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Call it the Reverse of the Curse of the Sea Blog. Just yesterday I wrote about how Charlie Zink seemed to be pitching better than his 6.65 ERA would suggest. Today, he was promoted to Pawtucket. Looks like he'll be in the rotation with Jeremi Gonzales remaining in Boston for a while.

From a pure merit standpoint, Zink wouldn't be the guy that you would have promoted. Jons Papelbon and Lester and David Pauley have all pitched better than Zink and are the stronger prospects at this stage of their careers. But Zink is a knuckleballer and seems to gain less from spending more time at the AA level. It seems to me that either the knuckleball is working or it's not working, and it doesn't really matter how good the guy in the batter's box is in either case. Zink's knuckler seems to be working well at this point.

Zink's roster (and rotation) spot will be taken by Chris Smith, who was leading the EL in strikeouts last season before he was shut down with an arm injury.

Also, erstwhile Sea Dogs closer Cla Meredith was promoted to Boston after being in Rhode Island for less than a week. Unfortunately things didn't work out so well for Meredith in his debut. In a somewhat peculiar move, he was thrown right into a tie ball game with a runner on base. Cla allowed a couple of walks before giving up a grand slam to Richie Sexson. John Halama was saddled for the loss, but it was a tough situation for Meredith to give up his first runs of the season, and hopefully he'll get a chance to redeem himself under better circumstances real soon. Blaine Neal, a former Sea Dog (when they were affiliated with the Marlins) who has struggled thus far with a 9.00 ERA and 2.25 WHIP, was released to make room for Meredith.

Wade Miller, who never did get to pitch in Portland, made his Red Sox debut and looked good, giving up two runs and striking out six in five innings.