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.

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!

Eight!

Season: 67-66; Home Stand: 1-0
Games Remaining: 11; Home Games:8
Wrap, Box

The Bulls kept their streak alive at the DBAP last night. Remarkable.

Both managers pushed their luck, though. Jared Sandberg got away with it. The Knights’ manager, Joel Skinner, did not. The question both managers faced was how long to leave a struggling pitcher in the game. The Bulls Scott Diamond got out of a bases loaded situation in the 4th inning with a lineout to left field. However,  in a bases-loaded no-outs situation in the next inning, he got the first out on a popup, his second out on another popup, but the next batter singled and two runs scored. By that time Diamond had faced 27 batters and thrown 90+ pitches. The Bulls were down 3-2 going into the 6th.

Over on the Charlotte side their pitcher, Kyle Drabeck, went into the 7th inning, but a walk and two singles later he faced the same situation, bases-loaded, no-outs. He wild-pitched in a run, got a K, but then a two-run single by Luke Maile put the Bulls ahead 5-4. He left the game at 27 batters and 104 pitches.

Neither starting pitcher had stellar Game Scores: Diamond’s was 38, Drabeck’s was 40.

But the Bulls' relief crew only gave up one hit. Jim Miller was particularly impressive. I don’t think I’ve seen him more focused on each pitch this year. Two K’s and a pop-up and he got the save

Kudos to Luke Maile for his game-winning single in the 7th and to Mikie Mahtook for his two-run double in the 3rd.

Outside the game —

• J.P. Arencibia started at catcher for the Rays last night and Joey Butler, who helped win the last two games for the Bulls, joined him in the lineup as the DH. The two of them made the difference in the Rays win before just 9,000 fans in St. Petersburg (the Bulls had almost 8,000 in Durham). Arencibia drove in run with a sac fly. Butler hit a game-tying RBI and then scored the winning run on a wild pitch.
• Along with Butler leaving, José Dominguez is back. He passed through waivers. I didn’t notice him in the bullpen last night, but he was probably there.

You can get headaches trying to figure out the combinations and permutations of the next 11 games. However, I think that it’s safe to say that Columbus and Indianapolis have a lock on the Wild Card and IL West championship. Indianapolis certainly looks like the winner, but one or the other would have to lose almost of their remaining games to fall out of the wild card lead. Standings.

Norfolk, on the other hand, has lost their last four games and is only ahead of Gwinnett (who they are now playing) by two games.

Here's the pattern since mid-season (game 73).

Five in a Row; Is There Hope for the Future?

Season: 64-66; Home Stand: 5-0
Games Remaining: 14; Home Games: 10
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

For the first time in what seems like a very long time I was able to get to the DBAP to watch a game. I certainly didn’t expect the Bulls to pull off a 5-in-a-row, but they did. This was the best at-home series of the year.

The Bulls’ were hitting homers last night, Nick Franklin, J.P. Arencibia, and Hak-Ju Lee in the first three innings. But it was Lee who had the big night at bat, 4 RBIs.

Everett Teaford had his best start in a very long time. In fact, the last time he had a Game Score as good as last night (58) was in a no-decision game back on June 16. Nice to see him in good form. Particularly impressive was the moment in the 5th when the umpire apparently decided to ignore the pace of game rules and let two Columbus batters in a row step in and out of the box numerous times. Both batters drew walks, but Teaford managed to sort himself out and get out of the inning unscathed (we won’t count the inning-opening home run).

My first time seeing new guy Parker Markel. He looked pretty good with his 3 K’s over 2 ⅔ innings. At a guess, however, he’s the odd man out when José Dominguez returns. Dominguez passed through waivers yesterday and will be coming back to the Bulls.

For the first time in recent memory Boog Powell was not the leadoff batter, Mikie Mahtook was and Powell was second. However, he did start toward the plate at the very beginning of the game and came back toward the dugout with a big grin on his face. Habit.

Carolina Dreamin’

These five wins in a row got broadcaster Patrick Kinas running the math a bit. His colleague Scott Pose wasn’t challenging the numbers, but he also wasn’t buying into it either. Standings.

Let’s take a look. The rest of the season the Bulls are playing against International League South Division teams. Five against Norfolk (2 away, 3 home); 7 against Charlotte (4 home, 3 away); and 2 against Gwinnett at the DBAP. All of those teams are above .500 and Gwinnett in particular has been hot lately. Half of the remaining games will take place place after the September call-ups and it’s hard to say what Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, or Tampa Bay will do to their South Division teams.

What we can point out is this:

Yes, the Bulls are hot, but so are the Braves. You have to think that Gwinnett could make a run at the top spot, but no one else is likely to sneak into the wild card slot. Could something happen? Sure. Likely? We can only hope.

A more reasonable wish is for the Bulls to establish a winning season. That’s what this chart will be showing. Getting above the 0 mark is a winning season. And that, given this July and August, would be a significant accomplishment.

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.

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. 

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

Capacity Crowd; Relievers Ragged

A, Mostly, Fun Fourth

Our Heaven Born BannerPatriotic print based on Frederic Edwin Church's small oil painting "Our Banner in the Sky"

Season: 43-39; Home Stand: 0-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Yet another flurry of transactions led to right-hander Bradin Hagens starting the game in front of a record DBAP crowd. Hagins had a couple of starts at AAA last year in Reno for the Diamondback franchise. He was up from Montgomery a couple of weeks ago for a couple of innings in relief, then he went back. He did just fine (Game Score = 62). Plus he got home runs from Richie Shaffer, Taylor Motter, and J.P. Arencibia before he left the game after five innings.

After all our complaining about the starting pitching over the last few weeks it’s odd to be pointing out how poorly the bullpen did last night. After Hagens shut out the Tides for five innings, four relievers gave up five runs on 10 hits. In just one game the relievers’ ERA for the season went from 3.39 to 3.49, the worst it’s been since the very beginning of the year. Led off by José Dominguez, who gave up 2 runs in the 6th (and left two on base), each following pitcher gave up a run until in the 9th the winning run came across. Meanwhile the Bulls were baffled by a knuckleballer (Eddie Gamboa) and held runless for the rest of the game.

Too bad, because early in the game we were also treated to some wonderful defensive play including a 1B (Arencibia) to 3B (Shaffer) that cut down a lead runner in the 3rd; a perfect Maile to Franklin caught stealing; and near-perfect Boog Powell (left field) to Luke Maile at home. Unfortunately, the runner was in the way and he got nipped by the ball, so the throw ended up counting as an error (something not right about that, it seems).

Dylan Floro is up this afternoon. He has not done well in his last four games. Maybe today?

Rosterification —

The changes are just relentless. Just for the record

• The aforementioned Bradin Hagens is up from Montgomery.
• Pitcher Everett Teaford has gone to Tampa Bay
• Reliever Andy Oliver has opted out of his contract and gone for free agency. Decent job for the Bulls. 25 games, 28 innings, 5 holds, 1 save. He got the win over in Norfolk Friday. Maybe he wanted to go out on a high note? More likely watching all those guys going back and forth to St. Petersburg started working on his head.
• Jordan Norberto was moved to the “temporarily inactive” list. Have no idea what that means.
• C.J. Riefenhauser is on his way back from Tampa Bay
• Kirby Yates is back from Tampa Bay
• Infielder (1B) Marc Krause’s status was changed from being optioned to Durham to a Designated for Assignment, meaning he will come off the 40-man (and could possibly by claimed). That was to make room for Teaford.
• Reliever Ronald Belisario opted for free agency rather than come back to Durham.

Arencibia/Casali Rule!

Season: 31-24; Home Stand: 7-2
Wrap, Box

Bulls fans could not have hoped for a better home stand than what we just went through. Nine games in eleven days; seven wins; good crowds, over 65,000 fans; decent, but not great, weather. Not only that, the Bulls end the stand back in a three-way tie with Charlotte and Norfolk for first place in the International League South Division.

They are off to Lawrenceville, Georgia to play the Braves for three games, then back to the DBAP. This is the first real break for the DBAP’s turf in a very, very  long time.

The fun part of last night’s game was watching J.P. Arencibia and Curt Casali shine. Neither of them is having a particularly good year at bat, but times could be changing. Arencibia played first base and batted 4th. Casali was the DH and batted fifth. Between them they accounted for 6 of the Bulls' 9 hits, 2 of the RBI, and all of the runs scored.

Arencibia started in off in the 2nd inning with a single and Casali hit a home run to bring him in (Casali’s second home run in a row since he’d homered Wednesday night in his last at bat).

With one out in the 4th inning Arencibia singled again, Casali singled him to third base, and Richie Shaffer drove him in with a double.

Arencibia led off the 6th with a double, went to third base (again) on a Casali single, and came home on a Corey Brown sacrifice fly.

Scott Diamond kept things quiet until the 5th and Sandberg was quick with the hook. Probably because the relief crew needed the work and they have been exceptional during this home stand. In the last four games they have not allowed a single earned run over those 15+ innings.

In the wings —

• Bulls reliever Kirby Yates made his first rehab appearance with the Charlotte Stone Crabs. One not-very-successful inning. Box.
• Juniel Querecuto has moved to Montgomery. He was 1 for 4 playing shortstop in a Biscuits loss to the Jacksonville Suns. Box. Wrap.

Bulls Relievers

I mentioned the relievers' recent performance above. Here’s a chart that shows how they’ve been doing this year. As with most of the charts so far it’s early days in the season and the sample size is small. This shows the ERA and the Fielding Independent Percentage (FIP) for the relief crew. FIP is one of those newish sabermetric stats that tries to focus on just those things the pitcher controls. As the season goes along FIP and ERA will probably get closer in synch. This chart is sorted by FIP.

A few more caveats: Obviously, José Dominguez’s sample is too small for any kind of conclusion, just 5 innings so far this year. Ronald Belisario’s 14 saves are the best in the International League and he’s coming up on his opt-out date. All who are on the 40-man have seen time with Tampa Bay this year. A couple of players currently with the Rays have seen significant time with the Bulls this year, but aren't on this chart.  Jim Miller and Jhan Mariñez have been really impressive and important to the Bulls this year. Even with all the caveats, for these are mostly very good numbers. The overall ERA for Bulls relievers on the year is 3.10.

click on chart for larger image

Bulls Win; Nice to See Joe Dillon Back

Dan Johnson, Joe Dillon, Jose Lobaton
Walking back to dugout after a Lobaton home run
July 5, 2010

Season: 28-23; Home Stand: 4-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Rays Colored Glasses

What a terrific home stand this is becoming for us fans. Big crowds. Interesting baseball. And a bunch of wins. Plus we have 4 more games to go. Life is good!

Very pleased to see our favorite 2015 Bull, Alexi Casilla, back in the game after some time on the disabled list. Slightly annoyed that WDBB is the only place that recognizes that he’s the best hitter on the team. But maybe they’ll come around.

Ryan Brett DH’d and led off with a home run his first at bat. Things were quiet until the 5th when Richie Shaffer, whose bat had been quiet since his fabulous first game with the Bulls, poked one over the Blue Monster. Unfortunately, a Shaffer error and a single took starter Scott Diamond out of the game. An unimpressive José Dominguez gave up a single and then walked in a run, bringing up some bad memories of all the runs the Chiefs had given the Bulls on Friday night. He got out of the inning, however, with a strikeout and a popup, leaving the bases loaded.

The Rays/Bulls are certainly being cautious with Mr. Dominguez. Since coming off the DL he’s only had 5 appearances, none of them particularly successful.

Jordan Norberto came on for the 7th and it got a bit ugly after two outs. Two singles and Jared Sandberg was quick with the hook, giving the ball to the spectacular young Jhan Mariñez. But Mariñez’ last outing was a one-out save on May 24th. It took him two batters to shake the rust off. First he hit a batter to load the bases, then he walked in the Chief’s second run. He got a ground out and then struck out the side in the 8th. But the game was tied.

It got very interesting in the 8th. Alexi Casilla grounded out. Ryan Brett singled off the pitcher’s glove and Taylor Motter singled to right. Mikie Mahtook struck out and Alan Dykstra came to bat.

When Mahtook came to bat, broadcaster Patrick Kinas began a lengthy exposition on the positioning of Chief’s center fielder Darin Mastroianni, pointing out how shallow he was and that, especially after Mahtook’s K, it didn’t make any sense to play that shallow. Essentially, and I’m sure he has made all his colleagues in the booth aware of it, he called the shot for Dykstra. Dykstra put the 5th pitch he saw over Mastroianni’s head, both runners scored, and the Bulls were up 4-2.

Ronald Belisario, in the grand tradition of Bulls’ closers, gave us some thrills in the 9th. He gave up two singles before Alexi Casilla started one double play, then made a very pretty grab and throw for the third out. It was his 12th save, which ranks him #2 in the International League.

Outside the game —

• About that photo up top. Joe Dillon was one of my favorite Durham Bulls back in 2009 and 2010. What I admired about him in those years was how hard he worked and how much he seemed to love the game. What I like about that photo is how looks to me so much like three guys on their way home from work. The photo says to me, “We’re baseball players, this is what we do.” You can see him tonight, probably out at third base when the Chiefs are at bat. He’s their hitting coach. Nice to see him back at the DBAP.
• When Alexi Casilla came off the DL somebody had to go. After 4 games with the Bulls, Juniel Querecuto went back to the Charlotte Stone Crabs. 
• Tampa Bay Rays infielder Tim Beckham tweaked a hamstring in last night's game in Baltimore. If serious, we can expect ripple effects down here.

Big Crowds; Big Losses

Season: 20-18; Home Stand: 0-4
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

This may have been the worst Durham Bulls home stand in my memory. Fortunately, also one of the shortest.

After playing to virtually empty stands in Buffalo and Syracuse, the Bulls did not reward the 38,503 fans who came out to the DBAP over the last 4 days. Instead, Bulls pitchers served up 5 home runs and 12 doubles among the 53 hits and 26 runs scored.

Meanwhile, Bulls hitters managed just 29 hits, with 3 doubles and 2 home runs, and scored only 8 runs.

A few years ago during a hitting drought a rumor circulated that Bulls hitters had taken their bats down to that open area behind the gate in right field and built a bonfire with them. Time to do that again?

In an effort to find at least some light, let me mention the return of José Dominguez, who had a nice inning; and the nice work of Jordan Norberto and Andy Oliver, who kept things from being even worse.

Matchup

The Bulls hit the road for four games in three days in Rochester, then meet the RailRiders on their home turf for four games, then they are back a week from today, hoping the ACC teams have not torn up the ragged-looking DBAP turf too much.

The Twins’ AAA team, the Rochester Red Wings lead the league in batting average and are second in OPS, so they are going to be a challenge to Bulls pitching. Then there’s the oddity of a scheduled double header on Tuesday. Not sure why/how that happened, but that is going to be a real stretch for the bullpen. I don’t think any of our current Bulls position players have any pitching experience, but I think that Mayo Acosta is still traveling with the team and he’s got 3 innings under his belt last year.

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

It Was a Dark and Windy Night, But ...

Season: 10-9; Trip: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Allentown Morning Call, Noise Nation

It was a miserable night in Allentown, 55° and windy, and from the first it looked as if the IronPigs would have the edge. Do you get used to that windy, cold place? Maybe not. Especially in the 4th when the wind helped former Bull Russ Canzler to a double and he eventually came around to score.

Speaking of Russ Canzler, since he broke into AAA with a great year with the Bulls in 2012 he has become possibly the leading expert on International League ballparks and locker rooms. He’s had playing time with the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland), the Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh), the Norfolk Tides (Baltimore), the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (New York), and he is now in his second season with Philadelphia’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs. He had a pretty good spring. We liked him as a Bull. Always a threat since those days.

It was the 6th inning that did in the IronPigs. Wind starting helping rather than hindering when Mikie Mahtook tripled and then came home on a Joey Brown Butler [Sorry, Joey] double. Then an error (the ‘Pigs had 4 on the night, one by each infielder) put runners on first and third. A Luke Maile sacrifice fly brought in another run. A Eugenio Velez single put runners on first and second. But a spectacular catch by ‘Pigs center fielder Bugusevic kept things on track. However, a double brought home both runners and the Bulls had four runs in. Then the wheels really came off. The ‘Pigs changed pitchers and reliever Adam Loewen walked the next four batters, pushing in two more runs. Pitching change and a popup ended the inning.

That was enough. An ugly win, but still a win.

Rosterfication —

• I’m losing track of all the roster moves, but for the record, Alan Dykstra is now with the team.
• Reliever José Dominguez is back from Tampa Bay.
• Reliever Jhan Marinez has been called up from from Montgomery to pitch for the Bulls (he got in an inning Sunday night).
• Pitcher Jim Patterson has been sent to “extended Spring Training”, which is sort of like being assigned to Hudson Valley. Wink, wink, he’s probably still around, just can’t come into a game.
• Have I mentioned that Everett Teaford got called up the other day? He pitched in the Rays loss at Yankee Stadium last night. 

Opening Day Dismal; Rosterification

AAAARGH!!!
DBAP 10:15 16 Apr 2015

Season: 3-4; Home Stand: 0-1
Wrap, Box, News & Observer, Herald-Sun

My condolences to: the players, the staff, the ground crew, and to us fans. By far the most miserable home opener in memory. I have to be honest: I was watching the webcam from home and when they had not pulled the tarp by 8:00 I decided not to go to the game.

And that was just the rain and wind ...

First look (via MiLB TV) at 30 year-old Alexi Everett Teaford. He grew up in the KC Royals system, had a decent 2011 with the Royals, so-so 2012, and spent most of 2013 pitching in Korea. [stats] He looks to be a product of the Rays search for value. Last night he had trouble right from the start and never quite recovered.

Meanwhile, the Tides’ Mike Wright pretty much handcuffed Bulls’ hitting.

Outside the game —

• Bulls reliever José Dominguez, whom we’ve never seen, got called up to the Rays and put in a very clean 1⅓ scoreless innings for them last night.
• Veteran Ronald Belisario has been added to the Bulls roster. Thirty-two year-old Belisario was signed to a minor league contract by the Rays and was thought to be in serious contention for a bullpen job until he discovered he’d fractured his off-shoulder in a swimming pool incident earlier this winter. He had a good ⅔ of an inning for the Bulls last night.
• Meanwhile, Mikie Mahtook got his first big league hit and it was a big one a home run. Video here. Story here.
• Lastly, WDBB favorite Kirby Yates is coming back for what could be a very short stay. The way it seems to work is that when a major leaguer gets sent “down” he can take a couple of days to get here. A player going “up” catches the next plane. In Yates’ case he simply was the odd man out as the Rays are attempting to manage a very complicated starter/reliever situation. There’s a chance that he may never pitch an inning for the Bulls.

Durham Bulls Open With a Win

Season: 1-0; Trip: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Gwinnett Daily Post

Nice start for the Bulls, especially the pitching. Young (24) Dylan Floro threw six innings of 1-hit, shutout ball in his first game in Triple A. Can’t ask for anything better than that. Brandon Gomes followed with two innings (and 3 Ks) and then José Dominguez closed it out. No walks at all. Plus the game wrapped up at 2 hours, 10 minutes. Looks like the speed-up rules might be making a difference.

Meanwhile Joey Butler got the only run of the game with his home run in the 2nd inning. Butler comes to the Bulls after a career mostly in the Texas system. [stats] Look to see him in the outfield and as a DH this year. With a lifetime AAA OPS of .872, he’s got some pop. Could be a fun guy to watch this year.

Catcher Luke Maile, who spent last year in Montgomery, showed off his arm by throwing out Gwinnett’s Eury Perez.

Overall, however, Gwinnett’s pitching kept the Bulls quiet. Only Butler and Vince Belnome had multi-hit games.

Outside the game —

• As mentioned yesterday, Allan Dykstra was called up to the Rays.
• The Rays signed Alexi Casilla and assigned him to the Bulls. The 30-year old Casilla spent most of last year with the Norfolk Tides as a middle infielder. He may join the team today.
• Missing will be outfielder Mikie Mahtook, who, as reported earlier this morning, will be in a Rays uniform tonight.