Chris Derrick

Spokane's Tony Miranda can't beat Blake Barthol's tag, ending the fifth inning in Portland's 3-2 win. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

To explain Spokane's success against the Portland Rockies, turn to Tony Miranda. "We play every day to win," said the Indians left fielder. "We just happen to win more often against them." Miranda lashed a bases-clearing, two-out double to right-center field Tuesday to pave the way in Spokane's 8-5 victory over the Rockies at Seafirst Stadium.

Perhaps nothing logically explains Spokane's success against the Portland Rockies, but Tony Miranda has his simple theory. "We play every day to win," said the Indians left fielder. "We just happen to win more often against them." Miranda lashed a bases-clearing, two-out double to right-center field Tuesday to pave the way in Spokane's 8-5 victory over the Rockies at Seafirst Stadium.

The Portland Rockies, with 23 home dates remaining, don't need to sell another ticket to set the Northwest League attendance record. Portland passed the 100,000-mark in season attendance during last week's five-game series with Spokane. Factor in season ticket sales and the Rockies have already surpassed the 156,950 mark set by Boise last year.

The Boise Hawks didn't have much to show for their 29 hits until the perfect person stepped up to bat. Ryan Kane, who leads the Northwest League with 33 runs batted in, rocketed a two-out double to center field Saturday to catapult Boise over Spokane, 5-4 in 10 innings.

Fans have opened their arms to embrace the Spokane Indians. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

The Kansas City Royals made it Scott Pinoni's choice: stay in Visalia of the California League or return to the Northwest League. Pinoni said no to Spokane of the NWL and hung up the phone. Later, however, he remembered what Visalia teammate Antonio Fernandez said. "He told me they treated him great in Spokane (in 1994)," said Pinoni, who called back K.C. minor league director Bob Hegman and said he'd go to Spokane.

Never let it be said that Boise fans are heartless. Hawks fans have a tradition of passing around a hat whenever a Boise pitcher strikes out the side. During a June 19-21 home series against Eugene, the fans filled the hat with nearly $500 for the hospital expenses of Emeralds bus driver John Bunker.

A diving Ricardo Calderon of Bellingham can't find the handle on a Spokane fly in the second inning. The indians won the Northwest League baseball game 6-3 at Seafirst Stadium. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

The pitch that Patrick Hallmark couldn't hit made the biggest impression on him. Spokane's frustrations finally ended on Thursday, courtesy of Hallmark's runscoring single with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Hallmark went with Kurt Takahashi's 1-1 outside fastball and lashed the hit to right field with pinch-runner Tony Miranda on third base. Miranda, in the game after Scott Kortmeyer singled to open the ninth, had advanced to third on Takahashi's 0-1 wild pitch.

They had their ace on the mound and a throng in the seats. Under perfect circumstances, the Spokane Indians would have showed off Saturday before a season-high crowd of 7,232. Baseball has ways of humbling folks, however, as the Indians played their second consecutive poor game and Southern Oregon enjoyed another night at Seafirst Stadium.

Elvis has been spotted in Portland. Hold it. Make that a double sighting.

The sun shone brightly on a season- high 7,089 fans at Seafirst Stadium on Friday. A bit too bright, in fact, for Southern Oregon left fielder Duane Filchner. By the time the sun set, however, Filchner still had a radiant feeling. His three-run homer in the fifth inning started the A's on an 18-6 comeback win over the Spokane Indians.

Nothing appeared special about the starts David Newhan and Chris Nelson had on Wednesday. Appearances, in this case, were deceiving. Newhan drove in two runs with a single and solo homer and Nelson, in relief, struck out 10 batters in four innings as Southern Oregon nipped Spokane 4-3 in the first Northwest League game at Seafirst Stadium in a week.

Indians pitcher Modesto Villarreal already has a bucketfull of victories as a professional. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

An incredible July transported the Boise Hawks to last year's Northwest League baseball title. Boise apparently didn't wish to wait until the seventh month this time around. The Hawks, 7-2 this year, are already pulling away from most of the Southern Division.

William Roland thought his hit would carom off the wall. Jonathan Albrecht thought his 3-and-2 pitch with the bases loaded was too low. In Spokane's five previous Northwest League baseball games, all losses, Roland and Albrecht's hunches might have proved correct.

On a whim, Bryan Coyle's girlfriend and her mother pointed their car toward Spokane on Saturday, delaying a return trip to Vancouver, Wash., from Yakima. Coyle made their trip worthwhile, and assured that they were quickly back on the road.

Johnny Hilo is what baseball people refer to as a "loaner." If the Yakima Bears had their way, Hilo would be a keeper.

Long before he infuriated/delighted millions of Americans, Rush Limbaugh worked for the Kansas City Royals' marketing department. The Royals fired Limbaugh after five years, but talk radio and television provided better avenues for the conservative torchbearer.

Judging the transition of Northwest League baseball shouldn't take any longer than one night. Portland, the eight-team league's new member, opens Thursday against visiting Eugene. The Rockies have reportedly sold 18,000 tickets for the game, which marks their return to the NWL after 18 seasons. If true, Portland would shatter the single-date attendance mark of 10,208 set by the Spokane Indians in 1986.

"I'm not here to be Fidel Castro." Under new manager Al Pedrique, the Spokane Indians will know how to hit-and-run, and crave the do-or-die moments. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Don't consult David Letterman's "Top-Ten List" for the names of 1995 Spokane Indians players. Through Tuesday, the Kansas City Royals haven't assigned any top-10 draft picks to Spokane's Northwest League team. First baseman Mark Quinn, an 11th-round selection from Rice, is the highest drafted player Spokane is assured to receive. The Royals are conducting contract negotiations with players selected in last week's amateur draft, so a top-10er may still make it to Spokane.

They won't find out immediately, but several amateur baseball players are fated to spend a summer in Spokane after the events of the next three days. Major-league baseball's amateur draft begins today in New York and lasts through Saturday. The players who will stock the Spokane Indians and other short-season Class A teams come mainly from the three-day draft. Typically, the Indians and the other seven Northwest League teams lack players from the first three rounds or so. Those blue-chippers often end up in long-season A or Class AA. Yet success at the NWL level doesn't rely on top-10 draft selections. Middle-round selections who have extra college experience can be perfect NWL prospects.