PORTLAND – Some of the best prospects in baseball arrived in Portland on Tuesday for one of the biggest events ever at Hadlock Field, the 2005 Eastern League All-Star Game.
In all, 48 players, including a league-leading six from the Portland Sea Dogs, will be representing all 12 Eastern League teams in a game pitting the Northern Division against the Southern Division.
The game is sold out, but can be seen at 7 p.m. on NESN.
Each Eastern League team is represented by at least three players, including one position player and one pitcher. Fans at every ballpark in the league voted for one position player and one pitcher to represent their team. The remainder of the rosters were selected through voting by media, managers and league officials.
Representing Portland on the Northern Division squad are pitcher Jon Lester, second baseman Kenny Perez, shortstop Hanley Ramirez, third baseman Jared Sandberg, and outfielders Chris Durbin and Brandon Moss. The Portland coaching staff, led by manager Todd Claus, will manage the Northern Division team. Pitcher Jon Papelbon was also selected, but was promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket.
The game will feature several players who participated in last Sunday’s All-Star Futures game in Detroit. Ramirez, Yusmeiro Petit of Binghamton, Merkin Valdez of Norwich, Erie’s Joel Zumaya and Jose Bautista of Altoona took part in the showcase of baseball’s top young talent.
Also on hand, will be Reading first baseman Randy Ruiz, who leads the league with 77 RBIs and a .357 batting average. He is also tied for the league lead with 22 home runs.
Gates open at 3 p.m., and there will be a home run derby preceding the game at 5:15 p.m. Sandberg, who leads the Sea Dogs with 16 home runs this season, will be one of 10 participants.
The 10 players will be split into two teams, North and South. Each participant will get 10 swings in the first round. The top two from each team will move on to the semi-finals and get five chances apiece, and then the best from each side will meet in the final with five more swings each. In the event of a tie, each player will get three swings each. Ten fans will be paired up with one player and will win money based on how well their player does.
This is the first All-Star game to be held in Portland. Tickets to the event sold out in late January, even though they cost twice as much as a Sea Dogs regular season game.
Portland (47-40) took sole possession of first place in the Eastern League’s Northern Division by sweeping a double-header against second place New Hampshire on Monday. Sea Dogs pitchers Lester and David Pauley each spun complete games in the twinbill. Lester, who had just been named the Eastern League’s Player of the Week, tossed a one-hit shutout and tied a franchise record for strikeouts with 13. That improved his record to 7-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.38, tops in the league. He’s also second in the league with 114 strikeouts.
Comments are no longer available on this story