Yes, Sea Dogs pitcher Ryan Cameron realizes that he is a member of the Boston Red Sox organization.

But he doesn’t hesitate when asked who his favorite pitcher is.

“I love Mike Mussina,” said Cameron. “If there’s anybody I could watch pitch, it would be that guy all day long.”

Cameron even took his admiration of the New York Yankees’ right-hander to the next level.

When he realized he was tipping his pitches a couple of seasons ago, he borrowed a page from Mussina’s book and started pitching with a pronounced dip out of the stretch.

“It’s really helped me out,” said Cameron. “A few hitters have told me it’s annoying. It slows things down and keeps my tempo and takes the hitter’s tempo and messes with it a little bit.”

With a fastball that tops out at 88-90 mph, Cameron is a pitcher who relies a great deal on deception.

In addition to the Mussina-like dip, Cameron’s first step to the plate is to his right and he throws across his body.

“It keeps hitters off my pitches,” said Cameron.

Cameron is another of the local products the Red Sox have brought into the fold this season.

He was born in North Adams, Mass., and makes his home in nearby Williamstown.

Cameron played his college ball at the University of Massachusetts before being selected in the 11th round of the 1998 draft by the Colorado Rockies.

The Red Sox acquired him from the Rockies near the end of spring training for pitcher Javier Lopez.

Cameron pitched out of the bullpen for Triple-A Pawtucket before being sent down on July 12 to get some innings as a starter and work on, among other things, his command.

“He needs to work on his first-pitch strike efficiency,” said Red Sox farm director Ben Cherington. “We’ve already seen some progress.”

Cameron said getting back into the routine of a starting pitcher has taken some getting used to.

“It’s a whole different gig just to get settled into the way you warm up and everything,” said Cameron. “I’m used to just getting up when the phone rings (in the bullpen), throwing 10 or 15 pitches and being ready to go.”

While Cherington and the Red Sox have let Cameron know exactly what they expect of him in Portland, the 25-year-old right-hander realizes his team is in a pennant race.

“The Red Sox have an agenda for me,” said Cameron. “But as far as I’m concerned, I’m here to win. On my sides, it’s all about development and doing the things I need to do to improve. But development goes out the window when that’s not working to get outs.

“Once you get in between the lines, you have to be aggressive and do what you need to do to win. I’ve got 25 guys here that are depending on me to pitch a good game.”

Let’s play two

The Sea Dogs completed a stretch of eight games in five days with Friday night’s doubleheader in Binghamton.

Portland also must play doubleheaders on Aug. 16 and 17 in New Britain, with the first one being a day/night affair.

“It’s bad for everybody,” catcher Kelly Shoppach said of the condensed schedule. “You’ve got to extend pitchers that you don’t normally want to extend. You’re going to be limited.”

With an unusually high number of games wiped out in April and May, teams are struggling to get all their make-up games in.

Trenton, which just completed a stretch of five games in three days against the Sea Dogs, will play back-to-back doubleheaders at Norwich next weekend.

“Everybody’s in the same boat right now,” said Sea Dogs manager Ron Johnson.

Numbers game

Casey Fossum’s No. 15 was up on the facade behind home plate at Hadlock Field at the start of the last homestand, joining Gabe Kapler (52), Chad Fox (30) and Kevin Millar (15).

It was subsequently taken down when Fossum was sent down to Pawtucket.

Fox’s also will be coming down because he was released by the Red Sox on Thursday.

The Sea Dogs have always recognized individuals who played in Portland and reached the big league club by putting their numbers up.

While it’s a good idea, some sort of criteria should be established for a player to be honored.

Fossum and Fox were on major league rehabilitation assignments, while Kapler played just one game with the Sea Dogs before joining the Red Sox.

Millar, meanwhile, hit .328 in two seasons in Portland and almost won the Triple Crown in 1997.

New Haven blues

The tedium of playing in New Haven might finally be getting to Ravens manager Marty Pevey.

Pevey was heartily booed by fans at Yale Field during a recent game against Trenton after he held the speedy Alexis Rios at third base on a single with nobody out.

Rios was stranded at third and as Pevey walked to the dugout, the crowd of about 4,500 lit into him.

Pevey fired back after the game.

“I can’t play favorites to the fans,” said Pevey. “Hell, I don’t care if you write it, but we have some dumb fans. They want to shake your hand when you win and they will just (curse) you when you lose. They need to learn the game.

“Hey, they paid their money, so they can say what they want to. But that’s why they’re selling insurance and I’m doing what I’m doing.”

Ouch!

Lots of Dogs

When Charlie Zink started the second game of Friday night’s doubleheader against Binghamton, he became the 49th different player used by the Sea Dogs this season, matching the franchise mark set last year.

Outfielder Greg Catalanotte also joined the team from Class-A Sarasota and started both games in left field. Catalanotte was hitting just .213 with 11 homers and 40 RBIs for the SaraSox.

With Freddy Sanchez shipped to Pittsburgh in the Jeff Suppan trade, Trace Coquillette was promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Former Sea Dogs closer Anastacio Martinez, sent back to the Red Sox along with Brandon Lyon in the trade, was also assigned to Pawtucket.

Bill Foley is assistant sports editor. He can be reached by e-mail at bfoley@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link