Players, Programs, Etc.

In remembrance of ... yesterday ... more moves.

• Jim Paduch has been sent to Montgomery. Punishment for finally having a good game? That's what happens when good things get said.
• Jeff Beliveau is coming back from wherever the Rays were this time (Cleveland) after not pitching again.
• Alex Torres (to have been tonight's starter) has been called up. He is pitching as I type this.
• Josh Lueke is coming back after a pretty good midnight special last night.

There are days when I think this stuff isn’t worth keeping track of. Why don't we just go to the game and see who shows up in a Bulls uniform?

Paduch Pitching; Bulls Banging

Game 55, May 31	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rail Riders (Yankees)	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	4	7	3
Durham Bulls (Rays)	1	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	x	8	14	0

Season: 35-20; Home Stand: 5-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Jim Paduch had by far his best game of the year last night. In fact, if it weren’t for those two pesky home runs by Rail Rider Thomas Neal, Paduch would have had a no-hitter through five innings and 3-hitter through six. The 7th didn’t go so well, with the RRs getting yet another homer and putting three more guys on base before he left the game for new guy Matt Buschmann. So the numbers aren’t great, but after all the criticism we have made of Mr. Paduch, we are happy to say that last night he looked just great. Well-done!

Please, please respect the streak. All the streaks. The team is looking simply superb. Three triples last night, by Jason Bourgeois, Tim Beckham, and Cole Figueroa. Three stolen bases, by Rich Thompson, Jason Bourgeois, and Brandon Guyer. A boomer by Brandon Guyer. And then Tim Beckham channeled Fernando Perez at home plate just to top things off. See the nifty video below.

Outside the game —

• If you don’t get to a game in this home stand, do what you can to get your hands on a program. It has a terrific feature on Charlie Montoyo and his 500 wins. A couple of great quotes and a trivia-lover’s delight.
• I failed to bring a spare battery, so I was without a radio at last night’s game. And then the scoreboard went out. There I was with just my scorebook to follow the game. You get used to those aids: being able to check the pitch count, in game stats, etc. Even glanced up one time and noticed a side-arming RR pitcher. When did he come in the game? (Beginning of the inning as my wife informed me). 
• To be perfectly honest I can’t quite get my head around what they are up to over at Bull City Summer. That’s probably my problem. I sometimes can't figure out what I'm up to here. Essay on Tommy John surgery, with video, a bit creepy, and yet fascinating. Video trailer pretty nifty. There's an oddly self-referential feel to all of it: Watch me watching baseball watching me watching baseball. Is baseball art? Is it only art if artists are watching it? Is the art in the watching the watchers? Worth keeping an eye on or setting your RSS feed to keep up with it. That's what I'm doing.

Enjoy Tim’s dance.

Can't Tell the Players Without a Program

And sometime even with a program if it was printed more than an hour ago ...

Let’s see if we can get all this in one place

• Catcher Chris Gimenez has been put on the disabled list (hurt hand).
• Pitcher Chris Archer has been called up to the Rays and is expected to start against Cleveland tomorrow.
• Pitcher Jake Odorizzi is on his way back to the Bulls
• Pitcher Jeff Beliveau has been called up to the Rays. Let’s hope he gets into a game this time. Last time he just sat around and then came back.
• Pitcher Matt Buschmann is on his way up to Durham from Montgomery, joining fellow Biscuit Juan Sandoval. Buschmann is having a terrific year with the Biscuits. Nice to see someone else whimpering besides WDBB. 

Confused? You bet. Is Alex Colome going to come back? If so, when? Grumble, grumble, grumble.

And yet we wish the players well:

Chris and Jeff: Go forth and do good. Smite the Indians.

Matchup: Durham Bulls vs. SWB RR

Haven’t we been here before? And very recently? Well, yes, just a couple of days ago up in Moosic, Pennsylvania where the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are at home. The Bulls took 3 out of 4 up there. Since then the RailRiders (Note to marketeers — mashing to capitalized nouns together was passé about five minutes after the first time it was done, maybe fifteen years ago. Quit it, just quit it.) went 2-2 against Norfolk and the Bulls went 4-0 against Buffalo.

The Bulls hitting numbers have jumped upwards (yeah!) along with a modest increase in team ERA (boo). For the RailRiders, modest improvement in hitting and a similar increase in ERA. Time to roll out your favorite Dan Johnson story for the folks sitting next to you; rehearse the Cory Wade trivia question; and be ready to tell the story of Chris Bootcheck giving himself a concussion coming into a Bulls-Knights game.

May 31, 2013	W-L	RS	RA	Diff	BA	OPS	ERA
SWB	24-28	214	213	1	.247	.701	4.11
Durham	34-20	302	228	74	.284	.780	3.87

Sweep!

Game 54, May 30	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays)	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	0
Durham Bulls (Rays)	1	0	4	0	1	0	1	0	x	7	10	0

Season: 54-20; Home Stand: 4-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

J.D. Martin just doesn’t seem to get rattled, even against one of the best hitting lineups in the International League. He gave up a triple and a home run in the 1st inning, two runs scored. But after that he went on to finish the 2nd inning with a runner on base; the 4th with the bases loaded; the 5th with runners on first and second; and the 6th with runners on first and third. That is calmness in the face of adversity. He ended up with his seventh win (most in the IL) and Steve Geltz closed things out very nicely with a three-inning save.

Meanwhile Mike Fontenot was having a really hard day at the plate. The Bison’s rehabbing Blue Jays major leaguer Josh Johnson hit Fontenot the first two times he came to bat. Fontenot had his revenge with an RBI double for the Bulls’ sixth run in the 5th inning.

I don’t know if there’s something special about his bats, but when Leslie Anderson gets wood on the ball the crack is particularly loud. He had another good night at bat (and on the field), a RBI single in the 1st inning and a hope-killing home run (his seventh) in the 7th inning.

Tim Beckham’s been playing a lot of shortstop lately. In fact, the last time he played second base was way back on May 18. Have the Rays changed their mind about him? His ball-handling last night was very nice. Plus his very timely 2-RBI double in the 3rd inning was a critical hit for the Bulls.

A four-game sweep is a rarity. This team is looking really, really good. And are they fun to watch.

Outside the game —

• The Tides lost (to the SWB RailRiders), putting the Bulls in first place in the IL South Division. Hooray!
• Alex Colome had a great major league debut last night, getting a win. Stories and analysis here, here, and here. Congratulations. Now, come on back and keep on winning games for the Bulls.
• Chris Archer has been called up. Sort of a swap-out for Jake Odorizzi. Good for Chris. Huge challenge for Bulls coaching and pitching crew. Last night’s use of only two pitchers certainly helped, but it won’t get better for a while. Still a lot of whimpering down St. Pete way about needing relievers.
• Former Durham Bull, former Tampa Bay Ray, but most importantly, former New York Yankee, Hideki Matsui, is to sign a one-day contract with the Yankees so that he can officially retire in pinstripes. Good for him. 
• I don’t want to sound like too much of a cranky old man, but the ACC tournament sure didn’t help the DBAP’s turf. Lots of games got played and a lot of grass is missing. It’ll recover, but don’t envy Scott Strickland’s challenges over the next couple of weeks. Needs a rest (the grass, that is. Scott is indefatigable).

More Bashing

Game 53, May 29	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays)	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	3	1
Durham Bulls (Rays)	1	0	0	0	5	0	0	4	x	10	16	0

Season: 33-20; Home Stand: 3-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The Tampa Bay Rays continued their assault on the Durham Bulls pitching staff, but the hitters came through with their best offensive game of the season (as measured by OPS — 1.212!). And the reinforced bullpen did just fine.

Before the game, WDBB favorite Alex Colome got his first call up. He is scheduled to start today down in Miami. Good luck. Meanwhile Jake Odorizzi is on his way back. And there are expectations that the Rays may grab another reliever from the Bulls soon.

Reliever Juan Sandoval came up from the Montgomery Biscuits where he had been their closer. He probably expected to go into the bullpen. Instead, he got his first start since 2007. Sandoval was the feature in any number of stories during spring training. The 32-year old has been working his way back up through the ranks of professional baseball since losing an eye in an accident a couple of years ago. Montoyo’s plan was to serve up a platoon of relievers to perhaps challenge the Bisons with diversity. It worked. Holding those guys to just three hits is a major achievement.

Meanwhile, every Bull got at least one hit (Leslie Anderson had four). They batted around in two innings. Along with their 9 singles they had four doubles, two triples (!), and a home run.

Outside the game —

• Looks like Rays prospect Jose Sale has managed to single-handedly derail his career though social media.

Bulls Hitters

We last looked at the Bulls hitters on May 12. Pretty significant changes since then. Remember wRAA represents Weighted Runs Above Average and wOBA represents Weighted On Base Average. Both measures give a good glimpse of a player’s contribution to the team. What’s worth noting is that only one player’s numbers show much of a drop, Mike Fontenot. Nevertheless, the wRAA number is positive. Rich Thompson’s numbers are slightly disturbing; however, his 16 stolen bases and glove more that make up for it, especially since he seems to be coming out of a long slump (back on 5/12, his wRAA was -9.0, now it’s -7.5, so very improved along with his wOBA).

Player	Age	PA	wRAA	wOBA	Change
Vince Belnome	25	186	16.5	.445	.048
Leslie Anderson	31	191	7	.379	-.011
Wil Myers	22	214	5.1	.363	.011
Jason Bourgeois	31	179	4	.361	.058
Chris Gimenez	30	140	1.8	.349	.010
Brandon Guyer	27	178	2.2	.348	.006
Shelley Duncan	33	78	0.4	.339	NA
Mike Fontenot	33	153	0.2	.335	-.052
Tim Beckham	23	168	-0.6	.328	.021
Cole Figueroa	26	176	-2.2	.317	.026
Juan Apodaca	26	64	-2.1	.291	.078
Craig Albernaz	30	52	-1.8	.289	-.009
Rich Thompson	34	185	-7.5	.282	.042

Myers Mashes

Game 52, May 28	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	W-L
Buffalo Bisons	0	1	2	1	1	2	1	0	0	8	11	0	28-22
Durham Bulls	3	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	3	9	15	3	32-20

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, MiLB

Wil Myers’ two home runs last night should be enough to make believers of us all. I wasn’t able to make the game, but the radio descriptions affirming that the first shot exceeded that of Joel Guzman’s back when Diamond View II was under construction and then Charlie Montoyo’s comment in the Herald-Sun on the second one in the 9th ("That was the hardest line-drive home run that I’ve seen in many years."). Let’s give him his due. Myers must be the real thing.

In just listening to the game, however, it was certainly an odd one. The Bulls put on three runs in the 1st and yet go into their half of the 7th inning down 8-4. Myers boomed his first homer to make it 8-6, setting the stage for his tying shot in the 9th. Shelley Duncan singled (his third hit of the game). The Bulls swapped out runners, bringing in Jason Bourgeois. The Bisons changed pitchers. Bourgeois stole second base. That set up the game wining run on Tim Beckham’s single.

Big night for Vince Belnome: 3 hits (1 double), 2 walks, four runs scored.

The pitching? Well, could have been better, but I wasn’t there to watch it. As mentioned yesterday, this team can really hit. The Bulls have just been able to outhit these last two games.

Outside the game —

• Jake Odorizzi is being sent back for a pitcher to be named soon. Speculation is Alex Torres or Chris Archer. I’d add Jeff Beliveau to the mix.