It had to happen eventually

The Sea Dogs lost their first game of the year, 3-1 to the Binghamton Mets last night. The pitching was good enough, but the bats just didn't come through in a timely fashion, as all those guys that I touted yesterday fell to the "Curse of the Sea Blog", going a combined 3-15 with three walks. Additionally, starting LF Chris Durbin pulled up lame when he was held up rounding third base in the bottom of the third and had to be replaced. His injury didn't appear to be all that serious.

Scorer's notes:

• Pedroia had the best night of the top five, going 1-2 and drawing two walks. I don't have my score sheets with me at the moment, but he made the pitchers work, seeing at least 5 pitches in every plate appearance.
• Ramirez, on the other hand, didn't do much, with a weak strikeout, a popup, and even a pulled ground ball. Hanley doesn't pull a lot of pitches usually.
• Both starters (Jon Papelbon and Ken Chenard) featured low-90's fastballs that were complemented with curve balls. Most of the relievers had the same repertoire, too. This is the first time that I've seen Papelbon pitch, and he wasn't quite what I expected - I thought we'd get mid-90's heat, but he topped out at 92 (from what I can tell - the gun operator seemed to be a little off all night). Instead of merely blowing people away, Papelbon sets them up with a good curve and gets them out with excellent location. When the other guys got ahold of his pitches, they hit them well (two HR), but he did strike out 9 in 5.2 IP, with only five hits allowed and no walks. In fact, Papelbon (Little Papi?) hasn't walked anybody, vs. 18 K's, in 16.2 IP this season, which is very impressive.
• Both starters were victimized by a tough twilight sky. Portland's only run came across when Murphy and Durbin hit doubles that Norwich outfielders couldn't locate coming off the bat. Murphy was also a victim when he lost a Mike Jacobs fly ball that fell in behind him for a double. In fact, Murphy was so lost that the ball was ultimately fielded by RF Brandon Moss, who showed great hustle in helping out his teammate, despite being hit to straightaway center field.
• I'm saving my commentary on the Binghamton prospects until after I see them again tonight, but it's pretty clear why Aarom Baldiris is rated higher than Wayne Lydon after watching them once. Yusmeiro Petit, who is reputedly the best player on the team, pitches tonight against Jon Lester, so it could be another low-scoring affair.
• This was the first game that I scored (BIS-style) with my good buddy Dave. We had some fun and took some goofy pictures of our tricky scoring styles to send into the BIS website.