A Rare Gem

I finally got to attend another Asheville Tourists game last night. I was not going to miss the "Moonshiners" throwback uniforms they were wearing. The uniforms date back to 1897 when Asheville was known as the Moonshiners. Then that nasty thing known as Prohibition occurred in 1919. They should have had the Moonshiners throwback uniforms on a Thirsty Thursday. That would have been apropos. Four Tourists pitchers combined on a five hit shutout, 3-0 over the West Virginia Power, led by starter Matt Carasiti's 6 2/3 innings. He struck out one and walked three. He worked his way out of jams on two or three different occasions, and even had one of third with only one out and did not allow him to score. He also picked a West Virginia runner off second base that eliminated one threat. Carasiti started tiring in the top of the seventh and Tourists manager Fred Ocasio brought in reliever Patrick Johnson, a UNC alumni, who struck out the only batter he faced. Left hander Michael Mason came in and pitched a scoreless top of the eighth and came in to close it out in the top of the ninth. He struck out two of the three batters he faced, including the final out to earn his 8th save and the second day in a row he has earned a save. The Tourists manufactured two runs in the bottom of the second to go ahead 2-0. Tom Murphy drew a walk, took second on a botched run down by West Virginia, Dillon Thomas singled and took second on the throw home, putting men on second and third with no one out. First Baseman Ben Waldrip drove in Murphy with a groundball to second base, his 4th RBI in two games with the Tourists. Second Baseman Juan Ciriaco drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly. Tom Murphy drove in Matt Wessinger with a bad hop single over second base in the bottom of the eighth inning to add an insurance run. The Tourists made several stellar defensive plays in support of the pitching. Third Baseman made a diving stop of a ground ball and threw out the runner at first, Rightfielder Derek Jones made a diving grab of a line drive in the right centerfield gap in the top of the fourth inning, and Leftfielder Dillon Thomas caught a long drive to left Centerfield in front of the 370' mark for the last out of the 8th inning. It was a good game and Asheville's pitching has really come alive in the last three games. Before the game, starter Matt Carasiti's ERA was was in the stratosphere at 9.20 and he came out and pitched his best game of the year. He located his pitches well, got tough when it counted, and let the defense do their jobs.

Let's Play Two

Ernie Banks was famous for saying "Let's play two..." meaning baseball is such a great game, let's play a doubleheader. That should be the Asheville Tourists battle cry this season as they have played several due to all of the rain outs. They swept a doubleheader from Delmarva yesterday 3-2 and 5-2. Stellar pitching was the key for the Tourists in both games. The first game was a continuation of the game that was started the night before and Ryan Arrowood came on in relief and pitched the middle four innings,giving up 1 run, for his fifth victory against zero losses on the season. Rayan Gonzalez lasted through a shaky ninth, where he walked the bases loaded, to get his 7th save. In the second game, starter Ben Hughes pitched a seven inning complete game, giving up 2 runs, 1 earned, struck out 3 and didn't issue a walk. Hughes evened his record at 7-7. The complete game was important as it saved the bullpen for another day. They have been battered and knocked around a little bit. The Tourists were led at the plate by First Baseman Ben Waldrip, playing his first game as an Asheville Tourist, who hit his first homerun and drove in three and Francisco Sosa hit his 12th homerun and accounted for the other two runs.

The Bats Come Back To Life

There is something about coming home to McCormick Field that bring the Tourists bats back to life. An eight run 6th inning pushed the Tourists to a 13-6 win over the Delmarva Shorebirds and it was highlighted by First Baseman Matt Argyropoulos bases clearing double. Rosell Herrera, Francisco Sosa, and Julian Yan all drove in two runs a piece and Yan hit his 5th homerun. Reliever Andrew Brown (5-0) was the beneficiary of the big inning as he came on in the top of the sixth and threw two innings of one hit baseball, striking out two. The Tourists had 11 hits, drew 5 walks, and were aided by two Shorebirds errors to score their 13 runs. Tourists starter Matt Flemer had a tough outing giving up 5 runs in 5 innings but the relievers- Brown, Trent Blank, and Rayan Gonzalez- only gave up 1 run in 4 innings.

A Doubleheader Sweep

The Asheville Tourists were swept by the Rome Braves yesterday 8-2 and 3-2. In game one, Shortstop Rosell Herrera had 3 of the Tourists 5 hits, boosting his average to .359, and drove in 1 of the 2 runs. He also made his 25th error. The Tourists were never really in contention in the first game. The Tourists gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to lose the second game. The Tourists could only manage 4 hits in the second game as did the Braves but Rome's Designated Hitter Edison Sanchez had 3 of the 4 hits and drove in the two runs that counted in the bottom of the sixth. The Tourists only scored 5 runs in the three straight losses to Rome. Rhey have a day off and then take on Delmarva in a three game set starting on Tuesday, July 9th.

Mostly Bats And Few Arms

The Asheville Tourists season is over halfway over and they are currently 44-38. The South Atlantic League plays two halves and the Tourists are 6-8 in the second half. The Tourists have been all about the hitting to this point in the season. They lead the "Sally" League in batting with a .283 average and are a distant second in homeruns with 74, far behind the Hickory Crawdads' 124. The Tourists are led by Rosell Herrera's .354 batting average, 14 homeruns, and 55 RBI's. Catcher Tom Murphy leads the team with 17 homeruns and 65 RBI's. Asheville also leads the league with 160 stolen bases with the top man being Juan Ciriaco with 32. He is currently tied for 4th in the league. The pitching isn't faring as well but it never really does in Asheville. The Tourists are third from the bottom with a team ERA of 4.53 but you have to take into consideration the McCormick Field factor. It is the minor league version of the "Launching Pad" when it comes to homeruns being hit out of there. The Tourists are led in wins by starter T.J. Oakes with 7 and in ERA by reliever Jesse Meaux (currently on the Disabled List) with 0.90.

A Short Week

The Asheville Tourists and the South Atlantic League have been socked in by rain almost all week as the Tourists have only played 3 games since July 1st. They swept a "doubleheader" over Greensboro on July 2nd, 5-3 and 3-2, and lost to Rome on Friday night 3-1. The rest of the games were lost to rain including a doubleheader last night against Rome. They have another doubleheader scheduled today against Rome. They return home against Delmarva on Tuesday night. This amounts to a week off in the middle of a long baseball season and this can only help young players who might be hitting the proverbial wall and help a pitching staff rest some tired arms.

Bullpen Woes Continue

For the third time in the past five games the Asheville Tourists bullpen took their lumps and gave up leads late and lost all three. Today the Tourists bullpen gave up 8 runs in the last three innings to lose 9-7. They wasted a great start by Ryan Arrowood (5 IP, 9 K's, 1 Earned Run) and a solo homerun by Third Baseman Jason Stolz in the 8th inning.