Sunday Spectacular

For the third time in about a week, the Sea Dogs rode a grand slam to victory. This time it was David Murphy's slam into the right field Pavilion seats that accounted for all of the scoring in a 4-2 Portland victory over Bowie. Murphy's blast was a rude welcome to Bowie reliever Eric Dubose, who entered the game with two outs in the bottom of ths sixth after starter James Johnson loaded the based with two walks and a hit batsman. The victory completed a weekend sweep and improved Portland's recort to 13-10.


The four runs were plenty for the rejuvinated Chris Smith, who turned in his fourth stellar performance in five starts on the season. Smith allowed just one unearned run over seven innings while walking none and striking out four. Smith did get off to an inauspicious start, hitting both the second and third batters of the game with pitches. The performance lowered Smith's ERA to 1.53 on the season, and he's allowed just 16 hits and is sporting a fine 19/5 K/BB ratio in 29.1 innings pitched. Kevin Frederick allowed Jeff Fiorentino's blast into the Pavilion in the 8th inning, but retired the six other batters he faced to record the save.
Left : Chris Smith Hurls

Scorer's Notes:

• Though there weren't any warnings, the game featured five hit batsmen. Smith hit the aforementioned two batters in the first, whereas Johnson picked off three batters in his 5.2 innings pitched. Shortstop Zach Borowiack was plunked twice.
• The teams did their best to confuse the scorekeepers by matching Bowie's pitcher James Johnson with the newest Sea Dog, left fielder Jay Johnson. Johnson got the best of Johnson, inducing a flyout and a strikeout, before Johnson walked ahead of Murphy's slam in the sixth. Jay Johnson, who was called up when VDB was place on the disabled list, was the hero in his AA debut on Saturday, completing a 3-5 day with a two-run double in the 12th.
• Chad Spann was charged with the error that led to the first Bowie run in the sixth, but he made several fine plays, including a barehanded grab-and-throw on Brooks Badeaux's bunt attempt in the third, and a nice backhanded snag and throw to get Leo Daigle to end the sixth.
• The weather could not have been more perfect for baseball. Temps in the mid 60's, no humidity, a light breeze, not a cloud in the sky. Absolutely perfect! April baseball in Maine can often be cold and miserable, but this made me forget all that. It also inspired me to order up the first Sea Dog Biscuit of the season. This was a day tailor-made for extra innings. Alas, the teams finished up business in a mere 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Glorious Sunday at Hadlock.