So much for the hot bats

In the battle between the hot bats and the hot pitcher, the hot pitcher won. Quite handily, actually. Joel Zumaya shut down the Sea Dogs over six innings and the Erie Sea Wolves cruised to a 9-0 victory Friday night. Zumaya was very impressive, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out 8. Zumaya's fastball regularly tipped the radar into the upper 90's, topping out at 99 mph at one time. I can see where he can get into trouble on occasion, as he didn't get his off speed stuff over for strikes very often, and he worked himself into a pretty high pitch count (95 pitches) for the number of runners allowed by throwing a lot of balls. He's only 20 years old, so there's plenty of time to get his off speed pitches under control, and look out when he does. I think that his ceiling is very high.

Scorer's Notes:

• In perhaps the biggest upset of the night, there was no rain during the game. Showers did, however, begin immediately following the final out.
• Kason Gabbard had a "bad Kason" night on the hill - 4 2/3 IP, 8 hits, 5 BB, 7 runs allowed. The walk to David Espinoza, the game's first batter, got things off on the wrong foot, and Gabbard never really recovered.
• Victor Mendez, Erie's #9 batter, was the hitting star of the night, reaching base three times on a walk and two hits, included a bases-clearing double that chased Gabbard in the 5th.
• Justin Sturge and Charlie Zink pitched perfect relief for Portland until there were two outs in the 9th, when Zink allowed a home run to Kurt Airoso and three straight singles, the last of which resulted in a run when Chris Durbin's throw eluded Jared the Wicket.
• Brandon Moss struggled mightily with Zumaya. Portland's hottest hitter over the last month, Moss failed to put the bat on the ball in striking out three times against Zumaya. He did finally collect a foul ball in the midst of his fourth K of the night, this time at the hands of Mike Bumatay in the 8th.
• Tonight it's off to Fenway to see the Red Sox vs. the Pirates.