I would have lost a few bucks if I were a gambling man. Seems the Bakersfield Blaze will in fact be back for another season at Sam Lynn Ball Park. In a previous blog, I said the Blaze wouldn't be back for another season after reading a Baseball America story from August.

But this is temporary, according to team owner D.G. Elmore and Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Conner. The team will be gone after 2009.

For those who insist that Elmore and California League president Joe Gagliardi are behind the team's demise, you have a new person to blame. Actually, you can blame an entity -- Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball.

O'Conner wasn't searching for the right words when I spoke with him Wednesday afternoon. O'Conner's a straight shooter. 

"Lay this at my feet," O'Conner said. "This is my project that I laid out and I initiated."

For 10-plus years, three different owners groups have tried to work a deal out with the city and the county. Now, I will say I haven't been privied to what percentage, what taxes or what monies would have been needed to build a new ballpark but the deal didn't get done.

O'Conner doesn't care about Bakersfield's past. A ballpark didn't get built and now it's his job to do what's best for MiLB and MLB. That doesn't include Bakersfield.

"This is like the cat with nine lives, and Bakersfield has used eight of them," O'Conner said.

Let's save that last life for another time. Enjoy the last season of the Blaze but it's best both sides move on.

If you haven't heard or you're just getting 'round to reading the newspaper, minor league baseball in Bakersfield is likely a thing of the past. It's not official but the proverbial fat lady is reaching for her pitch pipe.

According to an article in Baseball America, two teams from the California League will be heading to the Carolina League as soon as next season. The Blaze has a year-to-year lease with Kern County for Sam Lynn Ball Park, and don't have to sign a new lease until March 31.

So is this the end of minor league baseball in Bakersfield? If I were in Vegas, I'd be putting a few bucks on Sam Lynn Ball Park being vacant come April 1.

But there might be an unlikely player in saving baseball. Who? How about an owner that knows something about building a successful, fan-friendly minor league organization in Bakersfield.

In February, Condors owner Jonathan Fleisig acknowledged that he had expressed interest in buying at least a portion of the team to Blaze owner D.G. Elmore but was rebuffed. Only part ownership or a partnership was proposed, Fleisig said.

Elmore's response,"Two e-mails, that was it. I've had a lot more serious conversations with other people." Now we have a pretty good idea, who the "other people" are.

Even if the Blaze leave town, there's independent league baseball or the possibility of bringing back a team to the Cal League a few years down the road.

Fleisig could be the man with the cash flow to help bring baseball back and build a new stadium. While Fleisig expressed interest in buying the Blaze, he also said he'd like to forge a relationship with Cal State Bakersfield and it's first-year baseball program.

Maybe the problem has been Elmore all along. Maybe Fleisig can work a deal with CSUB and the County/City officials on building a much-needed stadium.

For baseball fans such as myself, we can only hope.