Some Fireworks; Back in First

Happy 4th of July!

(Our Heaven Born Banner, 1861, based on Frederic Church’s Banner in the Sky, more info)

Game 83, July 3, Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Durham Bulls 7, Gwinnett Braves 4
Season: 45-38; Last 10: 4-6
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

The Bulls and Braves are back in a tie for first place and will be continuing the series tonight down in Lawrenceville, Georgia. That trek down I-85 has got to be getting old.

Brian Baker seemed to benefit from the extra days off. He hadn't pitched since June 24 and, but for a walk, escaped what was becoming a signature rough 1st inning. I'm guessing that Charlie Montoyo and pitching coach Neil Allen may have decided to keep Baker on a low pitch count since they pulled him after five innings even though he appeared to be doing OK.

The Bulls "batted" around in the 2nd inning although in addition to Canzler's homer, Johnson's double, and singles by Chirinos and Olmedo, you have to give the Braves' pitcher, Erik Cordier some credit. He walked in two of the four runs all on his own.

The risks of carrying only eleven position players almost jumped up and bit the Bulls last night. The Bulls have only two players on the bench most nights. So when a player does something really stupid, as Felipe Lopez did last night, they do not have much depth. When one of them is a catcher, as is often the case, they have even less. When Lopez came to bat in the top of the 3rd inning, he decided to get in umpire Art Thigpen's face about something. He was ejected, of course, and Charlie Montoyo had to find a batter and a second baseman. Inexcusable. After watching him dog running out a dropped third strike on Saturday night, I've got to wonder about Mr. Lopez. In the normal course of affairs, Montoyo sits a player the game after he gets ejected. We'll see.

Fortunately, J.J. Furmaniak was one of the players getting a day off and he was able to step in for Lopez.

At the risk of tempting the gods of baseball, we have to point out that in his last 16 appearances, R.J. Swindle has not allowed a single hit run, only three hits, and has struck out 16 batters. Now it's also true that he has only pitched 12 1/3 innings, and mostly against left-handed batters, but he is making a huge contribution to the Bulls this year. Unlike his difficulties early in the season, he seems to have his slow curve back under control. How beautiful it is to watch that pitch tie up opposing batters. Last night it was turncoat Chris Carter who was the victim. Swindle unleashed the slow curve on a 1-2 count. It drifted across the plate at 53 mph and Carter just barely chipped it over the third base dugout to keep it at 1-2. Carter then stood there and watched Swindle's "fastball" blaze across the plate at 82 mph for a called third strike. That's a 30 mph difference from one pitch to the next! Is it major league stuff? Not sure. Carter thinks he's a major league batter, so maybe so.

New pitcher Matt Torra was in the dugout last night, so have to think he's ready to go. His last start was June 24, so he probably needs to get into the rotation pretty quickly.

[Update: A careful reader has pointed out an error in the Swindle stats. Fixed.]

Bootcheck Leaves Bulls

Interesting games last night. Not sure I want to write about them. According to the radio broadcast the second game of the double header was Chris Bootcheck’s last game. He had exercised the opt-out clause in his contract with the Rays.

Here’s a question for Rays’ management: What’s the point of all these opt out contracts?

With the departure of Chris Bootcheck, the Bulls have lost their third talented ballplayer in as many weeks. Bootcheck was preceded out the door by Cory Wade, now pitching for the New York Yankees and Chris Carter, now hitting .346 for the team that’s tied with the Bulls for first place in the South Division, the Gwinnett Braves. All three are now reported to have originally signed minor league contracts with clauses that said that if they weren’t called up they could move on. How many other Bulls have out clauses in their contracts? We don’t know.

As a general rule, the comments about the Tampa Bay Rays here at WDBB are made with with what I hope is seen as good humor. But it sure is tough to watch good ballplayers leave the Bulls, players whom we fans never knew weren’t going to spend the season with the team. Bulls fans have been blindsided again and again and again.

A week or so ago a fellow fan remarked to me that the Bulls didn’t seem to be playing like a team this year. Something to that?

Sitting up in the stands at the DBAP a few of us keep fairly close watch on this team. We keep track of things such as noticing who’s on the 40-man roster and who might be going up to or coming down from the Rays. We watch who's improving, having trouble, etc. Bootcheck, for example, was doing a fine job moving from relief to starting and really helping out the team. It really hurts to turn on the radio and discover that one of our best pitchers is pitching his last game in a Durham Bulls uniform.

Did the Rays try to keep him in Durham? Who knows? Reporters who could have been reporting this story haven’t. So we have been in the dark all season (which is now more than half over, I might add). Makes some of us (OK, maybe just me) feel like fools. Are we going to lose any more? Is anybody going to say?

In the abstract, for 2011 Tampa Bay Rays last spring, this may have made sense. The Rays were shedding payroll like there was no tomorrow and the Rays were obviously sweeping up any veteran ballplayer with a remote chance of being able to lend a hand to the Rays, especially if they could be had cheaply. The Rays obviously were also, we now know, more than willing to add opt out clauses to those minor league contracts.

Here’s another question for Rays management: Was any thought given to the impact this might have on their team in Durham? No? I didn’t think so.

Last question: What’s the point of this secrecy? It sounds like everyone under the stands (in their offices and locker rooms) and on the field at the DBAP knew about these contracts. Just not anyone in the stands. For that matter, if last night was Bootcheck’s last stand you’d think the print reporters would have mentioned it. They haven’t. Nor have any roster moves been announced at the usual places.

Well, maybe we have a reason for my fellow fan’s observation that the Bulls don't seem to be playing like a team this year. They aren’t.

Great Road Trip

Game 69, June 19, Coolray Field
Durham Bulls 2, Gwinnett Braves 1
Season: 38-31; Trip: 3-1; Since Scott Strickland’s Haircut: 4-1
Wrap, Box

Boy was it fun to see Dan Johnson hit the winning home run yesterday (watched it on MiLB.TV). After the Braves walked him four times the day before, sure was odd that he’d get a good pitch on a 3-2 count. But he did and that was enough.

The real oddity of the game was seeing Chris Carter come to the plate in a Gwinnett Braves uniform. I have to say that I can’t figure out what advantage it was for him to leave the Rays organization for the Braves. Must be something about either the National League or the Braves’ wallets that he liked. He was 0-2 as the DH. I won’t take back the nice things I said about him. Nevertheless, if not a PCL team, couldn’t he at least have signed with someone other than Gwinnett?

Brian Baker was much better than his last time out, and the relief corps continued their stalwart performance, only two runs in the last six games (31 innings). A interesting tidbit from the relievers is that R.J. Swindle hasn’t given up a hit in his 10 appearances since May 26, but then he’s only accumulated a total of 7.2 innings in those 10 appearances.

Have not heard who, if anyone, will be moved to make room for Alex Cobb. But broadcaster Neil Solondz did say that Lance Cormier was being moved into the starting rotation and Jay Buente was moving to the bullpen. So I’m going to have to guess that Ryan Reid is on his way back to Montgomery.

Chart of the Day — South Division Standings

Raht purty as they say back home.

Coming up: The Buffalo Bisons, the Mets affiliate, who crushed Norfolk yesterday 16-2.

[Update: The Bulls have finessed the whole issue of what to do about Cobb's return by putting Jay Buente on the disabled list]

Chris Carter Released

I guess we should have seen this coming. When Cory Wade was released, reportedly in advance of exercising his opt-out, we could have gone through the roster and done some guessing. Very likely the official press knew who had opt-out contracts, but, to maintain their access to the players, declined to mention it. And in any case Chris Carter’s departure could simply be a matter of making room for Felipe Lopez. But that isn’t what the note from the Bulls reads like. This reads like Carter exercised an opt-out clause.

All I have seen so far is this email from the Bulls:

6/16: Chris Carter granted his release, Felipe Lopez outrighted to Durham

As the table from a couple of days ago shows, Mr. Carter had an above-average bat. Furthermore, his 46 RBI were a substantial fraction of all the runs scored by the Bulls this year (309, 15%). He was second in RBIs in the International League and had 8 more than his nearest teammate, Russ Canzler. He also led the Bulls in home runs with 10.

Have to say that I’m worried for several reasons:

• As with Cory Wade, we could see him in the uniform of a competitor in a couple of days.
• Unless Dan Johnson gets his groove back, the Bulls don’t have a single hitter the opposition needs to be afraid of.
• Doesn’t seem a fair trade for Lopez.

That said, it certainly is not Chris Carter’s fault that he and the Rays could not come to terms. We wish him well and hope that he catches on with either a major league team or with an organization whose AAA team is in the Pacific Coast League. Thanks for the runs and a couple of thrills. Good luck!

Six Innings, One Hit, Shutout

Game 61, June 10, Coca-Cola Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Durham Bulls 6, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 0
Season: 33-28; Trip: 2-2
Wrap, Box, The Morning Call

What a difference good pitching makes. Dirk Hayhurst’s six inning, one hit performance last night was among the best of any Bulls pitcher this year. Only a similar six inning, one hit game by Brian Baker back on April 8th is slightly better (one more K, one less BB). Sure would be great to add another reliable starter to the list.

How weird is that? Hayhurst and Baker, the premier Durham Bulls starting pitchers!

Obviously the whole pitching crew did a great job. Only four singles and four walks (plus a miscue by Hayhurst) allowed anyone on base at all. I’m a bit surprised that Cory Wade was touched for three singles in his stint, but no harm done.

What an odd series: 9-1, 0-6, 5-6, 6-0. Gwinnett stayed up with Durham winning a 14 inning marathon in Toledo, but they are on an unsustainable (I hope) seven-game win streak.

Russ Canzler started in left field last night with J.J. Furmaniak at third. That might be a good place for him. Did not help his hitting, though. He was 0-4 with a walk. The rest of the team was looking good. Most notable were Chris Carter, who got things going with a two-run homer in the 1st and a RBI in the 4th, and Desmond Jennings, who went 3 for 5 with two RBIs.

Rehabbing Elliot Johnson started at shortstop, got a couple of hits, and scored a run. He is apparently on his way back to Baltimore. I think someone has to be turned loose from the Rays’ active roster. But could be wrong. Who? Don’t know. I’m a bit surprised we’re not seeing any speculation among the Rays’ bloggers.

Also love pointing out that the Bulls pulled off four double plays last night, three of them started by Leslie Anderson (actually, Anderson got one of them all by himself by grabbing a line drive and doubling the baserunner on first). We’ve seen him make a couple of good plays at home. Has he emerged as a quality first baseman? Maybe so. He’s certainly a better all-around player than when he first came up from Montgomery last year.

Dan Johnson had a good trip. He may be getting back into his groove. He was 6 for 15 with 5 doubles and 4 BBs. His BA is up to .250 now (and his wOBA is up to .361).

Norfolk@DBAP@7pm. Alex Torres to start. Wonder which Torres will be pitching? The strikeout king or the base on balls specialist?

Summer Comes Early

Game 50, May 30, Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Durham Bulls (Rays) 7, Columbus Clippers (Indians) 4
Season: 28-22; Last 10: 4-6; Home Stand: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The weirdness of this year's weather continues. Following the deluge we have stifling heat. You've got to admire ballplayers who played until late Sunday night in very cool upper Ohio, fly into RDU about noon yesterday and greet the sauna, and then play ball at five o'clock.

For the first five innings Columbus pitcher Scott Barnes seemed to have the Bulls in hand, holding them to just the one solo home run by Chris Carter. But from the 6th inning on the Bulls owned the Clippers relievers scoring six runs. Most impressive was Russ Canzler's three-run shot in the 7th.

You have to think that the coaches have been preaching to Alex Torres to throw strikes, let batters hit if he has to, just don't walk them. Torres is notorious for his walk rate, having given up 31 of them in his first nine games this year. Last night Torres let them hit (no walks at all!) and, with one ghastly exception, the defense stepped up including pulling off three double plays. 

The exception was in the third inning when the Clippers led off with two singles. The third batter grounded to second and Omar Luna would have been a hero if he'd successfully tagged the runner as he went by and thrown to first for a double play. Instead, Luna did neither, booting the ball and letting a run score from second. Torres then wild pitched in a second run. Wonder if he was standing on the mound muttering to himself, "First my second baseman and then my catcher." Getting out of that inning, he gave up his only dangerous hit, a home run, in the fourth. Still, if he could have managed one more out in the 7th he would have had the win. 

Overall, even with the no-decision, this may have been his best game. Instead of a pile of strikeouts and a bundle of walks, we got nearly seven innings of solid pitching backed up by decent defense. That'll win it for you almost every time.

* * * * * 

In exchange for Alex Cobb, Tampa Bay is sending back Brandon Gomes. [St. Pete Times] Just roster shuffling on their part, since Gomes has been doing a pretty good job in St. Pete. The same article reports that former Bull Jeff Niemann might be coming through Durham as part of a rehabilitation routine. That could really help the Bulls and it would be fun to see Niemann pitch again. Hope it happens before the Bulls go back on the road.

Speaking of Tampa Bay, they put their second stringers in the game yesterday (Ruggiano in left and Lopez at first). Together they went 3 for 8 with a walk, a home run (Ruggiano), 2 runs scored, and 3 RBI. Not bad for a couple of bench-riders even if in a losing cause.

More Rain; More Baseball

The Durham Bulls got rained out Saturday night, so they are going to try for a double header today, then head back here for a game Monday afternoon at 5. They are scheduled to be 7-inning games, but somehow this does not look good. The forecast looks a bit cluttered, so games could go long. Stamina is going to count for a lot.

In the meantime a few odds and ends to add a bit of spice to your Sunday:

• Here's a very odd double play from Double A ball. The baseball changed hands nine times as the play went along. [MiLB.com]
• Craig Robinson illustrates Roy Holliday's career as a succession of 10" treks up to the top of the pitcher's mound. [FlipFlopFlyBall]
• Am I the only one who thinks that it's a bit odd for PeTA to be rating food at minor league ballparks? PeTA? Baseball? Do I need to point out what baseballs are made from? And what's with that rabbit logo? [NotetoSelf]
• Over at the Baseball Wife blog we find some thoughtful comments on the current paternity leave rules. [BaseballWife]
• Also on Baseball Wife some meditations on careers for wives of baseball players. [BaseBallWife]
• Neal Solondz had a good interview with outfielder/DH Chris Carter who talked about a recent day off and success hitting to the opposite field. [DurhamBullsPodcasts]
• Speaking of a DH, Jason Collette at DRaysBay takes a look at the job from a return on investment perspective. [DRaysBay]

Looking Better

Game 47, 28 May, First Third Field, Toledo, Ohio.
Durham Bulls 7, Toledo Mud Hens 3
Season: 26-21; Last 10: 4-6; Trip: 2-4
Wrap, Box, Toledo Blade

The Mud Hens are getting turned inside out by their parent club, the Detroit Tigers. See the Toledo Blade link for details. No reason for the Bulls not to take advantage of that, and they did. On the mound was the 32 year-old elder statesman of the Bulls pitching staff, Chris Bootcheck. Have to admire him stepping into the breach until the Rays can find a couple of starters for the Bulls. And he did a decent job, going 4 2/3 innings. This was his second start as a Bull and the first time he’s started games in quite a few years. The last time he saw regular duty as a starter was in 2005 with the Angels AAA team in Salt Lake City. Good job.

Meanwhile Ray Olmedo has slipped into Justin Ruggiano’s #2 spot in the batting order and is acting a bit like Justin. His batting average is up to .293 and yesterday he went two for 5 and scored both times he got on base. Dan Johnson played first and got his first hit. Russ Canzler remains hot, playing third and hitting another homer, just his fourth, but they have been timely. (By the way, Justin Ruggiano has not started a game with the Rays, but did have a little bit of playing time back on May 21st. Guess the Rays are treating him pretty much as usual. Too bad.)

I’m not quite sure what to make of Chris Carter’s day. His hitting helped a lot (two RBIs). But his aggressive base running led to him being thrown out twice trying for third base. And he grounded into two double plays.

Craig Albernaz and Jeremy Hall (I guessed right!) have been taken off the Bulls’ roster and sent to Hudson Valley, making room for Rob Delaney, who passed through waivers, and new guy Jay Buente.

Chart of the Day — Fielding Independent Percentage

This is one of those relatively new numbers that really is a better way of evaluating pitchers than ERA. I like it. It does, however, punish the pitcher who gives up home runs as you can see by the rankings of Swindle (6), Bootcheck (3), and McGee (3) who have pretty high HR/Inning numbers. But, all things considered, that’s seems only fair. An interesting feature of this chart is how well Edgar Gonzalez, today’s starter, comes off. He’s been having back problems recently. We can hope that that sorts itself out.

Hitting Surge Continues

Game 25: Durham Bulls (Rays) 6; Indianapolis Indians (Pirates) 1
Season: 14-11; Streak: 3-0
Wrap, Box, Indianapolis Star

Bulls hitters continued their remarkable run yesterday afternoon with 10 more hits (helped out by 5 walks and 2 HBPs) resulting in 6 runs. Chris Carter kept going with his outstanding performance going 3 for 5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI (18 on the year). As a team, the Bulls’ wOBA has grown from .313 to .331 in just four games. The “Hitting and Pitching” chart provided just a couple of days ago has seen a dramatic change. Nice to see green (hitting) going up and red (pitching) going down.

Speaking of red going down, Alex Torres had another good, if erratic start. He’ll settle down someday, I’m sure. But his propensity to give up a string of walks adds discouraging excitement to a game.

Happy to see Chris Bootcheck back on the mound. I’m guessing that his long stay on the disabled list reflects the change in thinking about concussions in all of sports. Not long ago if you could correctly count the fingers a coach was waving in front of you it meant you were OK. Now head injuries are treated much more seriously. As mentioned, just a guess, but Chris was out for more than two weeks.

Newcomer Ryan Reid had a clean inning.

Down in St. Petersburg Alex Cobb did a decent job in his major league debut, even if he didn’t seem to be happy with himself and he may have been tipping his pitches. I guessing he'll be back on the mound in Durham later this week.

Also, local (i.e., St. Pete and Tampa) papers are reporting that the Bulls Brandon Gomes has been called up; however we’ve seen nothing official from the Bulls.

Reminder: Tomorrow’s 11:05 AM game will be broadcast on the MLB network. Set your DVR or, what the heck, take the day off and stay home to watch the Bulls in Indianapolis.

* * * * * 

Biscuit watch

Pitching prospect Matt Bush had a good day.
Game 24: Montgomery Biscuits 9; Jacksonville Suns 6
Season: 11-13
Wrap, Box, Montgomery Advertiser

Hitters Hit; Pitchers Shuffle

Game 24: Durham Bulls 12; Indianapolis Indians 3
Season: 13-11; Streak: 2-0
Wrap, Box, Indianapolis Star

Yet another problem caused by this season’s screwy schedule is that fans have had no chance to get to know the players. Take, for example, one of last night’s heroes, Chris Carter. Although he has played 19 games for the Bulls with 87 plate appearances, he’s only had 8 games at the DBAP, mostly as the designated hitter (two starts in left field). Consequently, as a fan, we only have the box scores and stats to go on. Those are pretty good and last night’s 3 for 6, 4 RBI performance was exceptional. We just haven’t had a chance to see him.

The same problem holds for several other players such as Russ Canzler, Brandon Guyer, and Robinson Chirinos.

In a couple of months, things will be different. But for now, obviously, the only person commenting on the Bulls who has actually seen the Bulls is broadcaster Neil Solondz. So, it’s on you Neil. Remember, you’re the only guy who has really been watching these guys closely every day.

With those caveats, last night saw the Bulls have their best day at the plate this year. Every player (except for Robinson Chirinos) got a hit. Justin Ruggiano got 4 hits, but Carter’s performance moved him up into a tie for the RBI lead. They have 16 each. J.J. Furmaniak is inching up towards the Mendoza line, now at .192. Leslie Anderson got 3 RBI. A terrific day for the Bulls.

Pitcher Edgar Gonzalez only went 5 innings, but by that time the Bulls were ahead 7-0, so things were looking OK. The unfortunate Paul Phillips came on in the 6th and had a 1-2-3 inning. The 7th was different. He gave up a hit and a homer, then hit a batter and gave up a single. He left the game with two outs and two men on. R.J. Swindle let one of those runners score in his 1/3 of an inning.

That gave Cory Wade yet another chance to show his stuff. He gave up a leadoff single in the 8th, then struck out the side. In the 9th it was K, flyout, K. Very nice job.

Speaking of pitchers:

• Alex Cobb will make his major league debut pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays today against the LA Angels. Good luck, Alex!
• Jake McGee, the big left-hander we saw a bit of at the end of last season is coming to the Bulls (yeah!). I was impressed with McGee last year, and I was worried that the Rays might have been moving him along a bit too quick. He should be a big help to the Bulls.
• The same article says that Brandon Gomes might be going to the Rays. He’s done a terrific job for the Bulls. Is he ready for the Rays? Guess we will be finding out if the article is accurate. Note that all of the moves involving relievers circle around the question of when J.P. Howell will be getting back into the Rays bullpen.