Wade Davis Keeps Pawsox Off Base

Game 58: Bulls 3, Red Sox 2
Season: 37-21
Wrap, Box, Indy Week Story

Back on May 18th and 24th, Wade Davis had two stellar performances by the metric I like the most, how often opposing batters get on base (OBA), in those games .130 and .185 respectively. Then he had two games (May 29th and June 3rd) where it ballooned up to .414 and .346. Interestingly, he won the first two games and lost the second two games. Last night it was a respectable .280 and he won. I know there are a lot of other variables involved, but, on balance, Davis’ keeping runners off base is surely a large part of the Durham Bulls’ success this year, particularly when you note that his three no-decisions had low OBAs and the Bulls won the games.

Last year, when Tampa Bay was yo-yoing our players back and forth it seemed to me that after the guys came back they had a tough time getting into the groove. Dale Thayer may be an example of that. After last night, however, here’s hoping he’s back on track. He was in for two innings and got the save. From the sound of it, much better than previous two outings even if still a bit shaky.

Henry Mateo got his first home run as a Bull and our first homer in quite a while. We’re winning these games with small ball, but it’d be nice to see Ruggiano, Richard, Sadler & Co send a couple out of the park.

Justin Ruggiano got tossed for arguing a third strike. Justin is really having a hard time of it lately. Not sure what’s going on this year, but I can only hope that he pulls out of it. We need him back in form.