Better Late Than ...

Season: 65-72; Home Stand: 6-3; Home Games Left: 2

Box, Wrap, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

A beautiful day for baseball. In what seems like a very long time the Bulls started the game in bright sunshine. So bright that it may have been what caused a slight hiccup in right field in the top of the 1st. The hiccup led to a triple, but the runner never scored. 

Cesar Ramos went on to have a terrific day. Obviously going from the bullpen to starting is much more complicated that I would have thought. Yesterday he pitched very, very well against a team that has to be wondering what happened to the 2012 Durham Bulls, the team that was lurching along near the bottom of the division. This team was the pitching, running, scrambling, hitting team of yesteryear and beat the Tides for the fifth game in a row.

Mr. Ramos was never in any real trouble until the 5th when the bases were loaded with two outs. But a popup to short ended that threat.

Josh Lueke had another shaky outing. Single, K, K, home run, K. Those two runs brought the Knights back to 4-2. Brandon Gomes came in for a two-inning save that, even though a run came in, simply felt like things were in hand.

Meanwhile visiting infielder Sean Rodriguez should be feeling pretty good. The reason he’s with the Bulls has everything to do with DH’r Luke Scott coming off the DL. Since that time, Scott has played in 4 games for the Rays, with 4 hits and 1 RBI. Rodriguez, on the other hand, has played in two games for the Bulls with two doubles, a home run, and 4 RBIs. Last night’s was off the Bull (video here). The Bulls have won all of their games, the Rays dropped their last two. Take that Tampa Bay!

As it happens, both middle infielders hit home runs last night. Tim Beckham, playing shortstop hit one to the deepest part of center field in the 5th.

Six games in a row, all at home, is a big deal in any season. Thank you, Durham Bulls! 

Outside the game

• Rich Thompson’s run at the International League batting title is getting less stealthy. He was 3 for 4 last night, raising his average to .310. He’s now tied for third place. Leslie Anderson sat out the evening and slipped into second place when Gwinnett’s Jose Constanza went  2 for 3. Thompson also stole 3 bases (at 28 he’s in third place in the IL with no chance to catch up with Gwinett’s Durango’s 43, but maybe Indianapolis’ d’Arnaud’s 31).
• When Roger Clemens stepped to the mound for his first game in a bunch of years pitching for the Sugarland Skeeters, in the batters’ box was none other than former Durham Bull Joey Gathright, now playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish. Gathright struck out.
• The wild card race between the IronPigs and the PawSox continues to be very, very close.

Bulls Win; Gathright Remembered

Season: 25-32; Trip: 5-3; Bulls vs. Bats: 5-1; Standings
Box, Wrap, Herald-Sun

The 6-run 5th inning was really nice. I’m not sure, but I don’t think the Bulls have had an inning like that all year: ten players came to bat, six hits (3 doubles), two BBs. And before the 5th inning, Stephen Vogt and Leslie Anderson hit solo home runs in the 1st and 3rd.

Jim Paduch and a host of relievers got stretched out; however, except for a couple of errors by infielders Reid Brignac and Cole Figueroa, a very nice game. This is a lineup (with Chris Gimenez and Shawn O’Malley) that we hope to see a lot of for the next month or so. If I weren’t suspicious of the weakness of Louisville pitching, I’d say this looks very promising.

I saw the name in the lineup in the first game, but for some reason it didn’t sink in. Then I wasn’t able to listen to either of the last two games except intermittently, so I probably missed Patrick Kinas reporting on the situation. But for old-time Bulls fans one of our favorite players of all time was on the field for the Louisville Bats — Joey Gathright.

Joey Gathright ruled the base paths at the DBAP from 2004-2005, stealing 64 bases in those years. He has since been all over, including a few visits back to the DBAP in, as I recall, a Norfolk Tides uniform. The last three years saw him in Indie ball, then with the Tides, back to Indie ball and then with the Pawtucket Red Sox. He was just signed out of Indie ball by the Cincinnati Red and sent to Louisville. In every case, I’d bet, the major league club is looking for speed on the bases and the outfield, and a backup professional within easy reach. Since the Bats have already played in Durham this year we aren’t going to be able to see him play. Too bad. Even at 31 I’d guess he’s still a formidable ballplayer. For some good stories, do a search on "Gathright" in the search box at the top left.

Outside the game

• Elsewhere it was recently noticed that the Rays aren’t doing a very good job developing hitters. No kidding. We haven’t written much about that issue, but Rays Prospects has. And the few hitters that have done well as Bulls haven’t done well, or been treated well, by the Rays: Chris Richard, Justin Ruggiano, Dan Johnson, Russ Canzler to name a few. And none of those came up through the Rays system. Can anyone out there think of a proficient batter developed through the Rays system (other than Longoria, that is)?

Take a Break

Game 90, July 10, Harbor Park, Norfolk Virginia
Durham Bulls 3, Norfolk Tides 1
Season: 50-40; Last 10: 6-4
Wrap, Box, Virginia-Pilot

Am I going to have to start saying nice things about pitchers I’ve been criticizing? Beginning to look that way. At least for today. Alex Torres and Jay Buente took the Bulls into the All-Star break with solid performances. Torres got the win and Buente got the save.

Torres has actually done quite well recently, winning four out of his last five games and getting his tendency to give up bases on balls under control. He's only had 12 walks over those five games. Trust me, for Torres that's great. He (and Buente) were helped a lot by the Bulls defense yesterday when they pulled off 4 double plays. Torres needed them since he gave up 10 hits, but just one double. Buente has made four appearances as a reliever now, 4 2/3 innings, 1 win, 1 save, no runs. Much better.

Meanwhile in the 6th Russ Canzler got on base with a single and Jose Lobaton walked. Robinson Chirinos' double brought them home. In the 7th JJ Furmaniak doubled, stole third, and came home on Felipe Lopez' sac fly.

The Bulls go into the break 10 games above .500 and a half game ahead of Gwinnett. Note that for the Bulls, the break is well past the midpoint of the season. They only have 52 games left in their 142 game season. Half of those will be at the DBAP, the other half on the road. If you haven't seen a game yet, you're running out of time.

Outfielder John Matulia is on his way back to Montgomery and Brandon Guyer is on his way back to the Bulls.

Mr. Matulia didn’t get a hit in his two games with the Bulls, but he did do a fine job in center field, making at least one nice catch that I happened to catch on MiLB.TV. Also managed to not be distracted by the seagulls, who appear to be a problem in Harbor Park. His sacrifice bunt attempt, mishandled by the Tides' pitcher, was the event that opened the door to the Bulls' win late Saturday night. So he did make a difference even if he didn't get credit for an RBI.

I'm guessing that Guyer will go through Salt Lake City for the AAA All-Star game on his way back to Durham.

* * * * * 

Ready for some weirdness (thanks to DRR for the tip)?

Last Saturday the Yuma Scorpions played the Lake County Fielders at the Fielders home field in Zion, Illinois (north of Chicago). They won the game 8-3. Nothing special about that, until you take a look at the box score and check out the battery. The pitcher was former Ray Jose Canseco and the catcher was former Bull Joey Gathright! And Canseco got the win. Gotta admit that's some kind of weird.

But wait! There's more! Why was he pitching in the first place? As reported in the Chicago Sun-Times the Fielders manager and several players had walked out in protest over a pay dispute prior to the game and the Fielders team for the day were mostly pitchers. Player/Manager of the Scorpions, Jose Canseco, decided to make things more even by putting himself in the game to pitch. More details in the Yuma Sun. 

And there's more! An owner of the Fielders is none other than Bull Durham star Kevin Costner.

In addition to the sheer fun of just chasing this one down, I had been wanting to do an update on Joey Gathright. He created a lot of excitement as a Bull several years ago. Good to know that he's still in baseball.