MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL COVERAGE THAT'S AS DRUNK AS YOU ARE >>>

Baseball writer Jeff Sullivan (Lookout Landing) recently wrote an article comparing Major League Baseball players to different volcanoes around the world.  Sullivan, always a source of humor, makes plenty of chuckle worthy comparisons. He compares Buster Posey with Crater Lake. Felix Hernandez with Mount Rainier.

It's a good read from a true baseball writer whose blog does a bit more than make harebrained projections and poke fun at last names.

Plus, Sullivan's article got us thinking. Which player on the Rainiers (30-35) is most comparable to Tacoma's own favorite volcano, the Weekly Volcano?

Is it hot hitter, soon to maybe be super star Dustin Ackley?  No, we definitely don't have superstar potential.

How about Mr. hard thrower, troubled past Josh Lueke? Nah, probably not. We do relate to a troubled past (though, not THAT troubled), but we aren't much of a journalistic hard thrower in this town, White Trash Wedding photos aside.

The Weekly Volcano clearly relates best to one Rainier and one Rainier only:

Matt Tuiasosopo. 

Matt is a local boy. He looks good, smells nice and smiles often. Matt's relatively young in the way that he has plenty of baseball years left, but also relatively old in the way that he's reached his baseball ceiling. While no superstar, Matt has had streaks of solid play that have given him some stints in the Majors. But while up in Seattle, it was clear Matt might not have quite what it takes to play with the big dogs. A broken swing, an off-step.

No, Matt seems more comfortable here in Tacoma. And when he comes up to the plate, fans at Cheney usually let out a weak, Minor League cheer.  Tacoma admires his versatility. Tacoma admires his hometown ways. Tacoma cheers not because he's a superstar home run hitter, but because he's a local boy.  And Tacoma would rather see him step up to the plate than some overpriced windbag.

Notes ...

-The Rainiers are once again creeping toward .500. We don't want to get anyone's hopes up yet, but we are starting to see improvement. Four wins in the last five games. Six wins in the last eight. Sure, the team is still out of any sort of race at this point (eight games back of Reno in the division), but at least the team is gaining ground. Gaining ground with plenty of time left.

-Luis Jimenez has reached base safely in each of the last sixteen games he's played. Last night he had two hits, including a two-run double. We wish we had more in-depth baseball knowledge so we could scrutinize his WAR and his projections and all that. But we're just going to keep it simple and say this is a good streak. A streak we want to continue.

-Seattle Mariners' baseball blogging guru Dave Cameron is upset that Dustin Ackley is still in Tacoma. He also calls Ackley the third best hitter in the Mariners' organization, which must put him behind who, Ichiro and Smoak? Or Mike Carp and Mike Carp?

The Rainiers play the Fresno Grizzlies tonight at 7:05 p.m. Tune in to 850 AM to catch Mike Curto with the call.     

LINK: The "Rainiers Minute" collection