This week may be the perfect time for Rainiers baseball. The Rainiers come back into town riding a four-game win streak after sweeping the hated Omaha Royals. The Rainiers will be in town starting Thursday for an eight-game homestand against the Tucson Sidewinders and Las Vegas 51s.
Oh, and did we mention it should be in the 80s all weekend? Perfect baseball weather!
Matt Tuiasosopo is in the lead, despite being off to a bit of a slow start. His .063/.063/.167 line is pretty unimpressive, but it's still very early. As to be expected, the more-major league ready Rainiers are off to better starts. Jeff Clement is tearing the cover off the ball at a .400/.467/.526. Considering how much Jose Vidro and Kenji Johjima are struggling for the Mariners, Clement might well be ready for the show.
In a completely unrelated note, we are currently listening to the Rainiers broadcast so ably manned by Mike Curto and we do wish KHHO wasn't so quick to switch to the FOX Sports Radio feed during rain delays. This is for two reasons: 1-FSR really sucks and 2-It's fun to listen to Mike Curto talk baseball. Hey, need a co-pilot Mike? Bloggers are the next media stars you know.
Monday afternoon, a perfect day for Tacoma baseball. The last home game before an extended road trip through the PCL Southwestern hinterlands. Again, a perfect day for baseball, which, quite frankly Tacoma owes us after we've shivered through some very cold, very wet baseball games.
But we weren't actually at the game on Monday. No, the first perfect baseball day just happened to fall on a day when we here at No Rhubarb! had previous plans. On the most perfect day of the spring, we headed up to Seattle, and stayed inside all evening. We went up to the Paramount for Silent Movie Mondays. This was our first try, and we are true believers at this point. Silent Movie Mondays transform the Paramount back into the movie palace it was meant to be. They use a vintage screen and projector, and fire up the Mightly Wurlitzer. A Harold Lloyd retrospective runs through the end of this month, and you shouldn't miss it.
Who was Harold Lloyd? Try this, a snippet of Why Worry?, one of the movies we saw on Monday.
About the Team
-Our Favorite Rainier was 2-3 with two walks. Adam Jones' biggest issue was his plate discipline. So far this year he leads the Rainiers with six walks and his line so far this year is a sparkling .389/.477/1.088. He leads this team in all three categories.
-Wladimir Balentien has some serious fan-favorite potential. He plays the game with flair, never gets cheated at the plate, and his homer on Friday night was a cannon shot.
-Mike Morse is an adventure on defense, no matter where he plays. Last night we saw him break the wrong direction on a line drive and shot-put a couple throws to first.
-Bryan Lahair looks helpless against lefties. His line (0-7, 4K) sure seems to prove that. He did seem a bit more nimble around the bag though.
-Jeff Clement has an odd stance. He hold his bat low and close to his chest, and pinches his knees together before he takes a step. Looks odd, and seems to have too many moving parts. He did hit the ball hard, so it seems to work.
-Before his epic three-run error in the tenth, I was really impressed with Rob Johnson's defense. He blocks the plate well and has a quick release. I don't know if he'll hit though. Reminds me a bit of Dan Wilson, but with a more standard catcher size.
-Again, before the train wreck 10th inning, Oswaldo Navarro can really pick it. He'll never be more than your average good-hit, no-field backup middle infielder.
-Odd to see Gookie Dawkins playing for the Rainiers. When Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the Reds, the Mariners demanded a middle infield prospect back from Cincinnati. The options were Pokey Reese (on the M's DL all season two years ago), Dawkins and Antonio Perez (traded for Randy Winn). Funny how that worked out.
-We really like Jeremy Reed, but... We dunno, it just isn't working.
About the Experience
-Cheney Stadium does look better. The paint was really needed, and the new wrought-iron fence (which I neglected to mention after the Preseason Party) improves the look of the outside of the stadium. Reading the Tribune's story on the new ownership group, one gets the feeling that the former owners neglected the team while it was up for sale.
-Rained all day, up until just about scheduled first pitch. We were not expecting the game to be played, quite frankly. The rains stopped and it went off just a few minutes late.
-Great Odin's Raven did it get cold though. Really cold. Like the Official Wife was shivering and slowly turning blue cold.
-Despite all that, it wasn't a bad crowd. About 2/3 full and about half of those stayed through the 10th.
-We skipped the fireworks. Again, REALLY cold.
-Not all the kinks were worked out. We were denied a superdog due to shortages at the main concession stand. Ordered the special fries and were given the regular ones. Wife's popcorn was cold and soggy. Not at all a good experience.
-Bought my first piece of Rainiers junk – the awesome road cap – and that transaction went pretty smoothly, despite the guy in front of me who did three separate transactions so his little ones could pay with their own money. Dude... do that at the grocery store or something, not at a ball game.
-The Rainiers staff – all with matching red jackets – were uniformly friendly and helpful. The security guys in yellow, not so much.
-Rhubarb is unspeakably horrible up close. But much more so when dressed in drag. Nightmares for life.
No Rhubarb! attended the Preseason Party this afternoon to check out the fresh coat of paint slapped on Cheney Stadium. It was quite pleasant, despite the weather not living up to yesterday's promise. Like everyone in the Pacific Northwest, we loved the sunshine yesterday, and we spent the evening listening to the Rainier game while enjoying a starlight sky from our deck.
But we digress... Today's Preseason festivities were designed to sell tickets. Season tickets -Gold Club tickets preferably- or 7-game ticket packages or single-game tickets or just any kind of tickets you can imagine. And I think they did pretty well. The Gold Club is a pretty impressive package. The best seats in the house, personalized signs on your seats, numbered parking, snacks and schwag included, plus the capper: A day to take batting practice on the field.
Batting practice on the field? Sweet Jebus, that nearly sold us. Unfortunately, this package isn't cheap, going for a cool $1200 per seat. Were it not for this pesky mortgage thing, it would have been a done deal.
The new ownership group (and the state of Washington) spent some money on various upgrades. The most noticeable of which is the mural that greets visitors to the main entrance. It's nice, but Cheney Stadium is what it is: a very utilitarian structure that was built in only 14 days nearly 50 years ago. It won't ever be a stunner like Isotopes Park or Victory Field. On the inside though, the park looks great. There are no bad views of the field, and on a clear day you can even see Mt. Rainier.
I did -as promised- did take some lousy pictures.
This would be the new mural.
How is this for a seat? You can have it for $1200.
All of my lousy pictures are available on Flickr.
Oh, and there were no demon goat-creature attacks. The sharp, pointy stick remained sheathed.
We will be attending the Preseason Party at the stadium later today (following sleep, feeding of dogs, breakfast and errands, preferably in that order). Now, we are well aware that the demon goat-creature will be there, so we will be armed with a sharp, pointy stick if it becomes necessary to defend ourselves.
There may be pictures, but we are historically inept at photography.
