THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260763
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Guess they didn't want to say goodbye.
The Norfolk Tides prolonged their final performance for departing manager Bobby Valentine on Thursday, taking the Ottawa Lynx 10 innings at Harbor Park.
They gave him a thrill. Despite what have become chronically muted bats, the Tides - who had their fifth six-hit night in the last week - managed to rally from three runs down, scoring the tying run without a hit in the eighth.
They went into extra innings for the first time in more than a month. Then they promptly lost, thanks in large part to former Mets prospect Curtis Pride. Pride, who entered in the bottom of the ninth, singled off Pete Walker with one out in the 10th and scored on F.P. Santangelo's two-out single to send Valentine back home to Texas for surgery with a 4-3 defeat.
``That's the way it's been all season,'' Valentine said. ``A little short. One hit away.''
And one run away more times than Valentine cares to remember. The one-run loss was the Tides' 26th in 39 games. Not that anybody's been counting, but it also mathematically eliminated the Tides from winning the West Division and put them within one loss or one victory by Charlotte of playoff elimination.
Pride, the ex-William and Mary basketball player who transcends the sports pages because of his deafness, pushed the Tides to the brink by doing what he does best - reaching base and creating scoring opportunities.
Hampered by injuries this season, Pride has a .265 average and 20 stolen bases in 73 games. After singling, he moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a fielder's choice and scored when Santangelo took Walker the other way to left.
``He's coming on of late,'' Ottawa manager Jim Tracy said of Pride. ``He's had his ups and downs, but you know the guy is going to show up at the ballpark and give you everything he's got every day. That's all a manager can ask.''
Had something incredible not happened earlier, though, Pride wouldn't have had his chance. Strong-armed Tides outfielder Jim Vatcher actually failed to throw out a runner at the plate, and it hurt.
Vatcher throwing is a picture of precision, which is why a glitch like a runner being ruled safe is so stunning. His throw from left in the seventh inning missed nailing Shane Andrews, who barely slid in ahead of catcher Joe Kmak's tag. That gave the Lynx a 3-0 lead against Jason Jacome, but Norfolk answered with two in the seventh and one in the eighth.
``Don't they know the stats? They've got to call him out,'' Vatcher, who has 14 assists, said facetiously. ``That's like calling Tony Gwynn out on a third strike. You don't do it.''
But for once Vatcher was foiled, and now the Tides (64-69) need to win eight of their last nine games to gain that winning season Valentine promised they'd have months ago.
``The record was disappointing, but I think we put a pretty good product on the field every night,'' Valentine said. ``We might have come up short a lot, but it wasn't because of a lack of effort. It was just the other team doing it a little better than us.''
In the end, Valentine tacked his phone number onto the clubhouse bulletin board and headed off for a final night in his hotel room. He'll be on a plane early this morning - knowing his players offered a noble farewell accompanied, nonetheless, by a familiar emptiness. by CNB