Sox slip by Yanks

May 13 2011,
Well here we are Yankee Stadium. Red Sox began a 3 game series to start on a Friday night. With the Sox wearing there Friday night blue jerseys on the mound was right hander Clay Buchholz. Buchholz who has had a up and down year was in need of a real good outing. Starting for the Yankees was right hander and former Red Sox Bartolo Colon. Colon who was picked up by the Yankees in the off season has been impressive start by winning 3 games so far with an era under 4.00 so far. So on to the game. It was a pitching duel early on, the Sox would not get their first hit until the 3rd inning when Jacoby Ellsbury lined a single. He was stranded when Dustin Pedroia hit into a fielder's choice. Meanwhile Buchholz was dealing for the Sox. He did not give up a hit until the 4th inning with 1 out. Alex Rodriguez singled. In the bottom of the 4th the Sox took the lead when Adrian Gonzalez hit home run to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Next batter Kevin Youkilis on a strike 3 pass ball he reaches base. After 2 more walks to load the bases Carl Crawford walked to bring home Youkilis. 2-0 Sox. In the top of the 5th after a single by Jorge Posada singled Russell Martin hit a 2 run homer to left. Score tied 2-2 after 5 innings. After 6 innings Bartolo Colon was done for the night and in the 7th Yankees brought in reliever Joba Chamberlain. After a sac fly by Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis hit a two run homer to right to give the Sox a 5-2 lead. In the 8th inning Sox brought in Daniel Bard. (Line on Buchholz 7 ip 5 h 2 r 2 er 1 bb 7 k) Curtis Granderson tripled, walk to Rodriguez, the Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch. With bases loaded Bard un corked a wild pitch to bring in Granderson to make the score 5-3. So to the 9th. With Jonathan Papelbon in leadoff hitter Russell Martin strikes out, Brent Gardner flied to left. One out to go.... Derek Jeter lined a base it, then reached second on the defensive indifference. Next up Curtis Granderson got a base it to drive in Jeter. 5-4 Sox. So with the tying run on Mark Texieria popped up to end the game! A happy ending to a close game.
Next up: Back in Portland May 18th vs Reading.

Sloppy fielding and hitting

May 12 2011,
So this game was a first for me. For the first time ever I saw the Portland Sea Dogs play a game as a visiting team. Every game but one I've seen has been in Hadlock Field. (Fenway Park in 2007 the only exception.. up until now) The Sea Dogs opponent this game was the New Britain Rock Cats. First the ball park. Nice little ball yard. Definetly smaller than Hadlock but nice. I guess it was you typical double A ballpark. So on to the game. The pitching matchup for this game was Brock Huntzinger for the Sea Dogs (2-3 6.30) and lefty Daniel Osterbrock (1 start for NB so far). Sea Dogs got off a good start. In the top of the 1st Che-Hsuan Lin lead off with a walk, Alex Hassan then doubleed. After an error by the NB shortstop (scoring a run for Portland 1-0) and the fly out Will Middlebrooks hit a 3 run homer for Portland to make the score 4-0. In the bottom of the 1st Mike Hollimon walked stoled 2nd and took 3rd when the throw from Portland catcher TIm Federowicz threw it into center field. Two batters later Chris Parmelee walked and then Evan Bigley doubled in two runs. After Dogs first baseman dropped and routine play the Sea Dogs were out of the inning allowing two runs. After one inning Sea Dogs led 4-2. Sea Dogs came back in the 2nd to score two runs after a single to Jonathan Hee and a HBP to Mitch Dening. Alex drove in the two runs with a single. Ryan Lavarnway then hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. In the bottom half however New Britain scored 3 more runs on singles. That made the score 6-5. Portland got another run in the 3rd with Jonathan Hee doubled in Oscar Tejeda who doubled. (6-5 Sea Dogs) In the bottom of the 3rd with a runner on 3rd with 1 out Chris Cates (who is incredibly only 5'3" tall!) hit a sac fly to right to score aother run for New Britain. (7-6 Sea Dogs at this point) Rock Cats came back in the bottom of the 4th and scored 2 more on a bases loaded walk and sac fly. (New Britain leading 8-7 after 4 innings) Next inning after a single then another error by Portland (second basemen Oscar Tejeada). Joe Benson singled in a run then Chris Parmelee hit a sac fly to give New Britain 10-7 lead. So sloppy game defensivly for Portland with 4 errors. Portland scored 2 more runs in the 8th but in the 9th with the tying run on base Che-Hsuan Lin hit into a game ending double play. So in recap the Sea Dogs commited 4 errors and hit into 6 double plays. Final score New Britain 10, Portland 9.
Next up- Sox at NY Yankees May 13!

Dogs out-slug the Cats

May 7 2011,
It was a partly sunny day at Hadlock Field on this Saturday afternoon. Temps in the low 60's much warmer than the last game I went to in POrtland. (low 40's to upper 30's) So on to the game. The Sea Dogs opponent today was the New Britain Rock Cats. AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Pitching for the Sea Dogs was right hander Brock Huntzinger. Coming into the game Huntzinger was 2-3 with a 6.30 era. Not a great start to the season but lets see if he was able to lower that era. In the top of the 1st Rock Cats centerfielder Joe Benson hit a solo homer to center field to give the Rock Cats a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st Ryan Lavarnway hit a 3 run homer over the Maine Monster. After a walk to Jorge Pedron Chih-Hsien Chiang lined a 2 run homer into the seats in rightfield. That homer gave Portland a 5-2 lead after the 1st inning! After New Britain got a run in the top of the 2nd inning Portland 3B Johnathan Hee launched a home run. After that home run the Sea Dogs held a 9-2 lead. Portland got one more that inning. After a inning and a half Portland lead 10-2. After another Portland homer by Chih-Hsien Chiang ,Rock Cats struck 2 homers from Chris Herrmann and Evan Bigley. Meanwile Portland starting pitcher Brock Huntzinger was not impressive as he pitched 4 2/3 ip 7h 6r 2bb 1 k. Portland reliever Santos Luis pitched 3 1/3ip giving up one run to earn the victory. Meanwhile Rock Cats starter was even worse (Deolis Guerra) he pitched 1 2/3ip 8 h 10 runs 3 bb 0k. Safe to say he got the loss. So in the end the Sea Dogs got a nice 15-7 victory.
Next up: Sea Dogs vs Rock Cats again.....but in New Britain!