Durham Bulls Dominate on the Road

After an extraordinary 6 games won on the road, the Bulls are back today. They left 4 games under .500 and return  two games above .500.

The pitching seems to have sorted itself out. The team ERA has steadily improved over the last two weeks until they have gone from the worst in the International League to 9th, and only a few points off the league average.

What's kept them in the game has been the team hitting, especially extra-base hitting and plate discipline (i.e., walks). The Bulls' "secondary average" is a superb .317.

Note that this season has been front-loaded with a bunch of away games, only 6 home games and 16 away. At least they will be in town for the next 8 days. ...

Durham Bulls Reach .500

Seems like a long slog, but four wins in a row — featuring a top-of-the-9th home run by Andrew Velazquez — gets the Bulls to .500 for the first time this year. Congratulations!

Bulls Sweep Bats; Off to Columbus

The Bulls had a really nice run in Louisville. Now heading up to Columbus to face the Clippers, who are off to a terrific start. Note the new stat in the matchup, Secondary Batting Average, which is sort of a simplified OPS and easier to understand. Teams with a secondary average higher than their batting average hit for power, wait for walks, and steal bases.

Note that the Bulls lost 2 out of 3 games to Columbus on the home opening of the season at the DBAP.

Matchup

Bulls Return; Coping with Rain

The Bulls are returning to a formidable weather forecast. Hope things don't get too disrupted.

Speaking of rain, here's a link from a couple of years ago that still seems relevant.

Meanwhile the Bulls are last in the IL South, primarily due to their last place team ERA of 6.75 (actually tied with Buffalo).

Off to Norfolk; Pitching Unimproved

Just a quick update here. Hitting still OK. Pitching still not OK (worst in IL).

I can't seem to comment to by own blog! But, to answer the comment:
At this time last year the Bulls team ERA was 2.96 and the IL's ERA was 3.65. So, yeah, the league ERA is up by about a run. But the Bull's ERA is up by about 4 runs!

A New Season

The Bulls first home game is today and we're happy to have them here.

So far, the win-loss is not too favorable, but it's the pitching that's causing problems. Otherwise, this team looks pretty good.