2006 was the first year I served as datacaster for the Norfolk Tides. That year, the Tides were the AAA affiliate of the New York Mets, as they had been for the preceding 36 years. The Mets, to be honest, were a terrible parent team. They were arrogant, treating the Tides as if the Tides should be lucky to be affiliated with them. And the 2006 Mets were truly a terrible AAA team — the only halfway-decent prospect was Lastings Milledge; the opening-day roster included what we refer to, sarcastically, as the “Fab Four” — Todd Self, who has been the standard of batting incompetence; Julio Ramirez, legendary for losing ground to a bounding ground ball while chasing it in center field; Juan Tejeda, who is to first-base defense what Todd Self is to offense; and Cory Aldridge, whose most memorable came when he slid into home plate and yanked the ball out of the catcher’s glove, only to be caught by the umpire. After these four were released, Michael Tucker, Jacob Cruz, and Jose Offerman joined the Tides; about a decade or a decade-and-a-half late.

The Tides severed their relationship with the Mets after 2006, establishing a relationship with the Baltimore Orioles. But now it’s looking like the 2006 Tides have been cursed. It’s been only four years, yet three of the pitchers on the 2006 Tides have already passed away:

• Geremi Gonzalez, a Venezuelan ex-major leaguer who started six games for the 2006 Tides, died on May 25, 2008 after being struck by lightning.
• Jose Lima, who led the 2006 Tides in innings pitched, died on May 23 of this year of a heart attack.
• And Jeriome Robertson, who pitched 38 2/3 innings with a 7.68 ERA for the 2006 Tides, died on May 29 of this year in a motorcycle accident.

I’ll be honest — I really have no idea who would have cursed the 2006 Tides pitchers. None of the theories I can come up with make sense. But if I were Blake McGinley, Orlando Roman, or Steve Schmoll, I’d start getting worried toward the end of next May.