Bulls Lose, But Other Interesting Goings On

Season: 18-10; Road Trip: 3-3

Wrap, Box, Pawtucket Times, PawSox Heavy

I wasn’t going to comment today because I was unable to listen to the game and, to be honest, the Bulls lost, so how could that be interesting? But a couple of things happened worth mentioning in and outside the game.

In the game we saw Mike Fontenot back at shortstop after what seems like a long absence. And then Brandon Guyer got hit by a pitch, got around to score the only Bulls run of the game, but then left. Did anyone hear an update?

Outside the game — 

• Norfolk won at Syracuse, so the Tides are now in first place.
• Shelley Duncan, a player we’ve seen a lot of over the years, but not in a Bulls uniform, is on his way to Durham. He stayed with the Rays out of spring training after Luke Scott pulled a muscle. Could add some home run power, but will require the Bulls to make a roster move.
• Former Bull Steven Vogt got some love from his local paper. Nice story.
• Another former Bull, Reid Brignac, seems to be doing OK in Denver.
• A bunch of money is going to be pumped into the DBAP over the winter. Sounds like the Bulls are getting a pretty good deal from the City of Durham.
• Chris Archer has had a couple of thoughtful pieces written about him recently, here and here.
• Lastly, a poignant blog entry over at Nicole Johnson’s blog.

Trouble On the Island

Season: 18-9; Road Trip: 3-2
Wrap, Box, Pawtucket Times

Is it time to start worrying about Jim Paduch? He is not having a very good year at all. And his pitching schedule is erratic. His best day was his first day back on April 7 when he went 3⅓ innings and only gave up two hits. He had one more pretty good appearance, then the next four have been trouble, including a gap from April 13 to April 21 another gap from April 25 to May 2. My guess is that there’s something wrong, but that is obviously guesswork. What isn’t guesswork is that the last four games he’s appeared in the Bulls have lost. That implies that (1) his luck is really awful or (2) he’s going into games that the management thinks are marginal.

Last year Mr. Paduch played a vital role as a starter and general go-to guy in a year that saw plenty of struggles among the starting pitchers. This is the first year that he’s been exclusively out of the pen and it really doesn’t seem to be going all that well.

To answer my lead question: Yes, it is.

Meanwhile, Alex Torres had an ugly 3rd inning and the Bulls had their most lop-sided loss of the year. Today’s a new day, a new game, shake it off.

South Division Standings

While we weren’t watching, the Norfolk Tides won seven games in a row and are now tied with the Bulls for first place in the South Division. Note that Charlotte’s been having tough time of it lately.

click chart for larger image

Matchup: Bulls vs. Red Sox

The Pawtucket Red Sox are the Triple-A team of the Boston Red Sox and the reigning International League Champions. A modest oddity in the matchup is that both team’s Pythagorean Expectation exactly matches their actual won-loss record. I find it a bit creepy with an obscure mathematical formula generates a number that exactly matches reality (Bulls PE = 18-8; Red Sox PE = 15-11).

These two teams seem to be very well matched. The Bulls have an edge in hitting and pitching, but will it be enough to offset home field advantage?

Outside the game —

• The Rays have designated for assignment first baseman/DH Shelley Duncan. I am poor at guessing the outcome of these sorts of things, but I have to point out that so far this year every player the Rays have DFA’d has ended up with another team.