Dogs keep Sox until 2008 / Weekend Update

The Sea Dogs lost three in a row over the weekend. With Theo Epstein and Ben Cherington in town to announce the extension of Portland's player development contract with the Red Sox until 2008, Abe Alvarez started strong (no hits through four innings) before the Reading bats caught up to him, and the bullpen and defense (three earned runs) couldn't hold on in an 8-7 Phillies win. The Dogs tagged Phillies uberprospect Gavin Floyd for five runs in four innings, including a three-run home run by Ronenberg in the first. Mike O'Keefe went 4-5, and Medrano, Nieves and Bailey each had two hits for Portland.

Things got worse in Saturday's 13-2 loss. Chris Smith allowed six runs on nine hits over five innings pitched in suffering his first loss of the season. The usual late-inning bullpen and defense troubles recurred, as the relievers allowed eight hits and seven runs (only three earned runs) over the last four innings. Ronenberg and Hattig remained hot with the bats with two hits each (two doubles for Hattig), while Reading's attack was paced by big first baseman Ryan Howard (two HR, 5 RBI), DH John Castellano (four hits) and SS Danny Gonzalez (3 RBI). If you do the math from above, the Phils ended up with 17 hits on the night.

Reading completed the sweep with a 2-0 win on Sunday. Josh Stevens turned in a good performance, allowing both runs on just four hits with 8 K's, and the defense played error-free baseball. This time, however, the Sea Dogs bats were silenced by Phillies starter Robinson Tejada, who pitches three hit shutout ball (three BB, 7 K's) over seven innings. Brett Ronenberg's hitting streak was snapped at 18 games following an 0-3. Jeff Bailey continued to be an on-base machine with two walks. He now sports a team-leading .427 OBP.