Game 58, June 7, Coca-Cola Park, Allentown, PA
Durham Bulls (Rays) 9, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) 1
Season: 32-26; Trip: 1-0
Wrap, Box, The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), Bacon and Biscuits
Durham Bulls (Rays) 9, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) 1
Season: 32-26; Trip: 1-0
Wrap, Box, The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), Bacon and Biscuits
Russ Canzler's grand slam in the very first inning set the stage last night for a much more Durham Bulls-like game than we've seen in recent days. Good hitting (13 hits) and good pitching (0 earned runs) made it an all-around great game.
Every Bull in the lineup except Chris Carter got at least one hit. A bit of a puzzle why Dan Johnson is getting so many walks. Guess it's just his reputation. He drew three of them last night (and scored three of the Bulls' runs).
Brian Baker has emerged as our only reliable starter (unless and until Alex Cobb comes back). He's won five of his last six starts. His ERA is still up there (4.80), but that has a lot to do with a three-inning, nine-run disaster against Louisville last month.
Former Bull Jeff Neimann is scheduled to start tonight. Too bad we're going to miss that. He is supposed to get at least two rehab starts before going back to the Rays, so maybe we'll see him on the mound against Norfolk this weekend. No word on his pitch count limitation, but if it isn't too low, it could be good news for the Bulls starters.
Marc Topkin is reporting that Elliot Johnson is going to get in a couple of rehab games with the Bulls. Elliot hurt his knee running the bases a couple of weeks ago. Topkin says Thursday and Friday. If so, that means we won't get to see him (and he won't get to spend a day at his home in Durham).
Alex Cobb got his first big league win last night against the Angels. Congrats to him. Still likely he'll be coming back after Niemann comes off the DL. Hope so.
MiLB.com has a nice article on Desmond Jennings. He's having a good year. Guessing he won't be with us much beyond the All-Star break, if until then.
About the headline —
Careful readers will recall a discussion regarding the music from The Natural early last month. Yesterday I sent in a query/comment to the Bulls regarding that music clip and discovered that up in the booth at the DBAP there is an even more serious baseball movie trivia geek than myself. I got a very nice note back pointing out that early in the film the Robert Redford character, Roy Hobbs, is a pitcher and he goes up against Whammer. Just as Redford is winding up for the third strike, guess what? Or, take a look/listen for yourself about 3 minutes into the clip here.
So I regretfully have to concede that it is appropriate to play the music from that clip when the Bulls need a strikeout. In our (that would be my and Chris D's) defense, one has to admit that the clip is very similar to the music about 4 minutes into this clip.
Did I waste a whole lot of time on that bit of trivia? You bet—and I'll never get it back. But I did get to watch some great movie clips.
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Oh come on, no one remembers Hobbs the pitcher pre gunshot. Ask any casual fan and they'll associate that music with the lightning home run to win the pennant. I do appreciate the research (best blog ever), but I still object to the Bulls music guy using that in those spots.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, a few other odds and ends:
* Charlie implied Jeff has a 5 inning limit regardless of count.
* Brandon Gomes has a sore back, but should throw a bullpen side today.
* Rays would be best to keep Cobb up in Tampa and send us someone else (Sonny?)
* Elliot Johnson should be rehabbing through us starting soon (today?) but maybe not long enough to even be back to Durham this weekend.
Think about the upside. The next time the music plays and you hear someone complain, you can lean over and one-up them. Or you could remark to folks sitting around you something like, "some people think this is the wrong clip to play. But if they really knew the movie they'd remember that this was first played when Roy Hobbs struck out Whammer." Huge trivia points, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteNiemann/Bootcheck then? Sounds good to me.
Ah, that explains the missing Gomes. I wasn't able to listen to the lead-in last night. Thanks.
My bet is that they above all want to keep Cobb on a reasonable rotation all year, so he's got to come down in place of Niemann. Could Sonnanstine then be on the trading block?
Your info on Johnson matches mine.