Saturday, April 3, 2010

The Best

Today is an opportunity to witness an attempt at answering one of the most often asked and rarely answered questions in baseball —

Is a team that was 8th in the American League and had the 15th best record in baseball as good as the best team in Triple A baseball?

At a guess the 2009 Bulls would have a good shot at beating the 2009 Rays. As for the 2010 teams? We’ll see.

We appreciate that for most folks in Durham the interest is elsewhere (Indianapolis) and their fortunes are in the hands of that guy with an unspellable/unpronounceable name. (The 2009 Bulls had Mike Wlodardcsyk, but he seems to have disappeared this year.) Still, the tip off is at 6:00 pm and the Bulls/Rays game should be over by then.

Nice to see local media notice of today’s game, in the Herald-Sun.

Terrific story on Charlie Montoyo in today’s Tampa Tribune that points out that Alex, Charlie’s two-year old son, is expected to be in the stands today. Great news there.

In an update to yesterday's Who’s On First, Hank Blalock was cut from the Rays roster to keep Reid Brignac there. He doesn’t have to make the trip to Durham, but he could. If so, at 29 he would be the youngest of the candidates for the Bulls first base job.

Today’s starting pitcher, Jeremy Hellickson, is the subject of a Stacy Long profile. Sounds like a level-headed young man.

Gates open at 1 o’clock. Game starts at 3 o’clock. See you there.

2 comments:

  1. Based on these quotes, it sounds like Blalock will be here today:

    "I'm under the impression that other teams have set their rosters for Opening Day. I think the best thing for me to do in a situation like this is just try to stay in the present as much as I can, so I'm going to get my at-bats (Friday night) and go to Durham with the team (Saturday), get my at-bats there, get myself season ready for whatever opportunity does come up."

    I think that he could be a good addition to the Bulls, but only if he doesn't have an attitude about being in AAA.

    Today will be fun. Finally have baseball back again.

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  2. Hadn't seen that. And he did get an at-bat last night. Wonder if he had to get to Durham on his own, or hitched a ride on the Rays' plane?

    So looks like there will be some sharp elbows around first this spring. Also implies that Rays are not comfortable with the Pena/Aybar setup (as I'd think they shouldn't be). Wonder if there's a young first baseman on the way up? Hughes didn't work out last year.

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