Only So Much Nostalgia

www.watchingdurhambullsbaseball.com

Game 32: Durham Bulls (Rays) 5; Indianapolis Indians (Pirates) 7

Season: 19-13; Last 10: 8-2; This Home Stand: 4-1

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, MiLB

The good and the bad of the old Durham Athletic Park hasn't changed from last year: seating, field lighting, winning the game — not good; field conditions, nostalgic touches (Clay Aiken singing, Charlie Montoyo and Bill Evers playing catch) — great.

The game this time started out slow and seemed to get slooooower, coming in at just over 3 hours, but it seemed much longer. Jeremy Hall had his best start in his short time with the Bulls and Ryan Reid did the same. That meant that at the end the 6th the Bulls were up 4-2 and things looked OK.

Dane De La Rosa came in for his first time since April 29th (we won't count his one pitch appearance against these same Indians on May 3rd). Rusty is perhaps not exactly the right word. Six hits and five runs later, the Bulls were pretty much out of the game. It was left only for R.J. Swindle to have his best inning of the year in the 9th. (Trivia: R.J.'s first appearance as a Bull was last year's DAP game).

One other positive feature to this game is that the Indians used six relievers (did not have a regular starter for reasons I did not learn), which might be an advantage to the Bulls as the home stand continues.

Remember Aneury Rodriguez? He was a pitcher I loved watching in the 2010 season. He's now a starter for the Houston Astros and got roughed up a bit last night in his second major league start. Oddly enough, there's a chance that he could end up being a Bull again this year because he was picked up on the Rule 5 draft and if the Astros don't keep him on their 25-man roster he has to come back to the Rays. But wouldn't it be neat if he made it as a major league starter? We can hope for him.

Couple more photos from last night.

Let's go back to the DBAP!

More Bulls Below the Border

Several more current/prospective Durham Bulls are showing up in the winter leagues. Jim Donten over at Rays Prospects is doing a terrific job with daily coverage of how they are doing, so I won’t repeat that here. However, to add to the list originally reported, catchers Jose Lobaton and Dioner Navarro, and pitchers Brian Baker, Joe Bateman, Carlos Hernandez, and Aneury Rodriguez are spending time in Mexico, Venezuela, and the Dominican.

For a glimpse of the life, keep an eye on Nicole Johnson's blog, Life of the Baseball Wife, which has a entry on a Mexican League game and another on what it's like to be called up for the playoffs.

Looking at 2010 — 4 — Pitchers

Twenty-seven ballplayers stepped onto the mound for the Durham Bulls in the regular season. That compares to just 17 so far for the Tampa Bay Rays. We’ll take two of those off the list, since infielders Angel Chavez and Omar Luna were thrown to the wolves in the last inning of two games. Interestingly, they both did just fine. And we'll add one to the list, Alex Torres, who pitched a couple of postseason games.

We’ll look at the rest in order of innings pitched, since with only a couple of exceptions the Bulls seemed to be a bit confused over who was going to be a starter and who was going to be a reliever this year. It will probably take a couple of posts to get through these guys.

Richard De Los Santos (26). RHP. Mostly a starter. 148 1/3 innings (7 innings, postseason), 28 games (23 starts), 14-5, ERA 3.52.

• De Los Santos started the year as a reliever, making his first appearance in the Bulls’ third game. He started a game on May 1 and eventually set a Durham Bulls record of 14 wins in the regular season. How good is he? Pretty good. In a year where all except one other starter went on the DL, De Los Santos certainly showed durability and a very respectable ERA. Furthermore, as the season went on he was going further into games, although he never got past the 7th inning. We’ll have to see how the Rays treat him next year. My guess is that he will be back with the Bulls and we should be happy to have him.
  
• Stats.

Heath Phillips (28). LHP. Starter. 139 1/3 innings. 24 games. 8-7. ERA 4.07.

• Phillips has been a “wait till next year” kind of guy for quite a while now. We like him. But then there’s the 21 home runs he gave up (the most, by far, of a Durham pitcher). He was in the starting rotation from the beginning of the year and we are somewhat surprised that he put in as many innings as he did. He went on the DL in mid-August and sat out the remainder of the season. He’s been pitching in AAA for 4 years now, so he may have reached his limit. Nevertheless, big left-handers are a treasure, so expect him back next year.
  
• Stats.

Jeremy Hellickson (23). RHP. Starter. 117 2/3 innings. 21 games. 12-3. ERA 2.45. On Rays 40-man.

• A terrific pitcher and a pleasure to watch. Deserves all of the awards he got this year for his minor league performance. Unlike David Price’s tour as a Bull, when he was clearly working to some kind of Rays program and not necessarily focused on game situations, Jeremy made a big difference in the Bulls won-loss record. Very, very impressive young man. More than that, there’s a chance that he will at least start the season with the Bulls next year depending on how their year works out. Called up in August, he had a couple of very successful starts and then went to the bullpen where he is having no success at all, so far.
  
• Stats.

Aneury Rodriguez (22). RHP. Mostly a starter. 113 2/3 innings (7 2/3 post-season). 27 games (17 starts). 6-5. ERA 3.80.

• For Rodriguez I would judge his season as one of him wondering just what the Bulls expected of him. He was pressed into service after starter Jeff Bennett went on the DL in April. He had two brilliant games as a starter, then a couple not-so-brilliant, and then worked as a reliever and starter the rest of the year. Overall, an asset to the Bulls.
  
• Stats.

Brian Baker (27). RHP. Long relief, spot starter. 105 innings. 37 games (12 starts). 9-5. ERA 3.86.

• Even though he seemed to run out of steam at the end of the year, we were very impressed with Mr. Baker. Poised on the mound, smooth delivery, slightly generous with home runs (10), but not too bad. Note the number of innings he pitched relative to the rest of the team. Good job.
  
• Stats.

Carlos Hernandez (30). LHP. Starter. 90 2/3 innings. 18 games (17 starts). 6-5. ERA 4.17.

• I want to like Hernandez, I really do. But for two years we’ve been wondering if he was going to make it to the park for his next start. Something started going wrong in mid-June and even though he pitched in four games in July and one in August, he was really out for the season. Overall, he hasn’t been a very effective pitcher for the Bulls for the last two season. His ERA is up almost a full run from last year as well (3.29 to 4.17).
  
• Stats.

Joe Bateman (30). RHP. Reliever. 76 innings (6 2/3 postseason). 54 games. 7-0. ERA 1.66. 7 holds. 4 Saves.

• Bateman is one of my all-time favorite Bulls pitchers (the other being Winston Abreu) and this year he was even better than last year. More efficient, hit fewer batters (5, down from 9), and seemed to not get himself into as many difficult situations. We have always thought it odd that he has never had a chance with the majors. He still pitches a good game as far as we are concerned and we hope that he makes it back.
  
• Stats.

Virgil Vasquez (28). RHP. Starter. 66 1/3 innings. 12 games. 6-2. ERA 4.88.

• For his fourth AAA season (two with Toledo, one with Indianapolis), Virgil got off to a bad start when he broke both wrists in a traffic accident early in the year. That happened after just three games and he didn’t make it back until June 29. He went back on the DL in mid-August. Seems a likable guy, but his stats are nothing special.
  
• Stats.

Dale Thayer (29). RHP. Reliever. 60 innings (7 1/3 postseason). 46 games. 4-1. ERA 3.43. 5 holds. 2 saves. On Rays 40-man.

• This was not Dale’s best year. He did get to Tampa Bay twice, but only pitched in one game. He did a good job for the Bulls this season, just not as dominant as he has been in the past. He was outrighted to Durham September 1 (i.e., dropped from the 40-man) which means he will be a free agent at some magic day soon. Doubt that he will be back with the Bulls next year.
  
• Stats.

Bulls Win Game 2; Coming Home

Durham Bulls 6; Louisville Bats 2
Series (best of five): 1-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Louisville Courier-Journal, Bats Website

By now the Bulls have finished their trek across the Appalachians. Here’s hoping that all of them (excepting the drivers) got a sound sleep before reaching Durham this morning.

Aneury Rodriguez certainly was not on his game last night. Very quickly the contest became very like one of those “committee” starts we had during the regular season, with each pitcher taking a couple of innings. Darin Downs was certainly the hero as he came on in the 3rd with the bases loaded and got the fly out to deep right field.

The Bulls had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their first two at bats. Five singles in the 1st inning got two runs in. Two walks and a single got another run across in the 2nd. The Bats did get a run in the troublesome 3rd. When the Bulls made two egregious base running mistakes in the top of the 4th (by Fernando Perez and J. J. Furmaniak) and the Bats scored another run in the bottom of the 4th (bringing the game to 3-2 Bulls), the game was in the balance.

The top of the 5th sounded just like the Bulls we know and love. Justin Ruggiano led off with a double. A Chris Richard single sent him to third. Joe Dillon singled Ruggiano home and sent Richard to second base. Leslie Anderson did hit into a double play, but Richard got to third base and he scored on a wild pitch while Angel Chavez was at bat. The Bulls were ahead 5-2.

After that, the Durham relief corp really hit their stride. Downs had a clean bottom of the 5th. Jake McGee came on in the 6th and faced just seven batters in the next two innings, striking out three. Joe Bateman struck out the side in the 8th. Winston Abreu had a 1-2-3 9th. Meanwhile in the 8th Angel Chavez got his first hit of the series, a double, and drove home Leslie Anderson, making it 6-2.

Tonight we get to see Biscuit starter Alex Cobb. He’s got some very good numbers (ERA of 2.71 in 119 innings). Looking forward to seeing him.

A bit of catch-up here. Neil Solondz has had some very good interviews leading into his broadcasts on recent nights. First is Xavier Hernandez reflecting on his time with the Bulls and his career. Then Charlie Montoyo talks a bit about the playoffs. Finally, Bats manager Rick Sweet talks about his team.

Speaking of the playoffs. The Yankees evened up their series with the Clippers, so they and the Clippers motored over to Pennsylvania to continue their end of the playoffs.

The rest of today’s post is a brief exploration of the incentives to become a major league baseball player. One big, big reason is that, compared to the minors, life is easy. Let’s take a look at our three guys who went “up” to Tampa Bay on the first of September, Desmond Jennings, Dioner Navarro, and Rocco Baldelli. (I know, Baldelli was hardly a Durham Bull since he was only here for a few games and we knew he wasn’t going to stay, but that just helps make my point.)

Since their arrival "up there" the Rays have played a grand total of seven games and have had two days off. They had a home game on September 1 and then flew to Baltimore for three games, to Boston for three games, then on to Toronto for a game to be played tonight. During that same stretch the Bulls have played eight games and made the trek to and from Louisville by bus.

And the new guys haven’t had to work very hard, appearing in only three games each. Not only that, it isn’t as if they had to do much running of the bases. Gotta admit, pretty good life.


But that’s OK. What we are interested in is tonight’s game at the DBAP. Here’s hoping that we get a better turnout than the 3,000 who showed up at Louisville Slugger Park last night.

Playoff Pitching — 1

If any reader of this blog ever had any doubt that baseball is a demanding sport, consider this:

Of the five starting pitchers who began the 2010 for the Bulls, four are on the disabled list — Heath Phillips, Virgil Vasquez, Carlos Hernandez, and Jeff Bennett (who ended up in Nashville in the PCL league where he is on the DL). The exception, of course, is Jeremy Hellickson. And we will mention in passing our favorite guy, Jason Cromer, who never really showed up this year.

Meanwhile, according to Adam Sobsey over at Triangle Offense, this is the rotation that Charlie Montoyo is looking at for the playoffs:

Richard De Los Santos, Ramon Ortiz, Brian Baker, Aneury Rodriguez, Bobby Livingston.

We’ve got decent numbers on three of those guys, so here are their charts. Once they get a few more innings in, I’ll put up what we’ve got on Ortiz and Livingston.

A bit of apples and oranges here in terms of how each player got to where he is statistically. De Los Santos has, by far, the most innings and the most starts. But they all have been relievers and starters this year. The curves show what a steady performer De Los Santos has been all year, while Baker has been much more erratic (sometimes in a good way). At the moment, Baker certainly appears to be on a slight improvement trend while Rodriguez is on a very slight downward trend.

Bulls Win South

Image courtesy Durham Bulls

Game 126: Durham Bulls 3, Norfolk Tides 1
Season: 79-47; Road Trip: 6-3; Streak: 5-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The Bulls clinched their fourth-in-a-row championship of the International League South Division last night when they beat Norfolk 3-1 and the Gwinnett Braves lost 3-4 to the Charlotte Knights. T-shirts were on sale within ten minutes after the game was over. That was a hint that the championship was not a surprise, and it wasn’t. Other than the hiccup just after the all-star break (which the Bulls followed up with an eleven-game winning streak), the Bulls have had and continue to have a great year. Video highlights at link on Bulls home page include a very nifty game-ending, championship-winning double play initiated by Justin Ruggiano.

Last night was a good example of the kind of team we have this year. It was the Bulls fifth win in a row and they have made that run with only two starters being our “regular” starters. I put regular in quotes since neither of those two (Aneury Rodriguez and Richard De Los Santos) came to the Bulls with the intent of them being starting pitchers. The other three starters in this run were Darin Downs (recently up from Montgomery to work in relief), Bobby Livingston (new guy), and Ramon Ortiz (even newer guy).

Still, what better guy to get the save than Joe Bateman? More appearances than any other Bulls pitcher this year.

I was not listening when Ortiz was on the mound last night, so didn’t get any impressions of his performance. Comments from readers welcome. Did notice that Jake McGee got the win and kept his 0.00 ERA intact.

Offensively two mature (old) guys showed the way. Chris Richard and Rocco Baldelli got Durham’s only hits, but they were enough. Pleased to see Baldelli’s first home run. Have to wonder how long he will stay with the Bulls. Would love to see him stick with the team long enough to play in Durham.

Noted that Fernando Perez started the game, first start in quite a while (0 for 3).

Joe Dillon is on the DL, apparently due to worries about hamstring, but not a re-injury.

Now the trick is going to be keeping the focus for the next couple of weeks. Charlie Montoyo and his crew appear to be really good at that, so not really very concerned.

Except that Dale Thayer is off to the Rays, so turmoil in bullpen is not going to let up.

Webworld

• Interesting podcast/interview with Charlie Montoyo from Thursday evening. Speaks to roster changes, young pitchers, Elliot Johnson and Rocco Baldelli.
• Ramon Ortiz gets a profile over at The Process Report.
• At the same site there’s is a review of the Rule 5 draft. Don’t understand that? Join the club. Nevertheless, one current Bull and a couple that we’ve seen are apparently affected: Anuery Rodriguez, Heath Rollins, and Emeel Salem.
• Yesterday John Romano at the St. Petersburg Times made the argument for sending Jeremy Hellickson back to Durham for a couple of weeks. Well, after another very impressive start out in Oakland, the Rays did send him to the minors, just not to the Bulls. Stories here and here. Surely more to come on the usual Rays blogs.
• For those interested in minor league life here’s a good, if overlong, article (cries out for an editor to whack about 2,000 words out of it).
• Over at Flip Flop Fly Ball he takes a look at the Red Sox.

[Update: Thanks to careful reader Samantha, here's a terrific article on last night's game with some good quotes from Charlie Montoyo.]

After the Rain

Game 124: Durham Bulls 5, Charlotte Knights 1
Season: 77-47
Wrap, Box

You’d think that since we drive to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park more than sixty times a year we’d find something better to do when the Bulls are out of town. But there we were bouncing along the torn up Roxboro and Mangum Streets (what’s the deal with that Durham?) last night while the Bulls were waiting for the rain to stop in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The occasion was a show at the Durham Performing Arts Center — a first-rate venue that if you haven’t tried is worth a visit. The same parking attendants work Bulls games and DPAC events. I tried waving my Bulls pass going into the parking deck, but the attendant just smiled and held her hand out for the $5.00. I mention this all because if you have figured out how to get to the DBAP then you can get to a show at the DPAC and it’s a very nice place to spend an evening.

It was a little after 10:30 by the time we got out of the show (Lyle Lovett, terrific) and out of the garage to a point where we could get 620 on the radio. Bulls at bat at the top of the ninth, nobody out, but two K’s and a ground out later, nobody scores. It did not not sound good. But then I find out that the Bulls are ahead 5-1 going into the bottom half. So all is well.

What jumps out from the box score is the terrific night had by Bulls’ pitchers — no walks, 12 K’s, only one earned run. Aneury Rodriguez, who’s had quite few days off since his last appearance, had a terrific night. New guy Paul Phillips gave up quite a few hits, but nobody scored in his second appearance.

Elliot Johnson continued his hot streak; Chris Richard’s homer got him up to 60 RBI, but Justin Ruggiano kept his lead at 63 with an RBI single.

The Bulls are 30 games above .500, the best they’ve been all year. They are moving ever closer to clinching the playoff spot in the South Division. Louisville, after a very unfortunate series (for them) against Columbus are sneaking back into contention in the West. Norfolk, the Bulls next opponent, is one game away from elimination.

Thanks to careful reader Fritz who pointed out Adam Sobsey’s piece on Fernando Perez in this week’s Indy Week. Fans interested in Perez, or just the life of a baseball player, will find it an interesting read.

The Bulls play in Norfolk tonight. Wonder if they even stopped for a cup of coffee as the bus rolled past Durham last night.

Pitching Challenges

Game 118: Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) 3; Gwinnett Braves (Atlanta) 4
Wrap, Box
Game 119: Durham Bulls 2; Gwinnett Braves 4 (7 innings)
Game 120: Durham Bulls 6; Gwinnett Braves 2 (7 innings)
Season: 74-46; Games Remaining: 23; Home Games: 10
Wrap, Box (119), Box (120)

To say that the Bulls’ pitching situation has been difficult over the last two days is not exactly accurate. Chaotic might be a better word. In Friday’s game Heath Phillips pitched one inning, gave up four runs, left the game, and is now reported to be on the disabled list. Carlos Hernandez (who came off the disabled list a couple of days ago) came in, pitched two innings, and is now reported to be back on the disabled list. Aneury Rodriguez came in to hold things in check for five innings, but the offense could not quite catch up. Plus, since Rodriguez was supposed to start Saturday, Montoyo and X. Hernandez had to do some scheming.

As an aside, I like watching Carlos Hernandez pitch. For those new to the Bulls, he’s been around for much of the last two years. He started 21 games last year and he’s got 18 appearances this year. And yet I also worry about him. If he’s back to the DL you’ve got to wonder if he will be around to finish the year with us. I hope so.

Outside of the pitching problems, Friday’s game also saw new outfielder over from Montgomery, Emeel Salem, take left field and hit a double in his second at bat.

Because Aneury Rodriguez pitched Friday, Charlie Montoyo had to get creative for the double-header yesterday. He started the first game with new guy Brian Shouse. I couldn’t chase down the last time he started a game. However, in 10 years in the majors (467 games) he doesn’t have a one. Unfortunately, the baseball gods don’t necessarily smile on either ingenuity or necessity. Shouse gave up four runs in the first inning and that was enough for Gwinnett to take the game. Need to mention Darin Downs. He pitched 4 innings of 1-hit baseball. Very nice performance. He’s looking better every day. Nice to see Elliot Johnson back in the lineup.

Back to Shouse — Chris Richard is no longer the “old guy” in the clubhouse. Shouse (41) has him by several years.

Which brings us to the second game of the double-header and a very nice 2-inning start by Jake McGee. Four K’s, still no walks for the left-hander. Followed by 2 innings by Dale Thayer, 2 by R.J. Swindle (who got the win), and one by Winston Abreu. Brian Baker will be starting today and, if he can hang on, the pitching situation might settle down just a little bit.

Nice to see the 13-hit performance by the offense.

Fun In the Sun

Game 114: Durham Bulls 2; Indianapolis Indians 0
Season: 71-43; Home Stand: 3-1
Wrap, Box, Indy Week, Herald-Sun

This was one of those games that was just fun to watch. Pretty afternoon, if a bit warmish. Mostly very good baseball. Indianapolis made a couple of errors, but they also had a couple of nice double plays (they had 10 in the series!).

If the fans were disappointed in not seeing Hellickson pitch, I didn’t hear anything. Plus we saw some really good pitching on both sides anyhow.

Aneury Rodriguez got the start and held the Indians to just one hit through four innings, but he did give up a bunch of walks, to include putting two guys on base with one out in the 4th. Then, and here is one of the reasons that won-loss records don’t count for much, Joe Bateman came in for a very nice strikeout and ground out on thirteen pitches and got the win.

We then got our first look at Jake McGee. A very impressive first look it was. He struck out the side in his first inning of Triple-A baseball and had two K’s and a flyout for his second. He didn’t throw a pitch below 92 mph and most were much faster. Here’s the numbers on his last batter: 95/95/97/96. Overall 22 pitches, 18 for strikes. Then in a very evil move, Montoyo switched to R. J. Swindle who has a fastball that, on a good day, with a following wind, breaks 80. And a curve ball that loops in there at 50 mph, or so. He went 1 ⅔. Winston Abreu came in for the last batter (a righty) and his 17th save.

It seems that every time I’m about to write something negative about Justin Ruggiano’s year and especially his strikeouts (he broke 100 the other day), he comes up with a terrific night. Then I have to take a look at the rest of the numbers. He had all the RBI last night and he was 4 for 4. His average is up to .285 and he is now the team leader in RBI with 57. Plus he made a nifty play in the field.

Fernando Perez got in his ½ inning in the field last night. No word on when he will be back in the game.

With Hellickson off to Detroit for another major league start, Montoyo gets to play with his pitching lineup some more. Still, with today off, they are well-rested. On the other hand, today is the last rest day of the year. Where is Jeremy Cummings when we need him? (Seriously, has anybody heard anything about Jeremy? Last seen at Rays Spring Training in 2009.)

Web World

• The Rays had a tough day yesterday. Over at Her Rays, Jessica has a few admonitions for her Rays.
• The Wall Street Journal comments on that game, and more.

Bulls Bash

Game 102: Durham Bulls 15; Syracuse Chiefs 4
Season: 62-40; Home Stand: 6-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Last night down in St. Petersburg, on his way to a no-hitter, the Tampa Bays Rays’ Matt Garza was through five innings by the time he had faced 15 batters. Up here in Durham we got 15 batters to the plate in one inning, and faced two Syracuse pitchers. Every Bull got at least one hit. Every Bull scored at least one run. Some Bulls outdid themselves, such as Omar Luna with two doubles, two singles, two RBI, and three runs scored. Dan Johnson, Joe Dillon, and Fernando Perez (!) homered. A night to remember as they hit the road for Lehigh Valley and Pawtucket.

Despite a slightly shaky 3rd inning, Virgil Vasquez looked much better than his last two times out. Here’s hoping that whatever was off is sorted out now. Nice story about Vasquez on the Bulls’ website.

I’m wondering if there is something afoot regarding Aneury Rodriguez and his physical condition, or did I miss something? He had one inning on July 2nd. He didn’t pitch again until July 11th (one inning). He did two innings on July 18th and then two more last night, the 26th. That’s just 8 innings on the month with a couple of very big gaps. Moreover, not very effective appearances, for the 8 innings, 7 earned runs.

The implication is that, along with Darin Downs, we’ve got some problems in the bullpen to worry about.

On the other hand, the Bulls end the home stand on a five-game winning streak and 22 games above .500, the best they’ve been all season. The heat certainly made for a tough eight days at home, but the wins probably made it more palatable.

The next locale is tonight’s game is at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA, site of Dan Johnson’s wining of the AAA home run derby. Here’s hoping he gets a couple more.

A bit more background on the now-famous tarp pull at Bulls’ exec George Habel’s blog.

Taking One For the Team

Game 78: Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) 7; Louisville Bats (Cincinnati) 5
Season: 47-31; Home Stand (11 Games): 4-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

For the nuts and bolts of this very exciting game, let me commend to you the links above, especially Mike Potter’s treatment at the Indy Week. He’s got a couple of good quotes from Charlie Montoyo and Chris Richard.

I’ll assume that you all know about the come from behind victory, again, for those of you who either left or didn’t come to the game. Let’s take a closer look at a couple of people/events.

Virgil Vasquez made his first start since 21 April. Not long after that start he got run over by a friendly North Carolina driver, broke both wrists, and has been on the disabled list ever since. Except for the 3rd inning, three runs on four hits, he had a decent five innings. I had thought that with his return to the roster someone would have to go. But that decision’s delayed with Dale Thayer going on the DL and R.J. Swindle getting time off to attend to the birth of his child. We are one short in the bullpen after all.

Dioner Navarro made his first appearance as a Durham Bull wearing his Rays number 30. We can only assume that Angel Chavez was willing to give it up and go for the number 10 he was wearing last night. Pretty sure that at a reported $2.9 million, Navarro counts as the highest paid Bull. Two Bats stole bases, but for sure one of them was off Vasquez, the other was something of a toss-up. Two wild pitches were charged against Bulls pitchers and, mostly, I’m not a good second-guesser of the scorer on the wild pitch/passed ball decision. So, pretty good behind the plate. At a guess, Winston Abreu is the only Bulls pitcher he has seen before, and maybe not Abreu.

At bat Navaro was a champion. By that I mean he took the phrase, “take one for the team” to a new level. Aroldis Chapman is a very hard-throwing (and at $30 million, expensive) pitcher in the Reds system with some control issues. He had two hit batsman and two wild pitches last night. But he can really throw. I’ve got several 97, 98, and 99 mph pitches in my notes. And one 100 mph. And, here’s where Navarro comes in, one at 102 mph! That’s the one that hit Dioner in the back. But he just trotted down to first. Jose Lobaton in the dugout signaled him with finger talk that it was a 102 mph pitch. In addition to that at bat, he drew two walks, had a ground out, and scored two runs.

Desmond Jennings got his first home run, and it was a shot off the bull. Good for him. Until the 6th inning he was the only Bull with any hits at all. Then Justin Ruggiano doubled him home.

Aneury Rodriguez, who was originally scheduled to start, pitched the 3 innings and let in a couple of runs. Did not look comfortable in his relief role.

Chris Richard’s two out at bat against Aroldis Chapman in the 8th was a thing of beauty. It started with Dan Johnson on first on a 99 mph hit by pitch and J.J. Furmaniak on third after a clean single and a wild pitch. Score was 5-3, Bats. Furmaniak came home on a wild pitch and Johnson moved to second on the same pitch. Score 5-4. Richard worked it to 3-2, fouled one off, and then hit a beautiful opposite field double scoring Johnson to tie the game. That was Chapman’s day, but Chavez singled Richard home off of Louisville’s Jon Adkins, and Perez doubled Chavez home for the final scores.

Great night.

On another note, Hank Blalock has been “designated for assignment” by the Rays. Too bad. He helped us get on our way this year.

Sweep!

Game 62: Durham Bulls (Rays) 8, Buffalo Bisons (Mets) 3
Season: 38-24
Streak: W5; Last 10: 9-1
Wrap, Box

Five games in a row; sweep of the 4-game series with Buffalo; 14 games above .500; 10½ game lead in the IL South Division; run differential a startling 134 (Bulls 358, opponents 224); it’s all good.

Is Desmond Jennings coming out? Beginning to look like it. A triple, two doubles, a walk, and 2 RBI last night pushed his batting average up to .272 and his OPS to .742. Those aren’t very good numbers, but for the last ten games they are .381 and 1.030 — and those are very good numbers. He’s looks more like the player that came up from Montgomery last year and the player that all the prospect-watchers seem to think so much of.

Angel Chavez is the game story, though. Playing third base last night he got on base every time he came to bat with three singles, a double, and a hit by pitch. His three RBI came at just the right moments in the game. And he stretched out the pitcher each time, it seemed, running up the count before getting his hit. Chavez was also the batter selected by Buffalo to take the obligatory HBP after warning that resulted in the pitcher (Lujan) and manager (Oberkfell) getting run out of the game in the 8th. I missed that event, but I have to say that it really doesn’t make much sense, we aren’t deliberately hitting guys in games we’ve pretty much put away. (Although, we have hit 5 Bison in eight games — seems a bit high.)

Aneury Rodriguez had his best game since those two back in April. Could have been even better if he hadn’t started the 6th inning, but guess Montoyo wanted to see how much farther he could go. Turned out to be not very far.

Broadcaster Neil Solondz [Welcome back, Neil!] solved the puzzle of the missing pitcher reported yesterday. It’s Jason Cromer and it seems his elbow is still giving him trouble. Not yet on the DL.

With Lobaton and Colina both in the lineup, mystery catchers were out warming up pitchers. Actually, not very mysterious. Justin Ruggiano had a glove on and it looked like Joe Dillon was fully geared up.

We need to at least mention the really tough year that Fernando Perez is having. And it isn’t getting any better. He at least got on base last night with a walk, but he is in a severe slump with his average dropping to .209 over the last couple of weeks. I’m wondering if he really has recovered from his year off. He just doesn’t look like the guy we liked so much back in 2008.

Stacy Long brings to our attention that just about every team in the Rays organization is in first place: The Rays, Bulls, Montgomery Biscuits, and Charlotte Stone Crabs.

Lastly, Bulls fans, welcome a newcomer to our ranks, Luke Lamphere. Luke came out of the dugout Thursday night at 9 lbs, 5 ozs. Luke’s mom, Morgan, was seen Wednesday evening coming down the steps from the Blue Monster. Luke was reported to be several days late and some thought was being given to perhaps a few runs up and down the stairs. Then maybe some real excitement up there under the snorting bull. Instead a more conventional approach was taken. Mom, Dad (Mark), and Luke are reported to be doing well. We look forward to seeing them at the DBAP soon.

End of the Streak; Navarro?

Game 57: Durham Bulls 2, Syracuse Chiefs 6
Season: 33-24
Wrap, Box

The streak ended last night. Surely I am not the only person to notice that in the last Bulls loss the pitching lineup was Rodriguez, Cromer, and Baker; and last night’s pitching lineup was Rodriguez, Cromer, and Baker. And surely I am not the only one to notice that since Aneury joined the Bulls, and gave us two terrific starts on 20 and 25 April, he has had a tough time. Most troubling is his tendency to give up bases on balls, nearly one per inning the last two games. Unfortunately, Jason Cromer is not yet back in form, so we are going to have to live with this for a while.

Wonder if it is something about the park or the weather, but in the last three games Bulls pitching has given up 20 walks and Syracuse pitching has given up 20 walks.

About to get a new catcher?

Reporters and bloggers paying attention to that team down on the left coast of Florida are very impressed with John Jaso’s performance since his call up. So much so that since Kelley Shoppach got off the disabled list they’ve been speculating about what the Rays might do. One of the possibilities is to send their long time first string catcher, Dioner Navarro, to the Bulls. The last time Navarro saw the minors (not counting rehab) was a few games in 2006 with the Dodgers AAA Pacific Coast League team in Las Vegas. Rays Index’s take is here, and a longer piece is here. Would create problems with our lineup, but might be interesting to see him at work.

The Good, The Bad, The Odd

Game 47: Durham Bulls 3, Rochester Redwings 4
Season: 26-21
Wrap, Box, Indy Week

For a more linear view of the game, see Adam Sobsey in the Indy Week link. For me, I’m still trying to get over my disappointment in Jason Cromer’s first appearance. But, surely no more disappointed that Jason himself.

Good:

• Aneury Rodriguez. Although hitters were giving his pitches a lot of hard rides, they landed in the fielders’ gloves. A solid 5 ⅔ although he left a couple of runners on for Cromer.

• Joe Dillon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player crawl his way to home, but Joe did. After stealing second base in the 6th, Joe was dashing around third on an Angel Chavez single. Something went seriously wrong and he collapsed several feet from the plate. Sobsey reports that it was a hamstring and that Dillon will be out for a while. The only good is that he scored the run. Otherwise, everything else about the incident is not good.

Bad:

• Jason Cromer. Can’t sugar coat it. He came on in the 5th and got his batter out. In the sixth he loaded the bases with walks and left with one out.

• Angel Chavez’ error. Chavez was playing second base after the odd shuffle that resulted from Joe Dillon’s injury. Dan Johnson, who started the game as the designated hitter, move to third base and Chavez moved to take Dillon’s place at second. Although second isn’t his usual spot, he’s been there a couple of times this year. With the bases loaded he let a ball get by that resulted in two runs scoring.

• Joe Dillon’s absence. Joe has made a difference this year, and last. He’s gonna be missed. We have no idea when we will hear what about his injury.
  

• Fifteen strikeouts against the team with the worst ERA in the International League

Odd:

• Because the designated hitter, Dan Johnson, moved to third on Joe Dillon’s injury, the pitcher was eligible to come to bat. I’d like to think that if the game had not been at risk Charlie Montoyo would have allowed it just for the oddity of it all. In practice, Chris Richard came to bat as a pinch hitter in the 8th (he struck out).

• Catcher, baserunner, umpire and several others standing around home plate until Colina apparently hears the folks screaming at him and tags out the Redwing baserunner, who had apparently not touched home plate.

This is likely the last blog entry for a few days. We are off for a visit to one of the country’s most interesting institutions — the John C. Campbell Folk School. We think a lot of the place and have written about it previously. Although I will be able to track the Bulls and could probably make entries from time to time, seems like the whole point of going there is to get away from technology for a while.

Twenty Hour Rain Delay

Tarp Pull, Durham Bull Athletic Park, 22 May

I clipped the image above just before leaving for last night’s game. My plan was to use it to show the world what a clever guy I am. What you see is the Bulls crew starting to take the tarp up at about 6:20 last night. I got to the game just as an Aneury Rodriguez pitch to Pawtucket’s Josh Reddick got whacked foul beyond the stands on the left field side of things.

Rodriguez got a one-two-three inning and then the Bulls we know and love this year came to bat. Four hits, three stolen bases, and four runs later things were looking good. We even had a spectacular sound and light show going on to the north of us, with lightning bolts reaching out of the sky towards the SunTrust building.

Rodriguez let a runner on with a walk in the 2nd, but otherwise wasn’t having a problem (worrisome long fly balls, though). Perez led off our half with a single, stole second, went to third on Jenning’s single, and scored on Elliot Johnson’s single (his second hit of the night). Have I mentioned that Pawtucket’s Boof Bonser seemed to think he was pitching batting practice?

Nobody out, one run in, runners on first and second, coach (manager?) coming out to the mound, couple of lightning strikes nearby, ump waves his mask at everyone. Game delayed. Bulls are ahead 5-0.

Double-agent and reporter Mike Potter reported the beginning of the game for the Providence Journal and for Indy Week. What kind of gig is that? But he does pick up a couple of good quotes from both managers.

So today, if the rain goes away, we can settle in for maybe five hours of baseball! Yahoo!

The suspended game starts at 4 o’clock and goes normal 9 innings. Next game starts 30 minutes (or so) after and goes for seven innings. Should be home by midnight.

Looks like Richard De Los Santos will start the suspended game and Carlos Hernandez will start the second game.

Starting Pitcher, 22 May

Aneury Rodriguez has been erratic. His first two games were terrific, but he’s been variable since. He lost his last start, but so did every other pitcher on the Durham roster. The Bulls' team FIP is 3.99 and the team ERA is 3.72, so Aneury is one of the guys pulling the numbers up. Let’s hope for a good day.

Our opponents are the Pawtucket Red Sox. They come in at 19-23 with a team wOBA of .328. Our team wOBA is .362. Their team ERA is 4.58. Boof Bonser (no kidding, that’s his name), ERA 7.64, is scheduled to start for the PawSox, who have lost the last three in a row.

So, we’ve got a statistical edge and we are, after all, the friendly home town crowd.

Clipping Clippers

Game 36: Durham Bulls 8, Columbus Clippers 1
Wrap, Box, Columbus Dispatch

Game 37: Durham Bulls 7, Columbus Clippers 3
Season: 23-14
Streak: W4
Wrap, Box, Columbus Dispatch

Jeremy Hellickson was back in form Friday: six innings, eleven strikeouts, no walks. Very pretty. And well backed up (well, sort of) by Joe Bateman and Mike Ekstrom. Joe gave up his first home run in 14 appearances (20+ innings). Ekstrom hasn’t walked a batter yet (3 appearances, 4+ innings).

Lots of doubles (Richard, Jennings, Chavez, Shealy) and a couple of home runs (Shealy, Richard) drove the offense. Hellickson’s pitching and a couple of double plays kept Columbus off the board.

Then Heath Phillips stepped to the mound yesterday (Saturday). Heath had his best game of the year, marred only slightly by a 7th inning when he arguably should not have even been in the game. Probably Charlie was saving his bullpen for another day and assuming that the game was in hand (score 7-0 at the time), but a single, wild pitch, single, home run put three runs on the board very quickly. Still a fine day for Heath.

Other interesting features of the game: Ryan Shealy hit a grand slam, the first grand slam for the Bulls this year. Last year it seemed like we hit one every time we got the bases loaded. Chris Richard most memorably hit two in one game. So it was fun to see our first one of the year. Also good to see Shealy have two good days in a row. Shealy really hasn’t had a very productive year so far, but it’s been somewhat hidden by the stellar performances of Dan Johnson, Hank Blalock, Chris Richard, Angel Chavez, and company. Maybe now that he’s out of the shadow of Blalock he can blossom.

Justin Ruggiano was back in the lineup and had a ground out RBI and a walk. We’re going to need his bat pretty soon now.

So we are 2-0 in Columbus, have a 1:05 game today with (probably) Aneury Rodriguez getting a start. As seems to be usual, we can expect at least of couple of transactions while on the road.

Transaction Speculation

Let’s start with what we know: Blalock is gone. An infielder we’ve never seen, but who has been on our roster since opening day, J. J. Furmaniak has been activated and put on the Montgomery Biscuits roster. Seen as a Bull, that is. Furmaniak was with Lehigh Valley last year.

We usually carry 12 position players. So we’ve got room for two. Down in St. Petersburg things are fairly complex and those considerations will, of course, have an impact on us. [St Petersburg Times] So I’ll just put a few names in play here — catcher John Jaso could come back, infielder Sean Rodriguez might get sent down to give him some more playing time, outfielder Matt Joyce will surely at least visit on a rehab tour if not an assignment. Furmaniak’s physical condition could be really good and so maybe just a short visit to Montgomery before coming to the Bulls. Pat Burrell, in an extraordinary act of penance to Rays fans, donates $6,000,000 to earthquake relief and comes to the Bulls to learn how to play team mascot. (“I’ve been a fan of Wool E. Bull all my life. It’s going to be an honor to study with him this season. I’ve heard that he’s on the DL, so maybe I’ll get an even earlier shot at a performance that I expected.”)

Update: A modest correction or two to today's post. It was noted that at the bottom of today's "wrap", Neil provided us with the name of today's starter and it is, indeed, Aneury Rodriguez. Secondly, a slight difficulty with my enumerative skills was noted in that the Bulls usually carry twelve position players (I got that right) and they have 12 position players. Other than that, I guess I got things right...

Slippery Slope

Game 33: Durham Bulls 4, Toledo Mud Hens 5
Season: 19-14
This Home Stand: 2-4
Streak: L4
Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

This is not good. How do you lose when you get 10 hits (including two doubles, a triple, and a home run) and strike out 13? Answer: Give up 9 walks and leave 10 runners on base. Not good.

Happy to have a starter, Jeff Bennett, back from wherever he was, but then Charlie Montoyo pretty much left him twisting in the breeze in the 5th. Rodriguez was warmed up, but Jeff just kept on giving, filling up the bases with walked batters. That three runs scored on a double should not have been a surprise.

We stayed in the game, but Montoyo also sounds a bit defensive in the Herald-Sun article when it comes to the decision to send Colina home in the 8th. We experts in the stands thought he should not have. Not sure that it would have made much difference. Toledo’s closer, Sborz, was superb. He completely shut us down.

Bright spot was seeing Aneury Rodriguez in relief. He did a fine, fine job.

Negro League Night is scheduled for May 23. Here’s hoping some of the reporters chase down a good story or two.

New Supreme Court nominee has baseball background. Is that a new credential, female baseball enthusiast?


Update: I left out a beautiful, glad-I-was-at-the-game moment. Here it is:

4th inning. Toledo’s got runners on first and second. Batter sends a shot right up against the Blue Monster but Chris Richard makes a leaping catch, perfect throw to Elliot Johnson who makes a perfect relay to Ryan Shealy to catch the runner off first. Pretty, pretty play.

Return to the DAP

Photo courtesy News and Observer

Game 32: Durham Bulls 2, Toledo Mud Hens 6
Season: 19-13
This Home Stand: 2-3
Streak: L3
Wrap, Box

“The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.”

Ooops! Wrong Kevin Costner movie. But the sentiment remains.

Let’s talk about the game before getting to the nostalgia.

Just like he did up in Rochester on May 4th, Heath Phillips gave up five runs in the first inning then pitched pretty well. My seatmate provided this thought. On Heath’s day in the rotation why not take our best one inning pitcher and have him start the game (Winston Abreu comes to mind), then bring in Heath in the 2nd inning? Make sense? Does to me.

Unlike May 4th, Bulls bats stayed pretty quiet.

For the first time this year, the Bulls have a left-handed reliever on the roster, R.J. Swindle. He got in two innings last night and I’ve got to admit that he is going to be fun to watch. All sorts of odd-looking pitches looping in there.

That’s about it for the game. How about some nostalgia?

First my own take on the DAP. I’m one of those newcomers to the area. I only saw one game in the DAP, so not much nostalgia for me, just a look at what’s there today. The field is in really, really good condition. I liked being close to the game. I liked not being inside a jukebox with a sound system blowing my ears out. I could listen to real people cheer and boo. Fans were into the game, at least at first. The biplane flyover was cool. I liked the visuals, the sense of a park built to fit its surroundings. I didn’t like the feeling of being inside a cage. That pretty much spoiled it for me. To get a sense of the park I had to walk out behind the netting.

For much, much better looks at the history angle, take a look at these links.

The News and Observer brought in a former Durham Morning Herald reporter to cover the game. And posted some terrific photos on their website. Indy Week’s Adam Sobsey recounts some long-standing associations with the DAP. And Danny Wild covered the game for MiLB.com and they posted a bunch of photos.

By the way, I won’t have a starting pitcher chart today. Adam Sobsey is reporting that Jeff Bennett will start, Aneury Rodriguez has been moved to the bullpen, and Richard De Los Santos will stay in the rotation. We don’t have enough info on Bennett to do a chart.

Nice To Be Back Home

Game 28: Durham Bulls 13, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 8
Season: 18-10
This home stand: 1-0
Streak: W3
Wrap, Box

The Bulls had another extraordinary run-producing game. Simply amazing what they are able to do with a bat this year.

But first let me rant about the pitching, because if that isn’t sorted out you have to think things are going to drop off the edge some day soon.

After two terrific starts, Aneury Rodriguez has had two crummy starts. Not possible to guess why, but it sure would help if he were backed up by the bullpen. But until we got to Mike Ekstrom, the fourth pitcher of the day, none of the relievers were helping at all. Particularly egregious was how the number 8 and 9 batters in the Yankee’s order were treated. In their first 8 plate appearances they got seven walks and a single. Four, count ‘em, four of the walks later scored. That is simply terrible pitching. Here’s hoping that they get it out of their systems.

On the other hand, a ton of those guys that our pitchers let on base, stayed on base (13).

On our side, you have to admire the way we kept coming back. Up a few runs, down a few runs, up a few runs. Colina’s homer in the 6th was particularly timely and pretty. Hank Blalock’s three-run shot into the seats in the 8th was just beautiful. And congrats to Jose Lobaton for his first home run as a Bull (also in the 8th, and the winning run).

On the Bench: Jennings (13) (Note: he had a ½ inning in center field); Ruggiano (3) (Note: Ruggiano now officially on DL for bicep injury, backdated to 3 May); D. Johnson (1); Chavez (4); Luna (3). Why is WDBB doing this? Because we are getting really worried about the health of this team.

JonWeberWatch: Double, single, 1 RBI, 1 run scored.

Bulls Radio: Very pleased to pass on to you that Bulls Radio is broadcasting inside the park on low power FM 87.7 in addition to AM 620. The Bulls front office was very responsive to a fan request that involved mumbling about not having “old” technology like portable AM radios and bragging about their new iPod with its built in FM tuner. However, it is called low-power FM for a reason. The signal barely reaches the front gate. But there it is for all you folks unwilling to go back to the 20th century, 87.7. Now if they could just get an iPhone/iPad app …

[Correction: Frequency is 87.7, not the frequency in the original posting]

Virgil Vasquez: Yesterday and this morning there was a bit of a kerfuffle regarding Virgil Vasquez’s status in the Rays system. A report in Baseball America was picked up at Rays Prospects and passed on in a comment in WDBB. We were well into our high dudgeon/rant mode going into today's game.

But Virgil is still with the Rays. According to Bulls radio, Virgil Vasquez is in Extended Spring Training at the Rays facility in Florida (Port Charlotte?). From what I can learn, Virgil was “released” and then resigned immediately thereafter. Why would they do that? Who knows. But if I were a betting man, I’d bet on it having something to do with the Rays insurance policies.