The Vig

Hey!  Guess what I learned!  The Albuquerque Isotopes are now the AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The old Albuquerque Dukes were their AAA affiliate before they moved and became your Portland Beavers.  Apparently there’s been some movement in the world of Triple-A baseball.  Let’s follow the bouncing ball…

• Albuquerque hosted the Marlins.  Now they host the Dodgers.
• Las Vegas hosted the Dodgers.  Now they host the Blue Jays.
• Syracuse hosted the Blue Jays.  Now they host the Nationals.
• The Columbus Clippers (longtime AAA affiliate of your New York Yankees) hosted the Nationals.  Now they host the Indians.
• Buffalo hosted the Indians.  Now they host the Mets.
• New Orleans hosted the Mets.  Now they host the Marlins.

Whew!

In hindsight, it’s interesting that the Padres re-upped with the Beavers last August since it seems the Dodgers had been telegraphing their move for a while.  The Pads had been in Vegas for 17 years prior to the Dodgers coming in and kicking them up north to Portland.  Geographically it makes a ton more sense for them to return to Las Vegas.  Now they’re gonna have to wait.

If there’s a guaranteed topic that can get your blog’s Nielsen’s up into the stratosphere, it’s soccer.  Soccer fans in this country are fanatical and one unkind word about the sport will send them into a tizzy.  Then into the chat rooms where they link to your story and make comments like “can you believe this idiot?”  It’s a fascinating cycle of self-loathing.

Back in olden days, the only way to comment on a particular story or columnist was to put pen to paper and write the whole thing down.  Then you got to spend a week combing the newspaper, hoping your letter was selected for publication.  You usually got edited for brevity and sometimes your point was completely lost.  But there you were.  In the paper.

Brother Jaynes used to do a terrific bit years ago called “Earth to Jaynes”, in which he’d publish a reader’s letter in his column and then respond to it.  Remember, this was before blogs and instant communication.  You had to WORK to get that letter published.  Jaynes, however, was using us for filler.  Either way…

He’s been following the pending Lents baseball stadium deal pretty closely for the last week or so.  Dwight’s been a pretty very vocal proponent of bringing Major League baseball to town for years.  He even had a spot picked out down in what is now known as the South Waterfront.  It’s still a pretty decent idea in need of a champion.  Unfortunately no one has stepped up.  So we go to Plan B.

Soccer.

Merritt Paulson is putting on the full-court press to bring the MLS to Portland and I don’t trust him one bit.  This deal is all about baseball, specifically getting a new stadium built on someone else’s dime.  See, MLS requires their facilities to be soccer-only.  They can’t share with the Beavers and heaven forbid they play on artificial turf.  No no!  Grass, baby.

So rather than build a new soccer-only facility out in Lents, with a bunch of other improvements to the park, Paulson has decided that would make the perfect place for a baseball stadium instead.  This is all about baseball, remember that.  Paulson figured out pretty quickly how the city’s politics work (are you listening Jim Goldsmith?) and got in cozy with Randy Leonard and Sam Adams.  And voila!  Dumb.  Dumb.  Dumb.

I think the question of whether the MLS could work here is equal to whether AAA baseball could work in Lents.  The answer to both is “who knows”.  Dwight wonders whether MLS is truly major league.  It isn’t.  It’s a talent pool for Europe.  I heard a great explanation of the MLS’ role in club soccer.  Basically they’ve become a conduit for the great African talent out there.  The Africans come here to play, hoping to get to Europe.  The Europeans look at the league as a mix of Americans and Africans and will come in and poach at will.  The great players from Europe won’t be coming here anytime soon, especially if the oligarchs and rich Middle Eastern oil men keep throwing their money around the Premiership.

Will Portlanders pay to see AA-level soccer played here?  Man, I don’t know.  And I don’t think Paulson cares.  Once he gets his new baseball stadium, I’m willing to bet he’ll leave the MLS people out to dry.

Portland Beavers: I feel terrible. I didn’t make it to a single game this home stand. Between two Blazer games, more on that in a sec, and the rain, I just didn’t make the time. I’ll do better this week. I promise. As for the week past, the Beavs went 2-1 against the Fresno Grizzlies, getting strong pitching performances from Josh Geer (1-0 / 7 IP / 1 hit / 4 strikeouts) and Shawn Estes (1-0 / 6 IP / 4 strikeouts / 0.00 ERA) and solid offense from outfielder Chip Ambres (2 HR) and Matt Antonelli (3-for-9 with 2 triples).

Trail Blazers: I went to the Houston game on Thursday night. I only made it to halftime. The Blazers seemed to be sleepwalking and I was a little tired myself. I guess it turned into the T-Mac show in the second half. Kind of wish I’d stuck around. Yesterday’s game against the Spurs was another snoozefest. They should institute a San Antonio rule. Require the Spurs to get a shot up within say 15-seconds. Watching them plod their way through the Rose Garden yesterday was…well, boring. At the end of the third quarter, I figured the Blazers would need 75 points to win the game. At that point they had 52. It wasn’t meant to be. Nice to see Ime Udoka back in the building. And it was nice to see Damon Stoudamire get booed when he got into the game. Blzaer fans haven’t forgotten. I like that.

Whacky Idea of the Day: How cool would it be if the Blazers activated Oden for the last game of the year and stuck him in with say 5 minutes left in the Memphis game? Just long enough to see him in uniform and have him run around a little bit. I bet that would sell a few ticket packages for next year. I wonder if that’s crossed either Larry Miller or Kevin Pritchard’s minds.

Man City: Like they were going to beat Chelsea. Even at home. The Blues have managed three goals since the middle of February. A streak reminiscent of the end of last season. What’s different? The new owner seems willing to spend whatever it takes to become a top-four club. I just wonder if they’ll ever be able to draw the talent required to do it. They are the Clippers to Man U’s Lakers. And always will be.

Twitter: Sitting in the office on Saturday afternoon, I took a moment to check in on my Twitter account to see what was happening. Everyone and their daughter was headed to Fire on the Mountain for a meet-up. Being just up the street, I decided to join in. I’m so glad I did. Hockley was there, as was Banana Lee Fishbones. I made a few new friends as well. It was worth it to just listen to Aaron and friend discuss Twitter philosophy. The more I use it, the more I enjoy it. Twittering is definitely a participation sport. I don’t think wall flowers get nearly as much out of it.

Oregon State Beavers: Craig Robinson? Well, OK. Corvallis Gazette-Times beat writer Brooks Hatch has an interesting take on the reality of the Beavers gig.

The last three coaches at OSU were Ritchie McKay, Eddie Payne and Jay John. McKay went directly to New Mexico of his own volition, and thence to Liberty. Eddie has since been the head coach at Greensboro College and is now head coach at South Carolina Upstate. John did some scouting for the Denver Nuggets, and will undoubtedly find another position in basketball someplace in the not-to-distant future. My point is, all three (Jimmy Anderson retired, so he doesn’t count) found quick employment. Perhaps not at BCS-level schools, but they quickly found jobs that provided a comfortable income, even though they couldn’t get OSU turned around. For them, it was hardly a graveyard job.

Now, ask yourself, where are Washington’s last three coaches (Bob Bender, Andy Russo, Lynbn Nance)? Where are Kevin Eastman and Paul Graham of WSU, or Dick Kutchen, Lou Campanelli, or Todd Bozeman from Cal, or Rob Evans, Bill Frieder and whomever else has been at ASU before Herb Sendek (I’m drawing a blank here; Steve Patterson?)?

(Kevin Eastman, who I knew in college, is with the Boston Celtics. But the question is partly rhetorical).

Point is, there’s perception, and reality.

Thats something I hadn’t considered. I wonder if Bill Grier had considered that before leaving the Beavers at the altar last week.

Baseball’s opening day is upon us. The big leagues have been at it since Sunday night. Well, last week if you count the trip the Red Sox and A’s made to Japan last week. But that’s a separate issue.

Locally, things get going tonight with the Beavers. What better way to start the season than on First Thursday and Thirsty Thursday. Two great Portland traditions.

I’m going to be hitting the Beavers pretty hard this season, checking out not only the top-level of San Diego’s farm system, but the top-level of the rest of the league as well. This weekend, for example, the Beavers welcome the Fresno Grizzlies, the Triple-A affiliate of your San Francisco Giants. The Grizz are led by top-Giants prospect Nate Schierholtz. The 24-year-old outfielder spent a little time with the big club last season and should be called up soon. Especially if the Giants are going to be as bad as advertised.

The Beavers will counter with second baseman Matt Antonelli and pitcher Wade LeBlanc. Both players figure significantly in the Padres’ future.

I don’t claim to be any sort of baseball expert, so I’m going to be learning on the job with this. I’ll have my camera and I’ll have my notebook for a little semi-live blogging. It should be fun.