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The Result
Curve - 3 runs
to 1
The Curve - Year-to-Date
24 won and 13 lost
Brett's Position and
the Batting Order
Did Not Play
Playing
Batting - #
At the end of the Game
0 hit from 0 at-bats
Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Heard during the game
Email from Brett
Game Reports
The Altoona Curve defeated the Binghamton Mets
3-1 on Sunday at Blair County Ballpark to complete their second
four-game sweep of the season
The Curve scored a run in each of their first three at-bats to
overcome an early 1-0 deficit and help Landon Jacobsen (5-3) to
his team-high fifth victory of the year
The right-hander tied a season high with 6-1/3 innings pitched,
and allowed just one run on six hits
The victory snapped a personal three-game losing streak for Jacobsen
who had set an Altoona record by winning his first four starts
of the season
He is now tied for the most wins in the Eastern League with Trenton’s
Charlie Manning
Vic Buttler continued his offensive assault, picking up two singles,
a run and an RBI on Sunday
Buttler’s four game total against Binghamton includes seven
hits, three triples, four RBIs and seven runs scored
The Curve would take the lead for good in the second inning, when
Jacobsen scored from second on a two-out single by Buttler
Altoona would add one more in the third frame, to provide the
winning margin
Mets’ starter Michael Pelfrey (0-1) took his first loss as
a professional, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and four
walks
Binghamton grabbed an early lead when Bobby Malek scored on an
infield single by Michel Abreu in the first inning
Altoona would answer in the bottom of the first against star prospect
for the Mets, Pelfrey
Buttler singled and stole a base to get in scoring position and
then crossed the plate after Simon Pond’s sacrifice fly for
his league-leading twenty-third RBI of the year
It was the second four-game sweep of the season for the Curve
Altoona opened the 2006 campaign with a sweep of the Trenton Thunder
The win on Sunday tied a season-long five-game winning streak
for Altoona
Matt Peterson will take the mound at Blair County Ballpark Monday
night at 6.35pm as Altoona continues its homestand with the first
of three games against the Reading Phillies
Left-hander Allen Davis will start for Reading
An early lead quickly evaporated for the Binghamton
Mets, who lost to the Altoona Curve 3-1 at Blair County Ballpark
Sunday
The B-Mets, swept in the four-game series, have lost a season-high
five in a row
In the top of the first, Binghamton (16-21) took advantage of
starter Landon Jacobsen’s wildness, with Bobby Malek and
Wilson Batista drawing back-to-back walks to start the game
After Jorge Padilla hit into a double play, moving Malek to third,
Michel Abreu drove in Malek with an infield single for a 1-0 lead
However, Altoona (24-13) was able to tie the score with a run
off Mike Pelfrey in the bottom of the first thanks to back-to-back
one-out singles by Vic Buttler and Craig Stansberry before Simon
Pond’s sacrifice fly scored Buttler
Altoona took the lead for good in the second when Jacobsen (5-3)
reached on a fielder’s choice, moved to second on Javier
Guzman’s single and scored on Buttler’s base hit to
left-center
The Curve got to Pelfrey (0-1) again in the third when Adam Boeve
led off with a triple before Brandon Chaves drove him home with
a sacrifice fly
Orlando Roman and Eddie Camacho combined for three perfect innings
in relief of Pelfrey, striking out three
Altoona’s Josh Sharpless hurled a scoreless ninth for his
eighth save
Opinions may vary on whether the Curve looked
pretty in pink Sunday, but there’s no question they’re
once again sitting pretty in the standings
“We’re supporting the moms, so we took it in stride”
outfielder Vic Buttler said of the pink jerseys worn by the players
on Mother’s Day
“It was a fun thing after the game to get to auction the
jerseys off”
Making it more fun for the Curve was that the auction, benefiting
the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research and support,
came after a solid performance that finished off a four-game sweep
of Binghamton
Sunday’s 3-1 win before 4,460 fans at Blair County Ballpark
also stretched Altoona’s winning streak to five games and
moved the club back into sole possession of first place in the
Southern Division
“We did a real nice job today” Curve manager Tim Leiper
said
“It’s not easy to sweep anybody anywhere”
It’s been a super start for Altoona, which opened 5-0 and
was in first place 28 of the season’s first 29 days
But the Curve hit a skid recently that saw them drop five of six
games and fall into second place behind Akron
Leiper disputed the team struggled during the stretch, saying
the club simply ran into some good pitching
Now, after winning the finale of a three-game series at Harrisburg
and taking four in a row from the B-Mets, the Curve are a season-high
11 games over .500 and have moved back in front of Akron in the
standings
“That helps a ton” Sunday’s starting pitcher, Landon
Jacobsen, said of the team’s big weekend
“We came out here playing .500 lately, which I mean every
team’s going to do
We’ve got a great team, and .500 ball isn’t that bad
at times”
It certainly wouldn’t be bad for the Curve from here on out
If they go just 52-53 over their final 105 games, they would finish
with 76 wins and almost certainly would make the playoffs
But let’s not get too far ahead of things
“It’s definitely a momentum builder” Buttler said
of the sweep
“We got the ball rolling, got our confidence back”
Sunday’s game nearly got away from the Curve early as Jacobsen
walked the first batter, Bobby Malek, on four pitches, then went
to 2-0 on Wilson Batista
Leiper came out for a quick mound visit to settle down the pitcher
Or so it appeared
“He was fine; he was making good pitches at that point”
Leiper said of Jacobsen
“The visit wasn’t so much about him at that point”
When he was done talking with Jacobsen, Leiper took a few seconds
to chat with the home plate umpire, apparently to discuss some
close pitches that were called balls
The strategy worked, in large part because Jacobsen’s dandy
sinker helped him minimize the damage in the inning
Jorge Padilla grounded into a double play, and even though Malek
scored on Michel Abreu’s infield single, the Curve had to
feel fortunate getting out of the inning down just 1-0
Jacobsen (5-3) was solid after the first, tossing 5-1/3 scoreless
innings for the win
He allowed a run on six hits with three strikeouts and three walks
on the day
“It was a struggle early on” Jacobsen said
“Me and Ray Searage, the pitching coach, we’ve been
working on some new mechanics
I was going to stick with the plan no matter what happened, and
I was falling behind guys early on
I threw a couple of pretty close pitches that were called balls,
and after that kind of fell into a rhythm and made some good pitches”
The Curve offense found a rhythm early against prized Mets right-hander
Mike Pelfrey, rated the game’s No. 36 prospect by Baseball
America
Altoona scored a run each of the first three innings off Pelfrey
(0-1), who allowed seven hits over five innings for the loss
Buttler singled, stole second and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Simon Pond for the Curve in the first
Altoona took the lead for good on Buttler’s RBI single in
the second and added an insurance run in the third as Adam Boeve
tripled and came home on Brandon Chaves’ sacrifice fly
“We took what Pelfrey gave us today” Leiper said
“He’s got a great arm, he’s got good stuff and
he made good pitches, and we just pecked away at him”
Brandon Knight worked 1-2/3 scoreless innings after Jacobsen,
then Josh Sharpless finished it off in the ninth for his eighth
save in as many tries
The jersey auction raised
more than $5,000 for charity, with outfielder Brett Roneberg’s
No. 17 top drawing the top bid of $350