Hansen Pitches Another Scoreless Inning

Or how about "Matt Van Der Bosch gets first AA extra base hit"? The Sea Dogs lost to the Thunder 15-0 in an I'm-glad-I-wasn't-there, cover-your-eyes-ugly game Thursday night. Sea Dogs pitchers gave up 18 hits and 10 walks on the night. (OK, technically that's not true. Utilityman Raul Nieves was responsible for two hits, five walks and five runs in taking the last 1 1/3 inning on the mound.) Sea Dogs batters, facing struggling prospect Steve White (he of the 8.36 ERA entering the game), managed just two hits while striking out 15 times (White allowed one hit with 12 K's in 6.2 IP). Portland's defense made 4 errors on the evening. The only positive was Hansen's scoreless 7th, which he managed despite two runners allowed by fielding errors. He remains unscored-upon in 8.1 innings for Portland.

The Sea Dogs entered the four game series against Trenton with a magic number of 8 to win the division. They head into the next series with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats with a magic number of 8 to win the division. The good news is that they are still the team to beat in the EL North, and the magic number to make the playoffs is 6, which they can cover if they manage to sweep the Cats. That appears to be a real possibility, as Portland has won 11 in a row and 15 of 19 from New Hampshire this season. Tonight it's Chris Smith taking the hill for the Sea Dogs vs. Josh Banks.

On a lighter note. Here's a puff piece from MaineToday.com about Boston's minor league system. At least it's true - the quality of Boston's minor league prospects has increased tremendously over the last few years, and I believe that Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington and company are among the best in baseball in acquiring minor league talent. The drafts have been tremendous, with Hansen just the latest example. They also deserve credit for finding guys like Chip Ambres, who was signed after he was cast off by the Marlins. All he did was make the AAA All Star game, get traded for Tony Graffanino and become a starting outfielder for the Kansas City Royals. (Insert your own joke about Ambres still being in AAA here.) Good work all around.

The series vs. New Hampshire is the last home series of the regular season for the Sea Dogs. I'll be attending the games tonight (Friday) and Sunday, providing the full reports as usual. Next week the team is off to Altoona and Akron. I'll make some relevant posts at that time. After the end of the regular season I'll do a team recap, including analysis of the top hitters and pitchers this season. Then I'll be playing it by ear, depending on what they do in the playoffs, and maybe concentrate on the Red Sox as they make their push to the playoffs and another World Series Championship.