Tides revert to old habits, lose with too little offense

NORFOLK

The sounds that had been absent at Harbor Park for much of the last month returned on Saturday. Groans from the crowd when the Norfolk Tides had another fruitless inning, mock cheers when they recorded an out after a rally by the opposition and the dull thud-thud of footsteps as the fans headed early for the exits - they all came back in the Columbus Clippers' 11-5 victory.

Saturday's performance was a departure from how Norfolk (46-61) had been playing in the last few weeks.

For the first time in a while, the Tides, wearing pink jerseys in support of breast-cancer awareness, reverted to their old habits of surrendering a lead early and failing to overcome it.

"We needed some clutch hitting," said outfielder Chris Roberson. "They got it and we didn't."

Recently, the Tides have avoided the pitfalls they experienced for much of the season by simply outscoring the opposition. Norfolk hasn't been subjected to the pain of defeats brought about by the ineffectiveness of its pitching staff because the Tides' offense has been so prolific it allowed the team to survive a meltdown by a starter or reliever.

Before Saturday, the Tides averaged 6.1 runs per game in July and their steady production has correlated with their surge.

"We have so many good hitters on this team," said third baseman Mike Costanzo.

The team's .273 batting average offers proof of that. But on Saturday, the Tides couldn't erase their deficit, failing in situations in which they have excelled for most of the month. A day after scoring 10 runs and pounding out 13 hits, the Tides were handcuffed by Clippers starter Dennis Tankersley.

And as a result, the Tides couldn't prevent their own pitcher, Chris Waters, from suffering his sixth loss of the season.

In the fourth inning, with Norfolk trailing 2-1, the Tides loaded the bases with no outs after Mike Costanzo, Luis Terrero and Freddie Bynum reached on consecutive singles. But the Tides managed only one run after Omir Santos hit into a fielder's choice play, Roberson popped up just beyond the infield and Tike Redman grounded out weakly to shortstop Pokey Reese.

Norfolk couldn't wrest the momentum away and an inning later the Clippers scored twice.

Columbus would build its lead by stringing together four runs in the seventh - succeeding in the same scenarios where the Tides had stumbled.

"We tried to get back in the game," said Tides manager Gary Allenson. "But you can't do it all the time. That's baseball."

Rainer Sabin, 757-446-2367, rainer.sabin@pilotonline.com