{"id":6694,"date":"2022-04-14T11:51:03","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T11:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=6694"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:59:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:59:26","slug":"fans-cheer-the-durham-bulls-during-season-opener-despite-the-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2022\/04\/14\/fans-cheer-the-durham-bulls-during-season-opener-despite-the-score\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans cheer the Durham Bulls during home opener, despite the score"},"content":{"rendered":"
Second baseman Isaac Paredes has just struck out to end the game, as the Durham Bulls lose to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. But fans don\u2019t seem upset. They hang around, as the stadium lights dim and fireworks paint the sky. They smile. Heads lean on shoulders. Couples look at each other with shining eyes. Baseball season is back.<\/span><\/p>\n A home-opening loss \u2014 especially a 7-0 thumping \u2014 is nothing to celebrate, but new beginnings are. And that\u2019s what 7,824 fans were doing Tuesday night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, where they enjoyed a clear, pleasant night that featured lots of energy and entertainment, most of which occurred off the field between innings.<\/span><\/p>\n Fans dressed in sumo-wrestler costumes \u2014 complete with enormous bellies \u2014\u00a0 raced along the third-base line. A local celebrity couple led the crowd in song. There were, of course, the usual goofy antics from the team mascot, Wool E. Bull.<\/span><\/p>\n Just before the opening pitch, fans watched a squadron of jets fly over the stadium after the singing of \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d in honor of military men and women. Multicolored confetti floated down into the stands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe major leagues and everything is so expensive. Hockey, baseball, whatever, are so expensive,\u201d said Bart White, a Raleigh resident who has attended Bulls games for decades.\u00a0 \u201cThis \u2014 you get a good bang for your buck. They do a great job anytime entertaining between innings. It\u2019s great for families and kids.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Before the game, two long security lines stretched from the intersection of Blackwell Street and Jackie Robinson Drive, as hundreds of fans waited to enter the ballpark. Bulls employees ushered fans into the lines as they took photos with Wool E. Bull or waited for the rest of their group to arrive. Food trucks and heavy traffic lined the streets. Pop and country music blared from the speakers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n College student Ike Perry was among about 50 people in the Bulls team store rifling through baseball caps, Bulls hockey jerseys and other merchandise. Near the stuffed Wool E. Bulls at the back of the store, Perry looked at shirts with his brother as they waited for their father.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Perry hadn\u2019t been to a game in three years. But his father got their family season tickets this year, so the Wake Forest resident hopes to catch every game. Like White, he was also excited to see that night\u2019s off-field entertainment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey used to get fans to come out and play with sumo suits and fight,\u201d he remembers. He and his brother planned to enjoy hot dogs and beer. They also intended to search for ice cream served in Mason jars \u2014 which he remembers as a Bulls specialty.<\/span><\/p>\n Inside the stadium, an array of aromas greeted fans. They could buy virtually every kind of carnival food \u2014 cotton candy, funnel cakes, wings, hot dogs, pretzels, IPAs. As White\u2019s friend, Tom Holmes, purchased an IPA, he said he was feeling \u201cpretty damn confident. Their team is called the Jumbo Shrimp. We can beat the Shrimp.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Jumbo Shrimp apparently thought otherwise. In the first inning, outfielder Peyton Burdick slammed a solo home run. The game unraveled for the Bulls in the second inning, when Bulls starter Adrian De Horta and reliever Zack Erwin combined to allow two walks, three singles and a double as the Shrimp rocketed to a 6-0 lead. All after two outs.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI mean, for us, it was trying to get to the fifth inning. Just with our starters \u2014 we don\u2019t really have any starters right now,\u201d Bulls manager Brady Williams said after the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the same time, Jacksonville starter Max Meyer pitched five hitless innings. The Bulls would finish the game with only two hits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Williams said the team has little experience together, with players arriving from other teams as late as last Sunday, April 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s things we\u2019re going to do as far as team get-togethers or just trying to get to know each other as quick as we can,\u201d Williams said.\u00a0 \u201cOnce it happens, the chemistry will get better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Even after the game got away from the Bulls, the crowd stayed. Beginning in the top of the fifth,\u00a0 fans started clapping when every Jacksonville player came to bat. The Jumbo Shrimp would score only one run the rest of the game. Maybe the fans should have used that tactic earlier.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Bulls, off to a 2-5 start, have five more games in their series with the Jumbo Shrimp at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park before traveling to Norfolk, Va., for their second road series. Last year, with an 86-44 record, the Bulls won their third Triple-A championship. The Bulls are the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, and last season, Durham\u2019s best players moved up to play for the American League club.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This year, the Bulls will play 150 games, instead of the 130 they played last season.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, we can continue to do what we\u2019ve done over the last couple of years, which has been a lot of fun,\u201d Williams says. The manager says he expects his team to improve and contend again for a championship.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThose are our goals every single season,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Above: Photo of the Durham Bulls’ home opener by Bill Adair \u2014 The 9th Street Journal<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Second baseman Isaac Paredes has just struck out to end the game, as the Durham Bulls lose to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. But fans don\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-in-durham","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n