Starling Enjoying Time in Altoona

The journey through the minor leagues is anything but glamorous
Just ask Curve newcomer Wardell Starling who was promoted from Class-A Lynchburg on June 19
“It’s not easy, but it’s a lot of fun” said Starling, a week after his move from Lynchburg to Altoona
“No matter what level you are at, everyone is working to get better and better“
Working in such exotic locations as Topeka, Idaho Falls and Batavia, baseball players follow the instructions of their coaches and work on specific baseball skills, general conditioning, and emotional maturity
Hours are long
Players pack and carry their own luggage for long bus trips to games
Many hold additional jobs in the off-season to make ends meet, which can be hard to do on a salary of about $180/week
Satisfaction is low in the minors, but players enjoy a strong sense of camaraderie with other aspiring major leaguers
Many players, like Wardell, remain late after practices and games to work on skills, weight training, and conditioning
“You have to stay focused, because every level is a completely new game” noted Starling on the difference between Single-A and Double-A
“You think you know the game, but when you get to a new level, it completely changes
The pitching is the biggest difference I’ve noted so far here in Altoona”
Starling, a 23-year old from Houston, TX joins a highly talented Curve pitching staff, which features a number of hurlers that could get the call from Pittsburgh any day of the week
“That’s the most exciting part to me” said Starling
“When you reach the Double-A level, you can get the call at anytime
That’s what pushes me to work on my game and stay sharp
I’m also excited to be here so I can get the chance to hit” laughed Starling
The 6-4, 205 pound Starling is constantly the first one out of the clubhouse for practice and can be seen running laps around the warning track during off-time
The right hander has succeeded everywhere he’s pitched previous to Altoona, and hopes to continue his climb towards his goal of PNC Park in Pittsburgh
At the age of 12, Starling led Spring (TX) Northwest 45 Little League to the 1995 Little League World Series Championship Game, where his team lost to Chinese Taipei
A couple years later as a high school senior, Starling went 12-0 with a 1.98 ERA to lead Elkins High School to a 35-1 record, the Texas 5A state championship and a season-ending #1 ranking by USA Today
Starling spent the entire season with Lynchburg in 2005 and went 10-10 with a 5.22 ERA in 28 starts
Prior to 2005, Starling was at low-A Hickory, pitching for the Crawdads
“Hopefully my time here in Altoona is successful” says Starling
“All I can do is work hard, stay focused, pitch well and wait for that phone call”

Workin' for the Weekend

Altoona is 15-6 this season in weekend home games at Blair County Ballpark
The Curve are 5-2 on Friday’s, 4-4 on Saturdays and a perfect 6-0 in Sunday home games
The fans most likely pay a major factor in the Curve’s weekend successes
Last night a season high 8,814 fans cheered on the Curve in what was the fifth largest turnout ever for a Curve baseball game

Just Missed It

Shane Youman entered today just 3.0 innings shy of qualifying for the league leas in ERA at 1.63
According to Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), pitchers must have a minimum of .8 IP per games played by their club to qualify for the leaderboard in ERA
Because the Curve have played 79 games, Youman needed 63.2 innings to rank as today’s league leader in ERA
For the season, the 26-year old left-hander has allowed just 11 ER in 60.2 innings pitched

Awfully Close

The Curve’s fourth annual "Awful Day" quickly approaching
On July 13th, the Curve family would like to welcome everyone to the ballpark for a night full of awful promotions, giveaways and entertainment
Be sure to catch all the action in the Curve’s first game after the All-Star break and an awful night you’re sure to never forget
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 877-99-CURVE, or by visiting the box office

The Result
Curve - 1 runs to 0
---------------Ten innings

The Curve - Year-to-Date
47 won and 33 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Designated hitter
Batting - #4

At the end of the Game
0 hit from 4 at-bats - 1 x strike out

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
(radio was stop/start - but I think this pitch sequence is right)
Runner at first base - two down
Ball - high
Called strike
Foul ball
Foul ball
Ball
Foul ball - "that is hit down the rightfield line but it has a bit too much air and it is hooking foul"
Ball - downstairs
"That ball is hit back up the middle but the Aeros' second-baseman gets across to it and makes a fantastic play to get Roneberg at first base for the final out of the innings"
Ground out to second base - 4 to 3
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
(radio was stop/start - but I think this pitch sequence is right)
Led off the innings
Foul ball - back and off the screen
Foul ball - "and Roneberg just gets a piece of that and fouls it back"
Ball - outside
Ball
Ball
"And Roneberg swings and misses at that fastball ...... the pitch appeared to be high and a bit outside and he just couldn't catch up with it"
Strike out
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Ball - "and the runner got a good jump and he slides into second base ahead of the tag and the Curve have a runner in scoring position for Roneberg"
Called strike - on the outside corner
"That is lifted into shallow centrefield and the fielder circles and makes the catch and the runner remains at second base"
Fly out to centrefield - F8
Fourth at-bat
(did not hear - the following details are from the "play-by-play" report)
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings - and it was the bottom of the ninth innings with the score 0-0!!!
Brett Roneberg grounds out, shortstop Ivan Ochoa to first baseman Ryan Mulhern
Simon Pond grounds out, second baseman Eider Torres to first baseman Ryan Mulhern
Pitcher Change: Travis Foley replaces Juan Lara
Ray Sadler strikes out swinging
Ground out to shortstop - 6 to 3

Heard during the game

(#01) During Brett's second at-bat, the commentator said - "Coming in to tonight's game, Brett was batting .296 which is good enough for seventh in the Eastern League ...... and he is also tied for fifth in the League with fourty-four runs scored"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

With chants of “Free the Frank, Free the Frank” echoing throughout the stands of an energized Blair County Ballpark, newly acquired Brian Bixler hit a walk-off, bases loaded single in the bottom of the tenth to lead the Altoona Curve to a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Akron Aeros Sunday night

Brandon Knight earned the win after pitching two shutout innings of relief, striking out four of the seven batters he faced

Catcher Dave Parrish led off the tenth with an infield single off the leg of Akron reliever Travis Foley
After a Brant Ust bunt single and an intention walk to Javier Guzman to load the bases, Bixler stepped up and chopped a hard single over the heads of the drawn-in infield

It was Bixler’s third RBI since joining the Curve on June 19th

Although receiving no decisions, both starting pitchers were firing on all cylinders on Sunday
Throughout the game, batters on both sides looked uncomfortable as they struggled consistently

Other than the Curve tenth, neither team was able to send more than four batters to the plate in any inning all night

Altoona starter Shane Youman continued his dominance from the pitchers mound Sunday night, allowing only three hits in seven innings of work
Youman, who never allowed more than four batters in an inning, has only allowed one run in his last two starts
Youman has not lost since May 20

For Akron, starter Sean Smith fared just as well. Smith lasted seven shutout innings, allowing only five hits while striking out five
The Concord, CA native is still looking a win after he suffered his first loss of the year back on June 22nd

Akron had their best chance to score in the seventh inning after first baseman Ryan Mulhern led off with a leadoff double
After a sacrifice bunt moved Mulhern over to third, Youman settled down and retired the next to batters to end the threat

Akron stranded five men on base

The nine-batter, second baseman Javier Guzman, had two of Altoona’s eight hits
Guzman doubled to left in his first at bat, and singled in his second
The switch hitting, 26-year old is now batting .250 on the year

Altoona and Akron will wrap up their four-game series tomorrow evening at 7.05pm
Landon Jacobsen (7-6, 3.44) will take the mound for the Curve against Akron right hander Dan Denham (4-0, 3.09)

In celebration of Fourth of July weekend, a fantastic fireworks show will take place immediately after the game
There is no better way to celebrate our nation’s birthday weekend than a night out at Blair County Ballpark

Brian Bixler lined a walk-off single in the tenth inning for the only run of the game in Altoona's 1-0 victory over visiting Akron on Sunday

David Parrish led off the tenth with a single back to reliever Travis Foley (2-3), whose errant throw allowed Parrish to reach second
Brandon Chaves pinch-ran and moved to third on a bunt by Brant Ust before Javier Guzman was intentionally walked to load the bases
Nyjer Morgan hit a grounder to first baseman Ryan Mulhern, who nabbed Chaves at home, but the bases remained loaded for Bixler, who sent a single into left for the game's first and final run

Brandon Knight (1-3) earned the win, allowing a walk over two innings

Starter Shane Youman pitched a three-hitter over seven scoreless innings, fanning four and walking one to lower his ERA to 1.46 in 67-2/3 innings for the Curve (47-33)

Jorge Vasquez tossed a 1-2-3 eighth

Akron starter Sean Smith gave up just five hits over seven shutout innings
He struck out six without walking a batter

Juan Lara threw 1-2/3 hitless innings before Foley entered

The Aeros (51-30) had their Eastern League South Division lead cut to 3-1/2 games over second-place Altoona

The boisterous home crowd chanted, “Free the Frank! Free the Frank!” and pleaded for Frank, the Rally Dog, the mascot that makes a cameo appearance in center field each time the Curve score
Brian Bixler didn’t want to disappoint the fans

“I’m just glad I could free the Frank” Bixler said
“I’m just glad I could help them out”

Frank’s release came at an opportune moment for Altoona as well

The mascot strutted into the outfield shortly after Bixler delivered a walkoff RBI single in the tenth inning to lead the Curve to a 1-0 victory over Akron before 6,134 fans at Blair County Ballpark Sunday night

The win marked the first time in six tries Altoona has won in extra innings

“That's as good a game as you can possibly get, to come out on top in a game like that” Curve manager Tim Leiper said
“It’s a big boost for your ballclub”

Altoona entered the tenth inning of a scoreless game having done little damage off the Aeros’ pitchers, but they immediately threatened against Travis Foley (2-3)
Dave Parrish led off by stinging a grounder up the middle that deflected off Foley’s glove toward the first base bag
With Parrish charging up the line, Foley dashed after the ball and flipped it to the first baseman
His throw skipped in the dirt, however, and the ball rolled into foul territory
“That ball looked pretty close to Foley and I was just trying to run as hard as I can and hopefully beat it out” Parrish said
“I was going to be mad if he knocked it down like that and threw me out at first”
Parrish was credited with a base hit and he also made it to second base on Foley’s error
Brant Ust then delivered a perfect bunt down the third base line that Foley fielded but had no play on
Pinch-runner Brandon Chaves moved to third on the bunt
Foley then walked Javier Guzman intentionally to load the bases
With one out, Bixler walked up to the plate with the infield playing in
The shortstop worked the count to 2-2 and fouled off a 94 mph fastball, before bouncing the next pitch over the leaping Akron shortstop to win the game for Altoona

The Curve streamed from their dugout and mobbed Bixler at first base

“I was just really happy, a big smile on my face” Bixler said
“It happened so fast and I was running, so it was kind of hard for me to tell if the ball fell in for a hit, but it hit hard off the dirt so it bounced kind of high, so I knew it had a chance”

Bixler has played just four games for Altoona, but in the last three days, he has hit his first Double-A home run and walkoff hit

“For a guy who’s in his third day in Double-A, fourth day I guess, now, that's a lot of stuff that's happened to him,” Leiper said
“That's just the kind of stuff that feeds you and just kind of makes you know that he belongs here”

Brandon Knight (1-3) pitched two hitless innings of relief to pick up the win
The Curve closer had given up walkoff hits in each of his last three appearances in the tenth inning, but he wasn’t worried about that Sunday night
“Today, I couldn't have given up a walkoff hit,” Knight said with a wry smile about pitching in the top of the tenth
“It’s not something you think about
Every game’s different
You have to go up there and try to get those guys out
You can’t think about what happened a couple of days before or whenever”

The tenth inning drama overshadowed yet another superb outing by Altoona starter Shane Youman
The left-hander suffocated the Aeros for seven innings, holding the league’s best-hitting team to only three hits
He walked one and struck out four
The outing lowered Youman’s ERA to 1.46, which leads the Eastern League

“Tonight, boy, he was fantastic” Leiper said
“That was the best he’s been all year
He’s had a lot of good outings, but that was really nice and every time this guy does something good, you’re real happy for him because of what he puts into the game, what he brings to the clubhouse”

Notes
The Curve’s Vic Buttler was named to the Eastern League Baseball Writers Association midseason All-Star team as an outfielder, not as a utility player, as appeared in Sunday’s Mirror
Harrisburg’s Kory Casto should have been listed as the utility selection instead of the DH