Colome Named IL Pitcher of the Week

Alex Colome was named International League Pitcher of the Week. Good for him.

Nice write up:

Right-hander Alex Colome picked up two victories for the Durham Bulls this week and led the International League with 19 strikeouts. Last Monday against Lehigh Valley, Colome erased a personal five-game losing streak with arguably his best outing of 2013. He recorded season-highs with 7.0 innings pitched and eleven strikeouts as the Bulls coasted to an 8-2 triumph. Colome returned to the mound Saturday and defeated the 1st place Norfolk Tides behind 6.0 innings of two-run baseball. The win improved Colome's record on the season to 3-5, and he now leads the League with 59 strikeouts.

24-year-old Alex Colome is in his seventh professional season and first full year at the Triple-A level. In 2012 he was named Most Valuable Player of his Double-A Montgomery team, going 8-3 andposting a 3.48 ERA. Colome is a native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 

Rain, Ugly Rain

Game 44, May 19, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Norfolk Tides (Orioles)	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	3	9	2
Durham Bulls (Rays)	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	4	1

Season: 26-18; Home Stand: 1-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

It says a lot about the Norfolk Tides’ pitcher, Zack Britton, that of the 24 Bulls he faced only one hit a fly ball, an out to left field. All the rest were ground balls, just four singles, two into double plays. He had a great night.

Nevertheless, before the deluge things weren’t looking too bad. Britton was not nearly as sharp as the 7th inning opened. The Bulls had scored a run and had runners on first and third with nobody out. Tim Beckham was at the plate with, I think, a 2-2 count. But it really started raining buckets.

I left. According to the Herald-Sun the umps waited 2½ hours to make the call.

Bulls pitcher, J.D. Martin, actually had a pretty good night. His only real mistake was a home run to Tides’ first baseman Travis Ishikawa. Martin throws strikes and, mostly, gets Ks and lets the defense get the rest. They usually do that this year. He got a lot of help with terrific plays by Jason Bourgeois and Craig Albernaz who punished runners for trying to stretch singles into doubles. Otherwise the 7th inning would have more than just the one unearned run by the Tides. The Bulls are a match for the them, it seems to me. We’ll have to see how this season plays out.

Outside the game —

• Shelley Duncan left a game up in Rochester on May 17 and hasn’t played since. Does anyone know what I’ve missed?
• Alex Torres is coming back. Jake Odorizzi will be starting a game against the Blue Jays. The Bulls are still short one pitcher.

UPDATE: 12:45. Missed this. Jeff Beliveau is on his way back. Wonder if he even got to put on a Rays uniform?

Rain, Beautiful Rain

Game 43, May 18, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Norfolk Tides (Orioles)	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	7	3
Durham Bulls (Rays)	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	3	5	0

Season: 26-17; Home: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

I need to be honest up front and mention that I sat out last night’s game in the dryness of my living room and watched the tarp pull from home. Still, I got to see a well-pitched game by both teams.

I worry a bit about the 40 home runs Bulls pitching has given up this year (2 more last night), but in the context of all the rest of the pitching turmoil, it isn’t a big concern. It is too bad that the Bulls have only hit 22, but that’s just the kind of team they are this year. Leslie Anderson and the surprising Vince Belnome seem to be the only real muscle on the team. But, it was Jason Bourgeois who had the big one last night. And then there was the rain, the beautiful rain, to seal off a terrific bit of pitching by WDBB’s favorite, Alex Colome.

Outside the game —

• Alex Torres put in a stellar four innings in Baltimore, got the win, and is apparently going to get kicked off the bus …
• The Rays have called up Jake Odorizzi and Jeff Beliveau. I don’t know if that means the Rays are going to exercise the one-pitcher expansion rule or they have someone else headed this way. Commentary (from Rays perspective) here and here. 
• Commentary from WDBB perspective — sigh. And that was before a Rays catcher pulled a muscle...
• Former Durham Bull Reid Brignac is in pinstripes! The Yankees grabbed him when he was designated for assignment by the Rockies. 

Durham Bulls Pitching ... and Today's Matchup

Catcher Craig Albernaz made his first 2013 appearance as a pitcher last night. I like Mr. Albernaz and I think he’s actually a decent pitcher, but his presence on the mound speaks to more than just the perception that the game was a lost cause.

Let’s try to track the changes among the Bulls pitching staff. Josh Lueke was called up when when the Rays’ Brandon Gomes went on the DL. He’s had three appearances since getting there and is doing just fine. That same day Bulls reliever Frank De Los Santos went on the disabled list.

A few days later the Rays signed reliever Cory Wade to fill one of the holes in the bullpen. He has had two appearances and looks OK, even though he coughed up one of the many, many home runs the Bulls offered up to the Rochester Red Wings.

The Bulls were still one pitcher short.

Then the Rays called up the Bulls best starting pitcher, Alex Torres, and put him in to throw five pitches to get the last out of a lost game Thursday evening. He was called up because starting pitcher David Price went on the DL. (Does a ⅓ inning relief appearance in replacement for David Price make any sense to you? No? Me, either.)

The Rays, apparently offering a AAA “cup of coffee” to Single-A reliever, Austin Hubbard, sent him from the Charlotte Stone Crabs up to Rochester to lend the Bulls a hand. Not so helpful — an awful ⅔ of an inning last night — 5 runs on 4 hits and three walks for a stunning ERA of 67.50.

A consequence of this turmoil (I haven’t mentioned Chris Archer’s troubles) is that Jim Paduch keeps getting called on to start games or come in for a long relief session — and Paduch is by far the least effective member of this year’s Bulls staff.

And the Bulls are still short a pitcher (remember, no replacement for De Los Santos was ever named). Hence Craig Albernaz on the mound.

And even if Torres only stays with the Rays for a few days, he would be out of any rotation for at least a week.

The Rays giveth, Cory Wade and Austin Hubbard; the Rays taketh away, Josh Lueke and Alex Torres; some players get broken, Frank De Los Santos, Mike Montgomery.

As this picture of ERA trends shows, this ain’t looking good at all.

Matching Up 

The Orioles farm team, the Norfolk Tides have been on quite a ride over the last couple of weeks and are now 4 games ahead of the Bulls in the South Division. Statistically, they are similar teams. Their pitching seems to be improving. Only two games, then the Bulls are out of town so that the ACC can rip up the turf of the DBAP.

May 18, 2013	W-L	RS	RA	Diff	BA	OPS	ERA
Norfolk	29-13	232	195	37	.279	.801	3.95
Durham	25-17	223	176	47	.275	.751	3.84

UPDATE: Forgot to add the rumor that Jake Odorizzi will be the actual call up for Price. That means the Bulls will be 2 pitchers in the hole while they wait for Torres to come back.

Choke and Poke ... Naah

     "I’m not a good two-strike hitter at all, actually,” he [Myers] said. “I could definitely work on it a little bit, but I’m not looking to ‘choke and poke’ up there with two strikes. I’m looking for a ball to drive still. You always hear ‘choke and poke’ with two strikes, but as a middle of the order guy, one of the guys that drives in runs, you’re not really looking to just slap the ball around, just put it in play.
     "If I have a runner on base with two strikes, I’m looking to drive the ball, even with two strikes. I’m looking to put the ball in play hard somewhere to drive the run in."

Wil Myers, Raleigh News & Observer, May 16, 2013

Chris Wright has a terrific piece in today's News & Observer with the title, "Generation K: Baseball’s strikeout trend is growing at record pace". The Bulls' Wil Myers is the exemplar of this new approach (although he isn't alone) and is quoted extensively. Myers leads the Bulls with 49 strikeouts in 36 games this year. He strikes out about 30% of the times he comes to the plate.

Is that what Charlie Montoyo or Dave Myers wants from their players? Doesn't sound like it.

     “We teach the same thing everybody else teaches,” Montoyo said. “We stress it all the way from rookie ball to the big leagues: You have to shorten your swing with two strikes, try to put the ball in play. You would think it makes sense, man, I don’t want to be striking out, there’s no chance for anything. No error, no infield hit or nothing. I wouldn’t say nobody cares (about striking out). Nobody likes striking out, for sure. It’s just the approach: some people are just taking the same hack day in and day out with one strike or two strikes.
     "You have to keep preaching it. You have to say it a thousand times, maybe a thousand and one times until they start listening. Just because a guy doesn’t do it, that doesn’t mean you’re just going to say, never mind. You’ve got to keep saying it, keep working on it."

Myers struck out twice last night.

All's Well That Ends Well

Game 37, May 12, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Lehigh Valley IronPigs	1	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	6	7	0
Durham Bulls	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	4	8	2

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

A pretty good game until what in some circumstances might be consider minor errors in the 6th inning allowed 4 runs to score. Too bad. Torres looked very good, and the hitters got into the Syracuse bullpen. But by then it was too late.

Game 38, May 13, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Lehigh Valley IronPigs	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	4	1
Durham Bulls	0	1	3	1	0	1	2	0	x	8	12	2

Season: 23-15; Home Stand: 3-5
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The home stand ended on a high note with a very, very nice bit of pitching by Alex Colome. He’s actually been pitching pretty well all along, but this time he got a lot of run support (and some superb defense). Colome’s 11 Ks were a career high for him and, I think, the most strikeouts for any Bulls pitcher this year. Meanwhile Jason Bourgeois was a homer short of the cycle and every other Bull got at least one hit. Brandon Guyer collected two hbp’s! Must’ve said something to the pitcher.

Reliever Cory Wade’s signing was announced today and he pitched the last inning. Looked OK. Last seen in a Bulls uniform in 2011, we’ll put something up about him later on.

Matchup Bulls @ Red Wings

The Twins Triple-A team is the Rochester Red Wings. They aren’t having a very good year, but they have former Bull and all around good guy Ray Olmedo on their roster, so it couldn’t be all that bad.

May 14, 2013	W-L	RS	RA	Diff	BA	OPS	ERA
Durham	23-15	187	146	41	.264	.725	3.58
Rochester	15-22	132	181	-49	.245	.689	4.60

Pitiful

Game 36, May 11, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs	0	0	1	1	0	0	7	0	0	9	13	2
Durham Bulls	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	3	8	0

Season: 22-14; Home Stand: 2-4
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Pitiful, just pitiful. Pitchers Chris Archer, Jim Paduch, and Will Inman combined to put on the worst pitching performance of the year. Each pitcher managed to load up the bases and then walk in a run — Inman walked in two. When the IronPigs’ Cody Asche hit a grand slam in the 7th, it was a mercy killing.

Baseball doesn’t care about yesterday. Good thing.

Not that it would have mattered last night, but I'm wondering if the Rays' are ever going to refill the Bulls' bullpen?

As long as I’m ranting, am I the only one who’s annoyed by Wil Myers’ showy bat toss? Last night he did it after a pitch coming in on a 3-2 count and he trotted toward first base. The ump called the pitch a strike and an out. (Myers had 3 Ks last night). He did it again on a long fly ball to center field — that was caught. When he gets to the majors he’s gonna get drilled. Might even happen in AAA. Of course, he’d have to be more of a threat than he’s been so far.