Thursday, August 16, 2012

7 in the 8th

Season: 59-67; Trip: 2-4; Bulls v. Clippers: 4-2; Standings

I had a meeting in downtown Raleigh last night and since 620 coverage there is basically awful (why is it that one of the most important media guys on the east coast and baseball team owner can't arrange for a radio signal that goes more than about 5 miles?), it wasn’t until late in the 6th inning that I could get the score,. The Clippers were up 6-2. Remembering that I’d heralded the arrival of Cesar Ramos as a new starting pitcher, I started a lead paragraph retracting that assertion.

Got home. Bulls now down 7-2. Parked the car. Went inside. Fired up the computer and gameday and audio stream, just in time to hear Kinas call Chris Gimenez’ second home run of his 5 RBI night with Stephen Vogt and Henry Wrigley on base. Since Wrigley had doubled in Rich Thompson earlier, it was Clippers 7, Bulls 6! Brooks Conrad walked and the Clippers brought in former Bull and former Tampa Bay Ray Dan Wheeler. Will Rhymes hit a home run, just his 4th of the year, and the Bulls go up 8-7. Rich Thompson, in his second at bat, singled in a run later, much later, to make it 9-7. Twelve Bulls came to plate in the inning and that would be enough.

This year’s Bulls have not been much of a come-from-behind team. But last night was different. I count myself lucky to have happened to listen to it. Congrats to Josh Leuke on getting credit for the win, Adam Liberatore for the hold, and Dane De La Rosa for his 15th save.

Chris Gimenez is hitting .335 with an OPS of .932. His two 2-home run games recently has surely been noticed down in St. Petersburg. He should be playing down there in September.

Outside the game —
  • Guess I need to mention that the Tampa Bay Rays gave up a perfect game to Seattle’s Felix Hernandez yesterday. Only 23 perfect games have been thrown in major league history — three of them against the Rays/Devil Rays. 
  • DRaysBay speculates that the Rays might wait until September to bring Jeff Niemann onto the lineup. He’ll have to be somewhere. Perhaps in Durham?
  • The local Kia dealer is having a meet the team event on August 25th.

4 comments:

  1. An interesting note about the Rays and perfect games. The Rays have been at the wrong end of three perfect games in the last four years. The rest of the AL have combined to be at the wrong end of a perfect game three times in the last 27 years.

    You would think a team like that would make a significant effort to develop young hitters through their minor league system...

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  2. Capitol Broadcasting wants you to buy an HD radio - the Bulls are simulcast on 99.9 HD2. No, I don't have one.

    So, when I'm out of 620 range I hook my iPhone into the car stereo via USB, and get the game audio free via the Bulls official app. The Android app also has the audio. Audio on both apps tends to trail real-time by at least a minute, sometimes more.

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  3. I actually did buy an HD radio (portable version), fortunately from Best Buy. Took it home to North Raleigh. Reception was worse than AM. Didn't try it in the car. Got my money back. I've tried iPhone app and, while OK, tends to drop out while moving. Still, it really is the best way to sneak a look when in an evening meeting. Eats up the battery charge though.

    Note that the only HD radios for sale in Best Buy were their house brand. Clerk there said HD never took off, probably because HD is just a logo, does not stand for high definition.

    An older car with a real antenna gets AM fairly well. Newer car with antennas in/on the glass not good at all roughly 5 miles from DBAP. So maybe I should always drive my wife's car on game nights. She doesn't think that's a great idea :).

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  4. Very useful to know that HD radio is no good, I won't waste my money. And indeed, the digital tuners and weak antennas don't cut it.

    Speaking of analog, I miss the "free" clear channel AM radio for baseball. As a kid in Chicago I could get St Louis, Cincy, and on a clear night Texas. One freaky night I even got the Dodgers for five minutes! Today there's too much interference to make trying a useful pursuit.

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