The Result
Aeros - 9 runs to 0

The Curve - Year-to-Date
0 wins and 2 losses

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Designated hitter
Batting - #5

Brett's at-bats
First plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Called strike
Called strike
Ball - bouncing in the dirt
Ball - outside
"Brett hits that off the end of the bat and it's straight back to the mound for an easy play by the pitcher"
Ground out to the pitcher - 1 to 3
Second plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - two down
Called strike
Foul ball - back to the screen
"Brett swings and misses at a ball in the dirt and that is the final out of the innings"
Strike out
Third plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - low
Called strike - on the outside corner
"That pitch is hit sharply the opposite way but the leftfielder is coming in and he makes a waist high catch to end the innings"
Fly out to leftfield - F7
Fourth plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - two down
Ball - low
"That ball is lifted into leftfield ... Brett has hit it pretty well but the fielder is going back and makes the catch just shy of the warning track for the final out here in the eighth innings"
Fly out to leftfield - F7

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

Heard during the game

(01) As Brett walked in for his first plate appearance, the commentator said - "......and now Brett Roneberg steps to the plate and last year he was the Curve Most Valuable Player and was also awarded the Most Valuable Player in the Eastern League All Star Game"

(02) He also mentioned - "In last night's game, Brett picked up two of the Curve's four hits"

(03) During the game the commentor said - "At the moment we are playing American League games which use the designated hitter ... it will be interesting when the team returns to Blair County Ballpark on the 12th April and begin a series of National League games where the pitcher is required to bat ... with both Roneberg and Ruiz on the roster, Manager Tim Leiper will have to be very creative if he wants to include both these players in the lineup ... at the moment these two players are alternating between the designated hitter and first base positions and it's nice to be able to have both of these accomplished hitters in the lineup ... in addition to this, the Curve outfield is strong so it's hard to imagine any changes being made there to accomodate these players ... we will just have to wait and see what decisions are made"

(04) During Brett's second plate appearance, the commentator said - "Brett had an outstanding year last season, finishing with a batting average of 0.303"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

For the second straight night, the Altoona Curve's bats were as cold as the Northeast Ohio weather, managing just five hits in a 9-0 loss to the Akron Aeros Tuesday night at Canal Park in chilly downtown Akron

The defeat drops Altoona to 0-2 on the season and the Curve have been outscored by their Southern Division rivals, 15-1, in the first two contests

Akron erupted for eight runs in the bottom of the third inning, chasing Curve starter Wardell Starling from the game after failing to retire any of the six men he faced in the frame
Starling (0-1) walked four batters in the inning and was charged with six of the eight Akron tallies in the frame

Reliever Alay Soler followed Starling, but allowed three straight singles and was charged with the final two runs in the eight-run third

Meanwhile, Akron starter J.D. Martin cruised to victory in his first start of the season, tossing five scoreless innings
Martin (1-0), who missed over a year of action after undergoing "Tommy John" elbow surgery, allowed just two hits in his five innings of work

Relievers Jake Dittler, Kyle Collins and Mariano Gomez completed the five-hit shutout

Among the Curve's five hits came three from outfielder Adam Boeve, who reached base safely in all four of his plate appearances

Neil Walker and Alex Fernandez tallied Altoona's other two hits in the contest

The Curve will look to avoid the three-game sweep against Akron Wednesday morning in the wrap up of the series
Right-hander Yoslan Herrera will make his Curve and U.S. pitching debut against Akron lefty Aaron Laffey
Game time is set for 10.35am

J.D. Martin continued to baffle hitters, extending his scoreless streak to 28-1/3 innings, in a 9-0 Akron victory over visiting Altoona on Tuesday
Martin (1-0) kept the Curve (0-2) off the board for five innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out two

The scoreless streak began last season Aug. 8, and spanned six innings for Class A Lake County, 11-1/3 innings for Class A Advanced Kinston and his latest victory

Relief pitchers Jake Dittler, Kyle Collins and Mariano Gomez combined to keep Altoona scoreless through the final four innings

Jordan Brown drove in two with a single to spark an eight-run third inning for the Aeros (2-0)

Wardell Starling (0-1) tossed two innings, allowing six runs on two hits with one strikeout and four walks in the loss

The Curve have big expectations this season, but expectations don’t throw strikes or make routine plays
Failing to do those things during a nightmarish inning Tuesday night dropped Altoona to 0-2

The Curve endured a brutal third inning, gift-wrapping most of Akron’s eight runs with wild pitching and shaky defense

Altoona’s offense also struggled once again, collecting only five hits, in a 9-0 loss at Canal Park

‘‘What stings in a game like tonight is people say, ’Oh, they didn’t show up, or they didn’t play hard,’ but we did’’ Curve manager Tim Leiper said
‘‘Our effort was great’’

It was execution, though, that cost Altoona in the decisive inning

It’s one thing if the opposing team is drilling hit after hit in scoring a bunch of runs, but that wasn’t the case during the Aeros’ eight-run third
Altoona starter Wardell Starling gave up a leadoff single to Wyatt Toregas, a seemingly innocuous beginning
Everything fell apart for Starling and the Curve after that
Starling walked Rodney Choy Foo on a 3-2 pitch, then lost the strike zone
He threw another nine consecutive balls, walking Trevor Crowe to load the bases and Argenis Reyes to force home the game’s first run
Starling finally threw a strike and jumped ahead in the count, 1-2, to Jordan Brown with the bases loaded
The pitcher excelled at minimizing the damage during a late-season stint with the Curve in 2006, but Akron didn’t let him off the hook
A few days ago, Starling said the thing that makes the Aeros so tough is that ‘‘if they have a chance to bury the pitcher and get two or three or four, five runs off him, they’ll do that’’
In this case, Starling’s psychic abilities were eerie
Brown drilled a 1-2 offering to right, scoring a pair to make it 3-0
Starling followed by walking Brian Barton to load the bases again and was lifted in favor of Alay Soler, who was greeted by Jon Van Every’s RBI single

‘‘It was just a combination of things that went wrong, and I should have bounced back from it’’ said Starling, charged with six runs
‘‘I started losing a little feel in the ball
I started to blow on my hands to get a little more feeling on the baseball because, when you don’t have that good feeling, you can’t throw a good, quality pitch’’

The Curve’s low point of the inning occurred when Pat Osborn lifted a harmless flyball to short center
Shortstop Javier Guzman, second baseman Taber Lee and center fielder Andrew McCutchen all were in position to catch the ball
No one took charge, though, each backed off and it fell to the ground as another run scored to make it 5-0
A wild pitch by Soler scored a runner from third
Asdrubal Cabrera then roped an RBI single, and when left fielder Alex Fernandez bobbled it for an error, Osborn scored with the eighth and final run of the frame

Akron’s first eight hitters reached base and scored in the inning, despite the Aeros collecting only four true hits

The Curve issued four walks, a wild pitch, made one error and let one sure out drop to bury themselves under the 8-0 avalanche

The crazy inning brought back memories of Game 2 of last year’s Southern Division playoffs, when Akron scored 11 runs in the first inning
As bad as the Curve looked in that game, they rebounded to win the next two days to force a decisive Game 5

That Altoona club excelled at bouncing back from tough games, and Wednesday will show if this year’s team has that similar trait

‘‘These guys will come back’’ Leiper sad
‘‘They don’t like losing, and they like winning’’

The Curve also started 2001 and 2003 with an 0-2 record

Akron starter J.D. Martin (1-0) worked five shutout innings for the win, giving up two hits and three walks

The Curve loaded the bases on him with two outs in the fifth, but Martin got a flyout from Guzman to end Altoona’s best scoring threat

‘‘We’ve definitely got a lot of talent offensively on this team’’ said Adam Boeve, who had three of the Curve’s five hits
‘‘We’re only two games in, and we haven’t put it together yet
But the potential’s there’’

Behind a strong 2007 debut by starting pitcher J.D. Martin, the Akron Aeros notched their second victory of the season in as many days beating the Altoona Curve 9-0 at Canal Park

Martin scattered two singles and three walks over five innings while striking out two

He benefited from a third inning where the Aeros sent 13 players to the plate, scoring eight runs on five hits, four walks and an error off Curve starter Wardell Starling and reliever Alay Soler

Martin. who was limited to 14 appearances in 2006 due to rehabbing from elbow surgery, came into the game with a streak of 23.1 scoreless innings dating back to his final seven appearances last season
With five shutout innings, his streak now stands at 28.1 scoreless

The shutout against Altoona on Tuesday remained intact thanks to four innings of relief pitching from Jake Dittler, Kyle Collins and Mariano Gomez

The Aeros finish off their abbreviated opening homestand series against the Curve on Wednesday when they send LHP Aaron Laffey to the hill against Altoona’s Yoslan Herrera
Game time is scheduled for 10.35am as the Aeros will host the first of four Education Days presented by Roadway