Hitting the Ball

Game 35, May 10, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Lehigh Valley IronPigs	0	0	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	6	11	4
Durham Bulls	3	2	0	0	0	2	2	3	x	12	15	1

Season: 22-13; Home Stand: 2-3
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

This was a hitting and running game, and I missed most of it before I could get to a television in the 7th inning just as Lehigh Valley closed it up to 6-7. A glance at the team OPS for the game — .982 — tells you a lot about how things went.

Brandon Guyer seems to be settling into the leadoff spot, and he did his job getting on base five out of six tries with four hits (all singles), one hbp, one stolen base, scored three runs, and got a RBI.

Mike Fontenot got 3 hits in his 6 tries, scored a run, and  3 RBI.

Wil Myers hit a three-run homer in the 1st and picked up a 4th RBI when he reached on an error in the 6th.

And it’s always fun to mention a great game by catcher Craig Albernaz — who arrived back from Hudson Valley just in time to suit up for the game. (Note: that’s a lame attempt at humor. Albernaz never went to Hudson Valley. He was moved back on to Durham’s roster when Frank De Los Santos went on the disabled list.) In his first game since the no-hitter, Albernaz picked off a runner on first base, threw out a runner trying to steal second base, had two singles and a double while batting in the #9 position, and scored three runs.

Jake Odorizzi worked really hard, 101 pitches in 5⅓ innings. Steve Geltz had two balks called on him, which seemed to get him really upset. After giving up a triple, he shut down the Iron Pigs for the rest of the 7th and all of the 8th.

Outside the game —

• The new manager of the Iron Pigs is a familiar face, longtime Richmond/Gwinnett Braves manager Dave Brundage. 
• Chris Archer is back in the rotation. He’s to start this afternoon.
• Josh Lueke got in 1⅓ innings for the Rays last night. 2 Ks, no hits, no runs. Story, plus some speculation regarding how long he might stay, viz., the rest of the season.
• The Bull City Summer website went live recently.
• Norfolk lost, so the Bulls are now just one game back in the South Division.

click chart for larger version

Two Down!

Ouch! One more pitcher lost. At least we've got Craig Albernaz back. We'd been wondering about De Los Santos' situation given his last couple of outings.

ROSTER MOVES: RHP Josh Lueke recalled to #Rays; LHP Frank De Los Santos placed on DL; C Craig Albernaz reassigned to Durham
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) May 10, 2013

Lueke Called Up

It may have been that he impressed all the Rays’ executives who watched his two-inning save at the DBAP last night. Or it might have been the seven saves, two wins, 0.95 ERA (and even lower FIP of 0.78) over 14 appearances and 19 innings. Or just the fact that Brandon Gomes is going on the DL with a “right lat strain”. At any rate, Josh Leuke is on his way to St. Petersburg. Good luck.

In the meantime, choices among the Montgomery Biscuits relief corp do not look too promising. Maybe Marquis Fleming?

The Return of Rich Thompson?

Game 34, May 9, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals)	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	7	0
Durham Bulls (Rays)	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	4	7	0

Season: 21-13; Home Stand: 1-3
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

A nice crowd (8,000+) got to see a well-played baseball game. The Bulls didn’t get swept. One of our favorite guys, Rich Thompson, had a good night (mostly). And a guy who is looking to become WDBB’s favorite pitcher got his fourth win. A great evening at the DBAP.

Rich Thompson was supposed to have a day off. He’s not had a good year at bat, although he has been doing his usual exceptional job in center field. Last night, however, Wil Myers came out of the game not long after his first AB and Thompson took his place in right field. (Myers apparently had digestive problems.) Thompson’s double in the 5th set up Fontenot’s run in that inning. His base stealing set up his scoring on a wild pitch in the 8th. His very accurate throw in the 9th caught a Chief’s runner attempt to stretch a single into a double. Have to mention, however, that when he lost a fly ball in the lights (I think this was his first time in right field this year) letting the hitter get to third base, I was afraid he might become the goat. Didn’t happen. His batting average is finally above .200. All is right with the world.

J.D. Martin is really looking good. A glance at his minor league stats leads me to think that his not-very-good 2012 might be the exception. This year’s results are very much on track with the rest of his career. Also, I didn’t know he’d spent so much time with the Syracuse Chiefs (53 appearances over three seasons). Here’s hoping he stays in the rotation even if Mike Montgomery comes back.

Outside the Game—

• Cory Smith with the News & Observer has a nice feature on Jake Odorizzi. Odorizzi is scheduled to start against the Iron Pigs today.
• Norfolk continues to be extremely hot. They remain two games ahead of the Bulls in the South Division.

Today's Match Up

The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are the Triple A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. If you’re a Phillies fan this will be the only time this year that you will have a chance to see your future stars. They’ve got some terrific pitching this year. Update: Ooops! Got ahead of myself. ERA corrected. Not all that good after all.

May 10	W-L	RS	RA	Diff	BA	OPS	ERA
Lehigh Valley	14-19	147	166	-19	.249	.711	4.73
Durham	21-13	168	125	43	.262	.723	3.33

Ks Are Not King

Game 33, May 8	R	H	E
Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals)	5	9	2
Durham Bulls (Rays)	3	6	2

Season: 20-13; Home Stand: 0-3

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Durham Bulls’ pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts yesterday morning and afternoon. How is it that they lost the game? Well, it turns out that among the hits they allowed were two home runs and three doubles.

The 17 Ks were the most of any game this season. Alex Colome got 10 of them in his 5⅔ innings (and his fifth loss). Jeff Beliveau got three in only 1⅓ innings, and Kirby Yates got 4 in his 2 innings. If it weren’t for those pesky home runs and doubles …

Nevertheless, you can’t blame the pitching for this one. The Chiefs came into this series with the worst team ERA in the International League, 5.21. They are still the worst in the league at 4.83, but that modest improvement has come at the expense of the Bulls. If it were updated, yesterday’s hitting chart would show an even more negative trend. Opportunities to come back in 8th and 9th innings didn’t happen.

Meanwhile the park was seething with kids on the last of this year’s education days. I have mixed feelings about those days. Good idea, I suppose, if they were actually watching the game. Sure glad I’m not among the chaperones. Gotta be a thankless job.

Today is the last time the Bulls will see the Chiefs this year. The Chiefs lead the 8-game series 4-3. Here’s hoping the Bulls can even it up.

Except For That 7th Inning...

Game 32; Tuesday, May 7; Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham, NC

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals)	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	8	1
Durham Bulls (Rays)	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	2

Season: 20-12; Home Stand: 0-2

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Alex Torres had a terrific night, Frank De Los Santos did not. In fact, Mr. De Los Santos isn’t having a very good year. In 11 appearances he’s only managed 12⅔ innings. Last night he didn’t make an out. Have to wonder if something could be wrong.

Nevertheless, sure is great to see Alex Torres apparently beginning to live up to his promise. And Shelley Duncan got his first hits as a Durham Bull. Plus Leslie Anderson got a homer.

On the other hand, see the chart below showing the slippage in Bulls hitting over the last several games. Guess the stats geeks might call it “regression to the mean.” For us normal folks, let's call it a “slump”.

Outside the game —

• Tarp on the field at 8:30. Not sure I can cope with screaming kids waiting for the rain to stop.
• Could Aroldis Chapman throw a golf ball 16 giraffes high?
• New blog in the area, DNA of Sports, has a terrific story on Bulls reliever Steve Geltz. Kinda hard to figure out who the writers are, but it's a good story.
• A bit more on the DPAC deal with City of Durham.

click on chart for larger view

Blame It on the Rain or Maybe Just Maya

Game 31; Monday, May 6; Durham Bulls Athletic Park

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals)	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	6	2
Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	2

Season: 20-11; Home Stand: 0-1

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The last time the Bulls faced Syracuse’s Yunesky Maya (just last Tuesday) they really roughed him up — 5 hits for 5 runs. This time the Bulls never came close to figuring him out. The end result was the first Bulls shutout of the season. 

As regular readers know, many (most?) of WDBB’s opinions miss the point. However, last Friday’s post led off with a paragraph expressing our concerns about Jim Paduch. Things didn’t get any better last night. When Chris Archer couldn’t start, Paduch got thrown into the breach. Apparently, Montoyo had little choice in the matter. Let’s blame it on the weather. 

Let’s blame just about everything thing on the weather. I’m guessing that because of the rain the Bulls couldn’t take batting practice. Consequently new guy Shelley Duncan didn’t get any swings in. It showed. 2 K’s, 2 fly balls. The rain might have kept Archer from warming up properly or led to worries about, oh, everything. Maybe Myers wouldn’t have made an error or run into Bourgeois.

I confess that after 5 innings I climbed up to Tobacco Road to get a late supper. I watched most of the rest of the game from there. That meant that I got a slightly different view of the collision between Wil Myers and Jason Bourgeois in center field. That perspective leads me to what has to be labeled as pure opinion. For that play and for what we’ve seen so far this season, I’m unimpressed with young Mr. Myers. According to the Herald-Sun, Bourgeois and Myers were making nice to each other in the clubhouse, but from my view from up on the wall that ball was the center fielder’s without any doubt, not the right fielder’s. Myers had already botched the play in the 3rd inning that let a run score. And 2 Ks on the night. His .275 BA is unimpressive (6th on the team). Give him credit for 17 RBI and durability, he’s leads the team in game appearances. But he also leads the team in K’s, 37 of them. So, I’m not saying he won’t be a great ballplayer, he probably will. But seems like he’s pressing awfully hard and he isn’t, yet, a great Durham Bull.

After Bourgeois had to come out of the game, catcher Juan Apodaca went to first base, Leslie Anderson moved from first base to left field, and Rich Thompson moved to center field. In nine seasons as a pro, this was the first time Apodaca had ever played first base. In fact, the record shows exclusively catching experience. Wonder where he got the glove?

Outside the game —

• Catcher Craig Albernaz has been sent to “Hudson Valley”. For those new to WDBB and the Bulls, that means he’s off the Bulls roster and on the roster of a Rays short season team up in New York. But it doesn’t mean he’s gone anywhere. It was a paper move to make room for Shelley Duncan. As to why they moved Albernaz and not another ballplayer, ask the Rays.
• Only for the very strong of stomach. A video at Rays Index shows in graphic detail what one pitcher’s arm/elbow goes through throwing a ball. Baseball is not supposed to be a blood sport, but that video is really, really hard to watch and make me wonder a bit about what these guys go through just to entertain us.