Portland ME Apr 11
PORTLAND, Maine -- I may be the last living American to have seen live baseball this year, but it's good to be back in the park...back in Hadlock Field.
I'm not the only one to make his first showing on Park Ave. (Portland style).
The Portland Sea Dogs finally made their 2008 Hadlock Field debut, too.
Too bad for them that their bats didn’t come along with them.
The Sea Dogs, whose pitching has been carrying the team through a meager offensive start, didn’t get enough of either, Friday night, and fell quietly to the New Britain Rock Cats, 3-1, disappointing an Opening Night crowd of 5,358.
“A lot of guys feel,” said Dogs catcher Mark Wagner, “that we’ve been hitting the ball good. But right at people. Compound that with some being a little cold, and it doesn’t help.”
Portland mustered just six hits off a quartet of Rock Cat hurlers. But only two were bunched together, which resulted in their only run.
New Britain nicked Sea Dog starter Michael Bowden (0-1) for three runs (one earned) in 4 1/3 innings.
The first of those came in the opening frame, when Dustin Martin, the Eastern League’s leading hitter, worked Bowden to nine pitches before lashing a double into left field.
“In Spring Training, we saw Bowden a lot,” said Martin. “He’s got great stuff. He just kept feeding me fastballs, and I was spoiling some good pitches. I got a good ‘two-seam’ away, and just put a good swing on it.”
Bowden said “He’s been a tough out for me. His bat’s been pretty hot lately. I thought I threw quite a few good pitches to him. It was a war between me and him.”
Martin was promptly singled in by Luke Hughes.
Bowden gave up just two walks during his stay. But the first of those, to Trevor Plouffe with one away in the third, came back to haunt him, when Plouffe was plated by Martin’s sacrifice fly.
He struggled in the fifth, serving up a lead off homer to Steve Tolleson which made it 3-0. He departed three batters later, leaving men at the corners for reliever Chad Rhoades, who wriggled out of the jam.
“I work off my fastball,” said Bowden, “and I wasn’t commanding it well, by any means. If I don’t command that, my secondary stuff doesn’t really come into play. For what I had, I thought I minimized the damage.”
Wagner said he thought that Bowden did well despite not having his best stuff.
“He was making good pitches,” he said. “On a couple where he got a little too much of the plate, they made him pay for it. He battled, and gave us a chance to win.”
Meanwhile, Dogs hitters were having troubles of their own trying to solve New Britain starter Anthony Swarzak (1-0), the fifth ranked prospect in the Minnesota Twins system, according to Baseball America.
Swarzak allowed just three runners in his five frames of work, only one of whom reached second base.
Portland finally caught a break, when, with with two out in the eighth, Rock Cat left fielder Erik Lis misplayed Bubba Bell’s fly ball into a double.
Bell was immediately singled in by Jeff Natale, but on this dank night, that proved to be Portland’s lone offensive bright spot.
“Sometimes we hit the ball at people,” said Wagner, “and sometimes we didn’t hit it at all. It was the worst of both worlds.”
Too bad for them that their bats didn’t come along with them.
The Sea Dogs, whose pitching has been carrying the team through a meager offensive start, didn’t get enough of either, Friday night, and fell quietly to the New Britain Rock Cats, 3-1, disappointing an Opening Night crowd of 5,358.
“A lot of guys feel,” said Dogs catcher Mark Wagner, “that we’ve been hitting the ball good. But right at people. Compound that with some being a little cold, and it doesn’t help.”
Portland mustered just six hits off a quartet of Rock Cat hurlers. But only two were bunched together, which resulted in their only run.
New Britain nicked Sea Dog starter Michael Bowden (0-1) for three runs (one earned) in 4 1/3 innings.
The first of those came in the opening frame, when Dustin Martin, the Eastern League’s leading hitter, worked Bowden to nine pitches before lashing a double into left field.
“In Spring Training, we saw Bowden a lot,” said Martin. “He’s got great stuff. He just kept feeding me fastballs, and I was spoiling some good pitches. I got a good ‘two-seam’ away, and just put a good swing on it.”
Bowden said “He’s been a tough out for me. His bat’s been pretty hot lately. I thought I threw quite a few good pitches to him. It was a war between me and him.”
Martin was promptly singled in by Luke Hughes.
Bowden gave up just two walks during his stay. But the first of those, to Trevor Plouffe with one away in the third, came back to haunt him, when Plouffe was plated by Martin’s sacrifice fly.
He struggled in the fifth, serving up a lead off homer to Steve Tolleson which made it 3-0. He departed three batters later, leaving men at the corners for reliever Chad Rhoades, who wriggled out of the jam.
“I work off my fastball,” said Bowden, “and I wasn’t commanding it well, by any means. If I don’t command that, my secondary stuff doesn’t really come into play. For what I had, I thought I minimized the damage.”
Wagner said he thought that Bowden did well despite not having his best stuff.
“He was making good pitches,” he said. “On a couple where he got a little too much of the plate, they made him pay for it. He battled, and gave us a chance to win.”
Meanwhile, Dogs hitters were having troubles of their own trying to solve New Britain starter Anthony Swarzak (1-0), the fifth ranked prospect in the Minnesota Twins system, according to Baseball America.
Swarzak allowed just three runners in his five frames of work, only one of whom reached second base.
Portland finally caught a break, when, with with two out in the eighth, Rock Cat left fielder Erik Lis misplayed Bubba Bell’s fly ball into a double.
Bell was immediately singled in by Jeff Natale, but on this dank night, that proved to be Portland’s lone offensive bright spot.
“Sometimes we hit the ball at people,” said Wagner, “and sometimes we didn’t hit it at all. It was the worst of both worlds.”
CHIN MUSIC: It’s still early in the season, of course, and numbers are, by in large, completely out of whack (witness Martin‘s stratospheric .563 batting mark). But one item that jumps off the stat sheet is the miniscule earned run averages recorded by the Sea Dogs’ starters. As a group, the four man rotation of Justin Masterson, Bowden, Dustin Richardson, and Kris Johnson has allowed just six earned runs in 22 1/3 total innings. Leading the way is Masterson, who has yet to allow a run in his two starts.
“The numbers and the results kind of speak for themselves,” said Portland manager Arnie Beyeler. “They’ve been throwing strikes. That’s the biggest thing. They’ve been getting ahead in the count. Plus it’s been cold. When it’s cold, it’s tough to hit.”
“The numbers and the results kind of speak for themselves,” said Portland manager Arnie Beyeler. “They’ve been throwing strikes. That’s the biggest thing. They’ve been getting ahead in the count. Plus it’s been cold. When it’s cold, it’s tough to hit.”
Righthander Matt Goodson, fresh from extended Spring Training, may be joining that rotation in a matter of days. Goodson threw four simulated innings yesterday, which went off without a hitch…The Sea Dogs have scored just three runs in the last three games…
Dan Hickling
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