June 2008
WTF!! Did That Really Happen.. Really?
..Yup, that about sums it up
We are still not sure how to handle last nights 13-12 walkoff loss by Che Hsuan-Lin in Greenville. The initial response that came across the internet and instant messenger was WTF. For those who don’t know about the WTF, the citizen-times had a story on it earlier this week which can be read here.
Asheville battled back from a 10-2 deficit with big hits all around. Everth Cabrera smacked a two-run homer in the ninth inning that can be heard here.
Cabrera 4th.6.29.08.mp3. David Christensen tied up the game with a single in the ninth that can be heard here
Christensen. tie 1B. 6.29.08.mp3. And Warren Schaeffer put the team out in front with a single that can be heard here…
Schaeffer Go-ahead.6.29.08.mp3All of that was uplifting, until Che Hsuan-Lin hit a walkoff that can be heard here…
Lin WO.6.29.08.mp3. That my friends is a recap of the WTF at Flour field yesterday evening….. “Che Hsuan-Lin……Really?”
It all poses the the simple question: “What was the Greatest comeback that never ended up being a comeback” Any thoughts on this are certainly appreciated and the initial series that came to mind was Boston in ’75. Remember, Bernie Carbo hit a game tying
three-run homer, and Carlton Fisk hit his historic homerun to give the Red Sox the win in game six. Well.. umm.. the Reds not the Red Sox actually won that series and if WTF had been around in 1975 then that would have been the response. You tube has a run down of the top ten comebacks in sports history.. and yes available here
So while we sort out if this was actually a spirited, never-say-die-Rudy-valiant-effort comeback or a heart wrenching-spit-you-out-punch-me-in-the-face loss - think of some of the best comebacks that never actually happened and let us know.
The optimists here give the fellas an “A” for effort and move on to try and avoid the longest losing streak of the season with Robison Fabian making his third start of the season tonight, the first in the stead of recently called up Jhoulys Chacin.
Beauty Queens, Tony Farlow and Clark Once Again
Asheville had a rough 9-3 loss against the Greenville Drive on
many days in the loss. Clark has hit safely in all four games on the homestand going 6-14 with two homeruns and six RBI. Clark’s tenth homerun of the season was our Sitel Call of the game last night and can be downloaded here.
Clark10th.6.27.08.mp3
North Carolina Come on and Raise Up…
The highlight of the night came when Miss North Carolina made an appearance at McCormick Field, threw out the first pitch and eventually made her way up to the press box to talk with Eric Little and Jay Burnham.
The full interview can be heard here (
Ms. NC .mp3 and you can imagine the sighs of missed opportunities and broken dreams as neither one of the broadcasters stepped up to ask for even an email. Way to go.
“Still Awaiting to Here Back From Mellisa Chambers..”
Vote For Farlow –
All the really cool photos seen here and around the media world in general of the Tourists players come courtesy of Tony Farlow. His pictures range mediums from lowly web blogs to Baseball America. Tony is truly one of the best in the business and Asheville is lucky to have such a humble and devoted individual. Thanks Tony!
“
A Tony Farlow Classic, Ms. North Carolina”
For Tonight –
The Tourists wrap up a five game homestand against the Drive tonight with Cory Riordan on the mound. Riordan has slipped a little in June and perhaps would like a little defensive support behind him tonight. Asheville has committed 22 errors in the first nine games in the second half of the season. Riordan allowed five runs in his last start against Augusta but just one earned run as his outing was limited to five innings due to the miscues.
Say Goodbye to Chacin -
The Colorado Rockies called up Jhoulys Chacin (10-1) to High-A Modesto following yesterday’s ballgame. Chacin will pitch for the Modesto Nuts in the Carlafornia League. We will do our best to keep everyone up to date on his progress.
Knute Rockne, Slight Inspiration and Billings in Seven
Asheville’s 7-1 lopsided win over Hickory last night was perhaps just more than a regular win for the team. Coming off a so-so first half of the Month, the Tourists were lifted by Kevin Clark and Bruce Billings. Clark, one day after initiating a player only team meeting (story link here), stroked a two-run homerun and finished with four driven in on the night. Billings picked up his first win at home since his first start of the season and the Tourists won consecutive games for the first time in sixteen games. Eric Little had the Sitel Call of the game for both of Clark’s hits and that is available here.
Clark.6.26.08.mp3
There is no tangible evidence that speeches and meetings intended to inspire have any effect on a team whatsoever. However to the optimist, Asheville looked much more alive over the past two games. To the pessimist Hickory is a sub .500 team and they were playing without their All-Stars Miles Durham and Jose De Los Santos who were both promoted to the Lynchburg Hillcats before the game. Either way, here is a link to Knute Rockne’s “Get em on the go speech” and the Audio can be downloaded by clicking here.
Rockne.mp3 Enjoy.
Tonight –
With all the hooplah around here about Jhoulys Chacin and his outstanding season, Connor Graham has quietly gone about dominating the SAL. Graham (5-3, 1.98 ERA) pitched eight shutout innings in his last start and could easily have nine or ten wins if the supports had been there in his starts.
Graham has allowed four ER in his last 29 innings pitched and has gone eight innings in two starts this season.
Holcomb’s Heroes, Colonel Klink and a Big T’s win..
The Tourists did not put together the most sold night on Wednesday but they came away with an energetic extra-inning win over Hickory. It was a win that was reminiscent of April when Asheville could do no wrong and would battle back with a regular resiliency. Darin Holcomb, who had committed an uncharacteristic three errors in the ball game, hit a double in the bottom of the tenth inning for the win. Holcomb went from Colonel Klink to Holcomb’s Hero in a blink of an eye…. The Sitel Call of the game can be heard here…
He has been as consistant as they get
For Today-
The saying is you only have as much momentum as your next day’s starting pitcher and the Tourists will throw Bruce Billings (4-5, 4.20 ERA) will make his 15th start of the season and his second against Hickory. Asheville is looking for consecutive wins for the first time since the beginning of the month and Billings has been solid for th eTOurists this season. Bruce pitched well in his last start but the defense faltered in a five inning performance from Billings.
All-Star Voting… Stuff the Ballot…
The Tourists did send seven All-Stars to the mid summer classic and now the front office is looking to get a little recognition.
Kristina Martin, the box office Guru is up for “Female Athlete of the Year” for her dominance in Volleyball at South Dakota State. You can vote for Tina here.
Do You Remember the Time?
It was not too long ago (two weeks or so) when the Tourists were tearing up the league with solid pitching, outstanding defense and timely hitting. Things have slipped a little recently so to remind us all of that time we h
ave here a photo from the All Star game last Tuesday in Greensboro.
”Do you Remember the Time” a Michael Jackson early 90′s hit (can be heard here…
Micheal Jackson – Do You Remember the Time.mp3) can be the theme for Today as Jhoulys Chacin will try to pick up his 11th win of the season. With Rockies General Manager Dan O’Dowd in attendance today, this may be the last we get to see of Chacin who has been magnificent this year. So seasons from now the fans here at McCormick field might look back and think. ‘Do You Remember the Time’… when Chacin was lights out in 2008. We sure will.
Turning the beat around… A Return Home and a little Gloria Estefan
Asheville returns home today to face Hickory after winning two of five in Augusta. Both of Asheville’s wins in the series were shutouts including an eight inning performance by Connor Graham.
The motto for this homestand can comes from the great mind of Gloria Estefan’s pop hit “Turning the Beat Around.” (can be hear here…
Gloria Estafan – Turn the Beat Around.mp3) The team has failed to win consecutive games since June 4th and 5th and has lost their last four series entering today against the Crawdads. That really is not a poor stretch, its not great, but the standard for the team has been set so high that anything but sheer dominance is an
unusual feeling……….. The Bar Has Been Set So High
Yesterday’s Game: –
A good riddance to Augusta and a hello hello to Hickory .Darin Holcomb hit his tenth homerun of the season in a 8-3 loss to finish up the series. The Tourists put together two runs in the eighth on a Jeffrey Cunningham single, (the sitel call of the game can be heard here…
Cunningham 1b.6.23.08.mp3) but five errors led to the demise of the Tourists in the series finale.
Today’s Game – Asheville is 7-3 against the Crawdads this season but the team has lost two of their last three to Hickory and eight of their last thirteen overall. Sheng An Kuo (8-4, 3.82) pitched well in his last start against Augusta and retired thirteen consecutive batters before allowing three runs in the seventh. Kuo will make his fifteenth start of the season today and is currently second in the league in wins.
Blogging From The Bullpen, Bubble Gum and Campbell’s Soup…
BLOGGING from the BULLPEN: An Entry From Craig Baker and Company
“Sunday FUN-day, No Run Day.”
Speaking for the ‘bullpen’ I don’t think we could have started this blog entry on a more momentous day. Sunday is our favorite day of the week because we do not have conditioning prior to the games on Sundays! I know it doesn’t sound like it is THAT great, or THAT important, but to us it means the world. A majority of the Sundays we also don’t have to shag batting practice for the hitters, and to the ‘bullpen’ that means A LOT.
There are actually some harrowing stories we have from the days
that we DID have to shag batting practice on Sundays but we will get into that on another day. As for today’s game, we will do our best to give you an idea of what we see from deep down the foul lines of these minor league parks that you may or may not hear of every day.
Shaggy? Shagging? Shag This! Not Today Baby!
Today’s game took place in Augusta, Georgia. Many of you know Augusta as the home of the Master’s Golf Championship (which by the way you can not see a single speck of the golf course from the street), but to the bullpen, it is know as the home of the Augusta Greenjackets.
Augusta’s Finest Patio and Bullpen furniture
We are located down the left field foul line on our broken plastic chairs and warped wooden benches in the dark corner of the outfield. We will do our best to give you an inning by inning recap of what took place in the bullpen on June 22nd, 2008.
1st Inning:
- Today we did some minor cleaning in the bullpen picking up the empty energy drink cans and gum wrappers from previous days.
The Burning Question is what type of gum?
After we were all in our seats for the game, we began to watch the Tourists offense work their magic while trying to keep the heckling fans at bay as they walk into the park. A lot of times fans will yell at us the most on ‘Thirsty Thursday’ or the Friday and Saturday games, but today was no exception and they let us know what they really thought of us as they walked by the chain link fence toward the entrance of the ball park.
2nd Inning:
- Generally in the second inning we talk about things that we may have seen on television or events happening throughout the baseball world. Today our focus was on the ‘pregnancy pact’ happening in Massachusetts (of course while at the same time watching Connor masterfully pitch against the Greenjackets).
From those topics, we branched into a whole slew of other topics ranging from marriage and families, to careers and our thoughts on each issue…
Also a No Spin Zone, Fox would be proud
3rd Inning:
- Today’s third inning was more of a sad inning for the bullpen. We have noticed a bird set up its nest next to the outfield wall the past couple days and has been nurturing its eggs everyday. After speaking to the other team’s left fielder, we found that the nest was no longer intact and it appears as though the eggs were gone. Last night, a few of the player’s noticed a stray cat walking around the left field area (yes stray cat’s spend some time around the minor league ball parks) and we feel the nest being destroyed may be at the hands of the cat. Our hearts go out to the bird and its family; it is a shame that they had to go through such tragedy.
4th Inning:
- The fourth inning is generally a time when the long relievers will begin to mill around and drink their energy drinks. As of late, almost all of our relievers have been drinking Monster energy drinks, but from time to time we will mix it up and try something new…
Two out of three Bullpeners prefer the low carb variety
The fourth inning is a good time for all of the relievers to ‘shake the dust off’ and start stretching because they can be called on at any time (A lot of times our starters like to leave us down there for much longer though, very inconsiderate of them right?). Today we recognized how well Connor was pitching so the urgency wasn’t too high today until later in the game.
5th Inning:
- During the fifth inning is when the bullpen starts to get really anxious to get into the game. We all want to pitch all the time but as part of the bullpen we know when it is our time to pitch and what we have to do when we get in there. A lot of times we continue to stretch and talk about different hitters and such.
Many times, this is while the fans tell us what they think of our families, loved ones and the team. It generally isn’t for the faint of heart.
…. “There is not a ‘Your Mom comment’, we have not heard”
6th Inning:
- In the middle of the sixth inning our late relievers like to open up their energy drinks and get the stretching routine going. This can be a pretty nerve racking time but we do our best to keep it loose with jokes and light heartedness. You can’t take it too seriously or you’ll be too uptight to perform. With the game moving along pretty well and our team on top, no one was especially nervous today. We like to keep it pretty confident down in the corner of the outfield.
7th Inning:
- If not before now, the seventh inning is generally the time for the relievers to do their work. If you can imagine what a little kid placed in timeout being released to go play is like, you have a pretty good idea of the bullpen atmosphere. Our bullpen is a pretty selfless group and you will find us rooting one another on once one of us is out there.
Gotta Have WA
We don’t have anything against the starters, we love them too, but when you spend hours with the same people everyday you either grow tired of them or become closer. In this case, we have definitely become a much more, tight knit group.
8th Inning:
- If a reliever hasn’t been put into the game by now we are generally excited because it’s a good indication we are winning, but also because our starter (like Connor today) is doing exceptionally well. So it is a win, win situation for us in the event that this happens. One thing I would like to mention about today’s game though, is that Joey Williamson made a comment about how quick the game was going. If you have ever spent more then two minutes down in the bullpen, you would surely know that you NEVER talk about the pace of the game because the baseball god’s never sleep.
Joey Delivers the Kiss of Death on the pace of the game
They will drag that game out as long as they like to prove their point. NEVER TALK ABOUT THE PACE OF THE GAME!
9th Inning:
- The ninth inning is often the most exciting time in the bullpen because we get to ‘finish’ the game. The ending of a game has a lot more to do with the games than what the box score will show. Often times a late rally from a team, even if they lose, can give them confidence and get their momentum rolling into the next day. Whenever the bullpen can close the door on a game it is a good indication of positive things for the team. Today Escalona was able to get the job done and keep the Greenjackets from building any real momentum for tomorrow.
Well hopefully this wasn’t too long and monotonous for those of you that read it, but that is a pretty general look into what the bullpen gets to see and do in the deepest, darkest parts of most ballparks around the S.A.L. league. There is much more to be covered from game to game but hopefully that should be enough for now. Of course feel free to have any questions you’d like answered. Also, any suggestions you might have for the blog or for us down in the bullpen are suggested and welcome!
Now For the Rest of the Story
Connor Graham got what he was owed on Sunday with an eight inning shutout performance. Graham had not picked up a win since May second despite several solid starts of similar fashion. The offense put together four consecutive hits in the third inning and David Christensen delivered the Sitel call of the game (can be heard here….
Christensen 7th.6.21.08.mp3) with his seventh homerun of the season in the fourth. The Tourists shutout Augusta for the second time in this series and have a chance to take the rubber match tonight with Cory Riordan on the mound.
Augusta has been a fine host to the Tourists and the city appears to have an even brighter baseball future with Ripken Baseball looking to build a downtown facility. The one knock on the ballpark is the food is just plain AW- awful. We know complaining about the food is not a big concern for many fans back home (just shut up, eat the hot dog and get fat and lazy like every other broadcaster please. And say the score and inning more often please no one cares about your eating habits) but this complaint has been well documented by the fans and has been addressed publicly by the team, if you are really interested here is the link regarding everything Augusta, including the hockey puck hamburgers.
I mention this only because the lack of tasty ball park food here has lead us to an addiction to Campbell’s “Soup at Hand” soups on the go. These things are fantastic and I am upset no one told us about them sooner. They heat up in one minute and can be held and sipped around the office or ballpark like a cup of coffee. Toss the damn
Frappachino/Coolata $6 coffee thing out the window. The Soup at Hand is easily the best invention since Velcro.
Better than the Lunchable? Perhpas…
We will be eating one for lunch everyday for the rest of the season. No need for Chinese take out. Honestly, these need to become trendy before they stop making them like what happened to the TV show Arrested Development or even Crystal Pepsi.
“Was I that bad? BRING ME BACK!”
The Comic Strip will be making a comeback along with a new section of blogging with the bullpen.
Yep, Still in Augusta
Yep, Still in Augusta
The feeling is that this Augusta team will be one of the teams to be reckoned with in the second half of the season. It is a team full of prospects from the Giants organization and last night the Tourists had to deal with Madison Bumgarner for the second time this season.
“Good food good times is kind of misleading”
Bumgarner (tenth overall pick in 2007) struck out ten and has allowed just four runs over his last ten starts. He has thrown 14 consecutive scoreless innings against Asheville. Bumgarner=good, nuff said. Augusta’s Nick Noonan hit a double that scored two runs in the third inning for the Sitel Call of the game that can be heard here
Noonan.mp3….
Blue Ridge Moment:
Asheville did have a couple of opportunities to pick up runs off of “Super Garner” (“Big Bum” or even “Dat Bum” just do not work for a nickname) Darin Holcomb doubled in the first inning and led off the second with a single and reached second on an error. Brian Lapin singled to begin the fifth inning and took second on a past ball but Asheville could not knock him in.
Mik Managing Moment:
Perhaps just to shake things up or perhaps with the lefthander on the mound Mikulik sat out Jeffrey Cunningham and Brian Rike on Saturday. Instead Darin Holcomb batted third and David Christensen hit in the clean up spot for the first time this season. Christensen had a couple of deep flyouts and hit the ball hard in four at bats. Warren Schaeffer played first base to spell Cunningham.
A Look at Today:
It is currently raining here in Augusta and Connor Graham is scheduled to pitch the fourth game of this five game series. Graham has posted a stellar 2.21 ERA but has not won in his past seven starts. He certainly has pitched well enough on more than one occasion since his last win on May 2nd to earn a victory, including an eight inning, one earned run performance against Rome. Graham tweaked his Groin in a start against the Crawdads at the end of the first half and has made one start since the injury.
The Tourists will face another lefthander today in Craig Clark. Clark (5-0, 4.09) was a 14th round selection by the Giants out of Penn State in 2007.
Somewhere in Augusta – June 21st
The Tourists pulled out a slim 1-0 victory in game two of the five game series in Augusta on Friday night. Two All-Star pitchers Jhoulys Chacin and Daryl Maday faced off and both right-handers pitched six scoreless innings. Chacin was good but not dominant, finishing with nine strikeouts, two walks and three hit batters. He left the game after allowing the first two runners to reach in the seventh. Craig Rodriguez and Craig Baker bailed Chacin out in relief. Baker would pick up the win, striking out all four batters he faced.
Blue Ridge Moment: Asheville’s bullpen was slightly better than Augusta’s as Craig Baker pulled out the Sitel Call of the game (can be heard by clicking here…
Baker K in 7th. 6.20.08.mp3) with a strikeout of Garrett Baker with the bases loaded in the seventh to keep the game scoreless.
Mik Managing Moment: Darin Holcomb walked with one out in the eighth and was lifted for pinch runner David Christensen. After Jeffrey Cunningham struck out, Christensen took second on a wild pitch and came around to score the only run of the game on Helder Velazquez’ RBI single.
A Look At Today: San Francisco’s top pitching prospect and Lenoir NC native Madison Bumgarner will face Bruce Billings tonight. The game is a rematch of ten days ago when both pitchers hurled seven innings at McCormick field in game one of a double header. Bumgarner was slightly better and allowed no runs on four hits, while Billings allowed just one run on five hits in the loss
.
The Blog Returns and The South Will Rise Again
The Blog is Back Baby!
The second half of the season began Thursday with a 5-2 loss and the first-half champion Asheville Tourists are back in action after the All-Star break. That to means the blog has been resurrected as the team plays an arduous five game series against Augusta to open up the second half.
As the tourists roll into town there is a feeling that this team has a target on their back. Joe Mikulik agrees, and you can hear his entire post All-Star game interview by clicking here:
.
Even after losing six out of seven down the stretch and being involved in one of the most nerve tweaking pennant chases in recent South Atlantic League history, the team still has the swagger as they roll into Lake Olmstead Stadium tonight.
So what is there to look for here as we move forward? With seven All-Stars and a playoff position already set in stone, what can we expect from the second half of the season? Well, here are a couple of things that have crossed our paths in items to look for:
- Development – The Tourists certainly are not set to kick back on their laurels and eat Cheetos while dancing to the cupid shuffle. (The cupid shuffle is one of those songs played in most ball parks that tells people how to do the dance and subsequently is popular because everyone does the dance. See Macarena for more info. If you are not familiar, here is the link to it…
- Joe Mikulik and the Doug Linton will keep a constant eye on development and ability as the second half rolls along and some of the Tourists have a lot to look forward to and to work on. So for those who think “well they already won the first half of the season, so what’s the point?” Let us all keep in mind that winning, while good, is not necessarily the penultimate goal for everyone here. The goal is to advance and to advance means to get better as several players have done over the past few weeks including hot streaks by Kevin Clark, David Christensen and Lars Davis coming around nicely.
The North vs. the South – Yeah the South got kicked in the teeth during the All-Star Break in a 13-4 breakdown in Greensboro on Tuesday. League rumblings had everyone talking about how much better the Northern teams are. Here in the Blue Ridge we try to bring numbers to back our stuff up so, here we go –
Asheville is currently 14-8 against Northern Division opponents. First half champion of the North Lake County went 5-3 against the South.
Overall the South posted an 80-68 record in the first half against the North which would leave some to believe that the South had more wins against the North. Some people would look at those numbers and think “gee, the Southern teams defeated the Northern teams more times than the Northern Division teams defeated the Southern Division teams.” If only we could get John Madden to say it, then it would sound ridiculously true.
There are a couple of outliers in that mix of numbers. For instance, Kannapolis in the South played 59 of their 70 games against the Northern Divison, by far more than any other team. The Kannapolis club went 24-34 as the lead representative for the South. Kannapolis is one of the weaker teams in the division and may not be the best advocate for the Southern Division. However the North has a similar situation with the Hickory Crawdads. They played a similar amount of games with a similar result thus almost nullifying Kannapolis and their record. What we are left with is the South having four teams that posted 40 or more wins with the North coming in with just one. The 41-29 first half champion Lake County Captains. A congratulations to them, but a reminder, 41 wins in the Southern Division would get you third place and pat on the back.
Andrew Groves – The Groves Tribute Mix Click here –
The Tourists have been fortunate to maintain pretty much the same roster from opening day with the exception of Spence Nagy retiring and Andrew Groves being sent to Tri-City. Groves struggled here but was a fan favorite and a quirky guy who everyone liked having around. With that in mind, groves inspired us with his quote “it’s about to be Groves time” which led to the birth of “The Mix” During pregame at McCormick Field and during some of the latter innings on the Tourists broadcast the Mix can be heard as an inspirational tool. It pretty much contains highlights, themes and quotes from the world of the Tourists, baseball and life in general. The mix can be heard here..
Mixdown.6.18.mp3
and it is constantly changing as the season goes along. Groves pitched in Tri-City last night and struck out three batters in an 1 1/3 scoreless. There may be a time when Asheville will see Groves again.
That’s all we got for today, the blog had taken an extended hiatus, but will be back with regularity along with the Thoughts from the Bus comic strip. Till next time –
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