Monday 9th June 2003
(by Cory Giger)

If the season ended today, the Curve, believe it or not, would be in the playoffs.

All the ups and downs, the little mess-ups, inconsistency and unusually poor play at home wouldn't matter.
Winners of three straight and 30-29 overall, the Curve took over sole possession of second place in the Southern Division with Sunday's 2-1 victory over Harrisburg.

Altoona's now 1 game ahead of Reading and Bowie in a bunching that also has the Senators and Erie within striking distance.
"Thank God for second places to go to the playoffs," manager Dale Sveum said.

Of course, the season doesn't end today as there are 83 games left.

But it's a great sign for the team, considering all that's happened, that it still has plenty to play for other than development.

"There's nobody that's going to stand up in this clubhouse and say we've played well this year," Shawn Garrett said, "yet we're still hovering around .500 and in second. So if we could ever play well for an extended period of time, that's going to be a lot of wins."

The guys aren't concerned with the standings yet -- "We're just thinking about trying to get consistent as a team," Brett Roneberg said -- but it's not too early to start looking ahead.

That process begins today as the Curve open up a three-game series at New Britain, which has the worst record in the league.

Altoona already has failed in several chances to build some momentum on the field and in the standings.
Maybe this week will be the turning point.
If not, it's got to come sooner or later.

"Obviously would haves, could haves, if we did this or that we could be 10 games over .500," Sveum said. "But fact of the matter is we have 80 games left or whatever it is, and this team still hasn't reached its potential by no means.
"I'm looking forward to seeing it when we really get rolling."

The Curve's position in the standings isn't so surprising if you consider one key element: The Eastern League is really down this year.
There aren't many can't-miss prospects in the league, maybe none with the departure of Akron's Jeremy Guthrie to Triple-A.
There's also a ton of mediocre clubs.
The Aeros are 8 games ahead of Altoona and clearly the best team with some dominant pitching, while Portland appears to be the class of the Northern Division.
Beyond that, little separates most of the remaining 10 teams.
Only Trenton (four games) and Altoona (one) are above .500, with the other eight clubs playing losing ball so far.

"That's got to be to our advantage," Garrett said of the bunching.
Why?
Because while most of the other teams are right where they should be with the talent they have, everyone in the Curve camp knows they've yet to play up to their abilities.

"We're starting to turn it around and play good baseball," Sean Burnett said. "If we keep playing good baseball, fundamental baseball like we have the past few days, good things are going to happen."

The Curve have teased us with playoff chases three of the first four seasons, only to come up short each time.
The most important thing about such runs in the minor leagues isn't the allure of a championship, but rather the opportunity for prospects to play meaningful games and develop a winning attitude down the stretch.

This club, whether it reaches the postseason or not, at least should be able to stay in the hunt all the way.
The Curve don't have to catch Akron, just play well enough to stay where they are in the standings right now.