A Storm; Then Stormier

Season: 43-25; Home Stand: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The Bulls were behind 7-2 as they came to bat in the bottom of the 5th inning. Things had been ugly up to that point, so ugly that only 3 of those 7 runs were earned.

Not that I was all that deeply engaged at that moment because I wasn’t at the game, I was at home watching it on TV for a really stupid reason — We’d been trapped inside our own g-d’d garage! You see, the same storm that delayed the game also swept on east and killed the power in our part of Wake County. That would not have been a problem except for the fact that a couple of months ago I replaced our garage door and opener without learning how to deal with a power failure. So there I was in the dark, flashlight in hand trying to figure out how to get that sucker up. Turned out to be pretty straightforward — if only I’d gone out to solve the problem an hour or so earlier. As it was, when the lights came back on and Time-Warner rebooted, the Bulls were in the 2nd inning.

Back to the bottom of the 5th inning. Vince Belnome started things off with a single. When he came back up to bat that same inning Tim Beckham was on second base having just driven in a couple of runs and the Bulls had scored a total of 7 runs. Belnome struck out, but  Wil Myers singled to bring Beckham in for the eighth run of the inning which was enough to surge ahead of the team with the best record in the International League.

Pitching turmoil continues in the Bulls lineup. Alex Colome began the game on a severe pitch count restriction, followed by Mike Montgomery who got the win. Studying him closely on the TV leads me to worry about that young man. He seemed very unfocused and erratic, unable to get himself into a rhythm. Colome could be joining the Rays for their double header in Boston.

Outside the game —

• In St. Petersburg last night, Jake Odorizzi came in the game with two outs in 6th after former Bull Jeremy Hellickson had given up 8 runs in the inning. Odorizzi closed out the inning, but gave up two runs over the rest of the game. It was his first time against his former team. He’s now on his way back to Durham. 
• A right-hander has come up from Montgomery, Merrill Kelly. Here are some stats. His most recent outing wasn’t all that great. But the Bulls do need some help if Colome is off to the Rays. And the Rays really need some help. Former Bull Elliot Johnson had a field day against them last night.