Wrap, Box
Season: 50-48; Trip: 1-3
Wrap, Box, Charlotte Observer
A little bit of catch up on the line scores. We went off to the mountains for a few days and only occasionally checked in on the games. Not a particularly good set against the Knights.
Matt Andriese’s Game Score of 80 last night was the best Durham Bulls starting pitcher performance this year, just two hits and no walks over 7 innings. He was followed by Andrew Bellatti in a two-inning save for a rare Durham Bulls shutout (the 10th this year). Congrats to both of them.
And the scoring was entirely through extremely small ball. The Bulls drew 7 walks and hit only singles, 6 of them. Luke Maile got above the Mendoza Line (.200) with his 9th inning RBI. Nice to see that.
Outside the game —
- The first game tonight is a continuation of a rain-interrupted game from July 3. Box score here. The game will go for the usual 9 innings and then be followed by a 7 inning affair.
- The second game will be the introduction of left-handed starting pitcher Blake Snell, who seems to be on a fast track to the top. Young (22) Mr. Snell was drafted out of high school and has pitched in 16 games this year at A and AA levels. Tonight will be his first AAA start. Stats.
- The other significant roster change is the addition 32 year-old of big leaguer Grady Sizemore to the Bulls. I’ll confess my lack of understanding of exactly why the Rays hired him or how he happened to still have options so that he could be sent to the Bulls without going through waivers. Not sure I want to know. Let’s just wait and see what he brings to the team.
- Richie Shaffer gets some love from a Rays blogger.
- Remember Hideki Matsui who wore a Durham Bulls uniform for a few weeks back in 2012? He’s back in the game, sort of. Here’s a terrific NYT article about him playing in a rec league game recently both pitching and batting (right-handed). Thanks to Rays Index for the tip.
Posts
Regarding Sizemore, it was reported that his contract was setup to allow this. Options are essentially in place to protect players from being dumped to the minors too often. At a guess Sizemore realized that at this point in his career it was to his benefit to add an option to whatever contract he signed in order to be picked up somewhere. Realistically he's a September callup, so being in Durham for a month+ isn't a huge price to pay for decent major league service time.
ReplyDeleteThanks. That makes sense. And he's surely making the salary he signed for. Remains to be seen if he will help the Bulls.
ReplyDelete