We admit we don’t have an alternative solution and are not familiar with the construction contract for Cheney Stadium or why the contract was to begin while the season (or postseason)  was likely still going on, but we understand why a lot of Tacoma Rainiers fans we are hearing from are kind of peeved about seeing the PCL playoffs go up to Safeco. Here are the details from the team press release. Read the rest of this entry »

The Schlegel Sports Group, owner of the Rainiers, has had the proposed sale of its defunct minor-league hockey team, the Iowa Chops, approved by the American Hockey League: The AHL has approved the sale of the dormant Chops to the owners of the league’s Texas Stars, which is based in Austin, Texas and is an affiliate of the Dallas Stars. The AHL had granted the Texas Stars a limited membership for the 2009-10 season under the condition it complete the purchase of an AHL franchise within one year, which it is apparently on the verge of doing, ending the ownership of the Schlegel Group, which purchased the team in 2006 and lost millions of dollars operating it. The DesMoines Register reports the selling price is $3.75 million.

The Tacoma Rainiers have unveiled the Team Of The Decade, as selected by the fans. Fans were able to vote on the Rainiers website over the last six weeks in position-by-position balloting.

The closest votes were at third base and shortstop. At third base, Greg Dobbs topped Justin Leone by a 5% margin. Asdrubal Cabrera won at shortstop by just 6% over Ramon Vazquez.

The much anticipated designated hitter voting was a clear win for Bucky Jacobsen, taking 52% of the votes. Juan “The Large Human” Thomas finished second with 38%.

Here are the winners:
C: Pat Borders – 2001-04; former World Series MVP, had a 6-hit game
1B: Bryan LaHair – 2006-09; franchise leader in doubles, 5th in home runs
2B: Tug Hulett – 2008; hit .298 with 14 home runs
3B: Greg Dobbs – 2004-06; hit .321 in ’05, .314 in ’06.
SS: Asdrubal Cabrera – 2005-06; starred in 2005 playoff win over Sacramento
LF: Chris Snelling – 2003, 2005-06; hit .370 in 2005
CF: Adam Jones – 2006-07; hit .300 with 41 home runs over two years
RF: Shin-Soo Choo – 2005-06; hit .323 with 13 home runs before July ’06 trade
DH: Bucky Jacobsen – 2004-05; 26 home runs, 86 RBI in 81 games in ’04
SP: Felix Hernandez – 2005 – made 19 starts going 9-4, 2.25
RP: George Sherrill – 2004-05; appeared in 48 games with a 2.30 ERA
MGR: Dan Rohn – 2001-05; won three PCL Manager of the Year awards