Kannapolis

I promised a final post in Asheville, and I failed, so I'll do a little of both in this post.

The day after I posted my last entry, I witnessed one of the greatest pitching performances in my five years of calling baseball games.

Mike McClendon took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of a game on Friday, May 18th. It was truly amazing. What was even more amazing, was the fact that he appeared to be even more nervous when I interviewed him four days later.

Asheville was an amazing trip. The folks there are great, its a scenic town, and they have the best hotel in the league ( so far). The Power cooled off one of the hottest teams in all of minor league baseball by taking three of four games from Asheville.

I'm writing this from Kannapolis North Carolina. I love this area. Kannapolis is a beautiful part of North Carolina, its a northeast suburb of Charlotte.

The press box here is IDEAL for broadcasting. The view is great, the booth is spacious and air conditioned, and they offer me wireless high speed internet which is about as clutch as Lebron James.

The hotel is nice, it offers all the essentials and has some decent places around it to eat. You cant beat an IHOP and a Cici's pizza buffet. The hotel has all the things you need to survive.

The team is playing GREAT baseball right now. As I write this, they are 7.5 games up with 17 games to go in the first half. I didnt think I'd ever see a team better than the 2004 Charleston Alley Cats, but this team is better.

This team flat out hits, and they hit in CLUTCH situations. Every time they need a big hit, they get it. Even if they blow big leads, they always seem to make up the difference. Whats even more amazing is that this was totally unexpected out of spring training.

Tonight, they wre up 7-0, and Kannapolis tied the game with seven runs in the fourth inning. Still, the Power went on to win their sixth game in a row. They are 21 games above .500 thats insane.

They have a chance to deliver the knockout punch in a four game series this weekend with the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

The atmosphere on the bus, in the clubhouse and around the ballpark is simply amazing. The chemistry is that of something I've never witnessed. I hope that they clinch somewhere besides Lexington, because I'm gonna' go nuts when they clinch, and that press box in Lexington is WIDE OPEN.

Thats where Jack Jackity Jack originated, when they won a game in Lexington, and Christian Snavely hit a BOMB, and I went nuts. I drew several stares in that press box because I went nuts.

Here is to hoping that they wrap it up in Hickory, or at home so I can go absolutely insane when it happens.

Good times to come for sure, this is truly a special team. By for now, from Kannapolis.

--BULL

Catching UP

I’ve already missed a few trips, and for the second year in a row, I’ve failed to do what I intended to do. So I will try to catch up on some of the highlights of previous road trips, and later this weekend I’ll recap this road trip.

Let me say this about this trip, I’m currently in Asheville, NC. The series features two division leaders and it should be a fun four game series. I have a freaking suite. Two full bathrooms, a living room, a bedroom, full kitchen, its AMAZING.

Lets recap some of my other trips. In Delmarva the boys started to hit their stride and won two games in a rain shortened series. Delmarva was pleasant as always. The hotel isn’t great but the location is ideal. I don’t ever really shop, but I decided to upgrade my wardrobe by purchasing a few things at a Marshalls that’s maybe 100 feet from the hotel.

I gained weight as usual because the hotel is right near SEVERAL outstanding restaurants. The trip was short because of the rain. On the ride home there were wind advisories that were so intense, we didn’t know if the bus would make it across the bay bridge. Thankfully it did and we got back at a decent hour.

Highlight of the trip: Cold Stone Creamery, enough said.

The next trip was an eight gamer, four in Lexington and four in Hagerstown. The Power won the first three games in Lexington. The had a 14 game winning streak, setting a franchise record. The way they won their 14th game was amazing. The game went 17 innings and they won 8-5. Here is how it went down…the Power were down 4-3, facing Lexington’s closer Santo Luis who was 5 for 5 in save opportunities. He hit Andrew Lefave with an 0-2 pitch. Anderson Delarosa pinch ran for Lefave, he stole second, the throw down to second went into center field, Delarosa went to third, and the throw from center to third, took a weird hop and went into the crowd allowing Delarosa to score the tying run. BIZZARE.

The highlight of the trip, besides the 14 victories in a row, talking to former Reds General Manager Dan O’Brien who was a first class human being. He works for the Brewers as an assistant to GM Doug Melvin.

It was off to Hagerstown after an off day. There were two day games during the trip. Day games are great when they are over, they are tough to start though. After one of the day games we went to the Hagerstown Outlet mall to kill a few hours. It was probably the highlight of the trip.

Its tradition on the Hagerstown trip, that within 10 minutes after getting in, the entire staff goes to the Chinese buffet and the crushing begins. Its been done every year since 05. I love it. My stomach doesn’t like it so much, and minutes after I get back to my hotel room, my toilet doesn’t like it.

The Power took three games from the Suns and continued to dominate, they won 14-3 in the first two games, taking advantage of two big innings. In game one they scored nine in the fifth, and in the second game they scored eight runs in the seventh inning. Bizzare.

The next trip, we went back to Hagerstown. Same trip, different week. Same result, West Virginia took three of four. They dropped the first game of the series but won the next three. One in six innings, a rain shortened game, and in the final game, they won 11-10.

In that final game they were up 4-0, let the Suns come back and tie it, until Taylor Green hit a freaking bomb, a Grand Slam, the highlight of the trip. The Suns came back to make it a one run game but couldn’t get over the hump.

That takes us to the current trip. It started with two games in Greensboro, and now we’re in Asheville. In Greensboro, the Power dropped game one 4-0. Graham Taylor, a lefty for Greensboro recorded the Sally League’s first complete game shutout. He held the Power to five hits. The game took just over two hours to complete, LIGHTNING quick, my kinda game.

The second game was WAY different. West Virginia won 14-10. It was a lot like the 11-10 win in Hagerstown. West Virginia had an 11-2 lead, but the ‘Hoppers came back to make it 11-10 before the Power scored three times in the ninth to pull away. Taylor Green hit two bombs. Amazing.

Greensboro’s park is great, but my broadcasting position is not good. I cant see much on the left side of the field because a suite is in my way, and there are windows obstructing my view. The hotel is great, its near some good restaurants, it has wireless internet and it’s a good, clean hotel.

Here is what we’re working with in Asheville. It’s a GORGEOUS hotel, great scenery, wireless internet, I have a suite and the whole nine yards. The ballpark isn’t great, but my broadcasting position is great. I can see everything. Its small, but I like it, very easy to see the action.

To recap. Hagerstown’s hotel had no internet, that means I had no chance to blog there. Its not a great area, but the people there are very nice. I ate way too much Chinese food there.

Delmarva was shorlived. The broadcasts were ok. Good people, not a bad hotel, GREAT area though.

Lexington is nice. Our hotel isn’t near much out there, but the stadium is nice, press box is kinda crammed but I like the people there a lot. Larry Glover, their radio announcer is one of my good friends, and he makes the trip worthwhile because he runs a good operation. The hotel on the whole is good, reliable internet access, big, clean room with all the essentials.

Greensboro has all you need, except the broadcasting position sucks. The people are great, the city is nice and so is the ballpark. The hotel is awesome.

We don’t go to Hagerstown or Delmarva again, which isn’t a real bad thing. We go to Lexington and Greensboro a lot more so I’ll report on those areas again. This is our only trip to Asheville, and I’ll have more to report on it later.