul lines very well,'' Hayes said. ``In the gap, you definitely have to hit it. You aren't going to have as many home runs, but you're going to have so much more room to put the ball in play just because of the increased square footage compared'' with Salem Municipal Field.
When the Avalanche finally gets into the new park, it could be a different team. Don't be surprised if the club ERA (4.64 in the first half) improves by a run. Just the attitude adjustment that will come in a gleaming new park could help.
Yes, the Avalanche finished the first half with Salem's 14th consecutive losing half. However, the 34-36 record was the franchise's best in that span, dating to the 40-29 finish in the first half of the 1988 season.
That was seven managers ago. However, Hayes has the kind of patience you'd expect from a guy who spent 10 years as a pro player and spent so little time in the majors - nine at-bats in five games over two years - his so-called ``cup of coffee'' had to be decaf.
As one who came up through the Chicago Cubs' system having seen and learned how Wrigley Field's confines can change a club, Hayes understands life at Municipal.
Yes, the Avalanche is first in the league in home runs and second in hitting. It also is four whiffs from the top and last in stolen bases. The Avalanche arms have given up 16 more homers than any other Carolina club and walked only three fewer than the league high and are 0.02 from the bottom in ERA.
Hayes knows he's not only managing in a fast Class A league, he also is employed by a 3-year-old expansion parent club in Colorado. The Rockies, already rich from record attendance in their infancy, have every reason to feel mile high about the future at Coors Field.
``I told our guys the second half we don't have to play any harder, we just have to play smarter,'' said Hayes, 37, who 18 summers ago was the Valley League's MVP as an Indiana State catcher vacationing in Harrisonburg.
Salem helped prove that Kinston and Prince William were the league's first-half kings. The Avalanche was a combined 8-18 - half of the losses to date - against the Indians and Cannons.
The plus is that Salem meets those talented clubs only half as often (13 games) in the final 70 dates, including the six-game series that is the latest announced opening of the new park.
The Colorado system also has to begin the talent movement that usually arrives with the summer solstice, the beginning of short-season play and signing of draft picks.
If these Rockies farmhands have played a bit better than their Pittsburgh predecessors of recent vintage, they also have shown a streaky streak.
A six- and two five-game winning streaks were offset by a pair of seven- and two four-game skids. ``That kind of consistency is kind of typical for a Class A club,'' Hayes said.
He's counting more on a winning second-half season than he is getting into a new park where he will have a large, private office.
``I see a lot of work yet to be done, but it would be nice to get in there,'' Hayes said.
You could tell he felt it would be just as nice to be in a pennant race, too.
by CNB