Bulls Bash

Game 102: Durham Bulls 15; Syracuse Chiefs 4
Season: 62-40; Home Stand: 6-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Last night down in St. Petersburg, on his way to a no-hitter, the Tampa Bays Rays’ Matt Garza was through five innings by the time he had faced 15 batters. Up here in Durham we got 15 batters to the plate in one inning, and faced two Syracuse pitchers. Every Bull got at least one hit. Every Bull scored at least one run. Some Bulls outdid themselves, such as Omar Luna with two doubles, two singles, two RBI, and three runs scored. Dan Johnson, Joe Dillon, and Fernando Perez (!) homered. A night to remember as they hit the road for Lehigh Valley and Pawtucket.

Despite a slightly shaky 3rd inning, Virgil Vasquez looked much better than his last two times out. Here’s hoping that whatever was off is sorted out now. Nice story about Vasquez on the Bulls’ website.

I’m wondering if there is something afoot regarding Aneury Rodriguez and his physical condition, or did I miss something? He had one inning on July 2nd. He didn’t pitch again until July 11th (one inning). He did two innings on July 18th and then two more last night, the 26th. That’s just 8 innings on the month with a couple of very big gaps. Moreover, not very effective appearances, for the 8 innings, 7 earned runs.

The implication is that, along with Darin Downs, we’ve got some problems in the bullpen to worry about.

On the other hand, the Bulls end the home stand on a five-game winning streak and 22 games above .500, the best they’ve been all season. The heat certainly made for a tough eight days at home, but the wins probably made it more palatable.

The next locale is tonight’s game is at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA, site of Dan Johnson’s wining of the AAA home run derby. Here’s hoping he gets a couple more.

A bit more background on the now-famous tarp pull at Bulls’ exec George Habel’s blog.