One-Man Home Run Show; Not a Bull

Mikie Mahtook, showing off Bull City Blue uniform before call-up.
Photo courtesy Durham Bulls

Game 44, May 21, DBAP

Rochester Red Wings: 12

Durham Bulls: 2

Season: 18-26; Home Stand: 1-2

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

First of all, let us stipulate that Rochester’s Adam Walker can hit a baseball, especially in the general direction of the Bull. He’s done so five times in the last three games, including three times last night. Yes, he does strike out a lot, but here in Durham he’s held that to just 4 times. The crowd even acknowledged his performance last night with a nice round of applause on his third home run.

Then, let us also note that Jamie Schultz had a horrible night. Schultz is having a decent season, but his 3⅓ last night was awful. (included two of the Walker homers). Brad Boxberger made a relief appearance (and gave up Walker’s third homer). 

The Bulls hitters were not a lot of help with their 17 K’s, their season-worst performance. About the only hitter to do well was outfielder Mikie Mahtook who was 2 for 2 until …

In our part of the stands a buzz started in about the 3rd inning. Former Bull Kevin Kiermaier, Tampa Bay’s spectacular center fielder, had broken his hand. Several folks were tapping away at their phones. I was regretting that the battery on my radio had died and I couldn’t follow Kinas’ commentary. But soon it became clear enough. In the top half of the inning Richie Shaffer, playing third base, came running toward the dugout asking for a different glove. He was handed one and headed out toward right field, sending Mikie Mahtook in. Here’s the neat part — a fair fraction of the fans knew what was happening — Mahtook was headed to the Rays and we were happy for him — a cheer went up as he went into the dugout. Juniel Querecuto took Shaffer’s place at third base and the game went on.

Outside the game — 

• Misty rain through the first couple of innings and a nice rainbow stretched out through the eastern sky. 
• For more on Kiermaier’s injury see the video at Rays Index and comments at the Rays site.
• The Bulls introduced their fancy blue uniforms last night (see photo at top) and I have to admit that I like the look, with the exception of the slightly ugly awkward looking orange belts. And I have to point out that if you're going all "designer" on us, then the shade of blue on the batting helmet should match.
• We left after the 5th inning and watched the end of the game on TV. Very pleased to see that the HD broadcast is in operation. Looks really good.

Pitching Update

The team ERA was improving until last night. Overall, however, we still see a big spread between the starters and relievers. The Bulls have two relievers on the DL and the help that’s come up from Montgomery hasn’t been. If Gamboa and Bellatti return; if after Boxberger finishes his rehab and goes to Tampa Bay; maybe then.

One to Fourteen

Game 25, May 1, Slugger Field, Louisville, Kentucky
Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays): 0
Louisville Bats (Cincinnati Reds): 3
Wrap, Box, Courier-Journal

Game 26, May 2, Victory Field, Indianapolis, Indiana
Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays): 9
Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates): 2
Season: 12-14; Trip: 2-1
Wrap, Box

Last night was a big change from being one-hit and shut out on Sunday to a 14-hit blowout on Monday. Daniel Robertson led the charge with walk, 2 singles, a double, and a triple (4 RBI). And several more had a multi-hit game: Taylor Motter, Richie Shaffer, and Jake Goebbert.  The only Bull who did not get a hit was returning catcher Luke Maile, who had his first game behind the plate since coming off the disabled list over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Adam Wilk, who had not previously gotten much in the way of run support, got his first win on the year in a 7 inning, 0 earned run outing.

Outside the game —

• Andrew Bellatti went on the disabled list when Luke Maile came off. Mikie Mahtook remains on the list.
• The Gwinnett Braves had their roster shredded with three players being called up (including former Bull Reid Brignac) and two or so Atlanta Braves being optioned down. Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

K's and Dingers; Fun at the DBAP

Game 18, April 24, Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburg): 1
Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay): 6
Season: 10-8; Home Stand: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Fun day at the park as several Bulls had a terrific game, starting with Jamie Schultz and his 12 K’s, and then there was Richie Shaffer getting his first home run in the 5th inning and another in the 7th.

But there was more, a lot more. Jake Goebbert came into the game with an awful OPS of .255 and raised it to .316 with two singles. Still awful, but there’s hope. Similarly, Kyle Roller punched a home run and raised his OPS up to .868, an above average number.

The three homers plus RBIs by Nick Franklin and Carlos Corporan led the Bulls best run differential of the year. Plus they went into a tie for first place in the South Division.

In addition to Jamie Shultz’s superb performance, we saw Andrew Bellatti on the mound for the first time since April 13. Did OK in his 22 pitches. Time to call out Eddie Gamboa’s superb ERA of 0.71 and there’s his WHIP of 0.95. He had 2⅓ innings yesterday and looked very good.

Outside the game —

• Blake Snell had a superb start against the Yankees and is back in Durham. 
• The Rays fiddled around with the 40-man roster to add Jhan Marinez and then he was called up. He had an inning in relief last night. No word on his replacement. Possibly Danny Farquar?
• Luke Maile is reported to be a couple of days away from coming back.
• No word (that I heard) on Mikie Mahtook’s status.

Team Hitting

OPS (on base percentage plus slugging) is one of those stats that has fallen out of favor for evaluating individual players. But we are less interested in that than we are in team trends. For that it works just fine. What we see here is that the Bulls’ hitting over the last 15 games fell off from a very hot, small sample start. It fell below this year’s International League average. We are still early enough in the season for one game’s results (the best team OPS of the year — 1.024) to push it up quite a bit.

click on chart for larger view

Singing in the Rain — Nice Start

Game 1
Durham Bulls (Rays) - 7
Charlotte Knights (White Sox) - 3
Season: 1-0; Home Stand: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun (paywall), N&O, WRAL

The weather was ugly. Cold mist swept across the field as the National Anthem was sung (quite well, by the way, by a Duke a cappella group). Blake Snell kept things on track for the Bulls. Charlotte’s Scott Carroll only lasted an inning and a third. After the rain stopped, the temperature dropped like a stone, but it was baseball! And the Bulls won!

Here begins my look at this year’s team. Starting with last night’s lineup.

The Lineup

(note: “slash line” is Batting Average/On Base Percentage/On Base Percentage+Slugging;(OPS) “*” indicates player in on 40-man roster)
Also note that former Bulls broadcaster Neil Solondz has interviewed a bunch of these players. All of the interviews worth a listen. See the links below.

RF Mikie Mahtook*: 2 for 5, scored 2 runs. Season — .200/.200/.400
Mahtook spent much of last year with the Bulls playing in 98 games with .209/.304/.670. And he really looked good in his 41 games with the Rays (.295/.351/.970). So why is he back? Hard to tell. Perhaps to get playing time? The Rays really like the outfielders they have. Stats. Interview.
CF Jaff Decker: 3 for 5, stole 3B in 1st inning. Season — .600/.600/1.400
First game as a Bull. Decker signed with the Rays as a minor league free agent. Had some major league time with the Pirates last year and 69 games with the Indianapolis Indians (.214/.371/.693). Stats. Pre-season interview with Neil Solondz.
SS Taylor Motter*: 2 for 5, stole 2B. Season — .400/.400/.400
Motter was a star for the Bulls last year. He played in 127 games with a slash line of .292/.366/.837 with 26 stolen bases. He apparently impressed Rays in spring training, so there’s a good chance he will spend some time with them this year. Stats. Solondz interview.
DH Richie Shaffer*: 2 for 3, 1 BB, 3 RBI. Season — .667/.750/.1.417
Shaffer had a busy 2015 playing for the AA Montgomery Biscuits (39 games), the Durham Bulls, (69 games — .270/.355/.937), and 31 games with the Rays at the end of the season. Stats.
2B Nick Franklin*: 1 for 4. Season — .250/.250/.500.
Franklin played in 57 games for the Bulls last year (.266/.353/.853) and 44 games with the Rays. Stats. This will be his 8th year in baseball, but he’s still just 25 years old. Maybe this year?
3B Daniel Robertson: 0 for 3, 1 BB, scored 1 run. Season — .000/.250/.250
Young (22) Mr. Robertson came out of the Oakland system and played in 78 games in Montgomery last year. This was his first game at AAA. Stats. Interview. A player to watch this year.
1B Cameron Seitzer: 1 for 3, 1 BB, scored 1 run, 1 RBI. Season — .333/.500/.1.167
Seitzer came up from Montgomery at the end of 2015. He did fine in his 7 games as a Bull. Another player to watch this year. Stats.
LF Patrick Leonard: 2 for 4, scored 2 runs, 1 RBI. Season — .500/.500/1.250
Leonard (also a youngster at 22) also made his AAA debut last night. At Montgomery in 2015 he was mostly an infielder, splitting time at 3B and 1B. Last night was his first game at AAA. Seems like the Bulls have a lot of third basemen this year. Stats. Interview.
C Luke Maile*: 2 for 4, scored 1 run, 2 RBI.  Season — .500/.500/1.250
Luke Maile had 84 games with the Bulls last year (.207/.298/.594) and 15 games with the Rays. We like him a lot. Stats. Interview.

The Pitchers

LHP Blake Snell*: 5 innings, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K’s
Snell is much written-about, so I won’t add anything here except to say that he’s the Rays hottest pitching prospect and the Bulls will be lucky to keep him for a couple of months. He helped the Bulls a lot at the end of last year. Stats.
RHP Dylan Floro*: 3 innings, 1 ER, O BB, 5 K’s
Mr. Floro, on the other hand, was not our favorite Bulls pitcher last year. He’s back, this time as a reliever, and things are looking up. He certainly did a good job last night. So perhaps the 25 year-old is back on track to the majors. Stats.
RHP Andrew Bellatti*: 1 inning, 1 BB, 1 K
Bellatti probably should not be in Durham, but the Rays are pretty deep, so they can afford to leave a young (24) player here. Expect him to be rotating back and forth, much as he did last year (46 innings as a Bull, 23 innings as a Ray). Stats.

Outside the Game —

• Think I’m going to get used to the netting. Here’s some TV of the netting going up.
• Unlike most years the Bulls have a bunch of position players on the 40-man (7) and only 3 pitchers.
• Also, the Bulls don’t appear to have any left-handed relief pitchers.

Bulls in the Bandbox by the Bay

Unless I’ve misremembered or miscounted (likely) ten Durham Bulls went “up” to the Rays this month, or just at the end of August. Six were position players and four pitchers. How are they doing?

I guess that depends on your point of view. So far in September the Rays have played 11 games, won only 4 of them, losing 7. Except for the last 3, they’ve all been road games, so they really haven’t spent much time in the bandbox by (or at least near) the Bay.

Of this crowd I have to say that only one of them has had much of an impact, J.P. Arencibia. And he was actually called up on August 26 and got in 5 games before the rest of the crew showed up. Among the pitchers only Andrew Bellatti has done particularly well. The rest? Not so much. Most of the numbers here are for September, unless otherwise noted.

Also note that with nearly 40-players on the bench, the Rays have been doing a lot of pinch-hitching and pinch-running. Does not seem to have made much difference in the won-loss column, though.

• J.P. Arencibia: 15 games (Aug-Sep), 39 plate appearances, 14 hits, 3 doubles, 5 HR, .368/.359/.842
• Mikie Mahtook: 10 games, 24 PA,  6 hits (double, triple, home run), two complete games. .228/323/.509 on the year (66 pa)
• Richie Shaffer: 9 games, 26 PA, 4 hits, (double, home run) four complete games. .209/.320/.442 on the year (50 PA)
• Nick Franklin: 4 games, 3 PA, no hits. .133/.198/.438 on the year (81 PA)
• Joey Butler: 5 games, 6 PA, 1 hit. .272/.325/.719 on the year (265 PA)
• Luke Maile: 6 games (1 start), 10 PA, 1 hit (a double) .100/.100/.200

• Matt Moore: 2 starts, no-decision and a loss, games scores of 51 (OK) and 23 (not good)
• C.J. Riefenhauser: 4 games, 3.1 innings, 2 ER, no decisions.
• Kirby Yates: 3 appearances, 4 innings, 2 ER, no decision
• Andrew Belatti: 4 appearances, 4.1 innings, 0 ER, 1 loss, 1 win

Bulls Wrap Season With a Shoutout

Season: 74-70
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Taylor Motter finished the Bulls’ season with a bang, actually two bangs — his first two at-bats were solo home runs. And he scored the third of the  Bulls’  six runs of the game when he was hit by pitch in the 6th inning and came home on Nick Franklin’s single. As we’ve remarked before, he is our favorite for a non-roster September call-up, but we admit it’s unlikely. But who am I to guess about that? Two of the guys who I didn’t think would make it (J.P. Arencibia and Luke Maile) are playing with the Rays today.

New guy Jared Mortensen did a terrific job in his second AAA start. He had one of the longest outings of any Bulls pitcher this year, 7⅔ innings, and did not allow a run. Nice to see that the crowd knew how well he had done. In fact, it was a terrific end-of-season bunch there at the DBAP. We had a proposal and a tear-inducing father home from deployment moment that was shared with all of us.

And then we had the battery of Dominguez (José) and Dominguez (Wilmer) to close things out. This was only the third game this year that Wilmer Dominguez has caught. I think that he has been playing essentially a Mayo Acosta role down in Montgomery this year. But he might have gotten the start because he knew Mortensen from Montgomery. He took advantage of the opportunity. He threw out Norfolk’s very quick outfielder Julio Borbon trying to steal (Borbon came in the game with 23 steals under his belt). On his first at bat he alertly took off for first base when Norfolk’s catcher could not handle the third strike, and made it. Then in his third at bat he hit a two-run single and he singled again in the 8th. Pretty good for only your second AAA game ever and only your third game this year!

With Gwinnett’s win over Charlotte, the Bulls ended the year in a tied for third place and 4 games above .500. Considering where they were just a few weeks ago, pretty good.

Things got a bit testy in the 6th. Hard to tell just why. Norfolk’s pitcher was obviously not ready for prime time and had an awful debut into AAA baseball. Maybe next year.

We’re still sorting out this year’s stats and opinions. Let me know what you thought of the DBAP and this year’s team.

Opening Day: April 7, 2016. Only 212 days away!!!

Outside the game —

• The St. Pete Times is reporting that Nick Franklin and Andrew Bellatti were called up after the game.

Cruisin' Into the Seventh ...

Wrap, Box

Season: 71-69; This Trip: 1-1
Games left in season: 4
Wrap, Box, Charlotte Observer

The game started at noon because two Carolina football teams were playing on a Thursday (!) night in downtown Charlotte (one of the teams lost).

Pretty much the Bulls were cruisin’. Boog Powell was back in leadoff and had a great, great game with 4 hits (two doubles and a home run). New guys Cameron Seitzer, Alec Sole, and Wilmer Dominguez were in the lineup and did just fine, although Sole didn’t get a hit. The whole team had five doubles and a home run. They were ahead 7-3 going into the 7th. You’d think it would be enough.

With the noonday sun, came a little rain, in the shape of absolutely the worst performance of the relief crew this year. Too bad, because Andrew Bellatti had seemed to be sorting himself out and new guy Parker Markel was doing just fine. But Bellatti gave up 3 homers and five runs in his time on the mound and Markel gave up another one in the hitter-friendly park.

Outside the game —

• With the loss the the Bulls were officially eliminated from the South Division race. To be realistic, they'd not been in the running for along time. That was not what I’d been hoping for. What I’d like to see by the end to this season is a stable .500 record and maybe, just maybe, getting up into third place. That’s a maybe for the Bulls, but they’ve got to win, and Charlotte has to lose in a race that’s getting very tight. 
• Standings
• The South Division race is down to just a one game difference with Gwinnett having a very good shot at pushing Norfolk off the bus. To get there the Bulls will have to be the spoilers for them. Gwinnett is one game back. Gwinnett and Norfolk play tonight in Norfolk, but the key games will be the last three Bulls/Tides games in Durham and the Braves/Knights games down in Georgia.
• The South isn’t the only race undecided. The West Division is a dead heat. The difference there is that the second place team, whichever one it is, has a lock on a playoff spot.
• About playoffs from the players’ perspective: David Hall of the Virginian-Pilot has a terrific set of interviews with Tides players from a couple of days ago. Worth a read. Players, until they get on the field, aren’t big fans of minor league playoffs.

Goodmon Awards Announced

I like these Durham Bulls awards and I almost always agree with them. Here’s this year’s:

• MVP: Taylor Motter. You bet. He was fun to watch and did everything very, very well.
• Pitcher of the Year: Scott Diamond. Again, agree that he was the best of the bunch
• Team Spirit: Jhan Mariñez. I like the choice. Terrific reliever. Expect him to be on next year's 40-man. Maybe this year's.
• Community Service: J.P. Arencibia. Makes sense to me.

Congratulations!

Here’s how the IL South looks today

click on chart for larger image

And here’s the “path” to what WDBB considers a reasonable goal for this year’s team, but they can still make it into 3rd place with some luck (and a win today). Four games left! Hang on!

Fun While It Lasted

6th Inning: Hak-Ju Lee slides safely under/past the tag of Knights’ 1B Dayan Viciedo as pitcher Brad Penny and 2B Michah Johnson cluster in frustration. Thanks, Sue! 

Season: 67-67; Home Stand: 1-1
Games Remaining: 10; Home Games: 7
Wrap, Box

Each of the three Durham Bulls pitchers allowed at least one earned run last night and that was enough to break the streak. Those fans inclined to seek good news at the far reaches of probability, possibility, and plausibility are slowly coming back to earth. But wasn’t that a pretty run?

About that photo up at the top by our good friend Sue Roth (who sits not far from first base, obviously) — I am not a fan of even the idea of sliding into first base and have been pleased to see it seemingly disappear from most player’s trick bag. But this time it made sense. As the first batter in Durham’s piece of the 6th inning, Hak-Ju Lee made a hard bunt between pitcher and first base. Thereafter there was a gathering of Knights: Pitcher Brad Perrry, First Baseman Dayan Viciedo, and Second Baseman Micah Johnson. Viciedo has the ball and Lee is sliding under and past the tag to reach the base. A fraction of a second later Johnson kicks Lee in the head and they had what I hope was a friendly discussion about that.

Back to the rest of the game.

Matt Moore had brilliant innings followed by not very good innings all night. And easy 1st inning, then two walks and two K’s in the 2nd. In the 3rd a single, a run-scoring double, and two wild pitches let two runs score. Three up, three down in the 4th. Same in the 5th. In the 6th a single, then an error by Richie Shaffer, and another single loaded the bases. Moore hit the next batter for another run. Kirby Yates gave up a run on 2 hits in his 1⅔ innings. Andrew Bellatti gave up a home run in his inning.

But the hitters did have their chances. After being absolutely shut down for 14 outs, a double by Cory Brown broke up the perfect game Brad Penney had going. Then in the 7th the Bulls scored two runs before Mikie Mahtook struck out with the bases loaded. That got the Bulls within a run, but the Knights got two more runs before the Bulls even threatened in the 9th and that fizzled out.

Nevertheless, an 8-game run is a big deal. Thanks, Bulls, for the thrills as the season winds down.

Bats Muffled

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Season: 55-58; Home Stand: 3-5

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

This was possibly the best all-around Bulls game of the year. The run differential of 9 runs was, by a couple of runs, the biggest of the year. The 16 hits and 8 walks were part of a team OPS of 1.064, 300 points above the IL average of .717. Matt Moore and 3 relievers held the Bats to just 3 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run with 11 K’s. 

It was a rainy night in Durham. I watched on TV and noticed all the fans huddled under their umbrellas. Ground balls in the outfield spun up rooster-tails as they ran over the grass. One long ball to the right field wall didn’t bounce, it just died on the warning track. Several times the grounds crew was out with Diamond-Dry for the mound and batter’s box (trivia question of the day: What is Diamond-Dry made from?). Batters were constantly wiping their bats down between pitches (How could that possibly do any good, I thought. Maybe?)

Every Bull got a hit, except for Hak-Ju Lee. However, Lee got an RBI on a bases-loaded walk in the the 1st inning. Mikie Mahtook is back and batted leadoff. He started with a single and followed up with a 3-run homer in the 6th. He looked more comfortable at the plate than I’ve seen him all year. New guy Joey Rickard is making the most of his time in AAA. He was 4 for 6 and is hitting .444 so far. Taylor Motter was 4 for 5 in one of his best games of the year. Luke Maile got back up above the Mendoza Line.

Meanwhile, the newest Bull is Rays star left-hander Matt Moore. He has been sent down to sort out his recovery from surgery and, after some real troubles with the Rays last month, he gave the Bats a tutorial on big league pitching. He may not yet be back to his best fastball, but his off-speed stuff was nasty. Indeed, he had four perfect innings before a couple of singles got through in the 5th. The rest of the inning was ground outs (with one walk), but a run got across. The 6th was 3 up, 3 drown. 

He was followed by Andrew Bellatti, not seen for quite a while. He K’d the side. Then Bradin Hagens for his first appearance as a reliever in this trip to AAA. He gave up a single before getting the next three batter out. José Dominguez walked one, but he was double up and a ground out finished the game.

Bulls-Bats games over the years have often been fun to watch. The Reds have a good system and, usually, manage their guys well. 

Playing Catchup

Wrap, Box

Wrap, Box

Wrap, Box

Wrap, Box

Season: 50-48; Trip: 1-3
Wrap, Box, Charlotte Observer

A little bit of catch up on the line scores. We went off to the mountains for a few days and only occasionally checked in on the games. Not a particularly good set against the Knights.

Matt Andriese’s  Game Score of 80 last night was the best Durham Bulls starting pitcher performance this year, just two hits and no walks over 7 innings. He was followed by Andrew Bellatti in a two-inning save for a rare Durham Bulls shutout (the 10th this year). Congrats to both of them.

And the scoring was entirely through extremely small ball. The Bulls drew 7 walks and hit only singles, 6 of them. Luke Maile got above the Mendoza Line (.200) with his 9th inning RBI. Nice to see that.

Outside the game —

• The first game tonight is a continuation of a rain-interrupted game from July 3. Box score here. The game will go for the usual 9 innings and then be followed by a 7 inning affair.
• The second game will be the introduction of left-handed starting pitcher Blake Snell, who seems to be on a fast track to the top. Young (22) Mr. Snell was drafted out of high school and has pitched in 16 games this year at A and AA levels. Tonight will be his first AAA start. Stats.
• The other significant roster change is the addition 32 year-old of big leaguer Grady Sizemore to the Bulls. I’ll confess my lack of understanding of exactly why the Rays hired him or how he happened to still have options so that he could be sent to the Bulls without going through waivers. Not sure I want to know. Let’s just wait and see what he brings to the team.
• Richie Shaffer gets some love from a Rays blogger. 
• Remember Hideki Matsui who wore a Durham Bulls uniform for a few weeks back in 2012? He’s back in the game, sort of. Here’s a terrific NYT  article about him playing in a rec league game recently both pitching and batting (right-handed). Thanks to Rays Index for the tip.

Oh Give Me a Home ... Win

Wool E. Bull Takes a Shot
photo courtesy Sue Roth

Season: 46-42; Home Stand: 0-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The Bulls have only won 20 games at home this year. Since June 10—that would be a month ago—they have won just two games in the DBAP. Last night wasn’t one of them.

Dylan Floro was back on early season form, giving up a lot of hits, but few runs. He was backed by some pretty good defense in a couple of double plays. However, Bulls hitters only got two singles until the 9th. So what we saw was a “pitchers’ duel” and a pretty good one until the 8th when usually very reliable Jim Miller walked a couple and gave up a three-run homer. Taylor Motter and J.P. Arencibia made the 9th noisy, but they could not begin to catch up.

Outside the game —

• Preston Guilmet, last seen at the DBAP on July 5th, is gone. He was DFA’d by the Rays and then claimed by the LA Dodgers. Must be tough to be a player in his position. The Rays claimed him from Toronto earlier this year, so he gets to wear a lot of uniforms in 2015.
• On the other hand, Everett Teaford, also DFA’d by the Rays, is on his way back. Nice to have a starting pitcher on the roster.
• And Andrew Belatti is returning after a long stay with the Rays. He went up to fill a DL hole in late May and then went on the disabled list himself. He came off the DL and pitched two innings for the Rays on July 8. Pushed off the bus to make room up there for Jake Odorizzi. No telling if the Rays will want him to start or work in relief. He did both for the Bulls earlier this year.
• The Bulls aren’t quite the draw on the road as they are at home. At home they are averaging 7,560 a game, on the road they are averaging 6,555. But, as the chart shows, crowds on the road are getting bigger as the summer goes on (April and May up north was really miserable).

click on chart

Rays' Memo to Sandberg: Toss Lineup Card in Shredder

From this distance it would seem that the Tampa Bay Rays need to do a few things:

1. Fire their training crew and get some folks in that can keep pitchers healthy;
2. Lease a jet to shuttle guys around from place to place; maybe one of those Russian monster transports so they could put a bullpen inside to warm guys up while moving around;
3. Or both of the above.

Here we go, not necessarily in order:

• Andrew Bellatti, with Rays, got broken and went on the DL
• Preston Guilmet, who pitched for the Rays last night, is coming back
• Matt Andriese, who was scheduled to start in Louisville tonight, may start for the Rays instead, here’s hoping they don’t break him, too
• Enny Romero, who may not have ever made it back into a Bulls uniform will be back with the Rays.
• C.J. Riefenhauser has been called up.
• Rays catcher Bobby Wilson was designated for assignment
• Bulls catcher, Curt Casali, likely to be called up.
• Bulls infielder Alexi Casilla went back on the DL with, I think, a hamstring issue.
• Bulls infielder/DH Vince Belnome came off the DL and was the DH last night.

Commentary on the transactions at various locations. Tampa Tribune, Rays Colored Glasses, The Process Report, Rays Index.

Will there be some backfill for the Bulls? Probably. In time to find a starter for tonight? Who knows?

Here’s best wishes to Curt Casali. He has had limited playing time this year and this may be his chance. Guess that Mayo Acosta will be filling in for a while.

One Out of Three

 Wrap, Box

Wrap, Box

Season: 32-26; Trip: 1-2
Wrap, Box, Gwinnett Daily Post

Back at the beginning of the season folks were high on Dylan Floro, but we didn’t quite see why. After four very nice starts in a row, the Bulls winning three of them, maybe we’re starting to understand. He’s very efficient. He throws strikes and mostly lets the fielders do the work. He works very quickly (last night’s game was only a little over 2 hours). Will he do well in the majors? Hard to say. So much attention is paid to velocity these days that control guys like Floro can be overlooked. Maybe.

Meanwhile, J.P. Arencibia continued his improving performance. Beginning to like the guy.

Outside the game —

• The Rays are swapping out Enny Romero for Andrew Bellatti. Not sure when Bellatti will be back since players get more time to get back to the Bulls than they are allowed when going to the Rays.
• Long-time major league reliever Ernesto Frieri has accepted an assignment to Durham. Only 29, he is obviously looking to get back in to the form that saw some terrific seasons in 2010 to 2013. Stats. 

In the wings —

• Reliever Kirby Yates had an inning as a starter down in Florida.
• Outfielder Mikie Mahtook got his second hit as a major leaguer, and his second home run.

Pitching Efficiency

This is a home-grown stat that we like to keep track of. Very simple. How many pitches does it take to get an out?

As mentioned earlier, Dylan Floro is a standout in this category, but most of the Bulls crew seem to be doing well by this measure.

click on chart for larger image

Matchup: Durham Bulls vs Charlotte Knights; Rosterizing; Mahtook to Rays

Durham Bulls Athletic Park, 7:30 am, June 2

If the weather god(s) are kind (doesn't look good at the moment), the Bulls will go up against the Charlotte Knights tonight. The Knights are a game ahead of the Bulls in the International League South Division.

The Chicago White Sox affiliate is having a very good year and is arriving at the DBAP after a 5-2 home stand in Charlotte. The Knights and the Bulls (and the Norfolk Tides) have been trading places all year. We have every reason to expect it to continue.

As the table shows, they carry a stellar batting average. However, that small run differential implies a vulnerability in the pitching department, and possibly in defense. Unfortunately, the Bulls don’t have much to brag as defenders. They lead the league in errors (48) to Charlotte’s 12th place (32).

Dealing with rain. A while back we wrote up this little item about how we deal with a rainy day. The link is also up there on the links list. Essentially, check out the camera before you drive, might save yourself some pain.

Rosterificaton —

• Two Bulls have been called up to the Rays, pitcher Andrew Bellatti and outfielder Mikie Mahtook. Bellatti pitched last night, in relief, against the LAA Angels. See stories here, here and here.
• The Rays also Designated for Assignment veteran reliever Ernesto Frieri. Comments by Rays Manager Kevin Cash implied that he didn’t really expect Frieri to make it through waivers.
• That leaves the Bulls with two holes in their roster that we can expect to be filled before the end of the day.

In the Wings (players who’ve been up with the Bulls this year) —

• Juniel Querecuto went 1-3 with a walk and scored two runs in a Charlotte Stone Crabs win. Box. Claw Digest

Walk-Off Losses; Rosterizing; and the Game Score Stat

Wrap, Box

The Rays don’t seem to know what they want Matt Andriese to become. He’s had 7 appearances with the Rays this year, three not-very-good starts and 4 relief appearances. With the Bulls he’s had a relief appearance and this start, which began well, but didn’t end all that great, followed by Jordan Norberto, who was awful.

Season: 21-22; Trip: 1-4
Wrap, Box, Scranton Times-Tribune

The Bulls then traveled to Moosic, Pennsylvania for a re-match against the RailRiders. Dylan Floro had a brilliant start, his best of the year, but Andrew Bellatti, just back from Tampa Bay couldn’t hang on.

Outside the game —

• Hak-Ju Lee has gone on the disabled list for an injury to his hand. I’ve missed all the details, but he was spiked on his glove hand and left the game Wednesday night.
• Leonardo Reginatto is back up from Montgomery and played last night.
• The team’s best hitter, Alexi Casilla, left game two on Tuesday evening and has not played since. First reported as a hamstring problem, but if someone’s got more current information, please add.
• Pitcher Everett Teaford went on the temporarily inactive list when Andrew Bellatti was added to the roster.

Game Score?

The Game Score stat and the importance of starting pitching.

I’ve been reading up on Bill James’ “Game Score” stat recently and tracking the Bulls (and the Rays) starting pitchers.

Game Score is a way of evaluating the performance of the starting pitcher. Overall the computation is pretty simple and fairly intuitive. And baseball seems to agree since it’s showing up in box scores.

Here’s how it’s calculated:

Start with 50 points. Add 1 point for each out recorded, (3 points per inning). Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed. Subtract 1 point for each walk.

And here’s one take on what it means (from the Wikipedia link):

The game score concept expands on Major League Baseball’s official definition of a “quality start”. MLB defines a quality start as six or more innings pitched while allowing three or fewer earned runs. The game score system defines a quality start as a game score above 50.
The advantage that the system has over the official definition is that it allows a statistician a better view of the degree of quality in a pitcher’s performance. Game scores can be quantified, and a pitcher’s performance tracked over time. It is also possible to compare different pitchers. If one averages a 60 and another averages 55, presumably the first pitcher has had a better season.

Does it pass the “so what?” test?

Maybe.

This chart shows the game scores of Bulls starting pitchers for the last 15 games. This has not been a good stretch for the Bulls, they’ve only won 4 games and they’ve lost 11. How does that track against starting pitcher performance? Pretty well. The circled scores are the only three anomalies of the 15. Otherwise it sure looks like an above average game score is associated with a team win (3 out of the 4 wins had above-50 game scores) and a low game score with a loss (9 out of 11 losses had below-50 scores). Please note that the wins and losses shown are team's wins and losses, not the pitcher's.

It sure looks like a good part of this recent tough run can be attributed to starting pitching.

click on chart for larger image

Bulls Slide to Third Place

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Steve Wiseman in the Herald-Sun pretty much said it all in his first sentence: “The Durham Bulls had chances and chances and more chances to score and avoid extra innings on Friday night.”

Amen.

Season: 20-17; Home Stand: 0-3

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Standings

OK, I know it was Star Wars night and all, but those were quite possibly the ugliest uniforms I’ve ever seen on baseball players. And then the Durham Bulls went from first place to third place in the International League South as this even uglier home stand continues.

Dylan Floro looked pretty good through the first four innings, got hit hard in the 5th (2 doubles and a single, one run); and hit harder in the 6th, two singles and a home run. Not sure why Floro gets to stay up into the 90’s in his pitch count while other pitchers are being pulled much earlier.

New guy Preston Guilmet, last seen pitching for the Buffalo Bisons but claimed from the Toronto system the other day, had a nice inning, as did Jhan Marinez, but it was too late. The Bulls haven’t hit the ball well for the last week. In fact, last night all the offensive excitement was over after the first two batters, a single by Taylor Motter and a home run by Nick Franklin.

Rosterizing —

• Infielder Leonardo Reginatto has been sent back to Montgomery. We liked watching him play and he was doing a decent job at bat (.300/.323/.350). He’ll probably be back when/if the Rays give up on Hak-Ju Lee.
• Bryce Stowell was also sent to the Montgomery Biscuits. Too bad, because he had pretty decent numbers. I expect he will be back as well.
• As mentioned above, the Rays claimed reliever Preston Guilment from the Toronto Blue Jays. Stats. He looked just fine last night.
• Rehabbing Jake McGee is on his way back to Tampa Bay.
• Rehabbing Nick Franklin was pulled from the game after his home run last night. So he might be on his way back as well.
• José Dominguez came of the disabled list and should be in the bullpen for today’s game.
• According to The Tampa Tribune, Andrew Bellatti is coming back to the Bulls. He did a terrific job as a reliever for the Rays. We’ll have to see if he’s going to be starting or in relief as a Bull. 

Standings Chart

For a couple of days the Tides and the Knights were losing games along with the Bulls. Not yesterday, so that changes the chart to show the Bulls sliding into third place.

www.watchingdurhambullsbaseball.com

Big Bats Emerge

Wrap, Box, Syracuse.com

Five home runs aren’t enough, and an intentional walk plus an unintentional walk lost the game.

Season: 19-12; Trip: 2-1

Wrap, Box, Syracuse.com

Bulls hitters hit three more home runs (Mahtook, Dykstra, and Arencibia), but this time the pitchers matched them with solid performances.

Enny Romero made his 2015 debut with the Bulls after a long getting-ready stretch that goes back to spring training. We were not particular fans of Mr. Romero last year, but he certainly had a solid performance yesterday. How long he sticks with the Bulls is likely to be the subject of intense speculation down St. Petersburg way.

Alan Dykstra has built an odd record since joining the Bulls. The 6’5“ switch-hitter has only had 3 hits in his 10 games for a batting average of .088. However, those three hits are a double and 2 home runs plus he’s managed 10 walks (including at least one intentional walk). That leads him to an extraordinary batting average/OPS gap. His OPS is .590.  He carried an OPS of .930 with Las Vegas of the PCL last year, with 74 RBI. Yesterday he followed up Saturday’s 2 run shot with a solo one in the 5th inning. We’ve been skeptical of Mr. Dykstra. Could we have been wrong?

Overlooked in the offensive stats was how often the defense made a difference yesterday. It was a double play that closed the deal in the Bulls favor on Friday. Yesterday it was three of them that made big differences.

Outside the game —

• The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that Grant Balfour has an end-of-May opt-out to his minor league contract. That certainly means that he won’t be around Durham after this month. 
• The Process Report has a nice profile of Andrew Bellatti written by Adam Sobsey, one of the co-authors of Bull City Summer*.

Matchup

The Bulls rode over to Buffalo yesterday for a rematch with the Bisons tonight. And, yes, it was just a couple of days since the Bulls were playing them at the DBAP. Interesting to see what’s happened to their numbers since we last looked prior to that series. The Bulls have gone from 9th to 6th place in batting average ranking, from 5th to 3rd in OPS rankings, and from 4th to 3rd in ERA. Meanwhile, the Bisons went from 5th to 10th in batting average, 7th to 13th on OPS, and from 1st to 2nd on ERA. But we still need to remember that this is early in the season and rosters are in  turmoil. Very hard to detect meaningful trends. But the Bisons have been on a tough run, losing their last six games.

*Possibly the best book available on minor league baseball. On the shelf at Quail Ridge Books and on half-price sale down in the ballpark store.

Thrilling 9th

Season: 18-11; Trip: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Syracuse.com

Last night I was off having fun playing guitar in a group of friends, but my iPhone First Pitch app kept up with these annoying notifications telling me that the Bulls were losing, badly. The last time I looked the score was something like 6-1, so I stopped looking.

Then I got to my car, turned the radio on and discovered the Bulls were back in the chase after scoring a run in the 6th and three more in the 7th. I was home and had the computer fired up by the top of the 9th. There I saw Hak-Ju Lee single and steal a base, Taylor Motter get a walk, Alexi Casilla sacrifice them over to 2nd and 3rd, Eugenio Velez bring Lee home on a sac fly, and Corey Brown double in the go ahead run.

Then Andy Oliver got his first save opportunity and squeezed the thrills out it. After the first batter popped up, a single and a walk put men on 1B and 2B. Then Lee, playing shortstop, tried for a force out at 3B on a ground ball. Didn’t work. Bases loaded. One out. The heart-stopper was a line drive to third baseman Leonardo Reginatto. He grabbed the line drive, then tagged the base for an unassisted double play. Game over.

And so the Bulls have their fifth win in a row and added to their lead in the IL South. The relief corps has now gone eight games without letting a run across. That means that Matt Buschmann was charged with all 6 of last night’s runs, which didn’t do his ERA any good. And the 3 home runs by Syracuse ruined his FIP.

Rosterizing —

• After a grand total of 2 innings pitched in one game, Matt Andriese is headed for St. Petersburg, probably for a start opportunity. 
• Andrew Bellatti, who has had 5 appearances and doing very well, was added to the 40-man and called up. Congrats!
• Jake Elmore, last seen in a Bulls uniform on April 21, is on his way back. His playing time with the Rays was limited. Only 14 plate appearances in 7 games. But solid numbers: .308/.357/.973. Not sure why he’s coming back unless Nick Franklin has finished his rehab.

How about them Rays?

We don’t have a lot of Rays fans around here, but it’s fun to keep an eye on them and run at least a couple of the same charts we do for the Bulls. Here’s the games above/below .500 chart for the American League East. The Rays are doing pretty well and are staying in touch with the Yankees in spite of all the pitching injuries, flu, etc.

click on chart for larger image

Their runs scored minus runs allowed chart is less encouraging.

House of Durham Victorious!

Wool E. Bulls Arrives (check video board behind him)

Season: 7-8; Home Stand: 3-1
Wrap, Box

Wool E. Bull rode in on a horse and everyone had a great time to the sound of Game of Thrones music. A terrific GoT-themed video (see below) played a couple of times and every ballplayer was given a GoT-themed image for his at-bat. Good idea, hope the auction went well.

Meanwhile there was a lot to like and a lot that was worrisome about the game. Likes included Scott Diamond’s start and Andrew Bellatti’s first appearance as a reliever (he’s had two starts so far this year). I’m just guessing, but possibly Alex Colome’s rehab start allowed the Bulls to move Bellatti into the role he was hired for.

Likes also included a walk, two singles, a RBI, and decent 3B play by Leonardo Reginatto in his first AAA game; a breakout game at bat by Curt Casali with 3 singles, a walk and an RBI (more about that RBI later); and a home run by Alexi Casilla.

Worrisome aspects were the 14 men left on base; yet more errors leading to unearned runs; DH J.P. Arencibia’s 4 K’s; and the fact that only one of the first 24 batters got the ball out of the infield.

But we would not be doing our job if we didn’t point out the oddity of the game that led to the first Bulls score. Vince Belnome got to first base when Charlotte pitcher Erik Johnson botched a routine toss to 1B. He moved to 2B on a walk handed out to Joey Butler. After J.P. Arencibia K’d for the second out, Johnson got to a 3-2 count on Curt Casali. So the runners were going. Groans from our part of the stands as he hit a sky-high popup over the middle of the infield. Suddenly we were visited by a flashback to our little league days as the ball landed in the dead center of the pitcher’s mound with the pitcher, shortstop and first baseman all staring at as it rolled off. Meanwhile Belnome trotted on home.

Rosterization —

• Mikie Mahtook called up to the Rays (sigh). Bulls are one short at the moment. He did not play last night. The Rays have twelve players on some sort of disabled list, but that doesn’t count the four on the Bulls roster also on a disabled list. At least I don’t think it does.

Outside the Game —

• My blogging colleague over at Noise Nation (KramsKorner) who follows the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies), has put up a cautionary post I commend to all of you. Fortunately, no one reading this blog is likely to need the caution. None of us ever turn our backs to the game when someone’s at bat, do we?

Meanwhile, here’s the very cool Game of Thrones video that won’t mean a thing if you’ve never seen the show, but nice music anyhow.

Game 3 to the Bulls

Mahtook barehands a ball off the wall. His throw prevented a triple in the 8th.
Photo: Robert Willett, News & Observer

Governors’ Cup Playoffs (Best of 5): 2-1
Wrap, Box, News & Observer, International League

Today’s game starts at 1:05! If you bought advance tickets, ignore the 7:05 start time printed on the ticket. Why the early start? Maybe because of all the football going on around the area ... although Trinity College is on the road.

Meanwhile, how about the Bulls!

What an terrific baseball game. Nice post-season crowd of Bulls fanatics. Matt Adriese, who had four no-decisions in recent games, pretty much kept the Clippers in hand. The notable exception was the beginning of the 5th inning when the first two batters hit solo home runs and brought the Clippers to within one run.

The first home run was hit by former Bull Elliot Johnson, a stalwart from years past and still a favorite of WDBB. And of at least one fog-horn-voiced fan who serenaded his first at bat with, “E-L-L-I-O-T.” A notable difference from years past when the call from the same fan was, “Elliot, get a hit.”  Elliot Johnson still stands tall on our all-time greatest Bulls hitters list, even if we have to say that we’d appreciate a modest slump for the next two days.

Meanwhile, Bulls hitters were aggressive in the 1st and 2nd innings with Justin Christian doubling on the first pitch of the game, moving to third base on a Mikie Mahtook ground out, and scoring on a Jeremy Moore single. Then Tim Beckham doubled Moore in. Nick Franklin led off the 2nd inning with a thrilling home run and I thought the Bulls were going to run away with it. That didn’t happen. Instead the great Bulls bullpen came out for the 6th and took charge.

C.J. Riefenhauser was his old self, much recovered from his tough outing on Wednesday. Charlie Montoyo was not saving his pitching staff. Both Lueke and Adam Liberatore pitched on Thursday night (Lueke got the win, Liberatore got the save). And here they were after an 8-hour bus ride back out there. Josh Lueke had a lead off double, but a nice play by Mikie Mahtook prevented a triple. But that was the last life of the Clippers. After three quick outs, Adam Liberatore came in for three more outs and the save.

What does it mean? Well it means more baseball at the DBAP! The Bulls have two chances to win this playoff round, but today would be a lot better than tomorrow. Nathan Karns is scheduled to start. He’s had some awful outings lately, yet he’s also a talented young man. We can hope.

I glanced back at this time last year and was surprised to see so many familiar names: Cole Figueroa, Vince Belnome, Tim Beckham, Mike Fontenot, Merrill Kelly, Adam Liberatore, and probably a couple others I’ve missed.

Meanwhile, the Pawtucket Red Sox swept the Syracuse Chiefs in three games and are now waiting to see who they will play for the Governors’ Cup.

Leaning over the dugout rail were two ballplayers we have not seen before: Andrew Bellatti, a 22 year-old right-handed reliever who had a decent year with the Biscuits (stats) and Taylor Motter, a 24 year old outfielder (mostly) who played a lot of baseball in Montgomery this year — 116 games (stats). I’d guess that, if needed, we will see some roster manipulations, but for now they just have really good seats for the games.