No Rhubarb!

Yes, your favorite - and so far only - Tacoma Rainiers blog is undergoing some housecleaning. We aren't entirely sold on the new look, so please let us know what you think.

Posted by frinklin at 2:15 AM | 1 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

Inspired by Jamie - and now David Boe - we've started a FeedTacoma discussion group about how and where we can build a new Rainier ballpark. Join us, won't you?

Tacoma's new - hopefully waterfront - ballpark. How do we get it built?

ThriceAllAmerican posted some gorgeous photoshop work that places Portland's PGE Park on the Supervalu warehouse. Erik Hanberg mentioned the former Asarco Site. No Rhubarb! has always been privy to placing a park on the Hilltop, close to where baseball began in Tacoma. Still others want to tear down the Dome and rebuild there. We've had small discussions on each of those sites and in person. Here I would like to start an all-inclusive discussion, where we can lock down the best possible place, and maybe even figure out how we can afford it.

Cheney Stadium is old and - let's face it - not all that pretty. It's also a city property so Tacoma has a stake in its replacement. A waterfront park would feature views as good as any in sports, minor or major. A new ballpark would become one of the faces of the city, comparable to Union Station or the Museum of Glass. A new ballpark can and will make this city a more beautiful and livable place. So let's get it done.

Posted by frinklin at 11:36 AM | 4 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Flights of Fancy, Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

Okay, one of the first things we did upon setting this-here blog up was to include a Google Newsreel. Set to find snippets concerning the PCL or your Tacoma Rainiers, it has helped us on occasion find stuff. Today though, the first thing showing up on the newsreel is... the Tacoma Daily Index concerning this very blog. We have - of course - clicked through to said story.

We read a story about ourselves, linked from ourselves. Yeah....

So, in closing, if the universe collapses in on itself today, it was our bad.

Posted by frinklin at 2:47 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

While we here at No Rhubarb! are somewhat dormant during the off-season, patiently waiting for Spring Training and the orgy of aging white guy reminisces that entails, we are also blogging America's most important game: politics. Along with an old friend, we have begun to blog at Electoral College Dropouts, and we promise to bring to the 2008 presidential election the same utter lack of knowledge and research you find here. Enjoy.

No, please, do come visit.

Posted by frinklin at 11:11 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Man Cannot Live On Baseball Alone, Under Construction

We're only mostly dead.

Actually, not dead at all. The last couple months have been a blur to me, and unfortunately this and my other blog have taken quite the hit. But fear not No Rhubarbian, we shall return with random updates all throughout the off-season. We'll hit any Rainiers news we come upon, and we shall spend a few hitting on the Pacific Northwest sports scene. Quick Version: Yay MLS, Boo NBA.

And I would be remiss not to mention the shout out we've received from Ben's Biz, a fantastic new blog from MiLB.com. Unlike many of the MLB corporate blogs, which run from the mundane to the ridiculous, Benjamin Hill knows his stuff and seems to love the minor leagues as much as we do. Please check him out.

Posted by frinklin at 9:33 PM | 1 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Blogs Much Better Than This One, Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

We are not dead. Only sleeping. Actually, sleep is rather the opposite of what is going on here. We've been busy. We are...

... putting on a show! Come see it and figure out the mystery!

...making life miserable for local restaurateurs!

...playing with this thing, which might be God's perfect time-waster.

...getting yet another animal!

...getting seriously chagrined when we describe ourselves as “blogger”.

So, where do we go from here? The Rainiers are done for year. Minor league baseball – while now close to a year-round affair due to various winter leagues – won't be seen around these parts until next spring. We could – and almost certainly will – continue to blog about the other, slightly less local franchises. We've also kicked around the idea of following either the UPS or PLU football teams, and while we may keep abreast of them, we can't see that idea completely taking hold. Mostly because we don't have a clue about UPS or PLU football.

We'll work on it.

Posted by frinklin at 11:21 AM | 2 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

C.R. Roberts from the TNT has a quick Q and A with Aaron Artman, new president of the Rainiers. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it shouldn't be missed.

Posted by frinklin at 11:12 PM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

We've (gently) mocked the team's official site, but we feel the need to congratulate it. Over the past week or so TacomaRainiers.com has been a virtual link fest, and most of them are worth checking out. Baseball America on Our Favorite Rainier, MLB.com on Wlad Balentien, a local kid makes good tale featuring Eastlake High's own Brent Ust, a TNT feature on ballpark art... It's a nice change from the days where the site featured just about nothing.

Also, the Rainiers are having a Job Fest on Monday. No request for team blogger, but we're always listening.

Posted by frinklin at 11:27 AM | 1 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Our Favorite Rainier, Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

This is a hectic day for the Frinklin family. We are leaving to night for the sun-drenched lands of San Diego (no Whale's Vagina jokes please) for my lovely sister-in-law's massive wedding. All we need to do today is take the dogs to the kennel, finish the laundry, pick up my new glasses (thank you Downtown Vision), get the house ready for the cat-sitter, head out to Comic Book Ink to pick up comics for the flight (Comic Book Ink rocks, any and all South Sound Geeks should go there), and (oh yeah) pack for the trip.

Whew...

Now, what this means for the No Rhubarb! reader is that blogging will be rather erratic, definitely light and quite-possibly non-existent. Yes, you may – for the next week anyway – fall back into the dark days where there was no blog solely for the Tacoma Rainiers, and for that we apologize. If you need Rainier-based content,the TNT has a fine article on Our Favorite Rainier we recommend highly.

Also, for non-baseball fun, we recommend – nay, we command – that you flip your televisions to ESPN2 for the finale of the UEFA Champions League, A.C. Milan v. Liverpool. While we are by no means the expert that this fellow is, we just don't see the Reds being able to keep up with Milan, and very much doubt a repeat of 2005.

Posted by frinklin at 11:28 AM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Man Cannot Live On Baseball Alone, Our Favorite Rainier, Tacoma Rainiers, The Beautiful Game, Under Construction

Well, look who's finally up and redone their website? The Rainiers have seriously updated, switching from the old-style to the newer MiLB template. It looks and feels much better. Not all of the bugs are out though, there are dead links everywhere. I'm betting that gets taken care of overnight.

Weirdly enough, at just after midnight on Wednesday, if you go to www.TacomaRainiers.com you get the old version. If you go through www.minorleaguebaseball.com, you get the new.

Still no mention of a certain PCL Player of the Week though.

Posted by frinklin at 12:04 AM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

Okay, nobody demanded anything. I'm just switching to a domain name of my very own. If I set this up correctly tomorrow, this here blog should be found at RainiersBlog.com

I will almost undoubtly screw it up at least once.

Update@8:15PM Uhhh.... okay. I am up and running at www.rainiersblog.com, which is cool. I don't seem to be working at rainiersblog.com, sans www. While I do own that version of the URL, blogger seems to populate only one version.

Huh? Does that make any sense?

Posted by frinklin at 2:22 AM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

The Rainiers beat the hated River Cats 4-2, and Tacoma fans dance on the skulls of their enemies! Jorge Campillo gets the win in his first Tacoma start since 2005 and his major elbow surgery. Jeff Clement hit a 2-run homer in the sixth - his first of the year- to put the Rainiers up for good. Jon Huber gets the save.

The hometown nine win, and all is good with the world.

Oh, and Our Favorite Rainier? 3-4 with an RBI, putting his line for the year at .500/.643/.800. Fun with small sample size theater.

Eagle-eyed readers might also see a new addition to the sidebar. I’ve added a Google aggregator, set up for news about our Rainiers and the PCL in general.

Posted by frinklin at 12:54 AM | 0 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Game Results, Sacramento River Cats, Tacoma Rainiers, Under Construction

This will be up in time for the PCL Opening Day, April 13th for the Beloved Rainiers.

Posted by frinklin at 5:12 PM | 2 comments Links to this post    
Labels: Under Construction