Todd Helton

Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies announced his retirement from Major League Baseball yesterday, effective at the end of the season. Todd Helton started his professional career with the 1995 Asheville Tourists after being a First Round, Pick #8, by the Colorado Rockies out of the University of Tennessee. He played 54 games for the Tourists after he signed with the Rockies and he hit .254 with only one homerun and 15 RBI's in 201 at bats. It was a unremarkable debut by a First Round Draft Pick with such high expectations. The real star of the 1995 Tourists was Outfielder Derrick Gibson who hit 32 homeruns and drove in 115. Todd Helton was on the fast track to the Rockies, however, and he was in Colorado to stay by 1998. He exhibited much more power in Colorado and hit 25 Homeruns and drove in 97 to finish 2nd in the Rookie of the Year balloting that season. He played 17 seasons in the majors, all with the Colrado Rockies, and has a career Batting Average of .317 with 367 Homeruns and 1397 RBI's in 2235 games to date. Those are Hall Of Fame worthy numbers. He appeared in one World Series with Colorado in 2007 against the Boston Red Sox. He went 5 for 15 with one RBI in that Series. The Boston Red Sox swept them in 4 games. Derrick Gibson made it to Colorado for a total of 17 games in 1998-99. His career totals were 14 for 49 for a .286 average with 2 homeruns and 8 RBI's. He spent a total of 14 seasons in the minors. I remember watching both of them play that season and the comparison between those two players is proof of how fickle a career in baseball can be. I remember being in awe of Gibson's raw baseball skills and I kept waiting on Helton to show me anything outside of being a First Round bust. It is a good thing I am not a baseball scout.

Turn Out The Lights

The Asheville Tourists turned out the lights on the 2013 season after yesterday's 6-2 Labor Day loss to the Augusta Greenjackets. That was a continuation of Sunday night's suspended game and there was an announced crowd of over 6,200 people. The Tourists scored their first run in the bottom of the second inning on a wild pitch and David Bergin tied the game at 2 with an RBI double in the sixth. Jayson Aquino (0-9) couldn't hold the lead and gave up four runs in the seventh to make the final score 6-2. The Tourists and Greenjackets did not bother playing the regularly scheduled game for reasons unbeknownst to me. The Tourists really took their lumps in the second half of the season to the tune of a 25-43 record and last place in the South Atlantic League standings. The offense struggled to score runs down the stretch and that was a big contributing factor to their record in the second half, an opinion that was shared by Tourists Manager Fred Ocasio in an article in the Asheville Citizen-Times last week.

A Rain Delay

One hard fact about baseball is that you cannot play baseball in a monsoon. Therefore the Greenjackets and Tourists made it to the bottom of the second inning last night before the rains came and the Greenjackets holding a 2-1 lead. They had to suspend the game and continue it today as part of the season finale. It has rained this summer like it never has before. I do not know the meteorolgical stats behind it but, I was talking to a few fans after the game and one older gentleman told me that he had only been able to come to five games this year and everyone had ended up being a rainout. I remember when Catcher Rick Dempsey of the Baltimore Orioles was playing in the 1980's, he used to entertain the fans during rain delays by coming out and doing a pantomime homerun routine where he finished up by sliding headfirst into a big puddle of water to a standing ovation to those fans that were left. The only entertainment we got last night was the Augusta Greenjackets bullpen throwing a football around. Where are the characters in baseball these days?

Stolz's Career Day

Asheville Tourists Shortstop Jason Stolz drove in a season high five runs with a bases clearing double over the Centerfielder's head in the fourth inning and a 2 RBI triple in the eighth inning. He also scored the winning run on Second Baseman Zach Osborne's RBI single with the next batter. Third Baseman Matt Argyropoulos went 4 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Tourists Manager Fred Ocasio shiffted the defensive lineup around a little bit as he had Jason Stolz at Shortstop, Zach Osborne at Second, and Matt Argyropoulos at Third. Newcomer David Bergin, who also had two hits, operated out of the Designated Hitter spot in the lineup. Tourists starter Ben Hughes went 6 innings, gave up 5 runs, 4 earned, and two homeruns but did not factor in the decision. Reliever Alving Mejias pitched two scoreless innings to get the win (5-5). Closer Raul Fernandez pitched a scoreless ninth to get his team leading 16th save.