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A moment of silence, please, in memory of the Portland Beavers, whose home opener would have been Friday.
But MLS came, and last year’s Beavers are the Tucson Padres. Manager Terry Kennedy told the Arizona Daily Star he expects the weak-hitting team to be better thanks to playing in a warm climate.
“Last year, if we hadn’t had artificial turf we probably would have gotten rained out 15 times,’’ Kennedy said. “We’ll have a chance to do some work early in the year that we did not have last year, and the batting average was a direct result of that.”
The Portland Beavers hit .265 last season, 14th in the 16-team PCL. Several players hit better on the road than in Portland.