Early One Morning

Game 19: Durham Bulls 3, Gwinnett Braves 4
Season: 14-5
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

During the break before the home half of the 8th inning I scribbled out what I expected to be my lead sentence for this post — Teams that live by the home run, die by the (lack of) home run(s). At that point the Bulls were down by three runs. We had put eleven runners on base, but all through singles and walks. We’d hit into two double plays. And, obviously, left all but one man on base. Then Hank Blalock opened the 8th with a single and Dan Johnson hit a chip shot over the Blue Monster and we were back in the game down by only one run. But a third double play later that inning put an end to that. So maybe I was right after all.

There were some great-to-be-at-the-ballpark moments, though. Worth dealing with screaming kids and the oddity of an eleven in the morning start time.

• Richard De Los Santos must have had a Road to Montgomery moment. The young reliever was back (having not made an appearance with the Biscuits) and pitched an exceptional five innings of no hit baseball starting in the 5th. That was pretty to watch. He only let one guy on base, a hit batter to start the 6th, but that was it. So we’ve got two young pitchers who may be stepping out of the shadows, De Los Santos and Rodriguez. Will be fun to watch.
• Beautiful throw to home from Elliot Johnson in left to Jose Lobaton guarding the plate in the 4th. Run prevented.
• Angel Chavez really isn’t a flashy infielder — which might be why he’s been with four different AAA teams in four years — but, playing shortstop yesterday morning, he opened the 7th inning with two effortless and very clean plays that were a joy to watch. His .345 batting average isn’t anything to sneeze at either.

Dan Johnson seems to have made himself available for interviews yesterday. Check out the Herald-Sun and Indy Week links.

So far, our starting pitcher problem is not solved. Carlos Hernandez goes tonight and I’m guessing we’re OK until the rotation comes back around to Vasquez’ slot. And then?

The Bulls play the Buffalo Buffaloes tonight. This will be their only visit to that city this year. Buffalo, the Mets’ AAA team, is off to a decent start at 10-8. Like the Bulls, they’ve been playing entirely within their own division so far. The only former Bull I recognized on their roster is Jason Pridie who came up through the Rays system and played for us in 2007. He spent 2008 and 2009 in the Twins system, mostly at AAA level and now is with the Mets. Pretty dangerous batter. Not sure why he hasn’t made it to the big league team.