Bulls on Parade
by FreeZorilla on Sep 11, 2009 12:08 PM EDT
14 comments
The2009 Durham Bulls finished the season as the South Division Champions of the AAA International League and are squared up against the Louisville Bats in the first round of the league playoffs. The Bulls have undergone a pretty severe roster raiding from the big league club prior to the playoffs. Reid Brignac, Wade Davis, Andy Sonnanstine, Fernando Perez, Jeff Bennett, Chris Richard and Shawn Riggans have all left the Bulls over the past few weeks. They also have lost starting pitcher Carlos Hernandez to injury. How have the makeshift Bulls fared so far?
Game One featured the "Narwhal" Jeremy Hellickson taking the hill in an 8-4 Bulls victory. Hellickson was his usual scintillating self going 5.2 innings while striking out 12 and walking 3. He did allow 3 hits, 2 of which left the park leading to 3 runs. The offense was led by the middle of the order featuring Matt Joyce who went 3-4 with a walk, Joe Dillon (1-3 2B and 2 BB), and Sean Rodriguez (2-4 HBP). Joyce and Rodriguez also had successful stolen base attempts. A DRB staple has become the Hellickson Swinging Strike count, and to this end he did not disappoint finishing with 19 in 109 pitches.
Game Two featured the return to AAA of Mitch Talbot who had been rehabbing a mysterious arm/shoulder injury for much of the season in a 5-2 Bulls loss. Talbot has been feasting on the weaker hitting Gulf Coast League and Florida State League in short starts. He went 3 innings with less success in Durham allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, while striking out 3 and walking 1. The offense was led by Elliot Johnson (2-4 2B), Joe Dillon (2-4), and Sean Rodriguez (0-2 2 BB).
Game Three of the five game series is tonight as the "Strandman" Jason Cromer takes the hill. Cromer posted an ERA of 2.25 this season, thanks to a 81.9% strand rate which was good for 2nd in the IL amongst pitchers with 100 IP. Beyond that, it gets a little hairier for the Bulls as Montgomery Biscuit call ups Rayner Oliveros and Paul Phillips are scheduled to start games 4 and 5. Both pitchers began the year down in A+ ball. Both pitchers were featured in A Look at 2009 Mid-Season Promotions and are nice reclamation projects for the organization.
In other minor league playoff news, the Stone Crabs of the Florida State League advanced to the finals where they will face the Tampa Yankees on the road tonight. The Crabs defeated the Ft. Myers Miracle 3-2 behind yet another excellent outing by David Newmann. The soon to be Minor League Profiled Newmann went 6 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 10, walking 1 and allowing 4 hits.
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Very surprised to see Phillips mentioned as a probable starter
Pretty much been a setup or closer all year in lower levels. Granted he was sharp in a spot start at the end of the season….. HELLY ON SHORT REST!
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by FreeZorilla on Sep 11, 2009 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions
with Talbot still rehabbing basically
the Durham pitching staff consist of Hellickson and all relievers.
Jennings, Hellickson, Davis, Brignac, Beckham, Moore > Your top 3
Enter Strandman
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by FreeZorilla on Sep 11, 2009 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm thinking about getting tickets to tomorrow's Yankees/Crabs game
I’ve never been to Legends Steinbrenner Field before. Any advice on parking, what to expect, etc?
Parking isn't bad
Just park at the Bucs’ stadium across the street and walk over the footbridge. Stadium is okay, but nothing too special. They do have smoked turkey legs at the concession stand though, which is nice.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Is it free parking at Ray Jay?
And do you think it’ll be a sell out? Since the weather’s kind of iffy for tomorrow, I was thinking of waiting and then walking up and getting my tickets at the stadium rather than online. But I don’t know how many Yankee fans pay attention to the minor league team or this playoff series, so it’d kind of suck if I go all the way over there and find it sold out.
Rotation needs more Cromer
www.draysbay.com
by Tommy Rancel on Sep 11, 2009 1:20 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Aren't they also missing a few guys to that international baseball tournament as well?
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Talbot's injury
He called it a “partial tear” of his elbow tendon; then, just when he was about to return to action, he strained his shoulder.
Phillips started in college and in his words has been “begging” for another chance to start. He looked good against a very weak Norfolk Tides team about a week ago. Almost all FBs.
More at www.indyweekblogs.com/sports
Hellickson
till, he wasn’t at the same level we saw him at in his last couple of starts. After the game, he told us that his fastball didn’t feel as good as it usually does, and it looked to be sailing a little higher than usual last night. The homer Francisco hit off of him was on a misplaced heater out over the plate.
And Hellickson’s issues with the fastball were complicated by Louisville, which was "swinging at almost anything," Hellickson said. As a consequence, he had to mix up his pitches more in order to keep them from hurting him with his fastball, which meant more judicious use of it anyway. About 25 percent of his pitches were curveballs, and he seemed to have two versions of it: one that he would drop in for a called strike, and another that he would snap off so sharply that it bounced in the dirt more than once. The latter seemed designed to get hitters to chase it, which they occasionally did. And then there was the Hellickson changeup, a beast of its own kind, which had good action and produced plenty of swinging strikes. (I counted 16 all told in his 109 pitches; that’s actually a slightly lower rate, I think, than he usually produces.)
And about those three hits: two were homers. That seems to be Hellickson’s weakness right now. He throws the hard fastball down the middle and it gets hit far—that’s why he’s developing that sinker, which he’ll need in the big leagues. Good hitters are going to make him pay for the fastball too often unless he has a version of it that he can keep out of the middle of the strike zone.
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