The Result
Curve - 5 runs to 4
Eleven innings

The Curve - Year-to-Date
14 won and 5 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Designated Hitter
Batting - #7

At the end of the Game
2 hits from 5 at-bats - home run, single, 1 x run-batted-in, 1 x run scored

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - two down
Ball
Foul ball - off to the left side
Called strike - "and that pitch was right down the middle"
Ball - "that looked like it caught him on the elbow, but it is just a wild pitch" - runner advanced to second base
Foul ball - "reached out defensively"
"He lifted that high in the air to shallow centrefield and the shortstop/second-baseman moved around to make the catch"
Fly out to shallow centrefield
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - none down
Ball - high and away
"Brett gave that a ride and drove it to deep left-centre but it was caught just shy of the warning track"
Fly out to deep left-centrefield
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runners at first and second base - one down
Called strike - on the outside corner
Foul ball - straight back
"That ball is off the pitcher's glove and it bounces straight to the shortstop who threw to second base to make the force out"
Reached first base on a fielder's choice
Out at second base on a ground ball by the following batter - final out of the inning
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher - Edgar Martinez
Bases empty - one down
"That pitch is crushed to rightfield just to the left of the 375 foot sign and over the eight foot high wall"
"Roneberg homers for his first hit of the 2006 season"
"That run ties up the ball game at four-all and forces the game in to extra innings"
HOME RUN - 1 x RBI and 1 x R (click here for all the details)
(note on the radio broadcast - as mentioned below, I was listening via the Sea Dogs radio - wish I could have heard the call by the Curve commentators!!!)
Fifth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down - the bottom of the eleventh inning and the score was tied at four and this runner at first was the potential winning run!!!
Ball - outside
"Roneberg hits this one into rightfield and the runner goes to third base and now the winning run is just ninety feet away"
Single to rightfield
......and the runner scored on a hit by the next batter - The Curve Win!!!

Heard during the game

(01) As Brett walked in for his first at-bat, the commentator said - "......and now Brett Roneberg makes his return to the Altoona Curve!!!"

(02) He also said - "Brett's web site is amazing!!! - and it chronicles not only his baseball career but his whole life as well"

(03) The bottom of the ninth inning and the Curve were trailing 3 runs to 4 - and as Brett was coming in for his fourth at-bat, the commentator said - "That brings in Roneberg who is a power threat and not the type of batter you would want to face in this situation" - very prophetic, as Brett homered to tie up the game!!!

Email from Brett

Back to playing Baseball!!
And it's about bloody time!!

Game Reports

The Altoona Curve won a thriller on Tuesday evening, topping the Portland Sea Dogs 5-4 in eleven innings

Altoona trailed by three heading into the bottom of the ninth, but home runs from Adam Boeve and Brett Roneberg brought the Curve back and set the stage for Brandon Chaves’ eleventh inning heroics

Josh Shortslef took the mound on Tuesday looking to become the second player in Curve history, and the second Curve player of the season, to win his first four starts of the season
The 24-year old cruised through four innings, but in the fourth back-to-back walks started the frame, and a pair of singles from Portland’s Dustin Brown and Zach Borowiak chased home two Sea Dogs and broke the scoreless tie

The Curve responded quickly, as Alvarez’ round-tripper in the bottom of the frame cut the deficit to 2-1

Shortslef would earn a no-decision, pitching six innings and allowing four hits and fanning four batters

With Jose Vaquedano looking sharp for Portland, allowing only the Alvarez home run through his five-innings of work, and reliever Barry Hertzler keeping the Curve off the scoreboard for his two-innings of work, it looked as though the Sea Dogs would hand the Curve their first back-to-back losses of the season

In the ninth, the Sea Dogs added two insurance runs, courtesy of back-to-back homers from David Bacani and Luis Jimenez, and pushed the lead to 4-1

With closer Edgar Martinez, who came into the game without allowing an earned run on the season, on the mound it looked as though the lead would be insurmountable

But in the bottom of the frame the Curve came firing back
Simon Pond started the rally with a sharply hit single to right
Adam Boeve drew the Curve within one with a two-run blast, and a familiar face to Curve fans, Brett Roneberg, who was making his first start for the Curve since the 2003 season, brought the Curve all the way back with a mammoth home run to right-center that knotted the score at 4-4 and sent the game into extra frames

In the extra sessions, Josh Sharpless (2-0) pitched a perfect tenth and eleventh, to give the Curve the opportunity to win it in the bottom of the eleventh
Alvarez singled to start the frame, and after a Roneberg single put runners on the corners, Chaves’ sent the die-hard fans who remained in the stands home happy, with a single to left center to give the Curve a thrilling 5-4 come-from-behind victory

The Curve will look to take the series finale from the Sea Dogs on Wednesday afternoon at Blair County Ballpark
The first pitch is scheduled for 4.05pm

A miserable night turned magical in a matter of minutes
The Curve have done so pretty impressive things this season in starting 14-5, but Tuesday night’s performance may have topped them all

“Sometimes I say I’m not surprised, but you just can’t ask for that” manager Tim Leiper said after a thrilling 5-4 win over Portland in 11 innings

The Curve trailed 4-1 and had tallied just two hits entering the bottom of the ninth inning

Only a few dozen fans remained at Blair County Ballpark through a 1 hour-58 minute rain delay and some bone-chilling temperatures, and the home team gave those that stuck it out some exciting moments

Portland had just drilled two solo homers in the top of the ninth for the 4-1 edge

The Curve, though, shook that off and drilled two long balls of their own off reliever Edgar Martinez to pull even in the bottom of the ninth
Simon Pond opened the ninth with a single, then Adam Boeve launched a two-run homer to right-center to pull Altoona within 4-3
Brett Roneberg, in his first game of the season after battling back problems, then cracked a homer to right to even it up at 4-4

“I felt pretty good” Roneberg, back with Altoona after playing here in 2003, said
“I was hoping to get at least one hit today, and that was a good one”

Portland seemed to have the game in hand, but once Altoona ripped the two homers, momentum was clearly in the Curve’s favor

Ace reliever Josh Sharpless (2-0), who has yet to allow a run this season, slammed the door on the Sea Dogs for two innings, giving Altoona’s offense some opportunities

The Curve then cashed in behind three hits in the 11th
Rafael Alvarez singled to right before departing for pinch-runner Chaz Lytle
Roneberg followed with another single to right to bring up Brandon Chaves
“Chaves, every night he’s in the middle of something and the game finds him, and right now that’s a great thing” Leiper said
It certainly was great for the Curve this time as Chaves ripped a liner to center off Kevin Frederick (1-2), scoring Lytle from third with the game winner

“We’ve been playing good as a team, and our pitchers battled their butts off” Chaves said
“It’s good to come through”

“Huge” Boeve said
“To come back and then tie it up in the ninth and then pull it out, it was definitely a huge win”

Blair County Ballpark hasn’t always been known as a hitter’s park, but four home runs in the ninth inning alone was one of the more shocking occurrences in the venue’s eight years

“I’m very surprised the way the ball carries here, especially when you get it up in the air” Portland manager Todd Claus said
“I didn’t think home runs were going to be a factor tonight, but they ended up changing the game”

Leiper joked he had a feeling the long ball would be the deciding factor
“We were sitting in the dugout about the fourth inning, and [Travis] Chapman goes, ‘tonight’s game is going to be decided by like a walk, a stolen base, like a bloop single,’ and I was totally kidding and I said, ‘no, we’re going to hit home runs,’” Leiper said
“And I can’t believe we came back and did it
To do it off Martinez, too, the way we did it, that just doesn’t happen
You hit two home runs and score three runs off probably one of the best pitchers in the league, that’s pretty impressive”

Portland carried a 2-1 lead into the ninth, then appeared to put the game away with two solo home runs
Curve reliever Brandon Knight had struck out four straight batters going back to the eighth inning, then David Bacani and Luis Jiminez belted solo shots to make it 4-1

Curve starter Josh Shortslef worked four shutout innings, only to start the fifth with two walks that came back to haunt him
Jiminez and Chad Spann drew free passes, then Dusty Brown singled home Jiminez and Zach Borowiak singled in Spann to make it 2-0

Around the Curve
Shortslef, who got a no-decision, missed a chance to join Landon Jacobsen as the only pitchers in Curve history to go 4-0 after their first four starts of the season
Correction - Portland reliever Craig Hansen set a franchise record with 20-1/3 consecutive scoreless innings but had his streak snapped in the eighth inning Monday against the Curve

Brandon Chaves singled off Kevin Frederick in the bottom of the eleventh inning, leading the Altoona Curve to a 5-4, come-from-behind victory over the Sea Dogs on Tuesday night at Blair County Ballpark

The Curve began their late inning heroics with singles by Rafael Alvarez and Brett Roneberg to set up the game-winner by Chaves

Portland received back-to-back homers by David Bacani and Luis Jimenez in the top of the ninth inning with two outs, extending their lead to 4-1

In the bottom of the ninth, Adam Boeve blasted a two-run homer off Edgar Martinez and Roneberg launched a solo-shot to tie the game

Martinez allowed his first earned runs of the season and took a blown save, preventing Jose Vaquedano from his second Double-A victory

Altoona closer Josh Sharpless worked two perfect innings to earn his second win of the season

Frederick yielded four hits in one inning to take the loss for the Sea Dogs

In Vaquedano’s first career start in Altoona, he allowed one hit over five innings, a solo home run by Alvarez

The Sea Dogs took a 2-0 lead off Altoona starter Josh Shortslef in the fifth inning
Jimenez and Chad Spann began the rally with walks
Dusty Brown and Zach Borowiak had back-to-back run-scoring singles

Barry Hertzler earned his third hold of the season, working two scoreless innings in relief of Vaquedano

Tonight’s game featured an hour and 58 minute rain delay
The final play happened at 11.30pm

Notes
Altoona DH Brett Roneberg last played with the Sea Dogs in 2004 - he was injured all of last season

Brandon Chavez singled home pinch-runner Chaz Lytle in the bottom of the 11th inning Tuesday night to give the Altoona Curve a 5-4 Eastern League victory over the Portland Sea Dogs at Blair County Ballpark

The Curve, off to their best start in franchise history, improved their Southern Division-leading record to 14-5
The Sea Dogs, the defending Northern Division champs, fell to 9-10

Rafael Alvarez singled off of losing pitcher Kevin Frederick to open the 11th
Former Sea Dog Brett Roneberg then singled Lytle to third and Chavez, against a drawn-in infield, laced a single to left-center to send Lytle home with the winner

"On paper, they're the best hitting team in the league" Portland Manager Todd Claus said after the Curve rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the ninth inning
"Give them credit for coming back"

After heavy rains delayed the start of the game by 1 hour 58 minutes, pitchers dominated for eight innings

Temperatures dipped into the low-40s during the delay and both teams struggled at the plate - until the ninth inning
Then, holding a 2-1 lead, Portland got what looked like some insurance against reliever Brandon Knight when David Bacani and Luis Jiminez smacked back-to-back home runs over the center-field fence with two outs

That 4-1 advantage was short-lived, however, as the Curve, who had only two hits entering the ninth, tied the score against closer Edgar Martinez, who gave up a two-run homer to Adam Boeve and a tying solo shot to Roneberg
It was Roneberg's first start since being sidelined by back problems in spring training

"I'm very surprised the way the ball carries here, especially when you get it up in the air" Claus said
"I didn't think home runs were going to be a factor tonight, but they ended up changing the game
You've got to give their hitters credit
They got some fastballs out over the plate, up in the zone, and they put good swings on them"

The Sea Dogs broke a scoreless tie with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth, on two walks and two singles
Jiminez and Chad Spann drew walks to open the inning, then Dusty Brown and Zach Borowiak followed with back-to-back singles to give the Sea Dogs a 2-0 advantage

Altoona got one back in its half of the fifth when Alvarez smashed an opposite-field homer over the left-field wall, breaking up Jose Vaquedano's no-hitter

Josh Sharpless, the third Altoona pitcher, tossed a pair of scoreless innings to get his second victory

Notes
Although the crowd was listed at 3,367, there probably weren't more than 200 or 300 people in the stands when the game started at 8.33pm

Hey Geoff

How about them Curve?

Exciting comeback win tonight, and Brett made his debut back in Altoona a memorable one indeed
Tied the game with his first homer, and singled the winning run to third in the 11th inning
Very big win!

The best part was, Brett and Rafael Alvarez were signing autographs before the game, and as I am usually one of the first fans into the ballpark, I was the first to greet him, and welcome him back to the Curve
Took his picture and talked to him a little before more fans lined up for autographs

He said his was anxious to get to playing ball, and that he thought we had a great team for '06

When he said he was DHing tonight, I wished him well in his debut, and boy, did he ever come through!!
I must have been physic, because I told him, since Travis Chapman was on the shelf for awhile, we needed him for some pop in the line-up
He didn't take long to provide some!!

Rainy cold night at the ballyard, and during the two hour rain delay, a lot of people went home, but those of us who are diehard fans stayed and saw a great game

Looks like it could be a banner year for the Altoona Curve, and I can't wait to get to the ballyard for the next game

Brett's off to a great start and with the rest of the guys really playing great all-around baseball, it should be a fun summer at Blair County Ballpark

You take care, Geoff, and the best to you and yours
Will keep you up to date on Brett and the Curve

Ed