Dogs 10-0 - Who's to blame?

While I don't believe for a second that the Sea Dogs are going to go undefeated for the season, the team's 10-0 start carries one undeniable message: these guys are good. Portland is a balanced team this year: good hitting, good starting pitching, good fielding, good bullpen. Jon Papelbon, Kason Gabbard and Charlie Zink have each provided two good starts, and while Jon Lester hasn't had the great results yet, his 13:1 K:BB ratio over 8 innings pitched is very impressive.

Most impressive, however, is the offense, particularly the top 5 in the order (BA/OBP/SLG-HR-RBI-anything else:

Durbin: 351/429/649-2-7 9 runs
Pedroia: 412/512/618-1-9 7BB, 1(!)K
Ramirez: 381/447/643-0-9 5 triples
Sandberg: 359/432/769-4-11, EL Player of the week
West: 441/500/618-1-3

Ramirez and Sandberg lead the team with 11 runs scored each.

Sample size caveats obviously apply. These guys have been crushing the ball thus far, enabling the team to overcome whatever the opposition throws at them, which hasn't been much yet. None of them, obviously, is likely to hit .350 for the season, but I would say that Pedroia, Ramirez, West and Sandberg (if he stays) are all good bets to hit at least .320 with OBP's approaching .400. When they start to come back to earth, perhaps guys like Moss (219/243/375) and Murphy (226/273/258) will start to pick up the pace. This will be a formidable offense all season long, with a lot of "make something happens" guys at the top of the order.

I can't emphasize it enough - go see the Sea Dogs this year. You won't regret doing so!