Baseball Is Making a Comeback in Portland

In a town known for its baseball apathy, the Portland Beavers are staging a remarkable turnaround, even if people aren’t paying much attention.

Last season, while their parent club, the Minnesota Twins, was winning the World Series, the Beavers were the Pacific Coast League’s biggest joke, their 45-96 record among the worst in professional baseball.

“It was tough,” said pitcher Roy Smith. “It was a little bit embarrassing.”

This season, with only Smith and five others back from last year’s team, they raced to a 25-7 start and still have the league’s best mark at 33-20.

After last season, the Twins decided they had to do something about their Class AAA franchise.

“You’re always concerned, especially when it’s the top club in your organization,” said Jim Rantz, the director of the Twins’ farm system. “Luckily, last year we had a great year at the major league level and we didn’t have to make a lot of changes on our roster. We didn’t have to call up many from the farm system.”

During the off-season, the Twins revamped the Beavers from the top, concentrating on bringing in experience and better pitching. When they took the field this spring, there were 16 ex-major leaguers on the Beavers’ roster.

Six players have been called up by the Twins this season. As Minnesota struggled early, the Beavers had to give up pitchers Allan Anderson, Mark Portugal and Karl Best along with centerfielder John Moses. Catcher Brian Harper was recently called up.

Still, they keep winning.

“The guys have responded great,” said Mahoney, who had been a coach, scout or manager for 14 years before he stayed out of baseball last season. “Roy Smith has been great, but I think the biggest success of this club is our pitching is pretty good and so is our defense.”

“Winning is contagious,” he said.

Smith and second baseman Chris Pittaro, another returnee from last season, say talent and experience are the biggest differences between last season’s meager Beavers and this season’s front-runners.

“Talent, it’s always talent,” Smith said. “We were overmatched at a couple of positions last year. In baseball, if you’re going to win you’ve got to have good defense and a good bullpen. That’s what we have here.”

Smith, who was a respectable 9-12 at Portland last season before winding up the season with the Twins, got off to an 8-1 start this year.

“I got on a roll,” he said. “I’ve been on a roll before, but this is one of the better teams I’ve been on. When you have good defense and a good bullpen, you always have a chance to win.”

Directing it all is Mahoney, who gives the players a loose rein.

“I think that’s a big part of baseball,” he said, “but, especially in the minors, you don’t see it much because a player’s pushed up (to the big leagues) too quick. You have to give a player room to develop his personality.”