Another Sweep

The Sea Dogs are hot, but they might be tired by the time they get back to Portland. For the second consecutive day, the Sea Dogs swept Harrisburg in a doubleheader. The bats were strong again, with Brandon Moss going 5-9 with a homer in each game, and Jared the Wicket homering and driving in four runs. Sandberg now has an impressive 21 RBI in June, and we're only halfway through the month. While his batting average remains low, Sandberg is getting on base a lot and again providing power - his line to date is 259/349/542-15-46. He leads Portland in slugging %, homers and RBI (and strikeouts, too!), and he's second in OPS behind Chris Durbin (that one surprised me a bit). The Sea Dogs currently have 6 players with an OPS of 800 or better (Moss, Sandberg, Durbin, Dustin Pedroia, Jeremy West and Jeff Bailey), and a seventh (Hanley Ramirez) who should be there when all is said and done. Sandberg's only fault at this point is the defense - 17 errors!

Jon Lester won his fourth consecutive start in allowing only two runs over six innings. He's now 5-1, 2.86 ERA on the season. A collection of relievers combined to win the second game. Randall Beam made his AA debut, allowing a run on a walk and a hit in two innings, but striking out four in the process. Beam joins Manny Delcarmen, Mark Deschenes and Phil Devey as relief pitchers who are striking out more than one batter per inning pitched.

After two more games in Harrisburg, the Sea Dogs return home for series' against the Erie Sea Wolves and the Trenton Thunder (Yankees AA affiliate - always a good time!). I highlighted Erie's prospects earlier this year, so I'll do an update on them over the next couple of days. I don't think that I have profiled Trenton's prospects yet, so that'll happen early next week. I'll be scoring games on Friday and Sunday, with a trip to Fenway to see the Sox vs. the Pirates sandwiched in on Saturday. Sounds like I'll be busy, but that means there will be lots of fresh material for the Sea Blog.