Portland Beavers 2, Salt Lake Bees 4 -- Sunday, July 19, 2009

It was a beautiful day for baseball, but these Pacific North Division opponents squared off before a sparse crowd at PGE Park. Portland has been discussed as a possible site for a major league franchise and the stadium there is larger than most Triple-A ball parks. I attended the Triple-A all star game the week before and the almost 17,000 fans were the largest crowd to attend a baseball game in Portland—or an all star game—since 1991. All of the upper rows in PGE are covered with tarp and Melvin estimated that the park could hold 25- to 30,000 fans, not that much smaller than Fenway. Mel and I attended the game with my step-brother Kevin and Brad, his buddy since high school, both of whom live in Portland. As a result, we got a local perspective on plans to bring a major league soccer franchise to PGE, with the baseball displaced to points still unknown. The consensus on Sunday and at the all star game is that Portland isn't a baseball town; when the weather is nice, the locals would rather do something other than sit and watch a baseball game. I am sure there are mayors and directors of economic development in several cities who are already talking about how they can become the host city for the Padres' affiliate if the opportunity arises.

Beer and baseball have always gone hand-in-hand. We had lunch at the Rogue brewpub, one of the many microbreweries in the Northwest. We followed that with another pint in the Widmer beer garden along the right field line (pictured). The seats closer to the field may have a decent view of the action but from where we were sitting, it was not possible to see what was happening on the infield so we relocated to our seats behind home plate. The game was a pitcher’s duel of sorts until the Bees scored three in the top of the sixth. They added an insurance run and the Beavers rally in the bottom of the ninth fell short.

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