Showing posts tagged “Calvin Medlock”
Adam Sobsey ·
23 Sep 2009, 5:00 AM ·
7 Comments
ESPN 2—And that’s that: the Durham Bulls took a 4-0 lead early, squandered it in the middle, and got help at the end to beat the Memphis Redbirds, 5-4, in 11 innings and claim the Triple-A Championship. It’s kind of amazing, really. (What’s really great is that the Bulls’ own Web site has the winning run in Memphis’s row in the linescore.) The Bulls, who are the first International League team to win the crown, are officially the best Triple-A baseball team in America, which by extension makes them the best team in the entire minor leagues. They could probably also take six of 10 from the Pittsburgh Pirates, if they had Winston Abreu—which they don’t, not anymore, but that’s for well after the jump.
Did you know, by the way, that 2009 is the Year of the Bull? A game report and some final thoughts follow.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Brandon Yarbrough, Calvin Medlock, Carlos Hernandez, Charlie Montoyo, Jason Cromer, Jeremy Hellickson, Joe Bateman, Julio DePaula, Memphis Redbirds, Michel Hernandez, Mitch Talbot, Oneli Perez, playoffs, Rashad Eldridge, Ray Olmedo, Sean Rodriguez, Triple-A championship, Winston Abreu
Adam Sobsey ·
22 Sep 2009, 12:00 AM ·
4 Comments
You can still watch a few highlights of the Bulls’ dramatic championship-clinching win over Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre on the team Web site. Those clips drive home (so to speak) just how crazy the last inning really was. Justin Ruggiano’s diving catch of Reegie Corona’s sinking slice down the left-field line was not only great per se; it also saved the game, because the ball was ruled fair (but was it fair?) by the umpire. At the end of that play, though, second baseman Ray Olmedo made a poor relay throw to first base in an attempt to turn a game-ending double play, a throw he shouldn’t have attempted at all under the circumstances. He was fortunate that after the ball sailed well to the left of first baseman Joe Dillon, it bounced straight off the railing where it was picked up by pitcher Julio DePaula, who was properly backing up the play and made a quick recovery of the ball in foul territory.
To top things off, DePaula himself nearly blew the game, catastrophically, on the very last play: Doug Bernier’s bouncer back to the mound was easy enough for DePaula to field, and you could understand his excitement in running the ball all the way to first base himself rather than make an easy toss to Dillon. But DePaula decided to make a big puddle-jump onto the bag, and the hop-step he indulged in slowed him down so much that Bernier, hustling all the way, nearly beat DePaula to first base. As it was, DePaula won the race by about three quarters of a step, but it was a scarily close play. Had Bernier been safe due to DePaula’s grasshopper insouciance, the game would have been tied. As it was, the Bulls are champions. (Champions! It’s really extraordinary, when you think about it, after all that.)
A few more notes follow on the game, the season, and the final ballgame to come. If you’re deplaning here, one thing to take away with you: Tyler’s, the pub/eatery right by the DBAP, is hosting a viewing party (the game will be televised nationally on ESPN 2) of Tuesday night’s Triple-A championship game between the Bulls and the Memphis Redbirds, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals and winner of the Pacific Coast League. Game time is 7:00 p.m. and it will be a lot of fun to watch it right by the ballpark, surrounded by Bulls fans, in a place that serves something like 712 different beers. Come on out, and do drop by my table to say hello, to buy me a beer or to pour one over my head. I’ll be the guy with black (going gray) hair, the black button-down shirt, the blue jeans, the bandanna, and Heather.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Allen Craig, Calvin Medlock, championship, David Freese, Desmond Jennings, Governor's Cup, Heath Rollins, Jaime Garcia, Jeremy Hellickson, John Jaso, John Rodriguez, Juan Miranda, Julio DePaula, Justin Hoffpauir, Justin Ruggiano, Memphis Redbirds, playoffs, Ray Olmedo, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, Triple-A championship, Tyler Greene
Adam Sobsey ·
4 Sep 2009, 5:00 AM ·
4 Comments
It has happened twice in the history of major-league baseball. Rennie Stennett of the Pittsburgh Pirates did it in 1975—with someone else’s bat, no less—and Wilbert Robinson did it, too, way back in 1892, when balls were made out of the hides of woolly mammoths and bats from the tusks. Seven hits in a nine-inning game. You probably won’t see this happen again in your lifetime. And you probably aren’t even very old.
Who knows about the International League, which has been around for 126 years? But I’d be willing to bet that Desmond Jennings etched his name into its record books and will stay there for a very long time. He came up seven times last night. He hit six singles and a double.
This is one of those records that requires you to be extraordinarily lucky and very, very good. (In Jennings’s case, being very, very fast didn’t hurt, either.) The beauty of it was that Jennings did it without overswinging: he hit three ground-ball singles up the middle; two more grounders that were knocked down by the shortstop, who was helpless to throw out the speedy Jennings; a solid line-drive to left; and then an opposite-field drive into the gap for a ninth-inning double. “I just went up there hacking,” he is reported to have said. Yeah, sure, Desmond.
It’s a very good thing, in retrospect, that the official scorer at Charlotte’s ballpark had reversed a call earlier, when he charged Knights shortstop Justin Fuller with an error on one of Jennings’s infield grounders. According to Bulls broadcaster Neil Solondz, Fuller had no chance to throw out Jennings. (I believe Solondz’s exact words were “You’ve gotta be kidding me” when the scoreboard flashed E.) A couple of batters later, you could dimly hear the scorer announce the error-to-hit change in the background. Had he not done so then, you’d better believe Bulls manager Charlie Montoyo would have been on the phone to the press box, in high dudgeon, immediately after the game. Fortunately for everyone involved, it didn’t come to that.
Oh: guess how many hits the entire Knights team had? Seven.
Oh, also, before I forget—because, believe it or not, there is so much to report tonight that losing track isn’t unthinkable—the Bulls clinched a playoff spot with a resounding 14-3 win over the Bristol Sox Charlotte Knights.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Bulls on the Move, Button Gwinnett, Calvin Medlock, Charlotte Knights, Chicago White Sox, Dale Thayer, Desmond Jennings, Fernando Perez, Gwinnett Braves, Jason Childers, Joe Bateman, Joe Nelson, Jorge Julio, Justin Ruggiano, Louisville Bats, Rashad Eldridge, record, Reid Brignac, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, Sean Rodriguez, seven hits in a nine inning game, strikeouts, Team USA, Wade Davis
Adam Sobsey ·
31 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
6 Comments
DBAP/ DURHAM—Yesterday I threatened to need an infinite number of words to describe Durham’s surreal, 10-9, 14-inning win over Gwinnett. Today, I could do it in two: Jeremy Hellickson. The 22-year-old Iowan, who has been excellent since his callup from Double-A Montgomery in July, had his best start of the season and led the Bulls to a 4-0 win over the Braves, extending the Bulls’ division lead to two games.
In eight sterling innings, Hellickson (pictured) allowed just one hit—a sixth-inning single by Brian Barton—walked Gregor Blanco twice, and struck out 12. On a night when the entire Durham bullpen was exhausted from its 14-inning slog on Saturday, Hellickson not only rested them but put his clamps on the game right from the get-go, serving notice by striking out the side in the first inning.
That was actually the easy part. You’ve probably seen countless highly touted young flamethrowers blow hitters away for a few innings and then melt down. Truly mature pitchers are steady, and as effective at the end of their night as at the outset. We’ve seen Hellickson break down a few times right at the end of his starts, allowing late homers just before departing. But last night, when Gwinnett got a two-out baserunner in the eighth inning, Hellickson’s last, he marooned the man there. (Not a single Brave reached second base.) That was a sign of maturation from a kid who seems already well beyond his years. His equanimity, his poker-faced ease, and his quiet resolve are as much the reasons for his success as his raw material.
Details on the best pitching performance by a Bull this year follow.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Bulls on the Move, Calvin Medlock, Charlie Montoyo, Fernando Perez, Gwinnett Braves, Heath Rollins, Jeremy Hellickson, Joe Bateman, Jon Weber, Rayner Oliveros
Adam Sobsey ·
17 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
DBAP/ DURHAM—Bulls’ manager Charlie Montoyo occasionally bemoans how much he’s forced to use his bullpen. It comes with the territory of managing a minor-league team, of course. Every parent club tends to be very, well, parental about its starting pitchers: limiting pitch counts, controlling innings pitched every year, giving extra rest to youngsters, etc. There is already chatter about how many more starts David Price will be permitted to make for Tampa before his workload is reduced; and in New York, Joba Chamberlain is getting extra days off between outings.
Starting pitchers are the child prodigies of baseball: rare and expensive, brilliant but sensitive, usually self-absorbed and easily disrupted, adept at something few mortals can even contemplate doing yet frequently unable to do it consistently themselves, the center of attention while they perform, sometimes arrogant or fussy, and often doomed to short careers. So they get babied.
In the case of Carlos Hernandez, a former hot prospect of the Houston Astros whom the Tampa Bay Rays are trying to rehabilitate at age 29, kid gloves have become essential. Hernandez has had a pair of major shoulder surgeries, and he was put back on a strict innings/pitch-count limit recently for fear of over-stressing his arm this year. Then the left-hander developed a mysterious wrist problem and has had to miss his last two starts, including last night’s.
That’s no big deal in the eyes of the front office—you want to protect your investment by whatever means necessary—but it is for Charlie Montoyo, who for the second time in five days had to fabricate a starter out of bullpen parts. A game like that is kind of like a bullfight with no matador: you can still kill the bull (or in this case the Yankee), but it will require much warier management of time and personnel, and the risk of someone getting gored is a lot higher.
Amazingly, the amalgamated-starter manufacture has worked swimmingly for the Bulls both times. On Tuesday, Calvin Medlock and Julio DePaula kept Gwinnett down for six innings before turning the game over to the Bulls’ late-inning mercenaries; but Jason Childers and Winston Abreu gave the game away. Then, last night at the DBAP, Medlock teamed with Joe Bateman (pictured)—who started his first game since 2004—to blank Scranton for five innings. Joe Nelson then played the Jason Childers role, sponsoring an unearned run (as Childers did on Tuesday) and then going Childers one better by chipping in an earned run of his own. It should be said in Nelson’s defense that the two hits he allowed were an infield trickler and an opposite-field bloop, and he was also cheated out of a pair of double plays: one on a blown call by the first base umpire, and the other on an error by Ray Olmedo. Nonetheless, Nelson departed with two outs in the seventh inning and the Bulls’ lead down from 5-0 to 5-2, i.e. from comfortable to sticky.
And then Winston Abreu came in. Abreu has been stepping on rakes all over the yard lately, allowing more runs in his last three appearances than he had given up all season before that, plus three home runs to the last eight batters he’d faced—after giving up just one homer all of 2009 before that. So there was every reason to be nervous when he spelled Nelson.
Abreu proceeded to retire the next seven Yankees in order for his 11th save of the year. The Bulls won, 5-2.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Austin Jackson, Calvin Medlock, Carlos Hernandez, Charlie Montoyo, Cody Ransom, Desmond Jennings, Elliot johnson, injury, Joe Bateman, Joe Dillon, Joe Nelson, Justin Ruggiano, Kei Igawa, Matt Joyce, Russ Ortiz, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, Shelley Duncan, sushi, Winston Abreu
Adam Sobsey ·
15 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
DBAP/ DURHAM—The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees have some big dudes on their team. Shelley Duncan: 6-foot-5, 225 pounds. Chris Stewart: 6-foot-4, 210 (that’s really tall for a catcher). Their starter last night, Ivan Nova: 6-foot-4, 210. They have another starting pitcher who is 6-foot-8, 250, and two relievers who between them are nearly 13 feet tall and weigh 520 pounds. And these are all official, listed weights. You probably know what that means.
The Bulls, by contrast, got littler. Rehabbing second baseman Akinori Iwamura, who made his first appearance last night, is 5-foot-9, although he is deceptively stout at 200 pounds. Iwamura’s presence temporarily pushed Henry Mateo to left field. The Zampano-like Jon Weber (5-foot-10, 190; only one of those numbers is correct) usually plays there, but Mateo is much slighter. He’s listed, rather optimistically, at six feet tall. If that’s his actual height, and if Ray Olmedo, who played third base on Friday, is 5-foot-11, then I am pleased to discover that I’m 6-foot-2 and never realized it all these years. Cool!
The size contrast between the Yankees and the Bulls showed last night in more ways than one. For one thing, it seemed appropriate that the Sumo wrestling diversion between innings ended in the season’s first tie; you just couldn’t ignore those two fat-suited contestants. But the main evidence of the weight on the field was the score, and it wasn’t anything like a tie: the Yankees flattened the Bulls, 9-5. Durham fell two games behind Gwinnett, which beat Pawtucket.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Akinori Iwamura, Andy Sonnanstine, Austin Jackson, Bulls on the Move, Calvin Medlock, Charlie Montoyo, Damaso Marte, Fernando Perez, Ivan Nova, Jeff Bennett, Joe Dillon, Jon Weber, Jonathan Albaladejo, Juan Miranda, Matt Joyce, Michel Hernandez, Ray Olmedo, Reid Brignac, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, triple play, Winston Abreu, Xavier Hernandez, Zach Kroenke, Zampano
Adam Sobsey ·
12 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
Comment
What was that I was saying about the Bulls’ latest roster changes leaving them with the best relief staff in the league? Including the game after which I wrote that, the Durham bullpen has allowed 12 runs, 11 earned, in 13 2/3 innings pitched over the last five games. That’s a 7.90 ERA. They’ve also allowed every runner they’ve inherited (four in all) to score.
Last night’s culprit was the normally dependable Winston Abreu (pictured), who came on in the eighth inning with the Bulls leading 4-2 and did two things he seldom does: give up walks and homers. In the eighth, he walked the first two batters he faced. A pair of singles scored a run, and Abreu got a huge break when Diory Hernandez didn’t see Brooks Conrad holding at third base on the latter of those hits. Hernandez and Conrad both wound up on third base, and Conrad had no choice but to put himself in a rundown and get thrown out at home. Abreu got out of the inning without further damage, but in the ninth Reid Gorecki hit Abreu’s first pitch for a home run. Wes Timmons lined out to third—apparently, Abreu wasn’t fooling anyone—and Brandon Jones put Abreu out of (or deeply into) his misery by hitting another homer, giving the Braves a 5-4 comeback win and sole possession of first place in the International League South Division.
Coming into the game, Abreu had allowed 16 hits and just one home run all year for the Bulls. He allowed four hits and two homers last night. The two walks he gave up represent 15% of his season total. Given that he issued both of those walks in his first inning of work, along with two hits—and needed 24 pitches to get through the inning—why was Abreu still out there in the ninth?
I have no idea, but speculation and a few notes follow.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Bullpen, Calvin Medlock, Desmond Jennings, Elliot johnson, Gwinnett Braves, Jason Childers, John Jaso, Jon Weber, Julio DePaula, Justin Ruggiano, Ray Olmedo, Reid Gorecki, Tim Hudson, Winston Abreu
Adam Sobsey ·
1 Aug 2009, 4:00 AM ·
1 Comment
Some late-breaking news first. Two significant additions to the Bulls’ roster: Desmond Jennings (pictured, right), who is one of the top prospects in the Rays’ organization, has been promoted to Durham from Double-A Montgomery. The 22-year-old Jennings was hitting .316 for the Biscuits with a .395 OBP and an .881 SLG. He had 25 doubles, eight triples, eight homers and 37 steals there, with 48 walks and 52 strikeouts. No word yet on a corresponding move off of the roster. One thing is almost certain, though: Jennings will make the Bulls better.
From the other direction, veteran reliever Joe Nelson has been demoted to Durham from Tampa. Nelson, 34, was acquired as a free agent during the off-season. He hasn’t been awful by any means, but he hasn’t been especially good either. The folks at DRaysBay are wondering if Nelson’s demotion means that Andy Sonnanstine will return to the major-league club. Makes sense to me: Sonnanstine has pitched well for Durham, and he probably has little left to prove in the minors. Nelson is sure to be the first guy recalled in the event of an injury. He, like Jennings, improves the Bulls.
All of those late moves overshadowed the Bulls’ 3-1 win at Scranton.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Bulls on the Move, Calvin Medlock, Carlos Hernandez, Desmond Jennings, Doug Bernier, Elliot johnson, Fernando Perez, Francisco Cervelli, Indianapolis Indians, Jason Childers, Jeff Clement, Joe Bateman, Joe Nelson, Ray Sadler, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
Adam Sobsey ·
24 Jul 2009, 3:30 PM ·
1 Comment
The Bulls finally come home tonight
A laggard post about the Bulls’ trip-ending,
10-inning, 4-3 loss last night at Indianapolis. The delay owes at least a little to the fatigue that comes from trying to cover a team that hasn’t played a home game in two weeks: you just lose focus a bit.
It would be easy to pin last night’s loss on a key player move: closer Dale Thayer was promoted to Tampa (more on that below), for whom he promptly pitched a fine inning of scoreless relief. Too bad nobody gave a rat’s a**.
Without Thayer, the Bulls’ late-inning solution was Julio DePaula and Joe Bateman. Even though it’s Bateman who has struggled with control (25 walks in 39 innings pitched), DePaula’s wildness struck the big blow in the eighth inning. With one out and the Bulls leading 3-2, he walked consecutive hitters, one of them batting .182 in AAA with only two walks in over 40 at-bats to that point. Bateman came on and gave up a game-tying bloop single. He then added a hit batter in sympathy with DePaula’s location problems, but escaped further damage.
In the 10th inning, though, still tied 3-3, Calvin Medlock relieved and allowed the go-ahead run on an errant toss that was either scored a wild pitch or a passed ball, depending on whether you believe Neil Solondz’s game wrap or the Minor League Baseball recap (safer to go with the former). Either way, the pitch wasn’t a strike, and the Bulls’ relievers gave this one away by simply missing targets.
But the hitters helped, too, tallying 13 hits but scoring only three runs. The game recap also contains a suspicious-looking home-plate-to-second-base double-play grounder by Jon Weber that has visions of an SBG dancing (or perhaps limping) in my head; but I didn’t listen to the game, so I’ll hang fire. Suffice it to say that there were plenty of chances, and that the Bulls didn’t capitalize on them. When a team is struggling, which the Bulls are—they went 2-6 for the road trip—yesterday’s is the sort of game they often seem to have: pretty good pitching (Andy Sonnanstine was sharp in his return, going six innings and allowing two runs), pretty good hitting, decent fielding; all of it good enough to lose.
Don’t forget, though, that the Bulls haven’t played at DBAP since July 9, a two-week stretch awkwardly divided by the All-Star break. This is a disjointed time and a disjointed team: lots of traveling, some unexpected player moves, and you never know who’s going to start the next game.
Speaking of that, youngster Jeremy Hellickson makes his first-ever Triple-A start tonight at at the DBAP (I repeat yesterday’s message, only in all caps: BE THERE). Hellickson is a highly regarded 22-year-old pitcher, and if the trade rumors win out and Wade Davis is dealt as the July 31 waiver-deadline approaches, Hellickson becomes the No. 1 pitching prospect in the Rays’ organization. As I said, be there tonight, not only because Hellickson’s on the mound, but because the opponent is Norfolk, whom the Bulls trail by just half a game in the International League South division.
Other things, mostly to do with pitching:
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Andy Sonnanstine, Calvin Medlock, Dale Thayer, Gwinnett Braves, Indianapolis Indians, Jeremy Hellickson, Joe Bateman, Julio DePaula, Justin Ruggiano, Norfolk Tides, SBG, trade, Wade Davis
Adam Sobsey ·
21 Jul 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
Durham Bulls’ broadcaster Neil Solondz must have used the word “depleted” at least eight times last night to describe the current state of the Durham bullpen. After the team played 29 innings of baseball over the last two nights, there were only three marginally rested relievers available to manager Charlie Montoyo in the first game of the Bulls’ lone visit to the Indianapolis Indians this season.
Unfortunately, the Bulls’ starter came into the game already depleted. The Tampa Bay Rays’ front office has decided that the left arm of Carlos Hernandez, who is just a couple of years off of major shoulder surgery (his second such operation since 2002), needs to be treated more gently. For the rest of the season, he’ll be restricted to five innings or about 75 pitches per start, whichever comes first, a regression to early-season limits.
Depleted or not, then, the bullpen would have to suck it up on Monday night in Indianapolis—and perhaps more than they might have guessed. Hernandez struggled with his control, running deep counts to a number of hitters and walking a couple of batters early, and he was finished after 3 2/3 innings with the Bulls trailing 2-0.
Wouldn’t you know it, Calvin Medlock was heroic in relief, tossing 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball. Medlock needed 21 fewer pitches than Hernandez to record just one out less. His only mistake was a hanging slider to Brian Bixler, who bixled it out of the park for a fifth-inning solo home run. Joe Bateman followed Medlock with a scoreless eighth. All in all, it was a very effective performance by the “depleted” bullpen.
It turned out to make no difference.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Calvin Medlock, Carlos Hernandez, Charlie Montoyo, Ian Snell, Indianapolis Indians, Joe Bateman, John Jaso, Matt Joyce, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, Tagg Bozied
