The Result
Curve - 10 to 3

Sea Dogs - Year-to-Date
0 wins - 2 losses

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Designated hitter
Batting #5

At the end of the Game
2 hits from 4 at-bats - single, double, 1 x RBI, 1 x run scored, 1 x GIDP

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down
Ball - low
Called strike
Ball - outside
Belted the next pitch over the head of the Curve centrefielder and to the fence
Double - and 1 x RBI
Went to third base on a deep fly ball to centrefield (see "Heard during the game" below)
Scored on a hit
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
First pitch hitting, and drove the ball towards first base - bounced off the fielder's chest but he had time to recover
Out 3-to-1
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Called strike - "bluff bunting"
Ball - low
Ball - low
Chopped the next pitch down the line towards first base - "a tough play for the fielder" - and Brett beat it out
Infield single
Left stranded at the end of the inning
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down
Swing&miss - slider
Ball - high and away
Ball - high
Hit towards short-stop
A 6-to-4-to-3 double play

Heard during the game
(1) After Brett's double in his first at-bat, the following batter hit a deep fly ball to centrefield - Brett had moved to halfway between second and third base - the ball was caught, and he had to get back to second base and tag-up - he then took off for third base and made it ahead of the relay throw from centrefield

(2) The commentator mentioned that he had spoken to the Sea Dogs Manager, Ron Johnson, about the free-agent signings on this year's team - Brett, along with Jesus Medrano, was mentioned and the comment was that "their ceiling is much higher than double-A"

Email from Brett
(written on Saturday 10th April)
Well yesterday was an ok day
Crushed the double in the 2nd inning
and was lucky enough to get one more infield hit
They all count
Yesterday I felt really comfortable at the plate so who knows what today will bring
Hope you get to listen again today
What else can i write - you heard it all anyway!!

Game Reports

Alvarez takes big leap, hard fall for Dogs

Abe Alvarez didn't fare well in his Double-A debut, and the Portland Sea Dogs' bullpen did even worse Friday night.
Alvarez, making the jump from rookie ball all the way to Double-A, yielded five runs over four innings against the Altoona Curve at Blair County Ballpark.

Altoona rallied from a 2-0 deficit, blasted 12 hits and touched Portland's bullpen for five runs in a 10-3 win.

"I threw some good pitches and got the guys to miss, but I made a couple mistakes, and they hit my mistakes," Alvarez said.
Alvarez made nine starts and didn't give up an earned run over 19 innings last season at Lowell in the short-season New York-Penn League.
The second-round draft pick in 2003 skipped both low-A and high-A on his way to Portland's opening-day roster.

The Sea Dogs scored both runs in the second inning.
Jeff Bailey walked and came in on Brett Roneberg's double, then Eric Johnson singled in Roneberg for a 2-0 edge.

The lead didn't last long as Altoona got a solo homer from Josh Bonifay in the second and RBI double from Kevin Nicholson in the third.

The Curve took the lead for good with four runs in the fifth, only one charged to Alvarez.

"He did mix his pitches up well, but he did leave some 0-2 and 1-2 pitches right over the plate," Bonifay said of Alvarez.
"Any hitter at any level is going to take advantage of mistakes, and I think that's what we did well tonight."

Told of Alvarez's big jump to Double-A, Bonifay said, "Making that jump is very, very tough, I don't care who you are."

Alvarez walked Chris Duffy to start the fifth, gave up a double to Gary Thomas and walked Nicholson on four pitches.

The lefty departed in favor of Juan Perez, whose first pitch was lined for an RBI single by Ray Navarrete to make it 3-2.
Bonifay followed with a sacrifice fly and Ray Sadler an RBI groundout.

The low point of the night for Portland occurred when first baseman Mike O'Keefe dropped a pop fly, allowing Sadler to score for a 6-2 Curve lead.

Altoona added four more runs off reliever Ryan Cameron in the sixth.
Four straight RBI hits by Nicholson, Navarrete, Bonifay and Sadler scored the runs.
Cameron gave up the four runs on five hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Curve lefty Mike Connolly allowed two runs on three hits over five innings for the win.
Alvarez surrendered five hits, walked three and didn't strike out a batter in the loss.

"I left it over the plate, and they got it exactly where they wanted it to hit," said Alvarez, who wasn't down on himself after his Double-A debut.
"It's one start," he said.
"I'm getting my feet wet for the first time in Double-A. I'm not worried about it. You think about tonight, let it go and get ready for your next start."

Roneberg and Johnson had two hits apiece for Portland, which dropped to 0-2.

SEA DOGS FALL TO 0-2
Abe Alvarez Allows 5 Runs, Loses in Double-A Debut

Josh Bonifay homered and drove in three runs to pace a 12-hit attack as the Altoona Curve topped the Portland Sea Dogs, 10-3 Friday night before 4,087 fans at Blair County Ballpark.

Abe Alvarez, the first pitcher in Sea Dogs franchise history to start with the team after skipping both A-ball levels, allowed his first professional runs.
The lefty, who tossed 19 innings at Lowell last year without allowing an earned run, surrendered five runs on six hits and three walks in four innings.

Kevin Nicholson and Ray Navarrete added two hits, two runs and two RBI for the Curve, who sent the Sea Dogs to 0-2 to start the season.

It's the second straight season Portland has begun the campaign 0-2.

Brett Roneberg and Eric Johnson each delivered two hits, a run and an RBI for Portland.

Portland tries again for its first win of the season Saturday in Altoona.

Bonifay Powers Curve

Josh Bonifay has finally started to make himself at home.
Bonifay homered, drove in three runs and scored twice to lead the Altoona Curve to a 10-3 victory against the Portland Sea Dogs in the Eastern League Friday.

Ray Navarrete, Kevin Nicholson and Ray Sadler drove in two runs apiece, and Chris Duffy, Gary Thomas and Nicholson scored two runs apiece.

Every Curve starter except shortstop Brandon Chavez reached base.

Altoona scored four runs in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth to break a 2-2 tie.

"With the lineup we have, I kind of feel it's just a matter of time as the game goes on," said Navarrete, who is 4-for-8 in the first two games.

"We swung the bats well tonight," said Curve manager Tony Beasley.
"We hit some fly balls in the gap, which is what we're going to do."

Serving as the designated hitter, Bonifay took a 1-2 fastball from Portland left-hander Abe Alvarez (0-1) deep in the home half of the second inning to pare the Portland lead to 2-1.
"I think it was intended to be more inside," said Bonifay, who had been activated at the start of the day after spending one day on the short-season Williams-port roster.
"He just left it over the plate a little bit. And I got a pretty good piece of wood on it."

Bonifay hit only one home run at Blair County Ballpark last season.
He also batted just .235 at home while batting .323 on the road with 10 home runs.
"Last year was a little struggle for me at this park," he said.
"I was trying to do too much at the plate last year. Early on last year I hit some balls really well, and I didn't get any hits or home runs out of them.
It took a toll on me, and I let it affect me the rest of the year.
But this year I came in here with a clean, fresh mind. I'm just trying to get a bat on the ball and help the team win."

"It was good to see him have some good at-bats," said Beasley.
"The ball seemed to be carrying the last couple days. So he was able to catch one clean."

The Curve chased Alvarez, who was making his Class AA pitching debut, and proceeded to score four times in the fifth inning to unlock a 2-2 tie.

They scored four more runs in the sixth to virtually ice their second win in as many nights.
Navarrete greeted left-handed reliever Juan Perez with a no-out line-drive single that scored Duffy and gave the Curve a 3-2 lead.
Bonifay added a sacrifice fly that scored Thomas.
Nicholson scampered home on a fielder's choice.
The Curve's fourth run of the fifth inning resulted from a double error by first baseman Mike O'Keefe, not to mention sheer hustle by Sadler.
Struggling to draw a bead and retain his footing on a possible inning-ending pop fly by Jeff Keppinger, O'Keefe allowed the ball to glance off the heel of his glove - he then threw wildly when he attempted to gun down Sadler, who hustled and scored all the way from first base.

"One thing that I've stressed to the kids, from Day One," said Beasley, "is never assume that you're out, no matter where you hit the ball. Run as hard as you can."

Those runs made a winner of left-hander Mike Connolly (1-0), who struck out four men, walked two and allowed only three hits.

Altoona batted around in the sixth and scored four times to assume an eight-run lead.
Nicholson's second RBI came on a sixth-inning two-out single that scored Duffy.
Navarrete singled home Nicholson, and Bonifay and Sadler followed with RBI doubles.

"Hitting is contagious," said Bonifay. "Once the guys get going, it seems as if everybody gets going."

Connolly yielded an RBI double to former Curve player Brett Roneberg and a run-scoring single to Eric Johnson as Portland took a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Otherwise, he struck out four and allowed only three hits.
"I felt good out there," he said. "The guys played great behind me, made some great plays, and we were able to get ourselves out of some jams."

"He kept the ball down," said Beasley.
"He got into a little jam, but he got out of it OK. He did pretty good damage control. He didn't hurt himself."

Ben Shaffar relieved Connolly in the sixth inning, followed by Jeff Miller, who made his Class AA debut.
Shaffar allowed an unearned run in the seventh.
Miller struck out two in a perfect ninth.

NOTES
Nicholson's third-inning RBI double scored Thomas with the tying run.
Bonifay's second-inning blast was the first earned run given up by Alvarez in his professional career - the Portland left-hander had worked 19 successive scoreless innings to start his career last season while at Lowell (short-season New York-Penn League).