Wrap, Box
Game 41: Durham Bulls 2, Toledo Mud Hens 5
Season: 23-18
Trip: 2-4
Streak: L4
Wrap, Box
Grumble, grumble, grumble.
I wasn’t going to post today. I’ve been in a funk ever since I got back home yesterday about two o’clock and discovered that the Bulls had already lost. According to the Toledo Blade, the Mud Hens won because they are better at gettin’ up in the mawnin. Yeah, right.
Grumble, grumble.
Hellickson struggled. Charlie got thrown out of the game.
I wonder how that works. Is there a hierarchy among the coaches? Based on what? Tenure? In that case X. Hernandez takes charge. Age? Dave Myers by a bunch of years. Coin toss?
Four in a row. Could the oddity of having four umpires have anything to do with it?
Breath deep. Game time in a couple of hours. Go Bulls!
Webworld:
- J.P. Howell, a former Bull in 2006-2007 (as a starter) and an important figure in the Tampa Bay Rays bullpen, is out for the year. Doesn’t look like we will see a short term effect in Durham, but it does reduce the Rays flexibility a bit. Some of the speculation is over at DRaysBay.
- Lucky the Wonder Dog is retiring. Ceremony to be held this Saturday. Lucky Jr is apparently in line to take over.
- Neil Solondz has had a couple of interesting interviews recently, including Dan Johnson after a 4-hit game in Columbus and Justin Ruggiano about getting back from his bicep injury.
- Baseball Geek Alert! Interested in the upcoming draft? Really interested in the upcoming draft. Really, really interested in the upcoming draft? Then this is for you.
- I’ve often wondered just how much difference velocity makes. Michael Salfino in the Wall Street Journal has some numbers that seem to show that absolute velocity might not matter too much, but velocity change might. That is, Matt Garza and James Shields are throwing harder this year and their ERA is down; others are throwing softer and their ERAs are up. One of his examples is the pitcher we are facing tonight — Max Scherzer.
- Lastly, some traveling tips from the Baseball Wives. Here’s a question for my readers. Is there another profession left where a spouse is by definition a wife?
Posts
Regarding your last question... I don't think the Japanese female pitcher than recently came to the US to play baseball has a spouse, but if she gets married you may have to cut baseball off the list.
ReplyDeleteIt also occurs to me that I have no idea if Manon Rheaume has ever been married.
Could it be that missing Hank Blalock has made THAT big a difference to the team? Doesn't seem possible, but what else has changed?
ReplyDeleteDave
Re: Blalock -- think it's the Jennings, Ruggiano, Perez kharma connection.
ReplyDeleteManon Rheaume? I have been out-geeked! Ah, Google comes to the rescue...a hockey player? That doesn't count. But, sacre bleau, she played for Tampa Bay! So maybe she should.
Eri Yoshida, however, may be worth a post of her own. Gonna have to chase that down. Apparently she's playing in US this year. So, yeah, we may have to go for "spouse" some day. Have never heard of her before. Thanks DRR.
Yoshida is a fun story. Apparently she taught herself the knuckleball by watching Wakefield on video and then got to meet him in person for the first time recently.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting story, plus it helps distract me from how the Bulls have been playing recently.
Re: Spouses - US Presidents & VPs still are limited to wives, but we're working on that :)
ReplyDeleteRegarding the question, you must be referring to this graph (otherwise, Massachusetts adds some ambiguity to your presumption):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flipflopflyin.com/flipflopflyball/info-homosexuality.html
Hmmm. This is turning out to be a much more complex question that I originally thought.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else it might send a few more folks to one of my all time favorite web sites: Flip Flop Fly Ball.
it's better than the sites that call us W.A.G.S. I am not a verb that describes a dogs tail
ReplyDelete