Tag Archives: Boston Red Sox

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

June 6, 2009 · 7:15 pm

Boston Red Sox Players Sign at Wilmington

I went to a sportscard show at the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington on Saturday afternoon.

The big draw was that Boston Red Sox players would be there signing. The last thing I would do is get an athlete to sign something – too pricey.

What I usually do is bring my small Canon digital camera and maneuver in for a picture. Here are the Red Sox players I picked up on Saturday:

Mike Lowell

Jason Bay

Kevin Youkilis

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Tagged as Boston Red Sox, Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell

June 4, 2009 · 3:26 pm

My Visit to the Portland Sea Dogs

Boston Red Sox #1 prospect Lars Anderson

I have been coming to Maine (from Massachusetts) in the summer for many years. I knew about the Portland Sea Dogs but never got to see a game until June 4th. They are the Red Sox’s AA team.

I was there to do an interview with Todd Jamison for The Town Common. Todd fills numerous management roles with the Sea Dogs and his hometown is Newburyport.

The Sea Dogs media director, Chris Cameron, was extremely helpful. He found for me the connection that Todd had with The Town Common readership and set up the interview. He also gave me a press pass that enabled me to be out on Hadlock Field before the noon game with the Binghamton Mets and get some pictures.

I suspect that I could have talked with players before and/or after the game but I wasn’t really prepared to do that. Maybe another time.

In interviewing Todd I got tuned in to some of the prospects on the Portland roster and when I had my time on the field – I walked around the exterior of the park a couple of times – I took some pictures.

One player who had recently moved up to the Sea Dogs from Salem (A) was Ryan Kalish. He’s a 21-year-old outfielder who is listed as the #8 Red Sox prospect. Before the game it was announced that he would be sitting at a table signing autographs under the bleachers so, as I had done at Wilmington, I went and got his picture.

One player I watched work out a lot was Junichi Tazawa. He is a 23-year-old starting pitcher who is Boston’s #5 prospect. He has won seven games so far with a nice 2.67 ERA. He isn’t that big – 5’11” – 180 pounds.

The team trainer, also Japanese, translates for Junichi. I asked the trainer how Junichi was doing with English and he said, “He is learning it very slowly.”

I was keenest on picturing #1 prospect, Lars Anderson. Todd told me that he was the #1 first base prospect in the minors. Lars is a 21-year-old first baseman. He’s 6’4” – 215 pounds.

I wasn’t sure which one he was before the game because the team had red shirts on with no names. When they came out just before the game they wore whites with names on the back. It was then that I figured out which one was Lars Anderson. After that, I took a number of pictures of him. In one he’s hitting the ball. In the other he’s wearing sunglasses.

I am very grateful to the Portland Sea Dogs for making things work for me. I had a memorable time.

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Filed under Boston Red Sox, Lars Anderson, Portland Sea Dogs

Tagged as Binghamton Mets, Boston Red Sox, Hadlock Field, Junichi Tazawa, Lars Anderson, Portland Sea Dogs, Ryan Kalish

May 15, 2008 · 2:22 pm

Red Sox World Series Trophies on Display in Salisbury

(Let it be understood that the above picture did not accompany the story below. However, being on hand to do the story about the trophy visit for The Town Common I couldn’t resist jumping in for a picture as well. Hey, any longsuffering Red Sox fan would have done the same thing, wouldn’t they?

During the last Open House I was part of at Ipswich Middle School in early 2002 I told the parents that I had been teaching for a long time, in fact I had been around to see the Bruins, Celtics, and now the Patriots capture championships. I asked the parents how much longer I’d have to teach before the same thing would happen to the Red Sox. Some wanted to know how old I intended to live to!

My father took me to my first Red Sox game in the 1950s. I recall being in awe of how close the left field wall was. I remember Ted Williams as someone who refused to wear a tie and had no use for the media. The only modern athlete I can equate him with is Rasheed Wallace. No question, though, that Ted was a great hitter but of course despite having him the Red Sox were always also-rans.

I remember getting caught up in the excitement of the 1967 & 1986 Red Sox. I am glad that Boston management welcomed Billy Buckner back this year on Opening Day. No one person loses a game or a Series but his error will always flashback in my mind every time a grounder goes through some unfortunate player’s wickets.

In my opinion the greatest Red Sox moment was when they came back in the AL Championship series in 2004 against the Yankees after being down 3-0. Neither the Yankees or the Red Sox have been the same since it happened.)

(Duford Family poses with Red Sox trophies – (left to right – Jeff, Duffy, Roger, Ron, Jerry, Rudy, Scot)

A veritable sea of red appeared on May 14th at Winner’s Circle in Salisbury for an appealing event organized by the Massachusetts Lottery. Attendees got a chance to see the Boston Red Sox World Series championship trophies from the 2004 and 2007 seasons and get pictures taken with those trophies.

With a line of excited fans within the restaurant and out the back door, it was obvious that the opportunity to see both World Series trophies at one time was very enticing to many in the area.

It has been a while since the Red Sox won the first of those trophies after a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in October of 2004 but the memory of that event is still fresh in the minds of many.

“The win in 2004 was the best,” said Mary Hargreaves of Salisbury Beach after having her picture taken. “For all those years people made fun of the team. When we finally won it I was almost numb.”

George Roux of Salisbury agreed. “It was ten times better than the 2007 one. I don’t have one t-shirt that has, ‘2007 World Series Champs,’ on it. All of them say ‘2004.’

For some on hand at Winner’s Circle, memories of the Red Sox stir emotions. “I grew up with the Red Sox,” said Pam Henshaw of Amesbury. “I went to the games as a little girl with my father. He passed away before they won a World Series. My mother and I watched games together and she saw both World Series wins. She passed away in March.”

Plenty of youngsters came by with their parents to get a picture taken standing behind the trophies. Not everyone was certain that the kids in the audience understood the magnitude of what the Red Sox accomplished. “I’m not sure that these kids know how hard winning a championship can be,” said Ron Duford, a member of the family that owns Winner’s Circle.

His brother Jerry said that winning the first one in 2004 was crucial. “The Red Sox have been rolling ever since. They’re now contenders each year. I’m optimistic about this year.”

Jerry explained that he and his two brothers grew up in Salisbury and that what is now Winner’s Circle had been their residence from 1955-1973. “We lived here until 1973 and then converted it into a bring-your-own-beer game room. Later it was changed into what it is now.”

Jerry added, “We were very fortunate to have the Lottery pick us to show the trophies. We put our name in to get them but never knew when the trophies would be available.”

Many area Red Sox fans are pleased on May 14th that Winner’s Circle persisted.

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Filed under Boston Red Sox, Salisbury, Town Common, Winner's Circle, World Series

Tagged as Boston Red Sox, Salisbury, Winner's Circle, World Series