Torres: Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

Game 7, Wednesday, April 11, DBAP
Durham Bulls 5, Charlotte Knights 4
Season: 5-2
Box, Wrap

I know that Alexander Torres is supposed to be a great prospect, but two starts into this season I’m not so sure. Now obviously this is just a look from very far off in the stands, but today’s 4 BB and 6 Ks was vaguely like the 3 BB and 7 Ks of his first start. And then there’s the 94 pitches in 4 1/3 innings on Friday and 96 pitches over 5 innings today. And let's not forget the wild pitch and hit by pitch today. Yes, the Knights only scored three runs, but one of those runs came from a walk and another came when a runner got in position on a wild pitch.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s worried. This looks very much like the Torres of 2011. Don’t get me wrong. I like having him in the rotation, but I’d be even happier if the young man were showing greater progress.

Meanwhile, the Bulls jumped on the Knights’ starter for three runs before the first out and four runs before the 1st inning was over. Almost enough to win the game although enough runs kept sneaking across to make the game very, very close until the end.

It turned out that the key play came on a near-routine fly ball by Brandon Guyer that was dropped by the Knights’ right fielder in the 7th allowing a run to score. Very unusually for the DBAP, the wind was whipping through the park all day. Did the Knights’ Shelton misjudge the ball or was he too intent on preventing the runner tagging up from third base? Impossible to tell, but that extra run made all the difference.

Very successful opening home stand. Too bad about this awful upcoming road trip. Fourteen games in 15 days in four different cities. That’s outlandishly bad scheduling.

Outside the game:

• Broadcaster Patrick Kinas reported that pitcher Bryan Augenstein has a sore elbow and that reliever Jhonny Nunez will get tomorrow’s start down in Gwinnett County. 
• Chris Richard was in the ballpark for what was reported to be his last time. He’s moving to California. 
• Former Bull Jeremy Hellickson was hit by a batted ball during warm ups today in Chicago. Reported to be OK, but taken to hospital.

Chris Richard Retires

I sat down this morning intending to just do a bit of web-surfing. Then I was going to go out and do a bit of yard work before taking a shower and going over to Durham for a look at the Fanfest.

But then I ran across Adam Sobsey’s story in Indy Week and now I’m trying to put together a few words about my all-time favorite Durham Bulls baseball player.

My hope was that Chris would get a call down to minor league camp as the kind of guy the system needs to steady the youngsters coming up. And it’s not as if the Rays system is overloaded with first basemen anyhow. But, so far, my hope has not been rewarded. I’m guessing that Sobsey has had his article ready to go for a while, waiting to see if a call would happen, and it didn’t.

So thank you, Chris, for the thrills you've provided over the years I’ve been watching the Bulls.

To mention just the most recent, the fourth inning of last September’s playoff game against Louisville, when you whacked a grand slam to sew up the game.

Chris set a bunch of Durham Bulls records. His two grand slams in one game with Durham has to be a highlight.

I’m sure I’ll have a few more thoughts as the idea of not seeing Chris Richard hitting home runs and covering first base sinks in, but let me just put up an idea for readers to consider:

What about retiring number 27, Chris Richard’s number?

Last Year's Durham Bulls: Knowns and Unknowns, Position Players

We know that 62 ballplayers are at the Tampa Bay Rays Spring Training. What we don't know is who else is there in Port Charlotte at the minor league training camp. So here's a brief list of the 2010 Bulls, the number of games they were in for the Bulls, and what we know about them for 2011, if anything.

• Justin Ruggiano, 117 games, Durham Bulls
• Chris Richard, 117 games, Retired
• Fernando Perez, 116 games, Chicago Cubs/Iowa Cubs
• Angel Chavez, 113 games, Bridgeport Bluefish
• Elliot Johnson, 109 games, Tampa Bay Rays
• Desmond Jennings, 109 games, Durham Bulls
• Dan Johnson, 98 games, Tampa Bay Rays
• Joe Dillon, 96 games, Retired
• J.J. Furmaniak, 77 games, Durham Bulls
• Jose Lobaton, 72 games, Durham Bulls
• Alvin Colina, 51 games, Lancaster Barnstormers
• Ryan Shealy, 30 games, Blue Jays
• Dioner Navarro, 43 games, LA Dodgers
• Omar Luna, 40 games, Durham Bulls
• Rashad Eldridge, 34 games, ????
• Leslie Anderson, 28 games, Durham Bulls
• Hank Blalock, 26 games, ????

Any help out there regarding Chris Richard, Joe Dillon, Alvin Colina, Omar Luna, or Rashad Eldridge? Any or all of them could be with Rays organization, just not non-roster invitees.

Update 1: Although I'm not absolutely certain, I think it will be safe to change Chris Richard and Joe Dillon to "retired".


Update 2: In the very large category of "things I don't know about baseball", it turns out that minor leaguers without invites to Spring Training are not yet in camp. Omar Luna is expected to be there.


Update 3: April 19, changes italicized.

Two More to Watch/Think About

The Rays signed a first baseman to a minor league contract and picked up a pitcher off of waivers. |The Durham Bulls|

Casey Kotchman has great defensive stats and below so-so batting numbers (stats), but he's a local (i.e., St Petersburg) guy. He's also the first among the signees who might be considered a threat to Chris Richard's job at first base. I'd hoped that Chris would be at the Raleigh Hot Stove League gathering the other night, but he wasn't. So I wasn't able to ask him if he was going to be back in a Bulls uniform this year. Kotchman and Leslie Anderson are, so far, the only first basemen with invitations to spring training likely to be headed in the direction of Durham. |The Process Report|

Rob Delaney is out of the Twins system and we probably saw him pitching for Rochester last year. But, to be honest, I have no memory of him. Pretty good minor league stats as a reliever. Because of the way waiver claims work, he's got to go on the Rays 40-man, which means that with the Damon/Ramirez signing, a couple of current Rays are on the cusp of being waived/traded as this is being written. |The Process Report|

Here's the current Rays 40-man roster. Who would you put on waivers to make room for Damon and Ramirez?

Charlie's Back ... and More

The Bulls website is reporting that Charlie Montoyo is coming back to Durham for the 2011 season. Dave Myers, hitting coach, is back for his third season. To replace pitching coach Xavier Hernandez, who left the Bulls at the end of last season, Neil Allen has been brought up from the Rays' Single-A franchise, the Charlotte Stone Crabs.

Good news. We speculated some last year that Charlie, who has garnered just about every award a minor league manager can earn, might be due to move up to the big leagues. We're happy to have him back.

In the meantime ...

Over at RaysProspects we were pointed to a terrific article at MiLB.com that mentions a bunch of last year's stars. The author obviously spent a good bit of time talking with Montoyo and he got some great quotes. Montoyo had good things to say about Chris Richard, Dan Johnson, Elliot Johnson, Justin Ruggiano, Leslie Anderson, and Desmond Jennings. Particularly telling was this quote about Jeremy Hellickson:

“The joke in the clubhouse was, ‘Is Jeremy gonna work today or is he gonna pitch?’ because they always had him working on this pitch or that pitch instead of just pitching a game, and he still had a really good year.”

There's also a hint that Chris Richard might be back for 2011. We can hope.

Then over at DRaysBay we have FreeZorrilla with a first-rate interview with Alex Cobb. With any luck, we're going to see a lot of Mr. Cobb next season.

Back at RaysProspects we find their Top 30 list. These are the guys to keep an eye on during spring training. A couple of them will end up with the Rays, but a few will be spending a lot of time in Durham next year.

Update: The Durham Herald-Sun apparently called Charlie and picked up a couple of quotes.

Looking At 2010 — 1

Time to finally getting around to wrapping up the season.

Let's start with the position players, listed in order of number of games played. This is going to take a number of postings to get through, but the look back is fun.

Justin Ruggiano (28). With Bulls since 2007 (4 seasons). Numbers up from 2009. Strikeouts down. On Rays 40-man roster.

• Tied for most games (117), led in plate appearances (507). 15 HR, 70 RBI. 24 SB, BA/OBP/SLG: .287/.357/.453. wOBA .344. bRAA 3.4. Brief visit with Rays. Don’t think he had an AB while there. Post-season: 9 games, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB. Positions played, regular season: RF-63, CF-29, LF-26, DH-3, 3B-1 (2 errors on year).
• Justin has been on the Rays’ 40-man for a couple of years and has yet to be given an honest shot at playing for the Rays. At a guess, assuming the Rays let him go, he will be looking for employment elsewhere. Defensively, he is among the best we saw this year on any team and he is very fast on the bases. 70 RBI are nothing to sneeze at. He’s got the tools to be attractive somewhere else. But maybe he likes the Rays system.
  
• Stats

Chris Richard (36), also with the Bulls since 2007. Numbers in every category up from 2009.

• Played 117 games in the regular season and accumulated some striking numbers. 20 HR, 79 RBI, 39 2B, .300/.390/.535, wOBA .395, bRAA 24.6 (!). Positions played: 1B-82, DH-25, LF-10, RF-1.
• Chris is under-rated as a first baseman. He only had 4 errors on the year (down from 7 in 2009) with a fielding percentage of .995. I don’t know how to chase it down, but I suspect he has to be among the best, if not the best, first baseman in the International League. His only competition might be 20 year old Freddie Freeman with the Gwinnett Braves who had a fielding percentage of .994 in 111 games at first, but he’s 16 years younger than Chris!
• What is Chris going to do? He seems to like it here in the Triangle. He sure is physically fit enough to play baseball with the youngsters. On the other hand, you’d think the local universities would be anxious to have him on their staff, or maybe a place somewhere in the Rays coaching system. Guess in this era you don’t have player/coaches. My hope is that he and the Rays can come to an agreement for another year.
  
• Stats

Fernando Perez (27), with the Bulls almost all of 2008 (129 games), did not play most of 2009, numbers down in every category from 2008. On the Rays 40-man roster.

• Played 116 games with 426 plate appearances. 4 HR, 32 RBI, 24 SB, .223/.280/.299, wOBA .269, bRAA -24.2. Positions played: RF-43, CF-33, LF-42.
• By any measure, Fernando had an awful year. You have to think that he and the Rays will be coming to a new understanding over the winter. For those of us who enjoyed, actually thrilled, at watching him play in 2008 he is not the same player. A lot has changed, of course. He was working on his switch-hitting in 2008, but that has gone by the board. We can’t tell from the stands if his injuries of 2009 are still bothering him. What we can see is that his swing has been off all year and the sheer exuberance he seemed to show is not obvious to us in the stands. I’d guess that there’s a less than 50-50 chance that he’ll be back next year. But I sure would like to see the Fernando Perez of 2008 in a Bulls uniform again.
  
• Stats

Angel Chavez (28), 2010 his first year with the Bulls. Numbers up in most categories.

• Played in 113 games. 9 HR, 55 RBI (6th best on the team), .275/.329/.387, wOBA .317, bRAA -7.4. Positions played: 3B-73, SS-39, 2B-4, 1B-1, DH-1, P-1 (ERA-0.00!)
• To oversimplify a bit, Angel started the year at shortstop and moved to third base after Hank Blalock moved on. He shared time at both positions with Elliot Johnson (SS), Dan Johnson (3B), and J.J. Furmaniak (SS). Chavez is a very good baseball player and he made major contributions to the team. About the only blemish on his record this year was his unfortunate tendency to hit into double plays. But that has to be something of a statistical anomaly or possibly a function of his place in the batting order. He doesn't seem to have great range and yet if the ball is near him he makes the play. An oddity was that he often didn’t seem to be playing all that hard and yet somehow the ball always got to the first baseman ahead of the runner. He doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s prospect list, which means that, if the Rays don’t have some hot shot infielder coming through the system, he might be back next year. If only for his fielding skills, we hope the Rays take a close look at Angel.
  
• Stats

Elliot Johnson (26), with the Bulls since 2007 and on the Rays 40-man roster much of that time. Passed through waivers and signed minor league contract this year. By any measure, 2010 was his best season as a professional baseball player.

• Played in 109 games with 481 plate appearances. 11 HR, 56 RBI (5th best), 30 SB (2nd best), .319/.375/.475, wOBA .373, bRAA 14.8. Positions played: SS-64, 2B-16, LF-21, RFK-14.
• Back in 2008 we were unimpressed with Elliot’s play. In 2009 it seemed as if he spent a lot of time injured. But he sure blossomed this year. He won all sorts of awards, and deserved them. As a shortstop he seems to depend on his glove and his arm, and they serve him well. What was important to the Bulls this year was to have such a solid, dependable, and well above average player available to play so many positions. He hit with some power, got on base, and moved around the bases. His 72 runs scored was 3rd best on the team. My guess is that this was his last year as a Bull, and I regret that. Elliot’s off to play winter ball in Mexico and, I’d bet, to eventually sign a contract with an invitation to spring training with a very solid shot of playing in the majors next year. The oddity is that he’s a better ballplayer that some currently with the Rays (Jason Bartlett and Willy Aybar come to mind), but he’s not going to get a chance to prove it. We’ll try to keep an eye on him this winter.
  
• Stats

Bulls Win Game 3; Stay in the Hunt

Durham Bulls 3; Columbus Clippers 2
Wrap, Box

If the idea was to break the hearts of the Columbus Clippers, then the Bulls gave it their best shot. Clippers’ pitcher Yohan Pino was was brilliant. With the exception of the 5th inning, Bulls hitters were being set down on three or four pitches. In eight full innings he faced only 28 batters and threw only 81 pitches.

And in almost every inning Columbus was threatening. They got runners to third base in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd innings, but could not push across a run against Alex Cobb.

Nevertheless, even though Bulls hitters were swinging at everything, it wasn’t until the 5th that they were able to score. Angel Chavez got a double. Rashad Eldridge singled Chavez home (and got to third base on a fielding error) and Eldridge came home on a sacrifice fly by Fernando Perez. That put the Bulls up 2-0. R.J. Swindle baffled the Clippers in the 5th and 6th, all except Wes Hodges who smacked a homer over the bull. But Joe Bateman struck out the side in the 7th and all seemed well.

Perhaps just to extend the agony, Joe let a run sneak in in the 8th for his first blown save of the year. The game was tied 2-2, setting the stage for Winston Abreu to get his first win of the year. Winston struck out the side in the top of the 9th.

Bring on bottom-of-the-9th heroics. Josh Judy came in for the Clippers. Elliot Johnson worked a walk. Justin Ruggiano hit a single to right that was deep enough for Johnson to get to third. That led to an intentional walk of Chris Richard, loading the bases with none out. Infield and outfield were drawn in, but Leslie Anderson’s fly out to center was just far enough to let Elliot get home.

The Bulls live to see another day.

Odds and ends:

When Xavier Hernandez strolled out to the mound in the 6th inning just to stall a bit while Joe Bateman warmed up I had this thought. "This could be the last time he does that." But with the win, X will get another chance to make that stroll at the DBAP.

Sure seems like Columbus thoroughly scouted the middle of the Bulls lineup. Elliot Johnson, Justin Ruggiano, Chris Richard, and Joe Dillon are not doing well. Maybe the fun they had in 9th will be a turn around moment.

Paul Phillips, who got a win for the Bulls in Game 4 of the Bats-Bulls series is reported to be starting tomorrow.

We were surprised to see that Stacy Long, a writer for the Montgomery Advertiser, and who does a terrific job covering the Biscuits, was in town. His blog has several notes from the game and some post-game clubhouse commentary.

Bulls Win Game 4

Durham Bulls 8, Louisville Bats 1
Series (best of five): 2-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Triangle Offense, Louisville Courier-Journal

The first thing to say about last night is the huge thrill we all felt when Chris Richard hit his grand slam in the 4th inning. Seeing all those white uniforms running around the bases, Chris' huge grin as he came across the plate, that was one of the best moments of the year. Thanks, Bulls!

The moment where the Bulls offense won the game, however, came an inning earlier when it sure looked like Bats manager Rick Sweet outsmarted himself. JJ Furmaniak led off the 3rd with a triple. JJ by the way had a quite a night: on base four out of five times with three walks, a triple, and two runs scored. With Furmaniak on third with no outs and the score 1-0 Bulls, Johnson grounded out third to first. When Justin Ruggiano came to bat the Bats infield stayed at normal depth; however, when the count reached two strikes Sweet called the infield in. Just why he would do that on two strikes and not at the beginning of the at bat, I've no idea. But it didn't work. Instead, Ruggiano got a single right past the pitcher that brought JJ home. Two more runs were to score in that inning and Richards' grand slam in the next inning put the game away.

In the meantime, other things were afoot. We saw some terrific pitching by Paul Phillips, Jake McGee and Dale Thayer.

When the rains came the 2,800 folks didn't budge from the DBAP, although a few joined us up under the eaves.

The "veterans" (Johnson, Ruggiano, Richard, Dillon, and Chavez), who had been somewhat quiet so far in the series, had a great night. Well, may not Joe Dillon, but the rest did just fine.

Elsewhere, the Columbus Clippers won their first-round matchup with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. So the winner of today's game will go into the Governors' Cup finals in Columbus on Tuesday evening.

Adam Sobsey has an interesting speculation near the end of his Triangle Offense piece. He notes that Biscuits infielder Drew Anderson and Biscuits reliever Dane De La Rosa have been leaning against the dugout rail for the last week. He speculates that the Rays are considering calling up both Jake McGee and Elliot Johnson. Not sure I agree. McGee, maybe. Johnson, don't think so. If for no other reason than they'd have to push someone off the 40-man.

This is a big deal! Today! Note the time — 5:00 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Bulls vs. Bats for this round of the playoffs. Otherwise, as great as it has been, the season is over.

Bulls Win Game 2; Coming Home

Durham Bulls 6; Louisville Bats 2
Series (best of five): 1-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Louisville Courier-Journal, Bats Website

By now the Bulls have finished their trek across the Appalachians. Here’s hoping that all of them (excepting the drivers) got a sound sleep before reaching Durham this morning.

Aneury Rodriguez certainly was not on his game last night. Very quickly the contest became very like one of those “committee” starts we had during the regular season, with each pitcher taking a couple of innings. Darin Downs was certainly the hero as he came on in the 3rd with the bases loaded and got the fly out to deep right field.

The Bulls had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their first two at bats. Five singles in the 1st inning got two runs in. Two walks and a single got another run across in the 2nd. The Bats did get a run in the troublesome 3rd. When the Bulls made two egregious base running mistakes in the top of the 4th (by Fernando Perez and J. J. Furmaniak) and the Bats scored another run in the bottom of the 4th (bringing the game to 3-2 Bulls), the game was in the balance.

The top of the 5th sounded just like the Bulls we know and love. Justin Ruggiano led off with a double. A Chris Richard single sent him to third. Joe Dillon singled Ruggiano home and sent Richard to second base. Leslie Anderson did hit into a double play, but Richard got to third base and he scored on a wild pitch while Angel Chavez was at bat. The Bulls were ahead 5-2.

After that, the Durham relief corp really hit their stride. Downs had a clean bottom of the 5th. Jake McGee came on in the 6th and faced just seven batters in the next two innings, striking out three. Joe Bateman struck out the side in the 8th. Winston Abreu had a 1-2-3 9th. Meanwhile in the 8th Angel Chavez got his first hit of the series, a double, and drove home Leslie Anderson, making it 6-2.

Tonight we get to see Biscuit starter Alex Cobb. He’s got some very good numbers (ERA of 2.71 in 119 innings). Looking forward to seeing him.

A bit of catch-up here. Neil Solondz has had some very good interviews leading into his broadcasts on recent nights. First is Xavier Hernandez reflecting on his time with the Bulls and his career. Then Charlie Montoyo talks a bit about the playoffs. Finally, Bats manager Rick Sweet talks about his team.

Speaking of the playoffs. The Yankees evened up their series with the Clippers, so they and the Clippers motored over to Pennsylvania to continue their end of the playoffs.

The rest of today’s post is a brief exploration of the incentives to become a major league baseball player. One big, big reason is that, compared to the minors, life is easy. Let’s take a look at our three guys who went “up” to Tampa Bay on the first of September, Desmond Jennings, Dioner Navarro, and Rocco Baldelli. (I know, Baldelli was hardly a Durham Bull since he was only here for a few games and we knew he wasn’t going to stay, but that just helps make my point.)

Since their arrival "up there" the Rays have played a grand total of seven games and have had two days off. They had a home game on September 1 and then flew to Baltimore for three games, to Boston for three games, then on to Toronto for a game to be played tonight. During that same stretch the Bulls have played eight games and made the trek to and from Louisville by bus.

And the new guys haven’t had to work very hard, appearing in only three games each. Not only that, it isn’t as if they had to do much running of the bases. Gotta admit, pretty good life.


But that’s OK. What we are interested in is tonight’s game at the DBAP. Here’s hoping that we get a better turnout than the 3,000 who showed up at Louisville Slugger Park last night.

Awards & Accolades

Several items I didn’t want to get by without comment before we start obsessing about the playoffs.

Before last night’s game started several Bulls were called out for the Goodman Awards and it was a fine and apt selection indeed.

• Most Valuable Player — Elliot Johnson
• Pitcher of the Year — Richard De Los Santos
• Team Spirit — Chris Richard
• Community Involvement — Joe Bateman
• “Good Guy” — Charlie Montoyo

Congratulations to all. Well-deserved.

Chris Richard’s recent fine play was noticed by the International League and he was named Player of the Week for the final week of the season. In that regard, Chris’ final batting average of .300 on the year helps explain why he left the game a bit early last night. He was at exactly .300. Why take a chance? (Even better, from a stat geek's perspective, was his wOBA of .396 and bRAA of 24.6, the best on the team).

Elliot Johnson, by the way, will be playing ball for the Mazatlan Venados this winter. For those who would like to keep track, Nicole Johnson will be blogging here, and the Venados website is here. Note that Elliot’s signing was a headline event (wearing a Rays hat instead of a Bulls hat, darn it). If it works like last year, the Venados offer streaming video of the games on their website, but your Spanish had better be a whole lot better than mine to follow what’s going on. In that regard, Google Translate rendered the headline on the Elliot Johnson press release as “Elliot Johnson Dress Deer.”

And last, but certainly not least, thanks to RaysIndex we noticed that Baseball America has named Jeremy Hellickson as Minor League Player of the Year (note, not pitcher of the year, player of the year). The Baseball America article by J.J. Cooper is terrific. Congrats to Jeremy.

Elliot Got Some Hits

Game 142: Durham Bulls 6; Norfolk Tides 5
Season: 87-55; Home Games Remaining: 1
Wrap, Box, Triangle Offense

The last regular season game of the year is at one o’clock today. Look for a few unusual moments. But before that, let’s savor last night’s win. Wasn’t that game fun? Great weather. Decent (not great) baseball. And a win.

Who were the offensive heroes? Who other than Elliot Johnson, Chris Richard, and Joe Dillon? Who was the pitching hero? Joe Bateman, of course.

In the not-great category was Brian Baker’s pitching. He just looked like he had run out of gas before he got on the mound. And that may be the case. Over at Triangle Offense Adam Sobsey is reporting that Baker may be done for the year. Since it looks like Ramon Ortiz is also out for the year, I may go back and delete my post about the playoff starting rotation. Brian let five runs in on 7 hits and 4 walks. The Bulls were down 5-3 when he left.

Also in the not-great category was Brian Shouse’s appearance. But he didn’t let any runs in. We are finding it hard to believe that he is still on Maddon’s short list for a lefty specialist.

Jake McGee looked terrific.

In the great fun category was watching Omar Luna play shortstop. He wasn’t going to let anything by him last night, and he didn’t. Our opinion is that, after pitching, defense will be the key to the playoffs. Feeling good about having Mr. Luna around.

And then Elliot Johnson came to the plate in the 8th with Fernando Perez and J. J. Furmaniak on base (he and Chris Richard had hit back-to-back homers in the 1st). Elliot whacked a triple and the game was tied. Joe Dillon hit a sac fly and the Bulls were ahead. Joe Bateman stayed in for one...more...inning (his 76th on the year) and the Bulls had a win.

Game note: Justin Ruggiano and Angel Chavez were out for another game although Justin came in on defense in the 9th, and Angel was warming up to pitch the 9th until Elliot’s heroics changed the equation.

Looking back to last year’s last game is interesting. Note that last year the Bulls played 144 games but this year a rainout on the road meant that one game simply didn’t get played. The Bulls started the game using the same bat. Don’t remember when or if it finally broke. They were using Jon Weber’s bat, which gives me a bit of a twinge. Checking out the lineups a couple of familiar names jump out. Elliot Johnson was at shortstop, Michel Hernandez (now with the Tides) was the DH. Joe Dillon and Justin Ruggiano were getting a day off. Chris Richard had just been called up to the Rays. Joe Bateman appeared in relief. Desmond Jennings, Matt Joyce, and Sean Rodriguez from the last year’s starting lineup are now with Rays.

The Bulls still don’t know who will be their opponent on Wednesday. So let’s have some fun today and then wait and see.

Thanks, Joe

Game 138: Durham Bulls 4; Charlotte Knights 3
Season: 86-52; Home Games Remaining: 5
Wrap, Box, Triangle Offense

Here’s the short version of last night’s game:

Bulls starting pitcher new guy Bobby Livingston and Knights starting pitcher Jeff Marquez did fine. Bulls reliever Dale Thayer and Knights reliever Ryan Braun stunk up the yard, but Bulls were ahead by one run when Joe Bateman came on in the 9th.

A slightly longer version:

Livingston left the game in the 8th with the Bulls down 1-0, one out, and a man on third. Thayer came in. Single, single, hit by pitch, single and two runs were in and it would have been worse if not for a clever play by Angel Chavez.

In the bottom of the 8th Elliot Johnson (who else?) doubled with two out, got to third on a wild pitch, and Justin Ruggiano walked. In came Braun for the Knights. Chris Richard singled, Johnson scored, Ruggiano to second base. Joe Dillon singled, Ruggiano scored, Richard to third base. J. J. Furmaniak came in to run for Joe Dillon. He stole second base. Leslie Anderson singled. Richard scored (game tied). Furmaniak to third base. Angel Chavez doubled. Furmaniak scored the go ahead run.

Joe Bateman came in and it was three up-three down for his fourth save.

How cool is that?

I did make it to the game last night — yahoo. But left at the top of the 7th. Nevertheless, listened on the way home and the 7th and 8th innings went on so long I was able to see the end of the 8th on TV. That means I was able to note the key oddity of the game — Angel Chavez playing first base. That means that Chavez has now played every position in the infield except catcher, but including pitcher and designated hitter. Why was he playing first? Well, J. J. Furmaniak had come in to run for Joe Dillon and he stayed in to play third base and Chavez was moved to first. So, maybe if you see Angel putting on catcher’s gear he’s going for his last unplayed position.

Speaking of catchers, you may have seen the name Hollaway on the back of a Bull's jersey last night. He’s a catcher coming up from Single A ball in the Rays system. This appears to be his first year in professional baseball. A bit more info from Adam Sobsey at the Triangle Offense link.

Now, just for a moment, let us explain the headline.

Joe Bateman made his 52nd appearance last night. That means that in more than a third of the Bulls games this year Mr. Bateman has gone to the mound. How has he done? How about an ERA of 1.71? On more innings, 73, than any other Bulls reliever. A FIP of 3.12? Six wins and no losses. Four saves (all in recent weeks when he seems to have gotten more opportunities). The last time he gave up a run was nine appearances ago (August 10th). Plus he’s fun to watch. There’s no doubt that both Joe Bateman and Winston Abreu could help the Rays, but neither has been given a shot this year (so far). Here’s hoping that they do — but wait until after the playoffs, please.

Speaking of the Rays: Desmond Jennings started in right field down in St. Pete last night, batting second in the lineup. He was 0 for 3 and got pulled in the 8th for Zobrist who pinch-hit (drew a walk, scored the winning run, and stayed in the game in right). He was interviewed prior to the game by Bulls broadcaster Neal Solondz, who has been in Tampa doing pre and post game stuff for the Rays. Neal due back tonight — another yahoo!

Picture of the day: Just a look at the extraordinary run production of the Durham Bulls this year — 729 runs in 138 games! That is an average of more than five runs per game. And 70 more runs than the Rays have scored, but who's counting? And the season isn't over yet.

Waiting For Earl

Hurricane Fran Comes Ashore, September 6, 1996

Game 136: Durham Bulls 5; Charlotte Knights 2
Season: 85-52; Home Games Remaining: 6
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Triangle Offense

One thing newcomers to the Triangle should feel obligated to do when hurricane season opens is listen to the old-timers’ stories of Hurricane Fran. Fran arrived here on September 6, 1996 and has been the source of countless anecdotes ever since. Want proof? At the game tonight lean over and ask your neighbors what happened to them in ‘96 and you are sure to hear tales of chainsawing their way out of neighborhoods, huge cook outs prevent the waste of thawing food, and more. They’ve been waiting to tell you.

In the meantime, Earl is on his way.

All we really care about, of course, is whether or not Earl will have an effect on the rest of the Bulls home stand/season. Doesn’t look too bad at the moment. Not sure about the Norfolk area, though.

Last night’s game has been covered pretty well, and I was out for yet another night. So I’ll just jump to the oddities.

Consider the case of Nevin Ashley, a guy who has never played above AA. He came to the game yesterday and discovered that he was in charge, he was the only catcher on the roster. His backup? Maybe Joe Dillon. You figure he has at least seen Brian Baker’s stuff while warming up. In his one other game (against Charlotte at Charlotte last Sunday) he caught Mike Ekstrom and Winston Abreu. And, since Jake McGee has been in Montgomery all year, you figure he’s seen a lot of McGee. But what about R. J. Swindle? How do you get ready for a guy like Swindle?

Turns out that he did just fine. He looked pretty good from what I could see. In fact, Ashley did something I’ve never seen before. He got the ump to reconsider a checked swing on the grounds that it was a foul tip. Homeplate ump Derik Crabill was talked into checking with a colleague and awarded the strike. But I still really miss Alvin Colina.

Bulls pitching didn’t walk a single batter until the 8th inning. Montoyo’s and Hernandez’ obsession with walks has been paying dividends all year and last night was just another example.

Chris Richard got all of the Bulls’ extra base hits.

Justin Ruggiano left in the 7th inning, apparently hurt when he went into the centerfield wall. Hope he’s back tonight.

Neal Solondz is down in St. Petersburg and he got a terrific interview with Dan Johnson about being named International League MVP, with comments on Charlie Montoyo as a manager and what’s happening with the Rays.

Win; Come Home

Game 135: Durham Bulls 8; Charlotte Knights 5
Season: 84-51; Home Games Remaining: 8
Wrap, Box

An afternoon game. Get on the bus. Come back home to stay for a week or so. And on a win. Not just a win, but the most wins ever in a Triple A Durham Bulls season (84) with eight games to go.

The heroes of the game were Chris Richard with four RBI off of a double and a home run. And Nevin Ashley with a two-run homer. Nevin Ashley? He’s a catcher who was just called up from Montgomery. The party line is that Jose Lobaton has gone on the disabled list for his foot that was hurt in a game in Norfolk a couple of days ago. As likely is the probability of Dioner Navarro being called to Tampa Bay in the next couple of days. (OK, I was wrong. Craig Albernaz did not get the call. With my track record you thought I’d be right?)

The 25 year-old Ashley has some decent numbers and can obviously hit the ball (although Knights Stadium isn’t a good test). Looking forward to seeing him on the field today.

On the other side of the coin, Mike Ekstrom may have gotten the win, but only after taking it away from Richard De Los Santos. His four-run 4th inning, even with the three K’s, sounded really ugly.

Neil Solondz has a couple of interesting interviews up on the Bulls website. From Saturday he has a chat with Rocco Baldelli, who has nice things to say about Charlie Montoyo and the Bulls and notes a few differences between the 2008 and 2010 Rays. From Sunday there’s a chat with new guy Bobby Livingston, who talks about his at bat. Note: I think he was the first Bulls pitcher to go to bat this year, in fact the first pitcher in a very long time.

Speaking of pitchers, here’s an updated chart. For all the new guys — McGee, Shouse, Ortiz, Livingston — we have small sample size problems, much like the beginning of the year. On the other hand, the turmoil in the pitching ranks is not going to get any better. In fact, it’s likely to get worse. Three of these guys are on the Rays’ 40-man, which means they could easily get called up. And the Rays have some room to add a couple to their 40-man.

click on chart for larger view

Speaking of call-ups, here’s a quote from a Joe Smith item in the St. Petersburg Times:

Maddon said the first wave of September callups will include 4-5 players, with a third catcher (Dioner Navarro) likely. One intriguing name under consideration is LHP prospect Jake McGee, a former starter who has pitched 12⅔ scoreless relief innings since getting promoted to Triple-A Durham. That includes 20 strikeouts and just one walk.

“I’ve heard nothing but really good things about him,” Maddon said. “I do know that he’s got the kind of stuff that he’s not just limited to getting left-handed hitters out. He’s the kind of guy that can get a good righty out also, which makes him exciting as a left-handed relief pitcher.”

Here’s hoping that whatever happens we remain in decent shape for the playoffs.

Just to wrap with a bit of trivia: The Rays and Yankees have been in a tied for first place for the last six games.

Bulls Win South

Image courtesy Durham Bulls

Game 126: Durham Bulls 3, Norfolk Tides 1
Season: 79-47; Road Trip: 6-3; Streak: 5-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The Bulls clinched their fourth-in-a-row championship of the International League South Division last night when they beat Norfolk 3-1 and the Gwinnett Braves lost 3-4 to the Charlotte Knights. T-shirts were on sale within ten minutes after the game was over. That was a hint that the championship was not a surprise, and it wasn’t. Other than the hiccup just after the all-star break (which the Bulls followed up with an eleven-game winning streak), the Bulls have had and continue to have a great year. Video highlights at link on Bulls home page include a very nifty game-ending, championship-winning double play initiated by Justin Ruggiano.

Last night was a good example of the kind of team we have this year. It was the Bulls fifth win in a row and they have made that run with only two starters being our “regular” starters. I put regular in quotes since neither of those two (Aneury Rodriguez and Richard De Los Santos) came to the Bulls with the intent of them being starting pitchers. The other three starters in this run were Darin Downs (recently up from Montgomery to work in relief), Bobby Livingston (new guy), and Ramon Ortiz (even newer guy).

Still, what better guy to get the save than Joe Bateman? More appearances than any other Bulls pitcher this year.

I was not listening when Ortiz was on the mound last night, so didn’t get any impressions of his performance. Comments from readers welcome. Did notice that Jake McGee got the win and kept his 0.00 ERA intact.

Offensively two mature (old) guys showed the way. Chris Richard and Rocco Baldelli got Durham’s only hits, but they were enough. Pleased to see Baldelli’s first home run. Have to wonder how long he will stay with the Bulls. Would love to see him stick with the team long enough to play in Durham.

Noted that Fernando Perez started the game, first start in quite a while (0 for 3).

Joe Dillon is on the DL, apparently due to worries about hamstring, but not a re-injury.

Now the trick is going to be keeping the focus for the next couple of weeks. Charlie Montoyo and his crew appear to be really good at that, so not really very concerned.

Except that Dale Thayer is off to the Rays, so turmoil in bullpen is not going to let up.

Webworld

• Interesting podcast/interview with Charlie Montoyo from Thursday evening. Speaks to roster changes, young pitchers, Elliot Johnson and Rocco Baldelli.
• Ramon Ortiz gets a profile over at The Process Report.
• At the same site there’s is a review of the Rule 5 draft. Don’t understand that? Join the club. Nevertheless, one current Bull and a couple that we’ve seen are apparently affected: Anuery Rodriguez, Heath Rollins, and Emeel Salem.
• Yesterday John Romano at the St. Petersburg Times made the argument for sending Jeremy Hellickson back to Durham for a couple of weeks. Well, after another very impressive start out in Oakland, the Rays did send him to the minors, just not to the Bulls. Stories here and here. Surely more to come on the usual Rays blogs.
• For those interested in minor league life here’s a good, if overlong, article (cries out for an editor to whack about 2,000 words out of it).
• Over at Flip Flop Fly Ball he takes a look at the Red Sox.

[Update: Thanks to careful reader Samantha, here's a terrific article on last night's game with some good quotes from Charlie Montoyo.]

After the Rain

Game 124: Durham Bulls 5, Charlotte Knights 1
Season: 77-47
Wrap, Box

You’d think that since we drive to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park more than sixty times a year we’d find something better to do when the Bulls are out of town. But there we were bouncing along the torn up Roxboro and Mangum Streets (what’s the deal with that Durham?) last night while the Bulls were waiting for the rain to stop in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The occasion was a show at the Durham Performing Arts Center — a first-rate venue that if you haven’t tried is worth a visit. The same parking attendants work Bulls games and DPAC events. I tried waving my Bulls pass going into the parking deck, but the attendant just smiled and held her hand out for the $5.00. I mention this all because if you have figured out how to get to the DBAP then you can get to a show at the DPAC and it’s a very nice place to spend an evening.

It was a little after 10:30 by the time we got out of the show (Lyle Lovett, terrific) and out of the garage to a point where we could get 620 on the radio. Bulls at bat at the top of the ninth, nobody out, but two K’s and a ground out later, nobody scores. It did not not sound good. But then I find out that the Bulls are ahead 5-1 going into the bottom half. So all is well.

What jumps out from the box score is the terrific night had by Bulls’ pitchers — no walks, 12 K’s, only one earned run. Aneury Rodriguez, who’s had quite few days off since his last appearance, had a terrific night. New guy Paul Phillips gave up quite a few hits, but nobody scored in his second appearance.

Elliot Johnson continued his hot streak; Chris Richard’s homer got him up to 60 RBI, but Justin Ruggiano kept his lead at 63 with an RBI single.

The Bulls are 30 games above .500, the best they’ve been all year. They are moving ever closer to clinching the playoff spot in the South Division. Louisville, after a very unfortunate series (for them) against Columbus are sneaking back into contention in the West. Norfolk, the Bulls next opponent, is one game away from elimination.

Thanks to careful reader Fritz who pointed out Adam Sobsey’s piece on Fernando Perez in this week’s Indy Week. Fans interested in Perez, or just the life of a baseball player, will find it an interesting read.

The Bulls play in Norfolk tonight. Wonder if they even stopped for a cup of coffee as the bus rolled past Durham last night.

Bulls Win; PPA Winner Announced

Game 122: Durham Bulls (Rays) 8; Charlotte Knights (White Sox) 7
Season: 75-47; Games Left: 21
Wrap, Box

Interesting game last night and yet more roster changes, but first let’s get to something much more important —

This year’s first winner of WDBB’s prestigious Prescient Prognosticator Award.

The PPA is given in recognition of a particularly insightful prediction (guess might be the better word). In this case it goes to Chris D for the comment yesterday, in the context of what the Rays might do now that Carlos Pena is back from the DL.

More likely there will be some sort of “hurt roster spot” injury for 15 days to get Tampa until 9/1. I’m not sure if Kapler has played recently, so that’s a possibility.

And that’s exactly what happened. Gabe Kapler is on the DL for a “sprained ankle”. See also Rays Index for other comments. Congrats to Chris D.

Coming off a volunteer shift last night I turned on the radio at 7:20 to catch up to the game. Discovered that the game had not yet started because there was only one umpire at the park. Big traffic jam out on the nearby interstate and the other two umpires were caught up in it. That gave Neil Solondz time to go over some of the changes to the Bulls lineup. We’ll do the same.

Starting pitcher was a brand new Bull, Bobby Livingston. Left-handed pitcher coming to the Bulls as a free agent. Most recently with the Albuquerque Isotopes (AAA, LA Dodgers). Gotta hand it to the Rays organization to even know that Livingston was available. I’m guessing that they have never seen a lefty they didn’t like or were at least willing to give a shot. And we really can’t gripe. They could have left us twisting in the breeze at this point in the season. Note that the Bulls have put three new pitchers on the mound in the last four days. Here's hoping that X. Hernandez, our pitching coach, can at least remember their names.

Designated Hitter, Rocco Baldelli. Last seen in a Bulls uniform in 2002. So that explains why Mr. Salem went back to Montgomery. Should have guessed about that.

Bulls’ roster now shows the sad row of guys on the DL: Phillips, Hernandez, Cromer, Colina, Perez. Vasquez not yet on the list, but he’ll show up soon. Tough, tough year for those young men.

The Game

Bulls win! The Knights got pushed into third place in the South Division and Gwinnett rose into second, 14½ games behind the Bulls.

Mr. Livingston had a bit of trouble shaking the rust out, giving up five runs in 3 ⅓ innings, including 2 home runs (always a problem in that ball park). But he also had 5 strikeouts. Joe Bateman got the win on his longest outing of the year, 2 ⅓ innings. Was also his 46th (!) game this year, the most of any Bull. The cautious approach to Jake McGee continued and he had a fine 21 pitch outing. (Note: I wholehearted agree with the Rays/Bulls caution. Mr. McGee has already had that arm operated on and he’s one hell of a pitcher. Caution is good.). R.J. Swindle got touched for a homer, but held on. Winston Abreu got his 18th save.

The Bulls loaded the bases with one out in the first inning. Does that sound familiar? This time they did push a run across on a sac fly by Rocco Baldelli. They were quiet until the 4th when they scored four runs, the highlight being J. J. Furmaniak’s first home run as a Bull. Nevertheless, the Bulls needed a two run homer by Chris Richard in the 5th to stay ahead of Charlotte.

# 10

Game 107: Durham Bulls (Rays) 5; Pawtucket Red Sox (Red Sox) 1
Season: 67-40; Trip: 5-0; Streak: 10-0
Wrap, Box, Providence Journal

The story for fans up nawth was a visit to Pawtucket by rehabbing Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. For the Bulls the story was the tenth win in this streak.

Another solid performance by our pitchers, beginning with Virgil Vasquez, visits by Mike Ekstrom and R. J. Swindle, and a close-out by Winston Abreu. Nicely done.

Dan Johnson picked up his 30th home run and 95th RBI. Elliot Johnson, playing right field, added a double and two RBI to his stats. Chris Richard added to his league-leading batch of doubles with his 34th.

Today’s game coverage is supposed to start at 12:50. Maybe we’ll get some background on what’s happening down in St. Petersburg. At best we’ve got to fill a big hole and, unless Carlos Hernandez or Jason Cromer (remember him?) comes off the DL, we just might not have anyone available.

Here’s an update on our hitters, and a new stat, bRAA (wRAA). Without digging into it too much, let’s just say that this number is how many runs a batter contributes to a team, above the league average. The problem, for evaluating Bulls, is that I’m guessing that the site where I get these numbers (www.statcorner.com) is using American League averages, not International League averages. That’s OK with me, because all I really want to show is the relative ranking of our hitters (and, obviously, Rays hitters as well). We would assume that going from the International League to the American League would result in a drop. How much? Hard, possibly impossible, to tell. Nevertheless, this is a number we can assume that Rays’ management is looking at.
What does the table tell us? Dan Johnson is having a terrific year. We knew that. Chris Richard’s year is much better than certainly I thought, as is Elliot Johnson’s. Desmond Jennings and Justin Ruggiano, only so-so. Fernando Perez, awful.

If these were the only numbers, you can see some obvious potential swaps between the teams.

Speaking of swaps and shifts, am I the only one who’s annoyed at Bulls management for lying to us? Here’s GM Mike Birling’s tweet from a couple of days ago when Jeremy Hellickson was pulled after three innings:

#GM A lot of twitter followers are wondering about Helly. He is fine. Just keeping his innings in check

Does anyone believe that now? Should we pay much attention in the future?

In the short run, the Rays acquisition of a reliever, Chad Qualls, doesn’t necessarily affect the Bulls since they put Grant Balfour on the DL after a particularly dumb move on his part, otherwise someone would have to have been pushed overboard.

But then there’s Rays first baseman Carlos Pena being pulled from last night’s game. Is that going to force the Rays to finally take a look at Dan Johnson? Looking at that table above, they could do worse.

# 9

Game 106: Durham Bulls 9; Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 2
Season: 66-40; Trip: 4-0; Streak: 9-0
Wrap, Box, Morning Call

The Bulls tied on their hitting shoes and put on their fielding gloves to get their ninth win in a row, the best streak this season. And they are 26 games above .500. They have swept the last two teams. It just keeps getting better.

Just a few highlights:

Five double plays. Even though Durham pitchers gave up eight hits (all singles) and two walks, very few went far.

Dan Johnson, held to “just” four singles and 3 RBIs during the series. But he got a hit and 2 RBI last night, just to keep his hand in, I suppose. In the meantime, Dan, with a .303 batting average, has let Chris Richard (.304) and Elliot Johnson (.306) slip ahead of him in the batting average category. We won’t talk about Omar Luna’s .362.

Chris Richard and Justin Ruggiano had a classic Durham Bulls-type night. Chris hit two doubles (he has the most in the IL — 33), a single, an intentional walk and three RBI (51). Justin Ruggiano had two doubles, a single, three RBI (53) and scored two runs. Elliot Johnson got on base a lot (3 times), stole two bases, and scored 3 runs. Should not overlook the contributions of Desmond Jennings (2 doubles, couple of nifty outfield plays) or Omar Luna, two hits, participation in most of those double plays.

Richard De Los Santos has won his last three starts and pushed his ERA down from 4.34 to 3.78. That’s hard to do this late in the season. The first run scored in the 5th last night was the first in something like 15 innings.

As good was Joe Bateman’s 2 innings. We’ve been a bit worried about him. He’s been having these little bitty appearances, an inning here, ⅔ of a inning there, for the last couple of weeks. Last night it was a solid two innings work. No walks, two Ks, no runs.

Need to mention the enthusiasm of Iron Pigs fans. They are filling of their park every night and it sure sounds like they are having fun. On the other hand, there was a fan interference ground rule double last night for Justin Ruggiano last night. Would it have been a grand slam otherwise? Probably not, but …

Good to have broadcaster Solondz back in the booth last night. He said that the Triple-A Durham Bulls streak record is 11. We’re up against Red Sox affiliate Pawtucket tonight, with Virgil Vasquez scheduled. There’s a chance.

By the end of the day there will probably be a bit of roster-shuffling, trades, claims, etc. And then probably a couple of days before we can make sense of it. With last night’s win over the Yankees, however, you have to think that the Rays might start throwing money around to stay in the game for the next two months. On the other hand, they’ve made it this far without throwing too much around. Will be fun to watch. Here’s hoping it doesn’t mess up the Bulls too much.

A Tale of Two Games

Desmond Jennings, July 21, 2010, Courtesy Durham Herald-Sun

Game 96: Durham Bulls 7, Columbus Clippers 0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

Game 97: Durham Bulls 6, Columbus Clippers 7; 12 innings
Season: 57-40; Home Stand: 1-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

About the only thing these last two games had in common was an inordinate length, times trying fans' souls. Tuesday’s game had a hour and a half rain delay to add to its 2 hr 50 minute length. Wednesday’s went on for 12 innings, and 4 hrs and 20 minutes ending up at almost exactly the same time of night, 11:30 or so. Paid attendance at the first game was 3,861 and at the second was 3,151. But I’m here to tell you there were surely only a couple hundred left at the end of either. Unfortunately, last night that included the annoying little kid who kept kicking my seatback the entire game — shouldn’t he have been home in bed? As far as the first night goes, I must admit that I never made it to the DBAP, but watched on Channel 151.

Otherwise, the games were very different.

In the first game the Bulls pitching lineup did very nicely. Richard De Los Santos, R.J. Swindle, and Winston Abreu combined for a 7 hit shutout. Meanwhile the Johnson boys, Justin Ruggiano, and Chris Richard led the pack as the Bulls put together 14 hits and 7 runs.

For the second game things were very different. Virgil Vasquez in his second straight shaky start gave up 6 runs, but Joe Bateman, Mike Ekstrom, and Dale Thayer kept us in the game until the 12th when Winston Abreu gave up his first run since May 18th. An amazing 21-appearance run. Just wish it had gone one more game.

There were interesting events to watch throughout, however. For instance, After Dan Johnson hit his 26th home run in the 1st, and singled to lead off the 4th, he didn’t see another decent pitch. He drew three walks, including a lead off walk in the 12th. Unfortunately, while he got on base 5 out of 6 times at bat, he only scored one run (off of his homer). The snakebit guys of the night were the six and seven batters, Dioner Navarro and J.J. Furmaniak. In their combined 12 at bats in the game, 11 came with runners on base. Mr. Navarro got a vital ground-out RBI in the 6th, But Mr. Furmaniak didn’t get a one. The hitting hero was Angel Chavez with his three-run homer in the 6th that pumped some life back into the team. But after tying in the 7th, the Bulls could not push another run across.

I’m something of a Desmond Jennings skeptic. But even I have to admit that he made a spectacular, running into the wall catch in the 1st inning (see above) and a terrific running forward, keep us in the game catch in the 11th.

Both teams essentially ripped the heart out of their bullpens. Heath Phillips is due to start tonight. Every one of our relievers has seen duty either last night or the night before. One (Abreu) was up both nights. Who goes to the mound from the bench? One of the catchers?

These Columbus youngsters (the oldest is 27) are giving us fits. Maybe Mr. Phillips will repeat his terrific performance of a few days ago. We need it.