Two Pitchers; Two Styles; One Result

Season: 73-69; Home Stand: 1-0
Wrap, Box

I loved this game. Two very different pitchers at work, few mistakes, pure baseball.

The Bulls guy, Bradin Hagens, is a pitch-to-contact guy. By that I mean that the opposing hitters are going to get a chance. And they did last night. But they just mostly hit the ball to Bulls fielders. Hagens did not give up a single walk in his 7 innings and had only one strikeout, the last batter. He even took on some of the fielding work himself with an unassisted putout in the 2nd and fielding two comebackers in the 3rd. Stats geeks will love him as well. His Game Score was 70, one of the best by a Bull all season. To top it off, he is finishing the season with four wins in a row.

The Tides guy, Chris Jones, was a bit more conventional and ended the night with 6 out of 7 innings of solid pitching, including 7 K’s with his 1 walk.

If not for the 1st inning, things could have been 0-0 when both pitchers left the game. But the 1st was enough. Rehabbing Steven Sousa (broken hand) was dh-ing and batting second. He got a hit. Taylor Motter walked. Sousa scored on a Corey Brown single. Motter scored on a Cameron Seitzer single. And that was essentially it for the rest of the game.

Yes, reliever Robert Zarate provided some thrills in the 9th. But a little cardio work is good after you’ve been sitting all that time.

I’m liking two of the new guys a lot. The first, who’s been here a while, is Joey Rickard. Quick hands at bat. Good in the outfield. Have not seen his arm tested yet. The second is recent arrival Cameron Seitzer, who appears to be a real pro at first base, in spite of last night’s E, and a decent left handed bat.

With this win (actually with Friday’s win) the Bulls are sure to finish the season above .500. Good news.

The Bulls set a new season attendance record with well over a half a million fans through the gates.

Outside the game —

• Hak-Ju Lee passed through waivers and has been assigned to the Bulls. At a guess he will be in uniform either tonight or tomorrow. Not sure of the rules.
• Gwinnett lost to Charlotte last night, but neither the South Division championship nor third place in the division is set. Nor has the West Division championship been decided. Standings.

Boog Booms One

Season: 72-69; Trip: 2-1
Wrap, Box, Charlotte Observer

Has Boog Powell turned into a home run hitter? He’s the guy who bunts his way on base a lot of the time and yet in the last two games he has put one over the wall. We expect it of Corey Brown, who hit a just barely fair one in the 9th for his 19th, or Taylor Motter, who’s 12th dinger in the 7th was the shot that doomed the Knights, but Powell?

Things got a bit testy in the 9th when the Knight’s Wendelkin tossed a pitch behind Taylor Motter. But Wedelken got ejected and if things didn’t calm down, at least the field got cleared of excess players after some intense discussions. In the last couple of games there was a good bit of plunkin’ and near-plunkin’ goin’ on. So maybe the umps had had enough. Too many home runs? Over the three game series 15 home runs were hit, 9 by Knights, 6 by Bulls, but that seems to be the result of the Knight’s very, very pretty Little League park. By the way, after Wendelkin got ejected, his replacement walked Motter and Corey Brown followed with his home run that put the game out of reach. Have to wonder what the chatter between dugouts was after that.

Meanwhile Blake Snell pitched his last minor league game of the year. With the Bulls he was 6-2 with a 1.83 ERA. He is an amazing young ballplayer. We can hope to see him for at least some of next season. The Rays have been appropriately cautious of him, limiting his pitch count and innings with the Bulls. Have to think that he will get in at least a couple of innings with the Rays before the end of this season.

We also saw Ernesto Frieri for the first time since July 7th. Frieri has been on the Durham Bulls’ books since passing through waivers on June 20, appearing in only 7 games. José Dominguez, another on and off pitcher, had a rough inning.

Now what? Standings. Norfolk leads Gwinnett by 2 games, they both have three games left to play.

Gwinnett plays Charlotte for their last three games down in Georgia. Norfolk comes to town for three games at the DBAP. As noted, Norfolk is just 2 games ahead of Gwinnett for the South Division title. That’s a big comedown for the Tides. They had led the division by six games as recently as August 18th, but they’ve had their troubles since then. Nevertheless, Gwinnett has to win all three against the Knights, and the Tides have to lose all three against the Bulls to take them completely out. We won’t go into tie-breaker rules. Makes my head hurt. Seems to me that both Norfolk and Gwinnett are going to have to work for it. By the way, the IL West is still a dead heat between Indianapolis and Columbus.

The Bulls are one game back of Charlotte. There’s a way for them to get out the cellar before the end of the year.

These last three games have odd timings: 6:35, 5:00, and 1:00. Don’t be late!

Roster moves —

• A pitcher, Kyle Bird, has been brought up all the way from Single A Bowling Green. Seems to be somewhat specialized for his age (22). 69Ks in 69 innings. Stats.
• Jim Miller was placed on the Temporarily Inactive List. Update: Reported to have become a new dad. Congrats!

Bulls Explode Against Mud Hens

Season: 60-66; Home Stand: 1-0;
Games Left: 18; Home Games Left: 13
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

As the line score shows, this was an amazing game for the hitters and pitchers. Every Bull got at least one hit: 4 doubles, a triple (Boog Powell), four home runs (two by Richie Shaffer, one by Nick Franklin, one by Taylor Motter), and 11 singles. Cory Brown was the only Bull who didn’t get at least one RBI. An amazing, year’s best, night: 38 total bases, team OPS of 1.404, team wOBA of .577.

Meanwhile, Blake Snell continues to show his stuff. He only gave up one hit (a solo home run) in 5 innings of work.

Outside the game —

• I can’t keep track of all the transactions. The Bulls have had 189 of them this year! That's 1.5 transactions per game! Pretty sure that I haven’t mentioned at least some of these. 
• José Dominguez was designated for assignment (the Rays needed his 40-man slot, Smyly finished his rehab). No word on his status. Note that former Bull Dale Thayer is in the same "DFA Limbo" status. 
• Leonardo Reginatto went back to Montgomery.
• Joey Butler came back to the Bulls from Tampa Bay.
• Edward Teaford went to Hudson Valley on the 15th and came back on the 18th. Hope he enjoyed the trip.
• Enny Romero was called up to Tampa Bay and I think he’s on his way back.
• Matt Andriese was called up (he took the loss in the 13th inning last night).
• Richie Shaffer is back, with his bat, obviously.
• Kirby Yates is back.
• Dylan Floro has gone on the disabled list.
• Meanwhile, I don’t think that I have pointed out that Vince Belnome was signed by the New York Mets and is playing with their AA team, the Binghamton Mets. Doing OK.
• The Biscuits are doing well.

Pitcher Has Problems

Season: 53-56; Home Stand: 1-3
Wrap, Box

A starting pitcher at the DBAP had an awful inning and gave up enough runs to lose the game — and he wasn’t wearing a Durham Bulls uniform!

Indianapolis’ Radhames Liz is a ten-year veteran who can still throw a 98 mph fastball, but sometimes has problems. Last night’s 4th inning, for example. Taylor Motter popped up to 2B for the first out. J.P. Arencibia walked. Corey Brown walked. Jake Elmore was hit by a pitch to load the bases. New guy Joey Rickard hit a line drive single to left to drive in Arencebia. Hak-Ju Lee hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Brown. With Elmore on 3rd base and Rickard on 1st base the Indians left fielder dropped Luke Maile’s fly ball right in front of the video board and Elmore scored. Liz then walked Boog Powell to load the bases again, but Desmond Jennings grounded out to end inning (note for Rays fans: second time this rehab stint that Jennings has made a bases-loaded out).

Three runs on one hit! It says something for Liz’s erratic nature that he finished his night pitching two more innings with seven straight outs: A ground out (Jennings), a liner to left, two K’s, a ground out, and two more K’s. Fastballs were still in the 95-98 mph range after 90 pitches.

For trivia fans, last night’s two hit win matches one from way back on May 13th that the Bulls won 1-0.

Outside the game —

• Richie Shaffer got on base, Mickie Mahtook got the game-winning RBI, and Kevin Kiermaier made a great throw. Good day for ex-Bulls up in Chicago. [story]
• Lots of folks go to Bulls games whether they are home or elsewhere. The Bulls average 7,776 at home and are averaging 6,676 as a draw while on the road. Although some might say that the away games are possibly not all that good a measure of how much of a draw the most famous team in minor league baseball can be. Last night (a Monday) was one of the smaller crowds this year and still fun. Buffalo back in May and Gwinnett just last week appear to be the sites where the Bulls are the least popular. Although it's entirely possible that it's the Bisons and the Braves who aren't popular.

Maile Makes Good

Season: 48-43; At Home: 22-21; This Home Stand: 2-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Home plate umpire Brian De Brauwere had his hands full last night. He was on the crew (at first base) back on May 1st when the Bulls played the PawSox up in Pawtucket. Veteran catcher for the PawSox, Humberto Quintero, chunked a full-strength throw into Bulls catcher Luke Maile’s gut and later in the game spiked Hak-Ju Lee. We summarized the aftermath at the end of a post back on May 3.

De Brauwere's first big challenge came in the 2nd inning. Cory Brown was attempting to score from second base and to everyone (except the one guy who mattered) it sure seemed like Brown made it past the tag. So we’d have to say he (De Brauwere) missed his first chance.

Corey Brown slides under Humberto Quinetero's tag
Photo by Sue Roth

If Quintero got a gift then, the Bulls Maile in the 5th did not. Again, folks in the stands figured that Boog Powell in left field made a perfect throw home to catch the runner. De Brauwere did not agree.

Maile tags Jamile Weeks
Photo by Sue Roth

However, as they say in some circles, payback …

Even after wearing out the grass between home and the pitcher's mound — Quintero must have gone out the mound 15 or 20 times last night trying to sort out the PawSox pitching crew; he was the main reason the game went on for 3½ hours — in the 8th the Bulls managed to load the bases. Luke Maile hit a very pretty double that cleared the bases putting three runs across and putting the Bulls ahead 8-7.

Even more fun in addition to Maile's 3 RBI ensued. Boog Powell singled and Maile moved to third base. Ryan Brett and Mikie Mahtook struck out and J.P. Arencibia came to bat. Boog Powell attempted a steal of second base. On the throw, Luke Maile headed for home. So we were seeing double steal in action. Powell beat the throw to second and the second baseman threw home. Quintero blocked the plate without the ball as he waited for the throw (remember he’s an old-school guy). Catcher’s interference was called and the run scored. Luke Maile, the young catcher Quintero had essentially slugged in the gut back in May had three RBI plus had stolen home for a fourth run (in the books it will go down as an error on the catcher)! So, in the eyes of WDBB, umpire Brian De Brauwere had redeemed himself.

It got better when he threw PawSox manager Kevin Boles out of the game a few minutes later. Boles was last seen flipping a bird at the ump. Here’s hoping he gets whacked with a serious fine for that bit of childishness.

Lots of other thrills in last night’s game as the Bulls seem refreshed from their break. Richie Shaffer showed a ton of plate discipline as he drew three walks and got a RBI on a bloop single. Corey Brown got two doubles. The team batted around twice and came from behind twice, something not typical in this year’s Bulls.

Roberto Zarate actually looked very good for 4⅔ innings, but that previously mentioned call at home and then an uncharacteristic error by Corey Brown messed things up for him. Similarly, C.J. Riefenhauser got some solid defense from catcher Luke Maile and almost got out of a bad start to the 8th. But then a 3-run homer had him with at least a blown save. He ended up, however, with the oddity of a blown save stat and a win stat.

Best of all from the pitching side is that, at least for this game, the Kirby Yates of 2014 came out of the bullpen and struck out the side. That is a very, very good sign for the Bulls.

Outside the game —

• Scanning down the Pawtucket roster we see our old friend Ronald Belisario looking very odd in his brand new PawSox hat. Expect we’ll see him the next day or so.
• Last night the paid attendance 10, 370 and it looked like almost all of them actually came to the game. Good vibe, even if some of them were members of the Red Sox Nation.

Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom

Season: 46-41; Trip: 2-1
Wrap, Box, Charlotte Observer

It was a quiet night in Charlotte last night … until the 6th inning. Up to then young Bradin Hagens had done a fine job and held the Knights to just one run. Hard to do in that new, but very hitter-friendly, park of theirs. Then it got interesting as the Bulls (and the Knights) started channeling the old John Lee Hooker song, “Boom, Boom”. (Don't know the song? You've missed something. Check out Mr. Hooker below.)

Richie Shaffer and Cory Brown hit back-to-back home runs in the 6th. In the 7th, after Taylor Motter double home Hak-Ju Lee and Tim Beckham, the Bulls went back to back again when J.P Arencibia homered and Richie Shaffer (again) homered in three more runs.

The Knights brought in five runs on small ball (and ineffective Bulls relief pitching) in their part of the 8th and the Bulls answered with some small ball of their own in the 9th.

It got scary in the bottom of the 9th when you’d think things were well in hand with a 10-6 lead. But the Knights were listening to the same song, I guess, because they led off with back-to-back home runs before Kirby Yates got back in control.

All-in-all an impressive night for Bulls hitters and Mr. Hagens. Not so much for the Bulls relief crew, who had been stretched out on Tuesday. None of the three who followed Hagens were on their game, but José Dominguez in particular has not been on his game all year. Not sure why he remains on the Rays 40-man. He’s averaged less than an inning per outing as a Bull (14 appearances, 10 innings) and has little to show for it (ERA-7.20, WHIP-2.30, FIP-4.80). He had some good outings with the Rays back in mid-April, but he has not brought much to Durham.

Richie Shaffer wowed the home town crowd with a 4 for 4 outing (and an intentional walk in the 9th). Charlotte was where he spent the winter putting on a lot of muscle with obvious results. In his brief time in the IL so far he’s hit 14 home runs and is tied at #2 for the entire year (teammates J.P. Arencibia and Corey Brown are tied for first with 15).

Outside the game —

• Dan Johnson is back in the bigs. Long time WDBB favorite, Dan Johnson is up in the majors as a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. Durham writer Adam Sobsey has a nice piece on his return in yesterday’s Grantland. DJ  was high on our all-time hitters list for his performance over three seasons as a Bull (2008, 2010, and 2011). This year he started with the Louisville Bats in the Reds system then free-agented over to the the Cardinals system and the Memphis Redbirds. Good luck, Dan.

About those relievers —

Last time we looked it was the starters to had us worried. Now the bullpen trend is very worrisome.

click on chart

Bounce Back?

Season: 45-41; Trip: 1-1
Wrap, Box, Charlotte Observer

Incredible as it may sound, there were no roster moves yesterday.

New guy Robert Zarate had his third start and went 5+ innings, 102 pitches, for a no-decision. But what the Bulls needed was lots of innings with a low score and that's what they got. C.J. Riefenhauser put in his second appearance in two days and got the win. Jhan Mariñez, surely sharing with Jim Miller the honor of being the strong guy in this year’s bullpen, went for a 2-inning save.

Mariñez is having a terrific year and is one of the shining lights among those who are not on the St. Petersburg carousel (he isn't on the 40-man … yet). His numbers are superb, 4-1, FIP-2.89, ERA-2.09, WHIP-0.98, in 24 appearances. His only blemishes are two blown saves. At 26 he’s still young and someone who seems very dependable. Given the turmoil that Rays have gone through, it sure is nice to have someone to depend on.

Boog Powell is doing his job as leadoff man. His On Base Percentage of .405 leads the team (although he only has 38 plate appearances under his belt). He got on base by essentially out-running and out-dodging Charlotte’s first baseman last night, then came home on Corey Brown’s home run.

Is Nick Franklin coming into his own? It’s only 17 games so far, but his numbers are fine, .288/.339/.500. His triple last night in the 2nd led to the first Bulls run of the game and his single in the 6th brought in the tying run.

After Tuesday’s disaster, this was a fine, fine performance by all.

Outside the game —

• Interesting summary of the recent home stand of the Montgomery Biscuits. Seems that managers are not happy with each other.

Split in Ohio

Season: 41-36; Trip: 1-2
Wrap, Box 1, Box 2, Columbus Dispatch

The way the first game went, it looked as if the Bulls were back on track with exceptional starting pitching from new guy Robert Zarate and timely hitting from Ryan Brett and Corey Brown. Included in the good news was their first shutout since June 7 (OK, a 7 inning game, but it still looked good). J.P. Arencibia had his game as a catcher in the game as well (no wild pitches, no passed balls, no steals, pretty good).

The Bulls and the Clippers both went to their bullpens for the second game, and that looked OK until Ernesto Frieri could not hold on to the tie game in the 7th.

Richie Shaffer played first base in both games. A rusty Alexi Casilla struck out three times in the second game. New guy Boog Powell got two singles and two walks in the first game, plus a triple in the second game.

The Bulls will play a two-game set against the Clippers in August at the DBAP. Let’s hope they get a grip on themselves before then. This 1- 6 stretch has been tough.

Outside the game—

• Norfolk now leads the IL South Division.
• Matt Andriese is reportedly heading back to the Bulls.
• Scott Diamond has been assigned to the Montgomery Biscuits, but I’m suspicious about that. Smells like a paper transaction to me. He hasn’t been below AAA since 2010. I’m guessing he had an opt out, is looking for another job, or is about to be released. Decent numbers for a 2015 Bulls starter. In fact, he is essentially the best of the surviving three (Floro and Teaford being the other two).
• Bulls are off to Toledo to see if they have any better luck in that part of Ohio.

Continuing my interest in the Game Score stat, here’s the last 15 games. It shows the pretty dismal performance of the starting pitchers over the last several games. Starting pitching isn’t everything, of course, but it does make a difference.

click on chart for larger image

Bulls Hitters at Mid-Season

We last looked at the Durham Bulls hitters as of May 17th. Now we are only two games from the Bulls’ mid-season. So how are hitters doing?

[Note: We used a cutoff of 50 plate appearances to generate our list. Players below the 50 plate appearance cutoff were Bobby Wilson, Juniel Querecuto, Mayo Acosta, and Nick Franklin]

This table is sorted by Weighted on Base Average (wOBA), which is one of those newish stats that makes a lot of sense once you dig into it. It essentially weights the various ways a batter can get on base. The explanation at the link might help. The second not-usual stat is Weighted Runs Above Average (wRAA). That stat compares the player to the rest of the league in terms of runs contributed.

The players marked by an asterisk are on the Tampa Bay Rays 40-man roster. The players marked with a strike-thru are players who have been with the Bulls and might be coming back before the year is out. Butler went up to the Rays and hasn’t come back yet (and is doing so well that he might not). Curt Casali and Jake Elmore went up, Reginatto came back up from Montgomery and was just sent back down.

Richard Shaffer is new to the Bulls and has the least number of plate appearances of the group. But his numbers are superb. Alexi Casilla remains very high, but he has spent a lot of time on the DL in the last month, as shown by his relatively low plate appearances. Deserving of special mention is the exceptional year that Taylor Motter is having.

The last column in the table is the change in wOBA since the May 17th. The best performances are of  Alan Dykstra and Corey Brown, both of them going from negative wRAAs to positive.

I was surprised at J.P. Arencibia’s numbers. Subjectively, I thought he was doing better than that. I remain very worried about the season that Mikie Mahtook, Vince Belnome, and Hak-Ju Lee are having (as are they, I am sure).

Name	Age	PA	AVG	OPS	wOBA	wRAA	Change
Richard Shaffer	24	82	.300	1.090	.484	9.6	NA
*Joey Butler	29	94	.317	.892	.414	6.2	NA
Alexi Casilla	30	134	.328	.865	.399	7.4	-.018
*Jake Elmore	28	110	.326	.814	.395	5.8	.025
Taylor Motter	25	285	.291	.759	.349	5.4	.008
Corey Brown	29	222	.236	.759	.347	3.9	.035
Allan Dykstra	28	159	.214	.712	.344	2.5	.063
Eugenio Velez	33	222	.276	.711	.335	2.0	-.006
*Curt Casali	26	132	.205	.674	.325	0.2	.039
J.P. Arencibia	29	206	.230	.701	.320	-0.4	-.039
*Mikie Mahtook	25	198	.239	.647	.302	-3.1	-.040
Leonardo Reginatto	25	134	.269	.606	.284	-3.8	-.031
Luke Maile	24	173	.200	.574	.281	-5.3	.018
Vince Belnome	27	162	.180	.554	.278	-5.3	-.021
*Hak-ju Lee	24	178	.235	.588	.275	-6.2	.019
*Ryan Brett	23	122	.205	.558	.262	-5.4	NA

What wOBA Means

wOBA
Excellent	.400
Great	.370
Above Average	.340
Average	.320
Below Average	.310
Poor	.300
Awful	.290

There're Holes in Our Bats,

Dear Wool E, Dear Wool E.
There're holes in our bats,
Dear Wool E., some holes.
(apologies to Harry Belafonte...)

Season: 30-30; Home Stand: 2-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Bulls hitters struck out 18 times last night, setting a season record. Usually dangerous Cory Brown led the pack with 4. Probably some sort of hex for being the first Bull to be named hitter of the week this year. New catcher Bobby Wilson was in the lineup and got one of the Bulls 4 hits.

What about the pitching? Really not all that bad, except for Andy Oliver in the 8th. In that inning he gave up just one single and then struck out the three remaining batters. Problem was that the guy who singled was wild pitched completely around the bases! So he took an earned run on his outing.

The Herald-Sun reported that manager Jared Sandberg was ejected from the game, but it doesn’t show up in the box score, so not entirely sure that the Herald-Sun got it right.

Rosterification (Are you tired of trying to keep track? So am I) —

• Pitcher C.J. Riefenhauser is back from Tampa Bay
• Infielder Alexi Casilla came off the DL and played second base last night.
• Infielder Leonardo Reginatto was sent to Montgomery (where he hit a triple and a home run last night).
• Pitcher Kyle Winkler was sent to Montgomery

Outside the game —

• Montgomery Biscuits blogger “Dr. Miraculous” is not happy with the way the Tampa Bay Rays treat his team. Interesting read. 
• Groundsman Scott Strickland tweeted a terrific photo from the night before last. Thrilling moment.

Last nights storms were pretty solid... pic.twitter.com/Agd9Lxyxow

— Scott Strickland (@DurhamBullsTurf) June 19, 2015

Good Pitching & Hitting, Umpire Thins Out Opposition

Season: 39-27; Trip: 4-1
Wrap, Box

With last night’s win the Durham Bulls went 12 games above .500, the best so far this year. Mid-season is only 6 games away (AAA only plays 144 games) and we have to say that the team’s record is terrific.

One reason is that they are getting good pitching from odd places. Last night reliever Jordan Norberto got his second start in a row and lasted even longer than last time. He essentially set the stage for Jim Miller, who got a win even though his stint was not impressive. Then the new guys, Robert Zarate and Kyle Winkler, pitched one inning each of shut out ball and semi-new guy Preston Guilmet (he seems to spend a lot of time on the Rays-Bulls shuttle) got his second save.

Another reason is youngster Richie Shaffer is just pounding the ball. I saw his shot last night and he just crushed a ball in that oddly shaped stadium. At the DBAP it might have gone over the Bull.

Maybe, just maybe, Alan Dykstra is coming out of his season-long slump. He was 3 for 4 last night and made his way above the Mendoza Line to .210. And there’s Cory Brown, who was named the International League Hitter of the Week yesterday. He had a very timely triple in the 6th that won the game for the Bulls.

For oddity, how about this? The home plate umpire threw out three Indians last night, all for grousing about balls and strikes. First it was hitting coach Butch Wynegar in the 3rd. Then in the 9th it was catcher Tony Sanchez, followed by manager Dean Treanor. The Bulls have seen a lot of this particular umpiring crew, 16 games this season. Last night it was a four-man version. It strikes me as particularly stupid for a catcher to argue balls and strikes on the first game of a three-game series.

Rostering —

• Two Bulls pitchers had Jun 15th opt-out clauses in their contracts: Matt Buschmann and Ronald Belisario. Just what circumstances were involved in the clauses aren’t clear (typically assignment to the 25-man active squad). Nevertheless, according to Broadcaster Patrick Kinas, both have exercised their options. That means the Rays have 48 hours to do some kind of deal or both players are gone. No matter what happens, it would seem that neither player will be back in a Bulls uniform. Also according to Kinas, both players were still with the team last night as they wait for decisions down in St. Petersburg.
• Too bad for the Bulls. Buschmann was the front end and Belisario was the back end of quite a few Bulls wins this year. Belisario is probably the best closer in the International League and Buschmann, while he’s never made it to the major leagues, is certainly an above average pitcher.  
• Meanwhile, catcher Bobby Wilson, the Rays backup catcher all this year, has accepted an assignment to the Bulls and should show up in a couple of days. That could add a lot of experience and depth to the team. Stats.
• And then there’s Grady Sizemore, who was signed yesterday by the Rays. He’ll probably show up with the Bulls after spending some time with the Stone Crabs. Not sure about that one. Stats.
• Additional commentary here and here, 

Bats Bashed

 

Season: 36-26; Trip: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Courier-Journal

We like it when the Bulls play the Bats. Seems like a lot of the really exciting games over the last several years have been Bulls/Bats contests. Last night, though, was in the Bulls' hands.

Three games in a row the Bulls have scored 4 runs in an inning, and they have won all three games. This time it was two, two-run homers by J.P. Arencibia (#10) and Luke Maile (#2). Cory Brown got a homer in the 1st, and the Bulls now lead the International League in home runs with 48. J.P. Arencibia is tied for first place with his 10 and Cory Brown is in second place with 9.

Meanwhile Everett Teaford had his best game of the year with a GSc of 63, pitching 6 full innings giving up only 1 run.

Rosterification —

• The roster moves of the Rays are so bizarre that we’re going to do a separate post. Watch this space! Short version. The Rays are calling up three pitchers, sending one back and one to the DL; dumping a catcher; and calling up a catcher.

Hitting

This chart shows the team OPS for each of the last 15 games. The Bulls won 11 of those 15 games. The trend is very nice. But the scores for the last four games is very impressive. Undoubtedly the Bulls bats are very, very hot.

click on chart for larger view

More Banging; Switch Pitching

Season: 34-26; Home Stand: 2-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The Bulls had their second big hitting game and a superb pitching performance by Scott Diamond (who has quietly established the best won-loss record of the Bulls starting crew).

Cory Brown led the wrecking crew with two home runs and 5 RBI, but some base running antics also helped. We’ll get to that.

Hak-Ju Lee was in the game for the first time in over two weeks. Just a bunt single at bat. He handled a bunch of opportunities in the field, but also made a throwing error trying to get a double play started. Overall, he looked fine.

We have to admit that from the stands we sometimes (usually) can’t know what’s really going on, but it sure looked like IronPigs pitcher Phillipe Aumont went through a mild meltdown in the bottom of the 5th and then came fully unraveled in the 6th, helping the Bulls pick up their four runs in that inning.

It started with Taylor Motter getting to first base on a walk with one out. Aumont did his best to keep him on base, but Motter eventually stole second while J.P. Arencibia was batting. Motter did quite a bit of dancing off the base and then Aumont came off the mound and started shouting at him. Arencibia came out of the batter’s box and there was a general yapping among the crowd of players and umpires, but apparently no warnings issued. Might have been, not sure, a dispute over Motter stealing signs/indicating pitch location. At any rate, Aumont struck out Arencibia and got Dykstra on a fly ball.

Next inning Eugenio Velez reached first on a single and immediately stole second base and started dancing. Numerous pickoff attempts/steps off the mound had little effect, but Aumont did get a K and a fly out. But then things crumbled. Leonardo Reginatto got to first on the shortstop’s throw into the dirt and Velez scored. Then Aumont got called on a balk. Lots of yammering back and forth with the home plate umpire. Reginatto went into his dance off second base and Aumont served up a single to Ryan Brett and Reginatto scored. That was it for Aumont, who left the field muttering, loudly, and glancing at the ump. The next batter, Cory Brown, hit his second home run of the day off of Aumont’s replacement, Cesar Jimenez.

As I said, sitting up in the stands you can never know just what's going on, but it sure looked like the Bulls baserunners got inside Aumont's head, to his and his  team's disadvantage.

Kirby Yates, one of WDBB's favorite guys, is back in the Durham Bulls bullpen, officially on a rehab assignment. He is far from being his old self and it was surely handy that the Bulls had a 7-1 lead when he came in. Three doubles, a home run, a wild pitch, and only one out before Jhan Mariñez came in to put out the fire.

In the wings —

• Rays star and former Bull Matt Moore pitched a couple of scoreless innings down in Port Charlotte. Box.

Outside the game —

• If you are intrigued by the idea of an ambidextrous pitcher, as I am, here’s a couple of videos. The first is about his glove. What I find interesting is how long he’s been working on this skill (and having a glove designed) and how natural he is switching the glove around. He’s been doing this since childhood. The second shows the first several batters he faced in his major league debut.

Beautiful Boomer

Season: 33-26; Home Stand: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Watching a Durham Bull hit a grand slam home run is one of the great thrills a fan can have. The first one I’ve witnessed this year came last night from J.P. Arencibia with Leonardo Reginatto, Cory Brown, and Taylor Motter on base in the 3rd inning. Over the Blue Monster and a very pretty thing it was.

By the end of the night Arencibia had 5 RBIs on the homer and a double. Taylor Motter had a perfect evening going 3 for 4 with a walk. Everyone else, except for Eugenio Velez got a hit or two. Nice night for the Bulls hitters.

Which helped, because while Matt Buschmann certainly had a much better outing than his last where his Game Score was a miserable 33, last night it was just a so-so 52. Decent enough, but in need of the run support that he got.

Early on in the game we got to see what looked to be two failures of the modern enthusiasm for shifting players around. The very first Lehigh Valley batter got a triple off of the shift (he later scored) and in the 4th a single off of a shift moved a runner to 3B and he scored later on. The successes/failures of shifting are not something I actually watch all that closely (and would not be able to track efficiently under any circumstance). There must be some data out there if the coaches and managers are going to all this trouble. Watch manager Jared Sandberg at the next game and you will see what I mean. He is routinely signaling position info to his players.

I also wonder if this puts an additional stress on the pitcher to locate his pitches in support of the shift?

Two former Bulls were in the Lehigh Valley lineup last night. They were both 0-fer, so they did no harm. Russ Canzler was a major star for the Bulls back in 2011. Since that time he has AAA  time with Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, the Yankees, and twice in the Phillies’ system. I worry every time he comes to bat against the Bulls.

Jayson Nix was with the Bulls for 55 games last year coming to the Bulls from the Phillies. He left in August and got some major league time with Pittsburg and Kansas City. He started this year in the Baltimore system with the Norfolk Tides and now has a few games back in the Phillies system. He made a couple of nice plays at second base last night.

Outside the game —

• Hak-Ju Lee came off the disabled list yesterday. We can expect to see him in a game soon.
• Vince Belnome has been spending his time on the disabled list growing a mohawk. Hoping he comes back soon and re-captures some of his old form with or without the new hair.
• Discovered Cracker Jack for sale at the last concession stand on the first base side. Scratched that itch and won’t feel guilty at the 7th inning stretch any more. All is right with the world.

Brown Hits the Bull

Season: 26-22; Home Stand: 2-0
Wrap, Box, Rochester Wrap

Dylan Floro had a solid outing, scattering Red Wings' hits around, and Cory Brown hit the Bull. First time this year.

I couldn’t make the game, and I regret it. Looks like it was fun to watch.

Outside the game —

• Two ballplayers who started the year with the Bulls are back — Ryan Brett and C.J. Riefenhauser. Both of them were called up to the Rays in April, broke something while there, and went on the disabled list. If I understand the rules, they are officially here on a rehabilitation assignment and don’t count against the Bulls roster, but they are on the 40-man roster of the Rays and once they finish their rehab something will have to happen. There’s a good chance that they will stay here. 
• Meanwhile, they will give the Bulls' bench a small break. However, each comes with a little tag attached to them that tells the manager what the player can, and cannot, do. Possibly a pitch count for Riefenhauser, but Brett played a full game yesterday, so maybe he’s ready to go.
• The clock would be ticking for Mr. Querecuto, making him a leading candidate for this year’s Moonlight Graham award.
• A couple of sources are reporting [MLB Trade Rumors, Rays Index] that Grant Balfour has opted out of his contract with the Rays. Too bad. We liked watching him even if he looked dissatisfied with himself most of his time here. He kept checking the pitch speed clock and never seemed to be that into the game. On the other hand, he put up some decent, but not great, numbers in his 8 appearances as a Bull. Good luck. Maybe he will catch on with another club.

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.

Nice Start to the Home Stand

Season: 15-11; Home Stand: 1-0
Wrap, Box

The Durham Bulls started off one of their rare May home stands with a shutout of the Buffalo Bisons. And they moved into a tie for first place in the South Division of the International League.

J.P. Arencibia and Cory Brown were the big bats for the Bulls. Arencibia had two home runs. Brown had a home run, a triple, and a double, just missing a single at the end of the game. Between them they accounted for 5 of the 7 RBI.

Rays fans (do we have any around here?) can be pleased to see rehabbing Jake McGee on the mound for an impressive inning and the 5 innings that rehabbing infielder Nick Franklin played in (1 for 3, single).

We’re wondering when we should start worrying about 1B/DH Alan Dykstra. Since coming back from the Rays he’s come to the plate 25 times and has yet to get a hit and only one BB. We can hope he comes around, but there’s obviously something not right.

Outside the Game —

• The Bulls are not in town very much in early May. This three game visit and a four game visit from 14-17 is it until May 25th when they start a 6-game stretch. Given the erratic weather we can expect in May, we suggest you jump at any opportunity to see the Bulls.
• Today is first “Bark in the Park” day. Usually fun.
• The local TV broadcasts begin on May 15. Based on my observation of other teams in the IL, the Bulls have by far the best crew in the league. And they are Explorer Scouts.
• The Bulls blog has a very nice summary of how the Bulls are doing at this point in the season.

Bats Alive in Rhode Island; Hitting Trends

Wrap, Box, Morning Call

Season: 13-10; Trip: 4-1

Wrap, Box, Providence Journal

After a very early day game in Allentown, Pennsylvania the Bulls were off to Pawtucket, Rhode Island. There Jim Patterson flew in from “extended spring training” for his second start of the year. He did just fine. And he was followed by young Jhan Marinez (terrific), Bryce Stowell (premier middle reliever), and Ronald Belesario.

Meanwhile the Bulls hit three home runs, something they’ve only done once before this year. The first was a game-opening hit by Taylor Motter. The second was a three-run affair by J.P. Arencibia. And the third was a solo shot by Corey Brown.

We saw the very ugly, and endlessly replayed, play by Pawsox catcher Humberto Quintero. Mikie Mahtook was on second and attempted a steal of third. Luke Maile was at bat. Maile simply stood in the box and Quintero launched his throw to 3B right into Maile’s gut. Not OK, and Maile obviously felt it. But much worse was Quintero acting as if it was Maile’s fault. Would expect better from a 35 year-old veteran. Then things got very testy after a collision between Quintero and Hak-Ju Lee at second base later on in the game.

It was May 1 and the speed of game changes are in effect. A Pawtucket batter had a strike called in him because he was not in the box when he should have been.

Rosterizing —

• As noted, Jim Patterson is back from extended spring training
• Matt Andriese, who had five appearances with the Rays (two starts)  has been optioned to the Bulls to make room for Alex Colome. Probably will show up soon.
• Grant Balfour, a once great closer, and former Bull, has signed a minor league deal with the Rays and will be coming to the Bulls to see if he can regain the form he had with the Rays and the Athletics. The Australian should be fun to watch.
• Everett Teaford, who went up a couple of days ago, is on his way back.
• I don't think I've mentioned that Kirby Yates has gone on the disabled list. Fits with what we've seen since he came back to the Bulls.

Chart — Hitting

This is one way to look at the Bulls’ hitting performance. I’m using OPS (on base percentage + slugging) as a metric. That’s not my favorite batting stat, but for my purposes of trying to discern team trends, it’s OK. 

What is OPS? Well, it’s a combination of numbers you see on the scoreboard at each game. It is an effort to measure a player’s batting skill beyond batting average. It starts with On Base Percentage, essentially how often a player gets on base when he comes to bat — hit, walk, hit by pitch. And then you add to it the Slugging Average, which is the number of bases per at bat. One way to help understand slugging is that if you look up on the scoreboard and see a batting average that’s the same as the slugging average, it means he’s only hit singles so far this year.

There’s another stat I like better, called Weighted On Base Average, and I plot them both. But as far as trends go, I’m not seeing much difference.

This plots the OPS for each of the last 15 games. Included is the International League average over the last 3 years. The slight upward trend is a good thing. The Bulls’ overall OPS on the season is .690, which ranks them 6th out of 14 teams in the league.

click for larger chart

Bats Come Alive in Charlotte

Wrap, Box

Season: 3-3
Wrap, Box, Charlotte Observer

The Bulls ended their road trip with a bang(s), three home runs (included a grand slam by DHing Cory Brown), 3 doubles, and 12 runs. The slam in the 6th made it 10 to 5, but three unearned runs put the game back in reach if not for Luke Maile’s first AAA homer in the 8th.

Dylan Floro, who is the IL’s pitcher of the week, gave up a bunch of runs, but the young prospect stayed in there for the win.

The 12 runs on 17 hits (29 total bases) sets the bar pretty high for this year. Are we seeing a hint of an old-fashioned Bulls team? Maybe.

Meanwhile, we simply haven’t seen these guys at all (except through Patrick Kinas’ word pictures and some not-very-good MiLB streaming). It will be good to finally see the team on the field.

Four more errors last night. That’s 13 so far this season. Of the 23 runs scored on the Bulls in six games, 9 were unearned.

Outside the game —

• The South Division looks competitive. After six games every team in the South is 3-3.
• Fellow blogger Noise Nation, who writes about the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, got a peek at the hardware driving the new pitch clocks. Gonna be interesting. Sounds like the ‘Pigs fans don’t think too much of them.
• How seriously do I take my baseball. Let’s just say that I scheduled my cataract surgery for last Monday so that I would be able to see tonight’s game!