Former Sox Prospect Sinks Dogs

A ninth inning homer by Steve Lomasney sunk the Sea Dogs, 6-5 on Saturday afternoon. Lomasney was once a top catching prospect in the Boston organization, appearing in one game with the big club in 1999, but has been bouncing around the minors while dealing with injury problems for the past couple of years. Healthy again, he's in the Twins organization, trying to revive his prospect status with the New Britain Rock Cats. In the top of the 9th on Saturday, he caught up with a fastball delivered by El Guapo, Jr. and bounced it off the Hannaford sign over the left field wall for a two run shot, resulting in Martinez' second blown save of the season.

With tempertures in the 80's, this felt like a mid-summer game. However, the teams were hardly in mid summer form, as the game was rather sloppily played. The teams combined to commit three errors, we saw a failed sacrifice bunt (courtesy of the Sea Dogs) and a runner picked off second base (ditto). Neither starting pitcher lasted through the fifth inning. Portland starter Jose Vaquedano allowed four runs, only one earned, in 4.2 innings, and pitched OK though he was hardly overpowering. Adam Harben, considered one of Minnesota's top prospects, did not impress at all. Harben throws in the low 90's, but had zero command. He was knocked out with two outs in the fourth having allowed three runs on four hits, three walks and two hit batsmen. He failed to record a single strikeout on the afternoon.

The Sea Dogs scored a couple of runs off John Thomas in the 6th, then both bullpens settled down. El Guapo, Jr. was called upon for a two-inning save. He cruised through the 8th, then got into trouble by giving up a leadoff double to Doug Deeds to start the ninth. A sacrifice put the tying run on third, but Lomasney did better than tie the game with his blast. Levale Speigner, who was a starter last season, came on to shut the door on the Dogs in the 9th.

Scorer's Notes:

• Brandon Moss may be showing signs of coming out of his season-long slump. He only recorded one hit in five plate appearances but, importantly, did not strike out. It looks like he's making an effort to hit the ball to the opposite field, which results in far less flailing at outside pitches. If it's good enough for Manny, I guess it's good enough for Moss.
• The Red Sox appear to be making a conscious decision to not have a designated "closer" on their minor league teams. Martinez leads the Sea Dogs with 6 saves, but he was splitting the role with Barry Hertzler prior to Hertzler's promotion. Seven different pitchers have already recorded saves for the Sea Dogs. Meanwhile, the "closer of the future" for the Red Sox is starting games and working multiple innings for Pawtucket. In fact, the Sea Dogs have had several multiple-inning saves. It seems that the organization is finding it more important to develop it's players than to have guys pigeonholed into roles that they may not be filling at the next level. It's good approach.
• In addition to some of the failings noted above, the Sea Dogs twice had hit-and-run singles that only advanced the runner one base, and they left 10 runners on base. Ugh!

El Guapo deals