Seven in a Row

I have taken a great interest in Jeremy West's 30th RBI this season. As I have written in the past, West is a "power hitting" first baseman who has been a regular for the Sea Dogs but managed to make it to August with only 27 RBI. Knowing I was scheduled to go to a couple of games this week, I was hoping to be there when he finally got to #30. His RBI have been so few and far between, however, that it seemed like a longshot. West managed to knock in two runs on Monday night (and zero on Tuesday), so he came in to Wednesday's game on the precipice of his (my?) goal, needing just one more run batted in.

Things were looking good early. David Murphy hit a triple in the first inning that would have left him in scoring position, but second baseman Gil Velazquez threw the relay into the third base dugout, allowing Murphy to score and denying West an easy opportunity when he followed with a single. Brandon Moss later led off the third inning with a triple, but cleanup hitter Murphy knocked him in with a single. West gave it the old college try with a double to left field, but it's not very deep out there and Murphy was held at third. Denied again.

West finally took matters into his own hands with one out in the fifth, hitting a solo shot into the screen over the Sea Wall in left field for his sixth homer of the year and RBI #30. West failed to come up with the triple needed to complete the cycle, but his 3-4 performance edged his slugging percentage back over .400. You want that from your first baseman (take note Kevin Millar).

The game was sloppy, featuring five errors (and two more by Portland that would have been errors, if Dave ruled the world). The Sea Dogs built up a big lead, gave it back, then went on to win the slugfest, 8-6.

Scorer's Notes:

• New Britain starter Levale Speigner had nothing last night. He threw only 65 pitches over 4.1 innings, but managed to allow 12 hits and six runs in the process. Sea Dogs hitters batted .500 off him. He threw more than three pitches to just five of 22 batters. The Sea Dogs were swinging at everything and hitting it very hard.
• New Portland 2B Scott Youngbauer hit a towering home run over the Ford Board in right center field to put the Sea Dogs ahead for good in the game. It was a tremendous shot, especially for a middle infielder.
• Weirdness abounded last night. The second batter of the game, JR Taylor, lined into a double play on a hit-and-run, however the call was overturned due to catcher's interference. Instead of being erased on the play, Denard "I don't like" Span later scored the first run of the game. The inning then ended when Danny Matienzo was hit by a batted ball. It was then that we knew we were in for a wild night.
• More weirdness: Sea Dog catcher Alberto Concepcion was out on a fly ball to deep left in the bottome of the 8th. Unfazed by this development, Concepcion completed a slow circuit of the bases (a "fly out trot?") before returning to the dugout to the well-deserved razzes of his teammates. Later that inning, Raul Nievez scored from second base on an infield single (shortstop Taylor dove, knocked down the ball, couldn't get a clean handle. Nievez kept on running).
• Portland goes for the sweep this afternoon.