Bored? Watch the Beavers!

by marc w on May 29, 2008 8:31 PM PDT

Please note, this is a non-pornographic suggestion....

With the M's off today, I've been watching the Portland Beavers game on FSN.

What's so interesting about the Hated Rivals' AAA club? Well, the starting pitcher for the Beavs is Dirk Hayhurst, who's moving out of the bullpen to get some starts. Who's Hayhurst? He's the guy who blogs at BA in the 'non-prospect diary.' His writing has really attracted some attention, and he's gotten writing gigs elsewhere.

You may remember Dave Cameron drawing attention to Hayhurst in this post.

In addition, the game features a number of A's prospects, from Travis Buck to Wes Bankston (an ex-Rays prospect...yeah Jeff, I said RAYS). All in all, it's a decent enough off-day distraction, and while the NBA game is close... it's baseball.

Fun fact: typing on an eee pc is next to impossible if you have big hands. I have mistyped every single word of this fanpost, but do not wish to encroach on JI's territory.

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Will Venable was caught on one of those damn

fake-to-third, throw-back-to-first pickoff plays.

This is interesting solely because his dad, Max Venable, is the Beavers first base coach.

“Oh, uh, BACK!”

“Thanks dad.”

by marc w on May 29, 2008 8:38 PM PDT reply actions

Hayhurst's line

5 IP 4h 1BB 9Ks. Wow.

And he may not get a win, thanks to the implosion of Mauro Zarate.

I guess it’s the day for soft-tossing semi-prospects, as Robert Rohrbaugh has 7 Ks and 1 BB in 5 1/3 IP so far.

by marc w on May 29, 2008 8:48 PM PDT reply actions

I'm really digging this botched infield fly call.

Pop up first and second, no outs. Pop up, infielders miss the catch. Infield Fly not called. Guy on second goes to third, the guy on first runs to second, and gets tagged out 3 feet from the bagged, and is called out by the umpires. People start arguing, and the ruling is infield fly, so the batter is out, but the runner tagged out is safe at second, even though he had to advance at his own risk. The whole sequence prompts the announcer to proclaim, “That was the stupidest call I have ever seen in the triple A game.” Nice to see announcers speak their mind on the broadcast.

by joof on May 29, 2008 9:27 PM PDT reply actions

I was going to post this

but didn’t because i didn’t want to be the only person posting in my own fanpost. props to the announcers for letting loose on the umps (I bet Niehaus would go off if allowed), though that was one of the most egregious blown calls I’ve ever seen.

by marc w on May 29, 2008 10:00 PM PDT up reply actions

I brought this up before

I’m amazed they broadcast Portland Beavers and Portland Timbers games, but no Tacoma Rainiers or Seattle Sounders. Maybe FSN climbed on the ‘Seattle is a second rate city’ bandwagon with Clay Bennett.

by Gomez on May 29, 2008 10:17 PM PDT reply actions

Hell, Comcast shows

Tacoma Tides soccer games. An amateur league, played in a high school football stadium.
They don’t show Rainiers games in part because the stadium just can’t accomodate cameras/broadcasts.

by marc w on May 29, 2008 10:33 PM PDT up reply actions

Comcast has some deal with the Sounders as well

or at least they did last year, I’m pretty sure they still do. Tape delayed stuff, nothing live, probably the same as the Tides.

by Nick S on May 29, 2008 11:25 PM PDT up reply actions

I saw an ad that the Sounders

are broadcast on Channel 1 > Local Sports > Sounders or some similar path. Probably tape delay as Nick S said

by nwtrev on May 30, 2008 1:30 PM PDT up reply actions

Yes

that’s exactly the the deal. But so what?

The point is, TV is often willing to cover lower leagues in this area (the Tacoma freakin’ TIDES, people!), but don’t broadcast from Cheney due to some logistical problems and what I suspect is a lack of interest.
I’d kill for tape delayed Rainiers games on FSN, or something similar through Click Network (city of Tacoma’s cable system).

by marc w on May 30, 2008 3:10 PM PDT up reply actions

Weak

I figured if they could televise Southampton FC matches inside The Dell, they can find a way to rig a few cameras in Cheney, even if it is small and nookish.

by Gomez on May 29, 2008 11:33 PM PDT up reply actions

Hayhurst is the bomb.

Best player-writer I have ever seen, period. People, I implore you to look up his Baseball America columns from last year. You will laugh your ass off and be deeply impressed with the guy’s literary ability.

by esoteric on May 30, 2008 12:09 AM PDT reply actions

the key to the eee pc

is learning how to mentally shrink your fingers. Just pretend they’re smaller. It sounds ridiculous but it’s how I manage, and it works surprisingly well.

Northeastern University Huskies: Mediocre hockey, guaranteed.

by Carl Johnson on May 30, 2008 11:34 AM PDT reply actions

I'll give that a shot

mentally expanding the keyboard wasn’t working.
It got so frustrating, I ended up using my phone instead of the eee pc last night. Maybe I’ll just pick the eee pc up, use my thumbs, and pretend I’m texting or something.

by marc w on May 30, 2008 11:56 AM PDT up reply actions