Bulls Win; Gathright Remembered

Season: 25-32; Trip: 5-3; Bulls vs. Bats: 5-1; Standings
Box, Wrap, Herald-Sun

The 6-run 5th inning was really nice. I’m not sure, but I don’t think the Bulls have had an inning like that all year: ten players came to bat, six hits (3 doubles), two BBs. And before the 5th inning, Stephen Vogt and Leslie Anderson hit solo home runs in the 1st and 3rd.

Jim Paduch and a host of relievers got stretched out; however, except for a couple of errors by infielders Reid Brignac and Cole Figueroa, a very nice game. This is a lineup (with Chris Gimenez and Shawn O’Malley) that we hope to see a lot of for the next month or so. If I weren’t suspicious of the weakness of Louisville pitching, I’d say this looks very promising.

I saw the name in the lineup in the first game, but for some reason it didn’t sink in. Then I wasn’t able to listen to either of the last two games except intermittently, so I probably missed Patrick Kinas reporting on the situation. But for old-time Bulls fans one of our favorite players of all time was on the field for the Louisville Bats — Joey Gathright.

Joey Gathright ruled the base paths at the DBAP from 2004-2005, stealing 64 bases in those years. He has since been all over, including a few visits back to the DBAP in, as I recall, a Norfolk Tides uniform. The last three years saw him in Indie ball, then with the Tides, back to Indie ball and then with the Pawtucket Red Sox. He was just signed out of Indie ball by the Cincinnati Red and sent to Louisville. In every case, I’d bet, the major league club is looking for speed on the bases and the outfield, and a backup professional within easy reach. Since the Bats have already played in Durham this year we aren’t going to be able to see him play. Too bad. Even at 31 I’d guess he’s still a formidable ballplayer. For some good stories, do a search on "Gathright" in the search box at the top left.

Outside the game

• Elsewhere it was recently noticed that the Rays aren’t doing a very good job developing hitters. No kidding. We haven’t written much about that issue, but Rays Prospects has. And the few hitters that have done well as Bulls haven’t done well, or been treated well, by the Rays: Chris Richard, Justin Ruggiano, Dan Johnson, Russ Canzler to name a few. And none of those came up through the Rays system. Can anyone out there think of a proficient batter developed through the Rays system (other than Longoria, that is)?

Jennings Joins Winning Effort

Box, Wrap, Bulls vs. Indians: 2-6

Season: 24-32; Trip: 4-3; Bulls vs. Bats: 4-1; Standings
Box, Wrap, Courier-Journal

First let’s explain why the Bulls were playing baseball at midnight on Thursday night. Outside their divisions, the teams in the International League play four games at home and four away. If weather rolls in for the last game of the last series, then the teams will have no opportunity for a makeup. That happened to the Bulls last year and they only (only!) played 142 games instead of 144. The teams and the umps will go to great lengths to not let that happen. Hence on Thursday night the teams sat around the park for over two hours hoping to get a game in.

That also explains why I was able to (barely) hear the game as I was driving through a storm on the Raleigh beltline at 11:30. But have to say that I didn’t find the game all that interesting. The Indianapolis Indians have figured out how to beat the Bulls this year and the best news about the trip is that the Bulls don’t play them again.

Just down the road in Louisville, however, we find the one team that the Bulls have been able to defeat this year. Not that the Bulls are alone, the Bats have the worst record in the IL. Too bad, because over the years the contests between the Bulls and the Bats have usually been just terrific to watch and the two teams were routinely among the best in the league.

The Bulls lineup was fleshed out with rehabbing Ray and former Bull Desmond Jennings. He played a few innings in left field and went 1 for 4. Along with Jennings recent returnees Stephen Vogt (RF, 2 for 4) and Chris Gimenez (C, 1 for 4) were also in the lineup and did a good job of supporting Lance Pendleton.

Pendleton has become the Bulls best starting pitcher, by a bunch. In his last three starts, for example, he has gone more than 6 innings each and allowed only one run in each game. His ERA at 2.93 is the best of the Bulls starting pitchers. In his seven starts, the Bulls have gone on to win the game six times. All this from a guy who wasn’t even in the Rays system at the start of the season - - Pendleton came to the Bulls by way of the Sugarland Skeeters just after Bryan Augenstein went on the DL back in early April.

Outside the game

• Hideki Matsui hit another home run last night (sigh).
• Craig Albernaz gets a chance to chat about his pitching prowess.
• Interesting piece on the Rays locker room feeling.
• 22 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes. That’s how long it took Diane Van Deren to run from Clingman’s Dome to Nag’s head. That was two days faster than the previous record. Blog entries are interesting, particularly the ones from her run through Tropical Storm Beryl.

Doc Watson (1923-2012)

Photo by Peter Figen

One of the enduring pleasures of a baseball game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park is listening to Doc Watson and his son Merle pick their way through “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (from their album: Doc & Merle Watson’s Guitar Album).

Doc died the other day and we here in North Carolina (and the rest of the world) are going to miss him.

Just about every guitar player I ever met has at one time or the other attempted to emulate Doc Watkins’ flat-picking style (although he was no slouch at finger-picking either). Along with Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, he re-defined how to play the flat-topped acoustic guitar.

Most of all, he just made wonderful music. For those who are interested in his life and his music, a great place to start is Pinecone’s website, which has links to any number of tributes. A search on Youtube will find lots of videos. And for 99¢ you can download "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" from iTunes.

I hear rumors that Doc might be honored at the DBAP at some point during the next home stand. I hope he is. And I hope to keep on listening to Doc and Merle every 7th inning for a very long time into the future.

A Loss, Then a Win

 Box, Wrap

Season: 23-31; Trip: 3-2; Bulls vs. Indians: 2-5
Box, Wrap, Wrap (Indianapolis)

Jeff Salazar is one of the many Bulls that needs to show his stuff if Durham is to get above .500. He did that this afternoon with a bizarre 10th inning inside-the-park home run. As described in the wraps, the ball essentially parked itself underneath the bullpen bench and by the time the Indy outfielder got the ball out, Salazar was home.

Before that, however, new guy Shane Dyer had another ugly early inning, giving up four runs in the 1st, then did a fine job for the next four. In the Bulls 6th some razzle-dazzle base running (and a bad throw) scored one run. A single by Leslie Anderson brought in another. And a home run by Juan Miranda (!) brought in two more. Bulls pitching, Romulo Sanchez and Brandon Gomes, kept the Indians in check until Salazar’s heroics. Dane De La Rosa closed it out.

Monday’s game has little to recommend it. The Bulls left a bunch of guys on base. The old Alex Torres peeked out with 3 BBs in 1 inning (but no runs scored on him).

Outside the game:

• As we guessed, Mayo Acosta was sent to Montgomery. He did a good job. We will be seeing more of him I am sure.
• Chris Gimenez and Stephen Vogt were in the house. Vogt pinch hit for Albernaz in the 7th and stayed in the game at catcher.
• BurGi at Rays Prospects has done another of his analytical pieces, this one on Rays’ system pitching. Nice work.
• Ms. Van Deren is on Ocracoke Island!

The Bulls played an afternoon game and have an evening game tomorrow. That means that they can have a night on the town in Indianapolis, Indiana. Indulge me by taking on this true story about an evening I once spent in Indianapolis.

Our team was seeking a place to eat on a Friday night. We were hungry and didn’t want to wait in line. But it seemed like the parking lot of every restaurant we found was full. Finally we found a place that didn’t seem to be too busy and we were able to get a table immediately. 


It wasn’t until after we’d put in our orders to a not-very-efficient waiter that one of us put it together. 


It’s Friday night. Every other restaurant in Indianapolis is busy. This one is not. There’s a message there. The message came with our awful, awful meals. 


Moral for the Bulls: Busy is good.

Ruggiano to Marlins ... and Others

Justin Ruggiano at the Durham Athletic Park, May, 2011

Thanks to Orin Day we learn that former Bull Justin Ruggiano was traded to the Marlins and immediately called up to the big league club. Ruggiano had played at the Astros AAA club in Oklahoma City all year and was doing pretty well.

That led me to notice that another former Bull is in the Marlins system. Rob Delaney is pitching in relief for the New Orleans Zephyrs, the Marlin’s AAA team and having a pretty good year.

So then I checked on Russ Canzler, who is with the Columbus Clippers, Cleveland’s AAA team. Decent year so far and he’s on Cleveland’s 40-man, but hasn’t been called up yet.

Then off to Canada to see how Jon Weber’s doing. As was noted in the comments recently, he’s on a two-game suspension. Not hard to figure out why. He was the fourth man to be hit by pitch in a recent game and an “altercation” occured. He’ll miss the Winnipeg Goldeyes opener, but he’s hitting .415 (OPS - .967) over his first nine games.

Bulls Lose; Roster Shuffling

Season: 22-30; Trip: 2-1; Bulls vs. Indians: 1-4, Standings
Box, Wrap

Indianapolis hasn’t hit many home runs this year, even less than Durham, only 20 before this game. But then there was last night and they hit four of them. Overall, eight of the Indians' 12 hits were for extra bases, so that even with the Bulls’ big 4th inning, the team really never had a chance.

Outside the game

• Leaving the Bulls in time to play in St. Petersburg last night was rehabbing catcher Jose Lobaton. There he went into the game as the DH and went 1 for 2 with a walk and an RBI. Wish he'd hit like that for the Bulls. He certainly is not a loss since he only went 1 for 15, with no BBs and 5 Ks during his stay with the team.
• Hideki Matsui played in a Bulls uniform last night, but is expected to report to the Rays today. For all the publicity and ticket sales, Mr. Matsui was not particularly helpful to the Bulls either. he was 8 for 43 with an OPS of only .444. He did hit 4 RBI.
• In exchange for Matsui and Lobaton, the Rays are sending the Bulls catcher Chris Gimenez and everyfielder Stephen Vogt. While I am sure they are not happy about the transaction, I am thrilled. Both Gimenez and Vogt have seen some time with the Bulls this year. I think they are both terrific ballplayers and hope that they get to the Bulls as soon as possible.
• One Bull is going to have to get thrown off the bus. I’m guessing that Craig Albernaz will once again trek off to “Hudson Valley.” But Mayo Acosta might move down to Montgomery or back to the Stone Crabs.
• Chris Archer is starting tonight and has been the subject of a recent article that explains the pitches he throws..
• Lurking in the Indianapolis Indians bullpen is reliever Jose Diaz. Back when he went from AA to AAA baseball, at the urging of his coaches, Diaz lost 25 lbs to get in better shape. But his fastball dropped from 98 mph to 93. So he put the pounds back on. He now weighs in at 334 lbs. If he gets called up to the Pirates, he might be the biggest guy to ever play major league baseball. Terrific article in the Indianapolis Star.

Chart of the Day

If you hang around long enough, you get to pitch more innings, Dyer and Augenstein are likely to be catching up.

Up Into 3rd

 Box, Wrap

Season: 22-29; Trip: 2-0; Bulls v. Tides: 4-4; Standings
Box, Wrap

How weird is it that in a 10-inning game on Friday one of the weakest hitters in the Bulls lineup, Reid Brignac, hits the game-winning RBI and then on Sunday in a 10-inning game he hits another game-winning RBI? Thanks, Reid, the Bulls needed that; Bulls fans needed that. Keep it up.

Three wins in a row is very unusual for the 2012 Bulls, and they haven’t been 7 games under .500 in more than a month (April 23d to be exact). That happens to be exactly the same day that the Bulls dove into last place in the South Division. Today they rose up to third place a game ahead of Norfolk. We should not be surprised that Baltimore and Tampa Bay are tied for first place in the American League East and that Norfolk’s roster has been pillaged as much as Durham’s (although that’s hard to imagine).

The pitching in these two games was exceptional. In 19 innings Norfolk only scored 2 runs. Matt Torra had a very decent 5 inning outing Saturday (although it took him a worrisome 99 pitches to get through it) and Lance Pendleton had an exceptional 6⅓ inning start today.

Broadcaster Patrick Kinas went nuts over a play by second baseman Cole Figueroa in the Norfolk half of the 3rd inning. As reported, he went far to his right to stop a ground ball and start a double play that ended the inning. Since the bases were loaded, one out, the play saved at least one run, possibly two. And those were the last Norfolk base runners until the 7th inning.

Has Brignac turned a corner? Maybe. Since coming back in the lineup for the last four games, he’s gone 5 for 15 with 2 RBI and one BB. While that might not be stellar hitting, he’s raised his average by 21 points, and that is very promising. Almost as promising is that they have all been singles. For Mr. Brignac, I like singles.

Outside the game

• The Bulls are off to Indianapolis where they were not watching baseball today.
• Runner Diane Van Deren is over 600 miles into her nearly 1000 mile trek. The GPS tracking doesn't seem to be working, but it's good news to hear that Nash County's White Oak Hill Free Will Baptist Church treated her with kindness as she passed through.