Yuma moving to Mexicali this week?

While this news doesn't surprise me, it also catches me off guard. According to a TV news station in Yuma, the Scorpions could be moving to Mexicali within a week, meaning the Flyers road trip to the desert June 21-24 could have a different destination. Here's the story, word for word from KSWT 13 News:

Yuma Scorpions Moving To Mexicali
Posted: June 6, 2010 09:58 PM

Yuma, AZ June 6 - At Saturdays game, the Yuma Scorpions manager told KSWT News 13 the team is moving.

He says between having the highest payroll in the Golden Baseball league and the poorest fan attendance in the league, it is time to move on. As for their new home, he has decided to move the team to Mexicali and the move could come as early as next week.

The owner of the team, Rickey Smith says next week he will give KSWT News 13 an exclusive interview with all the details.

So that'd be a shakeup. Yuma hasn't drawn well in the last couple of seasons as unemployment has hit that city/county worse than many other markets. And unlike Orange County - where there are at least plenty of people in the community, it's just a matter of reach them - there are only so many folks in Yuma, and if 1/3 of them are unemployed, it's tough for a ball club to succeed.

Desert Sun Stadium 7,500 and potentially up to 10,000 as an old spring training facility for the Padres, but that's in the past now.

As for the Mexicali market, it's located on the other side of the border almost due south of El Centro, Calif., which is about 50 miles west of Yuma. The Scorps did play a few games in El Centro in 2008 to test the waters of the area, but that field was rough to say the least.

Could we see a two-team set up south of the border before this season is out? Heck, it's entirely possible. And it's still closer than/less expensive of a trip than flying to Canada. No GBL team has ever moved before in mid-season, but the team is on the road from now until June 15, so if there are going to do something, they would have to do it quickly.

The Scorpions schedule has a pair of longer road trips, a Canada swing (July 15-25) and a Maui/OC trip (Aug 11-21), if they wanted the most time to make a move, but moving in August would almost be a "why bother?" unless they wanted to play in Mexicali for a long-term future. If they are going to move this season, it'd almost have to be done before the GBL's All-Star break, and even then, I wonder if/how the team would be able to get out of the lease at Desert Sun. Then again, we've already seen the league get screwed out of a lease in one market, so who knows how that will work.

Lineups OC/CGY G5

Final game of the five-game series in Calgary, and Paul Abbott is giving a few guys the day off while allowing others to shine in different spots in the field and batting order. Here's today's line up for the Flyers and Vipers. First pitch at 12:35pm Pacific.

TUNE IN!

FLYERS (6-6)

#11 Steve Boggs - CF

#4 Tyler Keeble - SS

#20 Jimmy Rohan - 2B

#9 Keith Ginter - 3B

#26 Sergio Pedroza - LF

#3 David Harris - RF

#1 Derek Perren - 1B

#5 Jim Goethals - C

#22 Manny Ayala - SP (2-0, 4.26, 1st start)

VIPERS (9-4)

#11 Guillermo Reyes - SS

#14 Jorge Mejia - 2B

#30 Matt Edgecombe - 1B

#13 Julio Ramirez - CF

#18 Drew Miller - LF

#27 Jonny Kaplan - RF

#32 Caonabo Cosme - 3B

#4 Luis Taveras - C

#20 Jay Broughton - SP (2-0, 1.59, 3rd start)

Sergio Pedroza makes his first start of the season after coming back from what had to be a difficult offseason. David Harris will be in right field as Ben Johnson has the day off, and Derek Perren will man first base in place of Julian Benavidez. Ginter will bat clean up for the first time today and Tyler Keeble will bat second after batting seventh for all previous games this season. Play Ball!

Flyers 11, Vipers 15

BLOWN HOMERUN CALL KICK-STARTS CALGARY RALLY
Vipers score nine runs over seventh and eighth innings

CALGARY, Alberta (June 5, 2010) – In a game featuring daffy base-running and confusing calls, the Vipers got the best of the Flyers, 15-11, on Saturday night at Foothills Stadium. Orange County fell to 6-6 on the season.

With Orange County leading 10-6 in the bottom of the seventh and runners on first and second, Drew Miller knocked a ball off the outfield wall and umpire Jamie Dambois signaled homerun. One runner scored from second on the play, but Julio Ramirez, the runner on first was tagged out sliding into home, unaware of the inadvertent HR signal, prompting an out signal from home plate ump John Deluca. Vipers manager Morgan Burkhart argued the call, and Ramirez was put back on third, prompting an argument from Flyers manager Paul Abbott leading to his ejection. With runners on second and third now, Kevin Price hit a three-run homerun to tie the game, 10-10, and capture momentum.

Keith Ginter led off the top of the eighth with a double and scored on a Tyler Keeble single to give Orange County the 11-10 advantage. The Vipers struck for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, highlighted by a three-run homerun by Julio Ramirez, for a 15-11 lead.

The Flyers broke open a 6-6 ballgame with a three-run sixth inning thanks to crafty cat-and-mouse base running and a two-run sacrifice fly from Ben Johnson. On a Jimmy Rohan ground ball, the Vipers tried to throw home to get the runner Jim Geothals from third. Goethals retreated back to the bag where Steve Boggs was occupying the base. As the Vipers went to tag Goethals, Boggs got off the base and headed back for second base. When Calgary threw to second to tag a runner, Goethals again broke for home, prompting a throw to the plate. In the end, Calgary was unable to tag any runners out, and everyone was safe.

One batter later, Johnson’s sac fly scored two, and Ginter drove in an extra run for the 9-6 lead after six innings.

Julian Benavidez singled home Johnson beginning a string of eight straight batters to safely reach base. Tyler Keeble singled, and Kyle Hash drew a walk to load the bases. Vipers starter Joe Sergent walked Kim to score Benavidez. Steve Boggs knocked a two-run single, and after a David Harris single, Jimmy Rohan added his own two-run base hit. When the dust settled, the Flyers chased Sergent from the game after 1 2/3 innings and six runs scoring.

The Vipers got back into the ballgame with six runs off Byung-Hyun Kim, who hadn’t allowed a hit through three innings, over the fourth and fifth innings. Kim finished the night giving up six runs on five hits while walking four and striking out three in 4 1/3 innings of work.

Box Score: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/flash/index.html?gameid=12678

Foothils Stadium

Calgary's foothill's stadium was built in the 1980s to house the Triple-A Calgary Cannons of the Pacific Coast League. The Cannons played here from 1985-2002, but when the PCL left town, the ballpark was filled three years later by the upstart Calgary Vipers of the Northern League.

Since that time, the Vipers moved from the Northern League to the Golden League in 2008, and last season they brought a championship to the Stampede City. Here's a look around Foothills Stadium, affectionately known as The Snake Pit, in this week's ballpark tour.



Past Ballpark Tours
Bruce Hurst Field - St. George RoadRunners
Royal Athletic Park - Victoria Seals

Lineups OC/CGY G2

Game two of this five-game set at Foothills Stadium. The Flyers are sending Jesse Smith to the mound against former Armada hurler and 2007 GBL Rookie Pitcher of the Year Dusty Gober.

Tune into the live stream now. Music playing until 5:45pm Pacific, then the Locallife.com pregame show gets going. First pitch today is 6:05pm Pacific (7:05pm MT).

Here's the starting line ups:

ORANGE COUNTY FLYERS (6-3)

#11 Steve Boggs - CF

#1 Derek Perren - LF

#20 Jimmy Rohan - 2B

#34 Ben Johnson - RF

#9 Keith Ginter - 3B

#30 Julian Benavidez - 1B

#4 Tyler Keeble - SS

#5 Jim Goethals - C

#36 Jesse Smith - SP (1-0, 4.77 ERA, 3rd start)

CALGARY VIPERS (6-3)

#11 Guillermo Reyes - SS

#14 Jorge Mejia - 2B

#30 Matt Edgecombe - 1B

#13 Julio Ramirez - C

#18 Drew Miller - LF

#1 Kevin Price - 3B

#27 Jonny Kaplan - RF

#4 Luis Taveras - C

#6 Dusty Gober - SP (0-0, 12.60 ERA, 2nd start)

UMPS

HP - Jamie Dambois

1B - Tom Langlois

3B - John Deluca

It was rainy earlier today, in fact, it was rainy as of 2pm MT today, but it's cleared up nicely. It's 65F outside and despite some chilly winds coming through every now and then, should be a nice night for baseball in Calgary. Chance of rain, 20%.

Flyers/Vipers Line up

We're in Calgary, Alberta, for some afternoon delight baseball. The Flyers are taking on the Vipers at the "Snake Pit" (Foothills Stadium).

Tune into the live stream now. Music playing until 12:20pm Pacific, then the Locallife.com pregame show gets going. First pitch today is 1:35pm.

Here's the starting line ups:

ORANGE COUNTY FLYERS (5-3)

#11 Steve Boggs - CF

#1 Derek Perren - LF

#20 Jimmy Rohan - 2B

#34 Ben Johnson - RF

#9 Keith Ginter - 3B

#30 Julian Benavidez - 1B

#4 Tyler Keeble - SS

#5 Jim Goethals - C

#32 Matt Durkin - SP

CALGARY VIPERS (6-3)

#11 Guillermo Reyes - SS

#14 Jorge Mejia - 2B

#30 Matt Edgecombe - 1B

#13 Julio Ramirez - C

#18 Drew Miller - LF

#32 Caonabo Cosme - 3B

#27 Jonny Kaplan - RF

#4 Luis Taveras - C

#48 Anastacio Martinez - SP

And the umpires, oh this is gonna be fun.

HP - John Deluca

1B - Jamie Dambois

3B - Tom Langlois

If you remember the final game of the series in Victoria from Sunday, Deluca was the plate ump who tossed a pair of Seals for so much as asking about a balk and some chatter from the dugout. According to the Flyers and Seals players, no curse words, no personal attacks, just trying to ask a question, but that got them tossed. So we'll see if/when anyone gets thrown out of today's game. One thing is for certain, the pitchers will have a fun time playing guess-and-check when it comes to finding the strike zone.

Royal Athletic Park

Here's our first in a new video series of GBL Ballpark Tours that we'll be doing from the road this season. Enjoy...