With a 70-71 record, the Sea Dogs missed the playoffs for just the second time since 2004. But five players – Lars Anderson, Robert Coello, Felix Doubront, Ryan Kalish and Yamaico Navarro – began the season with Portland and ended it in Boston.
Kalish would last 41 games with the Sea Dogs before being promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket and eventually Boston. With Portland he hit .293 with eight home runs and 29 RBI. Anderson only lasted 17 games in Portland, hitting .355 with five home runs and 16 RBI before being promoted.
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First baseman Anthony Rizzo, promoted from Class A Salem on May 10, was named the Dogs MVP after hitting .263 with 20 homers and 80 RBI. Ryan Lavarnway came up from Salem on July 15 and hit .285 with eight homers and 39 RBI in 44 games with Portland, including six home runs in an 11-game stretch in August.
Outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin hit .275 (126 for 458), and ranked third in the Eastern League in on-base percentage (.386) and walks (72).
Third baseman Ray Chang, right-handed pitcher Stephen Fife, right-handed pitcher Jason Rice and second baseman Nate Spears represented Portland in the All-Star Game. Spears ranked seventh among all minor leaguers with 104 runs scored, leading both the Eastern League and all Red Sox farmhands, as well as tying Ralph Milliard’s franchise record. His 84 walks also paced both the Sox system and the Eastern League.
Fife led the Sea Dogs with eight wins, 26 starts and 136.1 innings, and began the year with a club-best 3.22 ERA over his first seven starts through May 16. He finished 8-6 with a 4.75 ERA.
Rice ranked among the top Eastern League relief pitchers in games finished (44), strikeouts per nine innings (10.65) and opponent batting (.211).
Red Sox players Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury made appearances in Portland on rehab assignments in May. Ellsbury was 3 for 7 with a stolen base. Cameron appeared in three games, hitting .385 (5 for 13) with two home runs, including a walk-off, 10th-inning home run on May 23. In July, Manny Delcarmen and Jeremy Hermida wore the Sea Dogs uniform on the road.
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