Good-Bye Columbus

Game 71, Sunday, 21 June	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Columbus Clippers (Indians)	1	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	5	12	0
Durham Bulls (Rays)	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0

Season: 39-32; Home Stand: 0-4
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

I have enormous respect for Matt Moore. Before his surgery I thought he was one of the best pitchers in the game and I certainly hope that he continues on his path to a full recovery.

I also hope that he will forgive this mild rant about yesterday’s game. You see, I thought that a Bulls win would have been nice. And I thought that showing at least a bit of respect for Bulls tradition by wearing a full Bulls uniform would have been nice. I understand that it’s the norm for rehabbing major leaguers to wear their long pants, and bat wearing their major leaguer helmets. But there’s at least one fan that doesn’t like it and thinks that it’s simply a form of showing off. Especially when the rehabber is focused on his rehab and not helping the Bulls win a game. Take this quote from Moore after the game (from the Herald-Sun link above):

“The changeup is still a pitch that is coming around,” Moore said. “Still testing waters with it a little bit. I had some good swing and misses with it. Had a pop up with it. But its’ still one of the things that maybe in another situation and the game is bigger I may not throw that lefty-lefty change up there. I may go with another pitch because the changeup isn’t typically my strength. But they want me to get some work on it and he took care of it.”

To summarize, Moore gave up three runs (two homers) and took the loss. Rays fans are probably happy. Bulls fans (at least one of them) are not. I think it would have been nice for him to mention that his mistakes helped lose the game. (Note: maybe he did and the Herald-Sun left it out. If so, my apologies. But that line, ...'and the game is bigger...', struck me the wrong way.)

New guy Ernesto Frieri made his first appearance with the Bulls. He’s been on the roster for a couple of weeks. He last pitched for the Rays on June 1, so we could have expected some rust. And that’s what we saw. He has almost 300 appearances as a major leaguer and at 29 he probably still has some gas in the tank. Let’s hope he figures out what he needs to figure out while he's with the Bulls and helps the team. Stats.

When Frieri came off the DL yesterday, Bradin Hagens was sent back to Montgomery. He is tied with his Montgomery teammates Kyle Winkler and Leonardo Reginatto for the least number of innings pitched by a Bulls this year (3) — that’s assuming Mr. Frieri does not go back on the DL.

Former Bull Matt Buschmann pitched 7 innings and took a win for the Louisville Bats yesterday. Guess that means he might be coming back to the DBAP, in a different uniform. Box.

Two home runs, by Corey Brown and Luke Maile, were all the scoring yesterday. Columbus pitching simply dominated the Bulls. In the last three games Bulls hitters struck out 42 times. It’s a mostly ugly hitting picture in recent days. Pleased to see them leave town and we hope the Bulls take advantage of their day off.

www.watchingdurhambullsbaseball.com