Home at Last

Game 21, Wednesday, April 25, McCoy Stadium, Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk Tides 4; Durham Bulls 2
Season: 6-15; Trip: 1-13; Streak: 0-10
Box, Herald-Sun

I turned on my radio and it was the bottom of the 4th inning. Matt Torra was having a brilliant night. At the end of the inning not a single Tidean had made it to first base. Driving through the night I had to crank up the radio (reception of AM620 more than a few miles from their tower is crappy) and I discovered that not only was Torra having a great night but the Bulls were ahead 2-0. The reception faded away for a while. When it came back it was the bottom of the 5th and the bases were loaded. Not long after that the Tides picked up four runs. That was all, but it was enough to lose.

Too bad, because Torra put in about the best single game performance of any Bulls pitcher this year. But lacking any run support it wasn’t enough.

One game oddity was Jeff Salazar leaving the game before taking the field in the 5th. Jesus Feliciano took his place. No explanation was given for his departure.

Today is the Bulls first day off this season. They need it. They are home for ten games; four against Pirates affiliate the Indianapolis Indians; four against Reds affiliate the Louisville Bats; and two games against these Norfolk Tides.

Charlie Montoyo is reportedly going to use the day off to reset his pitching rotation and put his four starters in sequence. Maybe he’s hoping that by the end of the sequence (Torres, Archer, Cobb, Torra) he’ll have a fifth starter. That would be nice. The Bulls have had a full five-man rotation for only the first five games of this this season. It would not the complete answer to the Bulls problems, since even the four starters they have aren’t doing all that well, but it sure would help.

Why has this season started so badly? Well I’ve commented on that at good bit already. For another look, see what Adam Sobsey has to say over at Indy Week.

Outside the game:

• Wool E. Bull has started a video blog.
• Scorekeeping. Now that the Bulls are back home it’s time to put together my gameday stuff, which includes a scorebook. I’m not all that obsessive about keeping a scorecard. (At least I don’t think so. My wife might not agree.) But it really does help me keep track of what has happened in the game. Patrick Kinas does a good job, but I like being able to look back as the game goes on and it gives me a record to look at for this blog. There’s as many approaches to scorekeeping as there are folks who keep track. See this [Thanks for the tip, DRR] for some examples. I like the Reisner system, but admit that it takes a bit of getting used to. I’ve tried a couple of iPod/iPad systems and they are pretty slick, but, for me, they distract from the game in front of me.