The Result
Baysox - 6 runs to 1

The Curve - Year-to-Date
71 won and 57 lost

The Ankle Injury

(Sunday 20th August 2006)----------Roneberg Recovering

All-Star outfielder Brett Roneberg, who has been out of action since last Saturday's game at New Britain with a sprained left ankle, underwent an MRI on Saturday and the results were negative

Roneberg participated in batting practice prior to Saturday's game against Harrisburg, his first on-field action since suffering the injury while taking a swing

"The big word he was looking for was if he went out on the field and did anything on it would he hurt it worse - the answer is no" said Curve manager Tim Leiper

Leiper anticipates having Roneberg available within the next few days, but the addition of Ryan Doumit prevents the need to rush the 27-year old Aussie back into the lineup
"He's got the luxury of a couple extra days with Doumit being here" said Leiper
"We have a good left-handed bat in the lineup with Doumit being a switch-hitter so that actually gives Roneberg a few extra days to heal"

(Wednesday 23rd August 2006)

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

At the end of the Game
0 hit from 3 at-bats - 1 x walk

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at second base - two down
Called strike
Ball - high
Ball - low and inside
Called strike - slider
Foul ball
"Brett slaps this towards third base and the fielder collects it and throws to first base for the final out of the innings"
Ground out to third base - 5 to 3
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runners at first and third base - two down
Called strike
"Brett breaks his bat on that hit and the ball takes two hops across to the Baysox second-baseman who throws on to first base for the final out of the innings"
Ground out to second base - 4 to 3
Third at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Ball - low and away
Called strike
Called strike - on the outside corner
"Roneberg reaches down and pokes this ball into shallow centrefield and the shortstop goes back behind second base and makes the catch"
Infield fly out - F6
Fourth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down
Ball - wide
Ball - wide
Ball - wide
Ball - wide
Walk
Out at second base on a fielder's choice hit-play by the next Curve batter

Heard during the Game

(#01) During Brett's first at-bat, the commentator said - "Brett comes in to tonight's game with a batting average of 0.299 ...... and that is fourth best in the Eastern League"

(#02) He continued - "Brett would be a candidate for the Curve 'Most Valuable Player' Award along with Landon Jacobsen, Simon Pond and Vic Buttler"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

Landon Jacobsen lost his bid for a league-leading fourteenth victory as the Curve fell to the Baysox Wednesday night, 6-1

Jacobsen was saddled with the loss after allowing six runs in six innings pitched

The Baysox took three of four against Altoona, scoring a total of thirty-two runs on fourty-nine hits in the series

Garrett Olson improved to 3-0 against the Curve this season, holding Altoona to one run over seven innings pitched

The Curve had only five men in scoring position all game and had only one extra-base hit in the contest

The Baysox scored the first run of the game for the only time in the series, plating an unearned run in the opening frame
Carlos Duran singled and advanced to third on a fielding error by Javier Guzman and a walk by Leo Daigle
Duran would score on a Cory Keylor sacrifice fly to give Bowie a lead they would not relinquish

Keylor finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI and enjoyed his trip to Blair County Ballpark to the tune of a .643 batting average during the four-game set with five runs scored and five RBI

Bowie would add three more runs in the fifth inning and another two tallies in the sixth off of the starter Jacobsen to build a 6-0 lead

Altoona answered with a run in the seventh when Dave Parrish scored on Guzman’s single after ripping a lead-off double down the left field line

Matt Peterson had a very solid outing out of the bullpen for the Curve
The right-hander pitched three scoreless innings, surrendering just three hits and striking out four

Brian Bixler had his nine-game hit streak come to an end, finishing the game 0-for-4

Andrew McCutchen picked up two singles in the game and continued his torrid start to his Curve career, having now reached base in all nine games with Altoona

Wednesday night’s attendance was 6,680 bringing the total for the six-day homestand to 41,390, the largest attendance in franchise history for a six-day homestand

The Curve will head to Harrisburg on Thursday to begin a four-game series with the Senators before returning to Blair County Ballpark for the final eight games of the 2006 regular season
Mike Connolly will start for Altoona against the Senators’ Beltran Perez in the opening game

Cory Keylor had three hits and three RBIs and Garrett Olson tossed seven strong innings as visiting Bowie beat Altoona, 6-1, on Wednesday

Keylor knocked in the Baysox first run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning
The 26-year-old designated hitter added a two-run single in the fifth, capping Bowie's three-run inning

Bryan Bass smacked a two-run triple in the sixth and Carlos Duran scored twice for the Baysox (62-67), who have won four of five

Olson (5-4) allowed one run on seven hits, struck out four and walked one as he ended a personal two-game losing streak

Altoona starter Landon Jacobsen (13-7) surrendered six runs - four earned - on eight hits and four walks over six innings
The loss snapped the right-hander's five-game winning streak
His last loss was on July 8, when he fell 3-0 to Erie

Javier Guzman went 3-for-4 and drove in the Curve's only run with a single in the seventh

David Parrish and Andrew McCutchen had two hits apiece for Altoona (71-57), which has lost four of five

By his nature, Tim Leiper is a positive guy
Rarely is he negative about his club’s performance
But, the Altoona Curve manager was not a happy camper Wednesday night

The Curve finished up their homestand with a 6-1 loss to Bowie before a crowd of 6,680 at Blair County Ballpark and enter the final twelve games of the regular season on their heels

The Curve hold a five-game advantage over Reading for the wild-card spot in the Eastern League’s Southern Division playoffs, but they dropped four of seven games on the homestand - uncharacteristic for the team with the best home record in the league - and have gone a disappointing 19-21 since the All Star break

They’ve been in either first or second place in the EL South every day this season, but they’ve been in a funk lately and Leiper closed the doors after last night’s game to let his club know he’s not happy

‘‘I don’t want to get overly philosophical about stuff, but it’s the time of the season when you win games’’ Leiper said
‘‘You play the game right, win games, and that’s all we’ve got to do”

However, the club hasn’t been doing that lately
In fact, poor pitching, base running, defense and offense have all contributed to recent losses

‘‘We’ve got to do everything better’’ Leiper said matter-of-factly
‘‘It is what it is
We’ve just got to play better in all aspects of the game‘‘

The Curve fell behind quickly on Wednesday when the first of two errors by second baseman Javier Guzman helped Bowie to an unearned first-inning run

It stayed 1-0 until the fifth when the Baysox got two more on Cory Keylor’s two-RBI single

The Baysox tacked on two more in the sixth on Bryan Bass’ triple, and that was more than enough for lefty Garrett Olson, who bested Altoona ace Landon Jacobsen in the pitching matchup

Jacobsen, who was going for his fourteenth victory, gave up eight hits and six runs (four earned) in six innings
He walked four and didn’t strike out a batter while suffering his eighth loss

Olson worked seven innings to boost his record to 5-4, giving up seven hits and one run while striking out four and walking one

Guzman, who collected three hits, singled home Dave Parrish with Altoona’s only run in the seventh

‘‘Olson did a nice job’’ Leiper said
‘‘He did well against us the last time over there in Bowie
When a guy’s throwing three pitches for strikes, he’s tough to beat‘‘

Obviously frustrated, Leiper knows his club must right the ship if it hopes to earn a playoff spot
He said, however, he thinks his club is still giving a good effort
‘‘We always give effort, but there’s other things that show up on the field, like doing the right things mentally’’ he said
‘‘The important thing is to make routine plays, make good pitches, don’t make outs on the bases, and let our hitters swing the bats
That’s what baseball is, and we’re not doing the simple stuff
We’re trying to do too much and we’re a good team, so we don’t need to do extra stuff‘‘

The Curve head to Harrisburg today for their final four road games

They return to Altoona next Monday to begin a final eight-game homestand against first-place Akron and Bowie

‘‘This is where championships are won and championships are lost’’ Leiper noted
‘‘It tests the character of guys and shows what you have inside
That’s the bottom line‘‘

Around the Curve
Crowd of 6,680 gave the Curve 41,391 for the homestand - the largest six-date attendance in franchise history
Curve turned three double plays
Brian Bixler’s hitting streak ended at nine games