Two Games in Moosic

Game 122, Tuesday, Aug 16, PNC Field, Moosic, PA
Durham Bulls 2, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 0
Wrap, Box, Scranton Times-Tribune

Game 123, Wednesday, Aug 17, PNC Field
Durham Bulls 3, SWB Yankees 2
Wrap, Box, Scranton Times-Tribune, IL Wild Card
Season: 71-52; Trip: 4-2; Streak: 4-0

It sounded like a good fraction of eastern Pennsylvania came to Moosic to boo Alex Rodriguez the last two nights. I guess I don't understand the hostility he generates within Yankee fandom. But they drove out to the park to watch him play and give him a hard time. He responded by giving balls away to youngsters near the third base line.

In the meantime, the Bulls won two games, making it four in a row and putting them nineteen games above .500. That's the best they've been all year. Gwinnett has split the last two games and is four games back in the South (2.5 in the Wild Card). Toledo has joined Rochester and Norfolk in falling completely out of contention.

The first game saw four batters hit by pitches (two by Yankees pitching, two by Bulls pitching), but none of them scored. No HBPs in the second game.

Matt Torra looks better each game he pitches. The Bulls are inching toward having a starting rotation! Four out of five slots (Torra, Moore, Sonnanstine, and Torres) are doing pretty well. What about the fifth slot? Not much hope there unless Hayhurst comes off the DL or the Rays decide to promote someone from Montgomery.

In the first game, Matt Carson, the new guy we haven't seen on the field in Durham yet, hit a home run and Dan Johnson knocked in John Jaso. Torra, Beunte, and Delaney combined for the Bulls first shutout in a couple of weeks.

Matt Moore had his least effective start as a Bull in the second game, but at least the pitchers quit throwing at each other's batters. And Moore got another 8 K's (in just four innings) while only allowing one run (a homer). His pitch count was way up by the end of the 4th though (84).

How about the Bulls rehabber, John Jaso? While all the attention was on Rodriguez, Jaso seems to be coming along. He DH'd on Tuesday and caught his first complete game on Wednesday. 1-8 at bat with 1 walk and 4 K's, so needs some work. Hope that it doesn't come at the Bull's expense. Don't like seeing Vogt out of the lineup when he's been so hot.

Speaking of being hot, Russ Canzler got one of the RBIs last night. This is, sort of, a hometown crowd for him. And then there's Tim Beckham with another triple and two of the runs scored last night.

I missed the last couple of lead-ins to the game broadcasts. If someone has heard the update on Leslie Anderson, please jump in. He was hit by a pitch in the second game on Monday and limped off the field. Has not played since.