Showing posts tagged “Charlotte Knights”
Adam Sobsey ·
5 Sep 2009, 5:00 AM ·
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In his last 15 innings, Jeremy Hellickson has allowed four hits and zero runs, with 21 strikeouts and two walks. In his last outing, a 4-0 win over Gwinnett at the DBAP, he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. In the first inning of last night’s 4-1 victory, he allowed a two-out double to Stefan Gartrell, then retired the next 16 hitters he faced. Thus Hellickson has no-hit each of his last two opponents for 5 1/3 innings. He left last night after seven shutout innings. He’s currently the hottest pitcher in the minor leagues, according to Baseball America, and the No. 2 prospect overall. (Notice who’s No. 1.)
The Bulls did nothing special at the plate last night, stranding 12 and going 3-14 with runners in scoring position. A night after his record-making 7-7 performance, Desmond Jennings went 0-5. The 1-2-3 hitters in the order for Durham were hitless in 15 plate appearances, with a pair of walks. The Bulls struck out 10 more times.
But it didn’t matter: Hellickson was awesome, and Charlotte is officially terrible now. The Knights scored their only run when Brady Shoemaker hit newly called-up Heath Rollins’s first pitch of the eighth inning for a solo homer. Rollins put another man on, and then Charlie Montoyo called in his executioner, Winston Abreu. Abreu struck out Keith Ginter to end the inning, but he broke his 11-inning hitless streak in the bottom of the ninth when he allowed a leadoff single to Gartrell. (If what we saw during Gartrell’s late-season promotion heralds things to come, watch out for him in 2010.) Abreu walked Mike Restovich, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Wilson Betemit. But Betemit rolled into a 3-6-3 double play to hose down the threat, doused for good when Abreu went back to his bag of clubs and pulled out another K-wood on Justin Knoedler. It was the last home game of Charlotte’s dreary season. They did fireworks at Knights Stadium anyway.
And there will be fireworks at the DBAP on Saturday night. If the Bulls beat Norfolk behind Rayner Oliveros, those pyrotechnics will be authentically celebratory: one more win will clinch the division title for Durham. Be there. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
Baseball, Durham Bulls Charlotte Knights, Heath Rollins, Jeremy Hellickson, Stefan Gartrell, Winston Abreu
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 ·
3 Sep 2009, 5:00 AM ·
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And just like that, right after a pair of ugly losses at home to their division rivals, the Bulls got healthy last night against the desperately depleted Charlotte Knights, 9-0. I didn’t recognize any of the last four names in the Knights’ lineup; they were all callups and patches on a roster that has been gutted by the parent club and Team USA. Gone are Joshes Fields and Kroeger, Tyler Flowers, Ehren Wassermann and especially Carlos Torres. Goodbye, fields, goodbye flowers and towers. We shall run roughshod over your abandoned realm (or something like that).
Doubt and resentment recently set in over at WDBB about the Rays’ lack of interest in supporting the Bulls; but the future for les taureaux is bullish compared to their cross-state rivals. The Bulls currently have six players who have been in the majors this season, including a seasoned catcher; they have not one but two closers; they have the franchise’s all-time home run leader; and they have two of the hottest prospects in baseball—plus they’re about to get a middle infielder who has 29 homers this season. There is no reason to panic, and probably also no excuse for the Bulls to lose even one of the three games down at Fort Mill. But on the other hand we’ll be seeing Calvin Medlock and His Flying Bullpen Brothers on Thursday night, so why indulge in predictions?
Desmond Jennings, basking in the glow of his Southern League MVP award—you know you’re having a good year when you can miss the final month of the season and still win the hardware—had the big stat night for the Bulls, with a homer, a triple, two walks, a hit-by-pitch (retaliation? I didn’t hear the broadcast, can’t say), and two stolen bases. His .898 OPS with the Bulls is actually higher than his Double-A mark of .881. It seems only a matter of time before he makes B. J. Upton expendable in Tampa.
Chris Richard, the aforementioned home run king of Durham, also had a nice night, belting his 24th homer and adding three singles, knocking in four runs. Justin Ruggiano had a pair of doubles. Jason Cromer tossed six scoreless innings to earn his seventh win and lower his ERA to a team-leading (among starters) 2.33. In his last 18 1/3 innings, he has allowed only three runs.
And Winston Abreu, trotted out in the ninth inning in order to stay sharp (I guess), struck out the side in order. Consider him sharpened. Abreu has not allowed a hit in his last 11 2/3 innings. He has 19 strikeouts and just two walks in that stretch. He’s completely automatic right now, and so good that you wonder how it could be possible that he was knocked around in the majors with Cleveland before the Rays welcomed him back to the flock. Gwinnett closer Luis Valdez was named the International League’s All-Star reliever, and I would love for someone to try to look me in the eye and tell me that Valdez deserves the award over Abreu. Because he has 26 saves? Even though he needed 36 save opps to get them? Please. Some stats are only indicators of context, not performance, and saves are one of them. People who looked at Valdez’s saves total and gave him the award based on that one number are lazy and narrowminded.
Elsewhere, Syracuse won and Gwinnett lost. The Bulls lead the Braves by a game in the division race; their wild card lead held at 4.5 games over the Chiefs (Braves and Chiefs? what is this, Indian summer?). Durham’s magic number for clinching a playoff spot is 2: any combination of Bulls victories and Chiefs losses sends them to the post-season. The Chiefs have played one game fewer than the Bulls, but they will make up their earlier rainout against Lehigh Valley. Even if the Bulls lose four of their final five games, Syracuse will still have to win all six of theirs. But why tempt fate? A couple more wins over Charlotte, which may have to consider changing its name from the Knights to the Russe, will begin a chorus of “Hell to the Chiefs.”
Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Charlotte Knights, Chris Richard, Desmond Jennings, Gwinnett Braves, Jason Cromer, Luis Valdez, Syracuse Chiefs, Winston Abreu
Adam Sobsey ·
21 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
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DBAP/ DURHAM—Out here in (oh, just go ahead and call it the) blogosphere, we were getting a little restless after the Bulls got crushed by the Charlotte Knights on Wednesday, 8-1. The team seemed flat and dull, listless and [adjective of your choice]. And when Charlotte scored a run in the top of the first inning last night with a bloop single that was so shallow it was actually fielded by Bulls’ third baseman Ray Olmedo, you couldn’t help but think, and now here comes the bad luck, too.
The Bulls took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but they got help in the form of a bases-loaded walk (to John Jaso) and left the pasture F.O.B., failing to get a hit with the sacks packed. In the top of the third, the Knights tied it 2-2 when Olmedo made two errors (16, 17) on one play.
And then the Bulls loaded the bases again in the bottom of the third inning. Here’s how they did it: walk, strikeout, flyout, walk, walk. Two outs, three on, zero hits. The Bulls seem to fail routinely in this situation lately. Jaso steps to the plate. With runners in scoring position this year he’s 10/73, which is tragically bad—it seems he needs bases-loaded walks to succeed when it counts. But what I haven’t bothered to look up is Jaso’s average with the bases loaded.
Later, after Jaso rips a bases-clearing, three-run double to the base of the left-center field wall, I will look up that stat, and discover that he is now 4/8 with nine RBIs when the bases are loaded. It’s now 5-2, Bulls. That’s plenty for Jeremy Hellickson and a pair of relievers. Reid Brignac adds a two-out, two-run single in the fifth, and the rout is on. The Bulls win, 10-2. After the game Charlie Montoyo says, “I’ve never been so relaxed in the ninth inning.” It’s the Bulls first easy win in a week and a half.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Akinori Iwamura, Charlie Montoyo, Charlotte Knights, F.O.B., Fernando Perez, Jeff Bennett, Jeremy Hellickson, John Jaso, Jon Weber, Ray Olmedo, Reid Brignac, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, Typewriter Tip Tip Tip, walks
Adam Sobsey ·
20 Aug 2009, 2:42 AM ·
3 Comments
DBAP/ DURHAM—”We had no pitching and no offense. It’s that easy.” Those were the first words out of the mouth of Durham Bulls’ manager Charlie Montoyo after last night’s 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the last-place Charlotte Knights, before we’d even asked him a question.
No argument from me. Andy Sonnanstine had his second straight poor outing; the Bulls left five men in scoring position in the first five innings and then put only one more runner on base for the rest of the game against four different Charlotte relievers; Joe Nelson came on in the seventh and served up a two-run homer to Wilson Betemit; and the normally reliable Calvin Medlock gave up an obligatory ninth-inning gopher ball to Mike Restovich, who now has four of his 16 homers against the Bulls, all launched to approximately the same spot on the concourse behind the Blue Monster.
All in all, one to forget. Some thoughts follow.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Andy Sonnanstine, Charlie Montoyo, Charlotte Knights, Daniel Hudson, Desmond Jennings, Gwinnett Braves, Henry Mateo, horse latitudes, Joe Nelson, Norfolk Tides, Ray Olmedo, Reid Brignac, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, Syracuse Chiefs
Adam Sobsey ·
19 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
DBAP/ DURHAM—I missed more than two innings of last night’s 5-2 Bulls win over Charlotte. I spent half an inning in the visitor’s clubhouse as part of the crowded media contingent interviewing the Knights’ Jake Peavy (pictured) following his four-inning, 67-pitch outing against the Bulls, his second rehab start for the Chicago White Sox, and another two innings waiting for that interview. It was much like the game that rehabbing Tampa lefty Scott Kazmir started for the Bulls a couple of months ago, when we were whisked down into the bowels of the DBAP for a mid-game interview with a pitcher.
Both times, I was happy to do this—it’s not every day that you get to talk to one of the dozen or so best active pitchers on planet Earth—but I have to say that I got very antsy in the administrative lobby while watching the ballgame on a television feed as Peavy threw a supplementary bullpen session. All that did was make me wish I was seeing the action firsthand rather than on a screen. I suppose that my reaction means that, for better or worse, I’ve become more interested in the fortunes of the Durham Bulls than I am about pretty much any other baseball being played.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Akinori Iwamura, Carlos Hernandez, Carlos Torres, Charlie Montoyo, Charlotte Knights, Chicago White Sox, Craig Albernaz, Dale Thayer, Daniel Hudson, Elliot johnson, Fernando Perez, Gwinnett Braves, Henry Mateo, injury, Jake Peavy, Jeff Bennett, Joe Dillon, Jon Weber, Justin Ruggiano, Matt Joyce, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, Wade Davis
Mike Potter ·
12 Aug 2009, 11:42 PM ·
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FIVE COUNTY STADIUM/ZEBULON The Carolina Mudcats are back for a short five-game homestand, and they have a very tough row to hoe.
Not only are they eight games behind the first-place Chattanooga Lookouts with a “tragic number” of 18 for elimination, but they’re taking on the best team in the league in the Birmingham Barons.
Rain has been falling for much of the afternoon, but an hour before game time it’s pretty obvious the field is ready to go. And for me that’s great news, since I got back home to Brier Creek at, yes, 3:20 a.m. the last time I was out here after the game started over an hour late and the Mudcats lost in 12 innings.
But there’ll be none of that tonight - at least not in the rain-delay department. The one bad thing that happens is that the Mudcats are about to take a 9-1 shellacking.
To my knowledge, tonight I am the only media guy in the park besides the Mudcats’ radio crew and Birmingham’s Curt Bloom, whom I am seeing for the first time since he was the Prince William Cannons’ announcer in the Carolina League in 1989.
And I know one more guy in the Barons’ clubhouse in hitting coach Andy Tomberlin, who played for the Durham Bulls in the late ’80s at the old park.
Time to grab at Italian sausage and see how it’s going to go.
Both starting pitchers, Carolina’s Luis Montano and Birmingham’s Matt Long (pictured), get off to a good start. Continue reading »
Baseball, Carolina Mudcats, Durham Bulls Adam Ricks, Andy Tomberlin, Birmingham Barons, Charlie Shirek, Charlotte Knights, Chattanooga Lookouts, Chicago White Sox, Chris Kelly, Christian Marrero, Cincinnati Reds, Curt Bloom, David Bell, David Cook, Dayan Viciedo, Jared Price, Javier Colina, Jim Gallagher, Logan Parker, Louisville Bats, Luis Montano, Matt Long, Matt Zaleski, Miguel Socolovich, Prince William Cannons, Ramon Geronimo, Ricky Brooks, Sean Watson, Southern League, Stephen Chapman, Winston-Salem Dash, Zach Ward
Mike Potter ·
9 Jul 2009, 11:47 PM ·
1 Comment
DBAP/DURHAM It’s the finale of the short three-game homestand between the Durham Bulls and the Gwinnett Braves, and since each has won one it’s the “rubber game” of the series.
It’s my last night in a three-game callup to pinch-hit for Adam.
The Bulls lead the International League’s South Division by a scant one game over the second-place Norfolk Tides, and a Norfolk win plus a Durham loss would put the league’s only Virginia team in first place by percentage points.
Good news for Bulls reliever Dale Thayer (pictured), who has been selected to the IL roster for the Triple-A All-Star Game to replace Pawtucket phenom Clay Buchholz and will be headed to baseball’s biggest game of that day for the second straight year. No explanation on why Buchholz isn’t going, but from where I sit the legitimate ones are either an upcoming stint on the DL or an impending promotion.
Anyway, he’ll be joining teammate Reid Brignac for the festivities on Wednesday night in Portland.
There’s a great crowd in the house for a non-weekend night.
The buffet is chicken tenders and fries and the media contingent is still a big larger than usual since Bob Sutton of the Burlington Times-News is in the house.
And baseball sometimes fools you. Gwinnett leads 8-1 going into the ninth and it ends up 8-6 as Chris Richard strikes out with the bases loaded to end the game. Continue reading »
Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Andy Mitchell, Atlanta Braves, Barbaro Canizares, Bobby Brownlie, Brandon Jones, Charlie Montoyo, Charlotte Knights, Charlotte Thayer, Chris Burke, Chris Richard, Clay Buchholz, Dale Thayer, Dave Brundage, Gwinnett Braves, Haley Thayer, International League, J.C. Holt, James Houser, John Jaso, Jonny Venters, Justin Ruggiano, Kelly Johnson, Lisa Thayer, Lucas Harrell, Matt DeSalvo, Mike Birling, Norfolk Tides, Pawtucket Red Sox, Reid Brignac, Reid Gorecki, Rhyne Hughes, Wade Davis, Wes Timmons
Mike Potter ·
7 Jul 2009, 11:21 PM ·
2 Comments
DBAP/DURHAM At the end of a 50-mile drive from Zebulon, I get to the place where I worked for 14 ½ seasons before being shown the door by The Incredible Shrinking Herald-Sun.
The Durham Bulls are back in town for a three-game set against the Gwinnett Braves after winning four of five in their two-city Independence Day weekend series with the Charlotte Knights. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the whole “Gwinnett Braves” concept, having seen Atlanta prospects and reserves from Tommie Aaron to Dale Murphy play at old Parker Field during my high school years in Richmond.
There’s a very good vibe around the Bulls, since manager Charlie Montoyo is back with the team after missing nine games to be in Los Angeles where his 21-month-old son Alex underwent a very successful surgery to treat a birth defect in his heart known as Ebstein’s anomaly.
The press box is crowded tonight as at least five different news operations are represented, with me of course pinch-hitting for Adam Sobsey for the next three nights. And the fried chicken buffet is out, with mac & cheese and corn and rolls and a tossed salad. At least I skipped the rolls.
There’s a promising pitching matchup, as Andy Sonnanstine is on the hill for the Bulls with rehabilitating Jo-Jo Reyes going for the “G-Braves.” Sonnanstine is the eventual winner as the Bulls survive a blooper-fest 8-3.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Add new tag, Alex Montoyo, Andy Sonnanstine, Atlanta Braves, Barbaro Canizares, Charlie Montoyo, Charlotte Knights, Dale Murphy, Ebstein's Anomaly, Elliot johnson, Gwinnett Braves, Henry Mateo, International League, Jason Cromer, Jo-Jo Reyes, John Halama, John Jaso, Justin Ruggiano, Kelly Johnson, Matt Joyce, Norfolk Tides, Reid Brignac, Reid Gorecki, Rhyne Hughes, Richmond Braves, Tommie Aaron, Tony Armas
Adam Sobsey ·
7 Jul 2009, 5:00 AM ·
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I don’t know why it took me until now to see the obvious symbolism of a team named the Bulls, but in assessing last night’s rip-snorting 6-1 win over Charlotte, I suddenly got it. The Bulls have now won 10 of their last 12 after losing 12 of 14: they are a team that is nearly always charging ahead or in full retreat. And in taking four of five games from the Knights in the annual intrastate, Fourth-of-July-weekend, home-and-home series, they dropped their North Carolina rivals deeper into last place in the International League South division, 10 1/2 games behind the front-running Bulls—who trail Scranton/Wilkes-Barre by percentage points for the best record in the entire league.
The Bulls have now belted 28 homers in their last 13 games, a pace that would surely set a record if they kept it up for an entire season. Overall, the hitting has carried the team lately; the Bulls have allowed 62 runs in those 13 games, or about 4.75 per game, which is neither great nor terrible. (Twenty-two of those came in just two games, it should be said.) Still, neither-great-nor-terrible is good enough by plenty when your team leads the league in homers and doubles, and is second in walks and slugging percentage.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Andy Sonnanstine, Carlos Hernandez, Charlotte Knights, defensive indifference, Elliot johnson, John Jaso, Ray Olmedo, SBG
