he crack of the bat, the smell of brand new leather and fresh cut grass. Spring is in the air and baseball everywhere is starting up— right from tee ball to the professional ranks. Vancouver has had relatively good weather, with warm sunny days that will bring out the crowds to the Vancouver Canadians games. Home games are being played at one of the oldest stadiums in pro- fessional baseball, Nat Bailey Stadium. The Canadians had a record of 75—68 in 1997 and

hope to improve upon their record this season.

The Canadians started off their sea- b son on the road, which is probably

good because they were playing in

warmer weather in QO | | QO e Tucson, Arizona. It was their first four

game series of the season. The Canadians were | II-S vs. Tucson last ‘ year. But Tucson has a new look—instead of the same old Tucson Toros, they are now the Sidewinders. Their new Major League Affiliation is expansion club Arizona Diamondbacks. The Canadians came out of the series winning only one game in the four game series. After losing the first game by a story Jonathan D. Chapman close score of 5—4, the veteran left-hand- photo by Dave Tam ed pitcher Rich Robertson won the second game in a strong fashion with a [1-4 win. Power hitter Troy Neel and Tom Nevers hit the Canadians’ first two home runs of the year to help seal up the win. The next two Canadians games were lost by scores of [2—I and 9-5,

After leaving the Tucson series with a 1-3 record, the Canadians were on the road to play the Tacoma Rainers. The Canadians finished the 97 season 12-4 vs. the Rainers and were looking forward to a series sweep. The opening game

was started by rookie sensation

May 1998 Page 28

Vancouver Canadians begin

the new 798 season

Jarrod Washburn. Washburn was selected in the sec- ond round by the Anaheim Angels of the free agent draft. Washburn was a native of Wisconsin and atcended the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. Washburn recorded the win by a score of 8-4, while Anthony Chavez recorded his first save of the year. The next games after Jarrod Washburn’ stellar performance were yet another two losses (both game’s scores were 4-2), giving them a 2-5 record going into the last game of the Tacoma series. The Canadians were desperately looking for the win. Geoff Edsell came into the ball game in the middle innings and looked great. His hard setup was a save situation for Chavez in the bottom of the 12th inning where the Canadians won the game with a score of 8—6. The Canadians were going home for the home opener with a losing record of 3-S.

The crowd was pouring into the Nat for the C’s home opener. The attendance on hand for the evening ball game was 4,114. The series was to start out against the Las Vegas Stars, who are the affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The series would end up a disappointing one, as the C’s would lose three of the four games to drop them into third place in the Western Division of the Pacific Conference with a record of 4~8. But have no fear Canadians fans— the other teams in the Western division have been having their own problems as well. The C’s are only back from first place Tacoma Rainers and Calgary Cannons by a single game.

There were some highlights in the series vs. the Stars. Left hander Jarrod Washburn won his second game in as many games started. Washburn had a 2.93 ERA, 10 strikeouts, and only allowed batters to hit a .204 average. Catcher Ben Molina is still hitting excellently, maintaining his above .400 aver- age and having a team leading number of hits, with 17 going into the second series of the homestand against the Salt Lake Buzz.

The C’s first game of the four game series was a much needed win to raise their numbers in the standings. The C’s got off to a slow start in the game and didn't get their bats off their shoulders until the late innings when they finally

scored a run in the seventh. Scott Schoeneweis got his first win of the season to give himself a record of I-I, as he pitched 7.0 innings only allowing 7 hits and handing out 7