Helder Opens It up – Opening Day against Lexington Helder Velazquez hits a ball over
the centerfielder’s head in the 11^th 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 7^th 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

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.

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.

Thats right! The comic will be making a comeback and to get a clear, readable version of today’s version simply click here… enjoy 

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 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 24^th 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.

“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.

..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.

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.  

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.
 

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 15^th 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.