The audio file opposite/below includes two segments from the Game Day Show PART ONE Manager Tim Leiper discusses Brett's situation He says he would like to see him back in the lineup, and that he "feels bad for the guy" He also mentions his great work as the First Base Coach during the recent games PART TWO During the Curve Injury Report, the commentator mentions that Brett is an important part of the Curve lineup, but there is no timetable for his return NOTE - Tim Leiper speaks 'a little fast' and is a bit difficult to understand - the rest of the tape, including the Injury Report, is very clear

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Curve Game Day Notes on Sunday 15th July 2007

The Result
Curve - 10 runs to 4

The Curve - Year-to-Date
46 wins and 45 losses

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Did Not Play
Playing
Batting - #

Brett's at-bats
First plate appearance

Second plate appearance

Third plate appearance

Fourth plate appearance

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

Heard during the game

Email from Brett

Game Reports

Yoslan Herrera continued his season turnaround with six scoreless innings and the Curve offense produced double digits in runs and hits in a 10-4 victory over the first-place Akron Aeros Sunday night at Blair County Ballpark

Pitching before over 6,800 fans, including Pirates' Senior Vice President and General Manager Dave Littlefield, the 26-year old native of Cuba scattered five hits over six innings to earn his fourth win in six starts after an 0-4 start
Herrera (4-5), who was signed to a major league contract this past winter, has recorded just a 2.18 ERA in his last six outings after posting a 6.47 ERA in his first 10 starts for Altoona

The Curve offense scored their first two runs on solo home runs by Jason Bowers and Dave Parrish and eventually built a 10-0 lead after scoring twice in the sixth inning and six more times in the seventh

Altoona's 13-hit attack featured at least one hit from all nine starters, including three by Neil Walker and two each by Bowers and Vic Buttler

Steven Pearce was the only batter to knock in two runs and extended his current on-base streak to 26 straight games with a sixth-inning RBI double
Pearce is now just seven games shy of matching Ronny Paulino's franchise-record 33-game on-base streak, set during the 2004 season

Akron starter Reid Santos (6-2) was tagged with only his second loss of the season after surrendering four runs over five innings of work

Reliever T.J. Burton was roughed up for six runs - four earned - during the Curve's six-run outburst in the seventh

The Aeros (55-39) avoided a shutout by scoring the game's final four runs, including three in the top of the eighth against Curve reliever Dave Davidson

The Curve (46-45) will continue their seven-game homestand Monday evening as they welcome the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) to Blair County Ballpark for the opener of a three-game series
First pitch is set for 7.05pm
Right-hander Jason Roach (4-2, 4.42) will come out of the Curve bullpen to make a spot start against Bowie lefty Chris Waters (4-7, 4.53)

Neil Walker compared the past few weeks to surfboarding, noting the Curve’s tendency to hover around .500
Yoslan Herrera has ridden his own set of waves during his brief time in the U.S., and his personal high-water mark continued Sunday night
The Cuban defector threw six scoreless innings as Altoona thumped Akron, 10-4, before 6,809 fans at Blair County Ballpark

The Curve led, 4-0, before pouring it on with six runs in the seventh inning

Count Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield among those impressed with Herrera’s performance
‘‘I’m glad for him’’ Littlefield, visiting BCB for the second time this season, said
‘‘For him to fight through some of the struggles and start putting up some zeros, I’m sure is good for his confidence’’ the GM added

Herrera, in what’s becoming a common sight, threw six more zeros Sunday
He held the Aeros scoreless despite the Southern Division frontrunners loading the bases twice in the first three innings
The right-hander is 4-1 with a 2.18 ERA in 33 innings since skipping a start in June and dropped his season ERA to 4.74
Aside from his minor league debut, when he allowed one run in five innings against the Aeros, his ERA is under 5.00 for the first time all season

‘‘It made some sense to give him a little bit of a blow and a break’’ Littlefield said of Herrera skipping one start
‘‘It seems to have been a good start since he’s been back’’

Herrera (4-5) loaded the bases twice after recording two outs but retired Akron’s Rodney Choy Foo in both instances
Choy Foo lined out to Walker in the first inning, and Jason Delaney ran down a flyball to the left-center field gap in the third

‘‘The other part of pitching out of trouble is let’s avoid it in the future’’ Littlefield said
‘‘You get yourself in a jam when you work behind in the count and walk hitters’’

Herrera walked three through the first three innings and also hit a batter

He finished his night with four walks and two strikeouts and by high-fiving Walker
Walker dove to his left to steal a single from Akron catcher David Wallace
Herrera waited for Walker near the pitcher’s mound and congratulated his third baseman as he came off the field in the sixth

‘‘He’s done increasingly better, and he’s becoming increasingly more confident with the surroundings here and being on the mound’’ Walker said

Littlefield traveled to the Dominican Republic to scout Herrera and since has spent some time with the Cuban defector in Pittsburgh and Altoona
The Pirates’ GM noted the cultural transition Herrera has made
‘‘We look at the field and the ERA and the hits per innings and those kind of things, and we forget where his family is and the new culture and the English language’’ Littlefield said
The Pirates, Littlefield added, ‘‘try to work on the relationship and cultural transition, if you will, to make it a little less daunting, but still it’s quite drastic from what most of us are used to’’

Jason Bowers’ leadoff homer in the first and Dave Parrish’s solo blast in the fifth staked Altoona to a 2-0 lead

The Curve scored two more in the sixth inning and blew the game open with six runs on five hits in the seventh for a 10-0 lead

Altoona scored four runs in five innings off Akron starter Reid Santos (6-2), who entered the game with a 2.20 ERA, and six runs - four earned - off reliever Randy Newsom

‘‘To lose two games in a row against a first-place team and come back the way we did, that’s not easy to do’’ Curve manager Tim Leiper said

Walker hopes splitting the four-game set with Akron serves as a launching point for an extended winning streak
‘‘It’s been up and down, up and down’’ he said of the past few weeks
‘‘If it’s not hitting, it’s pitching
Sunday we put both of those together, and hopefully we can do that over the stretch these next couple of months and put together a string of some wins’’