THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994 TAG: 9406250413
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940625 LENGTH: Long
No doubt, the trappings - Harbor Park and its half-million fans - are at their peak of brilliance. However, the team the ballpark houses sank into an all-time depression two years ago that still lingers halfway through the 1994 season.
{REST} It's been a tedious run for the Tidewater/Norfolk Tides:
They haven't been in the International League playoffs since 1988, by far their longest dry spell since they returned to the area as a Triple-A franchise in 1969.
There had been only four losing records in the 23 seasons prior to 1992, none consecutive. At the moment, the Tides are on track to finish below .500 for the third season in a row.
Aside from the first day of this year, they haven't spent a day in first place in their division since the opening week of the 1992 season. And remember how that ended up - a franchise-worst mark of 56-86 and what would have been an 18-game losing streak over the final two weeks. Only a lucky 2-1 victory that Pawtucket booted away in the last inning of a doubleheader prevented it.
Last year, a late fade produced a 70-71 mark. This season, the Tides have been over .500 exactly one day, after their opening-night victory, which has left manager Bobby Valentine parroting the same lines - ``We're going to get hot, I know it'' - that former manager Clint Hurdle trotted out in vain the past two seasons.
It never happened. Maybe it will for Valentine - his team is younger but appears more talented than the others. It has 10 weeks left to prove it.
``I don't count last year as a non-winning team,'' said general manager Dave Rosenfield, the only GM the team has ever had. Here's why he feels that way: the Tides were 64-57 on Aug. 15, but lost 14 of their final 20 games to finish below .500.
``Perceptions are interesting,'' he said. ``There's a perception that we're not winning because of the difference in the playoffs.''
Rosenfield calls it bad timing. From 1988 to 1991, only the division winners qualified for the playoffs. The Tides won the division in '88 and finished an average of 11 games over .500 in '89, '90 and '91, but came in second each time.
Since then, the top two teams in each division have qualified. The Tides haven't risen that high and, in last place since May 11, will have to go some to do so this season.
Obviously, the Tides have suffered because the Mets' scouting and player development systems essentially crashed in the late-'80s through a series of disappointing draft picks, bad drafting positions and ill-advised trades.
Todd Hundley and Bobby Jones are the only homegrown, front-line current Mets and former Tides to come through since 1988. Their best in-house product since then, Gregg Jefferies, was summarily run out of New York.
That has left the Tides too much at the mercy of inconsistent, six-year minor league free agents and various non-prospects.
They've said it before, but this time the Mets swear that the drought is about to end. Their Double-A team in Binghamton, N.Y., is a pitching-rich monster led by Juan Castillo, Bill Pulsipher and Chris Roberts. All signs indicate they'll play in Norfolk next season. And if he's not in the big leagues by then, Paul Wilson, the first overall pick in this month's draft, will probably join them.
The Mets' traditional conservative approach to moving players up as quickly as other organizations has hurt the Tides, as well. In other systems, there's little doubt that at least one of those Double-A pitchers would be in Triple-A by now. But the Mets invariably err on the side of caution.
At times, that has rankled Rosenfield and the Tides' manager. Hurdle was outspoken about his displeasure over occasionally being left shorthanded by the minor league office, not receiving the player he wanted to fill a vacancy, or worse, getting a semi-pro has-been - Frankie Eufemia and Jack Lazorko ring bells - sent his way.
That has spawned a belief in some circles that the Tides are left hanging for the sake of the Mets' Double-A team in Binghamton, N.Y., which the Mets owned until this year. Rosenfield doesn't buy it.
``They'd like to be good at every level,'' Rosenfield said. ``A good organization wants to win from the standpoint of pride, but it also develops better players if they play on a winning team. The development program hit a down cycle, and that happens to most organizations.''
Potentially, this year's team can do better. The Tides' catcher and starting infielders are all on the 40-man roster, which means the Mets consider them among their finest prospects.
But the average age of Brook Fordyce, Butch Huskey, Aaron Ledesma, Quilvio Veras and Rico Brogna (now up with the Mets) is 23. Three are Triple-A rookies. That is the root of the Tides' mediocre record, said Joe McIlvaine, the Mets' executive vice president for baseball operations.
``That's the youngest infield probably in Triple-A baseball. I'm sure it is,'' McIlvaine said. ``It's kind of the envy of a lot of teams because you have 22- and 23-year-olds out there playing at the Triple-A level. Generally, though, when you have a team like that, the first half of the year you usually struggle some because of the experience factor.
``The second half of the year they usually catch up. I think that will happen here. They've lost a lot of close games in the first half of the year that they'll win the second half of the year.''
If that optimism isn't realized, however, below-average baseball will continue to haunt Harbor Park.
by CNB