Shutout

Game 37: Durham Bulls 0; Syracuse Indians 11
Season: 23-14; Last 10: 7-3; This Trip: 1-1
Wrap, Box, Syracuse Post-Standard

The plan had been to comment on this game after today's game, since I really didn't want to talk about an 11-0 blowout. But today has been rained out, so I might as well put something up while we wait for tomorrow's proposed double-header.

That box score is one ugly critter, ain’t it? Five home runs! Is it any comfort that only (only!) seven of the runs were earned? How did that happen? Not sure.

Michael Aubrey, formerly of the Baltimore system, now of the Washington system, hit four of the home runs all by himself, accounting for 7 RBI and certainly a bid for at least a spot on the Nationals’ 40-man.

The only Bulls pitcher who didn’t give up a home run was R.J. Swindle, although he remains the season leader in that category having given up 6 so far.

So rather than study that game any more I took a look at the Syracuse sports pages. Looks like folks up that way are going to be eating caviar in their near future.

Today's Chart — Team ERA

Today’s chart shows the Bulls’ pitchers’ cumulative ERA over the last 15 games. By cumulative ERA, I mean that it is recomputed after each game. Thus each data point is the ERA for the total number of runs and innings to that point. For example, May 14 is based on 334 1/3 innings pitched and 127 earned runs. The Bulls ERA ranks third in the International League and compares well with previous Bulls seasons. The interesting feature of this chart is how the starters and relievers contributions shake out. Overall, starters and relievers have about a 50-50 spread in innings pitched (177 to 157 1/3). As you can see, over the last two weeks the starters as a group have been improving while the relievers have been having their troubles (remember, however, that the Bulls won 11 of those 15 games, so the idea of “trouble” is somewhat relative).

click on chart for a larger view