Dogs drop Gators

Portland's all stars got things off to a stong start, culminating with a Jared Sandberg grand slam in the first inning that spurred the Sea Dogs to a 7-4 victory over the Norwich Navigators Friday night. David Pauley pitched seven strong inning, suffering just a hiccup in the fifth inning, as Portland beat up Norwich starter Brian Burres, who came into the game with a 2.23 ERA, for all seven runs over eight hits over the first three innings. The Sea Dogs had less luck with the Norwich bullpen, being held to one hit over the last five innings. Manny Delcarmen pitched two innings for the save.

Scorers notes:

• Jared the Wicket again fielded third base flawlessly. Maybe when his home runs (16, after the slam) catch up to his errors (19), I'll drop the nickname.
• Stefan Bailie's baby steps turned back to a crawl: 0-4, 4 strikouts.
• David Murphy, on the other hand, was 3-3 with two doubles. Every time I say he's starting to hit AA pitching, he goes into a slump, so I'm going to make no such claim.
• Delcarmen may be the new Portland closer, as Marc Deschenes has been hit hard in four fo his last five outings.
• Norwich countered Portland's upper-90's reliever with one of their own (Alfredo Simon). Simon ended Bailie's miserable evening by following a couple of 96-mph fastballs with a knee-buckling curve ball for strike three.
• After Wednesday's four hour marathon, last night's 2:10 lgam length was a treat. After the gand slam, however, there wasn't a lot of action, hence the skimpiness of today's notes.