Showing posts tagged “Scott Kazmir”
Adam Sobsey ·
21 Oct 2009, 4:00 AM ·
1 Comment
Apparently just discovering that they won the Triple-A championship a full month after it happened, the Durham Bulls are throwing a party tonight at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, from 6-8 p.m.
Highlights: The trophy will be on display, as will the International League Governor’s Cup trophy, which the Bulls also won. Bulls utilityman Elliot Johnson and first baseman Chris Richard—the latter is, don’t forget, the Bulls’ all-time home run leader—will be on hand to sign autographs (both players live in Durham in the off-season). The first 500 fans get early-bird perks, and everyone gets free hot dogs, chips, cookies and soda. You can also bring a glove and play catch under the lights. No word on whether you’ll be charged with an error if you drop a pop-up.
It’s only too bad that Scott Kazmir, who won one of the Bulls’ regular-season games this season, took the loss for the Los Anagram Gleans of Anywhoo last night. Otherwise, tonight’s party offers unalloyed good vibes. Spend your twilight at the DBAP and celebrate your champions.
Baseball, Durham Bulls Chris Richard, Elliot johnson, Governor's Cup, party, Scott Kazmir, Triple-A championship
Adam Sobsey ·
29 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
Maybe we misspelled his name when we Googled him
There’s often not too much to say about
11-2 routs like last night’s. The Bulls took an early lead and then systematically enlarged it, unimpeded by a 54-minute rain delay that ended starter Wade Davis’s night early. One night after tying the Bulls’ Triple-A franchise record for career homers, Chris Richard broke it. Matt Joyce and Elliot Johnson added round-trippers of their own (the
Tides have been out-homered 39-6 in their last 30 games!), the Bulls racked up 16 hits off of five Norfolk pitchers, the last of whom was second baseman Brandon Pinckney, and your local news is coming up next, thank you for staying up with us.
It was the Bulls’ fifth straight win, which kept them even with Gwinnett (who won at Charlotte) atop the International League South Division. Guess who comes to Durham for a four-game series on Saturday?
So the romp was a mere setup for the showdown we’ve all been waiting for, and as such was secondary to its surrounding weather, a complex and unpredictable collision of fast-approaching fronts and precipitations that will pass over the DBAP very soon. Details follow.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Akinori Iwamura, Andy Sonnanstine, Brandon Chaves, chokers, Chris Richard, Desmond Jennings, Gwinnett Braves, Jake McGee, Jason Childers, Jeremy Hellickson, John Halama, Jon Weber, Mitch Talbot, Norfolk Tides, playoffs, Ray Olmedo, Scott Kazmir, Team USA, trade, Wade Davis, wild card
Adam Sobsey ·
23 Jun 2009, 12:57 AM ·
2 Comments
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
Adam Sobsey ·
22 Jun 2009, 12:25 AM ·
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DBAP/ DURHAM—So much attention is paid to Father’s Day that it was easy to miss the other red letter stamped on Sunday: June 21 is the summer solstice. The ballgame ended right around 8:00 p.m., and there was still plenty of daylight left. It wasn’t fully dark until after 9.
But solstice or no, it’s getting late early, as Yogi Berra once said, for the Durham Bulls these days. Sunday was another dispiriting game, shadows creeping ominously across the infield as the day waned. Even though the Bulls mounted a late uprising, which failed due to catastrophically bad luck (more about that below), they never really seemed in it, losing their eighth straight game, 5-3 to Pawtucket. The loss dropped them two games behind first-place Norfolk, and in fact Durham surrendered second place to Gwinnett. They’re now third in a four-team division.
Here was the play of the game: In the last of the eighth, down two runs, the Bulls loaded the bases with one out. Henry Mateo came to the plate, patiently waited for a pitch he could hit (the selective Mateo saw 23 pitches in five at-bats), and then stung a line drive—right at Pawtucket shortstop Gil Velazquez. Velazquez gloved it and flipped to second base to double up Ray Olmedo, ending the inning and, for all practical purposes, the game. What looked like a sure game-tying single turned into the Bulls’ latest misery.
Naturally, the first question posed to Charlie Montoyo after the game was about that play. But Montoyo disregarded the prompt. He had something else on his mind.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls Charlie Montoyo, F.O.B., Henrry Mateo, James Houser, Joe Bateman, Luck, Pawtucket Red Sox, Ray Sadler, Scott Kazmir, walks
Adam Sobsey ·
22 May 2009, 11:55 PM ·
Comment
Other than Chris Richard’s three-run home run, his 10th—he now has the second most in the International League—the Bulls hitters couldn’t do much tonight, and Mitch Talbot got roughed up in a 5-3 loss at Lehigh Valley. Talbot permitted thirteen baserunners in five innings, and was probably fortunate that only a third of them scored. Ten IronPigs were left stranded, and not even Eumaeus could bring them home (there, I’m a book critic).
With Reid Brignac gone to Tampa, Ray Olmedo played shortstop, and Joe Dillon took over at second base, a position he had previously played in 62 games over 12 seasons in professional ball. Close enough, I guess. It’s probable that a Biscuit will rise from Montgomery to Durham soon.
Meanwhile, in Tampa tonight, Dale Thayer got his first major-league save in his inaugural appearance. Thayer pitched three innings in relief of Andy Sonnanstine, and allowed a meaningless ninth-inning run in the Rays’ 15-2 rout of their Citrus Series rivals, the Florida Marlins. The official scorer gave Thayer a judgment-call save, which is permitted by league rules if the reliever pitches at least three innings, finishes the game, and is effective in the scorer’s eyes. Thayer even got an at-bat, grounding out to the pitcher to end the top of the ninth. He didn’t strike anyone out and gave up too many fly balls, but still, three good innings are three good innings.
Brignac came into the game at shortstop when manager Joe Maddon cleared the benches late, and went 1-2 with a single and a run scored.
Although both newly-minted Rays did well tonight, there’s every reason to think they’ll be back in Durham soon enough once everything gets sorted out in Tampa (and particularly, in Brignac’s case, when interleague play ends). Nonetheless, it was nice to see them do well immediately after their call-ups.
When will they be sent down again? The answer to that question got muddied today.
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Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Andy Sonnanstine, Bulls on the Move, Chris Richard, Dale Thayer, David Price, Jason Isringhausen, Joe Dillon, Joe Maddon, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Mitch Talbot, Ray Olmedo, Reid Brignac, Scott Kazmir, Troy Percival, Wade Davis
