Saturday, May 22, 2010
Rain washes out Durham Bulls in 2nd inning, but did it wash away hitting woes?
- File photo by D.L. Anderson
- Durham Bulls shortstop Elliot Johnson
They still have a 4 ½-game lead in the International League’s South Division, and are 11-7 on the season at home.
Tonight’s opponent is the Pawtucket Red Sox, who have traditionally been the Bulls’ worst tormentors.
The Bulls beat the PawSox in three straight games to win the Governors’ Cup in 2003, but
Pawtucket has the winningest record of any IL team against the Bulls. The PawSox are 55-40 all-time against Durham including a 30-19 record at DBAP.
My theory has always been that the Red Sox affiliates are built to play in a park containing something like Durham’s Blue Monster, 32 feet high at the 305 mark at the left-field foul pole.
Pawtucket hasn’t been on a roll lately either, coming into the current four-game set on a three-game losing streak. The PawSox’ left fielder is N.C. State alumnus Aaron Bates.
The rains apparently chased the Bulls down in Durham, but they may have washed away their offensive woes as well since the game is suspended with the home team up 5-0 and nobody out in the bottom of the second.
The Bulls jump all over Boof Bonzer with four runs on four hits and an error in the first. Desmond Jennings walks and takes second on Elliot Johnson’s single to right before the runners execute a double-steal with Jennings scoring on catcher Dusty Brown’s errant throw to second. Justin Ruggiano singles to right and steals second before Dan Johnson’s sacrifice fly to right scores Elliot Johnson. Joe Dillon’s single to left scores Ruggiano, and after Chris Richard singles to right Angel Chavez’s sacrifice fly to left scores Dillon.
Durham adds another in the second as Fernando Perez singles to left, steals second, advances on a Jennings single and scores on Elliot Johnson’s infield single to third.
They said it …
Bulls skipper Charlie Montoyo: “After a tough road trip when we didn’t hit, it was great to see our offense get something going against a big-league guy. Hopefully the rain won’t stop our momentum. We like to run, but we haven’t been getting anyone on base so we haven’t been going anywhere. Any time we get somebody who’s slow to the plate, we’re going to take a chance.”
Pawtucket manager Torey Lovullo: “We have yet to talk about what we’re going to do. We have a couple of candidates, but we haven’t figured out how we’re going to divide the innings up. (The Bulls) came out ready to play. They’ve got a bunch of really nice players. Give them some credit, they came out and attacked us. Boof was OK. He wasn’t getting lit up, but he made a couple of mistakes and they made him pay for it.”
What does it all mean?
That if the first inning is any indication, the Bulls have their hitting shoes on.
Streaks
Durham: Lost 5.
Pawtucket: Lost 3.
Transactions
Durham: none.
Pawtucket: none.
On deck
Pawtucket at Bulls (comp. susp. game) 4 p.m.
TBA vs. Richard De Los Santos (R, 2-2, 4.76)
Pawtucket at Bulls (regularly scheduled game)
Felix Doubront (4-0, 2.51 at Portland EL) vs. Carlos Hernandez (L, 3-2, 2.42)
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
Oops, sorry I didn't get the joke, but it's worthwhile to make the clarification anyway.
Not a bad thought to get stringers in away cities. Even if we could afford it, though, I'd be hard-pressed to find time to edit it.
Thanks for reading.
like
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David,
Much as it pleases me to see an editor rise to the defense of one of his writers, not really necessary. I’m guessing that, yet again, one of my lame attempts at humor has been misunderstood. I like Mike Potter. I’m really glad he’s reporting on the Bulls for Indy Week -- even if I might be puzzled at his forays into the present tense. In addition, I think it’s really cool that he was able to do a piece, or more, for the Providence Journal.
The purpose of my comment was to tweak him a bit, and maybe get him to rise to the bait of commenting on the challenges of writing for two different audiences in this web world where we can read both pieces. That’s why I put up the links to both pieces over in my blog.
Now, David, what about Indy Week paying for a stringer up in Pennsylvania next week so we can get some on-site reporting on the Bulls?
Chris:
Mike Potter is a freelance sportswriter after working many years as a staff reporter for the Durham Herald-Sun. The "gig" here at Triangle Offense is a modest one, and I told Potter I had no problem with him picking up stringer jobs with newspapers in outside markets. The Providence Journal-Bulletin asked Potter to cover the game from their team's perspective, and I don't see how that disrupts his ability to write about the Bulls for Triangle Offense.
Regards,
David
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