Showing posts tagged “Indianapolis Indians”
Adam Sobsey ·
5 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
3 Comments
DBAP/ DURHAM—There was a stretch of games earlier this season—it seems a long time ago now—when it felt like the Bulls were rallying for wins nearly every night. They almost appeared to be deliberately waiting until the late innings to go to work. They’d go into the ninth down three runs and tie the game with late extra-base hits before winning in extras; or they’d scratch the runs out by exploiting errors and hit batters; and then, of course, there was the game when Chris Richard hit two grand slams. Bulls’ fans almost grew to expect late-night heroics from their team.
But of course you can’t keep playing like that or you’ll need bypass surgery, and the Bulls have had few zero-hour comebacks lately—in fact, I can’t even remember the last one. In yesterday’s post, when I foolishly decided to promise that soon the Bulls would resume hitting homers and Dale Thayer would look like his early-season self again (maybe he should re-grow the mustache), I nearly added that it had been a long while since we’d seen ninth-inning fireworks from the team and so we would probably soon see another heart-stopper.
Guess what? Bulls won a heart-stopper.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Charlie Montoyo, Chris Richard, Denny Bautista, Desmond Jennings, Fernando Perez, Henry Mateo, Indianapolis Indians, injury, Jason Childers, Jeremy Hellickson, Joe Nelson, Justin Ruggiano, Mitch Talbot, Reid Brignac, Rhyne Hughes, Shawn Riggans, strikeouts
Adam Sobsey ·
4 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
Comment
DBAP/ DURHAM—In the sixth inning of the Bulls’ 6-2 loss to Indianapolis, the sky grew ominous, and thunder rumbled in the distance. In the press box, Dave Levine checked the radar, which showed an orange-red storm cell moving toward the DBAP.
The Bulls trailed, 3-2. They’d taken a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and second innings, and early on they looked poised to rebound from Sunday’s disheartening loss to the Indians. But Indianapolis touched Durham starter Andy Sonnanstine for single runs in the third, fourth and fifth—two scored on solo homers, and the other on a lot of bad luck. You got the feeling, as the sky darkened not only with the onset of night but the gathering of clouds, that the Bulls might be on the verge of erupting after 23 deceptively punchless innings so far. Sure, the Bulls had scored six times in splitting the first two games of the series, which isn’t awful, but they’d looked out-of-sorts at the plate and had choked repeatedly when they needed a big hit. In the series so far, they’re 5-29 with runners in scoring position.
And so the last of sixth seemed rather emblematic. Jon Weber and Shawn Riggans struck out—two of 10 whiffs on the night for Durham—but then Rhyne Hughes, the ubermensch of the moment for Durham, the team’s lone star in an overcast stretch, ripped his second double of the night. This was a boomer hit to nearly the same place as the fateful one he belted on Sunday, the one that plated one run less than it should have.
Here are Rhyne Hughes’s numbers during his 11-game hitting streak, which is the longest of the season by a Bull: 20-37 (that is a .541 batting average), 10 doubles and a homer (.892 slugging). You could complain that he has only drawn three walks during the streak, but do you really expect a guy to take pitches when he’s hitting like this?
But Hughes’s double amounted to distant thunder. Henry Mateo followed Hughes’s double by grounding out to first base and ending the inning. The storm passed without hitting the DBAP; the night grew heavy and still; the small crowd (just over 4,000) got very quiet and stayed that way for most of the rest of the game; and so did the Bulls’ lineup. They failed to score in the last seven innings, going 0-10 with men in scoring position in that stretch and stranding nine baserunners all told. Afterward, Charlie Montoyo used the word “horrible” to describe the Bulls’ current hitting with men in scoring position. Montoyo doesn’t resort to language that strong very often.
Heather worried after the game that Montoyo shouldn’t have called the current roster “the best team of the year,” which he consented to do when that headline-ready phrase was suggested to him two games ago. I agree not only with Montoyo that the Bulls have a sprained RISP right now, but also with Heather that comments like “best team of the year” are an almost sure way to jinx a ballclub. Still, I don’t think Bulls fans should worry too much about their team just yet.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Andy Sonnanstine, Brian Bixler, Chris Barnwell, Desmond Jennings, Indianapolis Indians, Jon Weber, Matt Joyce, Rhyne Hughes, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, Shawn Riggans, Tagg Bozied
Adam Sobsey ·
3 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
DBAP/ DURHAM—I had a bunch of really nice tomatoes that I got at the farmers’ market on Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon I made a sauce out of them that I planned to poach some fish in on Monday. Maybe some Spanish Mackerel. The sauce had mint in it, some young garlic, a little fresh cayenne. Simple, but really tasty.
After I was done with the sauce, I went to last night’s ballgame at the DBAP. When I got there, I realized I’d left my voice recorder thingy at home. Oh, well.
In the fourth inning of the game, I had one of those uh-oh moments.
The Indians had jumped on Durham starter Wade Davis—they hit three homers and two doubles off of him—and led 4-0 after three innings, but the Bulls began the last of the fourth with three straight singles off of the highly regarded Indianapolis pitcher Brad Lincoln. Two of those hits were little loopers, but of course loopers count. With the bases F.O.B., Chris Richard flew out to shallow center field for the first out of the inning. To the plate stepped Rhyne Hughes, the Bulls’ hottest hitter over the last ten games.
Here’s the uh-oh moment: Hughes hit a towering fly ball to deep left-center field. From where we sat in the press box, it looked very obvious that the ball would at least hit the Blue Monster if not clear it, and Hughes would either have a three-run double or a grand slam. But Justin Ruggiano, who had been on first base, must not have seen the ball well, because he hung around between first and second waiting to see the outcome of Hughes’s hit.
The ball hit high off the Monster in left-center field—had it been hit about 15 feet to the right, it would have avoided the Monster and been a homer—and Hughes had a double, extending his hitting streak to 10 games (which matches the longest by a Bull this season). Reid Brignac and Jon Weber scored, but Ruggiano had to stop at third base. It was 4-2 now, but it should have been 4-3. Elliot Johnson struck out and John Jaso grounded to third, Ruggiano was stranded, and the inning was over.
I thought to myself, I hope that doesn’t end up the difference in the game.
Guess what? It was the difference in the game.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Chris Richard, Desmond Jennings, F.O.B., farmers' market, Henry Mateo, Indianapolis Indians, Jon Weber, Jorge Julio, Jose Tabata, Justin Ruggiano, Mario Brothers, Media Pass, Neil Walker, Reid Brignac, Rhyne Hughes, SBG, Tagg Bozied, tomato sauce, voice recorder, Wade Davis
Adam Sobsey ·
2 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
Comment
DBAP/ DURHAM—The quotation above came from Charlie Montoyo after the Bulls blanked Indianapolis, 2-0—the team’s first shutout since mid-May—and we asked him about the latest swath of changes to cut through the Durham clubhouse (about which more later). There wasn’t much else for Montoyo to say after we prompted him, almost forcibly, and few managers will ever express anything but unequivocal enthusiasm for their team anyway, regardless of its construction; but anyone looking at the current roster would almost surely agree that the Bulls are looking better than they have all year—on paper, at least. It’s August, which on the Triple-A calendar means we’re in the home stretch, and the hurricane-season Bulls look primed for a charge down Thunder Road.
And they showed why last night at the DBAP, despite some difficulties. One was the sultry air. It was 89 degrees at game time, with oppressive humidity, and starter Jason Cromer (pictured) told us after the game that his shirt got soaked through before he even took the mound. The Iowa native mentioned Durham’s summer steaminess a couple of times. It’s surely hard to pitch when your body doesn’t feel like it’s moving free and easy. That’s no excuse, though, and Cromer wasn’t making one; he was just hazarding guesses why, after a pregame bullpen session that felt good to him and two pretty easy innings to start the game, he suddenly lost control in the third inning. (”I just fell apart,” he said. “I don’t know what happened.”) Cromer fell behind every man who batted in the inning, went to at least a two-ball count on each one (and four three-ball counts), walked two men, and needed 33 pitches to get out of it. Somehow, though, he kept Indianapolis from scoring. The key was inducing cleanup hitter Jeff Clement, the Indians’ newly acquired big-time prospect, to pop out to third on a 3-1 pitch with the bases loaded and one out.
And that was how the rest of the game went: Indians threaten to score, Bulls keep them from doing it.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays BABIP, Charlie Montoyo, Dale Thayer, Desmond Jennings, Elliot johnson, FIP, horse latitudes, Indianapolis Indians, Iowa, James Houser, Jason Childers, Jason Cromer, John Meloan, Jon Weber, Jose Ascanio, Julio DePaula, Ray Olmedo, Ray Sadler, Rhyne Hughes, Shawn Riggans
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 ·
23 Jul 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
They didn’t exactly round up the Indians, but the Bulls hitters went 3-8 with runners in scoring position and made the most of the opportunities they had in beating Indianapolis on Wednesday afternoon, 3-1. If you want to be a buzzkill, you could argue that Chris Richard went 2-3 with RISP and the rest of the team was an unimpressive 1-5; but that’s acting like Richard isn’t really part of the team. In terms of productivity if not batting average, Richard is probably the second-best Bull with men on base. He knocked in the go-ahead run yesterday in the top of the eighth inning after putting the Bulls on the board in the third. It was somehow refreshing that all three of Richard’s hits were singles—as were all of the Bulls’ seven hits—as if to prove (me wrong by demonstrating) that he and his teammates don’t have to hit home runs in order to win. They do have to keep striking out, though: twelve more against major league-seasoned Tom Gorzelanny and a pair of relievers.
Other ways in which Wednesday’s game (once again) proved me wrong:
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Brian Shouse, Chris Richard, Dale Thayer, Indianapolis Indians, Jake McGee, Jason Childers, John Jaso, Justin Ruggiano, Matt Joyce, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, Shawn Riggans, Wade Davis
Adam Sobsey ·
22 Jul 2009, 5:00 AM ·
2 Comments
I didn’t have a chance to listen to the Bulls’ 2-1 loss at Indianapolis last night, so I can only go by the game logs and Neil Solondz’s report; but it seems to me that the Bulls showed some widening of the holes in the fabric of their season to date. It’s hard to know whether these can be stitched up adequately enough to set this team up for the playoffs. Certainly the talent and the drive are there, but over and over again the Bulls lose for the same handful of reasons:
1) Not Enough Hits and Too Many Strikeouts. I wrote last night that the Bulls have trouble stringing rallies together unless the opposing pitcher helps out with walks; they just don’t put enough balls in play. Last night, they struck out nine more times (or 10, depending on whose count you accept) in six innings against Ian Snell, and managed just five hits overall in 33 plate appearances. That’s a little extreme—Snell has major-league stuff and a chip on his shoulder, and Indians’ closer Chris Bootcheck was an International League All-Star—but lately the Bulls seem to be hitting less and striking out more. Chris Wise over at WDBB has a chart and notes about the Ks.
2) Baserunning. And when the Bulls finally did get something going off of Snell, they ran themselves out of the rally. With two on and one out in the sixth inning and Durham down 1-0, Justin Ruggiano doubled to drive in Henry Mateo and move Reid Brignac to third. But Ruggiano rounded second base too widely and was thrown out trying to retreat to the bag. That SBG (the Bulls’ old nemesis) might have cost the Bulls the lead: there would have been two men in scoring position and one out. Instead, there were two outs with Brignac on third. Naturally, Chris Richard struck out. See 1).
3) Runners in scoring position. (Geeky stats advisory!) Last night’s 1-5 isn’t really that bad when you consider how few chances the Bulls had with RISP, but lately they’ve really struggled to hit in the clutch. By my count, they’re now 10-61 with RISP since the All-Star break. If memory serves, they had a similarly anemic stretch early in the season, too.
Oddly, a wider-angle lens on this stat shows minimal distortion between overall season hitting (.255) and RISP hitting (.251 as a whole, although the current roster is actually at a collective .249). But when you pick that apart, you see that the problem is the mean, not the average—or at least I think that’s the correct mathematical distinction (said the book critic, drowning in numbers). Six of the team’s hitters are batting under .232 with RISP; three are hitting above .315; and just three are between .232 and .315. That means that a clutch-deficient Bull is nearly always twice as likely to come to the plate as a decent or excellent clutch hitter. And one of those apparently excellent clutch hitters has deceptive numbers: Ray Olmedo is at .316 with RISP, but his slugging percentage in that situation is only .355 (that’s actually slightly higher than his overall mark). Not surprisingly, the clutchiest Bull is Jon Weber, who is a King-Kongly .345/.400/.707.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Boba Fett, Dale Thayer, Ian Snell, Indianapolis Indians, Jason Cromer, Jon Weber, Justin Ruggiano, Ray Olmedo, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, SBG
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
