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August 2, 2010 · 16:38

A Soggy and Error Filled Night redeemed by the Long Ball: Tides win 11-6

Drying out the infield

Before they were the Norfolk Tides they were known as the Tidewater Tides a reference to the rather quaint sounding name for the south side of the Hampton Roads region.  The Tidewater it is still called by many who forget that the term Tidewater is a rather polite term invented by travel agencies and developers to replace the rather dismal word “swamp.”  In fact the southern part of our region is taken up by the Great Dismal Swamp which is both rather large and rather dismal a good reason that it was named as such by none other than George “I’m on the Greenback” Washington.  Of course there Things in Norfolk went from bad to worse back to just bad before getting much worse before becoming incredibly good unless you play for or are a fan of the Indianapolis Indians.  The weather was lousy even by Hampton Roads standards for this time of year with drizzle and rain falling for most of the game making conditions for those playing on the field rather atrocious. Eventually 7 errors would be committed, 5 by the Tides on this rain filled evening that turned the infield at Harbor Park into muck.

Nolan Reimold beats out an errant throw at first in the 6th inning, Robert Andino and Michael Aubrey scored

The game began inauspiciously for the Tides, starter Zach Britton struggled through the early innings before giving up 4 runs in the 4th inning. Britton loaded the bases giving up a single, a base on balls and a bunt single.  Alex Presley grounded into a force out to score Luke Carlin. With two outs Britton picked off Presley when he got too far off the bag resulting in a run down. During the run down Robert Andino threw the ball away allowing Carlin to reach third and Brian Friday to score.  The pickoff would have been the third out and Britton would have gotten out of the inning giving up just one run.  The next batter was Brandon Moss who tattooed the ball over the right field wall to give the Indians a 4-0 lead. Britton would struggle again in the 4th inning but work his way out of the jam and he would be relieved by Mike Hinckley in the top of the 5th.  Hinckley went three innings allowing only one hit and no runs walking none as striking out 4 Indians.

Nolan Reimold contributed a 3 run home run and hustled on the bases

The Indians would hold that lead into the 6th inning.  Starting pitcher Charlie Morton pitched well for 5 innings limiting the Tides to just 1 hit in the first 5 innings. In the 6th the wheels came off in large part due to the weather doing to the Indians what it had done to the Tides earlier in the game.  Michael Aubrey singled and advanced when Robert Andino got on due an error by Indians Third Baseman Doug Bernier.  Nolan Reimold grounded softly to third base and Bernier went to make the play and threw the ball away into foul territory past first base. Both Aubrey and Andino would score and the score was 4-2. In the 7th Morton walked Paco Figueroa and was taken out of the game in favor of Travis Chick.  Chick had little success. Matt Angle laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to send Figueroa to second. Jeff Salazar singled and Figueroa went to third. Michael Aubrey doubled to score Figueroa and send Salazar to third. Robert Andino singled to score Salazar and was followed by Scott Moore who singled home Aubrey sending Andino to third.  Nolan Reimold grounded in a force out and Andino scored before Chick retired the side with the Tides now leading 6-4.

Jeff Salazar hit his 15th home run of the season

Alberto Castillo relieved Hinckley in the top of the 8th and gave up a single to Brandon Moss and double to Mitch Jones. He got Jim Negrych to ground out which scored Moss and then gave up a double to Jonathan Van Every to score Jones top tie the game at 6.  Castillo got the hook for Jim Hoey and Hoey stuck out both Luke Carlin and Brian Friday swinging to end the inning, the final pitch to Friday registered 98 miles an hour according the scoreboard radar.

A soaking wet Michel Hernandez waits for the grounds crew to do their magic

No with the score tied the Tides went to work and began to beat the Indians senseless. Daniel Moskos replaced Chick and gave up a single to Paco Figueroa. He struck out Matt Angle and with one out faced Jeff Salazar. Salazar leads the Tides in home runs but had not hit one since before he went on the DL.  Jeff plastered a pitch by Moskos far over the right field wall and the Tides led again by a score of 8-6.  The Tides were not done however and after Michael Aubrey popped out Robert Andino doubled off the right field wall.  Andino stole third and Scott Moore walked.  Nolan Reimold stepped to the plate and he too delivered the long ball going the opposite way and sending Moskos’ pitch over the right field wall nearly to the Elizabeth River.  The Tides now led 11-6 and finally and mercifully for the Indians Rhyne Hughes grounded out to end the inning.

Denis Sarfate got the closed out the game striking out two

Denis Sarfate came in to close the game in a non-save situation.  He sent the Indians down in order striking out Doug Bernier and Brian Bixler swinging and got Alex Presley to ground out to second baseman Paco Figueroa who threw to Michael Aubrey at first to end the game.

The win was the second come from behind win for the Tides in as many days and in this game Jim Hoey (3-0 2.16 ERA) got the win and Daniel Moskos (0-4 9.60 ERA) the loss. The Indians had 6 runs on 8 hits with 2 errors leaving 6 men on base, the Tides 11 runs on 11 hits and 5 errors with 8 men stranded.  The teams meet tonight at Harbor Park with Henricus Vanden Hurk newly acquired from the Marlins by the Orioles making his first start for the Tides and Micheal Crotta (5-5 4.88 ERA) on the Hill for the Indians.

Hopefully the weather is better tonight than last night.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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June 7, 2010 · 22:07

Tides Shutout Bisons 6-0: Troy Patton Pitches 7 Scoreless Innings for Win

Troy Patton dominated the potent bats of the Buffalo Bisons Monday

The Norfolk Tides bats remained on fire even as the temperature cooled into the mid 70s in Hampton Roads and today both the defense and the pitching showed up.  After losing five straight to include three high scoring games where the Tides offense produced enough runs to win each handily had pitching, defense or calls by umpires gone their way.  But this Monday was another day and Troy Patton had the answer on to how to shut down the potent offense of the Buffalo Bisons and I do hope that he starts telling other pitchers just how to do this as he went seven innings giving up just three hits with only one walk and three strikeouts to gain the victory.  Patton was aided by Ross Wolf and Mike Hinckley who pitched the 8th and 9th innings without surrendering a hit.

Jeff Salazar hit his 9th home run of the season in the 6th inning

After watching many games where the hitting showed up and the pitching did not, or the pitching showed up only to have the offense go into a coma or the defense to fail it was good to see a game where the fundamentals of the ball game, pitching, hitting and defense came together as the Tides shut down the Bisons 6-0.

Patton surrendered only 3 hits, a double in the second inning and two singles while walking only one in a dominant performance against the hottest hitting team in the International League. The Tides offense continued its strong performance since the arrival of interim manager Bobby Dickerson.  The Tides opened up on the Bisons in the bottom of the 3rd inning when catcher Adam Donachie led off the inning with a double and scored on a single by Matt Angle.  Robert Andino tripled to drive in Angle and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Salazar.  They added two more in the bottom of the 6th inning when Jeff Salazar hit his 9th dinger of the season and Rhyne Hughes launched his 4th of the season both of which were solo shots to make the score 5-0.  The Tides added a final run in the bottom of the 8th when Josh Bell doubled and advanced to third when Rhyne Hughes singled and scored on reliever Michael O’Connor’s wild pitch, the second time that “Wild Thing” O’Connor allowed a run to score at Harbor Park during this home stand but at least he did not bounce it over the screen behind home plate this time….he’s improving.

Rhyne Hughes also homered for the Tides in the 6th inning

The game ended with the Tides winning by a score of 6-0. The Bisons had no runs on 3 hits and one error and left 5 men on base. The Tides 6 runs on 10 hits and no errors leaving four men aboard. Bobby Livingston (2-6 4.43 ERA) got the loss for the Bisons and Troy Patton (4-7 5.13 ERA) got the win for the Tides. Troy had his excellent performance backed up with great run support as well as solid defense to get the well deserved win.

During the series the Tides scored 27 runs on 57 hits including 6 home runs by far their most productive series of the year and a series where for the first time this season they showed consistency on offense over a sustained period and not just a game or two.  Since little has changed in the aspect of Tides offensive personnel with the exception of the addition of Matt Angle and Paco Figueroa but now for the first time that I can remember this season the Tides hitters are hitting with power as well as making contact.  Though it does not seem like much the Tides team batting average has improved from .234 on May 18th to .243 today in fact going up more in the past 4 days than the previous two weeks. While it is still early the only explanation that I can see for this turnaround is Interim Manager Bobby Dickerson.

The Tides open a series against the Gwinnett Braves at Harbor Park on Tuesday at 7:15 and we will see of the Tides can continue this merry offensive romp.  See you at Harbor Park.

Peace,

Padre Steve+

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June 5, 2010 · 16:00

Tides Come Back from 6-0 deficit but Lose as Hinkley gives up 4 runs in 9th Inning

Armando Gabino had his worst outing of the year

On a very warm evening the Norfolk Tides looked like they would get a big comeback win. On their first night with Interim Manager Bobby Dickerson at the helm the Tides opened their four game series against the Buffalo Bisons at Harbor Park where a crowd of 6345 gathered to celebrate “Marine Night.”

The Tides managed to rebound from a 6-0 Buffalo lead only to lose in the 9th inning when Michael Hinckley just promoted to Norfolk from AA Bowie loaded the bases with no outs to give up 4 runs in the top of the 9th inning.

Tides starter Armando Gabino had his worst outing of the season giving up 6 runs on 6 hits, though 2 of the runs were unearned due to a fielding error by Second Baseman Blake Davis in the 3rd inning which opened the floodgates. Gabino got into trouble again in the 4th and was relieved by Jim Miller. Miller would settle things down and pitch three innings before yielding to Ross Wolf in the 7th. Wolf too held the Bisons in check as the Tides offense went to work.

Jim Miller continued good work as a middle releiver

Brandon Snyder ignited the Tides in the 5th inning when with one out he hit a line drive over the right field wall into the Tides bullpen. That hit by Snyder rocked Harbor Park. The fans that had been silenced by the Bisons were back in the game and the effect was electric.  Blake Davis then singled and Michel Hernandez walked.  With 2 on and 1 out Matt Angle singled to drive in Davis to cut the lead to 6-2.  In the 5th inning the Tides scored another run when Josh Bell reached second on a throwing error on an infield ground ball.  Nolan Reimold who seems to be improving after a dismal season in Baltimore followed by a worse start in Norfolk singled to drive in Bell making it a 6-3 game.

Matt Angle with one of his four hits

The Tides tied the game in the bottom of the 7th when with 1 out Michel Hernandez singled and advanced to second on a single by Matt Angle.  Hernandez scored when Robert Andino singled and Matt Angle advanced to second base.  Jeff Salazar singled to drive in Angle and move Andino to third base and would score on a sacrifice fly to center to tie the game at six.

Blake Davis Scores in the 5th inning on a Matt Angle Single

It appeared at this point that the Tides had all the momentum and had the Bisons on the ropes.  In the top of the 9th Michael Hinckley who had just been promoted to Norfolk from Bowie when hard luck Pedro Viola was sent down to Bowie made his first AAA appearance.  He gave up a single to former Tides infielder Justin Turner and a double to Mike Jacobs.  He then walked all time Minor League Baseball Home run king Mike Hessman to load the bases.  Now with the bases loaded he walked Russ Adams to give Buffalo the lead.  At this point Bobby Dickerson brought in former Oriole Cla Meredith hoping that Meredith’s Major League experience would pay off and shut down the Bisons before more damage could be done.  This was not the case as the first batter that Meredith faced Valentino Pascucci doubled down the line in right to clear the bases and give the Bisons a 10-6 lead.  Meredith struck out Andy Green but lost it on a wild pitch which put Green on first and Pascucci on third base.  J R House grounded out to score Pascucci before Meredith got Jesus Feliciano to ground out to end the frame. The Tides went down quietly in the bottom of the 9th and the game ended with the final score Buffalo 11 and the Tides 6.

Buffalo had 11 runs on 12 hits with 1 error and 8 men left on base, the Tides 6 runs on 12 hits and 2 errors with 6 runners left on base.  Bisons’ reliever Bobby Parnell (1-1 4.73 ERA) got the “unsave” and the win and Hinckley the loss giving up 4 runs without retiring a batter.

I did notice a couple of things that I thought were important. First Bobby Dickerson did not wait and wait to make pitching changes; he got pitchers out of the game when they got in serious trouble. Unfortunately in the 9th inning he had misplaced confidence in Cla Meredith. The second thing and this was even more important, the Tides hitters got the team back in the game as relievers Miller and Wolf held the Bisons after they had gotten out to the 6-0 lead.  Another note of interest was the continued hitting of Brandon Snyder and the 4 hits of Matt Angle in the lead off position.

The Tides and Bisons play tonight at Harbor Park and it will be a hot one with temperatures in the high 80s at game time. Jake Arietta (6-2 1.77 ERA) will be going for his 7th win of the season against Dylan Owen (1-1 4.76).

See you there.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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