The Result
Curve - 4 runs to 2

The Curve - Year-to-Date
75 won and 60 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - First base
Batting - #4

At the end of the Game
2 hits from 3 at-bats - home run, single, 3 x runs-driven-in, 1 x run scored, 1 x walk, 1 x strike out, 1 x stolen base

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher - Jensen Lewis
Runners at first and second base - one down
Called strike
Foul ball - just rolled away
Ball - fast ball - high
Ball - tailing fast ball - outside
Foul ball - back to the screen
"Brett gets hold of that pitch and drives it to deep right-centrefield!!!"
"The fielder is going back, back ...... and now he's looking up!!!"
"He can forget about it!!!"
"That ball is gone!!!"
"That was a definate no-doubter!!!"
"Brett is trotting around the bases with his ninth home run of the season!!!"
"He has now driven in seventy-two runs for the season!!!"
HOME RUN - 3 x RBI's - 1 x R (click here for all the details)

Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Swing and a miss - change up
Ball - low
Ball - low and wide
Called strike
"And here comes the '2ball-2strike' pitch ...... and Roneberg swings and misses at a beautiful curve ball and that is the final out of the innings"
Strike out
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - outside
Ball
Called strike
Ball - low and outside
Ball
Walk
Advanced to third base on an infield hit plus a throwing error
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
"Brett flares this pitch into rightfield for a base hit and his second hit of the night ...... he just continues to hit the ball well"
Single to rightfield
Stolen base - "and the runner is off on that pitch!!! ...... and here comes the throw!!! ...... but it's not in time!!! ...... Brett got a good jump and he now has eight stolen bases for the season ...... and it's good to see that Brett's ankle may not be bothering him anymore"
Left stranded at the end of the innings

Heard during the Game

(#01) As Brett came in for his first at-bat, the commentator mentioned - "Brett comes in to tonight's game with a batting average of 0.305 which is third best in the Eastern League in that category ...... he is also fifth in the League in on-base-percentage with a mark of 0.379"

(#02) During Brett's first at-bat, the commentator said - "Brett would be the Curve's most consistant player this year ...... he has been right from the moment he joined up with the Curve in April ...... he would have to be the favourite to be selected as the Curve's Most Valuable Player"

(#03) The commentator continued - "Brett is continuing his hot hitting ...... over his last thirty games he is batting 39-from-101 for an average of 0.386"

(#04) An email to Jason (the radio commentator) during the game
Subject: Heard it!!!
Well, that was nice to listen to!!!
Great call, Jason
And Sharon is on holidays - "a little tear"!!!
There was much cheering in this lounge room here in Cairns!!!
......and Jason's reply
There was no doubt about that one!
He is on fire right now
Great to see
He’s my choice for Team MVP, as you heard
Take care and hello to Sharon!
Jason
Jason Dambach
Director of Communications

Email from Brett

Game Reports

One night after Akron was crowned Southern Division Champs, it was the Curve’s turn to celebrate, as they defeated the Aeros, 4-2, on Wednesday to claim their fourth straight trip to the Eastern League playoffs

The Curve entered the game with a magic number of two to reach the post-season and when third-place Reading lost to New Britain in the first game of a twinbill, the Curve only had to win to punch their playoff ticket

They would score all the runs they needed in the first inning when Brett Roneberg blasted a three-run home run to give the Curve a lead they would not surrender

Neil Walker returned from the Disabled List to score on a Javier Guzman RBI single to give the Curve a four-run advantage in the bottom of the fourth

The Aeros would chip away with two runs in the fifth frame, but would reach base only three times in the final four innings and never advance a runner past first base

Wardell Starling earned the victory for the Curve, after allowing two runs over five innings with two strikeouts

Brandon Knight nailed down his league-leading twenty-seventh save of the season with a perfect ninth inning and combined with Jorge Vasquez and Blaine Neal to hold the Aeros hitless after the fifth inning

Akron starter Jensen Lewis, allowed all four Curve runs in five innings pitched and fell to 1-2 on the season

Reliever “Bear” Bay came on to pitch the final three frames and struck out six batters to keep the Aeros in striking distance

The Curve will enter the 2006 post-season as the wild card team from the Southern Division and play a best-of-five series against Akron beginning on Wednesday, September 6 at Canal Park for the right to play in the league championship series
Altoona will host Game Three at Blair County Ballpark on Friday, September 8, and, if necessary, Game Four on Saturday night
If a fifth and deciding game is needed, the game would take place next Sunday in Akron

The two teams conclude their regular-season series with a 7.05pm game on Thursday night at Blair County Ballpark
Jason Roach will start for the Curve against the Aeros’ Adam Miller, the 2006 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year

Brett Roneberg belted a three-run homer in the first inning and Altoona held on for a 4-2 win over visiting Akron on Wednesday

Brandon Chaves led off the first with a walk and Brian Bixler bunted for a single off Aeros starter Jensen Lewis
One out later, Roneberg lifted a fly ball over the right-field fence for his ninth homer

Javier Guzman delivered a run-scoring single in the fourth to give the Curve a 4-0 lead

Roneberg and Ray Sadler each had two hits for Altoona (75-60), which has won four of its last six games

Starter Wardell Starling (6-4) allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out two and walking three over five innings for the win

Blaine Neal, Jorge Vasquez and Brandon Knight combined on four hitless innings
Knight pitched a perfect ninth for his Eastern League-leading twenty-seventh save

Brandon Pinckney lined an RBI double and scored on Brian Barton's single in the fifth for the Aeros (83-54)

Barton had three of Akron's seven hits

Lewis (1-2) surrendered four runs - three earned - on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks in five innings

Ronald Bay scattered three hits and fanned six over three scoreless frames

Three may be a charm, but four is even better
The Curve players, coaching staff, and management personnel alike know all about it

Altoona clinched a berth in the Eastern League playoffs for the fourth straight season, wrapping up second place in the Southern Division behind Akron, who the Curve beat, 4-2 before an announced crowd of 3,708 at Blair County Ballpark Wednesday night

Brett Roneberg’s three-run homer to right field in the first inning after Brandon Chaves’ leadoff walk and Brian Bixler’s infield single got the Curve rolling out to a 3-0 lead that the team would never relinquish

Altoona will meet Akron - which locked up the division title Tuesday - next week in a best-of-five games series
The playoff series begins next Wednesday and Thursday in Akron, with Game Three set for next Friday night, Sept. 8 at Blair County Ballpark, where Game Four will be played Saturday night, Sept. 9, if necessary
If a fifth game between the two teams is necessary - like it was last year - it will be played Sunday, Sept. 10 in Akron

“It’s always great making the playoffs’’ first-year Curve manager Tim Leiper said as his team reveled in a champagne free-for-all in the batting cage adjacent to the Curve locker room late Wednesday night
“From the moment you go into the season in February, your goal is to win
Winning is what it’s all about’’

Winning has been what the Curve franchise has been all about, particularly in the last four seasons
Altoona reached the Eastern League championship series two years ago under Tony Beasley, who directed the Curve to the playoffs a year ago

Success never gets old

“It’s been awesome’’ Curve general manger Todd Parnell said
“Leip (Tim Leiper) had been awesome, the coaching staff has been awesome, this team has connected really well with the fans this year’’

Outfielder Ray Sadler - called up by the Curve’s parent Pittsburgh Pirates team in 2005, started this season with the Bucs’ Class AAA Indianapolis team
After being sent back down to Altoona early this year, the Curve’s playoff berth may soften the blow for him
“No matter where you’re at, it’s always a good feeling to go to the playoffs’’ Sadler said
“That’s something every team tries to do when it breaks spring training, and we did’’

Catcher Neil Walker - the Pirates’ first-round draft pick two years ago - came off the disabled list (viral infection) to fill the desginated hitter’s spot Wednesday
The Pine-Richland High School graduate reached base on an Akron error in the fourth inning and scored on Javier Guzman’s single to give the Curve a 4-0 lead
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now’’ said Walker, who was promoted to the Curve from high Class A Lynchburg (Va.) recently

Neither would Parnell, the Curve’s outgoing, jovial GM who has seen this franchise do everything except win a league championship
“Making the playoffs is something that usually doesn’t happen a whole lot’’ Parnell said
“These players should enjoy it and embrace it
It’s been a wonderful summer, and hopefully, it will be a wonderful fall’’

Around the Curve
The Curve placed outfielder Nyjer Morgan (right hamstring) and catcher Dave Parrish (right wrist) on the disabled list
The Curve have gone 24-24 since the Eastern League All-Star break in mid-July
The Eastern League announced its 2006 Most Valuable Player award Wednesday - the honor went to outfielder Adam Lind, who hit .310 with 19 homers and 71 RBIs with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats this season before being promoted to the Toronto Blue Jays’ Class AAA Syracuse team in late July
The Curve now lead the regular-season with Akron, which concludes Thursday, 12-11

The corks shot off like bullets, spilling one of the sweetest-smelling concoctions on the planet
The champagne celebration, now an annual tradition for the Curve, unfolded like all others over the past three years
Players doused each other, smiles and laughter filled the room and a sense of satisfaction beamed from their eyes

Only winners get to throw such parties
Winners, like the members of this year’s Curve squad

“This is what it’s all about” manager Tim Leiper, drenched by champagne and face covered with shaving cream after a pie-in-the-face gag, said during Wednesday night’s playoff party

The Curve made it once again, earning their fourth consecutive Eastern League postseason berth with a 4-2 win over Akron

The Aeros clinched the Southern Division title Tuesday night at Blair County Ballpark, and 24 hours later, Altoona’s consistent group that has maximized its potential all season wrapped up the division’s wild-card berth
The Curve’s magic number entering Wednesday stood at two, which dropped to zero with Altoona’s win and Reading’s loss to New Britain in the first game of a doubleheader

It’s become sort of old hat to see the Curve reach the playoffs - their streak is the longest in the EL - but the accomplishments of the players on each individual team that have kept that streak alive should not be forgotten
What this year’s team, in particular, did to reach this point deserves the kind of standing ovation the crowd at BCB delivered Wednesday night

“The team we’ve got now is completely different from the team we had earlier in the season, and we still win games” pitcher Landon Jacobsen said
“So that tells you something about the players that we’ve got here”

One of those players knows as much about winning as any minor leaguer around
Pitcher Wardell Starling led a group of twelve-year-old Texans to the championship game of the 1995 Little League World Series, and a few years later, that group won a high school national championship
As fate would have it, Starling got the ball Wednesday with a chance to lead his Double-A team into the playoffs
“Winning never gets old, never” Starling, who earned the victory with five solid innings, said as his teammates partied around him in the Curve’s indoor batting cages

That room is much easier to clean than the clubhouse, something the franchise learned because it’s had so many opportunities to throw champagne celebrations

“It’s a real rewarding time for everybody” Curve general manager Todd Parnell said
“Any time you’re still playing after everybody else is playing golf, it’s good stuff”

Most members of the Curve have enjoyed these kinds of celebrations before, but not 19-year-old outfielder Andrew McCutchen
“This is the first time I ever got to do this, and it’s crazy” he said
One teammate yelled, “Somebody keep McCutchen away from” the alcohol since he’s not even old enough yet to drink

Neither is 20-year-old catcher Neil Walker
That didn’t stop either of them, however, from having a blast
“There’s no drinking it, just squirting it” McCutchen said

This has been an amazing season for the Curve, who didn’t have the top-tier prospects like years past

But the reason they were pouring champagne down each others’ heads Wednesday was because this is a team with great resiliency led by a manager with the perfect mentality for the make-up of the club
“Look how much everybody likes each other, and every year you can’t say that” Leiper said during the party
“These are guys that are friends and play together and enjoy coming to the field together”

In short, they’re winners

Altoona (Double-A, 75-60) won, 4-2, at home against Akron (Indians)

1B Brett Roneberg went 2 for 3 with a three-run homer in the first and had three RBI in the game

Wardell Starling picked up his sixth victory of season, pitching five innings and allowing two runs

Brandon Knight pitched a scoreless ninth to record his twenty-seventh save of the season

A day after clinching the Class AA Eastern League's Southern Division second-half title, the Aeros couldn't rebound after Brett Roneberg's 3-run homer in the first inning off Jensen Lewis as the Curve won 4-2 at Altoona

Lewis (1-2) allowed just four hits in five innings, but his leadoff walk to Brandon Chaves was followed by a bunt single Brian Bixler in the first inning
Roneberg then delivered his ninth homer of the season for the Curve

Brett Roneberg hit a three-run homer in the first inning to lead the host Altoona Curve to a 4-2 Eastern League victory over the Aeros on Wednesday night

The Curve added a run in the fourth with the help of an error on Aeros second baseman Trevor Crowe

The Aeros scored two runs after two were out in the fifth
Wyatt Toregas walked and scored on a double by Brandon Pinckney
Walks to Eider Torres and Crowe loaded the bases
Brian Barton singled to score Pinckney but Torres was thrown out at the plate to end the inning

Curve relievers Blaine Neal, Jorge Vazquez and Brandon Knight combined to throw four shutout innings in relief of starter Wardell Starling (6-4)

Knight pitched the ninth for his twenty-seventh save

Aeros starter Jensen Lewis (1-2) took the loss