The wind blowin' to right

August 24, 2011
Well it back in Portland. The Sea Dogs took on the Harrisburg Senators. Harrisburg is the Eastern League affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Going into this game the hype was Nationals top prospect and top prospect overall in baseball Bryce Harper was suppose to play. Harper who was the number one pick in the 2011 draft advanced to "AA" after he tore through "A" ball. Unfortanitly it was not ment to be. He hurt is hamstring a week earlier and of corse the Nationals shut him down for the remainder of the season. But the game goes on. It was a beautiful sunny but breezy day at Hadlock. Pitching for the Sea Dogs Jeremy Kehrt. Kehrt going into the game was 2-0, 4.52 era, 19 apperances with just 3 starts. Pitching for the Senators was southpaw Oliver Perez. Perez has a full major league career with the Pirates and Mets. He ended up getting realised by the Mets was picked up by Washington and they sent him to "AA" to pitch his way back to the bigs. After a scoreless 1st Tyler Moore of the Senators hit a homer give the Senators a 1-0 lead. With the wind blowing a gale to right field Tim Puhuta clobberd a 2 run homer that almost cleared the US Cellular Pavillion sign in right field. Probley one of the longest homers I've ever seen hit at Hadlock Field. That shot made the score 3-0. Sea Dogs catcher Jeff Howell hit a homer of his own in the 4th to cut the lead 3-1. Kehrt after 5 2/3 innings was lifted for right Chris Martin. So really Kehrt pitched pretty good. His only mistake was the homer to Puhuta. In the top of the 7th with one out Chris Rahl of Harrisburg hit a solo homer to make it 4-1. But the Senators would pull away in the top of the 8th. 10 batters hit, 5 scored. The score now stood at 9-1. Not looking good for the Sea Dogs. However they would score 2 in the bottom half on a 2 run homer by Ryan Dent. That would be how the game stood the final score Senators 9, Sea Dogs 3. Player of the game for Portland was catcher Jeff Howell, he went 4-5. Including 2 doubles and a homer. Oliver Perez pitched only 4 2/3 innings giving up 5 hits on 1 run.
Next up: Possibly Sept 2 in Portland...(hopefully)

Game two

August 20, 2011
Well on to game two of the doubleheader. Now the second game was suppose to start at 4:30pm. But with the 1st game going to extra innings and lasting 3 hours and 42 minutes long this game did not start until about 5:30 pm. Several players in game two saw time with Portland in 2010 and this season. Players included Daniel Nava, Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, Che-Hsuan Lin, Jose Iglesias, Jason Rice, Tommy Hottovy and just brought up for his 2nd "AAA" game Will Middlebrooks. Starting for the Paw Sox was former Sea Dog Kyle Weiland. Pawtucket took and early lead in the 1st when Daniel Nava hit a solo homer into the Red Sox bullpen. But that would be the only run the Paw Sox would score that day. Weiland pitched 5 innings giving up 6 hits on 3 runs. Syracuse would go on to win the game 3-1. I however did not stay for the whole game. I was hoping to stay for about 5 innings in this one. I left after the 2nd inning. With a combination of a long 1st game and a 5 1/2 hour drive back. It was time to go home. So that would be the last trip I make to Fenway in 2011. But who knows..... World Series tickets. We'll see.
Next up: Back in Portland Aug 24th.

Futures at Fenway......mabey

August 20, 2011
Well it was off to Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox. Well at least not for today. The site was for the minor league "Futures at Fenway" doubleheader. The first game was the Binghamton Mets vs the Portland Sea Dogs. Game number 2 was the Syracuse Sky Chiefs vs the Pawtucket Red Sox. Pitching for the Sea Dogs was righty Charlie Haeger. Haeger formally of the Chicago White Sox just was picked up by the Red Sox. Like Tim Wakefield Haeger throws the knuckleball. He pitched well into the 7th inning he gave up 2 runs. With 2 outs in the 7th he was lifted for righty Josh Fields. Fields another new pick up for Boston came over in the Eric Bedard trade from Seattle. A tall pitcher (about 6-3 or so) pitched 2 1/3 innings is relief consistantly in the mid 90's. With the Sea Dogs trailing 2-0 in the 8th, Milton, Mass native Alex Hassan hit a 2 run homer into the centerfield camera well to tie the game. That was Hassan's 11th homer of the season. In the 10th the Sea Dogs brought in reliever Chris Martin. After pitching a scoreless 10th. Binghamton Mets third baseman singled. After two more singled which drove in a run. (3-2 Mets) Mets catcher hit a 3 run homer over the Monster Seats in left for a home run. Mets with the lead 6-2. The Sea Dogs did not go quietly in the bottom of the 11th. Pinch Hitter Ryan Dent singled, Jeremey Hazelbaker doubled. After Oscar Tejeda grounded out, Third baseman John Hee singled to drive in two but was thrown out 9-2-6. (Thrown out trying to advance to second on the hit) With two out Mitch Dening struck out to end the game. Mets 6 - Sea Dogs 4.
Next up.....game two