DURHAM BULLS ATHLETIC PARK The Durham Bulls will finish their series against the Charlotte Knights with one of those “getaway day” afternoon games the International League seems to enjoy.

• Photo courtesy Durham Bulls
• Bulls outfielder Leslie Anderson

The Bulls have a nice 14-10 record at home, and lead the current series 2 games to 1.

“Matsui mania” remains alive and well at the ballpark. Hideki Matsui’s entourage of 35 Japanese media is still in the house, and will be remaining as long as the one nicknamed “Godzilla” is still on the Bulls roster.

Meanwhile the Knights roster has plenty of familiar faces, as Duke alum Jim Gallagher and former Bulls Dan Johnson and Ray Olmedo are all in the lineup today, with former Bull Hector Gimenez getting the day off.

The Bulls will send Jim Paduch (2-1, 2.74) to the hill against Terry Doyle (2-3, 3.66).

Charlotte outhits the Bulls 11-6 and wins 5-2 to earn a split of the series.

• File photo by Chris Baird
• Bulls outfielder Hideki Matsui

And despite the dropoff in attendance that’s certain to occur over the early weekdays, “Matsui mania” is still alive and well. Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui will be in his seventh game as a Bull after going 1-for-3 with a sac fly and a mad dash from first to score a run on Sunday against the Charlotte Knights..

Matsui’s entourage of 35 Japanese media is still in the house, and will be remaining as long as the one nicknamed “Godzilla” is still on the Bulls roster. He’s hitting .143 with three RBI but is still seeking his first homer for Durham.

Meanwhile the Knights roster has plenty of familiar faces, as Duke alum Jim Gallagher and former Bulls Hector Gimenez, Dan Johnson and Ray Olmedo are all in the lineup tonight.

The Bulls will send Lance Pendleton (1-1, 4.15) to the hill against Charlotte’s Charlie Leesman (3-4, 2.59).

Matsui gets his biggest hit as a Bull, driving home the winner with one out in the 10th as Durham prevails 3-2 in 10 innings.

DURHAM BULLS ATHLETIC PARK It’s Day 6 of “Matsui Mania” with the Durham Bulls, and not only does the Japanese legend have some work to do at the plate but his team needs to do some bouncing back.

• Photo courtesy Durham Bulls
• Bulls pitcher Matt Torra

And he went 0-for-4 the previous night, as the Bulls took a 7-1 whipping from the Charlotte Knights in the opener of their four-game series. Charlotte has won six of seven in the season series with the Bulls, who sit in an unfamiliar last-place spot in the International League’s South Division.

Game 2 today will pit Matt Torra (2-5, 6.26) against the Knights’ Matt Zaleski (1-1, 7.47). And the Bulls will be celebrating Wool E. Bull’s birthday.

Charlotte has Duke alumnus Jim Gallagher on the roster as well as former Bulls Hector Gimenez – who had four hits Saturday – and Dan Johnson and Ray Olmedo.

But it turns out that today is the Bulls’ day. Durham gets three home runs and another score on Matsui’s mad dash from first in routing the Knights 6-0.

DBAP/ DURHAM—It has been a big home stand at the DBAP, about as close to big-league as the environment ever gets at the ballpark. Hideki Matsui is here. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kevin Youkilis came through, too, plus all the attendant media and excitement. The world has been watching.

And last night offered more in the way of pageantry. Just two days after the historic Matsui-Matsuzaka meeting at the DBAP, Saturday was "one of the most important nights in the history of the Durham Bulls," as longtime PA announcer Tony Riggsbee, who donned a coat and tie for the occasion, put it. Riggsbee emceed a pregame ceremony on the field to celebrate the induction of former Bulls manager Bill Evers into the International League Hall of Fame. The Bulls also retired his jersey number (20).

Evers, who is now Minor League Field Coordinator for the Rays, has won more games than any other manager in Durham Bulls history, which dates back over 100 years. This was a well-deserved honor, and he was warmly received by the near-sellout crowd. International League President Randy Mobley was on hand, and made a speech. Evers said a few good words. His name and number were colorfully logoed into the grass behind home plate.

Meanwhile, the press box was still packed with Japanese media covering Matsui.

And then, 21 minutes after the game's scheduled start time, Shane Dyer took the mound for the Bulls, and all at once the excitement burst like a lukewarm water balloon.

DURHAM BULLS ATHLETIC PARK It’s the finale of that high-profile series with the Pawtucket Red Sox, and for the second straight night there’s a sellout crowd in the house.

• Photo courtesy Durham Bulls
• Bulls outfielder Jesus Feliciano

Pawtucket’s other rehabbing star, slugger Kevin Youkilis, is back in the lineup tonight as the designated hitter. And the Bulls of course continue to hit Japanese legend Hideki Matsui, who seems to be at the moment in reserve until the Tampa Bay Rays have an opening, in the cleanup spot. Tonight Matsui will play left field for the first time as a Bull.

Clayton product Chris Archer (3-4, 4.71) will go for the Bulls against Ross Ohlendorf (3-3, 4.91).

Durham puts together a huge eighth-inning comeback, escaping with a 6-5 win to split the four-game series.

• Photo by D. L. Anderson
• The Pawtucket Red Sox' Daisuke Matsuzaka warms up in the visitors bullpen at Durham Bulls Atheltic Park, May 17, 2012.

DBAP/ DURHAM—"It felt like Opening Day," said Jim Paduch, the Independent League veteran who is only in Durham because Alex Torres finally pitched his way out of a starting job and who, with 10,000-plus on hand at the ballpark for an All Nippon Airways type showdown between two of Japan's most famous baseball players, ever, threw six shutout innings against the league's best team and made a loser of Daisuke Matsuzaka. The Bulls blanked the PawSox, 5-0.

Henry Wrigley was drafted in the 14th round in 2005 and toiled for six years in the Rays' farm system before finally playing his way up to Triple-A. Now he has hit a home run off of Dice-K: a three-run blast, a moonshot, on a hanging 3-2 breaking ball, way over Ye Olde Snorting Bull. It put the game away in the sixth inning.

On Wednesday night, after the Bulls lost their second straight game and fell to 15-26, manager Charlie Montoyo pinpointed two reasons why his team was in last place: too many walks, and too many guys left on base.

Thursday, they walked four—as opposed to 11 (!) the night before. They put exactly one runner in scoring position, and that one only because of the second catcher's interference call on Ryan Lavarnway, with Hideki Matsui batting, in as many nights.

That one RISP scored on Wrigley's homer.

This... is a simple game. You hit the ball... (etc.)