PRO BASEBALL / JEFF FLETCHER : Vatcher Turns Mound of Luck Into a Victory

So that’s Jim Vatcher’s problem. He’s been playing the wrong position.

Vatcher, a journeyman outfielder in the New York Mets’ system, is 2-0 in his career as a pitcher. And the former Cal State Northridge player picked up his most recent victory in unusual style.

Vatcher’s triple-A Norfolk, Va., team trailed Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Pa., 10-4, in the second game of a doubleheader two weeks ago. The Tides lost the first game in 13 innings and seemed destined for another defeat, so Manager Bobby Valentine summoned Vatcher from left field to pitch the sixth inning.

Vatcher walked one batter, but retired the other three.

In the top of the seventh and final inning, Norfolk’s first two batters made outs. But the Tides proceeded to score 10 runs to take a 14-10 lead. Three runs scored on a home run by Vatcher.

The Tides then trotted closer Mike Cook to the mound in the bottom of the seventh to finish up Vatcher’s victory.

“(The pitchers) told me it was the worst vulture they’d ever seen,” Vatcher said, referring to a baseball term for an easy victory.

But this was not Vatcher’s first win. He pitched three innings in an extra-inning game for triple-A Las Vegas in 1991. Vatcher, 28, guesses he’s pitched about five times in his eight-year pro career.

“I can throw a curve and a changeup,” he said, “but in those situations I’m challenging the hitters with fastballs. When they are facing a position player, they are basically just trying to take me deep, so their concentration isn’t quite there.”

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Add Vatcher: Vatcher’s home run in that wild game came against Ricky Bottalico. In Vatcher’s only other at-bat against Bottalico, a few weeks earlier, he hit a game-winning grand slam with the Tides trailing by three in the bottom of the ninth.

Bottalico was expected by many to be the Philadelphia Phillies’ closer this season.

“I think that’s going to take another year or so,” Vatcher said.

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Say Eeeeeee’s: Think the St. Louis Cardinals are worried about 1991 first-round pick Dmitri Young’s continued trouble on defense? Young had made 12 errors in 40 games at first base this season for double-A Arkansas, but the organization is more concerned about Young at the plate.

The dinner plate.

“We want to make sure he doesn’t eat himself out a major league career,” said Scott Smulczenski, the Cardinals’ assistant director of player development. “We wish he would be a little more conscious of what he does off the field.”

Young, a former Rio Mesa High standout, packs about 240 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame. He is hitting his weight--batting .256 with three home runs and 15 runs batted in.

Young’s on-field problem continues to be his defense. He was moved from third to first base near the end of last season and made seven errors. Apparently, he hasn’t improved much. But the Cardinals aren’t overly worried because Young is only 20 years old.

“Obviously we think he is going to be a major league player,” Smulczenski said. “At his age, playing at the level he’s at, he’s OK.”

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Bosom Buddies: Ken Kendrena and Mike Sims were pals when they were teammates at Cal State Northridge. Kendrena, a 1992 draft pick of the Florida Marlins, called Sims one of the best catchers he had ever thrown to, so when the Marlins drafted Sims in 1993, Kendrena hoped they might someday be back together.

Someday is now.

The two not only are teammates for Class-A Brevard County, Fla., but roommates. They share an apartment in the complex where many Marlins’ major leaguers stay during spring training.

Sims was batting .259, and his playing time has increased with the recent release of former Thousand Oaks High catcher Mark Skeels.

Kendrena, who recently recovered from a minor bout with tendinitis, is 2-1 with an 0.96 earned-run average.

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Cookson update: Outfielder Brent Cookson (Santa Paula, Ventura College) of double-A Shreveport, La., is batting .333 with seven home runs, 25 RBIs and a .659 slugging percentage.

And his timing has been impeccable.

His three-homer, four-hit game in Arkansas earlier this month was played in front of his father, whom Cookson hadn’t seen in four years, and his grandmother, whom he hadn’t seen in 12 years.

“It was a big thrill to get out there and see them,” Cookson said.

His family saw him in the midst of back-to-back weeks in which Cookson won Texas League player of the week honors.

Cookson, who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants from Long Beach State in 1991, was playing last week in Wichita, Kan., where the 49ers were playing in the NCAA Regionals.

Cookson said before the 49ers began play in the Regional that he wouldn’t be able to see a Long Beach game, but he had dinner with 49er Coach Dave Snow.

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Short Hops: Catcher Bobby Hughes (Notre Dame) is leading the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization, major leaguers included, in RBIs. Playing at Class-A Stockton, Hughes has driven in 35 runs. A second-round pick from USC in 1992, Hughes is hitting .284 with eight home runs. . . .

As expected, former Newbury Park High shortstop David Lamb was promoted from extended spring training to the Baltimore Orioles’ Class-A team in Albany, Ga., on May 6. Lamb, who hit better than .300 during the spring, is off to a slow start in Albany, hitting .212 with three errors in 15 games. . . .

Roland De La Maza, who played at St. Genevieve High and College of the Canyons, returned this week from the disabled list, pitching five innings for Class-A Columbus, Ga. He missed about five weeks because of a sore right shoulder.

De La Maza, who impressed Cleveland Indians’ officials last season by posting a 10-3 record with a 2.52 ERA for Class A Watertown, N.Y., is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 16 innings.