Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Looking Ahead

Here's a Press Herald/MaineToday.com article looking ahead at who might be on the Sea Dogs next season.

Guys who will definitely be gone: Jon Lester, Hanley Ramirez, Craig Hansen (all promoted to Pawtucket or above); Jared Sandberg (minor league free agent, I really doubt that he will return).

Guys who are possible promotion candidates, depending on how the Red Sox construct the PawSox roster: David Murphy, Brandon Moss, Chris Durbin (I'm guessing that Murphy and maybe Moss will be promoted), David Pauley, Charlie Zink, Randy Beam, Edgar Martinez. I believe that Pauley has a good shot at a promotion, while Zink will follow the fluttering fortunes of his knuckler. Beam and Martinez will definitely finish the year in Pawtucket if they don't begin there.

Players who I think will be with other organizations: In addition to Sandberg, I'd say that Jim Mann, Denny Tomori, Sheldon Fulse and Raul Nievez will probably be elsewhere, unless they are retained for organizational depth (quite likely in the case of Nievez). Mann might be looking for another shot at the big leagues, which I think is more possible in another organization, but he might be retained a la Marc Deschenes last year. Conor Brooks is also a free agent, and I find it unlikely that he will return to Portland, though the Sox might give him a shot in Pawtucket.

Scott Youngbauer is an interesting case. He really energized the Portland lineup after his arrival in late July. He plays hard and I think he endeared himself to the organization. At the same time, I really think that his hitting was at the upper end of what you can expect from him, and that his bat will regress next year. He doesn't really follow the Red Sox prototype of players who work the count and draw some walks. He's up there to swing. He might return, but I don't think he's got a long-term future with the Red Sox, his 2005 performance notwithstanding.

Returning to Portland: In addition to one or two of the outfielders and a couple of the pitchers, my guess is that Jeremy West will be back along with both catchers, Alberto Concepcion and Jim Buckley. I think West will tear up the EL given another go-round. Concepcion's status depends on what happens to Kelly Shoppach. With Varitek and Mirabelli under contract for 2006, the Sox might look to shop Kelly around for some pitching depth (no sense having him waste away in the minors any longer). If he goes, Concepcion will likely land in Pawtucket. I'm guessing that Anibal Sanchez will start the season in Portland but not finish here (again, unless he's traded), and that Chris Smith will return in hopes of fully reestablishing himself. Kason Gabbard is another candidate to bring his Jekyll-and-Hyde performance back to the Hadlock confines.

Also in this category, you can definitely pencil in late season callups Chad Spann and Matt Van Der Bosch into the Portland lineup. Spann will be manning the hot corner, while the speedy VDB will fill the sparkplug role and likely patrol center field. Zack Borowiak is another guy in this category, and he's the likely second baseman. Such late season pitching callups as Barry Hertzler and Kyle Jackson will probably also be on the Portland roster.

There are going to be some players worth watching, particularly Sanchez, but the 2006 Sea Dogs aren't going to be as laden with hot prospects as the 2005 team was. Such is the existence of a minor league team. We were fortunate to see lots of top players this season, many of whome (Hansen, Ramirez, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, Cla Meredith) have already made it to Boston and others (Lester, Dustin Pedroia) who will likely be patrolling Fenway at some point next season. It's only a matter of time before the next wave of draft picks, particularly Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrey, Clay Buchholtz and Luis Soto (all of whom were on the short-season Lowell roster this year), are leading the Sea Dogs on their next championship run.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Everybody Please Calm Down

(file this under "Commentary")

Can Red Sox fans please calm down about the fact that the team is now in second place? The season is not over, there are still 10 games left, including three against the first place Yankees. Let's let it play out instead of jumping out the nearest window. The Yankees are hot right now, but that might not last. Besides, it's possible that the White Sox' fade will continue and the Red Sox will win the wild card regardless.

Last fall when Boston won it's first world series in 86 years, I read in the papers and heard on the radio all kinds of quotes from Red Sox fans: "Everything is different now," "All is forgiven," "I can die in peace." Where are all of these people now? On talk radio, everybody is writing off the season, criticizing Theo and wanting to fire Francona. Where's the goodwill gained by the team winning the World Series? Shouldn't the the Honeymoon last at least a year? Instead of, "Hey, they're our Red Sox, they won last year and we love 'em," I'm hearing a lot of hate and anger.

When the Red Sox won the series last year, nothing changed for me. Well, almost nothing. I was truly happy that I finally got to see them win a championship, but I also realized that I had been spending a lot of time getting emotionally involved in a team that really has no bearing on my life. (Actually, I realized this when the Sox were dragging my sleep-deprived body through two extra-inning roller coaster rides in games 4 and 5 vs. the Yankees.) I'm much happier now that I've had this catharsis. Obviously I still love baseball, and I root for the Sox and it saddens me when they lose. But I don't take it personally, and I don't get angry. Our boys are trying their best to beat the Yankees (side note - I do take it personally and get angry when the Yankees win. I'm comfortable with that double standard), and I believe that we should be rooting for them and giving them our support. Getting pissed of and criticizing the entire organization seems petty and ungrateful, and I wish Red Sox fans would stop doing it.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Ramirez, Hansen get the call

Two more members of the 2005 Portland Sea Dogs have made the leap to the big leagues. On Monday the Red Sox recalled shortstop Hanley Ramirez and reliever Craig Hansen for the remainder of the season.

Hansen has reached the big leagues only four months after leaving St. John's University, where he saved 14 games while striking out 85 in 64 innings pitched. After signing with the Red Sox, Hansen pitched 15.2 innings between Portland and the Gulf Coast League Red Sox, including the playoffs. In that time he allowed 12 hits, walked three and struck out 15. Hansen has yet to allow a run as a professional. While the numbers are dominant, Hansen missed some time at the end of the season and beginning of the playoffs with a tired arm. He came back with his velocity intact, however he did not record a strikout and walked two batters during his three playoff innings. Hansen has nasty stuff, with a 97-mph fastball and a tough slider in the upper 80's. He will be a force out of the Red Sox bullpen, but I'm not convinced that will happen this year. He's thrown a lot of innings in 2005 and he's allowed more contact than normal recently. That said, it's certainly worth it for the Red Sox to give him a look given the way the bullpen has struggled.

Ramirez is on a much different career path than Hansen. He was signed when he was 17 and this is his fifth season in the organization. Ramirez has been listed as Boston's #1 prospect for the last three seasons or so. Ramirez' prospect star dimmed a little this year, however, as the fruits of Boston's recent drafts all hit Boston at the same time, and several moved on to Pawtucket and Boston. This was exacerbated by a dip in Ramirez' hitting. Ramirez has hit over .300 nearly every step of his minor league career and had a terrific sping training with the major league club, but managed only a .271 batting average with reduced power this summer. As I have stated before, much of the problem to my eyes was that Hanley was trying to pull too many pitches. He has terrific opposite-field power, but hit a lot of ground balls to the left side of the infield during the season. Ramirez also frustrated fans a bit with a seeming laissez-faire approach in the field, taking his time in making throws to first. Note, however, that he always managed to throw out the baserunners. Positive signs for Ramirez are that he improved his walk rate while cutting down on his strikeouts (which were not really an issue to begin with). And despite the sometimes lackadaisical throws, Ramirez also provided many highlight-reel plays at shortstop. The Red Sox recalled Ramirez after Kevin Youkilis was injured on a ground ball during Sunday's game. He's an insurance policy, however there is the chance that the big club will take advantage of his versatility and play him at several different posititions over the next two weeks.

Congrats to Ramirez and Hansen, who represent the fourth and fifth players to go from Portland to Boston this season, following Cla Meredith, Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen. When you factor in recent Portland alumni Youkilis, Kelley Shoppach and Abe Alvarez, the count is up to 8 for the total players to pass through Portland on their way to the Red Sox. That, of course, does not include Kevin Millar and Edgar Renteria, who played in Portland when the team was affiliated with the Florida Marlins.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

A brief Recap

Here's a brief recap of the season, from MaineToday.com's Kevin Thomas. Lots of prospects this year, but more are needed. The piece finishes by focusing on "found" closer Jim Mann, who was signed out of the independent leagues in mid summer and ended up a dominating force out of Portland's bullpen.

Here's a follow up recap, covering some of the same territory.

I plan to do my own recap of the season in the coming days, including my promised statistical review of the pitching staff. That will be more challenging than with the hitters, because so many pitchers came, pitched significant innings then departed during the season.

Akron Captures EL Crown

The Eastern League season is over, and the Akron Aeros captured the crown with a three games to one victory in the championship series over the Sea Dogs. In Friday night's game the Aeros pieced together a walk, fielder's choice and bloop double to left off Anibal Sanchez to score the only two runs in a 2-0 victory. Wade Miller pitched brilliantly in his rehab start, allowing just one hit over five innings, however the Sea Dogs were unable to take advantage of five hits and five walks. Half of Portland's base runners were erases with a pick off, a caught stealing, and three double plays. Jon Van Every provided the soft game winning hit for Akron. Brian Slocum pitched 6.1 innings and combined with three relievers for the shutout.

In Saturday night's finale there was more of the same. The Sea Dogs squandered more base runners while the Aeros came up with the timely hits for a 4-1 victory and the championship. Jake Dittler pitched seven shutout innings before turning things over to Chris Cooper and Edward Mujica to close things out. This was the same formula used by Akron in their first two victories and resulted in the same outcome, though Mujica did allow an RBI double by Hanley Ramirez in the ninth for the only run surrendered by the combination in the series. Cooper and Mujica were tough all year, with Cooper posting a 2.08 ERA for the Aeros and Mujica a 2.88 following a midseason promotion from Kinston. Portland starter David Pauley allowed two runs (one earned) in four innings pitched, while Randy Beam surrendered the final two in his one inning pitched. Highlights for the Sea Dogs included a four hit night for Jeremy West, who hit .538 (7-13) in the series, and two more shutout innings in relief by Edgar Martinez. Akron's Nate Panther also went 4-4 which, in combination with his game winning home run in game two, was enough for him to secure the series MVP.

The series was a microcosm of the entire series for the Sea Dogs - a fast start, some squandered opportunities in the middle and, at the end, a finish that fell short of expectations. There were some good performances by top prospects and others who failed to come through as expected. In all, though, it ends up as one of the greatest seasons in Sea Dogs history. The team set a franchise attendance record (average attendance per game) this season despite abysmal weather through most of April and May. (That's paid attendance, by the way. I was at more than a couple of games where actual total of fans in seats was at least 2,00o, and as much as 5,000, below the announced attntance.) For the first time in nearly ten years there was an abundance of prospects on the team, and a handful of players made it from Portland to Boston during the course of the season. So congratulations on the terrific season, Sea Dogs, and hold your heads high in recognition of the terrific season that you gave us.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Belated Post - Dogs drop Game 2

My apologies to my loyal readers for not making a timely post after game two of the Portland/Akron EL Championship series. I've been very busy the last couple of days. As most Sea Dogs fans know, Portland lost game two to the Southern Division champions by a 4-3 tally. Game three is underway in Akron as I write this.

Wednesday's game was a frustrating experience for the Sea Dogs fan. Starting pitcher Charlie Zink pitched pretty well (zero walks, five K's in five innings), but did hang a couple of knucklers that were hit hard. Akron was able to string a few of these hits together to collect two runs in the first and another in the second. The Sea Dogs were all over Akron starter Rafael Perez, but were only able to scrap individual runs in each of the first three innings to tie the score. It stood that way until Nate Panther hit a shot over the bullpen in right for the winning run in the fifth inning.

Perez ended up with a pretty decent line score, allowing just two earned runs with seven strikeouts in six innings pitched, but his command was off. He gave up nine hits, walked three, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch in that time. Portland's first run scored on a passed ball, as catcher Javier Herrera was having a difficult time with Perez' slider. In all, the Sea Dogs left eight men on base in the first five innings, six in scoring position. Perez was able to get the timely outs when needed, including three strikeouts of David Murphy with runners in scoring position in the first four innings. Alberto Concepcion led off the sixth with a walk, but he was retired on Chris Durbin's double play grounder. He was the last Sea Dog base runner of the evening, with Chris Cooper and Edward Mujica combining for three perfect innings of relief, Mujica earning the save in the process.

Scorer's notes:
  • Rough night for Murphy. The three K's came in the exact same fashion, Murphy waving at a slider away. By his third time up, everybody in the stadium knew what was going to happen, and none of us could do a thing about it. Murphy finally managed to pop out to shorstop off Cooper in the seventh.
  • Portland's pen matched Akron's nearly pitch-for-pitch, with Conor Brooks, Edgar Martinez, Randy Beam and Craig Hansen each spinning a scoreless frame. Hansen was shakiest, walking a batter and allowing a wall-ball double, but his velocity was there and he was throwing his hard slider. Martinez was the most effective, blowing 95-mph fastballs by everybody. He struck out two and allowed a weak popup to short. Martinez is starting to show a great deal of promise.
  • Hanley Ramirez had two more hard singles to right field. When he arrived in Portland last season he was hitting everything the opposite way with authority. This year he seemed to be trying to pull the ball a lot, and his batting average was (perhaps not coincidentally) down 40 points. It looks like he's making his natural swing again, with positive results.
  • Theo Epstein was in attendance again, but I didn't see him. I was in front of him this time around - fourth row directly behind home plate. Great seats - it's amazing what you can get when you are buying just one ticket. I was sitting near former Sea Dog coach Ken Joyce, who now manages the Lansing Lugnuts. He was swapping stories with a Press Herald writer, and I was eavesdropping on them. Joyce is a great story, he got a summer job as the bullpen catcher for the Sea Dogs when they came to town in 1994, and parlayed that into a job as a minor league coach and now manager. It's not The Rookie, but it's still pretty cool.
  • Another good crowd. As predicted here, attendance was over 5,000. Officially, 5,307, but it was a pretty big crowd through the turnstiles, as the box seats were much more full than on a typical night. Both Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful nights for baseball. A wonderful way to end the season after the cold, wet spring that we had.

Tonight's game features a rehabbing Wade Miller (to be followed to the mound by Anibal Sanchez) for the Sea Dogs and Brian Slocum for Akron. This matchup would appear to favor the Sea Dogs, if Miller is sharper than last time around. The game is previewed here by the Press Herald. I don't know if writer Kevin Thomas reads the Sea Blog, but he took a page right out of my book in talking about Slocum: "Akron will counter with Brian Slocum, who is 7-5 with a 4.40 ERA. ... For the season, he has 95 strikeouts and 36 walks in 102 innings." What about his WHIP, Kevin? Tell me about his WHIP! (It's 1.31. Not too shabby.)

I don't want to jinx anybody, but right now the game is a pitchers duel.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Portland Captures Game 1

The Sea Dogs defeated the Akron Aeros 6-4 tonight to capture game one of the 2005 Eastern League Championship Series. Portland benefitted both from timely hitting and solid moundwork to defeat the South Division champions. Jon Lester started for Portland and once again showed what a special pitcher he is after a shaky start. In the first Lester failed to keep his foot on the bag on a grounder to first base (eventually called an error), then gave up a long home run to Ryan Mulhern. Lester was shaky in the second, allowing another run on two walks and two hits. Lester ended the second with a three-pitch strikeout of Brad Snyder, then dominated the rest of the way, allowing just two baserunners, one of whom he subsequently picked off, over his last four innings. Overall he gave up four hits and three walks vs. 6 strikeouts and was charged with one earned run. Randy Beam, Denney Tomori and Jim Mann pitched the final three innings, allowing one unearned run, to finish things up.

On the other side of this vaunted pitching matchup, Jeremy Sowers failed to hold up his end of the deal. Sowers didn't look bad (only 30 balls vs. 78 strikes by my count, which could easily be off by a pitch hear and there), but the Dogs had little trouble in handling his stuff. Chris Durbin and Brandon Moss, respectively, led off the first two innings with home runs, and Portland had runners on in every inning in collecting nine hits off Sowers. Jeremy West had an RBI triple in the thired and an RBI single in the fifth. Durbin led the attack with three hits on the night.

Scorer's Notes:
  • There were a couple of odd scoring calls in the game. Snyder's grounder in the first was originally called a hit, then it suspiciously became an error after Mulhern's home run. This, of course, made the two runs unearned. A little hometown lovin' for Lester, maybe? To my eyes, the batter had the throw beat for a hit in the first place. Also, West's triple in the third was really a double and an error. A good throw on his fly ball that scraped the ball in left would have nailed West by 20 feet, but it was wild allowing Portland's DH to reach third base. C'mon now, let's call it when there is an obvious error.
  • One obvious error is one that you rarely see. Akron's Shaun Larkin, the world's smallest professional first baseman, dropped Durbins infield pop in the sixth inning. This allowed Jared Sandberg to score an unearned run when Scott Youngbauer subsequently doubled to left field. Youngbauer just keeps on hitting. He spent two months with Akron before being released by the Indians in June, so perhaps he has some extra incentive for this series.
  • Something I've never seen before: Akron reliever Juan Lara threw a pitch in the dirt that bounced up and off his catcher - and over the backstop into the crowd. Nobody was on base, so it just goes down as an oddity rather than a (really) wild pitch.
  • Attendance was announced as 4,432, which was 2,500 short of a sellout, but it felt like a big crowd tonight. As noted in some of the recent articles, the people going to the playoff games are, by and large, the big-time baseball fans, and they were really into the game. It also helps that the box seats were mostly filled. These seats are mostly held by season-ticket holders and there are often many unused box seats during regular season games. They were filled tonight, giving the stadium (at least in section 106) a more crowded feeling than normal.
  • Hadlock will host its final game of the season tomorrow (Wednesday) night. There will be tickets available, though I am predicting that attendance will edge over 5,000 for the finale. It looks like the red hot Charlie Zink will get the start for the Sea Dogs vs. Akron's Rafael Perez. Perez is another guy who spent half the season in single A, but he's pitched well since his promotion, with a 1.76 ERA, a sub-1.00 WHIP, and a 46/12 K/BB ratio in 66.2 innings pitched. Perez' strikeout rate is up and his walk rate is down since coming to AA, so he looks like he'll need to be reconed with. The Sea Dogs are swinging the bats about as well as they have at any time since the season-opening 10 game winning streak, and hopefully they will be up to the task at hand.

Championship Round Preview - the Copout

Time - where did it go? Unfortunately I don't have sufficient time to do justice to a Joe's SeaBlog-style preview, so I will direct your attention to the Portland Sea Dogs preview of the game, the official game notes, as prepared by the Sea Dogs radio team, and the MaineToday.com preview of the series. Also, here's a story about how tickets are likely to be available for the game.

And sometimes it pays to look into enemy territory. Here's a very comprehensive preview, focusing on how these teams fared against one another during the regular season, from the Akron Aeros web site.

Tonight's game features a terrific pitching matchup. EL Pitcher of the Year Jon Lester, who you've read about here in the past, toes the rubber for the Sea Dogs. Lester's allowed just two runs on eight hits and three walks vs. 21 K's over his last three starts (20 IP). The Aeros counter with Jeremy Sowers, the 6th overall pick in the 2004 draft out of Vanderbilt and also a southpaw. Sowers started 13 games for Akron this season and posted a 5-1 record, 2.08 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and outstanding 70/9 K/BB ratio in 82.1 innings pitched. Sowers numbers for Akron were actually a bit better than those he posted for Single A Kinston, where he also made 13 starts: 71.1 IP, 8-3, 2.78, 1.10, 75/19. Sowers also made one start for AAA Buffalo, allowing just one run in 5.2 IP. John Sickels rated Sowers the #8 overall prospect for the Indians with a "B" rating (Lester also earned a preseason "B" from Sickels).

It should be a terrific game. I hope to see you there.

Monday, September 12, 2005

When Towns Had Teams Now Available

When Towns Had Teams, the new book by Maine author Jim Baumer, is finally off the presses and into the hands of customers. I met with Jim over the weekend and received delivery of my order. The books look terrific and, based on the few chapters that I have made it through thus far, are a treasure trove of history and great stories from the heyday of town team baseball in Maine. Baumer covers the post World War II resurrection of local baseball until it's ultimate near-demise today. There are also several wonderful pictures included in the book. I'll give a full review when I've finished reading it (the Sea Dogs will be slowing down this effort a bit). In the mean time, head over to the RiverVision Press web site (linked above) or to your local book store. Jim has been placing the book in a lot of the independent stores in coastal and western Maine and has been expanding his reach. If your favored bookstore doesn't carry the book, please ask that they do.

Portland heads to the Championship

The Sea Dogs are set to appear in their first Eastern League Championship series since 1997 following their 9-2 victory over Trenton on Sunday night. After playing four close games, each of which was won by the home team, the Dogs didn’t leave this one in doubt. Four Portland batters (Scott Youngbauer, Hanley Ramirez, Brandon Moss and Jeremy West) homered and the Sea Dogs won going away. Wade Miller started for Portland as part of a rehabilitation assignment by the Red Sox. Miller was limited to 60 pitches and was rusty, allowing both Trenton runs in 2 2/3 innings pitched. Regular starter Chris Smith and relievers Denney Tomori, Randy Beam and Craig Hansen shut the Thunder down the remainder of the way. It was Hansen’s first outing in several weeks and he was back to normal, allowing no hits and reaching 97 mph with his fastball.

Portland now hosts the Akron Aeros for the first two games of the best-of-five championship series beginning Tuesday night. Like the Sea Dogs, the Aeros were pushed to game five by the Altoona Curve after winning the first two games at home. The bad news for Portland is that the Aeros have the home field advantage as the final therr games (if all are necessary) will be played in Akron. The good news is that this series has a travel day scheduled, so Portland ace Jon Lester will be available to pitch in game five if it is required.

Akron finished the regular season with an 84-68 record, the best in the Eastern League and 8 games better than the Sea Dogs. Portland won just two of the eight meetings between the teams, going 1-3 at both venues. Portland, however, has strong pitching going into the finals, led by Lester, who was the EL’s pitcher of the year. Anibal Sanchez will likely pitch game two. His pitch counts have been limited but he was effective in the Trenton series. David Pauley has been solid in the number three spot while Charlie Zink is the likely game four starter if needed. Zink has been outstanding recently, not having allowed an earned run since mid August, a streak that includes seven shutout innings pitched for AAA Pawtucket. If any starter falters early, Chris Smith is available. Like Zink, Smith struggled earlier in the year but he has been rounding into the form that made him one of Portland’s top pitchers in the first half of the 2004 season.

The first round games drew just over 4,000 fans each, so there are still plenty of seats available for the finals. I plan to attend both games this week and will report back here per usual. I will prepare a preview of the Akron team tonight or tomorrow.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Trenton Pitching: "I don't like Spann!"

For the second night in a row, a Chad Spann home run delivered a victory for the Portland Sea Dogs. Thursday night it was a sixth-inning blast over the center field wall off Trenton starter Matt DeSalvo that gave Portland a 4-2 lead on the way to a 5-2 victory and a 2-0 series lead. The Sea Dogs now head to Trenton to try to win one of the next two games and finish the series. If necessary, a deciding game 5 would take place in Portland on Sunday evening.

Spann, who is now 3-7 with 6 RBI in the two games,
also sparkled with his glove. He made a spinning, in-the-hole play on Rudy Guillen's grounder in the third and a barehanded snag of Shelley Duncan's grounder in the fourth. Scott Youngbauer was the other offensive hero for Portland. He hit a gapper triple in the first inning and scored on David Murphy's single, then made it 2-0 with a leadoff home run to right center field in the third. Randy Beam worked 3 1/3 perfect innings of relief to collect his second win of the series. Jim Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.

Scorer's Notes:
  • Anibal Sanchez started for Portland but left in the fourth inning having thrown about 60 pitches. Sanchez has thrown nearly double the innings this year than in any prior professional season, and he left a start a couple of weeks ago with some pain in his forearm, therefore he's on a strict pitch count. Sanchez, who struggled in his last few starts, dominated the first three innings, allowing just a Melkey Cabrera single while striking out five. He was liften in the fourth after allowing a single by Bronson Sardinha and a home run by Cabrera. Sanchez was throwing in the mid 90's and got most of his strikeouts with an effective changeup. His performance allayed many of the concerns I had from his recent efforts.
  • Beam pitched the longest outing (in terms of innings) of his professional career. He obviously tired toward the end of his 43-pitch performance, as he gave up long fly balls to all three batters in the 8th inning.
  • Spann wasn't the only player to shine in the field. Murphy made a full-speed diving catch of a line drive to rob Omir Santos of extra bases in the 7th inning.
  • In addition to the triple and home run, the free swinging Youngbauer suprised by drawing a walk and two other three-ball counts in the game.
  • Hanley Ramirez dazzled with his speed once again. Running on a Michael Brunet pitch following his sixth-inning single, Ramirez continued running and slid safely into third base when the pitch skipped past the catcher for a wild pitch. Ramirez was stranded at third when Youngbauer subsequently struck out.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Spann Slam Saves Sea Dogs

Portland won game one of the series vs. Trenton 5-3, thanks to a walk off grand slam by Chad Spann. Spann, who joined the team with a couple of weeks remaining in the season and batted just .209 in 9 games, knocked the first offering from Justin Pope off the Citgo sign over the left field wall. Pope, who had just walked Jeremy West and Alberto Concepcion to load the bases, was obviously looking to throw a strike in that situation.

Despite not having a lot of success for the Sea Dogs, Spann has some pop in his bat, evidenced by the 13 homers and 23 doubles that he hit for Wilmington this season. Spann's homer saved Jon Lester from a tough luck loss. Lester had another vintage performance - 7 innings, four hits, one walk, two runs and nine strikeouts. Jeffrey Karstens continued to dominate the Sea Dogs, allowing just one run in seven innings, but Pope was unable to hold on for the win.

The game two pitching matchup features Anibal Sanchez vs. Matt DeSalvo.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Sea Dogs Batting Leaders

Let's have a look at the top offensive performers for the Sea Dogs this year. I've set 15o plate appearances as the cutoff for team leaders. It's an arbitrary cutoff that I set so we can include Dustin Pedroia and Scott Youngbauer in the discussion. At the botton, I'll choose the Biggest Surprise, Biggest Disappointment, and Offensive Player of the Year for the Sea Dogs.

Batting Average: Pedroia .324, Youngbauer .311, Kenny Perez .285, Chris Durbin .282, David Murphy .275. Not the most meaningful batting statistic, but people recognize it, so I've included it here.

On Base Percentage: Pedroia .408, Jeff Bailey .381, Youngbauer .360, Durbin .344, Jeremy West .340. OBP is a more informative stat. Getting batters on base is the leading indicator of a team's ability to score runs. The first three on this list all spent less than half a season in Portland.

Isolated Discipline: Bailey .131, Jared Sandberg .102, Pedroia .083, Raul Nievez .082, Sheldon Fulse .078. This measures a batter's ability to draw walks. Nievez and Fulse are suprises here. Both did well to find outher ways to get on base, as their batting averages (.209 and .175, respectively) were well below par.

Slugging Percentage: Youngbauer .549, Pedroia .508, Bailey .462, Durbin .457, Brandon Moss .441. Youngbauer is the surprise leader here. He arrived a couple of weeks following Pedroia’s promotion to Pawtucket and his bat was huge down the stretch.

Isolated Slugging: Youngbauer .248, Bailey .212, Pedroia .184, Sandberg ,179, Durbin .175. 24 of Youngbauer’s 51 Sea Dogs hits went for extra bases. Sandberg’s season was a disappointment. A former major leaguer, he seemed to be slotted below his talent level, especially after his hot start garnered him EL Player of the Week honors for the first week of the season. It was a slow decline to a .233 batting average from there on out, however.

OPS: Pedroia .915, Youngbauer .908, Bailey .843, Durbin .801, Moss .778. Again with the part-time players. Pedroia could very well have kept up the pace over a full season, but it is unlikely that Youngbauer would have (indeed, he only posted a .628 OPS over 41 games in Akron). Durbin is a surprise amongst the “full season” Dogs, as he didn’t have the prospect pedigree of guys like Moss, West and Hanley Ramirez.

GPA: Pedroia .310, Youngbauer .299, Bailey .287, Durbin .269, Moss .262. Basically the same measurement as OPS, only weighting OBP a little higher and stating as a ratio that has the familiar scaling of batting average.

Runs Created: Moss 75, Murphy 70, West 66, Sandberg 64, Durbin 62. This stat combines performance with playing time. Murphy was given the player of the year honors for the Sea Dogs because he did well in BA and RBI, but Moss’ favorable walk rate and slugging percentage give him the advantage here.

RC/27 outs: Pedroia 8.1, Youngbauer 7.3, Bailey 6.3, Durbin 5.7, Moss 5.3. This is right in line with OPS and GPA.

Counting Stats:

Plate Appearances: Moss 568, Sandberg 538, Murphy 535, West 533, Ramirez 519. These were the guys who stayed healthy (and on the roster) all season.

At Bats: Moss 503, Murphy 484, West 472, Ramirez 465, Sandbery 463. Sandberg drew more walks, so he drops down the list.

Hits: Moss 135, Murphy 133, West 126, Ramirez 126, Durbin 111.

2B: West 32, Durbin, Moss 31, Sandberg 29, Murphy 25. The Sea Dogs had a lot of guys who displayed gap power, resulting in a lot of doubles and not a lot of home runs. Other than Sandberg, all of these guys are young enough that these doubles might translate into homers in the coming years.

3B: Ramirez 7, Youngbauer 5, Moss, Murphy 4, West 3. Ramirez had all of his triples by the end of May. Both he and Youngbauer have good power and good speed.

HR: Sandberg 18, Moss 16, Murphy 14, Durbin 12, West 10. I think that we expected more home runs from this team. Team leader Sandberg was tied for 13th in the Eastern League.

RBI: Murphy 75, Sandberg 71, Moss 61, Durbin 57, Ramirez 52. Murphy started slow, but hit well with runners in scoring position all year, and surpassed Sandberg late in the season. Despite his 22-RBI month of August, Jeremy West fell short of the top 5.

SB: Ramirez 26, Fulse 14, Murphy 13, Pedroia, Kenny Perez 7. Ramirez is an exciting base runner and used his speed to great advantage this season.

Walks: Sandberg 62, Moss 53, Murphy 46, West 41, Ramirez 39. Ramirez has a rep for being an “impatient” hitter, but his walk totals don’t really support that. He’s not
Barry Bonds up there, but he’s no Shea Hillenbrand either.

Strikeouts: Sandberg 131, Moss 129, Alberto Concepcion 86, Murphy 83, West 76. I saw Moss strike out four times in a game three times in a week. When he stopped worrying about the K’s late in the season he went on a tear and won the EL Player of the Week honor for the final week of the season.

Biggest Surprise: David Murphy came into the season with a sub-700 OPS and five home runs in about 150 professional games, but he came back with arguably the best season among all Sea Dogs players. However, his pedigree as a #1 pick precludes him from this honor. Chris Durbin came in with very little prospect pedigree and he posted similar numbers to Murphy, albeit in less playing time due to injuries. However, the award goes to Scott Youngbauer, who I had very little hope for based on his previous AA experience, but who got on base and provided power along with a smooth glove at second base.

Biggest Disappointement: As discussed above, Jared Sandberg raised hopes early but hit poorly for most of the season. Stefan Bailie suffered through injuries all year and hit only 147/197/302 before retiring, this after posting a 954 OPS in 37 games for the 2004 Sea Dogs. However, the award goes to Hanley Ramirez, whose 271/335/385 paled in comparison to the 310/360/512 line he recorded following his promotion last season.

Player of the Year: Brandon Moss and David Murphy ended up basically neck-and-neck in the race, but neither really distinguished himself. I'm going to go a bit outside the box and give the award to Dustin Pedroia, who played only 66 games but finished with 53 runs created - only 22 behind Moss, who played more than double the games for Portland. Pedroia is an exciting player who makes contact, draws walks and has surprising pop. His mid season promotion does not detract from the fact that he was, by far, the best hitter in the Portland lineup this season.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Dogs Ready for Playoffs

The Sea Dogs have coasted into the playoffs after clinching the division, finishing by losing their final three games to the Akron Aeros over the weekend. Portland started the season 10-0, then played .500 ball the rest of the way in finshing 76-66 and two games ahead of the Trenton Thunder. Now the Thunder come to tomorrow (Wednesday) night to start the best-of-five first round of the playoffs.

Portland will be led into the series by first-game pitcher Jon Lester, who was named Eastern -League Pitcher of the Year. Lester posted an 11-6 record and led the league with a 2.61 ERA and 163 strikeouts in 148.1 innings pitched. In addition, the hard-throwing lefty had a 1.06 WHIP, .215 opponents' batting average, 9.89 K/9 IP and 3.79:1 K/BB ratio. Lester's ERA was lowest in Portland history, surpassing the 2.61 ERA recorded by Michael Tejera in 1999, and his strikeout total was second best for a Sea Dog, following only Brent Billingsley, who struck out 183 in 1998. Lester is the second Sea Dog pitcher to lead the league in both ERA and strikeouts (Tony Saunders, 1996) and the second, after Tejera in 1999, to be named EL pitcher of the year.

The Sea Dogs will also be carrying the hot bat of Brandon Moss into the playoffs. Moss batted .500 for the week, with three doubles, one home run, four RBI and six runs scored. Moss had five multi-hit games during the week. Moss finished the season batting 268/337/441-16-61 in 135 gtames played. He led the team and was second in the league with 87 runs scored, and he was tied for second on the team and eighth in the EL with 31 doubles on the season.

Trenton's game one starter will be Jeffrey Karstens, who was 12-11 with a 4.15 ERA on the season. Karstens had a 1.38 WHIP and 147 strikeouts vs. 42 walks in 169 innings pitched. His numbers on the season were fairly average, but Karstens has dominated the Sea Dogs - 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA this year. Trenton's other top pitcher for the year was Matt DeSalvo, who was 9-5, 3.02 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 151/67 K/BB ratio in 149 innings pitched. Justin Pope is Trenton's closer. He recorded 29 saves with a 2.81 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 57 games (77 IP) on the season.

Trenton's offense will be led by center fielder Melkey Cabrera (275/322/411-10-60 in 106 games) and DH Michael Coleman (265/345/510-9-34 in just 42 games), who hit three home runs when Trenton came to Portland two weeks ago. The Thunder also feature pesky leadoff batter Gabe Lopez (291/388/395-5-42 in 82 games) and slugging first baseman Shelley Duncan, who hit 32 home runs and knocked in 92 runs despite a pedestrian .240 batting average. The Thunder also have top Yankee prospect Eric Duncan, who shows promise but had a bit of a disappointing season: 235/326/408-19-61 in 126 games. Both Duncans strike out a lot. They led the Thunder with 140 and 136, respectively, on the season.

In addition to Moss, the Sea Dogs offense is led by CF and Sea Dogs player of the year David Murphy (275/337/430-14-75), SS Hanley Ramirez (271/335/385-6-52, 26 SB), LF Chris Durbin (282/344/457-12-57), 1B Jeremy West (267/340/411-10-50), 3B Jared Sandberg (233/335/413-18-71) and 2B Scott Youngbauer, who arrived in July and sparked the offense down the stretch (311/360/5495-20 in 45 games).

Following Lester in the Sea Dogs rotation will likely be Anibal Sanchez, who made 11 starts at AA and finished 3-5, 3.45 for Portland. He struggled over his last few starts, but still finished with an impressive 1.20 WHIP, 9.89 K/9 and 3.93 K/BB ratios. David Pauley is Portland's #3 starter. He led the Sea Dogs with 156 innings pitched and compiled a 9-7 record, 3.81 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 104 K's vs. 34 walks. Jim Mann has been serving as the closer (12 saves, 1.80 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 34 K's/12 BB in 25 IP). Edgar Martinez (1.50 ERA in 18 IP) and Craig Hansen (0 runs allowed in 9.1 IP) have also been effective out of the bullpen, but I'm not sure what their availability will be.

I'll be attending game two of the series on Thursday night and will report back on Friday. Good seats are still available for the playoffs. It seems that people have become so accustomed to Sea Dogs games being sold out that they make the assumption that tickets for the playoff games are scarce. However, according to the ticket office this afternoon, plenty of seats are available for all games. Ticket prices are the same as for the regular season - box seats are just $8. If you are in Portland, I hope to see you there.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Dogs Clinch With Win

That which seemed inevitable when the Portland Sea Dogs started the season with ten straight wins was finally made official Thursday night. Portland's 7-6 victory over Altoona, combined with Trenton's 13-0 loss to Norwich, clinched the fourth division title in the history of the Sea Dogs, and their first since 1997. The Sea Dogs spotted the Curve a 5-1 lead early in the game, but the bullpen pitched five solid innings (one run allowed) and the offense continued to chip away to kick off the celebration. Portland finishes the season with four games against EL South division champion Akron. It could be a preliminary look at the championship matchup, but the series will likely serve as a chance for both teams to get rest for some regulars and set up their pitching staffs for the playoffs.

Playoff plans can now be officially made. The Sea Dogs will carry the home field advantage in the first round, with games 1 and 2 scheduled for Wadnesday and Thursday (September 7 and 8). The final game of the series, if necessary, will be on Sunday, September 11. All games will start at 6:00 p.m. Portland will maintain home field advantage should they advance on to the finals.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Playoff Bound!

They didn't get in with a win, which is what everybody seems to prefer to do, but the Portland Sea Dogs clinched their first playoff appearance in 8 years when New Britain lost to Akron last night. The Sea Dogs lost their contest with Altoona 5-3, but still edged closer to clinching the division when Trenton also lost last night. Portland's magic number to win the EL North and secure the home field advantage (?) now sits at two. If the Sea Dogs win and the Thunder lose today, Portland will win its first division title since 1997.

(The question mark above refers to the fact that the Sea Dogs have a losing record at home this season, at 33-34. They are 40-30 on the road. They might just be better off by finishing second!)

The Sea Dogs suffered another potential blow to their pitching staff, when starter Kason Gabbard was unable to come out for the second inning. According to manager Todd Claus, Gabbard had a knot in his arm and he was taken out for precautionary reasons. Gabbard now joins Anibal Sanchez, Craig Hansen and Edgar Martinez as guys who aren't hurt, but who also aren't pitching for "precautionary reasons". Better safe than sorry, but it would be nice to have some more arms available going into the playoffs.

Brandon Moss is hot again. He collected three hits last night and is 9-12 over his last three games.