Dogs Keep Winning

Charlie Zink tweaked his mechanics and reversed his slump, pitching 8 shutout innings vs. the Harrisburg Senators on Saturday in a 1-0 Sea Dogs victory. Former Red Sox farm hand Rich Rundles (traded in the Cliff Floyd deal, I believe) stayed with Zink for six innings, but the bullpen gave it away in the 7th. The bottom of the Sea Dogs order provided the offense, a double by Kenny Perez and a single by (at the time) .157-batting Edgar Martinez scored the only run.

The Sea Dogs made it five in a row (and their first sweep of Harrisburg since 1994 - these are not the Senators of Vlad Guerrero and Jose Vidro!) with a 6-2 victory on Sunday. Portland again received shutout pitching from the starting rotation. This time it was Jerome Gamble who gave up seven hits and no runs in six innings of work for the victory. Harrisburg finished the game with 14 hits, as the bullpen was touched for seven hits and both runs over the final three frames. The bottom of Portland's lineup did some damage again, as hot hitting Kenny Perez was 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI in increasing his batting average to .294, and Sheldon Fulse contributed two RBI with a double and a sacrifice fly. Raul Nieves had three hits and Bret Ronenberg two more to help pace the offense.

The Sea Dogs are now within one game of Trenton to move out of the cellar in the EL North.