Bulls (and Fans) Have Fun. Johnson DL Extended.

Game 34: Bulls 11, Bats 6
Season: 20-14
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun Story, Indy Week Story

On my way out of the park yesterday I encountered a young couple. I asked them how they enjoyed the game. One responded, “This was my first baseball game ever. It was fun.” The other said, “Yeah, he was having some trouble understanding the rules.” (Forgive me if I’m a bit confused about gender here. At my age I have trouble sorting out the tattoos, hair styles, and other adornments. Nice kids, though.) I responded, “Well, you got to see just about everything a baseball game has got to offer. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

This game did have it all. Walks, singles, doubles, a triple, and home runs; stolen bases, strike outs, bunts, sacrifice flies, a double play, and a manager getting thrown out of the game. About the only thing that didn’t happen was a batter getting hit by a pitch.

First, let me acknowledge the great night that Justin Ruggiano had. He showed sound plate discipline in drawing two walks; executed a perfect bunt (not sure that was a good call by pitching coach X. Hernandez, standing in for Montoyo, but it worked); a nice hard hit single; and a triple. A triple in the DBAP is hard to do. Unlike other parks, the DBAP doesn’t have any quirky corners for the ball to die into. So you’ve got to whack the ball really hard and a bit low to get it over the head of either the right or center fielder (ain’t gonna happen in left), and then run like hell. Ruggiano also stole two bases. Oh yeah, got 3 RBIs.

Every other Bull, except for catcher John Jaso, got at least one hit. Newcomer Joe Dillon DH’d and drew a walk, hit a single and a double, and collected 2 RBIs. Ray Sadler got yet another game-tieing home run.

Carlos Hernandez managed to give up 5 runs in the first three innings, 4 of them due to homers. But even then he was collecting strikeouts. In the next three innings he struck out 5 more (8 for the night, the best strikeout performance for a Bulls’ pitcher this year).

From the stands it sure looked like Montoyo was having fun ranting at the umpire in the 3rd. Doesn’t matter that the radio was reporting that the umps got it right in calling Weber’s home run a ground rule double because of fan interference (come on guys out in right, let the ball land!). Apparently his argument was, “If I didn’t see it, how could you see it?”. He lost the argument. The Bulls got five runs in that inning and three in the next.

We saw Isringhausen again. That’s five appearances as a Bull. Bit of trivia: 27 batters, 7 hits, 2 walks, and, odd for a closer, no strikeouts.

Thayer came on the the 9th. After his last appearance I’ve got to admit that I was worried. We only had a five run lead. But this time Dale was Dale again. He did give up a hit, but he also struck out two and covered first nicely for the last out.

Elliot Johnson out for an extended period.

Back on May 6th I put up a post reporting that Elliot Johnson was being put on the disabled list. This morning a comment came into the posting that I will quote here:

“... needs surgery and will be out for an extended period.”

Bulls management has verified the comment.

That’s not good news. Our little group of fans (OK, maybe just me) was beginning to get more positive about Elliot this year. This is a real setback for him. Wish him well and hopes he returns as soon as possible. As an aside, we never did hear just how the injury occurred.

Webworld:

• Rays Prospects puts up defensive stats for players in the Rays’ system: Shortstops, second basemen, and third basemen.