Showing posts tagged “Dave Myers”
Adam Sobsey ·
13 Jul 2009, 12:39 AM ·
1 Comment
Even though I am psychic, I was half-kidding when I ended my last post with a borderline prediction that the Bulls and their bricolage of relievers would end their four-game losing streak and beat Norfolk on Sunday. Sure enough, Durham rolled, 9-2.
I was half-kidding not only because Julio DePaula + Calvin Medlock {not =} Andy Sonnastine, but also because the Bulls have suffered a big losing streak before and could easily have another one. But I was half-not-kidding for a few reasons: one, the Bulls hadn’t played terribly during the skid, as they had during the Horrible Homestand of mid-June; two, the hitting was still potent; three, in hindsight after I suggested the Bulls would win on Sunday, it became clear that a victory would balance so many accounts that it was virtually assured.
Also, dare I say that the Bulls needed this game?
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays all star, Calvin Medlock, Charlie Montoyo, Dale Thayer, Dave Myers, Elliot johnson, Henry Mateo, I Am Psychic, injury, Jake Arrieta, John Jaso, Jorge Julio, Julio DePaula, Justin Ruggiano, Mary Steenburgen, Michel Hernandez, Norfolk Tides, Ray Sadler
Adam Sobsey ·
4 Jul 2009, 5:00 AM ·
3 Comments
The Brussels Chamber Orchestra played "The Star Spangled Banner" at the DBAP.
DBAP/ DURHAM—Last night at the DBAP, the
Brussels Chamber Orchestra played the National Anthem—from sheet music, no less—before the Bulls’
3-2 victory, their season-high seventh straight. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the BCO’s elegant, classically European performance of the anthem brought down the packed house of 10,652. I had never seen that happen at a baseball game. The heartfelt, sustained ovation was deserved: the BCO’s rendition was the ballpark’s best of the season so far. It took an international, Europe-based collective to do the American tune full justice—and it was superbly miked, I might add. I can’t think of any reason not to tell you to go catch one of their
upcoming concerts in the area. The BCO’s performance set the tone for the evening, and the game that followed matched it: streamlined, clean, with discrete segments and tones. It was something close to Continental baseball.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Brussels Chamber Orchestra, Charlotte Knights, Dale Thayer, Dave Myers, Jason Childers, Jason Cromer, Joe Bateman, Reid Brignac
Adam Sobsey ·
3 Jul 2009, 5:30 AM ·
1 Comment
Earl Weaver: "I'll tell you what you can do with your small ball!"
DBAP/ DURHAM—Adepts of that scrappy, hustley, one-base-at-a-time stratagem called Small Ball are able to make a case for it because it looks sportier: Guys stealing bases, laying down sacrifice bunts, putting on the hit-and-run, dirtying their uniforms, and so on. There are certainly occasional moments when Small Ball is a good idea, but the vast majority of the time it isn’t. You can read endless articles about the war between the Small Ballers and the Big Ballers (I’d better stop before this starts to sound vaguely lascivious), so I won’t belabor the schism here; but the empirical evidence—i.e. history—supports the latter, whose philosophy was best summed up by the legendary Baltimore manager Earl Weaver way back in the days that seem comparatively Small Ballish compared to ours: “Pitching, defense and the three-run homer.” But what about bunting? “I have nothing against the bunt—in its place. But most of the time that place is in the bottom of a long-forgotten closet.”
Cue the Durham Bulls. They’ve now hit 20 round-trippers in their last nine games, including three in last night’s 8-6 win over Charlotte. The Bulls have won seven of those nine games, and six straight; it’s the first half-dozen-in-a-row for them since the first six games of the season. They remain unbeaten in the Age of Dave Myers, the hitting coach sitting in for Charlie Montoyo while Montoyo’s son recovers from surgery. If you want to know why the Bulls are winning right now, those homers provide a large portion of the answer; they are the grains, along with doubles, in the food pyramid of offensive nutrition. Or the meat of the Atkins Diet. Either way.
Coupled with Gwinnett’s win over Norfolk, the win extended Durham’s division lead to two games. That’s as far ahead as the Bulls have been since something like late April (please don’t make me try to find the actual date; I’m really begging you). For Gwinnett, which now stands just 2 1/2 games back, it was the second improbable late-inning comeback win in a row. Even more improbable, though, was that their starter was the 37-year-old John Halama, who seemed to be just coming into his prime with the Seattle Mariners during the second Clinton administration.
Anyway, guess what was the biggest play of last night’s Bulls game? If you said a three-run homer, you win a Jon Weber Grill! And last night the Bulls followed most of the rest of the Earl Weaver Formula as well:they got perfect defense, and enough good pitching from Andy Sonnanstine, making his first start for Durham since his relegation to the minors from Tampa. Sonnanstine last pitched at the DBAP in 2007, when he was on his way up rather than down.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Andy Sonnanstine, Charlotte Knights, Chris Richard, Dale Thayer, Dave Myers, Dewon Day, Earl Weaver, John Halama, John Meloan, Jon Weber, Jorge Julio, Justin Ruggiano, Luck, Matt Joyce, Small Ball, Winston Abreu
