Ex-Dogs Shine

The major league season is just a few days old, and already some former Sea Dogs standouts have had some standout performances.

Jonathan Papelbon, who we followed closely in this space last season, collected his first major league save Wednesday night, blowing away the Rangers on 11 pitches and recording two K's in the process. We here at the Sea Blog think that it's too early to assume that Papelbon is now The Closer for the Red Sox (for one thing, there's another guy being groomed for that role), but (as I noted yesterday), he is well suited for late-inning relief.

Papelbon nailed down the win for another Portland alum, Josh Beckett. Of course, the Sea Dogs were affiliated with the Florida Marlins when Beckett came through town for a couple of months in 2001. Beckett's stats for Portland were insanely good - 13 starts, 8-1, 1.82 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and a 102:19 K:BB ratio in 74 innings pitched. And, though he's starting his fifth full major league season, Beckett is only six months older than the rookie Papelbon! After scuffling a bit in the first inning (though not allowing a lot of hard-hit balls), Beckett settled down then really found a groove over his last three innings. He allowed just one run while striking out five in seven innings pitched in his Red Sox debut.

Finally, though he's no longer with the organization, Hanley Ramirez remains near and dear to our hearts. After struggling a bit on opening day, Hanley was 4-5 with a double and three RBI in Florida's 11-2 win on Tuesday. After hitting a triple last night, he now has a three-game hitting streak and is hitting .462 to start the season. I think Hanley's going to surprise a few people who wrote him off after last season. I've seen him rise to a challenge more than once, and he may do it again this year in Florida.