Bisons Notes 8/15/10 - Buffalo at Pawtucket (1:05 p.m.)

from press release:
Buffalo Bisons  vs. Pawtucket Red Sox
Sunday, August 15, 2010 (1:05 p.m.) - McCoy Stadium
LHP Raul Valdes (1-0, 0.93) vs. LHP Rich Hill (1-0, 3.08)

Radio: WWKB AM 1520, http://www.bisons.com/



TODAY’S GAME: This afternoon, the Bisons take on the Pawtucket Red Sox in the third game of a four-game set at McCoy Stadium (1:05 p.m.). The series is tied 1-1 after the Bisons won 9-4 on Friday night and the PawSox picked up the 6-4 win last night. The Herd is now 4-1 in the first five games of its seven-game roadtrip. After this series, the Herd travels home to begin a nine-game in eight-day homestand against Rochester and the PawSox.



RED-HOT HERD: Despite last night’s loss, the Bisons have still won 12 of their last 14 games. The loss to Pawtucket snapped the Herd’s first eight-game winning streak since a 10-game stretch, August 12-21(1), 2004. Buffalo is 10-2 in August with a .294 team batting average and a 3.17 team ERA. Nine different Bisons hitters have homers this month while seven different hurlers have wins.



vs. RED SOX: The Bisons are 5-3 this season against the Red Sox. The last time the Herd ventured to McCoy Stadium it split a four-game set, April 23-26. The Herd swept a rain-shorted two-game set at Coca-Cola Field on April 14-15.



TO DUDA LIST: OF LUCAS DUDA hit streak has now reached 11 games. Since August 2, Duda has averaged .405 (17-42) with three home runs and 13RBI. The outfielder is the fifth Bisons’ hitter to have an 11-game hit streak this year. Only two, OF JESUS FELICIANO, May 12-23, and OF JORGE PADILLA, June 27-July 8, extended their streaks to a team-high 12 games.



ON THE BUMP: LHP RAUL VALDES will make his third start of the season for Buffalo today. The southpaw made two starts with Buffalo, June 26 - July 5, before a promotion back to the Mets. In those two starts, Valdes struck out 13 and allowed just one run in nine innings of work. In his last Bisons outing, Valdes fanned six in five shutout innings on July 1 against Rochester.



CLOSING IN: OF JESUS FELICIANO could be closing in on an International League Batting Championship. Feliciano is now just 25 plate appearances shy of having his .342 average qualify as tops in the league. If it did, it would be 12 points ahead of Gwinnett’s INF Barbaro Canizares. Feliciano has hit in eight straight games with a .303 (10-33) average.