Portland Beavers to Play in Tucson in 2011

OK, full disclosure. I consider Tucson one of my two hometowns for a number of reasons. Not to bore you all with the biography of me but, lived in Oceanside until I was 11 then on to Tucson through college. So, any place where you learned to drive, graduated high school, had your first girlfriend and graduated college, gets credit as a hometown.

In my 13 years of living in Tucson, the city played home to two AAA baseball teams. At first it was the Tucson Toros, the AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. They played at Hi Corbett Field, which, if you are a fan of the movie "Major League" (and really, if you are not a fan of "Major League" then just move along friend) you would recognize Hi Corbett as the home of the Cleveland Indians spring training. And, in less memorable moments, I once tried out for the Tampa Bay Rays once upon a lifetime. As there is no Disney movie about my rise in the Rays organization, its safe to assume I did not make it.

Padres fans who are familiar with Matt Vasgersian's career may remember that he was once played the part of Tuffy the Toro, the Toros mascot. (I guess I should mention for those not familiar with spanish, toro = bull).

Then MLB expanded and gave Phoenix a professional team. So good bye Toros. But hello brand new AAA park and team in the form of the Tucson Sidewinders. But, after the 2008 season, Tucson lost yet another AAA team, this time to Reno.

Needless to say, I had some fun times going to AAA games. So, I was pretty excited when I read Corey Brock's article tonight regarding the temporary home of the Portland Beavers:

According to Baseball America, the Beavers will move to Tucson, where they will play for at least one season before moving to a permanent home and a new ballpark in Escondido, Calif.

Kick ASS! I know its only for one year but still, pretty exciting stuff if you ask me. Tucson has always been a great town for Spring Training baseball and, at least my teenage recollection is that Tucson was a pretty good AAA town as well.

So, there you go. The Portland Beavers will be moving to Tucson next year. Apparently the reason being is that their home in Portland is being converted for a soccer-specific stadium to accomodate an MLS team.

One last Arizona baseball memory here. During the one year that Michael Jordan played minor league baseball, he also played in the Arizona Fall League for the Scottsdale Scorpions. So yes, I have seen Jordan play baseball in person. At Hi Corbett Field. Fun times. Here's hoping a AAA team moves there for good in the near future.

Where Have You Gone Bullpen?

The other day someone asked me whether it was "time to panic." My initial, gut reaction was no, absolutely not, its way to early. Keep in mind I said this with this in mind: Peavy was pitching tonight, against the Astros, followed by the Giants coming to San Diego.

Well...Peavy pitched admirably. Pedestrian by his own, astronomical standards. 6 IP, 4 ER, 2 SO. More indicative of his performance was where the Padres were when Peavy left. Down 4-3.

Black went to Thatcher who quickly gave up 3 runs, missing his spots badly. In a park like Minute Maid Park against a lineup such as the Astros, missing your spots is a recipe for disaster. This ran the score to 7-3.

Unlike what has happened often this season however, the Padres fought back. PMac went deep, and AGon did his best Charger impersonation at home. A 4 run 8th inning had tied the game and Heath Bell was coming in. Finally, the Padres had a game set-up as they would want it. I was going to argue a few days ago that the Padres unusually high bullpen ERA was more a case of mop-up guys getting knocked around (Rusch, Ledezma, etc.).

Heath Bell gave up 4 runs, putting the game out of reach, and the fans into panic mode.

So to answer the question that began this post, "is it time to panic?" Yes.

But hang on...it's April after all. How many times have fans seen things take place in April that never pan out (Shelley Duncan of Detroit, I'm looking at you). So let's review the Padres last three years and see how important April really is:

2005 (note: the Padres won the division with an 82-80 record):
April Record: 11-13; Most Games Under .500: 4 games under, on April 27. What drove that team to the playoffs was a 22-6 May and a winning record in 1-run games 29-20.

2006 (won division with an 88-74 record):
April Record: 9-15; Most Games Under .500: 7, on April 29. Perhaps most interesting was the team ERA of April: 4.57.

2007 (finished third with an 89-74 record):
April Record: 13-13; never under .500.

NOTE: statistics provided by http://www.baseball-reference.com/

I guess my point is this. In the past three years, the Padres have never left April with a winning record. Currently they are sitting at 9-12. They have a run differential of -28 and a bullpen ERA of 5.54.

So, time to panic, or just another April in San Diego? Time will tell, but my money is on history, and history dictates that the Padres play extremely well in May. For now, the panic button will be put away...for now.

Coming Up

Another bizarre two game series coming up, this time against the Giants. Maddux goes for win 350 tonight. Lucky for us, we get Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. Sometimes its not stats, its luck.