The Result
Phillies - 9 runs to 7
Thirteen innings

The Curve - Year-to-Date
18 won and 11 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - First base
Batting - #3

At the end of the Game
2 hits from 6 at-bats - 2 x singles, 2 x runs scored, 1 x walk, 1 x strike out

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Ball - fast ball - outside
Called strike - curve ball - on the outside corner
Called strike - curve ball - "that was a beauty!!!"
Ball - slider - down and away
"That is a slow roller out towards second base and the fielder has only one play and that is to second base to get the lead runner"
Safe at first base - fielder's choice
Advanced to second base on a walk
Scored on a hit
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Called strike - fast ball - on the outside corner
Called strike - curve ball - at the knees
Ball - down and in
Ball - fast ball - high
Ball - fast ball low
Foul ball - change up - down the first base side
"And there is a line drive into left-centre field for a base hit"
Single to leftfield
Advanced to second base on a hit
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Third at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Called strike - slider - at the knees
"That's a ground ball back to the mound and it is handled by the pitcher for the out"
Ground out - 1 to 3
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
"Roneberg hits that first pitch well into rightfield but the fielder is going back and makes the catch near the warning track"
Fly out to rightfield - F8
Fifth at-bat
Left/Righthanded pitcher (???)
Runner at second base - none down
Ball - low
Ball - fast ball - outside
Ball - low
Ball - "and that pitch was way outside"
(Sharon and I reckon this was an "unintentional-intentional" walk!!! - the Reading Phillies were leading and the score was 7 runs to 5 with none out in the bottom of the ninth and Brett was the potential tying run!!! - the pitcher and catcher had a talk before the first pitch to Brett - it was like they didn't want to put anything near the plate that Brett could get hold of!!!)
Walk
Advanced to second base on a walk to the next hitter
Went to third base on a sacrifice fly
Scored on another sacrifice fly
Sixth at-bat
Left/Righthanded pitcher (???)
Runners at first and second base - one down - it was the bottom of the tenth inning and the score was seven-all!!! - the runner at second base was the potential winning run!!!
Foul ball - down the leftfield side
Called strike - fast ball
Swing and a miss - "and that was a good curve ball"
Strike out
Seventh at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Called strike - fast ball
Foul ball - back over the screen
"That's a line drive back up the middle and into centrefield for a hit and Roneberg continues to deliver"
Single to centrefield
Out at second base on a double play hit by the next batter

Heard during the game

(#01) As Brett came in for his first at-bat, the commentator said - "And the red-hot Brett Roneberg now stands in ...... he went only 1-for-4 last night, but he hit every ball very hard"

(#02) After his hit in his second at-bat, he said - "That hit extends Brett's hitting streak to eleven games ...... and that is the longest active streak in the entire Eastern League"

(#03) During Brett's third at-bat, the commentator said - "I was talking to the Reading Phillies pitching coach during batting practise today ...... he said that Roneberg "absolutely crushed" the ball all four times in last night's game"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

The Reading Phillies (13-14) scored twice in the thirteenth inning to defeat the Altoona Curve (18-11) at Blair County Ballpark on Saturday, 9-7

The Curve tied the game in the ninth but couldn’t push across the winning run, losing in extra innings for the first time in 2006

Vic Buttler returned from a concussion suffered on May 1 to collect four hits and two RBI

The Phillies broke a 7-7 tie in the top of the 13th with two runs and used two pitchers to hold off the Curve in their final at-bat for the victory

Jesus Merchan scored the go ahead run on an RBI single by John Castellano after leading off the frame with a double down the left field line

For the second game in a row, Reading overcame an early deficit to beat Altoona
The Curve jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but after the Phillies answered with five runs in the third, the Curve could never regain the advantage despite pulling even in the ninth inning

Luke Lockwood earned his first victory of the season for Reading despite also picking up a blown save after allowing the sacrifice fly that scored the game-tying run in the ninth inning
Lockwood allowed one hit and struck out four in 3-2/3 innings pitched

Matt Sweeney earned the save when he came in for an injured Adam Shafer to face the final batter of the game

Trailing by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Curve loaded the bases with nobody out after Craig Stansberry doubled to left-field and Brett Roneberg and Adam Boeve both drew walks
A pair of sacrifice flies by Rafael Alvarez and Brandon Chaves wrapped around a Buttler walk tied the game

Curve starting pitcher Josh Shortslef earned a no-decision despite being roughed up for nine hits and five earned runs in five innings of work

Reading’s starter Daniel Haigwood also received a no-decision; the left-hander lasted six innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits and struck out four

Reading used five base hits, including a two-run homerun by John Castellano to pull ahead of Altoona in the third inning
Carlos Leon also drove in two runs in the frame after ripping a double down the left field line

The Phillies’ lead would grow to as large as four runs before the Curve knotted the score at seven to send the contest to extra innings

Rafael Alvarez started the scoring with an RBI single to left and later came around to score with Adam Boeve on a two-RBI double from Buttler that made the score 3-0 after one
In Friday’s game, the Curve scored four times in the first inning, but couldn’t hang on, falling to the Phillies 7-5

Roneberg extended his consecutive games hitting streak to 11 games, the longest such streak for the Curve this year

Peter Bergeron drove in three runs for the Phillies who pulled ahead in the season series against Altoona, 3-2, and pulled even in the all-time series between the two franchises, 71-71

The Curve will try to avoid a series sweep in Sunday’s game at Blair County Ballpark
First pitch is set for 3.05pm
Right-Hander Jason Roach(2-2, 1.59) make the start for Altoona, and will be opposed by star prospect Gio Gonzalez (1-1, 2.45)

It is very appropriate that Blair County Ballpark is situated adjacent to an amusement park
Saturday night's Eastern League game was a roller coaster ride for the Reading Phillies
John Castellano's RBI single in the 13th inning gave the Phillies a wild 9-7 win over the Altoona Curve

The Phillies (13-14) have their first three-game winning streak of the season

Altoona (18-11) has dropped three straight games

For the second straight night, the Phillies fell behind early as the Curve scored three times in the first inning

But Reading roared back with five in the third
Carlos Leon had a two-run double and Castellano followed with a two-run homer to put the Phillies up 4-3
Peter Bergeron (4 hits) added an RBI single later in the inning

Bergeron's two-run single in the seventh made it 7-3

Altoona scored single runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings before getting two sacrifice flies in the ninth to tie the game

The Phillies nearly took the lead with two outs in the 12th but Bergeron was thown out at home by Rafael Alvarez on Tim Gradoville's single to left

In the 13th, Jesus Merchan led off with a double to left
He moved to third on Michael Bourn's grounder to first
After Leon (10-game hitting streak) was hit by a pitch, Castellano singled to center
When the ball eluded Vic Buttler for an error, Leon was able to score all the way from first

Luke Lockwood (1-2) earned the win by tossing 3-2/3 scoreless innings of one-hit relief
He struck out four

Jorge Vasquez (0-1) took the loss

Adam Shafer got the first two outs in the last of the 13th but left with an injury after falling behind Alvarez 2-0
Matt Sweeney came on and struck out Alvarez on a 3-2 pitch to end the game and earn his first Double-A save

A loss is a loss - and enough bad things have to happen for a team to lose - but clearly some losses are better than others

The Curve did plenty of things wrong in losing 9-7 to Reading in 13 innings Saturday night before 4,463 fans at Blair County Ballpark
They gave up 16 hits, committed three errors and stranded runners on base in key situations
But Altoona, which has dropped three in a row for the first time this season, also did a handful of clutch and exciting things that made this setback a little more bearable

“You don’t hang your head after a loss like tonight because we battled hard, and both teams played well” Curve second baseman Craig Stansberry said

Altoona rallied from a late 7-3 deficit and forced extra innings with two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning

It also ripped 14 hits, four by Vic Buttler and three by Stansberry, and had Brett Roneberg run his hitting streak to 11 games

Then there were the two fantastic defensive plays in the extra innings
Left fielder Rafael Alvarez helped the Curve stay alive with a pinpoint throw to the plate to gun down Peter Bergeron in the 12th
Tim Gradoville’s hard single bounced high to Alvarez, who fired a strike to catch Octavio Martinez for the third out
Shortstop Brandon Chaves also made a highlight-reel play, diving to his left to snare a line drive by Michael Bourn and end the 10th inning

“The whole thing’s positive” Curve manager Tim Leiper said
“Obviously you want to win the game, but we put ourselves right back in it
“That was exciting when you look at all the stuff that happened - the big hits, the big plays, Alvarez throwing out the guy at the plate, us making pitches when we needed to
That game had a little bit of everything, and the people that stuck around saw a little bit of everything”

They also saw Reading spoil the Curve’s night with a pair of runs in the 13th off reliever Javier Vasquez (0-1)
Jesus Merchan opened the decisive frame with a double to left and took third on Bourn’s groundout
Vasquez then hit Carlos Leon to put runners at the corners with one out
With the Curve infield playing in, John Castellano lined a single over shortstop to score Merchan with the go-ahead run
Buttler bobbled the ball in center field, and Bourn, one of the league’s fastest runners, scored all the way from first base for a two-run cushion

Luke Lockwood (1-2) picked up the win in relief for Reading

Adam Shafer retired the first two outs in the bottom of the 13th before leaving with an injury, then Matt Sweeney struck out Alvarez to end the game and earn his first save

The Curve had plenty go right in the late innings, but only after seeing a 3-0 first-inning lead turn into a 7-3 deficit
Buttler had a two-run single and Alvarez an RBI single in the first for Altoona

Curve starter Josh Shortslef, looking to go 5-0, couldn’t make it hold up as he allowed five runs on nine hits over five innings
“I just had a bad game really, didn’t feel the groove” said Shortslef, who entered with a 1.86 ERA
“But I’m not going to change anything, just go out and do the same thing every day”

Reading scored five runs in the third, highlighted by a two-run homer by Castellano and two-run double by Leon

The R-Phils made it 7-3 in the seventh when Bergeron, who went 4-for-5, singled home a pair of runs against reliever Jonathan Albaladejo

The Curve stormed back after that, getting an RBI single from Stansberry in the seventh and run-scoring double from pinch-hitter Simon Pond in the eighth to close within 7-5

Altoona loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth off Reading’s Tim McClaskey and tied it with sacrifice flies from Alvarez and Chaves

“This team, it seems like most times we get down we respond” Stansberry said
“It seems like when it’s crunch time, guys have really good at-bats, and when we need a guy on base, we get a lot of clutch at-bats and a lot of clutch hits”

That kind of offense gives the pitching staff reason to be optimistic even when facing a deficit
“Whenever we’re down, it’s never out of my mind that we’re going to come back” Shortslef said
“We have a lot of good sticks on the team, and we never let down”

The Curve started and closed well, but what hurt them the most was the middle of the game

“The only thing I would like us to do is those middle innings, we’ve got to tighten up a little bit in those middle innings” Leiper said
“We probably gave too many at-bats away”