July 2008
“WHAT IF THE TOURISTS HAD NOT WON THE FIRST HALF TITLE?’
Disclaimer: – There is no wining or crying tone in this article. Read it with a grin or in the words of Jack Black from the Movie High Fidelity it is “intended for a conversation stimulator man!”
You might not remember, or maybe you do. It was not all that long ago. June 15th the Tourists entered the latter innings against Hickory needing some magic to pull out a first half championship. David Christensen delivered a prolific three-run blast and Joey Williamson held down the fort coming out of the bullpen as the Tourists won 8-6 to lock up a 2008 playoff birth over the Charleston RiverDogs.
It almost didn’t happen. Almost. A slippery slope to go down but lets assume for an instant that the team with the best record in baseball (68-39) had to go into a one game playoff against the RiverDogs. Toss aside the fact that the Tourists had handily beaten Charleston in six of eight games. The rules state that the tiebreaker to determine the first half champion is not a reflection of head-to head matchups, but instead it is a one-game playoff the next time the two teams meet.
Forget for a moment how ridiculous that rule is. Rules are there for a reason right? Or better put from John Goodman’s character in the movie The Big Lebowski “This is not Nam, there are rules”
So, what if the Tourists did not win on June 15th? Imagine for a moment if the Tourists and the RiverDogs had tied to end the first half of the season. Marvel Comics used to have a titled called “What If?” where the writers would creat all sorts of crazy scenarios and the heroes all ended up dead or turned evil or the X Men would lose their powers and finish the book as barista’s at a local coffee shop. So in the same theme as those comics here is your What If?
The Team goes into a funk, losing 7 of the next eight and 14 of 15 prompting everyone to start pointing fingers at one another.
The Entire team shaves their heads in protest of the archaic tie-breaker rule.
The Bus breaks down in the middle of July heading from Savannah to Charleston for the one-game playoff, causing several players to question the meaning of life and the plausibility of a higher power.
While waiting for AAA (the automotive service not the level of baseball) the team’s bald skulls get sun burnt so badly, three players are forced on the DL and Trainer Chris Dovey quits with the words “Rubbing bald heads with aloe vera is not in this job description”
The scheduled one-game playoff is rained out forcing the teams to play a doubleheader the following day. The “playoff” game is now a seven inning contest in front of 450 fans.
The New York Yankees send both Phillip Hughes and Carl Pavano for rehab appearances forcing Asheville to face two Major League arms in the playoff game. Both big leaguers hurl three innings and Jonathan Ortiz closes the game with a scoreless seventh.
Bruce Billings goes the full seven innings for the Tourists allows one run, a solo homer to Jesus Montero and the Tourists lose 1-0.
Okay, so some of that is out of the question, but truth be told the Tourists will face Phillip Hughes and Carl Pavano in the game tonight, in what could have been, may have been a playoff game. What if….What if…
Walk It Out… Again… More Comics and Another Tourists Comeback..
“The Fans Chant… ‘I am Cunningham’ to the tune of Iron Man…”
Asheville rallied from an 8-2 deficit – with four runs in the ninth inning – to win in walkoff and dramatic fashion in the tenth inning on Wednesday. Jeffrey Cunningham was the hero this time joining Brian Rike, Darin Holcomb and Helder Velazquez as Tourists’ with walkoff hits this season. Lets take a quick look: The homer can be heard here…
Cunningham WO.7.16.08.mp3
Helder Opens It up – Opening Day against Lexington Helder Velazquez hits a ball over
the centerfielder’s head in the 11th to plate Michael Mitchell and Asheville wins 5-4. Craig Baker pitched the top of the inning with two strikeouts to pick up the win…
Brian Rike walksoff - Cinco De Mayo celebration a 5-4 victory over the Savannah SandGnats. Rike smacks his 7th homer of the season to “announce his presence with authority.” The Tourists were on the verge of losing three consecutive games against the Sand Gnats unitl Rike’s prophetic blast. An RBI sac fly from Warren Schaeffer and an RBI single from David Christensen in the eighth set the stage for Rike’s coupe de grace… Rike’s homerun heard here…
Rike Walkoff 5.5.08.mp3
Holcomb’s Doubles Do It – A 2-1 win over Hickory that featured a pitching match up
between Chacin and Duke Welker. Neither starter allowed an earned as David Christensen hit his eighth homerun of the season in the seventh to tie the game and Holcomb Doubled in Michael Mitchell in the bottom of the tenth. Holcomb was credited with a single but could have had a double if he touched second base. Bruce Billing followed up the win the next day with a seven strong innings as the Tourists take two of three form Hickory.
The Comic Continues – This time radio broadcaster Eric Little makes his comic debut. For the readable version just click here
Best Record in Baseball? More Comics? What More Do Ya Want?
Asheville won both ends of a doubleheader on Sunday, with Connor Graham tossing another seven inning shutout. The Tourists hold the best record in baseball at 61-33 and the comic continues… for the readable version click here… and for last night’s Sitel “call of the game”, Darin Holcomb’s homerun click here.
Holcomb HR.7.13.08.mp3.
Keep The Comic Coming..
The Comic coming back in full force… for the readable version just click here…….. Asheville trying to bounce back from the extra-inning loss to Lake County on Friday.
The Comic is Back.. Tourists Travel Further North..
Thats right! The comic will be making a comeback and to get a clear, readable version of today’s version simply click here… enjoy
Rain from Hagerstown.. Six Wins Running.. and North Vs. South Again..
The Tourists had their eight game road trip postponed on Monday with a rainout from Hagerstown. It always seems to rain here and now the field looks like the Belmont race track circa 1977 – sloppy. Don’t believe us? Well Hagerstown has dealt with rain before and at one point even changed their name to the Hagerstown Raindrops…
Asheville is back to pounding the ball, pitching well and playing solid defense. So basically kicking tail and taking names. The eight games against the Northern Divison will be a good litmus test to see where this team actually stands as a championship contender.
“Dont forget the South has fried pickles, just gimmie the chips and not the spears”
Talking with some of the umpires and players at the All-Star game in Greensboro the consensus was that the North was more talented than the South. Keep in mind Asheville is 16-9 against the North, and the South will always have secret weapons that include Willie Nelson, fried pickles and sweet tea.
“Three in a row- go for one more… thats when you got a streak going on. Asheville is on six.”
The Tourists swept Rome on Sunday have won six consecutive games. The longest winning streak of the season stands at nine games and began May 24th in Columbus and ended in Hickory on June 3rd. To us a winning streak actually begins at four. Then and only then can it be considered a “streak.” Think connect four with ballgames instead of red and white tokens. It will be tough to take both ends of a doubleheader however it did happen once against the Crawdads in early April. Bruce Billings will pitch game one and Connor Graham will toss the second game. Both have been consistent for the Tourists, but is asking for two wins in one day being greedy? Perhaps, but we will anyway. On a separate not Robison Fabian allowed just one run (unearned) on Sunday to pick up his second win of the season. Nobody is comparing Fabian to the departed Chacin (10-1) but it is definitely an auspicious sign, especially since the reliable Sheng-An Kuo has struggled in his last three outings.
Awaiting on the pictures from the Roller Derby Girls and Caslamity Jane’s appearance on the show will be posted once we receive those. The road trip begins tonight barring rain, and well, lets play two.
Here She is.. Three in a Row and Closing when its not.
Asheville made it three consecutive wins with a 4-3 thriller over Rome on Thursday in front of over 4,000 fans. Darin Holcomb smacked a two-run homer to extend his on-base streak to 30 consecutive games, the longest such streak in the league. The Tourists had a 4-1 lead entering the ninth inning and Randal Taylor picked up his league-leading 24th save of the season with a dangerous ninth. Taylor managed to register a strike out of Carlos Lee that went down as the “Sitel Call of the Game” and can be heard here
taylor.7.3.08.mp3…
Although last night was a save situation for Taylor it has been a topic of conversation with closers entering the ballgame in non-closing situations. A couple of interesting articles on the topic can be found with this link regarding Rivera and the all-time save leader Trevor Hoffman
Here is the break down with Taylor: “RT Stands for Real Tough”
24/24 in save opportunities – 23 IP, 5 ER 1.95 ERA
And the NON save situations – 9.1 IP 4 HR 9 Earned Runs
Taylor the Flavor Saver –
Not sure why this is with closers. From Mariano Rivera to Billy Wagner to the minor leagues in Randal Taylor it seems to be a mindset more than anything else. On a
completely unrelated note, here are some more photos of Melissa Chambers Miss North
Carolina International. From the looks of it she seemed to have a good time on the broadcast.. could another appearance be in the works sometime in the future.
Ask.. this guy right here.
“We’ll be back in 2-and-2″
The Tourists try to get four consecutive wins on this Fourth of July and are expecting a sellout crowd. Houston Jimenez continues to coach third base as Joe Mikulik has removed himself from the lineup with Houston bringing in the runs managing the third base bag. Yeah, baseball is that superstitious.
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