Category Archives: Portland

August 6, 2016 · 3:36 pm

#1 Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada has three errors in Portland loss to Akron

Five errors, including this one by Nate Frieman, doomed the Sea Dogs. (The ball is on the ground.)

Kevin McAvoy was let down by the Portland defense.

(Portland ME) The Sea Dogs’ Kevin McAvoy picked a bad night to be pitching.

Why? The Portland infield defense fell apart five different times worth five unearned runs and the home Dogs lost, 8-2, to the Akron RubberDucks on a sunny/windy Friday night.

The last-place Sea Dogs (42-69) have struggled to put up the W’s all season. Some losses have been over a combination of deficiencies. Not tonight.

The biggest culprit? #1 Boston prospect 2B Yoan Moncada. Three times the 21-year-old fumbled grounders.

Yoan Moncada emerges from the Portland dugout

My primary reason for getting to Hadlock Field was for a last look at Yoan before he was promoted to Pawtucket or even to the Red Sox. After tonight, I have a feeling he’ll be staying in Maine for a while.

Interesting that there is talk of Yoan learning a new position because 2B in Boston belongs to Dustin Pedroia for the next five years. One game is a small sample but there is fielding improvement needed before any transitions by Yoan are made.

Also with Yoan there continues to be hitting struggles from the right side. He is often linked to Andrew Benintendi but Andrew was hitting well and fielding well when he was called up. I am not certain at this point that Yoan has the handle necessary on either of those.

2B Yoan Moncada finishes a DP throw to first

BUT as Manager Carlos Febles suggested afterwards,
“Teams have games like this. We’ll put it behind us and prepare for the next game.” We are talking about the minors where scores and championships are minimized. The RubberDucks “lost” their top two prospects in the past two weeks via promotion. Tied for the top of the Eastern League West before the promotions, they are now six games back in the standings.

Also memorable in this game was that Yoan was injured during a caught-stealing at third base. It appeared to be quite serious because he hit the bag hard but there was a collective sigh of relief in the Red Sox organization as Yoan was able to walk off with only a sore left ankle to deal with.

Rob Kaminsky – pitched well for Akron

Akron’s top remaining prospect, Rob Kaminsky, was their pitcher in this game. He was a #1 pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014. The lefty limited Portland to three hits.

I was impressed with Akron first baseman Nellie Rodriguez. Only 22, he has a history of good numbers. Led the Midwest League in hits and homers in 2014. Led the Carolina League in homers and RBI in 2015. Nellie is currently 4^th in the Eastern League in homers and extra-base hits. What will slow his rise to the majors? 150 strikeouts.

Portland’s Aneury Tavarez must be getting the eye of higher up’s in the Boston front office. The Sea Dogs’ right fielder is near the top of the EL batting leaders at .323. He had three hits this evening against Akron.

Slugger loses his opponent

Disappointed in Slugger tonight. I always root for him at the start of each race. He is always the underdog because he runs against kids. For some reason on this night the big guy chose to impede the progress of the speedy girl he was up against. He squared himself to block her path near second base but the clever opponent darted through his legs. The move dazzled Slugger. In fact, for a second or two he had no idea where she had gone! That momentary confusion, plus the girl’s significant running skills, doomed Slugger. I just never thought he would even consider cheating to win but I saw it with my own eyes. Shame on him!

Thanks to Chris Cameron for arranging the visit. Not too many home games left and they are all in August. Good take.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Rainel Rosario, Mauricio Dubon, Yoan Moncada

Ryan Court

Yoan Moncada

Nellie Rodriguez breaks a bubble

Jordan Smith

Nellie Rodriguez and Nate Frieman

Force at home

Trouble riding a horse

Yoan Moncada

Nellie Rodriguez

Aneury Tavarez is hitting .323 for Portland.

Look at the strings hanging off Yoan’s glove

Play at the plate

Yoan Moncada

Portland catcher Jake Romanski

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Filed under Akron, Portland, Portland Sea Dogs

Tagged as Aneury Tavarez, Kevin McAvoy, Mauricio Dubon, Nellie Rodriguez, Rob Kaminsky, Yoan Moncada

July 23, 2016 · 2:46 pm

Dominic Smith (New York Mets) and Yoan Moncada (Boston Red Sox) in action at Portland

Top prospects Yoan Moncada (Boston Red Sox) and Dominic Smith (New York Mets) together at Hadlock Field

Mets #2 prospect Amed Rosario

(Portland ME) Irresistible collection of baseball prospects at Hadlock Field in Portland on Thursday night.

The local Portland Sea Dogs, however, lost 4-0 to the Binghamton Mets and continue to have the worst record (35-62) in the Eastern League.

I arrived at Hadlock 1 ½ hours early in time to see long lines of folks outside the park ahead of the 7PM start. Didn’t imagine that the fan passion was over the prospects I hoped to see……..and it wasn’t.

Turns out that the first 1000 fans were going to receive a free Travis Shaw bobblehead. The lure for a $3 item featuring the former Sea Dog drew that crowd and I’m guessing that there were more than the 1000 in the lines.

Anyhow, the lure for me was a look at the New York Mets’ top two prospects as well as yet another look at Red Sox prospects Yoan Moncada and Andrew Benintendi.

Red Sox #3 prospect Andrew Benintendi

There was clearly a sense of urgency. All four players could well be in triple A very soon, they’re that good. In fact, I checked the Eastern League transactions regularly while the Sea Dogs were on the road to see if any of them had been moved. I remembered how quickly Xander and Mookie came and went from Portland.

But none of the four had moved up and when I checked the starting lineups all four were there.

I had seen Andrew twice and Yoan once, so spotting them for pictures was easy. The tough part in shooting them was the setting sun which necessitated sunglasses for some players. Andrew is one of those.

The two Mets were a different problem. I had never seen them before in person. I did have numbers but in the Eastern League the numbers are only on the back. So I didn’t expect to get any early shots of #1 Amed Rosario or #22 Dominic Smith.

I was wrong about that because both players stopped and interacted with Portland players so that I was able to see the numbers on the back. The Portland players have names on the back as well but not Binghamton.

Dominic Smith

Since I had pictures of Yoan and Andrew from a previous visit I concentrated on being sure I had some of Dominic and Amed. I started the game on the edge of the Binghamton dugout because those two players would come towards me at the end of innings. I was also aware that switch-hitting Yoan would be facing my way while batting.

I had to adjust my settings on the Binghamton side because the sun was blocked by the height of the stadium as it set. Not so on the Portland side.

I would have loved to have had another camera available with a small lens because I was very close to the Binghamton players. That Nikon I made an offer for during a recent yard sale might have been the ticket.

Yoan Moncada batting

Despite all the hype (in my head), the four promising ones were all hitless for the night. Yoan reached on a walk and I hoped that the minor league’s leading base stealer might run but he didn’t.

Dominic Smith was a Mets first-rounder in 2013. Not tall (6’) but big (250 pounds). The twenty-one year old Binghamton first baseman was the MVP in the Florida State League last season. Going into last night’s game he had 12 homers, 67 RBI, and a .294 batting average.

Amed Rosario

Amed Rosario is only twenty. The Dominican was signed by the Mets as a 16-year-old. The 6-2 shortstop has played a good part of this season with St. Lucie in the Florida State League. With Binghamton so far, after 23 games, he has 33 hits, 14 RBI, and a .379 batting average.

The two Mets players should reach AAA Las Vegas in August. Yoan and Andrew should see Pawtucket shortly. Andrew may make it to Fenway. I will be very pleasantly surprised if I return to Hadlock and Yoan and Andrew are still on the Portland roster.

Speedster speeds past tightly-dressed Slugger near second

It was disco night at Hadlock and that may well have been why Slugger continued his losing streak. His pants were seriously tight and I think he was afraid that he might rip them out so he didn’t take any chances. On this night he faced a little kid with plenty of jets. This kid was so fast that he was able to stop at second and allow Slugger back into the race and then blow the big guy away. I am not sure that looser pants would have made a difference now that I think of it.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Yoan Moncada

Dominic Smith

Amed Rosario

Yoan Moncada

Andrew Benintendi

Yoan Moncada

Amed Rosario

Amed Rosario and Mauricio Dubon

Yoan Moncada

Dominic Smith

Yoan Moncada

Mauricio Dubon (#11 Red Sox prospect) triples

Andrew Benintendi

20-year-old Amed Rosario

Yoan Moncada

Kid torches Slugger

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Filed under Portland, Portland Sea Dogs

Tagged as Amed Rosario, Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox, Dominic Smith, New York Mets, Yoan Moncada

September 6, 2015 · 9:58 pm

Top Prospects Manuel Margot (Red Sox) and David Dahl (Rockies) at Hadlock Field today

Manuel Margot hit for the cycle versus New Britain driving in five runs

David Dahl heads for the New Britain dugout

(Portland ME) Four years ago I was chasing the 18-year-old phenom of the Washington Nationals. Today it was David Dahl of the Colorado Rockies.

I did get pictures of both of them despite the fact that both of them were out of uniform on the day that I saw them at Hadlock Field in Portland.

It helped that I had looked at several pictures of the player. Interesting, both players wandered from the clubhouse to the dugout at the last minute.

Today I was blessed to have a photographer near me in the New Britain dugout who has been covering the Rock Cats for twelve years. He told me earlier that he had been at Hadlock when the team bus arrived and didn’t see David Dahl get off. However, later when a player strolled into the Rock Cats dugout just before game time I asked him if it was David Dahl and he confirmed that it was.

Today was Field of Dreams day at Hadlock. The cornfields were set up in center field and the Portland players did come out from the fields as narrator Mike Antonellis told the story.

The idea of having the cornfields as part of an event at Hadlock began in the ‘90’s when efforts were being made by Eastern League teams to celebrate the league’s 75^th anniversary. One of the Portland owners suggested the cornfield idea and it has become an annual event ever since.

Portland players were in the stands today wearing their 2926 Portland Eskimos uniform

Portland players were in the stands today wearing their 1926 Portland Eskimos uniform

Thirteenth sellout of the season for Portland. The team will finish last in the Eastern League eastern division. Fans show up anyhow. Why? Prices are low. Plenty of entertainment during the game. Good view of the action.

I go there to try and get an early glimpse of future stars. Once I got Bryce in 2011 I have done homework to try and photograph others with big futures.

David Dahl is listed as Prospect #3 in the Colorado system. David is 21 and was selected in the first round in 2012.

The Number 3 prospect in the Red Sox farm system put on a huge show today. I’m talking about Manuel Margot. The 20-year-old hit for the cycle in today’s game and drove in five runs.

Very unlikely Manuel Margot will be in the Portland dugout next season

Manuel has all the skills needed to be a star. His home run today was to the opposite field.

Manuel will start next season in Pawtucket but then what? You look at the Red Sox outfield (Mookie, Rusney, and Jackie) and wonder which one Manuel could replace. Trade bait??

The New Britain franchise will be moving to Hartford (CT) next year to a new stadium. An independent league team will be playing in New Britain’s park.

The Sea Dogs win today ended New Britain’s eight-game winning streak.

It was a beautiful day with plenty of September sun.

Many thanks to Chris Cameron for arranging my visit today.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Red Sox #3 prospect Manuel Margot

David Dahl in the Rock Cats dugout

Manager Darin Everson

Fan gets ready to catch Manuel Margot home run. Ball is above top railing.

Will Swanner home run trots past pitcher Mike McCarthy

Will Swanner

Sam Travis gets a day off

Pat Valaika

Noel Cuevas

Joey Wong fires to first

Jordan Patterson bunt attempt

Jordan Patterson

David Chester stretches to take a high throw

Harrison Musgrave eyes the home plate umpire

Carlos Asuaje

Mike McCarthy

Carlos Estevez

Dave Burba

John Cornely

Jordan Weems

Sea Dogs announcer Mike Antonellis narrated the Field of Dreams event

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Filed under New Britain Rock Cats, Portland, Portland Sea Dogs

Tagged as Carlos Asuaje, Carlos Estevez, David Dahl, Harrison Musgrave, Jordan Patterson, Manuel Margot, New Britain Rock Cats, Noel Cuevas, Pat Valaika, Portland Sea Dogs, Sam Travis, Will Swanner

October 29, 2014 · 11:02 pm

Halloween comes early but Windham survives 3-2 over Portland

Ciera Berthiaume unleashes the game winner versus Portland in the Class A West quarterfinals

Portland GK Taylor Crosby had 24 saves in a very busy night.

(Windham ME) It wasn’t Halloween but the scare was real for the Windham girls’ soccer team.

Serious underdog Portland had the #1 seed Eagles down, 2-0, eight minutes into the second half but the home team rallied its way to a 3-2 win in wet conditions on Wednesday night.

Windham (14-0-1) will host a semifinals game on Saturday.

Portland (9-7) was the #9 seed and needed to defeat #8 Deering on the 24th to even get into the tournament. It was hard to think that the Bulldogs would have much of a chance against high-scoring Windham. The Eagles already had a 2-0 win over Portland this season and the last time the Bulldogs had even scored a goal against Windham was back in 2009!

Portland celebrates a 2-0 lead in the second half

But on this night, Portland put up the first two goals (Madison Bolduc and Ella Altidor). Both WHS coach Deb Lebel and Holy Cross commit Cassie Symonds admitted afterwards that the thought that the season might end early went through their heads.

“I knew we had kids who would dig deep but it was worrisome to trail by two goals,” said Coach Lebel.

Maggie Symonds collides with Portland GK

There was, however, one thing that was consistent during this game and it wasn’t the drizzle/stop, drizzle/stop weather. It was the persistent attack of the defending Class A state champs. Portland GK Taylor Crosby ended up with 24 saves and there were plenty of other Eagles’ shots that went high and wide.

“Their keeper (Taylor Crosby) deserves all the credit in the world,” said WHS Coach Lebel afterwards. “She had an amazing game.”

Portland had few scoring opportunities but they were glittering chances as the visitors poured into the Windham end with player advantages. Senior Madison Bolduc put Portland on the board at 15:40 of the first half.

Freshman Ella Altidor added to the Portland lead eight minutes into the second half. Ella made a terrific hustle play in front of the Portland bench to keep the momentum going toward the Windham goal. Ella later ended up in front of the Eagles’ goal and put home a juicy rebound. The vision of the biggest upset in Maine’s 2014 girls’ soccer season started dancing through my head.

Melissa Morton (9) goes high to head

But the never-ending pressure of the Windham attack finally caught up to Portland in the second half. It seemed as if every Bulldog goal kick was immediately controlled by midfielder Cassie Symonds and her teammates and another Eagles’ attack initiated.

At 23:27, junior Ciera Berthiaume finished off a long run, with Merritt Ryan defending, beating Taylor Crosby on a low shot.

That goal just added to the Windham persistence. Freshman Maggie Symonds had a great setup from her sister Cassie in close and missed high. Jenna Soucy shot from long range and Taylor Crosby deflected the shot off the crossbar and over the net.

Jenna Soucy watches her shot sail into the net

At 7:13 Jenna launched a long shot into the upper left corner and the teams were even, 2-2. It was Jenna’s 30th goal of the season.

Two minutes later GK Taylor Crosby made her best save of the night robbing Ciera Berthiaume from in close and preserving, for the moment, the 2-2 tie.

Forty seconds later (4:33) Ciera broke away from a tiring Portland defense in the middle and took the equivalent of a running penalty kick to notch the game winner. Taylor never had a chance on Ciera’s second goal of the game and 17th of the season.

(I can edit this blog so if there is a mistake let me know.)

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Chesa Hoekstra

Madison Bolduc scored the first Portland goal

Rachel Glover

Cassie Symonds (13) eyes a corner kick

Hayleigh Blanchard

Ciera Berthiaume gets Windham on the board

Ella Altidor put Portland in front by two goals

Portland GK Taylor Crosby

Ciera Berthiaume congratulated after goal that put Windham in front 3-2

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Filed under Portland, Windham

Tagged as Cassie Symonds, Ciera Berthiaume, Ella Altidor, Jenna Soucy, Madison Bolduc, Taylor Crosby

November 23, 2012 · 11:09 pm

Immaculate defeats Portland 5-0 to win Class S girls soccer title fifth straight time

2012 Class S champions – Immaculate High School

Immaculate captains Lindsay Jossick (3 goals) and Sierra Stein (1 goal) head out for championship award.

(Waterbury) That’s five straight Class S girls soccer titles for the Immaculate Mustangs.

The ten-time champs from Danbury overwhelmed Portland, 5-0, on Friday afternoon at Waterbury Stadium.

The Mustangs (17-1-2) had great chance after great chance in the first half but their only score was a Natalia Diaz penalty kick with 3:49 left.

During the second half those great chances, that missed in the first half, turned into four Immaculate goals in the first 12 ½ minutes.

Up 5-0, Mustang coach Nelson Mingachos began pulling starters with twenty-five minutes left. Good move on his part because the Highlanders could not defend the straight ahead attack of Immaculate. Things could have become more embarrassing then they had already become for Portland.

Lindsay Jossick takes PK

Senior Lindsay Jossick had a second-half hat trick and was named tourney MVP. Coach Mingachos probably sealed the award for her when he let her take the penalty kick that gave her the hat trick.

The number of clean-look opportunities the Mustangs had in the first half was mind-boggling. And we’re not talking long shots either. Sierra Stein, Lindsay Jossick, Hailey Davis, Caitlyn Linden, Madeline Horosky, and Natalia Diaz all were in position at one time or another to notch Immaculate’s first tally. But credit the Mustangs they never seemed too bothered when they didn’t score……they just kept coming back into the Highlanders end for more.

Portland goalie Marisa DiMare was huge in the first half positioning herself perfectly for several of the point-blank attempts. A couple of the other threatening shots were either wide or high.

Natalia Diaz prepares to take a first-half penalty kick that produced the first Mustang goal.

However, when Emilie Hernandez got called for a handball at 3:49 the string of missed opportunities came to an end. Natalia Diaz took the shot and hit the net to Marisa’s right to give Immaculate a 1-0 advantage.

Portland (16-3-1) probably had their best scoring chance of the game before the half ended. Nicole Caruso got in close on Mustang goalkeeper Ashley Houghton’s right but her shot went just wide.

In the second half, Immaculate capitalized early and often.

The dangerous Natalia Diaz reached the end line and gave teammate Lindsay Jossick a glorious setup in the middle. Lindsay put a foot on the aerial pass and Immaculate was up 2-0 with less than two minutes gone by.

Senior Sierra Stein set up the third goal. She took one direct kick from close to the right sidelines which reached PHS goalie Marisa DiMare on the fly.

Sierra Stein direct kick gets by Jackie Otake (18) and Hailey Davis (99).

Sierra’s next direct kick, from almost the same spot, curled across in front. Hailey Davis took a wild kick at the ball and missed so the ball kept going and Lindsay Jossick was all alone at the far post for an easy tap in. That gave the Mustangs a 3-0 lead.

The 4th Immaculate score was nicely arranged by freshman Caitlyn Linden. Caitlyn dribbled in from the wing past two Portland defenders and passed into the middle to Sierra Stein. Sierra drilled a rocket to the left corner that GK Marisa DiMare never had a chance on at 28:36.

The last Mustang goal came at 27:25. Lindsay Jossick broke into the box and Emilie Hernandez kept her from scoring but drew a penalty. Lindsay Jossick took the PK and her shot to her left broke through Marisa’s hands into the net.

Marisa DiMare makes a save in traffic for Portland

Shortly after that fifth score the serious substituting started off the Immaculate bench. Didn’t see many changes on the Portland side. Natalia and Lindsay were back in the last five minutes and I assumed that they might combine for a sixth goal. Credit the Highlanders defense for preventing it.

This may not be the last trip for either of these teams to a big Class S soccer game. I could find only two seniors on each team.

I was impressed with the all-around play of Portland’s McKenzie Riemondo and Amanda Ghent.

The big excitement at the game was actually outside the park. About fifteen minutes into play there was a tremendous bang up on the nearby roadway. I never saw the vehicles involved but police cars and an ambulance were soon on the scene. Kind of puts real life into perspective when you’re enjoying a soccer game and something like that happens.

I didn’t see a lot of tears from the Portland side with the loss. It helps when there aren’t many seniors I suspect. I did hear the girls laughingly chanting on the way to the bus, “We’re #2, we’re #2.”

The only game Immaculate lost was 1-0 to Weston on September 12th.

Waterbury Stadium was built in 1930 as a dog track. The original bleachers were off in the distance. Eastern League baseball (AA) teams played there until 1986.

I don’t know if Neil Cavuto (Fox Business News) was in the house but he is an Immaculate graduate.

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)