--Haigwood
makes return trip to CBPDaniel Haigwood is anxious
for his return engagement to Citizens Bank Park tonight
The left-hander gets the starting assignment for the Reading Phillies
when they meet the Altoona Curve in an Eastern League game on
the Philadelphia Phillies' home field
For most of the Reading team, playing at CBP will be a first
Only center fielder Michael Bourn, infielder Carlos Leon and pitcher
Allen Davis were on the roster last season when the Phils beat
the Trenton Thunder 5-3 May 9 in Philadelphia
Haigwood, of course, wasn't with the Phillies last season
He and Gio Gonzalez came over from the Chicago White Sox as part
of an offseason trade for Jim Thome
It was that trade, made the day before Thanksgiving, that first
brought Haigwood to Citizens Bank Park
To complete the deal, the Phillies needed Haigwood, Gonzalez and
Aaron Rowand to take a physical
They were summoned to Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Day
It was during that visit that Haigwood got a chance to visit the
mound and get a good look around at the place he someday hopes
to call home
“It was really a great feeling to be out there” Haigwood
said
The 22-year-old is hoping for a more lasting impression tonight
After a superb Double-A debut last season for the White Sox at
Birmingham, when he went 6-1 with a 1.74 ERA in 11 starts, he
has struggled at times in the Eastern League
Through his first nine starts he had just one win and a 4.60 ERA
He has turned things around in his last three starts
He took a one-hit shutout into the eighth inning Wednesday against
Binghamton, and had allowed just two runs over a twenty inning
stretch and three starts before fading in the eighth last time
out
Still, he again went without a win
He realized a week ago that his turn would come on the big league
mound
“I'm trying not to think about it, because I don't want to
get too excited and get nervous and stuff like that” Haigwood
said
“It's definitely an honor to pitch there
It's nice to be starting on that day
I've just got to take it like I'm throwing anywhere else, not
make too much of it”
Even with a veteran team such as Reading's, the adrenaline is
sure to be flowing tonight
“If they love the game like they should” Reading manager
P.J. Forbes said, “it should be very exciting (for them),
because that's what they're all striving for is to play there
every day
The atmosphere, the surroundings, are what you're dreaming about”
The Result
Phillies - 5 runs
to 4
The Curve - Year-to-Date
36 won and 26 lost
Brett's Position and
the Batting Order
Playing - Leftfield
Batting - #3
At the end of the Game
1 hit from 5 at-bats
- single, 1 x run-batted-in
Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - low
"That ball is grounded to the right side and it should be
a routine play and it is as the second-baseman makes the out at
first base and the innings is over"
Grounded out to second
base - 4 to 3
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Ball - up and in
Ball - curve ball - a bit low
Foul ball
Ball - outside
Foul ball - lined into leftfield but foul
"That is hit back past the pitcher who can't get to it but
the shortstop gets across to make the play for the first out of
the innings"
Grounded out to shortstop
- 6 to 3
Third at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at third base - none down
"Roneberg jumps on that first pitch and drives it into centrefield
and the runner is coming home to score the Curve's second run
of the ballgame"
Single to centrefield
- 1 x RBI
Advanced to second base on a walk
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Fourth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Called strike - fast ball
"There's a tapper towards the Phillies second-baseman who
gathers it up and throws across to first base for the first out
of the innings"
Grounded out to second
base - 4 to 3
Fifth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Called strike
"That's a ground ball to third base and the fielder gets
it and throws across the diamond for the first out of the innings"
Grounded out to third base
- 5 to 3
Heard during the game
Photos during the game
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Email from Brett
Game Reports
The Altoona Curve fought out of an early 3-0
hole against the Reading Phillies to force extra innings, but
eventually lost 5-4 at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia
The defeat marked the eighth loss in the last eleven games for
Altoona who are now four games out of first place
Reading led off the tenth inning with back-to-back doubles off
of reliever Brandon Knight to drop the Curve to 0-2 in major league
stadiums
The Curve fell to the Erie SeaWolves in 2004 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh
The Curve trailed after each of the first eight innings before
tying the game in the ninth frame
Craig Stansberry led off the ninth inning with a single up the
middle, but was thrown out at second base when Dave Parrish’s
sacrifice bunt attempt was unsuccessful
The Curve catcher would advance to third base on a fielding error
by the Phillies’ Angel Chavez
Brandon Chaves singled Parrish home to tie the game and send it
to extra innings
Chavez would make up for his miscue with a two-bagger to left
field in the tenth inning
Pinch hitter Brandon Gemoll followed with a double of his own
to score the game-winning tally
Joey Hammond had a monster game for the Phillies, finishing 4-for-5
with a homerun and three RBI
Hammond’s solo shot came in the first inning off of Curve
starter Ron Chiavacci who made his first start in an Altoona uniform
Chiavacci gave up four runs on nine hits in five innings pitched,
but was taken off the hook when Parrish scored in the ninth to
tie the score
Reading starter Daniel Haigwood allowed just two earned runs in
six innings pitched, but earned a no-decision
Chris Key, who was replaced by Gemoll when the Phillies were batting
in the tenth, recovered from his first blown save of the year
to pick up his first win of the year
Ray Sadler hit a homerun in the fourth inning to score the Curve’s
first run of the game and cut the Phillies’ lead to 3-1
Altoona would follow with single-run innings in the sixth, seventh
and ninth frames to tie the ballgame and send it into extras
The Curve return home to take on the Harrisburg Senators on Tuesday
at Blair County Ballpark at 7.05pm
Matt Peterson (3-4) will start for the Curve against Beltran Perez
(3-1)
There will be pre-game karaoke on the Party Deck and a fireworks
show presented by the US Army following the game
Brandon Gemoll had never been on a Major League
field before Monday night
Now after one at-bat, the Phillies' Minor Leaguer will never forget
his first time
Gemoll doubled home the winning run in the tenth inning as Reading
topped Altoona, 5-4, at Citizens Bank Park, home of the parent
club Phillies
"The whole day was great" Gemoll said
"This was just icing on the cake"
The infielder, in his first year with the Phillies organization,
grew up in San Jose, Calif., watching Giants and Athletics games
He had never been on a Major League field with the exception of
Spring Training
And he almost didn't get his chance
The Curve battled back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the game in the
top of the ninth
With a man on first, Javier Guzman's potential game-ending double-play
ball was booted by Phillies shortstop Angel Chavez
Brandon Chaves singled in the tying run two batters later
Playing just 60 miles from Reading, the Phillies didn't let the
3,636 "home" fans go home disappointed
Chavez made up for his
blunder, opening the 10th with a double to left
Once Gemoll's drive drifted away from Curve left fielder Brett
Roneberg, Chavez cruised home with the winning run
Must have been the manager's advice
"I said 'hit a double and drive him in'" R-Phils skipper
P.J. Forbes said after the game
While the Phillies showed their ability to get the big hit late,
they also came out swinging early
They broke out the lumber against Curve starter Ron Chiavacci,
playing his first game since being sent down from Triple-A Indianapolis
The Phillies tallied multiple hits in each of the first four innings
en route to four early runs
One big reason was third baseman Joey Hammond, who went 4-for-4
with a solo home run and three RBI's
"It's an opportunity you don't get very often" Hammond
said
"You have to try to take advantage of it"
Hammond was set up twice by speedy center fielder Michael Bourn,
who stole second base in the second and fourth innings, setting
the stage for Hammond's two RBI singles
"I love hitting behind him" Hammond said
"It makes my job a lot easier"
While Hammond has never played in the Majors, he had a bit more
experience on a big league field than Gemoll
The Frederick, Md., native played in his state's High School All-Star
game in 1995 at the Orioles' Camden Yards
And like the rest of the players on both teams, he hopes to have
plenty more memories from Major League ballparks by the time his
career is over
It was an odd game in many ways, this second
encounter at Citizens Bank Park for the Reading Phillies
That it would lurch into the tenth inning before back-to-back
doubles by Angel Chavez and .198-hitting pinch hitter Brandon
Gemoll would nail down a 5-4 victory over the Altoona Curve Monday
night before 4,723 was only fitting
Errors by Chavez, a former major league shortstop, led to two
unearned runs - after the Phillies had turned three double plays
behind starter Daniel Haigwood
A missed call by the home plate umpire - again! - cost the Phillies
two runs
And once again Haigwood - the unluckiest of all Phillies - was
denied a victory despite pitching well
Manager P.J. Forbes had instructed lefty-hitting Gemoll to advance
the runner by pulling the ball to the right side, good advice
for the no-out situation
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice
and men
"I tried to do that" Gemoll said about a pitch that
was down and away and
wound up slicing past left fielder Brett Roneberg, "but it worked anyway
It feels great right now
To come here and take batting practice, to take fielding, it was
amazing
I had never played in a big league park before"
"They're not going to let you beat them on pull side at the
end of the game" Forbes suggested
Chavez said he was sitting on a slider from reliever Brandon Knight
(0-1), and that's what he got, ripping it down the left-field
line to start the inning
"All that matters is that we won the game" Chavez said
"He (Gemoll) picked me up with that double, and that's all
that counts"
About his critical second error in the ninth, on a double-play
ball hit to the left of the bag, he said, "That's a routine
play you have to make
But the ball took a funny hop and they scored the run"
Behind homers by Joey Hammond (4-for-5, three RBIs) and Tim Moss
- his team-high seventh - the Phillies jumped out to 3-0 and 4-1
leads
The lead was 4-2 in the sixth when the Phillies loaded the bases
with two outs
Matt Padgett ripped a shot down the left-field line that clearly
drew chalk
Home plate umpire Chris Conroy incorrectly signaled it foul, drawing
objections from Padgett and Forbes
Television replays clearly showed the call was blown
The call cost the Phillies at least two runs
"Everybody in the ballpark knew it drew chalk" Forbes
said
"It's a shame
Padge put a good swing on it
I told him (Conroy) if I wasn't positive I wouldn't be down here
at home plate saying anything"
Ray Sadler's homer in the fourth, his seventh of the season, accounted
for the Curve's first run
Vic Butler led off the
sixth with his twelfth triple and came across on Roneberg's single
to center
The triple, off the glove of left fielder Gary Burnham as he met
the wall, is the most in minor league baseball and sets a franchise
record
An error and a Javier Guzman double chased Haigwood in the seventh,
when the Curve cut the lead to 4-3
Then Chavez's second error set up the tying run delivered by Brandon
Chaves, his twelfth RBI against the Phillies, and twenty-eighth
of the season
Haigwood once again failed to get a victory despite pitching well
He allowed two earned runs and seven hits in six-plus innings,
with four strikeouts and three walks
He has not won since April 18, a stretch of ten starts
The victory went to Chris Key (1-0), who allowed only unearned
run in the ninth in his three innings of work
"We swung the bats as well as we have swung them all year"
Forbes said about the thirteen hit attack
"I was real happy with the way we swung the bats"
Notes
Monday night was the first appearance of the season for the regular
umpiring crew - minor league umpires throughout the game recently
agreed to terms basically for a $100 a month raise - crews made
up mostly of college umpires had been filling in, and not always
successfully
Altoona began the night leading the Eastern League in runs (4.9
per game), second in batting (.268) and home runs (51)
Altoona right-hander Franklin Perez is a former Phillie (2002,
04)
The Curve have played 14 of their last 17 on the road - they are
6-13 in their last 19 on the road
Altoona pinch-hitter Rafael Alvarez lost a nine-game hitting streak
when he struck out in the ninth for the second out of the inning
Even playing at a Major League ballpark failed
to lift the Curve’s spirits Monday night
Altoona rallied in the ninth inning to tie the game against Reading
at Citizens Bank Ballpark, only to lose a heart-breaker, 5-4,
on a walkoff RBI double in the tenth inning
The Curve have lost eight of their last eleven games and thirteen
of their last nineteen on the road
‘‘When you get left on the field and you lose one-run
games, it’s always disappointing’’ Altoona manager
Tim Leiper said
‘‘That’s just the way baseball is
Sometimes it hurts
Sometimes it rips your heart out’’
The Curve entered the ninth inning trailing, 4-3, having wasted
scoring opportunities all night
They finally broke through with a little help from the Phillies
With a runner on and one out, Javier Guzman hit what looked to
be a game-ending, double-play grounder to Reading shortstop Angel
Chavez
The ball skipped off Chavez’s glove into shallow right field,
putting runners on first and third
With two outs, Brandon Chaves slapped a groundball to right field
to tie the game, drawing groans from the home crowd of 3,636
‘‘We weren’t able to capitalize on those situations
early, but we did at the very end’’ reliever Brandon
Knight said
‘‘We were able to scrap back’’
There would be no happy ending for Altoona on this night, however
Knight (0-1) shut down the Phillies in the bottom half of the
frame to send the game to extra innings, but Chavez and pinch-hitter
Brandon Gemoll opened the tenth inning with back-to-back doubles
to end the game
‘‘It’s obviously disheartening and you don’t
want that kind of stuff like that to happen, but it is one game
and we’ve still got a hell of a lot more to go’’
Knight said quietly
‘‘You kind of have to put this one behind you and be
ready to pitch tomorrow’’
Chris Key (1-0) blew the save for the Phillies but earned the
win with three innings of relief
Things did not look promising for Altoona early, as Ron Chiavacci,
making his first Double-A start of the season, struggled through
his five-inning start, allowing four runs on nine hits
The right-hander walked one and struck out three
The newest member of what has lately become a revolving door of
a rotation, Chiavacci joined the team Sunday from Triple-A after
pitching to 2-3 record and 5.34 ERA in Indianapolis
‘‘It makes a difference, you know’’ Leiper
said
‘‘The biggest thing is, you don’t know the players
and players don’t know me as a manager
When you do that, sometimes players pitch or play a little bit
tentative
I don’t think it’s really been a big problem here yet,
but it is a lot nicer, you have a lot more benefits when everybody’s
been together’’
Chiavacci left after the fifth with the Curve trailing, 4-1, but
they began chipping back, one run at a time
Vic Buttler sparked a rally in the sixth inning by leading off
with a triple off the left-field wall
Reading left fielder Gary Burnham backtracked all the way to the
wall and appeared as though he might catch the ball, but he crashed
into the wall at the last second
‘‘My eyes just lit up when I saw the ball fall and I
was thinking, you know, three’’ Buttler said
‘‘I just tried to turn the burners on and try to get
in there safely’’
With his twelfth double, Buttler tied a single-season franchise
record set by Tike Redman in 1999 and leads all of Minor League
Baseball in that category
However, the speedy center fielder found little pleasure in tying
the record in a loss
‘‘It’s pretty tough’’ Buttler said
‘‘I wasn’t even thinking about any type of record
or anything. I just was going out there, playing to win, you know,
just trying to do what I can do to help the team come out on top
Unfortunately, we lost a tough one today’’
Altoona can blame some of that on the double play
They failed to mount any serious threat against Reading starter
Daniel Haigwood, who induced three double plays to end the third,
fifth and sixth innings
‘‘The double plays you can’t control’’
Leiper said
‘‘The guys were in good positions, they got good pitches
to hit and they hit the ball
They just happened to hit the ball hard at people
Honestly, four runs and you know, playing the way we played tonight,
we had a good chance to win’’
Around the Curve
Minor League Baseball’s umpires returned for the first time
this season to call Monday’s game
Had it not been for a timely phone call from
the Philadelphia Phillies in early May, Brandon Gemoll was planning
to spend his summer touring the independent Central League with
the Coastal Bend Aviators
Unlike comedian W.C. Fields, all in all he'd rather be in Philadelphia
Gemoll, among the unlikeliest of heroes on Reading's ever-changing
roster, came off the bench to stroke a tenth-inning double to
drive home Angel Chavez and give the Phillies a 5-4 Eastern League
victory over the Altoona Curve Monday night at Citizens Bank Park
The finish was a thrill for all the Phillies (26-36), who lost
a bunch of games like this early in the season
But it was especially rewarding for the 25-year-old Gemoll, who
was released by the Milwaukee Brewers during spring training and
who has struggled to find his stroke since joining Reading on
May 8
“Just being able to come here and take batting practice and
take infield out on the field and to see it was great” Gemoll
said of the Philadelphia Phillies' home park
“I've been to some big league parks, but I've never been
on the field anywhere
It was amazing
I had a great time”
Gemoll entered the game as a pinch hitter for winning pitcher
Chris Key after Chavez had opened the tenth with a double
Reading manager P.J. Forbes pulled Gemoll aside and offered instructions
to hit the ball to the right side in order to advance the runner
Gemoll, of course, didn't listen
He punched a sinking
liner to left that barely eluded the glove of tumbling left fielder
Brett Roneberg
The ball rolled to the wall and the Phillies poured onto the field
to mob Gemoll
“I actually did the opposite of what he told me” Gemoll
said sheepishly of his instructions
“I was trying to pull it to move the runner - and did the
exact opposite, right to the other line
It worked out, but it wasn't what was supposed to happen”
Forbes' version of the conversation, of course, was somewhat different
“I said hit a double and drive him in” the manager said
with a sly smile
The Phillies appeared to have a firm grasp on this one well before
the tenth
Joey Hammond and Tim Moss homered in the first two innings, and
the Phils battered former Kutztown righty Ron Chiavacci with nine
hits over five innings to build a 4-1 lead
They led 4-2 in the sixth and appeared to have broken it open
when Matt Padgett, batting with the bases loaded, sent a scalding
liner over the third base bag and down the line
Home plate ump Chris Conroy, on his first day back on the job
after minor league umps returned to work following a season-long
strike, called it foul
That set off a throng of protests from the pro-Phillies crowd,
not to mention Forbes
“I think everybody in the ballpark knew that it drew chalk”
Forbes said
“I saw white grass fly up”
Padgett flied out to deep center to end the threat
The Curve came back with runs in the seventh and ninth, both set
up by errors by Chavez, the shortstop
Those errors cost starting pitcher Daniel Haigwood, who went the
first six, a chance for his second victory
Of course, they also helped set up one the most dramatic and enjoyable
finishes the Phillies have experienced this season
“Our whole thing was to have fun tonight” Forbes said
“and I really believe they did”