Portland Beavers

So a while ago I made a little visit up to Portland for some scouting. KT called and told me I needed to check out some players that they might be calling up soon so I made the trek up there…….OK I lie I went up there for vacation. But I did get to catch my first Portland Beavers game! After going to the Padres game on the 26th (a Pads win over AZ 9-2) & the 27th (both a 5-4 Pads win and a Storm 10-4 win over Inland Empire) I was hoping the AAA club wouldn’t ruin my win streak. The minor league experience is quite a different ballgame all together. PGE park is amazing though. It definitely gives you that old ballpark feel (because it is an old ballpark) I went to the last home game (August 28th) against the 1st place Salt Lake Bees (Angels AAA) and that game drew the 2nd highest attendance this season (11,857 and if I recall correctly the max capacity is around 19,000 so it was still pretty empty). I purchased the general admission tickets and went straight to the Widmer beer garden, which is actually on the field (1st base side) which I highly recommend doing or for the under 21 crowd get GA tickets and go and sit on the LF wall. All in all it was a great game for the Beavers. Leblanc pitched well going 7 strong, the offense battered the Bees pitching all night long starting off with Dowdy & Ciofrone leading off the game with back-to-back homers, Antonelli hitting a homer & strong performances by Myrow and Ambres. I was the only person in the entire ballpark wearing a Padres jersey and hat and kind of got some grief for it….yet the majority of the people are Mariners fans..go figure. I highly recommend going to see a Beavers game if you are ever in Portland…great atmosphere and next year I expect some pretty good players up there….that is unless the Padres take them all.