Portland Beavers vs Fresno Grizzlies this weekend

[WillTheThrill]

The Giants' AAA team -- otherwise known as the Fresno Grizzlies -- come riding in to my hometown, Portland, this weekend to start a four game series with the Beavers (the Padres' AAA team).

I'm going to tonight's game at 7pm AND tomorrow's 2pm game!!! :beerbang:

My wife is in southern California with her mom for a family wedding, and she has the camera. So unfortunately I won't be able to get any shots for you guys. :( But I'll be sure and let you guys know how Posey looks. (Posey didn't play on Friday due to being tired. He's played in all 15 Grizzlies games so far, including a double-header on Thursday. Hope he's rested enough to play today AND Saturday!)

Kevin Pucetas starts tonight for the Grizzlies; not sure yet if I'll be seeing Madison Bumgarner or not. But it looks like MadBum pitched on April 9th, 14th and 19th, and the last time he pitched it was the day after Pucetas in the rotation. SOOOOOOOoooo looks like my chances are good I'll see him Saturday! :D

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[McCovey]

Make sure you check out Brett Pill and Brock Bond as well! :beerbang:

[Bear]

I look forward to Will's report.:^^

[WillTheThrill]

My report on game one:

The Grizzlies won, 3-2. :D

(They now have sole posession of first place in their division for the first time this season. They've won 8 of their last 10 games, and they've beaten Portland 4 out of the last 5 games including a four-game series last week.)

It was a pitching duel. Both starters gave up runs in the first inning, then settled down. Neither lasted five innings. Kevin Pucetas looked uneven, but pitched out of several threats. He gave up two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, but gave up 8 hits.

Buster Posey was 1-4 with a single and ground into a double play. He tatooed the ball several times, but the Beavers' first baseman Mike Baxter -- this guy is good -- put on a near-gold-glove performance all night and gobbled up anything that got near him. He robbed Posey at least once (along with several other Grizzlies).

The story of the night was pitching. Pucetas, as I said, didn't look great... but toughed his way through when my guess is he didn't have his best stuff. The most dramatic part of the game was when Joe Paterson came in in the fifth inning to relieve Pucetas. One out and runners on second and third, he got two outs. Loud cheering!!!! I remember thinking, cool, there's lots of Giants fans here. :beerbang:

But I just read an online summary of the game, and it turns out that Paterson grew up around Portland and went to Oregon Statue University, and he had 70 friends and family on his pass list. They saw him earn his first AAA win! So not as many Giants fans as I thought. :D (But there were lots of Giants shirts and caps in the crowd, including mine.)

More pitching: Osiros Matos pitched two perfect innings of relief, including four strikeouts. Based on tonight's performance, the Giants should get this guy up here quickly! And Geno Espineli, a lefthander with a crazy delivery that has him nearly falling of the mound, was getting tattooed like it was batting practice in the ninth. Two straight singles and several foul balls that were roped. The only way the Grizzlies got out of the ninth with the win was a game-ending double play! Whew.

After the game, they announced... Madison Bumgarner is starting today!!! :D We already have our tickets, about the fourth row, directly behind home plate. I'll be able to keep an eye on his velocity, since there's a digital display in the outfield that shows readings from the pitching speed gun.

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[Bear]

:goodpost::goodpost::goodpost:

Keep up the good work. Lets hope Madison has a great game today.

[WillTheThrill]

I'll be leaving for the game in about an hour. Go Grizzlies! And go Madison Bumgarner!!!

(Maybe if Bumgarner figures it out, he can replace Todd "b.p." Wellemayer.)

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[jimm]

Cool, I love minor league ball

[WillTheThrill]

Well, instead of having a really long post, I'm going to split my report on game two into two posts. When you read my second post, you'll understand why. :D

Once again, in game two, the Fresno Grizzlies prevailed... this time by a score of 4-2. The big news was Madison Bumgarner. He did it all. He pitched five innings, gave up only 4 hits and 1 earned run. And he hit a solo home run, to boot! More on him in the second post...........

The only other real interesting news to note was that Espineli, the guy who was basically throwing batting practice in yesterday's game was inexplicably brought in again this game. He gave up a run and the Beavers were threatening, but Decker took him out of the game. I tell you, this guy did not impress me in the two days I saw him pitch. I'd be amazed to ever see Espineli in the majors.

Someone asked about Brett Pill and Brock Bond. Pill was 2 for 4 today with a solo homer! :D Yesterday, he was 0 for 3 but with a sac fly and RBI. He seemed solid at 1B. Bond was 1 for 4 today and 0 for 3 yesterday. The Grizzlies played error-free both days, but I don't remember Bond's defense in particular. Bond/Pill turned a double-play today.

By the way, Pill CRUSHED that home run. The Portland stadium is kind of recessed into the ground and there's a "cliff" (for lack of a better word) just beyond the left field fence. Street level is a good 40-50 feet above the top of the left field fence. (You don't have to hit the ball over the monster to get a homer, we're not talking Fenway, here!) But Pill's home run ended up at street level. Someone outside of the stadium next to the light rail line almost caught a home run!!! :beerbang:

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[WillTheThrill]

Now for part two of my post on the game, Bumgarner's velocity.

We were sitting between two rows of what was essentially the Giants' scouting operation! :cool: They were there mainly to see Bumgarner pitch, today, but were going to be at all four games. There was an older guy and his wife, very official looking, taking a ton of notes during the game, sitting in front of us.

And sitting directly behind us was some guy with a pitching speed gun, keeping tabs on Bumgarner's velocity for the Giants. I spoke with the guy several times and he said Bumgarner was consistently in the 91-92 MPH range the entire game with his fastball, and hit higher speeds.

How's that for "out of the horse's mouth"? :D Those are the figures that will be reported back to Giants management!

Incidentally, Bumgarner's "official" numbers on the digital board were consistently 2-4 miles an hour LESS than what the Giant's guns were reporting! I kept seeing, like 88, and the guy behind me would say "91", etc. And I overhead the guy with the gun say, sarcastically, that it was interesting that the Beavers' pitcher's speed readings that were being displayed were accurate!

How's that for chicken shit!? Even at the minor league level, the Beavers officials were tweaking the gun between innings to make Bumgarner's pitching speed seem slower than it actually was!!! :pound::rolleyes:

And, by the way, despite that tweaking, the figures I saw for Bumgarner's fastballs got as high as 93.

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[McCovey]

Great report Will! It seems like MadBum is getting it together again. It sounds like he is not injured. I hope his improvement continues. What does he look like in person? Is he thin? Big? Rock solid?

[WillTheThrill]

Okay, so I lied. Sue me. Here's part three and the FINAL part of my report on the game. (I promise!) And this is what I considered to be the really special aspect of the game for me and my father! :D

Remember that older guy and his wife that I mentioned in the last post?

Well, around the third inning he got up to get something to drink or go to the bathroom or something. Well, his wife turned around and spoke to me, my dad and my sister (who were all decked out in Giants' shirts, caps, and my dad even had a "Humm Baby" button pinned to his shirt).

She told us that her husband was supposedly "retired" but the Giants were still paying him to scout games for them in the Pacific Northwest. He's had enough of flying, but wanted to keep involved in baseball. He goes to Mariners games, Salem-Keizer (rookie league) games, and Portland Beavers games when the Fresno Grizzlies are in town.

His name is Jack Hiatt, a former catcher for the Giants from 1965-1969, and he was the Giants' director of player development for 16 seasons, before his retirement in October 2007!!! :D (His wife told us he played for the Giants, and my dad recognized his name... but his wife didn't mention that he was the director of player development. I found that out after the game on Wikipedia.)

Anyway, my dad struck up a real nice conversation with Mr. Hiatt and they talked about old Candlestick Park, as well as Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Jack Sanford and Mike McCormick, all of whom Hiatt caught. (He called Marichal the best of all of them.) My dad asked Hiatt how often Gaylord Perry used to throw spitballs... and Hiatt's answer was hilarious: Early in his career, Gaylord would throw exactly EIGHT spitter's a game. Who knows why he came up with that exact number! But by the end of his career, according to Hiatt, EVERY SINGLE PITCH he threw was a spitball! :pound:

We got Hiatt's autograph, and at the end of the game I shook his hand and told him that it was nice to meet him. My dad told him it was "an honor" to talk to him, and he warmly patted my dad on the back several times.

He seemed genuinely pleased to be recognized and remembered, which I'm sure is why his wife told us who he was while he wasn't there. :beerbang:

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[WillTheThrill]

Great report Will! It seems like MadBum is getting it together again. It sounds like he is not injured. I hope his improvement continues. What does he look like in person? Is he thin? Big? Rock solid?

Thanks! Sorry what I wrote was so long. But I had fun and wanted to talk about everything that happened.

Bumgarner seems like a pretty big guy to me. Not thin for sure. Not huge, though. It was really cool seeing a Bumgarner/Posey battery! Hopefully it's something we'll be seeing a lot of!!! :beerbang:

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[Bear]

I remember Hiatt very well. He was a pretty good catcher and a fair hitter but everyone seemed to like him and he was with the Giants for about six years as a player.:)

[jimm]

Sounds like a great time :cool:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_N0qDKRsrWVo/SmIEZtU5omI/AAAAAAAAC6g/we6wgOHWwuc/s320/Topps+1969+204+Hiatt.jpg

[WillTheThrill]

Thanks for that image! I actually got out my Giants' Topps cards -- I have at least three Giants each year going all the way back to '52, and complete team sets going back to '66 or '67. Most years I have at least 80% of the team! :D

Anyway, I got out my Jack Hiatt cards to read them. That card you showed is one of them.

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[jimm]

Yeah I love my Giants cards too, some of those high number series cards are tuff to find

[McCovey]

Jack Hiatt as a Giant.

1965-1966 Topps

[WillTheThrill]

Yeah, no kidding. And when Mays, McCovey, Bonds or Marichal were in the high series... dang. I'd have to take out a second mortgage to get those cards! :D

I am really proud of my collection. As a kid, I already had a TON of Topps cards when the competing companies like Donruss and Fleer and Upper Deck, etc., started making cards. So I never really bought them very much.

(I did appreciate the "competition", though, which forced Topps to "up" their game and start printing cards on nicer card stock with better graphics.)

Anyway, now that most of the competitors are gone and Topps is still going, I long ago decided to just buy a Giants team set once a year. Not bad, only about $3.50 a year investment... plus occasionally I go on a splurge and buy a few older cards that fill in gaps.

What do you collect, jimm?

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[McCovey]

Jack Hiatt, 1967-1968 Topps.

[McCovey]

Jack Hiatt, 1669-1970 Topps.

[McCovey]

Yeah, no kidding. And when Mays, McCovey, Bonds or Marichal were in the high series... dang. I'd have to take out a second mortgage to get those cards! :D

I am really proud of my collection. As a kid, I already had a TON of Topps cards when the competing companies like Donruss and Fleer and Upper Deck, etc., started making cards. So I never really bought them very much.

(I did appreciate the "competition", though, which forced Topps to "up" their game and start printing cards on nicer card stock with better graphics.)

Anyway, now that most of the competitors are gone and Topps is still going, I long ago decided to just buy a Giants team set once a year. Not bad, only about $3.50 a year investment... plus occasionally I go on a splurge and buy a few older cards that fill in gaps.

What do you collect, jimm?

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Awesome Will! My goal is collect every S.F. Giants baseball card going back to 1958! For a while there the baseball card wars got real stupid. Each company was producing it seemed like 58 different sets EVERY season. :rolleyes:

[WillTheThrill]

McCovey... of all those Jack Hiatt cards, the only one I don't have is the '65 Rookie Stars card.

Did you notice that the 1967 and 1969 pictures are the exact same photograph??? LOL. I guess Topps was getting lazy back then. :D

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[McCovey]

McCovey... of all those Jack Hiatt cards, the only one I don't have is the '65 Rookie Stars card.

Did you notice that the 1967 and 1969 pictures are the exact same photograph??? LOL. I guess Topps was getting lazy back then. :D

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Topps lazy? Never! :D

[WillTheThrill]

Awesome Will! My goal is collect every S.F. Giants baseball card going back to 1958!

Wow, I wish I'd known you collect cards. When you were up here for my wedding I'd have shown you my collection. :D Next time, I guess....

Yeah, originally I was only going to collect the cards back to '58, also. But I figured "what the heck", Topps only goes back to '52 anyway.

I have 7 of 25 of the '52 Giants cards, 4 of 12 of the '53 Giants... and the pride and joy of my early cards, I have all 13 of the '54 Giants including a Willie Mays!... I have 7 of 10 of the '55 Giants, 11 of 22 of the '56 Giants, and 16 of 25 of the '57 Giants.

From '58 to '68, I'm only missing about 2-5 cards from each set, though I think there's one year where I'm missing about 10, and from 1969 to 2009 I have every single regular-issue card of the Giants from Topps each season!!! :beerbang:

For a while there the baseball card wars got real stupid. Each company was producing it seemed like 58 different sets EVERY season. :rolleyes:

Yeah, I hated all that crap, too. :rolleyes: I didn't want to "encourage" them, but the last few seasons I've been buying some of the special cards, too. The Allen & Ginter and Turkey Red subset cards that Topps puts out are just too cool. I love those vintage-looking cards. My favorite all-time Topps set was the '87 Topps with the wood-grain-looking borders. Beautiful.

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[McCovey]

Do you have any of the 1950's-60's Bowman baseball cards?

[WillTheThrill]

Do you have any of the 1950's-60's Bowman baseball cards?

That's funny that you asked me that! I was going to mention Bowman in my last post, but completely forgot.

Yeah, over the years I've occasionally bought some Bowman cards. I think they made cards from 1948 to 1955, if I'm correct. :shrug: I randomly somehow ended up with 7 of the '51 Bowman cards and 2 of the '52 Bowman cards, but no other Bowman cards. They're really cool, smaller and thinner than the Topps cards and they have drawings/paintings of the players and maybe an autograph and nothing else on the front of the card. Really minimalistic and very nice looking cards.

I made a checklist for myself a couple of years ago of all my Topps Giants cards, and I added the Bowman cards to the list (that is otherwise only Topps). One of these days, I want to start getting those Bowman cards, too. And someday when I'm "rich" maybe even earlier cards from other companies. But I doubt that'll ever happen! :cool:

I also collect the Opening Day sets and Traded sets that Topps puts out sporadically, oh, and those "mini" cards from 1975; they're hard to find, but I have 23 of the 28 Giants that year.

And in the early 2000's when Topps' regular sets were so small and they were only making like 9-12 cards per team, they put out these cards called "Topps Total" for a few years that had like every single guy who ever wore a uniform that year. There'd be like 35-40 cards per team set, and I have some complete sets of those, too, but I'm missing a few years. :D

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[McCovey]

Do you have any of those "other" card sets?

1970'a Kellogg's Cereal 3-D cards
Mother's Cookies (the 80's has some really nice sets)
1970's Hostess cards (there were on the bottom of the box)

http://www.bases-loaded.com/1976hostessbaseball.htm

[WillTheThrill]

Do you have any of those "other" card sets?

1970'a Kellogg's Cereal 3-D cards
Mother's Cookies (the 80's has some really nice sets)
1970's Hostess cards (there were on the bottom of the box)

http://www.bases-loaded.com/1976hostessbaseball.htm

Wow!!! This conversation is really brining back memories!!! :D I'd completely forgotten about some of those cards!

Yeah, I'm prettys sure I do have some of those... but I'm not 100% sure where they are. Probably in a box somewhere. Not "displayed" in binders like my other cards are. I have several of the Mother's Cookies sets from like the late 70's and early to maybe mid-eighties. (Did they make Mother's Cookies during the "Humm Baby" era? I can't remember.)

I have a smattering of those Kellogg's 3D cards and probably a few I cut out from the bottom of Hostess boxes... but so few of them that they're probably mixed in with my Topps cards.

I also have a smattering of "rookie" cards of players that ended up as Giants but weren't rookies with them. I have like a Mike Krukow rookie card, and maybe a Rick Reuschel rookie, a few others... and I even bought a Randy Johnson rookie card last season (surprisingly cheap!).

Once after I'd been seriously collecting only Giants cards, I decided to go through a shoebox of the random, weird, beat up 60's and 70's cards I used to trade with my friends for when I was a little kid. I found a few "sorta' Giants" gems like an Al Rosen card (!), a few Vida Blue cards when he was on the A's, stuff like that. So those are mixed in with my collection.

Oh, and as a fan of Will Clark, early on in his career I was trying to buy every single card with him. So I do have a bunch of his cards from Fleer, Upper Deck, Donruss, and really strange companies I've never heard of before or since. I still have an entire binder of his cards, probably from roughly '86 to '90. Some real oddball cards in there, let me tell you. :D

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[WillTheThrill]

What about you, McCovey??? Tell me about your collection! :D Any good rookies? (I have a really beat up Willie McCovey rookie card.)

What are you proud of? Do you have any of those Bowman cards or the Kelloggs/Hostess cards? Did you know about the '75 mini cards?

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[McCovey]

Oh, I haven't actually started my collection yet. It's one of my "things to do" in life. :p I do have a ton of common cards from 1987-90 when I was collected to make money. That didn't quite work out for me.

[WillTheThrill]

Oh, I haven't actually started my collection yet. It's one of my "things to do" in life. :p

Well, you "fooled" me! :p You're so knowledgeable about them, I figured for sure you must have a collection. I'm going to definitely have to show you my collection when you make it up here next time!

Speaking of which.................. whatamI gonna' have to do to get you up here? Huh? :shrug::buttkick::D

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[WillTheThrill]

Hey, McCovey, the Fresno Grizzlies are going to be in Portland again from June 22-25! Hint, hint, hint.

(And, it's a long story, but Portland is likely to lose the Beavers after this season!!! :mad: So it might be the last chance for us to see the Grizzlies play for a long, long time.)

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[Bear]

Hey, McCovey, the Fresno Grizzlies are going to be in Portland again from June 22-25! Hint, hint, hint.

(And, it's a long story, but Portland is likely to lose the Beavers after this season!!! :mad: So it might be the last chance for us to see the Grizzlies play for a long, long time.)

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What is the story behind the Beavers? Will someone else put a team in Portland?

[WillTheThrill]

What is the story behind the Beavers? Will someone else put a team in Portland?

Well, like I said, it's a long story...........

The Portland Beavers (AAA, Padres) currently play in a beautiful old stadium in downtown Portland called PGE Park. The stadium was built in 1928 but was remodeled about ten years ago to add luxury boxes, etc. While so many teams in major league baseball are building brand new stadiums to "look" old, the Beavers actually play in a beautiful old stadium with history! :D Despite not having a major league team, baseball and Portland go way back.

Well, currently the stadium is shared betwen the Beavers and the Portland Timbers, a "minor league" soccer team. Major League Soccer (MLS) is expanding next year from 16 teams to 18 teams... and the Timbers are one of the two MLS expansion teams, starting next year.

Essentially, the Timbers are going to raise one level of play -- kind of like a AAA team suddenly becoming a Major League Baseball team.

So even though the two teams are ALREADY sharing the same stadium and cohabitating quite nicely, thank you... they are going to remodel the stadium to add "premier" seating for soccer... which means they won't be able to play baseball there anymore!!! :mad:

When I first moved up to Portland in 1994, it was a AA team (the Portland Rockies). The Rockies left and there wasn't any baseball for a year or two, then the Beavers came and we got promoted to being a AAA town.

There has actually been quite a movement trying to get Major League Baseball here, now, for more than a decade. Supposedly the Montreal Expos were close to moving here a few years ago. Don't know how true that is, though...........

But now we are looking at the very real possibility of losing baseball all-together!!! If they remodel the stadium, it would take a huge amount of money down the line to undo the work. Unlikely. There have been a few cities in the area trying to lure the Beavers, including a suburb called Beaverton. (Funny. The "Beaverton Beavers".) But nothing has panned out.

And the weird part of the whole story is that the Portland Beavers and the Portland Timbers are both owned by the same guy, Merritt Paulson. So he's cutting his own throat. I guess he figures he can make more money from Major League Soccer than he will from AAA baseball. :(

There's been nothing offical decided about the Beavers. The only thing we know for sure is that they won't be playing at PGE Park next year. They may have to move to another city, there may be some small baseball field they can play in seperately, or there may be a last-minute attempt to build them a new stadium.

I just wish they'd let the Beavers STAY in the park that was designed and used specifically for baseball for almost eighty years... and that they'd build the f*$%ing Timbers their own brand new soccer stadium somewhere else. :nono:

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[McCovey]

Baseball in Portland goes WAY back to the early days of the Pacific Coast League back to 1903. It would be a shame if the current Portland Beavers were forced to leave town. :(

[Bear]

I just wish they'd let the Beavers STAY in the park that was designed and used specifically for baseball for almost eighty years... and that they'd build the f*$%ing Timbers their own brand new soccer stadium somewhere else. :nono:

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I like your idea about letting the Beavers stay in the old park. :beerbang:

Baseball in Portland goes WAY back to the early days of the Pacific Coast League back to 1903. It would be a shame if the current Portland Beavers were forced to leave town. :(

You are correct. Portland was one of the Seal's rivals. I remember going to a Portland vs. Seals game in the mid 50's.:p

[WillTheThrill]

I like your idea about letting the Beavers stay in the old park. :beerbang::p

A lot of people I've said that to around here agree with me. Even soccer fans don't want to go to some 80-year-old stadium retro-fitted (poorly!) to soccer. They'd rather have a brand new stadium.

Too bad no know who can influence things will listen to me. :rolleyes:

You are correct. Portland was one of the Seal's rivals. I remember going to a Portland vs. Seals game in the mid 50's.:p

I always forget that there was baseball in S.F. before the Giants! Did you ever see DiMaggio play, Bear? He was a Seal, wasn't he? And the Giants played in Seals Stadium for two years before Candlestick was built. Where in S.F. was Seals Stadium? I assume they've long since torn it down.

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[McCovey]

I believe DiMaggio played for the Seals before the Bear was born. :) Here are some shots of Joe.

[WillTheThrill]

I believe DiMaggio played for the Seals before the Bear was born. :) Here are some shots of Joe.

Great photos, thanks! :beerbang: And I'm sorry if I insulted you, Bear, I really don't know the timeframe of when DiMaggio was playing baseball... other than he was the Yankees center fielder immediately before Mickey Mantle.

(God, that's like going from Joe Montana to Steve Young. Pretty amazing!)

If I'd thought about it, I probably would have figured out that Mantle was a rookie around the same time as Mays, which would mean DiMaggio probably played in the forties which would put his time with the Seals maybe sometime around the thirties! I know Bear isn't that old! :D

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[Bear]

I always forget that there was baseball in S.F. before the Giants! Did you ever see DiMaggio play, Bear? He was a Seal, wasn't he? And the Giants played in Seals Stadium for two years before Candlestick was built. Where in S.F. was Seals Stadium? I assume they've long since torn it down.

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I never saw DiMaggio play in person however I did see him play on TV. I also knew him in his later years as he lived right around the corner from me, and spent time at the playground I was the director at. He was quite a gentleman.

I went to old Seals stadium when the Seals played there in the last year they played. I also went to about five games there when the Giants played there in 58 & 59. My Dad took me to their first opening day in 58. :)

[jimm]

What do you collect, jimm?
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Pretty much anything giants from bobbles to cards, yearbooks to schedules, pins etc. Sounds like you got me beat in the card dept. Now here is a giants room (not mine) :bugeye:

Link (http://jjpbr.tripod.com/bobbing_head_collections.htm#rob_greene_s_sf_giant s_collection)

[McCovey]

Pretty much anything giants from bobbles to cards, yearbooks to schedules, pins etc. Sounds like you got me beat in the card dept. Now here is a giants room (not mine) :bugeye:

Link (http://jjpbr.tripod.com/bobbing_head_collections.htm#rob_greene_s_sf_giant s_collection)
I can pretty much guarantee the guy who owns that Giants room has never kissed a girl in his life! :pound:

[Bear]

I can pretty much guarantee the guy who owns that Giants room has never kissed a girl in his life! :pound:
:pound::rotf::pound::rotf::pound::rotf::pound:

[WillTheThrill]

Fresno completed a rain-shortened three game sweep of the Portland Beavers on Tuesday. I didn't try to make it to either game number three or four (after making it to both weekend games).

Good thing, too. :rolleyes: Monday's game was cancelled due to rain and there were TWO rain delays for what turned out to be the third and final game, played on Tuesday. Here's an online article reporting what happened in the game:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100427&content_id=9615798&vkey=news_t259&fext=.jsp&sid=t259

Rain Can't Stop Grizzlies Sweep
Fresno Waits Out Pair Of Delays, Beats Portland 8-2

By Noah Frank / Fresno Grizzlies
04/27/2010 7:13 PM ET

One night after being rained out in the Rose City, the Grizzlies were going to get their game in on Tuesday, one way or another. Fresno waited through a pair of delays to beat Portland, 8-2 at PGE Park, completing a weather-shortened, three-game sweep of the Beavers.

Fresno starter Eric Hacker (4-0) became the first pitcher in the Pacific Coast League to win four games in 2010, turning in another great outing. In his first year in the Giants organization Hacker has turned heads, winning each of his first four starts while not allowing more than a single run in any of them. He worked 5.1 innings of five-hit one-run ball without a walk, matching his season high with eight strikeouts in Tuesday's victory.

Hacker owns an ERA of just 1.25, and the league is hitting a paltry .188 against him. He has struck out 24 while walking just three in his first 21.2 innings pitched in the PCL.

Meanwhile, the offense gave Hacker more than enough support. Buster Posey had a pair of RBI doubles, finishing 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI. Ryan Rohlinger collected three hits to raise his average to .351. Also, outfielder Mike McBryde pitched in two hits, including a double, and a pair of RBI, finishing the three-game series 5-for-13 with a double, two homers, four runs scored and five RBI.

The Grizzlies 1-4 hitters combined to go 9-for-17 with three walks, five doubles, five runs scored and six RBI.

The victory leaves Fresno (12-7) 2.0 games in front of Las Vegas and 3.0 games up on Sacramento. Those teams play each other Tuesday night at Cashman Field in Las Vegas. Fresno, which has never won a season series against the Beavers (9-10), moves to 6-1 so far against Portland in 2010. The Grizzlies have won three straight, eight of their last nine and 10 of their last 12 games.

The two delays (fourth inning, seventh inning) totaled 55 minutes in length.

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