THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408150130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Injured old-timer Charlie Hough might have hung up his knuckleball, but Hough's departure probably will not erase Tides manager Bobby Valentine's particularly gruesome memory of Hough's lost no-hit bid in 1986.
Friends since their days as Dodgers prospects in the late '60s, Valentine and Hough were together through the late '80s with the Texas Rangers - Valentine as manager and Hough as the ace of Valentine's pitching staff.
``I literally have a recurring nightmare, where I wake up, that has to do with Charlie,'' Valentine said recently at Harbor Park.
Hough, 46, was 38 on June 16, 1986, when he carried a no-hitter into the last inning against the California Angels in Anaheim. Valentine, then 36 and in his second year as Rangers manager, decided to replace leftfielder Gary Ward with George Wright.
It was a bad move, the magnitude of which apparently has blurred Valentine's memory. Valentine remembers Wright dropping a fly ball that would have been the third out and Wally Joyner following with an RBI single that blew the shutout and no-hitter. Then he recalls Joyner eventually scoring from second on a passed ball to win the game, 2-1.
The real details aren't quite as excruciating - Wright's error would have been only the second out. But the whole escapade, spawned by a change supposedly for defensive purposes, haunts Valentine.
Joyner still might have singled with two outs, but the dominoes might not have fallen so harshly. As it happened, Joyner went to second on a strikeout and passed ball on former Tide Orlando Mercado for the second out. Reggie Jackson was intentionally walked to bring up George Hendrick.
Hough struck out Hendrick on a 3-2 pitch for the final out, but that too rolled away from Mercado. Joyner, running on the pitch, came all the way home when Hough failed to cover the plate and Mercado was unable to throw out Hendrick.
``Mercado picks up the ball and goes to throw it to first, but he sees Joyner running around third base and Charlie looking at first base thinking the ball's going to be thrown there,'' Valentine said.
``No one's at home, Mercado throws the ball (late), Joyner touches the plate, we lose, 2-1, he loses his no-hitter and I want to kill myself.''
Valentine replaced Ward with Wright for a simple reason. ``Because he was better,'' Valentine said. ``Charlie wanted to do it so much and I was over there saying, `What else can I do?'
``I learned from it. What you do is nothing. When Nolan (Ryan) was pitching a no-hitter, I never made another change after the 7th. Which is stupid. But it's the nightmare.''
MEDICAL SCHOOL: Diverticulitis, the ailment that has floored Valentine, is an inflammation of the diverticula, or small pouches, in the large intestine.
According to the Mayo Clinic Family Health Book, a pouch becomes infected probably because of undigested food and bacteria lodging in it. This can affect the blood supply to the pouch, which opens it to bacterial invasion.
The result can be a small abscess to a major infection or perforation.
If an inflamed pouch ruptures, it can spill intestinal matter into the abdominal cavity and cause peritonitis, regarded as a medical emergency.
After a series of attacks, surgical removal of the affected portion of the bowel is often advised, to be performed when no symptoms are present.
TIDES MISS VERAS: Second baseman Quilvio Veras, on the disabled list since last week with a rib-cage strain, is having a subpar offensive season, for him, with a .265 batting average and .348 on-base percentage. Yet his importance as the Tides' leadoff hitter, a stolen-base threat and their offensive sparkplug cannot be underestimated.
Through Thursday, the Tides were 8-15 in games that Veras did not start. A couple of key statistics indicate why. When Veras leads off an inning, he is batting .313 (57-for-182). He is also their best two-out hitter, at .330.
His absence surely has helped contribute to the Tides' recent run-scoring slump. In their first 12 games of August, the Tides had scored three or fewer runs 11 times. Four runs on Aug. 6 was their largest output in that time. by CNB