The Result
Curve - 6 runs to 2

The Curve - Year-to-Date
18 wins and 16 losses

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Leftfield
Batting - #3

------------Replaced in leftfield at the start of the top of the ninth innings

Brett's at-bats
First plate appearance
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - downstairs
Ball - high
Called strike
Ball - low
"This ball is skied into shallow right-centrefield ... the second-baseman is going back but the centrefielder is coming in and he makes the catch for the final out of the innings"
Fly out to centrefield - F8
Second plate appearance
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Ball - "Roneberg checked his swing on that pitch that was off the plate"
Called strike
Ball
Swing and a miss - slider
"Brett lines that ball straight to first base and it's snagged for the second out of the innings ... a lot of the Curve batters have made good contact tonight just as Roneberg did there"
Line out to first base - F3
Third plate appearance
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at third base - two down
Called strike - on the outside corner
Swing and a miss - "That was a half swing by Roneberg"
"Here comes the 0ball-2strike pitch and it's lifted down the leftfield line ... the fielder is tracking it down and he makes the catch standing on the bullpen mound in foul territory ... the Curve are retired but not before they score four runs here in the bottom of the fifth innings to take a 4-2 lead in the ballgame"
Fly out to leftfield - F7
Fourth plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down
"There's a 'hot-shot' by Roneberg but it's lined straight at the Sea Dog's shortstop who makes the catch and throws to first base to try to double up the runner but he gets back in time"
Line out to shortstop - F6

At the end of the Game
0 hit from 4 at-bats

Heard during the game

Fielding
Below is the play-by-play report for the top of the first innings:-
------------Jeffrey Corsaletti grounds out - third baseman Neil Walker to first baseman Steven Pearce
------------Jed Lowrie doubles on a fly ball to leftfielder Brett Roneberg
------------Jay Johnson doubles on a ground ball to leftfielder Brett Roneberg
------------------------Jed Lowrie scores
------------Cory Keylor strikes out swinging
------------Eric Crozier flies out to center fielder Andrew McCutchen
Here is the commentator's call for the hit by Jed Lowrie - "That ball is lifted into leftfield ... and it's misjudged by Roneberg!!! ... and it goes over his head and bounces into the wall and Lowrie picks up a gift-wrapped double!!! ... there is a bit of wind blowing out to leftfield and that ball needed to be judged right off the bat ... Brett started to come in and then realised that the ball was going to travel further and he was caught between steps"----------(refer to the two notes in the game reports below)

(01) During Brett's first plate appearance, the commentator said - "Brett got the call by Tim Leiper for tonight's game even though the Sea Dogs are using a lefthanded pitcher ... Brett does fair very well against lefties and was batting 0.318 versus lefthanders coming in to tonight's game"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

Neil Walker's fifth home run of the season came as part of a four-hit night and ignited a slumbering Curve offense in a come-from-behind 6-2 win over the Portland Sea Dogs on Tuesday night at Blair County Ballpark

The switch-hitting Walker entered the ballgame hitting just 0.171 against left-handed pitching, but started with a single against southpaw starter Tommy Hottovy
In Walker's second at-bat of the ballgame against Hottovy, he lifted a high drive into the left-field bleachers to get the Curve on the board and cut an early Portland lead in half at 2-1

Walker's blast seemingly lit the fuse for the Altoona offense
Steven Pearce followed with a single off of Hottovy, which led to a double for Jason Bowers
Brandon Chaves drove both men home with a high-chopping double over the head of Andrew Pinckney at third and down the left-field line
Milver Reyes sacrificed Chaves to third base and he scored from there on an opposite-field ground-rule double for Andrew McCutchen
McCutchen's ball one hopped the wall in right and wrapped up a four-run inning for the Curve as they took a 4-2 lead

Hottovy (0-5) allowed all four runs and endured the loss for Portland, keeping him winless on the season

Wardell Starling (2-3) seemed a fitting winner for the Curve after early bad fortune put him and Altoona in a 2-0 hole
In the top of the first inning, Jed Lowrie's line-drive to left-field was misjudged by Brett Roneberg and turned into a one-out double
It immediately cost Starling as Jay Johnson followed with a double down the left-field line to score Lowrie for a 1-0 lead
In the second inning, Walker commited his only mistake of the ballgame as his throwing error allowed Dusty Brown to reach second base on a single
He scored a batter later on a double-play ball to make it 2-0 Portland

Walker would more than redeem himself
He added his third hit, a single, in the sixth inning
In the eighth inning with Adam Boeve aboard at second base, Walker doubled down the left-field line to score Boeve and give the Curve a 5-2 lead
With the double, Walker became the first Curve player to post a four-hit game in 2007
Pearce capped the scoring for Altoona, singling to center to score Walker for the final score of 6-2

Starling departed after six strong innings, giving way to Dave Davidson

Davidson turned in two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth and turned it over to Romulo Sanchez
A day after the Curve bid farewell to closer Matt Peterson, who was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis, Sanchez may have answered the question of who would assume his vacated role at the back-end of the bullpen
Sanchez worked a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the victory
It was the tenth consecutive appearance without an earned run allowed for Sanchez

The Curve have the chance to win the series in tomorrow's game two which will be played at 10.35am
RHP Yoslan Herrera (0-3, 6.00) will make the start for Altoona against RHP Clay Buckholz (1-1, 1.85) for Portland

Neil Walker went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and fell a triple shy of the cycle as Altoona defeated visiting Portland, 6-2, on Tuesday

Walker singled in the second inning, belted a leadoff homer in the fifth, singled and stole a base in the sixth and smacked an RBI double and scored in the eighth

Brandon Chaves stroked a two-run double and came home on Andrew McCutchen's double in the fifth for the Curve (18-16)

The Sea Dogs (15-16), who have lost five straight, scored on Jay Johnson's RBI double in the first and Andrew Pinckney's double-play grounder in the second

Altoona starter Wardell Starling (2-3) got the win after allowing two runs on six hits over six innings
The 24-year-old right-hander struck out five and did not walk a batter

After David Davidson hurled two perfect innings, Romulo Sanchez closed it out with a hitless ninth for the Curve

Winless in seven starts this season, Thomas Hottovy (0-5) yielded four runs on seven hits over five innings for Portland
He struck out three without issuing a walk

The Altoona Curve pitchers retired 22 of the final 24 batters, defeating the Sea Dogs in the series opener, 6-2 on Tuesday night at Blair County Ballpark in front of 3,109

Portland (15-16) suffered their fifth straight loss and dropped to under .500 for the first time since May 6

Altoona (18-16) improved to 10-8 at home and 4-3 against the Northern Division

Wardell Starling (2-3) earned his second win at home, hurling six innings on six hits and two runs

Starling, Dave Davidson and Sanchez allowed one hit and a walk in the final 7 and 1/3 innings

Tommy Hottovy (0-5) had one bad inning, allowing all of his runs during Altoona’s 4-run fifth
Hottovy worked five innings on seven hits no walks and three strikeouts

Pennsylvania native Neil Walker went 4-for-4 for the Curve, including his fifth home run of the season to lead off the fifth inning
Walker knocked in a run with a two-out double off Kyle Jackson in the eighth inning

Steven Pearce and Jason Bowers had two hits for the Curve and Andrew McCutchen had an RBI double in the fifth

Portland led 1-0, three batters into the game, when Jed Lowrie doubled with one-out and scored on Jay Johnson’s double

In the second inning, the Sea Dogs scored the game’s second run when Andrew Pinckney hit into a double play to score Dusty Brown

Altoona added two runs off Jackson in the eighth inning to extend their lead to 6-2
Adam Boeve singled and stole second base and then Walker produced an RBI double and Pearce had a run-scoring single

Portland begins their 10-game roadtrip with their eighth road loss of the season

The two teams continue their three-game series on Wednesday morning at 10.35am
Clay Buchholz (1-1, 1.85) gets the start opposite Yoslan Herrera (0-3, 6.00)

Notes
Andrew Pinckney extended his hitting streak to seven games
Altoona’s starting pitcher Wardell Starling attended the same high school as Josh Beckett (Elkins High School in Texas)

One guy who gets all kinds of publicity enjoyed a big night for the Curve, while another player who never gets any recognition made a highlight-reel catch in his long-awaited Blair County Ballpark debut

Neil Walker went 4-for-4 with a homer to help Altoona to a 6-2 win over Portland before 3,109 fans Tuesday

The prized third base prospect no longer has to deal with the rigors of catching, which he says could be a big reason for his solid start at the plate
‘‘From a confidence standpoint it’s enormous’’ Walker, hitting .283 and tied for the team lead with five homers, said
‘‘I’ve never been one to start off good
Every single year it’s been a struggle this first month and a half, two months of the season’’

Not this season

Many people wondered how Walker would adjust defensively at third base, but another component of his switch didn’t draw much attention in the preseason
‘‘It’s been helpful for my offense that I haven’t been catching’’ Walker said
‘‘It’s a very, very big thing’’

Some nights, Walker said catching would ‘‘really take a toll’’ in his third and fourth at-bats
‘‘It was almost to the point where you’re thinking ’I just want to get this over with,’ so you swing at the first pitch’’ he said
‘‘If I get a hit, great
If I don’t, who cares?
That hasn’t been the case this year’’

Walker, the first Altoona player with four hits in a game this season, homered leading off the fifth inning to ignite a four-run rally that erased a 2-0 deficit
The long ball barely cleared the wall in left field, but as Walker pointed out, getting away from catching seems to be helping him drive the ball better
‘‘The one thing I’ve noticed from years past, when catching, I’d hit balls and they’d be off the wall, caught at the warning track, bounce at the warning track’’ Walker said
‘‘This year, the five home runs that I have, they haven’t been bombs, but they have kind of snuck out
You wonder if it would be any different if I was catching’’

Maybe, but Walker doesn’t have to wonder about that anymore

Steven Pearce followed Walker’s homer with an infield single, then Jason Bowers doubled
Brandon Chaves drove in both runners with a two-run double to left for a 3-2 lead off Portland starter Tommy Hottovy (0-5)
Andrew McCutchen doubled home Chaves to finish off the big inning

The Curve added two insurance runs in the eighth on an RBI double by Walker and run-scoring single by Pearce

The ninth inning belonged to seldom-used - make that almost-never used - Curve outfielder Matt Meath
Playing his first game of the season, Meath made a spectacular diving catch in left field for the second out
Meath spent most of the 2005 season on the Curve’s inactive list, kept around as an extra player just in case
He played in only two games, both at Reading the first week of the season
He’s been with the club all this season, again mostly on the inactive list
So after wearing a Curve uniform for well more than 100 games, Meath finally made his BCB debut Tuesday - and did so with flare
‘‘It was great just to get out there and being involved in winning a game like that’’ Meath said

‘‘He’s just such a good guy’’ Curve manager Tim Leiper said ‘‘and he comes out and works hard every day
It’s just kind of neat the game found him right there’’

Curve starter Wardell Starling (2-3) worked six solid innings for the win
He allowed single runs in the first and second innings but shut down the Sea Dogs after that, finishing with a line of six hits, five strikeouts and no walks

‘‘The best thing about today is I kept the ball down’’ said Starling, who has battled inconsistency all season
‘‘Some pitches were over the middle of the plate, but they were down, so they didn’t get good swings on them’’

Portland Sea Dogs starting pitcher Tommy Hottovy had a chance to stop a pair of four-game losing streaks Tuesday night - his own and his team's
And Hottovy, a 25-year-old left-hander, appeared on his way to doing just that after holding the Altoona Curve to no runs and two hits through four innings
But a four-run fifth inning proved to be the difference in Portland's 6-2 loss before 3,109 fans at Blair County Ballpark

"That's a big inning for starters" Sea Dogs Manager Arnie Beyeler said
"The fifth inning is the decision inning
A starter will get to the fifth inning and it's like, 'Oh, jeez. Now I can get the decision' Guys forget how they got there"

The Sea Dogs, playing their first game on a 10-game trip, fell one game below .500 at 15-16 with their fifth consecutive loss

Hottovy dropped to 0-5 in seven starts this season
He allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out three and walking none

All the damage against Hottovy came in the fifth
With the Sea Dogs ahead 2-0, the Curve sent eight batters to the plate and got five hits
Neil Walker led off the inning by hitting a 3-1 fastball into the left-field seats for his fifth home run of the season, cutting the Sea Dogs' lead to 2-1
"That's how you're suppose to hit at that count" Beyeler said

Walker, the Curve's switch-hitting third baseman, went 4 for 4 with two runs and two RBI
"He got two hits from both sides of the plate" Beyeler said
"We have two more games to see if we can get him out"

After Walker's home run, Steven Pearce singled and moved to third on a double by Jason Bowers
Brandon Chaves then scored both runners with a double to give the Curve a 3-2 lead
One batter later, Andrew McCutchen doubled to score Chaves, putting the Curve ahead, 4-2

"Neil's at-bat was important in that inning, but so were the at-bats after that" Curve Manager Tim Leiper said
"Steve singled, Jason doubled and then things started happening"

The Sea Dogs took a 1-0 lead in the first against Curve starter Wardell Starling
With one out, shortstop Jed Lowrie hit a double on a ball that was misplayed by left fielder Brett Roneberg
The ball, helped by a 13-mph wind, sailed over Roneberg's head after he initially took a couple of steps forward
Jay Johnson followed with a double down the third-base line, just out of the reach of Walker, to score Lowrie

The Sea Dogs added a run in the second
Dusty Brown led off with a single and moved to second on a throwing error by Walker
Scott Youngbauer followed with a single, and Andrew Pinckney hit into a double play that scored Brown

Starling (2-3) settled down after the first two innings
He went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits
He struck out five and walked none
"We made him work" Beyeler said
"But once he got out of the first two innings, he settled in and was very effective"