DATE: Tuesday, August 26, 1997              TAG: 9708260021

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   68 lines

TIDES' DROUGHT REACHES 7 STRAIGHT DESPITE LOSS, NORFOLK REMAINS TIED FOR 2ND.

The Norfolk Tides must be feeling like farmers in an extended drought.

When the rains finally come - if they come - will it be enough to save a crop that had been cultivated for five months?

Norfolk lost its seventh straight Monday night, handcuffed for seven innings by the Atlanta Braves' latest phenom, pitcher Kevin Millwood, then finished off in the last two frames by reliever Joe Borowski.

The four singles the Tides managed in the first three innings were four more hits than they had in the last six of this 4-1 loss to the Richmond Braves.

The franchise's worst losing streak in five years also guaranteed Norfolk a losing record on its home turf. The Tides are 29-35 at home and leave for three games in Richmond before coming home Friday for a season-ending four-game stand with Ottawa.

Before heading up Interstate 64, somebody finally said it.

``We're jinxed,'' Tides outfielder Benny Agbayani said. ``We get pitches we usually hit, and we pop them up. Everybody's pressing.''

Pitcher Juan Acevedo, who sits at the locker next to Agbayani, then said he was going to burn candles to chase away the bad spirits.

Jinxed? Maybe.

Out of the race for a playoff spot? Not even close.

Even though the Tides have dropped 14 of their last 17 games, they remain tied for second place in the International League West Division with Charlotte, which lost 7-3 to Scranton on Monday night.

``We've gone about as far as we can go with others helping us,'' Tides manager Rick Dempsey said in reference to the competition not taking full advantage of The Slump. ``We've got to win sooner or later.''

If but for the singular fact that the Tides (71-64) play one more game than Charlotte (71-64). The Knights lost a game to rain last week and have an off day Thursday.

Should both teams win all their remaining games, the Tides would earn the West's second playoff berth. If they both lost all their remaining games, neither would make the playoffs. The streaking Braves could run the table in the last week of the season and squeeze past both teams.

The Braves (68-67) have already won eight straight, why not seven more?

Einstein's ghost is working on all intermediate possibilities.

Richmond's first run Monday was unearned. Tommy Gregg led off the second with a grounder that went through Roberto Petagine's legs at first base. Gregg then went to third on a hit-and-run single to center by Brad Tyler and came home when Damon Hollins grounded into a double play.

Norfolk plated a run in the third when leadoff man Carlos Mendoza bounced a single over the head of third baseman Ed Giovanola, stole second, moved to third on Agbayani's groundout and scored on Petagine's single to right, which was the last hit the Tides would muster.

Millwood (7-0) retired the next 13 batters. Had Borowski not walked Mendoza to start the eighth, the Tides would have gone the last six innings without a base runner.

The Braves, meanwhile, put together a leadoff double by Millwood and four singles to plate three runs in the sixth. And that 4-1 lead was more than enough.

``Early in the season, we'd be down five or six runs and it didn't matter,'' Dempsey said. ``There was a lot of energy on the bench. Now, (one run) looms big.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Scott McClain tags Richmond's Brad Tyler during the sixth inning of

Norfolk's 4-1 loss Monday, giving the Tides their seventh straight

defeat.

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