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2007 Pacific Coast League schedule unveiled

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Pacific Coast League has released its championship schedule for the 2007 season. Once again, the schedule features a 144-game format in which every PCL squad will face off against each club within its conference in two home and two away series, and will also compete in one series with every inter-conference team. This season, the PCL is looking to eclipse the 7-Million fan mark for a third consecutive time and set a League attendance mark for the seventh straight season.

The 2007 campaign kicks off on April 5th, and does so in exciting fashion with notable match-ups throughout the League. Defending PCL and Triple-A Champion Tucson opens their 2007 campaign in Colorado Springs while the trio of fellow 2006 playoff clubs all spend opening day on their home turf, as Salt Lake hosts Las Vegas, Round Rock faces Iowa, and Nashville squares off against the newest member of the New York Mets farm system, the New Orleans Zephyrs.

Clubs from the American and Pacific conferences square off on three separate occasions during the 2007 season, starting with two eight-game stretches beginning May 8th and May 30th. On June 7th, teams return to division play and build up for the Triple-A All-Star Game in Albuquerque on July 11th. After another stretch of 16 inter-conference games beginning on July 24th, divisional races will take center stage as teams will face conference opponents for the last 25 games of the season, culminating on Labor Day weekend.

While the last regular season games take place on September 3rd, PCL fans will be able to follow PCL playoff action in two best-of-five conference championship series beginning on September 5th and a best-of-five League championship series beginning September 11th.

For the second consecutive season, the club that is crowned as PCL Champion will head to Oklahoma City on September 18th to compete against the champions of the International League in the Bricktown Showdown, a one-game shootout that will decide the overall Triple-A Champion. Fans can follow all of the action live using the Gameday feature on the PCL's official site Pacific Coast League: Home.

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Slugging infielder Joe Dillon, who hit 54 home runs in two seasons with the Albuquerque Isotopes, has signed as a free agent with the Florida Marlins, the Isotopes announced today.

Dillon, 31, spent the entire 2006 campaign in Japan playing for the Yomiuri Giants, where he batted .195 with two homers and seven RBI in 87 at-bats. Prior to going oversees, Dillon was a stalwart for the Isotopes, with whom he spent significant portions of both the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

The native of Rocklin, California, who played college baseball at Texas Tech, made a huge splash in his Triple-A debut for the 'Topes in 2004, belting 30 home runs and driving in 86 runs while batting .325 after getting called up from Double-A Carolina for good on May 21. That year the infielder also represented the Isotopes while starting for the Pacific Coast League in the 2004 Triple-A All-Star Game in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The next season, Dillon began the year in Albuquerque and again put up astounding numbers, hitting 24 home runs and driving in 72 despite missing a month of the season while making his Major League debut with the Marlins. While recording 36 at-bats in 2005 with the Fish, Dillon distinguished himself by getting a base hit in his first Major League at-bat and three days later, winning a game for Florida with his first big league home run. In 27 total games for the Marlins, Dillon batted .167 with six runs scored, a homer, and an RBI.

Dillon's .360 batting average from 2005 and his 92 runs scored from 2004 are both single-season Isotopes records.

The Isotopes 2007 All-Star Season begins on April 5 with an eight-game homestand against the Omaha Royals and Iowa Cubs. Tickets for the 2007 Triple-A All-Star Fiesta on July 7-11 are currently on sale, as are Isotopes season tickets and mini-plans. For more information, please call (505) 924-22-55 (BALL) or visit albuquerquebaseball.com: Home.

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PORTLAND, Ore. - The Portland Beavers will open the home portion of their 2007 Pacific Coast League season at PGE Park on Friday, April 13, against the Fresno Grizzlies, it was announced today as the club released its complete regular-season schedule.

After starting the season with an eight-game road trip, the Beavers entertain the Grizzlies for a four-game series, April 13-16, and wrap up their opening homestand with a four-game series against the Sacramento River Cats, April 17-20.

Season tickets, club seats, group packages, party suites, flex plans and mini-plans are currently available. Beavers' ticket plans start as low as $90 and are available by calling the team's ticket office at (503) 553-5555. Additional details on Beavers' ticket packages can be found at portlandbeavers.com: Home.

For the sixth time in seven seasons, Portland begins its season on the road, opening the campaign with a four-game series at Fresno, April 5-8, and an additional four-game set at Sacramento, April 9-12.

The Beavers, who again play 72 games at home and 72 away, face each of their Pacific Conference North Division opponents (Colorado Springs, Salt Lake and Tacoma) as well as the four teams from the Pacific Conference South Division (Fresno, Las Vegas, Sacramento and Tucson) a total of 16 times each (8 home, 8 road).

The unbalanced schedule pits Portland against the eight remaining teams from the American Conference's two divisions for one, four-game series each; the Beavers will play host to Iowa, Memphis, Nashville and Omaha. Likewise, the Beavers travel to Albuquerque, New Orleans, Oklahoma and Round Rock this year.

The 2007 home schedule includes a traditional July 4 home game against Tacoma and 24 afternoon/morning games that proved popular in recent seasons.

Portland, which begins its seventh season as the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, concludes its season with a four-game series against Fresno at PGE Park, Aug. 31-Sept. 3.

The home schedule includes 33 weekend dates and nine Thursday night games. Standard home game times are 7:05 p.m. (Monday through Saturday) and 2:05 p.m. on Sundays. As a convenience to fans during the first two months of the season when school is still in session, the Beavers will begin their standard Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday games during the months of April and May at 6:35 p.m., and Saturday games at 2:05 p.m.

The schedule includes an expanded slate of "Art & Science of Baseball School Days," which include a special 11:05 a.m. start time for area students to take advantage of a day of baseball, fun and education. The Beavers will feature five such games in 2007, including April 16, May 2, May 7, and back-to-back School Days on May 22-23.

The Beavers will also feature four "Businessperson Specials" this season. The June 5, July 23 and Aug. 8 games start at 12:05 p.m., while the June 26 game begins at 2:05 p.m. to cater to the local business community and fans who work at night.

A complete list of promotions on tap for the 2007 season will be released at a later date.

Valuable marketing and corporate partnership opportunities for the upcoming season are available by calling Ryan Brach at (503) 553-5432.

2007 HOME GAMES ...

BY DAY:
Monday (11), Tuesday (10), Wednesday (9), Thursday (9), Friday (11), Saturday (11), Sunday (11)

BY MONTH:
April (9), May (18), June (16), July (9), August (17), September (3)

BY OPPONENT (home/road):
Albuquerque (0 home, 4 road), Colorado Springs (8h, 8r), Fresno (8h, 8r), Iowa (4h, 0r), Las Vegas (8h, 8r), Memphis (4h, 0r), Nashville (4h, 0r), New Orleans (0h, 4r), Oklahoma (0h, 4r), Omaha (4h, 0r), Round Rock (0h, 4r), Sacramento (8h, 8r), Salt Lake (8h, 8r), Tacoma (8h, 8r), Tucson (8h, 8r)

BY TIME:
7:05 p.m. - 41
2:05 p.m. - 16
6:35 p.m. - 7
11:05 a.m. - 5
12:05 p.m. - 3