Monday, June 2, 2014

Strike 'Em Out; Throw 'Em Out


Season: 35-23; Home Stand: 3-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The thrill of the game (for me, at least) came on the very last play(s). Jeff Beliveau on the mound in the 9th inning (he of the 0.00 ERA). Runner on 1B by way of a lead-off walk. But Mr. Beliveau gets to two outs an out (fly ball to left field) and up to 3-2 on the batter. Runner goes. Batter strikes out looking. Catcher Curt Casali pegs out the runner. Games ends on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play that was a kick. Beliveau’s ERA still 0.00 and he now has 6 saves.

Meanwhile, earlier in the game, Enny Romero had his best start is a very long time. Just one earned run over 6⅔ innings. Vast improvement over his last game, actually over his last seven games. And then Brandon Gomes had a nice outing of four K’s after giving up a hit. He’s a real asset to the Bulls, but you have to think he won’t be with the team all that long.

I made a note to myself that the IronPigs can’t seem to sort out their middle infield crew, and yet they also kept the ‘Pigs in the game with two very timely double plays. So could be just a matter of the manager making do with a short roster.

All the Bulls' scoring came in the 2nd, when they put up four runs on a walk, single, and two doubles.

The oddity of the game was seeing infielder Jason Nix at 1B and Wilson Betemit playing 3B. There is no reference to Nix ever playing 1B in his minor or major league career. But he did a decent job. Wonder where he got his glove?

For Betemit, however, he just hasn’t played much 3B for the Bulls. He’s played that position quite a bit over the years and looked just fine at it yesterday.

Outside the game —

  • Meanwhile the Gwinnett Braves lost again. The Bulls are now 12 games above .500 (the best so far this year) and 4.5 games ahead of the Braves in the standings.
  • The Rays continue their downward slide. Unfortunately the three most recent additions from the Bulls — Sands, Kiermaier, and Solis — have not been able to help very much. Sands and Kiermaier were hitless yesterday and Solis did not play (although he was report to be OK after the boink into his nose on Saturday.
  • I think I mentioned that the Rays found a place on their 40-man by putting infielder Tim Beckham on the 60-day Disabled List. At one point we were worried that the middle infield could get a bit crowded with Fontenot, Olmedo, Nix, Lee, and Price leaving little room for Beckham. But that problem has been put off for a while.
  • A note yesterday pointed out that the 11 callups so far this year match the total number of callups for all of last year.


6 comments:

  1. Another question: Why are you having a catcher steal? Wanted to get him on the move and stay out of the DP, I guess, but Susdorf's GOT to get the bat on the ball there--he's pretty good, what the pitch definitely a strike? Hmm. Just playing like crud this series.

    Yeah, injuries on the middle infield. Saturday was Henson's first try at SS. Galvis has a broken clavicle. Something's wrong with Blanco. I think Cedeno's arm must hurt because he should be playing short... difficult situation I hope they get it sorted out.

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  2. Did just fine today, though. Solid pitching. Guys in my section of the stands think IP better than their record. I agree.

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    1. Well I wish we could have put up a better fight. That's the way it goes in the Minors, sometimes, though. Thank the folks in your section for the kind thoughts. Folks in my section think....they need to get more popcorn while the ball's in play. *sigh* You'd think there'd be better behavior in the "club" level...

      And thanks, Chris, for the discourse. It's cool to know that there are others out there who care about their Minor League team as much as I do mine.

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    2. Was fun, Kram. Wish your guys the best for the rest of the year… or at least until August 2nd.

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  3. I'm not one to nitpick, but considering the headline, you need to change "But Mr. Beliveau gets to two outs" because if he had, then the end of game play wouldn't have been as fun.

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    1. After some very harsh words with my copy editor, the line has been corrected. Don't quite know what I was thinking. Makes a bit more sense now. Especially since I watched that half inning from the top of the blue monster and was worried about Price (he chased an earlier foul ball over the barrier to that party area.

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