Showing posts tagged “Ray Sadler”
Adam Sobsey ·
9 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
2 Comments
DBAP/ DURHAM—It has turned into a rather dreary homestand for the Durham Bulls, who are a gloomy 3-4 and tied for the International League South Division lead with Gwinnett, which is somewhat comforting until you’re reminded that the Bulls should probably be at least two games up. They just lost a pair of games they should have won.
I was thinking, on the way to the park last night, that one reason for the Bulls’ middling results was that they hadn’t had a really good starting pitching performance during the homestand. The best was Andy Sonnanstine’s three runs in six innings on Tuesday night, which is really only decent, especially when you consider that he allowed nine hits in that game. It counted as a so-called “quality start,” but all it did was reiterate that “quality start”—which designates at least six innings and fewer than four runs allowed—is a poorly conceived statistic: a season of “quality starts” translates to a thoroughly so-so 4.50 ERA.
So it seemed that the Bulls were badly in need of a stopper-like start, even a dominant start, and it further seemed that Wade Davis (pictured, top) was the man to give it to them. He has been a bit inconsistent recently, allowing five runs in three of his last five starts, but in his usual fashion he always competed hard, and it seemed only a matter of time before his determination was matched by results. Sure enough, that happened on Saturday night.
But for the second straight night, the Bulls lost late, 3-2.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Charlie Montoyo, ejection, Jason Childers, Jhonatan Solano, Joe Dillon, Justin Maxwell, Kevin Causey, Marco Estrada, Matt Joyce, Michel Hernandez, R. J. Swindle, Ray Sadler, Rhyne Hughes, Russ Springer, Shawn Riggans, Syracuse Chiefs, Wade Davis
Adam Sobsey ·
2 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
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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 ·
19 Jul 2009, 5:16 AM ·
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The Eedge delivered for Durham
“This type of game is all about the late mistakes,” Bulls’ broadcaster Neil Solondz noted in the 14th inning of last night’s
3-2 Bulls win at Louisville. Solondz made that comment moments after Ray Sadler was picked off of first base: an S.B.G. of potentially dreadful consequence from which Sadler was held harmless when Elliot Johnson struck out to end the inning. But given Johnson’s night overall—more on that below—it’s easy to suppose that he’d have found a way to plate Sadler had Sadler managed to stay attached to his base.
The “type of game” Solondz was referring to was the very long, extra-inning one that might be dubbed the extraneous-inning game: fun as free baseball is, there comes a point when you can’t help but sigh “enough already.” It’s like too much drink: the fun wears off and you’re left with the hangover and vague memories of a wasteful evening. If you wake up to discover you’ve also lost the game in question, it’s a bit like realizing you didn’t go home with that cutie at the bar you were hitting on.
Or in the Bulls’ case last night, not hitting on.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Ben Jukich, Charlie Montoyo, Dale Thayer, Elliot johnson, extraneous innings, James Houser, Jason Childers, Joe Bateman, Jorge Julio, Louisville Bats, Matt Joyce, Ray Sadler, SBG, The Eedge, The Roodge
Adam Sobsey ·
17 Jul 2009, 5:00 AM ·
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That devious Rick Sweet. The Louisville Bats’ manager guided the International League All-Star squad to a 6-5 win over the Pacific Coast League All-Stars on Wednesday night in Portland, Oregon. In order to do it, he needed a big helping of Durham’s Dale Thayer, a late addition to the team when leading vote-getter Clay Buchholz declined to participate. Sweet summoned Thayer in the fifth inning. Two runs were already in, narrowing the score to 4-3 Internationals, and there were runners on first and third with just one out. On the very first pitch he threw, the unflappable Thayer got Alcides Escobar to pop out to right field, and the Colorado Sky Sox’ Eric Young was doubled off of first base to end the inning. Rally over. The IL scored twice more in the next inning, the PCL All-Stars never tied the game, and Thayer’s two-outs-with-one-pitch was the turning point.
Sweet rewarded Thayer for his heroic one-pitch effort by sending him back out for the sixth inning, too. Thayer worked around a one-out walk and held the PCL scoreless, throwing 1 2/3 shutout innings all told. This from a guy who wasn’t even supposed to be on the team.
But it was vital to Sweet that Thayer pitch plenty in Portland, and it had nothing to do with winning that night’s game, which was merely an exhibition. It had to do with winning the next one, which wasn’t. And although his Bats lost to Durham Thursday night, 4-3, Sweet’s ploy almost worked.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls all star, All Star Game, Chris Richard, Craig Albernaz, Dale Thayer, Elliot johnson, injury, Jason Cromer, Joe Bateman, Louisville Bats, Matt Maloney, Ray Sadler, Reid Brignac, Rick Sweet
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 ·
6 Jul 2009, 5:00 AM ·
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The most important inning of a baseball game in which one team jumps out to a big early lead isn’t the one when they score the runs. It’s the one right after that.
A few weeks ago against Pawtucket, the Durham Bulls struck for six runs in the bottom of the first inning and the ballgame looked like it was over early. But in the top of the second, Bulls starter Wade Davis allowed a leadoff home run to the PawSox’ Paul McAnulty. It certainly wasn’t Davis’s “fault” that the Bulls wound up losing that game—he led 6-3 when he left after six innings—but he gave Pawtucket a little glimmer of hope. They turned that glimmer into the Bulls’ sixth straight defeat.
Cut to last night at Charlotte—which actually plays, don’t forget, in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The Knights touched Davis for a run in the bottom of the third when rehabbing major-leaguer Carlos Quentin knocked a single up the middle to score Eider Torres. But in the top of the fourth, Justin Ruggiano quickly erased the deficit by lining an opposite-field home run off of Knights’ starter Lucas Harrell. Did Ruggiano’s homer rattle Harrell? He walked Chris Richard and Rhyne Hughes, and then Ray Sadler hit another home run, a startling tape-measure blast that gave the Bulls a sudden 4-1 lead. So far in the home-and-home series against Charlotte, the Bulls have scored 15 of their 18 runs via the long ball. They’ve hit 26 homers in their last 12 games and now lead the league again. Their record in those 12 games? 9-3. Take that, Small Ball.
What would Davis do with the lead his hitters gave him? Continue reading »
Baseball, Durham Bulls Carlos Hernandez, Charlotte Knights, Jason Childers, Joe Bateman, Jorge Julio, Justin Ruggiano, momentum, Ray Sadler, Wade Davis
Adam Sobsey ·
27 Jun 2009, 1:16 AM ·
2 Comments
Had you been listening to the Bulls radio broadcast via streaming internet audio right after the Bulls beat Toledo, 5-3, in 15 innings on Friday night, you would have heard a brief, muted conversation between Neil Solondz and his Capitol Broadcasting producer/ engineer, Beth Ellison. After Solondz and Ellison coordinated the postgame wrap plan, Solondz, who had sounded exhausted since I turned on the radio in the 13th inning, around 11:00 p.m., exhaled heavily and said, “Let’s not do that again.”
The first game of this series, which Toledo won, 11-10, went 13 innings, the night after the Bulls took an 11-hour bus ride to get to Toledo. The Bulls used seven pitchers (215 pitches) in that game, and they used six (246 pitches) on Friday. Four pitchers appeared in both games. In 27+ innings over the two games, they walked 17 men, hit three, and struck out 26. Julio DePaula, who got the win with three scoreless relief innings on Friday, threw 78 pitches combined in the two games.
Bulls hitters had 58 plate appearances in last night’s game. They had 12 hits, including two home runs, and struck out 14 times. Manager Charlie Montoyo made no substitutions among his position players. The nine starters played all 15 innings and committed no errors (although they did fail to turn a double play in the 14th when Henry Mateo bobbled Reid Brignac’s throw at second base). They were the beneficiaries of an extraordinarily rare Umpire’s Interference call in the 10th inning, which saved the Bulls from losing, and they threw out another potentially game-ending run at the plate in the last of the 14th, when Jon Weber gunned down Scott Sizemore trying to score on Clete Thomas’s hit—from right field, no less, where Weber rarely plays.
All in all, just another average day at the park for the heart-attack Durham Bulls.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Beth Ellison, Charlie Montoyo, Chris Richard, Dale Thayer, Fight Club, Jason Cromer, John Jaso, Jon Weber, Julio DePaula, Justin Ruggiano, Neil Solondz, Ray Sadler, RISP, Runners In Scoring Position, SBG, Steely Dan, Toledo Mud Hens, Umpire's Interference
Adam Sobsey ·
24 Jun 2009, 1:29 AM ·
2 Comments
I arrived home last night around 11:00 expecting to check the box score and game summary and post a few thoughts about whatever outcome I found there—but what I found was that the Bulls were still playing baseball in Toledo. They were in the 12th inning and fifth hour of action at Fifth Third Field, yet another new-old retro park that is named for a bank but reminds me a little of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, as if the Toledo stadium’s awkward moniker had something to do with a compromised and fussy legal ruling.
In any case, I tuned into the broadcast (which now has ads—did someone in the advertising dept. read my post during the Bulls’ previous road trip?) not long after Rashad Eldridge walked with one out in the top of the 12th inning off of reliever Ryan Perry, just demoted from the majors. Eldridge stole second and moved to third when catcher Dane Sardinha’s throw glanced off of Eldridge’s helmet and went into center field. Chris Nowak flied out to Brent Clevlen in what sounded like medium or perhaps even shallow-ish center field. Apparently Clevlen has a good arm, because Charlie Montoyo made the conservative choice and held Eldridge at third. According to the account of Bulls’ broadcaster Neil Solondz, Eldridge would have scored had he tagged up and went home: Clevlen’s throw was off-line. The Bulls didn’t score in the inning.
After the teams exchanged scoreless frames, Toledo won, 11-10, in the last of the 13th off of Dewon Day, in Day’s second inning of work. (Day was the seventh Durham pitcher of the night.) Clete Thomas singled to lead off and scored on an opposite-field double by Jeff Larish. Thomas and Larish, who have each spent ample time in the majors over the last two seasons, including this one, accounted for nine of the Mud Hens’ 16 hits and scored seven of the team’s 11 runs.
So, a wild one: the sort of game that you can’t really be upset about losing, since both teams had tons of chances, pitched poorly, pitched well, made errors, had big hits, had big chokes, and were probably exhausted long before it was over. The Bulls, don’t forget, endured an 11-hour, overnight bus ride just to get to this game after finally snapping an eight-game losing streak behind Scott Kazmir in a ballyhooed, high-intensity game at the DBAP on Monday night.
So is it uncharitable to pick at sore spots in Tuesday’s game, then? Yes, it is, but it has to be done. And to be fair, I will also shine the light on some of the bright ones.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Chad Bradford, Charlie Montoyo, Clete Thomas, Jason Childers, Jeff Larish, Joe Bateman, Jon Weber, Jorge Julio, Justin Ruggiano, Matt DeSalvo, Matt Joyce, Rashad Eldridge, Ray Sadler, Rhyne Hughes, SBG, Toledo Mud Hens, Winston Abreu
Adam Sobsey ·
23 Jun 2009, 12:57 AM ·
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DBAP/ DURHAM—Athletes will try almost anything to stop a losing streak. Now and then, though, they need help from above. On Monday night, the Durham Bulls got it, in the form of music.
Go to the DBAP a few times and you will hear the same songs over and over. When Justin Ruggiano steps up to hit, it’s the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” Jon Weber usually likes “Blinded By the Light.” Ray Sadler’s favorite is “Ay Bay Bay” by Hurricane Chris, and Dale Thayer enters from the bullpen to Bad Company’s “Rock and Roll Fantasy” (and now has groovy ’70s sideburns to go with his porn ’stache—rock and roll fantasy indeed). I can’t help giggling a little every time Chris Nowak strides plateward to “Disco Inferno.”
After a while, you get so accustomed to the players’ specific accompaniments that when you hear something different, it’s jarring. And so it was all night at the ballpark, because Matt DeMargel re-routed the flight plan in the cockpit. (My friend Heather says my metaphor is screwy and that I should be calling it Air Traffic Control; you’re probably right, Heather, but I’ve already gone too far with it and I can’t turn back now, the landing gear is down and… never mind.) DeMargel’s slumpbuster of choice, with the apparent blessing of the players, was 1980s hair-band heavy metal. Motley Crue. Warrant. Poison. Twisted Sister. Quiet Riot. Except when Justin Ruggiano came up to hit. He had requested “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club, which I suppose in its own way was a hair band, too.
Guess what? It worked! The Bulls won, 3-1.
It also helped that the Bulls had some rehabbing pitcher on the mound named Scott Kazmir.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Alex Montoyo, Charlie Montoyo, Clay Buchholz, Dale Thayer, Ebstein's Anomaly, Hair Bands, Jason Cromer, Jed Lowrie, Justin Ruggiano, Pawtucket Red Sox, Ray Sadler, Scott Kazmir
