No Rhubarb!

Did we miss anything? The trip, the wedding, everything went smoothly. The blog suffered of course, but sometimes real life is more important than baseball. Not very often, but it does happen. We shall recap the rather tumultuous events of the past week later on.

But tonight, we're heading to the game. Omaha at Tacoma, 6:05 first pitch. The Royals will throw Matt Wright (2-3, 3.35) against the Rainier debut of Juan Done. Done was 2-3 with a 4.19 ERA down at Double-A West Tenn. Beautiful day for baseball!

Posted by frinklin at 2:37 PM | 2 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game On, Omaha Royals, Tacoma Rainiers

Starters for tomorrow's game against Tucson - the first of an eight-game homestand - have been announced. Jake Woods (0-3, 6.75) for the Rainiers against the Sidewinders' Evan McLane (3-2, 4.58) Help for the bullpen has arrived as well. Byron Embry's suspension is up and Ryan Rowland-Smith and Sean Green have arrived from Seattle.

The weather has been perfect for baseball the past few days; hope we can continue that.

Posted by frinklin at 11:18 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game On, Tacoma Rainiers, Tucson Sidewinders

The third of a four-game series tonight with the Isotopes. After the off-the-field concerns of the past couple posts, lets just revel in an evening in the rare air Albuquerque, where the first team to 20 wins. USS Mariner is running a Rainier game thread and Rainier voice Mike Curto made an early appearance. Follow along, won't you?

The wrap-up will be late, probably posted tomorrow morning. We are heading to Tacoma General tonight for what is called a Sleep Study. The wife apparently has a problem with the fact that I don't always breathe at night. Wish me luck.

Posted by frinklin at 7:13 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Albuquerque Isotopes, Game On, Tacoma Rainiers

The Rainiers open the home season tonight, starting a four-game series against the Sacramento River Cats. Tickets are still available, so if you aren't going - for the love of Vin Scully, why wouldn't you be - you still have a chance.

And don't come to us about weather. We will be there, and we have convinced the Official Wife and the Official Parents of No Rhubarb! to attend with us. Now, the odds are staggering that the parents will stay the whole game, but we certainly will.

Justin Lehr (NR, 7.20 ERA) for the Rainiers, Colby Lewis (0-1, 5.40) for Sacramento. First pitch at 7:05, fireworks after the game. Come on, all the cool kids go to minor-league baseball games. You should too.

Posted by frinklin at 7:54 AM | 1 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game On, Sacramento River Cats, Tacoma Rainiers

It’s get-away day in Fresno tonight, as the Rainiers and the Grizzlies wrap-up a four-game series, and then Tacoma heads home.

But that isn’t the big deal tonight. The Big Deal (yes, he deserves the caps) is Tim Lincecum. Last year’s Golden Spikes winner, the best prospect in the Giant system, at worst one of the top 20 prospects in all the minors. He throws in the upper-90s, with a hammer curve and a developing change. He won’t be in Fresno very long; barring disaster he’ll see San Francisco by the All-Star break. He is a stiff challenge for the hometown nine.

You might ask how such a heralded prospect lasted until the 11th pick in the draft, being bypassed by ten teams, including his hometown Seattle Mainers. Lincecum is not perfect. He’s a smallish (6-0, 170#) righthander in a sport that prizes horses like Felix Hernandez. Lincecum also has a high stress motion that actually has him facing away from the mound. Most of all, his issue was innings; he was worked hard by the Huskies, working over 300 innings in his career there. Many scouts feel he’s a blow-out waiting to happen.

Don’t miss this one. Jorge Campillo goes for the Rainiers.

Posted by frinklin at 6:11 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Fresno Grizzlies, Game On, Tacoma Rainiers

It can't possibly be any worse than last night. Or the Mariner debacle of earlier today. Cha Baek takes the mound for the Rainiers against righthander Matt Palmer. Baek was wild on Opening Night, and considering the mess yesterday and losing Jake Woods to the M's today, the R's need a good start.

As always, 7:05 on KHHO or GameDay Audio

Posted by frinklin at 6:42 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Fresno Grizzlies, Game On, Tacoma Rainiers

The Rainiers are in the Central Valley of California, for four against the Grizzlies. Tonight, AAAA pitcher Matt Kinney for the Grizzlies against reclamation project Jim Parque. This series is a bit of a family reunion for the Rainiers; three former Rainiers and former manager Dan Rohn are all on the Grizzlies squad

Posted by frinklin at 7:34 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Fresno Grizzlies, Game On, Tacoma Rainiers

The Rainiers open the 2007 Pacific Coast League season tonight at the Sacramento River Cats. The 'Cats have been one of the dominant teams in the PCL since moving to California's capital after leaving Vancouver in 2000. Being the Triple-A affiliate of Billy Beane's prolific Oakland A's has been beneficial to say the least. Sacramento fans have seen players like Barry Zito, Rich Harden, Bobby Crosby and Nick Swisher lead the River Cats to four division championships in five years and back-to-back PCL Championships in 2003 & 2004.

This iteration of the River Cats doesn't seem quite as imposing as those, reflecting a slight downturn in the A's farm system. Still, Catcher Kurt Suzuki and 1B/DH Daric Barton are solid prospects.

Like all Rainier games, tonight's contest is available locally on KHHO 850-AM (though good luck wading through KHHO's website. It looks like a eight-year old who couldn't read designed it) and over the web via Minorleaguebaseball.com's GameDay. Unlike the major league version, MiLB GameDay is free, and offers up a preposterous 6000 games over the course of the 2007 season. Mike Curto does the play-by-play for the Rainiers, and he's one of the best.

Posted by frinklin at 5:26 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game On, Sacramento River Cats, Tacoma Rainiers