Runs!

Just had to put this beautiful chart up that shows the remarkable run production (and run prevention) of the Bulls so far this year. We have outscored our opponents 331 to 216, for a difference of 115 runs. That certainly helps explain our 34 and 24 record.

What about those guys down on the Bay awaiting the arrival of BP’s surprise summer gift? Not bad. They’ve outscored their opponents 296 to 207 for a difference of 89 runs. You can see that that the pace has leveled out some in recent days. Nevertheless, they are 37 and 20 for a not too bad record. You will also notice that they have only played 57 games even though they started the season earlier than the Bulls. Why is that? Well, players in Triple A ball simply work harder than the millionaires in the majors.

Bulls Return in Triumph

Game 58: Durham Bulls 12, Syracuse Chiefs 3
Season: 34-24
Wrap, Box

The Bulls are coming back on a high note. Even with the assistance of 11 walks, the Bulls did have 12 hits (3 doubles and 2 homers) to go with the walks in last night’s blow out. Note also that Richard De Los Santos has quietly slipped into place as the Bulls #2 starting pitcher.

This has been a very nice run. On the road the Bulls were 6-2 against what had been the top two teams in the International League’s North Division (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is now third, partially thanks to the Bulls). At 10 games above .500, we have the best record in the league and are 7½ games ahead of our nearest competitor in the South Division, Gwinnett. Tonight we go up against the Buffalo Bisons, the Mets farm team for our 17th straight game against North Division opponents. The Bisons just took three of four from the Norfolk Tides and are on a run.

The Bisons had an afternoon game in Norfolk yesterday, so they were in Durham reveling in the sights and sounds of Bull city before the first pitch in the Bulls/Chiefs game in Syracuse last night.

The Bulls have the best team ERA in the International League (3.27). And here’s a quirky one: The Bulls are 12th in team batting average (.279), but lead the league in OPS (.802).

Neil Solondz is calling the game for the Rays down in St. Pete tonight. I didn’t catch who will be calling the game here in Durham. Wonder if this is a tryout for Neil?

Carlos Hernandez is in line to start tonight. He’s coming off a win against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last Thursday. Tonight is also our first 2010 look at Matt Joyce and our first look at J. J. Furmaniak in a Bulls uniform.

Serious baseball geeks are watching the draft. Check out links to Rays Prospects, Rays Index, and DRaysBay in the sidebar if you want to follow — particularly Rays Prospects.

End of the Streak; Navarro?

Game 57: Durham Bulls 2, Syracuse Chiefs 6
Season: 33-24
Wrap, Box

The streak ended last night. Surely I am not the only person to notice that in the last Bulls loss the pitching lineup was Rodriguez, Cromer, and Baker; and last night’s pitching lineup was Rodriguez, Cromer, and Baker. And surely I am not the only one to notice that since Aneury joined the Bulls, and gave us two terrific starts on 20 and 25 April, he has had a tough time. Most troubling is his tendency to give up bases on balls, nearly one per inning the last two games. Unfortunately, Jason Cromer is not yet back in form, so we are going to have to live with this for a while.

Wonder if it is something about the park or the weather, but in the last three games Bulls pitching has given up 20 walks and Syracuse pitching has given up 20 walks.

About to get a new catcher?

Reporters and bloggers paying attention to that team down on the left coast of Florida are very impressed with John Jaso’s performance since his call up. So much so that since Kelley Shoppach got off the disabled list they’ve been speculating about what the Rays might do. One of the possibilities is to send their long time first string catcher, Dioner Navarro, to the Bulls. The last time Navarro saw the minors (not counting rehab) was a few games in 2006 with the Dodgers AAA Pacific Coast League team in Las Vegas. Rays Index’s take is here, and a longer piece is here. Would create problems with our lineup, but might be interesting to see him at work.

Durham Bulls — Road Warriors

Game 48: Durham Bulls 4, Rochester Redwings 2
Wrap, Box
Game 49: Durham Bulls 4, Rochester Redwings 6
Wrap, Box
Game 50: Durham Bulls 6, Rochester Redwings 0
Wrap, Box
Game 51: Durham Bulls 9, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 1
Wrap, Box
Game 52: Durham Bulls 3, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 4
Wrap, Box
Game 53: Durham Bulls 4, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 0
Wrap, Box
Game 54: Durham Bulls 11, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 3
Wrap, Box
Game 55: Durham Bulls 4, Syracuse Chiefs 0
Wrap, Box
Game 56: Durham Bulls 8, Syracuse Chiefs 1
Wrap, Box

Season: 33-23
Streak: W4

I guess we should leave town more often. Since last I updated the blog, the Bulls have won 9 games and lost only 2. They’ve got two more games to play up in Syracuse and then they are back in town this Tuesday playing Buffalo. So it’s a North Division couple of weeks with the Bulls playing five North Division teams in succession. Recently we’ve been doing a good job screwing up their won-lost records.

I see that Rays catcher Kelly Shoppach dropped by for a couple of games on his way back to St. Petersburg. He was 4 for 13 (all singles) in four games with 2 RBI.

Matt Joyce is back with us. He played in five games in the beginning of the year, all out of town, so we have not yet seen Matt. He’s 4 for 18 since his return. Matt (along with other Bulls) is being mentioned as a call up for the injured Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett (hamstring).

Rashad Eldridge was sent to Montgomery to make room for Joyce. That seems to be his role (moving back and forth from Durham to Montgomery).

In the May 31 game against the Yankees, R.J. Swindle gave up his first base on balls since joining the Bulls (8 appearances, 11 innings).

Jeremy Hellickson was named International League Pitcher of the Week...again.

Jon Weber was released from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, apparently to clear the roster for someone coming down from the big city. Haven’t been able to find out anything regarding his possible signing elsewhere. If anyone does hear anything, please let me know and I’ll put it up. Got to think there’s another team that needs a guy like Jon around, even if he does seem to be having a bad year. [Thanks for the heads up Amy]

I’ll get around to updating my charts soon enough, but have to mention that the Bulls have scored 110 more runs than their opposition. That is simply an incredible number.

Other than All-Star balloting (which I'll get around to) and all the Cubans en route to the Bulls (which I'll also get around to), did I miss anything really interesting?

Dillon, Furmaniak

Working on the assumption that most of the readers of WDBB are not obsessive checkers of the Bulls transaction page, I thought I'd put this up.

Joe Dillon has been placed on the disabled list. No guesses on how long.

J.J. Furmaniak has been called up from Montgomery. Furmaniak started the season on the dl, although he had a decent spring. Furmaniak has been around a while (stats), last season with Lehigh Valley. I think he is probably a decent second baseman, although I have to say that I prefer Elliot Johnson in that slot.

The Good, The Bad, The Odd

Game 47: Durham Bulls 3, Rochester Redwings 4
Season: 26-21
Wrap, Box, Indy Week

For a more linear view of the game, see Adam Sobsey in the Indy Week link. For me, I’m still trying to get over my disappointment in Jason Cromer’s first appearance. But, surely no more disappointed that Jason himself.

Good:

• Aneury Rodriguez. Although hitters were giving his pitches a lot of hard rides, they landed in the fielders’ gloves. A solid 5 ⅔ although he left a couple of runners on for Cromer.

• Joe Dillon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player crawl his way to home, but Joe did. After stealing second base in the 6th, Joe was dashing around third on an Angel Chavez single. Something went seriously wrong and he collapsed several feet from the plate. Sobsey reports that it was a hamstring and that Dillon will be out for a while. The only good is that he scored the run. Otherwise, everything else about the incident is not good.

Bad:

• Jason Cromer. Can’t sugar coat it. He came on in the 5th and got his batter out. In the sixth he loaded the bases with walks and left with one out.

• Angel Chavez’ error. Chavez was playing second base after the odd shuffle that resulted from Joe Dillon’s injury. Dan Johnson, who started the game as the designated hitter, move to third base and Chavez moved to take Dillon’s place at second. Although second isn’t his usual spot, he’s been there a couple of times this year. With the bases loaded he let a ball get by that resulted in two runs scoring.

• Joe Dillon’s absence. Joe has made a difference this year, and last. He’s gonna be missed. We have no idea when we will hear what about his injury.
  

• Fifteen strikeouts against the team with the worst ERA in the International League

Odd:

• Because the designated hitter, Dan Johnson, moved to third on Joe Dillon’s injury, the pitcher was eligible to come to bat. I’d like to think that if the game had not been at risk Charlie Montoyo would have allowed it just for the oddity of it all. In practice, Chris Richard came to bat as a pinch hitter in the 8th (he struck out).

• Catcher, baserunner, umpire and several others standing around home plate until Colina apparently hears the folks screaming at him and tags out the Redwing baserunner, who had apparently not touched home plate.

This is likely the last blog entry for a few days. We are off for a visit to one of the country’s most interesting institutions — the John C. Campbell Folk School. We think a lot of the place and have written about it previously. Although I will be able to track the Bulls and could probably make entries from time to time, seems like the whole point of going there is to get away from technology for a while.

Cromer; Rollins

It's official, per an email from Bulls' front office.

Heath Rollins has been assigned to Montgomery.

Jason Cromer is officially off the disabled list.

For those who were not with us for 2009, Jason was one of our stalwarts. A left-handed starting pitcher, Jason had 19 starts and put together a 7-3 record with a 2.25 ERA. He's been knocking around the minors for a good while, stats, but it seemed like he usually came through when needed last year. We here at WDBB were particularly taken with him and have been looking forward to his return. No word on when he will get his first start. My guess, and it is a guess, is in the next day or so.