PORTLAND — There was no way that the Portland Sea Dogs were going to take a second straight 17-run loss out of Thursday night’s tilt with the Reading Phillies.
However, there wasn’t much of an improvement, either.
Indeed, the Dogs took a 6-0 drubbing before 6,531 at Hadlock field, the unhappy by-product of committing as many errors (four) as they mustered up base hits.
“My (rear end) is getting a little sore,” said Dogs’ manager Arnie Beyeler. “I’ve been getting it kicked every night.”
The Dogs have lost four of their last five starts, and can ill-afford a slide while its two rivals for an EL playoff berth ”“ Trenton and New Britain ”“ manage to keep winning.
Portland sent its best pitcher, lefty Felix Doubront out against R-Phils righthander Kyle Drabek, for a showdown of two of the EL’s brightest pitching prospects.
And true to form, both hurlers were sharp at the outset, matching four scoreless innings before Doubront was touched for three unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Doubront (7-5) might have escaped trouble altogether except for the throwing error by Jorge Jimenez with two away that allowed former Sea Dog Carlos Leon to score the first run.
A subsequent triple by Domonic Brown, the top rated prospect in the Philadelphia farm system, over the head of center fielder Ryan Kalish brought in two more runs.
“They’ve got some good hitters over there,” said Beyeler. “He (Doubront) gets behind in the count, and they sat on his fastball a little bit.”
Meanwhile, the Dogs were completely over matched by the hard throwing Drabek, whose father Doug Drabek won 155 games during his 13 year big league career.
Drabek (8-2) hurled seven spotless innings, allowing just three hits and a walk, while hitting 95 mph on the radar gun twice in the seventh inning.
“He’s got a lot of life in his arm,” said Reading catcher Kevin Nelson. “He was executing pitches, which helps. He was right around the plate and getting outs. This was one of his top outings.”
The Dogs loss was amplified by New Britain’s 7-2 win over Binghamton, leaving Portland 2 1â„2 games out of the playoff spot with 22 games left to play.
CHIN MUSIC: Jimenez wound up with two errors in the game, having committed another in the seventh, when Portland chalked up three miscues. Jimenez now has 21 errors this season, most among all EL third basemen and third highest in the league.
He has shown great athletic ability in roughly one full season with Portland, and also demonstrated he can hit.
“He’s battles and battles,” said Beyeler, “and his defense is getting better. He works hard every day, and has been right there in the middle of the lineup, carrying us all year long.”
Jimenez’s qualities continue to keep high on the Red Sox list of big league prospects, although if and when he does reach the majors, it might not be at the hot corner.
Beyeler thinks that the left-handed hitting Jimenez may have a better future as a first baseman, even if he’s played there just twice this season (including most of the “Futures at Fenway” tilt after Lars Anderson’s hamstring began barking.)
“He’s very versatile,” Beyeler said. “That (first base) is probably where he’ll end up down the road. But we’re trying to keep him at third, trying to get him quicker. He’s worked his butt off to get better, agility-wise. But he’s a really good first baseman. His hands are big, and works well around the bag. And he hits left handers.”
The thought of Jimenez being able to play both corner positions generates images of another Kevin Youkilis, the former Sea Dog, who excels at both positions in Boston.
However, Beyeler cautions against taking that comparison too far.
At least not yet.
“He’s not quite as agile as ‘Youk’ at third base,” Beyeler said. “But he’s working at it. He’s getting better. We’re going to try to some things that will help him, this winter.”
Meanwhile, Brown, who many thought might be used by Philadelphia as a bargaining chip in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes at the trade deadline, has turned plenty of heads since being promoted to Reading from High-A Clearwater.
The fact that Brown hits .300 and can fire bullets from right field are two reasons.
The fact that he stands 6-foot-5 and yet runs with sprinter’s speed are two more.
“He’s got some attributes,” said Reading hitting coach Frank Cacciatore, who managed the Sea Dogs back in 1999, “that allow him to avoid prolonged hitting slumps. For one he’s got great running speed, so he’s able to hit a ground ball and get that one (hit). The second is that he’s got a very short stroke and maybe thing about the opposite field a little bit. With that and experience, the sky is the limit.”
As expected, the Dogs’ did some roster shuffling involving two struggling lefthanded starters, adding Kris Johnson, who was just 3-14 at Triple-A Pawtucket. He takes the spot of Kason Gabbard, who has been hit hard in all five of his starts with Portland, including Wednesday’s 18-1 loss to the R-Phils. Gabbard was placed on the disabled list, although no specific injury was announced”¦The Dogs will remain home for the weekend, welcoming in the Harrisburg Senators tonight (7:05 p.m.).
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.
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