The Durham Bulls at the All-Star Break

 The Durham Bulls arrived at the All-Star break tied for 2nd place in the International League East. They’ve played 90 games and have 60 games left in the regular season. They wrapped up week 15 with a 3-3 split against the Gwinnett Strippers. 

I have to mention the pitiful attendance at Gwinnett. There were only 1,910 paid (meaning a lot fewer actually there) for a near-perfect game on a Sunday by Durham’s pitchers. Those who go far back enough (not me) to lament the Braves holding Richmond, Virginia hostage in the location negotiations way back when have got to be muttering, “I told you so,” to both the mayor of Richmond and the Atlanta Braves. 

Geek stuff: The Bulls’ .764 OPS is down slightly from the previous week, but they still hold the 2nd best OPS in the IL East. Their team ERA of 4.22 is a slight improvement and they are also 2nd best in that stat. Their WHIP is 1.35 and that is also a slight improvement, but that ranks 5th in the IL East.

Relief pitcher ERA is trending downward, a very good thing to see. 

Tampa Bay Rays

How about their big daddies playing in that bandbox by the bay? Not too bad. The Yankees are, obviously, running away with the division, but the Rays have made a nice run up into second place in the division and to first place in the wild card. The striking thing about the last couple of weeks was the surge by the Baltimore Orioles. The falling off by the Red Sox was, of course, welcome by Rays fans, even if not many of them seem to like going to the games.

Matchup

The Bulls have a short 3-game visit with the Norfolk Tides starting Friday, July 22. The Bulls appear to have an advantage, but hard to say since we don’t have much information on either team’s recent transactions. Do have to notice that the Tides’ defense could use a lot of work. They are giving away almost an unearned run per game.