Durham Bulls Move to Moosic — to Stay

In a very smart move, the Durham Bulls will be playing all of their Governors' Cup games at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders field. See press release here.

This makes sense to me. Florence will surely make things difficult if not dangerous before the weekend.

Note that the RailRiders will honor your ticket if you can make the game.

Here's the biggest downside for me — other than not being able to be at the game — the RailRiders only drew 1,491 & 912 fans for the two games they hosted for the first two games of the Cup series. That doesn't bode well for anyone being there to witness our Bulls at work.

We will surely be listening/watching from afar tonight.

Waiting for Florence

Hurricane Fran Comes Ashore, September 6, 1996

Got to start worrying about Hurricane Florence due to arrive sometime this week.


Are we going to have a game 3 of the Governors' Cup on Thursday?

Durham Bulls Win First Round of Governors' Cup Playoffs

I can tell you that I'm really glad the Bulls aren't playing today (Sunday). I mean I would have had trouble getting to the DBAP with all the life that's intruding on my baseball watching ...

The other reason is, obviously, that the Bulls are going to the Governors' Cup Finals! And they are going in a moment when this team looks really, really solid. The pitching and defense are sound, especially the relief crew. 11 Mud Hens got left on base last night! The offense is not depending on the home run. More would be nice, only one has been hit (McCarthy in game 3).

They are getting two days off before Tuesday's game against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, who play in neither Scranton or Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees franchise plays in Moosic, Pennsylvania. Hats off to them for their run to the wild card and their 3-1 win over the team with the best regular season record in the International League, the IronPigs.

Coverage:

• Wrap
• IL
• Burlington Times-News
• Durham Herald-Sun, although illustrated with video of the opening day and an old Willy Adames event. How weird is that?

My big worry now is hurricane Florence. That critter is headed right at Raleigh ...

Bulls Go Ahead 2-1 in Playoffs

Wrap, Box

The Durham Bulls win last night was a very big deal. After a long, long trip back to Durham, they managed to stay focused against a very good and hard-hitting team. The first several innings saw a bunch of long balls hit out to the warning track, but Hu escaped with only one home run.

Meanwhile, McCarthy, Lowe, Refsnyder, and Wong provided the hits and runs for a win. Also notable was some very slick shortstop work by new guy Jake Cronenworth and seeing Austin Meadows get a very solid single.

And there was even a real newspaper reporter at the game with a real news story! Bob Sutton reporting for the Times-News.

Tonight should be fun.

Up in Allentown, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs were in desperate straits. After posting the league's best record and sweeping essentially all of the post-season awards, they were down 0-2 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. It took 13 innings before catcher Nick Rickles (a Stetson University grad I might point out) hit a walk-off single to keep the IronPigs in the running. Story. Nevertheless, the RailRiders have the lead.

While We Wait for Tonight's Game, Wonder What Happened To?

• Justin Williams (last Bulls game July 30): Ended the AAA season with the Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals), who are  in the Pacific Coast League championship playoffs.
• Jeremy Hazelbaker (last Bulls game, July 16): Had a decent rest of the year with the Rochester Red Wings (Twins) with an OPS of .716.
• Johnny Field (last Bulls game, July 18): Finished season with Rochester Red Wings (Twins) and was called up to the Twins.
• Curt Casali (last Bulls game, May 29): Became regular catcher with Cincinnati Reds carrying an OPS of .868! Congrats!

Local Coverage of the Governors Cup Run? Nah

I guess I get to indulge myself a bit with this blog, so indulge me in my rant:

Four teams are playing for the Governors' Cup, one of the oldest trophies in professional baseball.
Last night saw two games, both with their ups and downs and interesting moments. Three of those teams had solid coverage in their home town newspaper:
The Toledo Blade had a solid story on their Mud Hens' near comeback in the 9th inning.
The Allentown Morning Call raised concerns about the IronPigs falling 0-2 before the RailRiders.
The Scranton Times Tribune reported on the near no-hitter and the 2-0 lead of the RailRiders.

The Herald-Sun? Nothing, zilch, there's a baseball team in Durham? We haven't run a Bulls baseball story all year. Why start now?

The News & Observer? Oh man. It ain't basketball, or hockey, or Duke, UNC, or NC State. And Durham's just too far to go.

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

There, I feel a little bit better.

Oh. The Burlington Times-News covered the game.

Rays & Injuries Blow Up Bulls Roster

The Bulls are leaving soon for Toledo, Ohio and the first round of the Governors' Cup playoffs. If you tune in Wednesday to listen (or watch on MiLB TV), the team will look a bit different (as it did yesterday in the season's last game).

Call-ups

• Catcher Adam Moore got called up and then pushed aside (visa problems?)  for 
• Catcher Nick Cuiffo who started in Toronto on Sep 3
• Infielder Andrew Velazquez was called up and has had two, count 'em, two plate appearances as a pinch hitter

Those three had a lot to do with the Bulls getting to the playoffs. I don't begrudge them their opportunity, but I sure wish the Rays had waited.

• Jaime Schultz and Jose Mujica were called up as well. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Schultz. He is very likely a very good pitcher. But he has not been much of an asset to the Bulls (32 appearances, 35 innings, 2-1, 2 holds, 3 saves, 2 blown saves, 5.75 ERA). 
• To be honest, I didn't know Mr. Mujica was well-enough to play. He only made one appearance as a Bull (August 22) since May 5th. Must be some sort of rosterizing going on there.

Injuries

Much more worrisome is the list of serious and, I hope, not-so-serious injuries.

• Kean Wong (who certainly deserved a call-up before a couple of the guys who are now playing with the Rays) got hit on the elbow a couple of days ago and looked awkward in yesterday's game. 
• Brandon Snyder fouled a ball into the side of his knee yesterday and, although he stayed in the game, was certainly limping a lot.
• Rob Refsnyder did not play yesterday. Not sure of injury status
• Austin Meadows did not play yesterday. Also not sure of injury status.
• Christian Arroyo was placed on the disabled list a couple of days ago and won't be back.

So, the Rays have done some raiding of the Montgomery Biscuits.

• Mac James has actually been with the team a while. I did not explect to see him at 3rd base, though. With the Bulls grabbing catchers, however, my guess is that he will be the primary backstop in Toledo
• Jake Cronenworth was called up from Montgomery. He had a good day at bat and played shortstop Sep 3
• LHP Travis Ott made his AAA debut on Sep 2. It did not go well (3 walks, 1 hit batsman). But maybe ...

Likely to be more, but the Biscuits are also in their own playoffs, so more promotions may be tough.

What we can hope for is that the bus ride to Toledo does not lead to locking up of muscles, but rather some rest and recuperation. With all except Arroyo possibly at form and assuming that James and Pena can handle the catching, the Bulls are still in good shape.

So why am I haunted by the memory that the Bulls won their first AAA National Championship on a wild pitch/passed ball thrown/missed by two recently called-up players?