Two More Bulls to the Rays

Dan Johnson and Alex Torres got called up to the Rays yesterday.

The Johnson call-up is a modest surprise since he wasn't quite back on track at the end of the year (but getting better) and he wasn't on the Rays 40-man. On the other hand, the Rays owe him a bunch of money and he might as well be sitting on the bench in Boston (where he's had some notable successes) as at home in Minnesota. I'm sure that's where he'd rather be as well.

As far as Alex Torres is concerned, he was the Bulls' busiest pitcher this season (see charts), but he's surely got a couple of major league innings in him. After a full year at Triple-A, the Rays are going to have to make some decisions about Mr. Torres' future this winter. Might as well take a close look at him.

Jay Buente got released to make room on the 40-man for Dan Johnson. Claimed from the Mariners Marlins, Buente was acquired at a time when the Bulls just needed an arm during the mid-season turmoil. Did not work out all that well for the Bulls. One of a couple of not-so-good-for-the-Bulls decisions this year.

Rob Delaney and Mike Ekstrom, who had been designated for assignment in earlier moves, passed through waivers. It will be up to them to decide if they want to stay with the Rays' system.

Meanwhile Matt Moore made his major league debut last night. 1⅓ innings, 27 pitches, 3 hits, 2 ER, 2Ks, 1 HR. ERA — 13.5. Welcome to the big leagues. But the observers loved him.

All this moving up is unprecedented in my watching of the Bulls and Rays. Only three four players from the Rays 40-man are left with the Bulls: pitchers Chris Archer  and Matt Bush (a inning or so in the playoffs his only AAA time) and catchers Robinson Chirinos and Nevin Ashley.

* * * * * 

When the Rays take the field in Boston tonight, one of my all-time favorite Durham Bulls will be sitting on the Red Sox bench — and I'm not talking about Darnell McDonald. Joey Gathright is there. Too bad the Rays can't reach out and put Fernando Perez on their bench so they could have a run-off.

* * * * * 

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs had their 8-game win streak broken last night. They are now tied with the Columbus Clippers 1-1 as the Governors' Cup moves to Pennsylvania. Former Bull Mitch Talbot had a complete game win.

Update: A careful reader has noted some errors/omissions in the original post. Used line in line out to mark corrections. Thanks!

Another Hot Night

Reminder: Tonight, Sunday, 25 July, the game is to start at 19:00, not 17:00

Game 100: Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) 5; Syracuse Chiefs (Washington) 1
Season: 60-40; Home Stand: 4-2
Wrap, Box

Let’s start with a trivia question for serious baseball geeks: How do you get charged with an earned run without a batter getting an RBI? Or, to put the question in another way (that contains the answer to the first question), When someone steals home, who gets the RBI?

The answer is in last night’s box score. No one gets a RBI when a runner steals home, but the pitcher does get charged with an earned run.

In an otherwise superb outing, Jeremy Hellickson had a lapse in concentration with the Chief’s Brandon Whiting dancing around on third base in the 6th inning. He went into a full windup and Whiting was off for the plate, getting there about the same time as the ball. Heads up baseball on Whiting’s part and Mr. Hellickson did walk the batter at the plate. That was enough to bring in Mike Ekstrom to finish the inning. The steal had little effect on the game, but you have to wonder if Chief’s manager Trent Jewett was trying to get inside Charlie Montoyo’s head with that play and several others during the evening.

For example, he let his pitcher throw to Dan Johnson at the top of the 2nd. D.J. took it over the Blue Monster for home run number 28 and RBI number 88. But not after that. The next three at bats were walks, two IBB. Then he pulled a shift against Desmond Jennings, a right-handed batter, with Jose Lobaton on third base in the 8th, leaving only the first baseman on the right side of the infield. How weird is that? It worked. But very likely because Jennings didn’t step back and think about it for a second or two.

Justin Ruggiano was in fine form last night with two doubles, a single and a RBI. As frustrating as it has been this year watching Mr. Ruggiano strike out a lot, we need to point out that he’s gotten 45 RBI, third on the team behind Dan Johnson and Chris Richard. He may not be having a great year, but not awful either.

Elliot Johnson ticked over .300 last night with three singles and an RBI. And speaking of Elliot, over at The Life of a Baseball Wife are a couple of posts [here, here, here] giving an insiders look at the Triple-A All Star game. Fun reads.

Alvin Colina is out for the year with an ACL tear. We really like this guy and are sorry to see him go. Sad moment watching him on the ground past first base the other night.

Two former Bulls met in Cleveland last night, with David Price getting the better of Mitch Talbot. But not before Talbot struck out six Rays in a row to set a new Cleveland record. As a Bulls fan, we have to point out that Mitch Talbot did a lot more for the Durham Bulls that David Price ever did. Sure Price is the better pitcher, just not the better Durham Bulls pitcher. We are cheering for Mitch to have a great season with Cleveland.

NB: We stayed in the AC at home and watched on TV. Tonight? Maybe. If the Bulls can suffer for us, shouldn't we suffer for them?

A Bashing By the Bulls

Game 9: Durham Bulls 14, Norfolk Tides 7
Season: 6-3
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

A few days back I said our pitching was OK, but the bats hadn’t come around. Now it looks almost the opposite. The pitching has been off the last two days, but no one should doubt that the bats are there, not after last night. Twenty hits (and 32 total bases) might not be a team record, but if my records are right you have to go back to April 22, 2008 to do better (22 hits, 40 bases). The team OPS for the night was 1.206. Very, very special.

Every Bull got at least one hit — Alvin Colina got his first of the year. Seven got RBIs. Angel Chavez raised his batting average to .400. Dan Johnson, Ryan Shealy, and Joe Dillon all got home runs and all the homers came with men on base.

Justin Ruggiano, playing right field, lost a fly ball in the sun in the first inning, but made up with a brilliant catch in the 5th. Elliot Johnson at short made a nifty bare-handed play in the 4th, and was 3 for 6 at bat. Johnson, Ruggiano, and Perez all stole bases.

A lot to like, so let’s enjoy it.

Former Bull Mitch Talbot got his first major league win yesterday, and a complete game to boot. Mitch was on the disabled list most of last year, but is also the owner of my favorite 2009 season trivia (he won the first and last games of the season).

About the DBAP —

• As we all know, the video board is not working well. It looked like folks were trying to get it sorted out. Hope they do by tonight.
• What’s with the lights in the concourse? Given the electricity bill for the whole place, saving a couple of bucks by keeping lights off in the concession area doesn’t make much sense.
• The field looks great! Here’s hoping we make it through the rye/bermuda transition better this year.
• Suggest a conversation between management and some of your concessionaires. I know it’s only the second game of the season, but a bit of training on how to draw a beer, make change, work a cash register is in order.

Bulls Below the Border

And out in Arizona ...

Inspired by some of the posts over on Rays Prospects I started digging around in the Winter League data, going from team to team looking for guys who played for the Bulls last year. I found several of our guys scattered around the Caribbean and Arizona and made up a list of how they’re going. Then, of course, I found a link that pretty much summarized everything I’d been looking for and more. Here’s all the Rays players currently playing Winter league baseball.

Of the position players listed, we saw Ray Olmedo and Henry Mateo last year. Neither are on a major league contract, so there’s no guarantee they’ll be back. The oddity is Tampa Bay infielder Willy Aybar. Hard to guess why he’s playing winter ball. Shouldn’t be for the money.

A bunch of the pitchers we saw last year are down south and out west: Bateman, dePaula, Medlock, Oliveros, Phillips, Rollins, and Talbot. One to watch is Mitch Talbot since he spent so much time on the DL last year. Seems to be doing OK.

Missing from any of the stats (although initially on rosters) are Justin Ruggiano and Jon Weber. Don't know what the story there may be.

The Best Team in AAA — Your Durham Bulls

Durham Bulls 5, Memphis Redbirds 4

Wrap, Box

I figure that almost anyone who reads this blog watched the game, so don’t expect anything new here. Still, a lot of things happened that deserve more than the cursory comment I was able to provide last night. And there are a few odds and ends certainly worth mentioning.

Jeremy Hellickson pitched a terrific five innings. He left the game with a decent 4-0 lead and I thought he was in line for the win. He was also, in spite of what I said last night, deserving of the MVP award.

Jason Cromer had a bad night. Joe Bateman wasn’t much better in his 1 ⅓ innings. If not for three spectacular catches of pitches behind the batters’ backs, it would have been worse. He left the bases loaded for Calvin Medlock and we were lucky to get away with a tie game. Calvin did fine through the 8th. Julio DePaula struck out the side in the 9th, but the 10th got really scary. Bases were loaded with one out when he got a dribbler right back to the mound that allowed him to start a 1-2-3 double play. Mitch Talbot slammed the door in the 11th, setting up the win.

Here’s a tidbit: Mitch Talbot got the first (April 9th) and last (September 22nd) wins of the season. He and I may have been the only guys who knew that before it went up here.

Offensively, the guy who stands out is the veteran Ray Olmedo. Two doubles his first two times at bat (one for a RBI). Two runs scored, the second being the hallmark of a veteran ballplayer and baserunner. Olmedo had doubled in Elliott Johnson and was on second base. Jennings beat out a bunt that moved Ray to third. The Memphis pitcher, who had made the play at first, had his back to the field and Ray (with Montoyo’s encouragement) took off for home.

In the end, Memphis’ manager allowed chaos to reign (or created it?). Michel Hernandez doubled, was pinch run for by Rashad Eldridge, who was then wild pitched to third. Ray Olmedo was intentionally walked, a new pitcher came in, and an outfielder was brought in to the infield to set up a five-man defense because there were no outs and not even a double play would save the game. But the pitcher hadn’t pitched in something like two weeks. The catcher had just come into the game. A wild pitch brought Eldridge home for the win.

Counting last night, the Bulls won five games in a row in the playoffs (and 7 for 9 overall). That’s pretty spectacular.

Six different pitchers won playoff games. Talbot, Hellickson, Cromer, Phillips, and Medlock each won a game. The winner of two games (are you ready for this?) was Joe Bateman.

Don’t know what you may have thought of it, but I thought the ESPN2 coverage of the game was pretty awful. Camera angles were poor; commentary, with a couple of exceptions, just didn’t say much. And Wool E. Bull got no camera time at all!

On the other hand, Neal Solondz and his counterpart from Memphis were doing the broadcast for 99.9 and that was terrific. Once I discovered them about the 5th inning I turned down the TV volume and had a decent night of it.

Other commentary on the game:

Indy Week was at Tyler’s Taproom. MiLB had this story. Marc Lancaster of The Tampa Tribune had this, with some Joe Maddon comments. And the AP, as reported by WRAL had a good story with some good quotes from Charlie Montoyo.

I’ll try to do a retrospective on the season soon. It was a great one. And it has been an enjoyable experience interacting with all the Bulls fans out there. Thanks for looking in, commenting, and keeping me honest (or at least trying to).

2-0, Almost There

Durham Bulls 4, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 1

Bulls lead Governor’s Cup 2-0

Wrap, Box

The night was ugly, but the baseball was pretty. A little over two thousand of us (2,480 to be exact) came early and stayed through the light rain that came down all night. Some broke out their umbrellas, some just moved back underneath the roof. Plenty of room.

Unlike most nights, everyone there seemed to understand the larger goings on — no need to explain who Rashad Eldridge was or why Mitch Talbot was only going to pitch a couple of innings. If you made a comment — such as one I heard at the top of the 4th inning when Desmond Jennings got a leadoff single, “About time the leadoff man got on base.” — folks around you nodded their heads. They all knew that Jennings’ playoff performance has been below par. Little bits of game trivia got passed around — “Ray Olmedo is the only Bull who doesn’t have a strike out.” “Bateman got the win when he came in for Talbot in the first game of the Louisville series.” “Damn, that’s three games in a row for DePaula, but he did have a day off.” “Did you know that’s only the second home run in the entire playoff series for the Bulls?”

Everyone knew that this was the last home game of the season. Even if the weather was crummy, we were all going to stay, because this is a really good team this year and they are capable of playing really good baseball. Which is what they did last night.

I have to admit that the Bulls had some good fortune at the front end of the game because the Yankees’ re-habbing Ian Kennedy was on a low pitch count. It was three-up and three-down for three innings (six strikeouts). But he had to leave and Kei Igawa came in. Now, I don’t want to say that the Bulls have got Igawa’s number, but back on August 15th we touched him up for five runs in one inning. Not quite the same last night, but when Igawa came on in the 4th Desmond Jennings got a single and Rashad Eldridge doubled him home to tie the game. It would be another couple of innings before Eldridge’s homer in the 6th put us ahead.

Good pitching and solid defense kept us in the game. A simply brilliant Johnson-Rodriguez-Dillon double play in the 2nd abruptly shut down a serious Yankees threat. If you weren’t there (even if you were) you need to see that play. Click over to the Bulls website and then click on the video highlights box and watch it. Back up and watch it again. Maybe again. Johnson flips ball with his glove behind his back to Rodriguez who barehands it and chunks it to Joe Dillon. Pretty, pretty, pretty. OK, watch it again.

Two more double plays ended the 4th and the 8th innings, although I guess the one in the 4th wasn’t exactly a double play. It was an out and an interference call for the second out. At any rate, the Yankees rarely got anyone into scoring position and when they did only once did they get home.

Julio DePaula and Winston Abreu have become one heck of a tag team. In the first game against Louisville DePaula came on in the 8th and held them, Abreu came on in the 9th and closed it out (no save, we were ahead by a good bit). In the third game, Julio came on with two outs in the 7th and a one run lead, kept things quiet through the 8th, and Abreu slammed the door in the 9th. In the deciding fifth game against Louisville, Julio came on with two outs in the 6th, handed it off to Winston with one out in the 8th, and Abreu got a save. Against the Yankees the night before last DePaula came on with two outs in the 7th and handed it over the Abreu to close out the 9th. And then last night Julio came on the in the 8th, ground out, single, double play. Abreu came on in the 9th, K, single, K, K.

Here’s the thing: Every win in the playoffs has been a DePaula/Abreu show at the end. But tonight my man Jason Cromer is on the mound and Julio/Winston may not be available (although I wouldn’t put it past Charlie if he needs them). I would really like to hear that we finished the Yankees off. So here’s hoping the rest of the bullpen gets a chance to show their stuff (assuming Jason needs it). Let’s wrap this up Bulls!

In the meantime, it has been a great year at the DBAP. They showed a fan appreciation video which, if they get it up on YouTube as they usually do, I’ll link to it. Nicely done and fun to watch on the way out of the park last night. It’s been great. Hope to see all of you again next year when the Bulls open their season by beating the Tampa Bay Rays.

Other commentary.

• Adam Sobsey’s look at the game.
• Chad Jennings came down from Scranton to do a story and several blog entries.

Joe’s Get Jolted

Game 144: Durham Bulls 3, Norfolk Tides 4
Season: 83-61
Wrap, Box

Just looking down from the stands you knew this was going to be a different kind of game. Henry Mateo was playing first base. Chris Richard, Justin Ruggiano, and Joe Dillon weren’t in the game. Leaning up against the rail was Mitch Talbot, of all people. Last seen in Durham when he won a game against Rochester on May 27th, Mitch sort of disappeared into disabled list limbo after that. At the plate the Bulls were all using the same bat, reportedly one of Jon Weber’s that he left behind. They got two home runs off of it during the game (Johnson and Eldridge).

On the mound for the Bulls was Jason Cromer. He was followed by Calvin Medlock, Mike Wlodarczyk (in his first AAA appearance), Joe Bateman, Julio DePaula, and Joe Nelson. Obviously, Charlie Montoyo was giving his bullpen some exercise, but not too much.

Because it was the last game of the year, it looked like the players on both teams were pretty much swinging away. Very few base runners and no runs at all until Johnson’s homer in the 7th. Then Bateman (the first Joe) came on in the 8th. Unlike previous Bateman experiences, this did not work out well. Pop up, single, single, single, walk, walk, pitcher change, double play. Two runs and it was 1-2. But Eldridge hit a home run in the 8th to tie it. Joe Nelson (the second Joe) came on in the 10th and got two quick outs. But a home run, single, stolen base, and a double made it 2-4. In the bottom of the 10th we got one back, but the Bulls couldn’t pull off their usual comebacks.

Nevertheless, the Bulls have one of their best years ever. We go into the playoffs in pretty good shape if these young pitchers hold up.

The loss of Chris Richard will be important. He was put on a plane to New York immediately after today’s game to fill a hole created by a season-ending injury to Carlos Peña. Guess he didn’t get there in time for the second game of the Rays’ double-header with the Yankees since he didn’t appear in the lineup (8:00 pm).

The radio reported that Jeremy Hellickson will start Game 1 against the Bats and Mitch Talbot will start Game 2, Jason Cromer Game 3, and next, well who knows? Maybe we won't need a game 4. If Mitch is in shape, he could make all the difference.

Gloomy Monday

(photo courtesy Durham Herald-Sun)

Game 110: Bulls 2, Indians 6
Season: 62-48
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

The Bulls team OPS last night was .679. The Indians was 1.021. You won’t win a game with that kind of gap, and we didn’t.

Interesting sky last night, but we didn’t get a drop of rain. Still, I could swear the wind was blowing just right for the Indians and a couple of our long balls died in midair, dropping into outfielder’s gloves.

Items of interest:

• Our near-major league starter, Wade Davis and our major league starter, Andy Sonnanstine, have given up six home runs in two days.
• Jon Weber tossed another bat into the stands (that makes seven by our count) and hit another double. His endorsement deal with Get-A-Grip Pine Tar may be in jeopardy.
• Fernando Perez is about to start rehab, which might mean that he will come through here for a couple of days. Hope so.
• Mitch Talbot is pitching for the Gulf Coast Rays, but I can’t seem to find a good link. If I do, I’ll add it.

All-Star Break — Pitching

(click on chart for larger image)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 + 2 = 7 - 2 = 5

(click on chart for larger image)

Who you gonna tell to go away?

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Moves

According to Stacy Long with the Montgomery Advertiser

• Chris Mason is going back to the Biscuits and
• Jason Cromer is coming to the Durham Bulls. Cromer was with us for two games at the beginning of the season and looked really good. My guess is that he’ll take Mitch Talbot’s spot in the rotation while Talbot’s on the DL.

Doubles, Doubles, Doubles

Game 46: Bulls 13, Redwings 2
Season: 29-17
Wrap, Box

Common sense did not prevail at Frontier Field last night. Top of the 9th. The Bulls were ahead 13 to 2, lightning was flashing out in the distance and the rain started pouring down. Kevin Oklabzija, a Rochester sportswriter captured the moment, “If no one sees the final outs of a blowout defeat, did the loss really happen?” After one out they pulled the tarp and there was an hour plus delay. According to Oklabzija, less than two dozen fans watched the final five outs. Game over at 11:35 PM, today’s game at 11:05 AM. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I’m going to have to start keeping an eye on umpire Damien Beal. He’s not dealing with a full deck.

The game story is Mitch Talbot pitching his way out of trouble in the second and doubles, doubles, doubles.

The Bulls hit eight doubles last night. Matt Joyce hit three. Henry Mateo, Chris Nowak, Jon Weber, Ray Sadler, and Matt Hall each had one. Then there was a triple (Albernaz), and eight singles for the Bulls best hitting performance this year. If you’re into quirky stuff, and I am, the box score reveals that our ghost catcher Alex Jamieson (guess he’s back from Hudson Valley) came in to pinch hit for Justin Ruggiano in the 9th (after the rain delay) and then in the bottom of the 9th stayed in to play first base. Nowak (at first) went to left field, Joyce (in left) went to right, Sadler (in right) went to center.

New guy shortstop Brandon Chaves went 4 for 4. Very nice.

Webworld

• Neil Solondz interviews Winston Abreu, and Matt Hall. Guess I now know why Matt Hall doesn't have much of a record. He just signed last year. A couple of interesting comments about coming to AAA.
• Fernando Perez writes about his songs [Thanks, Adam].
• Sixty Feet, Six Inches rhapsodizes about baseball.
• The Rays Party takes what seems to me to be an unkind shot at Joe Dillon.
• Adam Sobsey writes about the Bulls press box in the print edition of Indy Week (and online).

What a Rotation!

Game 40: Bulls 6, Iron Pigs 2
Season: 25-15
Wrap, Box

This time through the rotation (Talbot, Price, Davis, Hernandez and Houser) has been nothing short of spectacular. We’ve won 4 games out of the 5 and the one we lost was only by one run. Two of the starters (Davis and Hernandez) got wins (relievers Choate and Day got the other two, Childers took the loss). If you chart our pitching staff’s performance over the rotation, every game is better than the season average to date. Just great work on the mound.

And the hitters have been no slouches either. Joe Dillon got his first home run last night, Brignac, Joyce and Nowak all got doubles (Joyce got two). Durham leads the International league in home runs and doubles, is second in total bases, and has the league’s second best slugging percentage.

Webworld

• The Bulls GM has this cryptic comment in his twitter feed, “+@#” and *#@+;!“ just got called up to the bigs”. I don’t have any more information. Will post it when I do.
• In the meantime, Rays Index speculates as does DRaysBay.
• An Iron Pigs blog is really not happy with Phillies’ management.
• Rays starting pitching has been a problem this year. Rays the Stakes thinks Scott Kazmir should be sent down to the Bulls. John Romano of the Tampa Tribune thinks Andy Sonnanstine should be sent to the Bulls.
• If you are a fan of ACC baseball (I'm not), the N&O has a blog that is following the games.
  

The Bulls Are Back in Town

Game 30: Bulls 4, Braves 3
Wrap, Box
Game 31: Bulls 0, Braves 4
Season: 18-13
Wrap, Box

The Bulls are home with something of a new look on the field.

Tonight David Price is pitching against the Louisville Bats and Jonny Gomes. Louisville, the Reds AAA team, leads the IL’s West Division and has won their last three games.

Not much to say about yesterday’s game. We got outpitched. Mitch Talbot is having a lot of trouble keeping guys off base in his last two games. Yesterday his OBA was .435 with 6 hits and 4 walks in 5 innings.

A bunch of transactions while the Bulls were on the road. I don’t know anything about these guys yet, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. In the case of Matt Hall, though, maybe not.

• Matt Hall comes to us from the Rays’ Charlotte Stone Crabs (as in Port Charlotte, Florida). He started at 3rd in yesterday’s game and was 0-3. However, according to something I heard just this morning, he’s been sent back. Have no idea what’s going on there. Maybe Montoyo didn't like what he saw.
  
• Reliever Joe Bateman comes to us from Hudson Valley. To be honest, I’m not sure that’s even a real team. Maybe somebody can help me out with that. He pitched in the 9th yesterday and, according to the box score, struck out two looking and got the third out on a foul pop-up. Welcome to the Bulls, Joe!
• Joe Dillon comes to us in the Adam Kennedy trade from Sacramento in the Pacific Coast League. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t played this year. An infielder.
• Lastly, showing on the transaction list is Alex Jamieson going to Hudson Valley. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s actually gone anywhere. It does mean that he can’t play in a Bulls game. Look to see him warming up pitchers in the bullpen.

Webworld:

• It looks like Stacy Long came over from Montgomery to interview David Price. Price is supposedly working on a new pitch called a “spike curve”. Cork Gaines thinks that is the new name for the knuckle curve. Whatever works, I say.
• Justin Ruggiano talked about his three-homer game with Bulls broadcaster Neil Solondz. What I found interesting was his comments about Carlos Hernandez later in the interview. Not to put too fine a point on it, a pitcher who works quickly keeps the outfielders from getting bored out there.
• For more on the transactions (particularly Joe Dillon), see Adam Sobsky over at Indy Week.
  

WebWorld Notes

A couple of interesting items out on the web I thought Bulls fans might be interested in.

• The first is more for the fun of it. As we know, the Rays have been having a dismal time of it lately. Over at Her Rays, she finally gives up and lets them have it.

• Rays Index has invited his fellow bloggers to speculate about trades this year. Of interest to us is that a couple of Bulls show up on most of the lists: Reid Brignac, Mitch Talbot, Chad Orvella, and Justin Ruggiano.

• Adam Sobsey has a long article over at Indy Week where he has a very interesting conversation with Gerry Hunsicker, essentially the Rays #2 guy. He explains at least some of the thinking behind the Montoyo Merry-Go-Round.

Left out of the equation, as might be expected, is much consideration of the Durham Bulls as a baseball team. Too bad. Would like to know more about what Hunsicker thought about that. Is what’s best for the Rays by definition best for the Bulls?

Good chance we’ll see the rehabbing Rays right-handed reliever Jason Isringhausen (formerly of the Cardinals) in tonight’s game.

Finally playing someone out of the Southern Division! Look for Andy Cannizaro on the Clippers' bench. He played about half the season for us last year.

Games 15 and 16

Game 15: Bulls 2, Tides 8
Wrap, Box, Virginian-Pilot Story

The story of Friday’s Game 15 was the arrival of left-hander James Houser (still not showing on the Bulls’ roster on web site — need to work on that guys). First game of the year for Houser, so willing to wait a while to see how he shakes out, but not a good night. Four innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, 2 hit batsmen, 4 runs, 2 strikeouts, ouch. In the meantime, the guy he replaced, Jason Cromer, went over to Montgomery and the same day pitched 6 innings, 5 hits, no walks, 1 run, 4 strikeouts, and a win. Hmmm. We dropped out of first place in the Southern Division and Norfolk won its ninth game in a row.

Game 16: Bulls 4, Tides 1
Season: 11-5
Wrap, Box, Virginian-Pilot Story

It got better on Saturday. Talbot had a fine start, his fourth, going 6 plus innings (the best so far this year for a Durham pitcher). Winston Abreu was simply brilliant in relief. He faced 6 batters. He walked the first one, then struck out the next five! His OBA (opponent’s on-base percentage) is a stellar .184. Dale Thayer slammed the door. In eight appearances, he has yet to allow a run across.

And Elliot Johnson whacked the ball a couple of times, 3 for 4 with a homer, double, and 2 RBIs! Matt Joyce went 3 for 4 and is creeping up near .300.

The Bulls broke the Tides winning streak and are back in first place.

Webworld

Blogger/broadcaster Dan Hoard writes about the Pawtucket Red Sox. Here’s his piece on a recent game between the Pawsox and Rochester. Nice bit of writing. Note that one of the batters blown away was Jason Pridie, a former Bull. Gotta admit a 9-pitch, 3 strikeout inning is very special, as was the rest of the game (if you’re a Pawsox fan).

More Moves and More

First off, last night’s game:
Bulls 2, Braves 5

Box, Wrap, Gwinnett Daily Post

For the Bulls, game distinguished by catcher John Jaso’s unassisted double play (bases loaded, batter chips it into the dirt in front of home plate, catcher grabs ball, steps on home, tags the runner) and Mitch Talbot giving up 4 runs in one inning.

More Moves

Last year it seemed like every time we settled in for a new home stand we’d take a look at the starting lineup and turn to each other and ask, “Who are these guys?” Well, it begins to look like this year might be similar. Again the Montgomery Advertiser breaks the story, but I picked it up off Rays Prospects. Left-handed pitcher Jason Cromer is being sent to Montgomery and left-handed pitcher James Houser is coming to the Bulls. Cromer was Durham’s fifth starter with 2 starts, faced 36 batters in 10 innings, 1-0, ERA of 0.00, and OBA of .250. By a bunch the best record on the team. So why send him to Montgomery? Don’t know.

Who is James Houser? Here’s what I know, can only guess about the rest. He’s on the 40-man roster of Tampa Bay. He spent 2007 and 2008 with Montgomery. Spent a month on the disabled list (knee surgery) but pitched three starts at the end of the season. Where has he been this season? Don’t know. Maybe there’s someone out there on the web who does.

Over at Rays Prospects Kevin Gengler has a piece on the Bulls offense this year with an interesting comparison to the rest of the Southern Division of IL.

Opening Day

Bulls 2, Norfolk 1

Back at the park at last. Weather got cool near the end, but still it was a beautiful night and a decent crowd.

The team that took the field only had two new guys, second baseman Adam Kennedy and right fielder Ray Sadler. Interesting to see Jon Weber in a leadoff role. Think he did that a couple of times at the end of last season, but not sure that’s his forte. He did bang a double off the left field wall in the 5th, though. Also interesting to see Elliot Johnson at third. He handled his opportunities well.

Mitch Talbot looked just fine. Not quite sure why he’s had trouble when called up to Tampa, but I’m happy to have him here. Then Montoyo ran through five relievers, all of them, except Thayer, new to the Bulls — Childers, de Paula, Choate, Abreu, and Thayer. Childers walked the bases full in the 6th but got out of it and Thayer gave up a lead-off triple in the 9th but got out of that.

Reid Brignac got the first Bulls hit of the season, but Norfolk’s hot prospect Matt Weiters threw him out trying to steal second (on the other hand, Weiters overthrew second and gave the base to Ruggiano in the 8th).

I’m worried (maybe too early) about speed in this team. We’ll see.

Highlight of the night for quirkiness was Ray Sadler breaking three bats, two of them at one at-bat. David Fellerath at Indy Week chased it down after the game to discover that the bats were free, which leads me to a the something for nothing observation.

All of which would have been even more fun if I could have been listening to the commentary on the radio! I read the fine print when the Bulls announced their radio “partnership” with 99.9 a week or so ago, I even commented on it. But opening day without radio coverage? Guess if I’d have had an HD pocket radio (do they exist?) or maybe an iPhone to listen via the web, I could have had a connection. Sigh. Who wants to listen to a Canes game? It’s BASEBALL!