Dogs are Struggling

While the Sea Blog has been away, the Dogs have failed to play . . . . good baseball. The Sea Dogs have lost six of their last seven outings. Following a rain out in Portland, the Dogs dropped the series finale vs. Trenton. They then dropped two to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats before a couple more rainouts. That was followed by a sweep by the Thunder in Trenton. The Sea Dogs then returned to Portland and ended the streak with a 5-2 victory over the Fisher Cats behind another strong outing by Chris Smith on Friday night. Portland was back in the loss column in falling 4-1 this afternooon.

While the pitchers have had a few poor outings, it's the offense that continues to fail the Sea Dogs. Portland has scored just 10 runs in the six losses, with two shutouts in the streak. There are no current members of the team with an OPS above .800, save for Tyler Minges who is hitting 286/375/476-0-3 in eight games since being sent back from Pawtucket. Luis Antonio "Little Papi" Jiminez has been the best overall batter for Portland (264/355/438-5-17), while David Murphy is putting up "OK" numbers (272/318/422-3-19), though he's not walking a ton. Chad Spann (250/357/352) is the only other Portland batter with an OPS over .700. Brandon Moss leads the team with 20 RBI, but his 197/244/333 line and team-leading 33 strikeouts are extremely disappointing for a top prospect in his second year at AAA. Jeremy West and Alberto Concepcion are two other guys who returned and have failed to progress thus far this season.

The fact that the Sea Dogs are 20-18 and in second place in the EL North is directly attributable to the pitching staff. Smith (3-3, 2.01, 0.93), David Pauley (2-2, 2.14, 1.25 WHIP), and Kason Gabbard (4-2, 3.44, 1.20) have all been solid. Phil Siebel has been a tough luck 0-2 with a 1.8o ERA and 0.95 WHIP in four starts since his recall from Greenville. The bullpen has done a respectable job, anchored by Barry Hertzler (1.19 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 4 saves) and Edgar "Guapo Jr." Martinez (1.33 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, 4 saves, 22/3 K/BB ratio in 20.1 IP). Guapo has come from almost nowhere to become a top prospect for Boston. He's now ranked #8 by the folks at SoxProspects.com.

I'll be attending the Sunday game vs. the Fisher Cats, my first in a few weeks. New Hampshire has been a tough rival for the Sea Dogs (and, as a Blue Jays affiliate, a rival through the major league clubs, too) over the last couple of years, but are only 15-24 and last in the North thus far on the season. The Fisher Cats have a few guys who appear on John Sickels' top 20 list - C Curtis Thigpen, OF Adam Lind, 1B Chip Cannon and LHP Davis Romero. All have produced well for NH. Cannon (264/345/481-6-16) and Lind (255/297/416-6-15) lead the team in homers, though Lind doesn't walk much and is making far too many outs. Thigpen's play has been more limited, but his 254/389/475-1-6 line in 18 games shows both good power and good plate discipline. Romero has pitched well (4-3, 2.44, 1.06, 44/12 K/BB in 48 IP) in 8 starts, though he took the loss on Friday night.

Hopefully the Dogs will finish the series with another Sunday special. I expect the hitting to hit it's stride soon. There are a lot of players repeating AA this year, and that's usually a recipe for success. If the struggles continue, it would have to be considered a disaster for the Red Sox farm system.