The Importance of Pitching

Game 105: Bulls 6, Yankees 2
Box
Game 106: Bulls 2, Yankees 8
Season: 60-46
Wrap, Box

First, let me apologize for getting it wrong in my post yesterday. For some reason I thought the double header would be like the one we had here last Saturday. It wasn’t. Instead they just started at one o’clock, played 7 innings, took a break, and played another 7 innings.

We all know how important pitching is, but if ever we needed it pushed into our faces it was today. In two 7-inning games that were over in a total of 4 hours, Bulls pitching was dominant (the first game) and got hammered (the second game).

Let’s start with Jeremy Hellickson. He got in trouble in the 1st inning giving up a hit and a walk early. But with men on second and third he closed it out with a strikeout. He gave up another walk in the 3rd, a single in the 4th, and a single in the 6th. That was it. In the meantime, Ray Olmedo (!) had an RBI single early and hit his sixth home run in the 7th for what was certainly the surprise of the game. Reid Brignac had a timely double in the 3rd that got the scoring going. Two more runs in the 4th. And Olmedo’s homer in the 7th. Dale Thayer closed it out for his first appearance since coming back. No surprise that he had some trouble, just like the last time he came back. He gave up a rare home run, but got things under control. Hellickson’s had two very solid games for us. He actually is performing better than when David Price first showed up here in mid-August last year.

On the other hand ... The last time we saw Matt DeSalvo was when he came on in relief of James Houser on July 26th. He pitched a very solid 5+ innings and only gave up one run. Today he started and gave up 5 runs in 3 innings, 4 runs in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd. James Houser and John Meloan blanked them in the 4th and 5th, but Jorge Julio gave up 3 runs in the 6th. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Pretty clear that DeSalvo is not a reliable starter. Jorge Julio’s numbers are even worse.

Our guys never got on track at bat in the second game, although I should note that Craig Albernaz went 2 for 3. If only he could get a few more at-bats he might get up above .200.

One Up and One Down

Game 100: Bulls 5, Tides 3
Wrap, Box
Game 101: Bulls 4, Tides 8
Season: 56-45
Wrap, Box

This may take a tad longer than usual, so I thought I’d lead off with some interesting stuff not necessarily related to yesterday’s games.

The strengths and weaknesses of the webworld showed up during the afternoon when Reid Brignac didn’t come out for the 3rd inning of the first game. For an example, see Rays Index. Adam Sobsey does a great job of capturing how it played out in the press box over at Triangle Offense. To recapitulate the kerfuffle (always wanted to use that word), since Brignac is the object of a lot of trade rumors his coming out of a game might have meant he’d been traded. Whomever was speaking for the dugout didn’t help matters by putting out two different stories. By then the tweeterdom was alight. But then Brignac did play in second game, the webworld quieted down and all was well, even if Adam still thinks (and he could easily be right) something may be afoot.

And then there’s that awful grass. Adam chased that one down, too. Scott Strickland, the head groundskeeper with whom I occasionally have a chat, and who has been noticeably avoiding our section of the stands these last few days, reportedly had a mix of rye and Bermuda out there. The idea being that when summer comes the rye dies out and the Bermuda takes over. Guess what? This year the Bermuda didn’t take over. That’s what you get for taking a week to lollygag around in Puerto Rico for the World Baseball Classic this spring, Scott. I guess the larger question is, is it fixable? Certainly not until after the Geezer Gala on the 28th. (Is taking a youngster to see Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan the equivalent of my mom and dad dragging me to a Tommy Dorsey concert?)

But the really cool link is the News & Observer’s feature on Jon Weber and the Blue Monster. Who’d a thought that the N&O would even cover a Bulls game, much less write anything interesting? Well, Luke Decock did. Of course, since it’s about Weber I’ve got to highlight it. Too bad that they are so stingy about their photos or I’d have put one of those up too. Lot’s of neat trivia about how to play the wall and its various quirks.

Lastly, thanks to Rays Prospects we’ve got some news on Mitch Talbot. He pitched a couple of innings for the Gulf Coast Rays yesterday and had a good outing: 1 hit, 5 strikeouts, no walks.

Oh yeah. Two baseball games yesterday. I will admit up front that a prior commitment kept me from the first game, although I did catch much of it on the radio. There is life outside baseball, not very interesting, but life.

Have to say that what really got my attention in the first game was Weber’s hits (homer and a double) and Jason Childer’s save. For Childers that made it two games and two saves in a row, and talk about efficient — 4 pitches on Saturday night, 9 pitches on Sunday afternoon. That’s efficient. What I missed, until Neil Solondz pointed it out during the next game, was Rhyne Hughes going 4 for 4 with two doubles.

In the second game we witnessed an interesting (maybe the wrong word, how about ‘painful’) role reversal. Through June I’d been less than impressed with James Houser and somewhat tolerant of Matt DeSalvo. Then Houser went to the bullpen and pitched two long sessions (3⅓ and 5⅓ innings) where he did just fine. His last start on July 18th was superb. He went 7 innings and only allowed one run. Seven days later he was awful, lasting only 3 ⅓ and giving up 7 runs. Matt DeSalvo, who I’d been hoping had missed the bus in Indianapolis after his six crummy starts in a row, came out of the bullpen to pitch 5⅔ innings in relief and his best performance of the year. I’m too lazy to dig out the rule book, but seems to me the scorer is letting Jaso off the hook too much. DeSalvo got charged with four wild pitches.

I of course cannot fail to mention that Jon Weber got two more doubles (that’s 35 on the year), raised his batting average to .293, and another RBI. This time I did notice Rhyne Hughes and he continued his streak going 2 for 4 with a double.

Top Five Durham Bulls — RBIs

(click on chart for larger view)

Game 92: Durham Bulls 4, Louisville Bats 5
Season: 52-40
Wrap, Box

I only caught bits and pieces of last night’s game, so I commend to you Adam Sobsey’s write-up over at Indy Week’s Triangle Offense, and Neil Solondz’s wrap linked to above. As Adam noted, we’re playing a lot of very close games these days. Also, as one of my fellow observers up behind first base keeps reminding me, sometimes it’s about development. Davis had an awful 5th inning and Montoyo left him in for all of it and on into the 6th, where he did a very credible job. With a well-rested bullpen, you’ve got to wonder, if winning were the only thing, why a reliever wasn’t warming up in the 5th. On the other hand, what better time to find out how Davis deals with adversity?

I realize that almost anyone reading this blog knows how to find Bulls stats. Nevertheless, sometimes I think it’s fun to take a look at who’s helping us the most. And sometimes I get surprised. The chart shows the top five Bulls when it comes to RBIs.

I woud have never guessed that Ray Sadler was up there as #2 in RBIs/Game. If he could hit lefties this year (and he’s bound to start one of these days), he might be #1.

As I speculated yesterday, Montoyo is going to mess with his rotation some. What I would never have thought, however, was that James Houser might be back in it. He starts tonight. So it looks like he may be back as a starter (unless it has something to do with Sonnanstine’s mono). After thirteen starts, Houser went to the bullpen where he’s made two appearances, both of them fairly long — one for 5 ⅓ and one for 3 ⅓. Overall his numbers are better than DeSalvo’s.

Odds & Ends:

• Chris Mason has been released by the Rays. He’s been with Montgomery most of the season, except for his short visit to Durham back in early June.
• Flip Flop Fly Ball has a couple of new posters up.
• Rays Index (and others) have really stirred up a storm regarding a rumored Carl Crawford trade. As a die-hard Bulls fan, I don’t have much of a dog in that hunt. However, I have to comment on the general myopia of Rays bloggers about the Bulls. Last time I looked, we’ve got four outfielders and, as good as he is, Matt Joyce is not the best of them. Most of the concern goes back to the Jackson/Joyce trade, but we don’t have a dog in that hunt either.

All-Star Break — Pitching

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For AAA the All-Star break comes at a point well past mid-season. We’re at 90 games, 18 past the 72 games that mark the first half of the season for us. And we only have 27 home games left before the playoffs begin.

Although we looked at these numbers recently, thought they might be worth another look before things start up again.

What jumps out at me in the pitching chart is the lack of depth. Of the five, only three have seen very many starts as Bulls (Davis 18, Hernandez 17, and Cromer 9). Of course, Sonnanstine had a bunch of starts with the Rays and if his mononucleosis is under control he will be a huge asset the rest of the season. I have no idea of Mitch Talbot’s status. He had 10 starts before he went on the disabled list and were he to come back, we could certainly expect a lot from him. So, that leaves only Matt DeSalvo as a weak starting pitcher.

Childers, DePaula, Bateman, and Thayer are obviously the core of our relievers and they are all doing credible jobs. It’s hard to tell how James Houser might work out as a reliever, but not bad so far. Similarly, Medlock’s status is uncertain. There’s something going on with him that appears to have nothing to do with Bulls as a team, but with roster juggling. Certainly his numbers are just fine and we’d be better off with him available in the bullpen all the time. We’ve only seen 3 innings from Meloan, so he’s impossible to judge. Julio is unimpressive.

So what do we have to worry about? Well, that’s pretty simple, the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays 40-man roster has five of our pitchers on it: Talbot, Davis, Sonnanstine, Houser, and Thayer. The Rays also have three pitchers on their disabled list, all relievers, but only one that appears to be coming off any time soon (Brian Shouse). For the Bulls that should mean that, except for Dale Thayer, our current crop of relievers should be safe from call up. Among our starters, my guess is that it would be a coin toss between Sonnanstine and Davis.

Are any of our pitchers trade bait? Hard to tell. The Rays’ problem at the moment appears to be the bullpen. Would they trade a promising starter for a proven reliever? Maybe, but this is the team that has already traded two proven pitchers off this year (Jackson and Hammel), so while it could surely happen, doesn’t seem likely. If they needed a position player, then maybe. But other than the catcher position, the Rays don’t seem to have any glaring weaknesses among their position players (and they’ve always got Joe Dillon). So, could they do something? Yes. Will they? What do you think?

I don’t have a good sense of who’s pitching in Montgomery this year, especially among the starters. So no idea who the Rays might want to have some AAA time. But that could add some interesting variables to the mix.

Coming of Age in the Bullpen?

Game 87: Bulls 6, Braves 8
Season: 50-37
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun Story

The bottom-of-the-9th heroics were a thrill, no doubt about it, but the rational part of us knew it was very unlikely. So I’ll look for something else good to say about the game. I don’t have to look far. A pitcher, about whom I don’t recall ever saying anything nice, did a fine job tonight. James Houser has had two decent outings in relief since being pushed into the bullpen by Andy Sonnanstine. I’m beginning to wonder if the right guy got pushed. Last night he went 5 ⅓ innings and gave up 2 earned runs. That compares to starter Matt DeSalvo’s 3 ⅔ innings and 5 earned runs. Houser’s last (and first) stint as a reliever was on July 4th, the 2-11 debacle in Charlotte. There he went 3 ⅓ innings and gave up one earned run. So his ERA as a reliever is a not too bad 2.89.

On the other hand, Matt DeSalvo is killing us. He’s yet to win a game in 9 starts. In his last 4 starts he’s lasted 2, 4 ⅔, 2 ⅔, and 3 ⅔ innings. I couldn’t bring myself to go farther back. The Bulls/Rays have done a good job signing free agents in the past, but Matt’s not one of them.

This series starting in Norfolk tonight is a big deal and we’ve got our best pitchers in the rotation coming up (Davis, Hernandez, and Sonnanstine). Our eleven men to the plate 9th inning last night shows that the offensive power is in good shape.

Trivia question: Name that player. He joined the Durham Bulls in early May and played in 12 games with 42 at bats (.262) before departing for Tampa on May 26th. In Tampa his first game was May 27th and he has since played in a grand total of 12 games with 25 at bats (.320 average). Seems to be filling the Gomes/Baldelli seat on the Tampa Bay bench this year.

Now That’s a Lot of Ball

Game 77: Bulls 8, Clippers 7 (13 innings)
Season: 43-34
Wrap, Box, Indy Week Story

I’ve always thought that relievers had the easiest job in baseball, if a bit boring. How hard could it be to show up every day, maybe play a little catch, and hang out with the guys chewing sunflower seeds out in the bullpen? Probably not a good thing to be sitting in the bullpen with your iPod plugged in and your head bobbing, or working out your thumbs on Twitter, but otherwise, not a bad job. Every 3 or 4 days you warm up, take a look at the situation (or get told about it by your catcher), and stroll/trot out to the mound and do your thing.

On the road sometimes it’s even easier, since the home team doesn’t even come to bat in the 9th when they’re ahead.

Until you trek up to Ohio and in the first six games three of them go into extra innings (13, 15, and 13). Then you have to go to work.

In the last six games:

• Jason Childers: 3 appearances, 18 batters faced, 5 innings
• Julio DePaula: 3 appearances, 24 batters faced, 6 innings, 1 win, 1 save
• Dale Thayer: 3 appearances, 21 batters faced, 5 innings, 1 save, 2 blown saves
• Joe Bateman: 3 appearances, 28 batters faced, 7 innings, 1 win
• Calvin Medlock: 2 appearances, 14 batters faced, 4 innings
• Jorge Julio: 3 appearances, 21 batters faced, 5 ⅔ innings
• Chad Bradford: 2 appearances, 11 batters faced, 3 ⅓ innings, 1 win
• Dewon Day: 3 appearances, 18 batters faced, 3 innings, 1 loss
  

Some very complicated math reveals that the starters pitched 28 innings over the last six games and the relievers pitched 39. Which leads me to a picture of what might be going on in the locker room or out on the field prior to today’s game. Something like this.

Relievers to Starters: “Look guys, we’re getting tired and way, way behind on our tweets. Do you think you could last, oh say, 6+ innings or so?”

Starters to Relievers: “We’re doing our job. If you can’t hold them in check it ain’t our problem (OK, maybe Matt DeSalvo isn’t part of that conversation — in two games he’s only lasted a total of 6 ⅔ innings).”

Position players (especially the catchers) to all of them: “Just stop the bleeding guys. Justin can’t save the game every day. How about a full 9 innings of baseball and we go back to the hotel with another win?”

Odds and Ends

• The Bulls are in first place in the South!
• Dan Johnson is playing for the Yokahama BayStars
• Joel Guzman is playing for the Nationals’ AA team in Harrisburg, PA
• Andy Sonnanstine is set to open the Bulls home stand on Thursday.

5 + 2 = 7 - 2 = 5

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Who you gonna tell to go away?

Here’s a puzzle for fans of the Durham Bulls. I mean puzzle in the sense of something curious going on, not puzzle in the sense that we will have anything to do with solving it. Nor, for that matter, will the Bulls. This one’s for the Rays.

At this moment we’ve got five starting pitchers: DeSalvo, Davis, Hernandez, Houser, and Cromer. Sometime soon we’ll have seven starting pitchers: Talbot off the DL (no idea when) and Sonnanstine arriving from Tampa Bay. So, who goes?

Talbot, Sonnanstine, Davis and Houser are on the Rays 40-man roster. Doesn’t mean they can’t move elsewhere (Jake McGee, a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery and recently pitched his first game down in the Gulf Coast League is on the 40-man and, believe it or not, on the Bulls roster as a sort of permanent 7-day DL). As an aside, the Gulf Coast League is where Elliot Johnson is playing according to Stacy Long.

The chart shows the numbers that interest me. Not necessarily the numbers that interest the Rays.

From my view Talbot, Sonnanstine, and Davis are a lock. So who’s the other two?

Looks like a no-brainer to me. First off the bus is Houser, second is DeSalvo.

Bulls in First Place; Abreu to Tampa Bay

Game 61: Bulls 0, Bisons 1
Wrap, Box, Indy Week Story

Game 62: Bulls 7, Bisons 2
Season: 38-24
Wrap, Box, Indy Week Story

Have to tell you how much fun it was to update my charts this morning and see the line bounce up above Norfolk in the Southern Division. We’re there! Good for the Durham Bulls.

Adam Sobsey’s account (see Indy Week link above) does a fine job depicting the challenges faced over the last weeks in keeping the Bulls in contention, and manages a 5-B headline to boot. More than in contention, we’re in first place with the best record in the league. This is gonna be a fun year.

I can’t add much except to note that both the last two starters are new (Cromer and DeSalvo) and they both did very credible jobs. And the bullpen, what can you say? After DeSalvo handed over the ball in the latter part of the 6th inning, only one Buffalo runner got on base (a walk by Bateman). And Dale Thayer seems to have gotten past his return from Tampa Bay problems, three up, three down in the 9th.

If there’s a guy on our roster who should be up there with the Rays, it’s Winston Abreu. He was called up yesterday. [Thanks for the heads up, DRR]. I wrote something about him a while back, but I certainly didn’t envisage this circumstance.

Coverage about Abreu’s callup down Tampa/St Pete way is here and here. Among the bloggers, DRaysBay is particularly happy about the move. A lengthier discussion is over at Rays Renegade, which has a link to a very scary video. I don’t care what anyone might think about Jason Isringhausen, this should never happen to any athlete. I can only hope that it isn’t as bad as it looks. However, Abreu was called up very shortly after this happened, so surely enough of a problem to put Abreu on the Rays’ 40-man roster.

Bulls have a day game today (I wonder how come they never play on Sunday afternoons in Durham?) so I have an excuse not to do anything at all today except listen to baseball.

Let’s Talk About a Pitcher

Game 57: Bulls 4, Red Sox 4
Season: 36-21
Wrap, Box

A thriller. The Durham Bulls go 1 run up in the 4th, give up 4 runs in the 7th, score 4 in the top of the 9th, and Abreu (after a few thrills) slams the door in the bottom of the 9th.

The wrap discusses some of the batting heroics. As far as pitching goes, Matt DeSalvo had a fine day. Joe Bateman and Dale Thayer didn’t. Calvin Medlock had his first appearance, one inning, one win.

But I want to talk about Winston Abreu and what he’s meant to us this year.

Abreu has appeared in 22 games this season. He’s faced 114 batters over 31 innings: 12 hits, 10 walks, 47 strikeouts, ERA of 1.45. Fabulous numbers, but look at these: 3 wins, 10 saves, 7 holds. In fact, in the 22 games he’s appeared in, the Bulls have won 21 of them! The one game lost was back on May 12th. You all remember that one don’t you, when Louisville came up with 5 runs against Dale Thayer in the 9th and ruined his ERA for a long, long time? Abreu pitched a scoreless 8th.

Winston is the most dominant reliever I’ve seen in a Bulls uniform. Here’s hoping he stays here all year. If he does, and the Bulls keep up these late inning rushes — something my heart could do without; however, consider the alternative — then we are in very good shape.

Other notes:

• Joe Bateman takes the lead among Durham pitchers in the hit batsman category with four. I’m too lazy to check if they were all right-handed batters too dumb to get out of the way of a sidearmer’s curveball.
• Pawtucket, by the way, leads the league in pitchers who hit batters with 28, Durham is a distant seventh with 21, one of them in today’s game.
• Norfolk lost! We’re tied for first place in the division (actually we’re a couple of percentage points back since they’ve played two less games than we have. Both of us are 15 games over .500).

They’re Back

Game 47: Bulls 8, Redwings 7
Season: 30-17
Wrap, Box, Indy Week Story

Consider this: All those guys who trekked off to the Rays got to participate in four losses to Cleveland (Cleveland? Cleveland!! Good grief, Cleveland!!!). And the guys who stayed behind had some fun (if you don’t count the weather and stupid umpires). Bulls go 6-2 on the road. Stellar performance. Hats off to all the new (and old) Bulls.

We won the last 3 games without a single home run. How cool is that? Yesterday we had a bunch (6) more doubles. New pitcher Matt DeSalvo had a decent start. His battery mate was ghost catcher Alex Jamieson. Winston Abreu almost gave it away in the 9th, but got a grip and a strikeout to close it out.

Trivia: I guess because it happened on the road, the radio broadcast mentioned that none of the new guys had their names on their uniforms. Got me wondering about just how the Bulls came up with that many uniforms anyhow. Take them out of the laundry bags of the guys leaving and clip the names off? Is there a seamstress on the traveling team?

Have to mention an extraordinary moment in Triangle sports media history: The News & Observer actually ran a story about the Bulls this morning! With a legible box score! Wonders never cease. And over on their sports blog they actually give a profile of some Buffalo Bison players. Won’t last, but still nice that they gave some ink to the two professional baseball teams in the area. (Had a story on Mudcats as well. Who, by the way, are playing Tampa Bay’s AA team this week.)

Elsewhere, a Rays blog runs down some numbers on Matt Joyce.

Indy Week’s Adam Sobsey admits to having possibly jinxed the Bulls home stand (see last paragraph of link above). If so, and if he walks by our seats, I’ll point him out. Save up your peanut shells, just in case.

Hope weather holds off. See you at the DBAP!