Time To Make a Run?

Game 125: Bulls 1, Knights 8
Season: 69-56
Games Left in Season: 19; Home Games: 9
Wrap, Box

Life got in the way of baseball today so I wasn’t going to say anything about last night’s game. Then I got to thinking about it. After such a beautiful game on Tuesday, how could it be such a mess on Wednesday? The pitching, of course, was most of it.

I’m guessing that Andy Sonnanstine and Joe Nelson see their visit to Durham as just a brief sojourn, a place to while away a few games before they are back in the big leagues. Sure doesn’t look that way to me. Sonnanstine is now our worst starter and Nelson remains the worst reliever on the roster. Sonnanstine’s ERA over his 8 starts and 50 innings is 4.68. Nelson has had six appearances, and only 9 innings work, but holds an ERA of 9.00. Between them last night they gave up seven of the eight runs scored by the team on the bottom of the Southern Division of the International League. That’s no way to get back to Tampa Bay. Help Durham and help yourselves the next time out guys.

Charlie Montoyo is, according to various reports through the Indy Week and Durham Herald-Sun articles in past weeks, unconcerned with how the Bulls are doing in the International League playoff race. I just want to say that there are some of us who do care. Admittedly not very many are watching the standings that closely, maybe only a couple thousand. Most fans at a game are just there for an interesting night out.

Nevertheless, Mr. Montoyo, there are a few of us who think the Durham Bulls can, and should, be in first place in the Southern Division, not just chasing Gwinnett (née Richmond) to the end of the season. We have less than 20 games left and as much as your players may be wondering what’s going to happen to them at the beginning of next month, and as little as getting into the Governor’s Cup may mean to either you or many of them, let’s see if the team can get back on track. Something like that pretty run that you made starting back on June 25th that ran up past the 4th of July. That would be really nice.

About two weeks ago we hit 16 games above .500 (for the third time this year), but it begins to look like that isn’t going to be good enough to win this division. Time to focus on each game and all of each game. We’ve been second place for the last two years. We’re good enough to be first place this year.