Former Durham Bull pitcher David Price struck out eight and walked none to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles tonight. The win clinches the Rays second playoff berth in three years.Price (19-6), who played for the Bulls in 2008 and 2009, scattered six hits over eight innings and allowed only one runner past second base. The Rays are a half game ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East. Both teams have clinched a playoff berth - one will be the AL champ and the other the wild card.
Many on the Rays roster came through their Triple-A Durham Bulls team including Evan Longoria, Jeremy Hellickson, Dan Johnson, Jeff Niemann, Reid Brignac, Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, B.J. Upton and Desmond Jennings.
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And:
ReplyDeleteJohn Jaso, Wade Davis, Grant Balfour, James Shields, Sean Rodriguez, Matt Joyce, Ben Zobrist, Jake McGee.
And, sort of, Dioner Navarro.
But who's counting?
By the way, you left the Charlotte Knights off your voting list, along with seven other minor league baseball teams
That would be almost all inclusive instead of "including." lol. Mike Ekstrom, Andy Sonnanstine, Dan Wheeler and Wily Aybar are four more on the roster who played for the Bulls.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Charlotte Knights, I left off all minor league teams not in the Triangle area since we are Capital Sports and those teams' reach isn't as great as MLB, the NBA, the NFL or the minor league teams within an evening's drive.
For the record, the other minor league teams are in Asheville, Burlington, Charlotte (although they actually play in South Carolina), Greensboro, Hickory, Kannapolis, Kinston and Winston-Salem. If one of them is your favorite NC-based professional team, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.
And then there's Joaquin Benoit who started the season with the Bulls, and Kelley Shoppach and Jason Bartlett who passed through on rehab.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting point, and you made it well, is that so many Rays have spent time in Durham. They grow more than they buy.
Missed the Kannapolis Intimidators over on my blog.
My team is the Bulls. Understand your rationale. Good blog.
Thanks. I didn't realize that Shoppach was with the Bulls on rehab. Being a follower of the Red Sox, I was hoping he would one day take over for Varitek in Boston.
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