In case you were wondering, Joe Goodwin is now on Derek Root's Christmas card list.

The Camden Riversharks survived a bad start to beat the Atlantic City Surf 8-5 in front of 3,676 at Campbell's Field Thursday night. Root allowed three earned runs in seven innings of work to improve to 7-6 on the year. Goodwin went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a run scored to lead the offense.

``Each and every game you've got to go out there and play hard,'' manager Wayne Krenchicki said. ``We've had our moments earlier in the year when we didn't play well. But we've continued to work hard and we've played better over the last few weeks.''

With the score tied 3-3, and one out, Darrell Nicholas worked a walk out of Atlantic City starter Darryl Roque. The 13-pitch at-bat was followed by an eight-pitch strikeout by Dwight Maness.

With two outs Goodwin almost missed a chance to be a hero for Camden (17-27 half, 41-67 overall). Nicholas got caught in a rundown with Roque, who chased Nicholas back toward first. Roque, however, was too close to toss the ball to first baseman Jose Velazquez and Nicholas slid safely back into first.

``The longer he took to go to the plate the more into a pitching mode he was,'' Nicholas said. ``I was trying to compensate for how long he was taking. That time he didn't go. Luckily, the first baseman moved a little too far off the bag and I was able to get back in.''

Isaias Nunez then walked and Goodwin, who entered the game batting .214 with 15 RBIs, followed with a drive over left-fielder Danny Perez's head. The double scored two runs and gave the Sharks the lead for good. Haddon Township graduate Brad Strauss then hit a home run off the right- field foul pole for a 7-3 lead.

``Everybody could use a couple of nights like these,'' Goodwin said. ``I didn't see the ball well according to my first at bat. I looked like an invalid.

``But after that I tried to concentrate more and make good contact. Fortunately I was able to work in some of the things I've been concentrating on.''

Root had several opportunities to implode but each time he was picked up by the team's defense.

Root started the fifth inning by hitting Maleke Fowler in the left ankle. Root then threw consecutive pitches high and looked to be shaken by Fowler's departure, but recovered enough to strike out Enohel Polanco. Keith Gordon then hit a shot back up the middle that Root fielded behind his back to start a 1-6-3 double play and get out of the inning and the Surf (17-28, 55-53) didn't really threaten the rest of the night.

``That was totally luck,'' Root said. ``I've seen it on TV but I've never been able to do it.''

Things didn't begin well for Root.

The left-hander walked Fowler to start the first inning. A single by Polanco and then a second walk to Gordon loaded the bases for Velazquez.

For Root, one of the key members to a starting staff that has seen its ERA drop a full point over the past three weeks, the first inning was a futile attempt to find the strike zone. After Velazquez singled home the first two runs of the game, Root was on the verge of coming out of the game.

``He was pretty close,'' Krenchicki said. ``He was up and he didn't have good control. Even his outs were hard hit and he's up against a good right-handed lineup that has good numbers against him. I wasn't going to wait much longer.

``But to his credit, he settled down and to get seven innings out of him was really a big bonus.''