No Rhubarb!

With a much-needed off day on Wednesday, we here at No Rhubarb! feel it a good opportunity to check up on the hometown nine. So here we go with our first Rainier Report of the season.

Yeah, we know the name sucks. You come up with something better.

The Tacoma Rainiers currently stand at 10-8, good for second place in the Pacific North Division, but the Rainiers stand a staggering seven games behind the first-place Salt Lake Bees. The Bees are 17-1, which is just unbelievable in of itself, but the Bees are undefeated (11-0!) on the road. We knew that Salt Lake would be good - the Bees feature the Angels' best hitting prospect Brandon Wood and best pitching prospect Nick Adenhart - but this is ridiculous. The Beavers and Sky Sox are bunched up behind the Rainiers, but everybody in the division is looking up at Salt Lake.

Rockin'
Jeff Clement - The power-hitting catcher has proved all that he can in Triple-A. Sporting a whopping .367/.500/.650 line with four homers and 15 walks, Clement could be heading to Seattle any day now.

Bryan LaHair -Tied with Clement for the team lead in homers and slugging a robust .522. Still can't hit lefties though.

Matt Tuisasosopo - When Tui was named Our Favorite Rainier, he was really scuffling along, sporting an awful .212/.297/.333 line. Well, being named Our Favorite Rainier has been quite the tonic. Currently at .262/.338/.392, Tui has been red-hot lately, hitting .368 his past 10 games.

Ryan Feierabend - It would be difficult be more important to a team than the Rainier ace. He leads the team in wins, ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts.

Not Rockin'
Yung-Chi Chen - We are willing to cut Chen some slack after missing nearly the entire 2007 season, but .212/.255/.302 is just sad. He's particularly helpless behind in the count, where his average slips to .071. Yikes

Tug Hulett - Chen's partner at second, Hulett has hit even less, if that's possible. Tug's playing time has been limited, but .124/.263/.156 doesn't really call for more.

Rob Johnson - The defensive side of the Reff Clemtson double-headed catching monster leads the team in errors. You figure it out...

Joe Woermann - We at No Rhubarb! are somewhat inclined to like Joe, beings as he's from the Puget Sound and went to school down in San Diego, but his start has been terrifyingly bad. Pick a number, and its terrible. No wins, two losses, ERA of 18.62, 20 runs in 9 2/3 innings, 14 walks... just awful.

Yes, we know: It's still early!

Posted by frinklin at 1:40 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Portland Beavers, Salt Lake Bees, Tacoma Rainiers

The Hated Portland Beavers have a TV deal with Fox Sports Northwest, and unlike last season, they are broadcast up here in Tacoma. The Lucky Beavers and Fresno Grizzlies are on FSN at 2PM. This is a very nice chance to see both a fellow PCL team and Portland's PGE Park, which Jamie used as a photoshop to show what a Foss Waterway park might look like.


Update: Seems that nobody told the fine people of Portland that the Beavs would be playing today. There are maybe 250 brave souls in PGE.

Update Again: And now we get a rain delay!

Posted by frinklin at 1:48 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Flights of Fancy, Fresno Grizzlies, Portland Beavers, Tacoma Rainiers

The Rainiers managed a two-spot in the ninth and a single run in the tenth to avoid the sweep by the hated Portland Beavers. Our Favorite Rainier's RBI single in the ninth scored Oswaldo Navarro and Ronnie Prettyman doubled home Jeff Clement to put the Rainiers ahead in the tenth. After some shaky bullpen work the past few games – weeks really – Julio Mateo pitched a perfect tenth to earn the win.

The road trip is over, the Rainiers finish 2-5 on the weeklong jaunt and now come home for a quick four game set against Tuscon. First pitch at 7:05.

Box

Posted by frinklin at 11:49 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game Results, Portland Beavers, Tacoma Rainiers

No, this is not last nights post. The Rainiers June Gloom continued, as they dropped their second in a row to Portland by an identical score of 6-5. The Rainiers are 2-9 for the month and currently sport the only winning percentage under .400 in the PCL.

Yeesh...

The bullpen was blameless this time around. Starter Juan Done gave up all six runs in four innings. The only bright spot for Tacoma was the continued brilliance of Our Favorite Rainier. He really should be Our Second-Favorite Mariner by now, but enjoy him while you can.

Second favorite? Yes, we are Ichiro People.

The series – and this long, ugly road trip – end tomorrow night at 7:05.

Box

Posted by frinklin at 12:05 AM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game Results, Our Favorite Rainier, Portland Beavers, Tacoma Rainiers

We'd like to apologize: Apparently blogspot ate last night's wrap-up. We were under the impression that didn't happen anymore. We fully expect an apology from Google and several hundred stock options.

We are fully aware we're dreaming.

On to tonight, the first game between the Rainiers and the hated Portland Beavers. Well, not really hated, but we think it would be very, very cool if we could get a Pacific Northwest Rivalry going. Not much chance, but we enjoy tilting at our particular windmills.

Unfortunately, the Rainiers stumbled in Portland, losing by a single run. Of course, after getting obliterated three of the previous four night, losing a close one might not be so bad. Justin Lehr survived six rickety innings and turned the game over to the bullpen with a four run lead.

Silly pitcher, your a Tacoma Rainier; no lead is safe. Lefty Jamie Cerda took over and managed to record zero outs while giving up five earned runs. Portland reliever Royce Ring – who really should be a porn star with that name – vultured his third win of the year after pitching 1 and 1/3.

The rivalry continues tomorrow night at 7:05.

Box

Posted by frinklin at 12:16 AM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game Results, Portland Beavers, Tacoma Rainiers

The modern-day Pacific Coast League is a massive enterprise consisting of 16 teams stretching from Tacoma and Portland in the Pacific Northwest to New Orleans of the Deep South. These are the teams our hometown nine will face throughout the long season. You must know the enemy!

The Team: Portland Beavers

The Location: Portland, Oregon

The Affiliation: San Diego Padres

The Website: PortlandBeavers.com

The Ballpark: PGE Park. Originally a football stadium opened in 1926 as Multnomah Stadium, this multi-use park was completely renovated in 2001. The Portland Beavers added baseball in 1956, after their home, Vaughn Street Park, was condemned. Even after the renovation, this is still very much a multi-use stadium, home to the Portland State Vikings football team, the Portland Timbers soccer club as well as the PCL Beavers.

The History: Portland has hosted a Pacific Coast League franchise longer than any other city. Like Tacoma, Portland was an original member of the Pacific Northwest League, and went through the war between the Pacific National League and the PCL. Where Tacoma stuck with the PNL, the Beavers’ predecessor Portland Webfeets made the move to the Pacific Coast League. Eventually rechristened the Beavers (or Lucky Beavers), the team remained in the PCL – with the exception of WWI – through the 1973 season. That team headed to Spokane, but the Beavers returned in ’78. This version stuck around until 1993, become the Salt Lake franchise. When the Beavers left again, the movement for a new ballpark caught fire, culminating in the opening of PGE Park and the return of the Beavers in 2001.

The Name: Yes, Lucky Beavers would be the perfect name for a strip club.

Miscellaneous Note #1: There would seem to be the chance for a nice Pacific Northwest rivalry with Tacoma, but that isn’t helped by the fact that the two teams don’t meet until mid-June.

Miscellaneous Note #2 We love the Beavers’ home uni.

The Prospects: Not much. The Padres’ system is very thin. The name to know might be Ryan Ketchner. He’s a minor prospect, but former Mariner property. The Beavs were supposed to feature Cesar Carrillo, San Diego’s best pitching prospect, but he went out with an injury.

Posted by frinklin at 1:30 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Know The Enemy, Portland Beavers, Tacoma Rainiers