Pitching! And Hitting!

Game 39: Bulls 10, Redwings 1
Season: 24-15
Wrap, Box

This has been one heck of a home stand. 6 wins, 2 losses, can’t ask for much more than that.

Carlos Hernandez pitched a superb game, Joe Bateman and Chad Orvella did OK in relief. The hitters were great. Only Ray Olmedo had a problem at the plate. Heck, we were up three runs by the end of the 1st inning and never looked back.

So lets look at an interesting moment. Leading off in the bottom of the 3rd, Jon Weber hit a single. The Redwing’s catcher, Drew Butera, snaps a throw to first baseman, Justin Huber. Huber sweeps the tag down and whacks Weber in the head. Umpire Jason Klein missed the fact that Weber’s hand was on the bag before the tag and signaled Weber out. Weber, whose helmet had rolled onto the field, stands up and certainly looks as if he’s pissed about the tag, but doesn’t know he’s been called out. He looks to the ump, who thumbs him out. Weber goes slightly (well, maybe not slightly) nuts. He points to his face, his jaw. Can’t hear what he’s saying. Hitting coach, Dave Myers, who’s coaching first, gets between them. But Weber’s not about to lay off the ump. He is, of course, tossed from the game.

Chris Richard comes into the game and, if it hadn’t been for the weird wind, would have gotten yet another grand slam in the 6th.

Which brings me to the wind. I cannot figure out the wind with the new Diamond II building. Flags above the left field wall blow one way, the flags in the passageway between Diamond View I and II blow in another, and the winds aloft moving the flag on top of the SunTrust building are blowing another way. We saw it today. Fielders almost running in circles. An easy pop foul was dropped. Any windy day is going to be really tough in the DBAP. Sure wasn’t helping the hitters today, either.

Maybe that’s what got folks so stirred up. We saw the ump and a Rochester coach arguing, but no flamboyant gesture by the ump. According to the box score, the Rochester pitching coach was tossed. Pitchers on both sides got warnings. No clue why.

The Bulls are off tomorrow and then hit the road for eight days.

How do you know when you’ve spent too much time in the DBAP?

When you find yourself in a deeply serious discussion over whether the Wool E. Bull on Monday, who didn’t do a cartwheel coming out, or jump on the sumo wrestlers, or failed to do a decent spin-out of the RoadRunner go-cart, is the same Wool E. Bull who was on the field on Sunday. As I said, way too much time at the DBAP.