While performing some periodic purging of crap (technical term) from the old Lenovo T61p laptop, I came across some photographs from a couple of Durham Bulls games that I attended in the spring. Figured it’d be a good time to get these uploaded onto Flickr and captured in the blog.
It has been a rough year for the Bulls. They have had a great stretch recently and have pretty much owned the International League Southern Division over the last half-dozen years. Since 2002, they have won three IL championships. The Durham team usually feature a number of top prospects. But this year has been lean -they weren’t really even competitive in the two games we attended earlier this year.
(Friendly reminder that you can watch these Flickr slideshows in full-screen mode by clicking on the dashed rectangle in the bottom right-hand side of the window after pressing the “Play” button.)
The first game, won by Indianapolis 13-2 afforded me an opportunity to do some advanced scouting on future Buccos since the Indians are the AAA affiliate of my Pittsburgh Baseball Club. Captured some decent shots of Starling Marte (Number 6 in the slideshow above) who didn’t disappoint in this game. Marte certainly looks the part and, based on the early returns he has shown in the ‘Burgh since the All Star Break, I think we just might have something special.
Marte gets criticized for his lack of plate discipline and his strikeouts. That doesn’t bother me at all. The Pirates of my youth used to feature a half-dozen guys like Marte – hell, it was in the DNA of the Pirate’s organization – and those teams did just fine.
I am sure that Starling will have his ups-and-downs – once the league establishes an approach on him. But he just looks a baller to me – one of those prized “Five Tools” players that the scouts talk about. (Did you see the throw the kid made to nail Paul Goldschmidt in the Diamondbacks series or the bombs he has been hitting to center and right center?) I can’t see it being too much longer until Marte is moved to centerfield – he is just too good to play LF (even in PNC with that tricky notch).
The second game was another Bull’s loss – this time by a count of 7-1 to the Charlotte Knights in May (a couple of days after I saw the Pirates beat the Nationals in DC), This game was notable due to the presence of Hideki Matsui in the Bulls lineup. Matsui (aka Godzilla) had recently signed a minor league contract with the Tampa Bay Rays and had been assigned for a couple of weeks to Durham.
Matsui would be called up to Tampa Bay shortly thereafter (even though he struggled in Durham). He was recently released by the Rays organization and that probably marks the end of his career. It is a melancholy deal to watch a great athlete past their prime – clearly Hideki was hanging on. Still, I was glad I had a chance to see him play. Matsui of course was a legendary figure in Japan until, at the age of 28, he joined the Yankees and spent eight years in the belly of that beast.
I was struck by the number of Japanese media and photographers at the Bulls game until I read that there are over 25 full time Japanese media members who follow Matsui around wherever he goes. Skills in this game can deteriorate so quickly though – it was less than 3 years ago that Matsui was the World Series MVP for 
The DBAP is looking better than ever. The new Durham County Courthouse building (the brown structure in centerfield) has been completed and adds to the beautiful backdrop in what I think is the best minor league ballpark in America (but then I am biased). Hopefully Meteorologist Chris Holman can now identify the new Courthouse Building.
Before both games, we had some beers and bar-and-grill food at Tyler’s Taproom in the American Tobacco Campus across the street from the ballpark. Good stuff. Amazing how far downtown Durham has come since the early 1990s. I especially enjoyed the Pulled Pork Sandwich at Tyler’s. Tony and I even ventured outside of domestic light beer territory and enjoyed a couple of the Abita Turbodogs – a heavy but quite tasty Brown Ale.
