Perfect Night For Baseball; Too Bad We ...

Game 141: Durham Bulls 6; Norfolk Tides 7 (10 innings)
Season: 86-55; Home Games Remaining: 2
Wrap, Box

You know things are going to be a bit odd when you come through the gate, take a look at the lineup cards, and see Bobby Livingston batting DH. Livingston? A pitcher? How come?

Probably a couple of reasons. The Bulls are short of position players (usually have 12, now have 11 on the list). Then Angel Chavez and Justin Ruggiano got banged up on Friday night. That meant the Bulls were down to a choice between catcher Kyle Holloway or a pitcher. Which leaves me with this image in my head (probably not fair, but it’s there) of Bobby Livingston jumping up and down on the bench, waving his hand and saying, “Send me in coach! Send me in!” I’m guessing he likes to hit and he’s spent some time with National League teams so he isn’t a complete stranger to the craft.

But that was before the game started. The oddness continued into the first inning when with just one out the Bulls were down 4-0, Ramon Ortiz had left the game, and Dale Thayer was taking warmup pitches. (Note: no word on Ortiz’ problem/condition).

After that it was a glass half-full/half-empty kind of game. I’ll take a mostly half-full look.

The Bulls went through five relief pitchers and they mostly did just fine. Notable was R. J. Swindle’s two innings. He looked a lot like the guy we were seeing until recently. Here’s hoping he keeps it up. Dale Thayer didn’t look all that good, but not bad either. Winston Abreu can’t go two innings. Charlie knows it. Winston knows it. But what else was he going to do for the 10th, put Angel Chavez in?

Well, that apparently was what he was going to do before the Bulls got within a run in the bottom of the 8th. Chavez was warming up to come in for the 9th, but then sat down and Winston Abreu started warming up.

New guy Kyle Holloway had his moment when he came in for Bobby Livingston (0 for 3, by the way), hit a double, then score the tying run in the 9th.

On the half-empty side of things, Leslie Anderson doesn’t seem comfortable at the plate or in the field. Did he really think he’d be playing for the Rays in September? Is that what’s going on? Hard to tell.

Nevin Ashley gets to be the goat since he was the catcher of record for the wild pitch that allowed the winning run, and got the last out with a runner in scoring position in the 10th.

Nevertheless, the Bulls did well to just get back into the game after that awful first inning.

Now, what are the Rays going to do about our lineup? Even if Ortiz and Shouse are moved off the current roster, there’s still only room for one pitcher, and that will need to be a starter.
The Biscuits’ loss last night put them out of the Southern League playoffs, but not sure who down there will be a help. But if there’s a choice, my vote is for defensive skills (let’s not give away a playoff game) among the position players and craftiness among the pitchers.

If you haven’t noticed, broadcasts of the games seem to have been switched to 99.9 FM for the last couple of days. And today’s game is at 5:00.

A final note about last night’s game:

Wasn’t that a wonderful night for baseball? Great crowd. Perfect weather.

Playoff Pitching — 1

If any reader of this blog ever had any doubt that baseball is a demanding sport, consider this:

Of the five starting pitchers who began the 2010 for the Bulls, four are on the disabled list — Heath Phillips, Virgil Vasquez, Carlos Hernandez, and Jeff Bennett (who ended up in Nashville in the PCL league where he is on the DL). The exception, of course, is Jeremy Hellickson. And we will mention in passing our favorite guy, Jason Cromer, who never really showed up this year.

Meanwhile, according to Adam Sobsey over at Triangle Offense, this is the rotation that Charlie Montoyo is looking at for the playoffs:

Richard De Los Santos, Ramon Ortiz, Brian Baker, Aneury Rodriguez, Bobby Livingston.

We’ve got decent numbers on three of those guys, so here are their charts. Once they get a few more innings in, I’ll put up what we’ve got on Ortiz and Livingston.

A bit of apples and oranges here in terms of how each player got to where he is statistically. De Los Santos has, by far, the most innings and the most starts. But they all have been relievers and starters this year. The curves show what a steady performer De Los Santos has been all year, while Baker has been much more erratic (sometimes in a good way). At the moment, Baker certainly appears to be on a slight improvement trend while Rodriguez is on a very slight downward trend.

Bye Braves, See Ya’ Next Year

Game 140: Durham Bulls 4; Gwinnett Braves 6
Season: 86-54; Home Games Remaining: 3
Wrap, Box

To be specific, on April 7, 2011. The first game of the 2011 season is at Gwinnett.

Over the years the Bulls have had a very competitive relationship with Gwinnett (née Richmond) Braves. This year has been no exception as the Bulls/Braves matchup ended very much in favor of the Braves at 9 games to 12. Here at WDBB we haven’t followed the Braves closely enough to make a guess as to why the rest of the season was not more successful for them. Certainly when they’ve been in Durham they have been a very good team (much like the Louisville Bats). Maybe it’s the Blue Monster.

Last night the numbers tell most of the story.

Bulls pitching gave up 15 hits (including 2 doubles and one home run), 4 walks, and only managed 6 Ks.

Braves pitching gave up 11 hits (all singles), no walks, and had 11 Ks.

Hard to win games with those kinds of differences. The Bulls did stay close, however, until the law of averages caught up with Jake McGee. (But for his first ever Triple-A run to be walked in? And for that run to be the difference in the game? That’s gotta hurt.) And then, of course, Brian Shouse gave up the insurance run.

Adam Sobsey's lengthy essay has some interesting thoughts on the season, with comparisons to 2009, and a look at AAA management, near the end of his piece. Also, he reports that Angel Chavez is OK. Very good news.

Their New Guy, Our New Guy

Game 139: Durham Bulls 6; Gwinnett Braves 7
Season: 86-53; Home Games Remaining: 4
Wrap, Box, Triangle Offense

I know that the differences between Bulls new guy, catcher Kyle Holloway and Braves new guy, third baseman Dan Nelson are probably greater than their similarities. But otherwise I’d have to spend time on how three members of the Bulls relief corps (R. J. Swindle, Dale Thayer, and Brian Shoushe) have put together six (two each) crummy appearances over the last couple of games. So let’s talk about the new guys.

Kyle Holloway is the ninth (!) catcher to put on the gear for the Durham Bulls this year. Although it is true that several of those put in very brief appearances (Albernaz - 1, Dillon - 1, Jaso - 3, Shoppach -2), the fact is that the Bulls have had problems at the position in 2010. Four or five is the norm. In addition, Mr. Holloway is ridiculously new to the game. His career began on June 20th. He had 73 plate appearances in professional baseball before last night, all in A or Rookie League. He teams up with Nevin Ashley who is the senior member of the Bulls catching corps with three games in AAA baseball.

So, how’d he do? Pretty good. At first it looked as if pitches were being called from the dugout. I’m not sure whether or not that continued since I got caught up in the game, but that makes sense to me. Two bases were stolen, but by the best base stealer in the International League, Gwinnett’s Matt Young. And Holloway threw Young out on his third try. At the plate he got a key double and scored a run in the Bulls four-run 5th inning. He worked five pitchers he’d never seen before, including catching 41 year old Shouse. Holloway is 22. Sort of like playing catch with your dad. Field of Dreams role reversal?

Darn good Triple A debut. More about Mr. Holloway at the Triangle Offense link at top (scroll to the end).

Gwinnett’s third baseman Dan Nelson was also having his Triple A debut, but his path was a bit different. He is 26 years old and has been banging around A ball since 2004, making it to AA just this year. So what did he do last night? In his second AAA at bat he hit a key three-run homer. He also made a couple of critical and very pretty plays at third base. He sort of won the game for the Braves.

As worried as I am about the Bulls catching situation, I looking forward to watching Ashley and Holloway over the next couple of weeks (as if I had a choice) and, as a fan of seeing guys get their chance, here’s hoping that Mr. Nelson keeps it up (just not in such a timely manner if he doesn’t mind).

Webworld

• The issue of who the Bulls will play next Wednesday is not yet settled, but I’m happy to pass on the word that if it’s the Louisville Bats, Aroldis Chapman will probably not be in the bullpen. Bulls fans will remember Mr. Chapman as the guy who plonked Dioner Navarro with a 102 mph fastball and hit Dan Johnson with one that came in at only 99 mph. Chapman is up with Cincinnati and seems to have gotten a little better handle on his pitches — two appearances, two innings, six batters, three K’s, not bad.
• RaysIndex has a link to a Desmond Jennings interview. Happy looking/sounding young man. Brings up the point that, due to the lack of local media coverage, we really don’t get to see the Bulls up close very often.
• When the players move, so do their wives/girlfriends.
• Her Rays visualizes the Rays “new toys”.

A Different Kind of Call Up

Here’s a question: When is Charlie Montoyo going to get called up?

The unthinkable is thinkable, as Xavier Hernandez’ departure demonstrates. Charlie Montoyo is probably going to depart some day. Why not try to get some thoughts out there for us all to worry about?

As readers will quickly notice, there’s a lot that I don’t know about how the process might work. So let’s see if we can make this something of a “plug and play” item. That is, I’ll put down some thoughts, leave some obvious holes, and folks can plug them for me — either by making a comment or by direct email, either way works. Just pick out one of the many “don’t know” statements below and jump in.

We know about players going to the majors, often enough for the first time in September. But when does a championship-quality manager go to the majors? Probably not in September, but he does eventually leave.

The basic circumstance is this: There really isn’t anything to be done in Triple A that Mr. Montoyo hasn’t done and done superbly.

• He has gotten the Bulls into the International League playoffs by winning the South Division Championship four years in a row.
• He has gotten them into the finals of the Governors’ Cup three years in a row and we are about to see how the fourth try goes.
• His team won the Governors’ Cup last year.
• He was just named International League Manager of the Year.
• The Bulls also won the “National Championship” last year. (Careful readers know I don’t think much of that title. Nevertheless, the Bulls did win the game and as much by good managing as much as by good play.)
• His won-loss record with the Bulls is 569 - 223 for a .568 winning percentage.
  

In addition to getting his teams into championships, Charlie has managed or coached several international teams, all-star teams, futures teams, etc.

That’s the teams, but minor league management has a lot to do with developing players. From the distance of where we sit in the stands, this also seems to have worked very well. Many of the Rays on the 2008 championship team and this year’s team worked for Montoyo before heading to St. Pete.

So you have to think that some day Montoyo is going to be packing his bag to leave Durham for greater challenges.

Just how does that work? The basic answer is that I don’t know. It does seem like the front line major league managers come from among the manager/coach ranks of other major league teams. So the obvious first step is for Charlie to get “called up” to a coaching (e.g., bench coach, third base coach) position.

Would that be with the Rays? Again, I don’t know how that works. I suppose that, like most folks in professional sports, Charlie is on a year-to-year contract. So I’d guess it to be unlikely he would jump ship in the middle of a year, but after the year is over, no idea.

He’s been managing in the minors for 14 years, and, I think, has been with the Rays for his whole managing/coaching career. So it would make sense that if he’s going to move up, it would be within the Rays system. What happened in Seattle this year is very unlikely to happen in the Rays’ system. Is there a process for moving up in the Rays system? Again, I don’t know.

I suppose the argument could be made, from the Rays’ point of view, that Charlie is making more of a contribution to the Rays by being in Durham that he would be able to make in St. Pete. And there’s quite of bit of merit to that argument, assuming that the compensation goes along with that view. If I were Charlie, however, I would suspect that that line of thinking comes mostly from folks trying to protect their jobs in St. Petersburg, not necessarily from those with his best interests at heart.

And you’ve got to think that money has something to do with it. Does Charlie make more running the Bulls than he would coaching the Rays? Again, don’t know.

Do coaches have agents? Don’t know.

Do coaches/managers shop around with different teams? Seems that way, but not sure about that.

One thing for sure: Charlie Montoyo is too young and too successful to stay with the Durham Bulls much longer without some really good reasons.

There you are. Of course, very unlikely we’ll see a September call-up. But will Charlie Montoyo be back for next spring?

Jump in, especially if you’ve got a good link that explains how this sort of thing works.

Finally, let me add this disclaimer:

I've never even met Mr. Montoyo. All I really know about him is what I see from the stands. And I like that a lot. If it were up to me, I'd like to see him stay for years to come. Who else develops great players and wins championships the way he does?

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.