If anyone was looking for Waldo earlier this week, no worries, we found him in Richmond

From the Bus
Richmond, Va. to Curve, Pa. – 271 miles (Travel Time: 4 hours, 13 minutes)
Team Movies Watched: 2 (Slapshot, American Pie 2)
Broadcaster Movies Watched: 0 (it didn’t finish downloading to my iPad before we left #fail)
Broadcaster Books Read: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Hours slept: 1:45

Another 10:30 a.m. day game gone by and another win for the Curve.  With the win this afternoon, the team is now 4-2 in six day games played so far in 2013 so it looks like the 2013 Curve like getting a tan while playing ball too.  All in all, the Curve went 3-4 on this road trip and now its on home to open up a seven-game homestand on Friday night with Erie.

So as you might have read from above the team watched Slapshot on the bus this time back.  Pretty fitting since we’re headed home and the movie takes place just down the road in Johnstown. I’m sure the film resonates a bit more with some of the guys now that they can say they now know where Johnstown, Pa. is and not just a place in a movie.

I was unable to watch the film I had planned to watch on my iPad (The Hobbit) because it didn’t finish downloading at the hotel or at the ballpark before I left.  That’s a rookie mistake and I should have started it earlier but the internet wasn’t as good as expected and I was just plain out of luck.  I wasn’t really all that interested in watching it anyways but it was something to pass time and it was long so that would have been helpful on the lengthy ride home.

Instead, I picked up my book from earlier this offseason called The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and it finally began to pick up.  Not a whole lot like Water for Elephants, this focuses more on the allure and mystique of a night circus and a game between a pair of contestants involving magic and the circus.  Halfway in, it’s getting pretty good.  It’s the first book I’ve really picked up since Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, which was tremendous.

42

Neglected to mention on the last blog entry was the fact I finally got to go see “42″ when we arrived in Richmond on Sunday night.  We rolled in about 9:45 and the last show at the theater started at 10:15 so it was perfect timing for me to walk there and catch the show.

It’s a great film that I think any baseball fan would love and it’s good for the generation who has not heard the Jackie Robinson story told before.  Not too overdone, not underdone, I thought it wast just about right.  It didn’t end very well, but then again, how do you really end the film because he goes on to play the rest of his career.

Regardless, carve out some time and go check it out.

Finally, Some At-Bat Music!

It’s usually one of our most-read blog posts of the year and we’ve finally been able to go ahead and get most of the team’s at-bat/pitching music together.  Even better, we’ve tried to link it up to our site so now you can find the link to the at-bat music throughout the season through AltoonaCurve.com.  Players change songs pretty often so we’ll do our best to keep it updated but for now we’ve got most of them.  Head on over and check it out!

http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?ymd=20130218&content_id=41749056&fext=.jsp&sid=t452&vkey=

Odds and Ends

Did anyone pick up the reference to the weird movie about dogs going home in this edition of the bus blog title?  Homeward Bound.  Very strange film.  Here’s the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107131/

I don’t have any funny videos for you today that I can think of but we’ll see what we can find for the next bus blog.

Homestand starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. with postgame fireworks.  After the game, be sure to hit up T.G.I. Friday’s on Plank Road to meet Nate Baker and Jarek Cunningham (scheduled to appear) for the Extra Innings Party.  They’ll be there for about an hour signing autographs and hanging out with fans.

Until next time….

Mike

From the Bus
Harrisburg, Pa. to Richmond, Va. – 220 miles (travel time 3 hours, 37 minutes)
Team movies watched: 2 (The Sandlot, Lord of War)
Broadcaster movies watched : 1 (This is 40)
Hours slept: 1:20

We find ourselves back on the bus making our way from Harrisburg to the River City, Richmond, Va. to open up a three-game set with the Squirrels beginning Monday at 6:35 p.m. from the concrete behemoth known as The Diamond.

This bus ride feels a bit eerily similar to the last one we took from Altoona to Harrisburg.  Charlie Cutler helped the Curve claim a victory with his two-run double in the 11^th inning earlier this morning and then the Curve went out and got a solid seven-inning pitching performance to grab a second straight win. This time, the seven innings was from Oklahoma native Casey Sadler, who matched a career-high with his seven frames dealt this afternoon.  It was the sixth time in his career (and the second time this season) that he’s dealt six innings.

As it appears we are nearly at our hotel in Richmond, we pass a Wawa and the great debate between Pennsylvanians and other east coasters would ensue…which is better.  Sheetz or Wawa?  We’ll leave that debate up to you, the readers of this blog and not off any opinions on the matter. However, Sheetz did start in Altoona.  Not sayin, just sayin.

It was nice to get out of Harrisburg with a few wins and a series split and even nicer to leave with some solid food.  As some may have heard, big leaguers Francisco Liriano and Jose Contreras were in town over the weekend in Harrisburg and when big leaguers come that means super-fantastic postgame spreads.

The team was treated to some Carrabba’s steak and pasta on Friday night and then on Sunday, the team was fed with Outback Steakhouse steak and potatoes.  Shoot, even I got some Outback for my bus ride to Richmond!  Thanks!

I’ll take a steak!

Bus Movie Breakdown

The team watched two very solid movies in the classic film The Sandlot and 2005’s Lord of War with Nicolas Cage.  You can’t go wrong with The Sandlot on the bus, especially after a pair of wins.  Benny the Jet can inspire anymore and who doesn’t want some smores?

As for Lord of War, it’s been a while since I saw this film and I remembered liking it for the most part when it came out.  I did have one problem with it though and that was it was set in the 80s and 90s and at one point in the movie where Nic Cage makes some kind of exchange involving a briefcase full of money, they used NEW $100 bills.  I mean, that’s a pretty easy thing to fix and sort out, clean it up.  There was also another flaw like this in this film but it escapes me at the moment.

Since I had already watched both films, I watched “This is 40” on my iPad after I woke up from my nap.  Quite a funny film Judd Apatow put together as a semi-sequel to Knocked Up.  It’s funny throughout most of the film (their kids are hilarious) and even cooler is that there are numerous references to LOST because the daughter in the film is watching it to help her cope with her teenage years.  I’d recommend to parents to watch on a Friday night when their kids are already asleep or are at a friend’s house.

Coolest Photo of the Year So Far?

While waiting in the dugout pregame on Friday, it was neat to see a few of the younger Curve players gather around MLB vet Jose Contreras to listen to him tell a few stories.  It went on for about 10 minutes or so but it was exactly how players would normally describe it: just soaking up whatever they can from big league guys while they are with you in the minor leagues.

Jose Contreras has some story time before the game in Harrisburg

The Worst Baserunning You’ll Ever See

To wrap this blog we’ll leave you with this video and it’s appropriate since we’re going to play a Giants affiliate.  I’m not even sure how this got brought up on the bus but as we were making our way to Richmond last night this video was brought up by Gift Ngoepe to show our strength coach Ricky White the example of the worst baserunning you’ll ever see, or at least that’s how it was put by San Francisco Giants broadcaster Jon Miller.  Growing up in San Francisco, I remember this game and seeing the highlights from 2003 while I was living down south attending school in San Diego.

Miller describes it on point and its quite humorous to watch over and over.

Too funny,

Series starts tomorrow at 6:35

Mike

From the Bus
Curve, Pa. to Harrisburg, Pa. – 133 miles (Travel time: 2 hours)
Movies watched: 0
Hours slept: 0:45 minutes

A pair of wins in one day is always nice and it always seems to make a bus ride easier the next day.  With the pair of wins on Wednesday, the Curve finished up their first homestand of 2013, 3-4, and also grabbed their first series victory in the process.

Now it’s on to our first visits of the season to the capital of the commonwealth, Harrisburg, Pa., and the River City, Richmond, Va.  First up on the trip will be a visit to Harrisburg, which is by far the easiest bus ride in the league since it takes right around two hours.  As we roll into the outskirts of the capital, we appear to have some rain in the area so hopefully that clears out before our 7 p.m. game tonight.

For those that do not know, Harrisburg’s stadium, like the one in Curve, Pa., is located right next to an amusement-style park.  In this case, it’s actually a part of City Island, where people can come grab some ice cream, play a round of mini golf and explore when the weather is nice.  Since it is an island, it has been susceptible to flooding and that hasn’t excluded the stadium as you can see here from the picture below.

A flooded Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg, Pa. in 2011 (Photo – Harrisburg Patriot News)

This occurred in 2011 and actually forced the Senators, who made the playoffs that year, to play their entire playoff series at Richmond because the field was under water.  Richmond wound up winning that series to advance to its first-ever Eastern League Championship but lost in to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Harrisburg’s hotel is not a former factory for Quaker Oats, like in Akron, but is located in a decent area with some decent food options around it pending you arrive when they are open.  Last season, came to Harrisburg after playing a day game somewhere else (can’t remember where) and got in just as the T.G.I. Friday’s across the street and the Denny’s next door were closing.  Only place open, McDonald’s, and they were also about 10 minutes from closing.  Wasn’t exactly fast food because they had to feed nearly an entire team 10 minutes before they were supposed to close, but it worked nonetheless.

I also ventured to see a movie during my last trip to Harrisburg after a day game and then the cab company did not pick up when I left the movie and I had to walk about 1-1.5 miles back to the hotel, so that wasn’t ideal.

At Bat Songs Preview

Our goal for this road trip is to get the Walk-Up music section of the site going and populated with a solid list now that our team has time to pick at bat songs, change them, and pick new ones during the first homestand.

Off the top of my head, here’s what some of them have been using so far in 2013

Andrew Lambo
Fly Me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra
Say My Name – Destiny’s Child
Bye Bye Bye – N’Sync

Drew Maggi
Imagine Dragons – Radioactive

*Editor’s Note – Former Curve RHP Vic Black, who’s now pitching for Triple-A Indianapolis, pegged Imagine Dragons as a breakout artist last season in I’d guess May.  He had their EP going in the clubhouse one day and then a few weeks or a month later It’s Time became a chart-topping hit.  Solid foresight.

Gift Ngoepe
Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child

Tyler Waldron
Blackmill – The Drift

We’ll get the full list up sometime before we get the next homestand underway.

Super…almost near the hotel.  Need to grab some lunch.  It will probably be T.G.I. Friday’s…

Follow us on the road: @AltoonaCurve on both Twitter and Instagram.

Also, since we are on “The Island” tonight and the next three days, be prepared for countless LOST references in the broadcasts when at all possible.

Until next time,

Mike

From the Bus
Erie, Pa. to Akron, Ohio – 125 miles (Travel Time: 2 hours, 4 minutes)
Movies watched: 1 – Life of Pi
Hours slept: :50

So Quaker Oats had roo(t)s (University of Akron joke) in Akron huh? Sweet.

That was a tough loss to end the series in Erie but in baseball you must have a short memory as we are hopefully off to bigger and better things as we now go to Akron, Ohio. This trip in to the Rubber City will be the first of three trips the Curve make here in 2013 with the last trip coming just after the Eastern League All-Star Break. We will be staying in a different hotel than in years past when we arrive in Akron so I’ll be curious to see how it compares to the old one. One of the best perks of the last hotel was that you could walk to the ballpark.

Oscar Nod for Move #1
The first bus movie of the year turns out to be one of the best picture nods in “Life of Pi”. I was able to see five of the nine best picture nods prior to actual Oscar Sunday but this was one that I missed. Unfortunately I had work to do on this bus ride over and haven’t paid much attention to the film. Plus, I think it’s one that should be watched on a glamorous 3D, LED HDTV with a tub of popcorn and some sweet tarts, no? Nonetheless, a great choice to get the movie watching on the bus started for the 2013 season.

Familiar Faces in Akron
We leave a few familiar faces in Erie in Ramon Cabrera (2012) and Derek Hankins (2007-2010) and find another tomorrow when we get to Canal Park in 2011-12 Curve outfielder Quincy Latimore. Latimore led the Curve in home runs in each of the past two seasons before an offseason trade swapped him to Cleveland for Jeanmar Gomez, who now is pitching for the Pirates. We’ll try and catch up with the man known as “The Double Deuce” while we are here in Akron this week and play the interview on the broadcast on Friday while we return home to take on Harrisburg in our Tourist Trap segment.

Getting Ready for Opening Day
While I’m out here on the road with the team, the staff back in Curve, Pa. is feverishly working to get all the final preparations set for Thursday night’s home opener with Harrisburg. We’ll be kicking things off early at the ballpark for those that want to tune in as we’ll be live on WTAJ-TV beginning at 5 a.m. with Patrick Schurr and Regina Miller. We’ve had fun with the duo in each of the past three years and we hope to have some fun stuff ready for them when they visit early Thursday morning. Check it out as your eating your breakfast!

Interesting Concession Items from Erie
It’s always a fun time to try out different food items from different places across the Eastern League. I was able to sample one item and leave one on the table for our next trip to Jerry Uht Park. They had mini corn dog bites for sale at the Uht and honestly, I’m a huge fan of a corn dog so I figured these would be good. And, they were. The item I left on the table for our next trip in early May? California-style Garlic Fries. I don’t think there is any way these can be as good as the Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries you get at AT&T Park in San Francisco (see awesomeness below) but I’ll be curious to see how they match up.

Food in Akron
While we are in a different hotel when we arrive in Akron, I am told its still in the downtown area where there are some great places to eat. Most of the guys, coaches and broadcasters (I used to run into former Curve skipper PJ Forbes there all the time) will go to the Diamond Deli, which is just passed Canal Park in downtown Akron. Phenomenal place to go get a sandwich and drink. Other good places to go? The Pita Pit, which is literally across the street from Canal Park.  And they have sweet tea.

Hooray, looks like we are here and right on cue, the movie ends. Crazy. Now, where to go for dinner…?

Follow us on the trip @AltoonaCurve on Twitter and on Instagram.

Mike

From the Bus
Apirl 4, 2013
Altoona , Pa. to Erie, Pa. – 202 miles
Movies watched: 0
Time slept: 1:15

Welcome to the first edition of what I sincerely hope will be a series of blogs that will all be written on our bus trips throughout the season in an effort to better keep up this blog during the season.  Without too much more banter, let’s get right into it:

Opening Day
While all major league teams have opened their 2013 campaign already, Thursday marks the official first day of baseball for MiLB with all full-season teams opening up their seasons across the continental United States. For us with the Curve, we’re opening the season in Erie for the second time in three years and for the fourth straight year with Erie overall.

The team is 6-8 in games all time played on Opening Day and, maybe interesting or not, an Altoona starting pitcher has only been credited with a win on Opening Night just once since the 2004 season. Who did it? Mike Crotta won on Opening Night in 2010 when the Curve bested the Harrisburg Senators at then-known Blair County Ballpark.

Today, Brandon Cumpton gets the starting nod for Altoona after making 27 starts with the Curve in 2012. The Augusta, Ga. native won 12 games for the Curve in 2012, which was the second-highest total in the Eastern League last season and was also 4-2 against the SeaWolves including two wins in Erie.

Pirates-Curve
Now that the team is officially on to open its season in Erie we can take a look back at just how special the Pirates-Curve Exhibition game on Saturday was. There was a franchise-record 10,116 people in attendance at the game and we have a whole bunch of photos to sort through from the day before we post them on the web. If you’re looking for a very nice, in-depth recap of the day with pictures from inside and outside the action, check out Ben Hill’s Ben’s Biz Blog. Hill is a writer for MiLB.com and was gracious enough to visit Curve, Pa. for the exhibition game last Saturday and he detailed his experiences in the fullest in a two-part blog.

You can find Part I here

And Part II Here

While Hill exclusively talks about his time in Altoona in this blog, fans should get it out in general on a weekly basis to see some of the best promotions and stories from around the game of Minor League Baseball.

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
With the 25-man roster now set, we can breakdown the roster by geographic region to see just how global a game baseball is. If we look at the Curve 25-man roster and coaching staff to start the season, here’s what we get:

From the United States (by state):

Arizona
Tim Alderson
Drew Maggi

Arkansas
Austin McClune

California
Charlie Cutler
Alex Dickerson
Jeff Inman
Andrew Lambo
Tyler Waldron
Ricky White

Georgia
Brandon Cumpton
Jason Townsend

Illinois
Ethan Hollingsworth
Stan Kyles

Indiana
Mel Rojas, Jr.

New York
Adalberto Santos

Oklahoma
Casey Sadler

Pennsylvania
Mike Zalno

Tennessee
Nate Baker

Texas
Matt Curry
Justin Howard
Kenn Kasparek
Ryan Long
Jameson Taillon

Washington
Jarek Cunningham

From the Dominican Republic:
Carlos Paulino
Stolmy Pimentel
Andy Vasquez

From South Africa:
Gift Ngoepe

From Australia:
Stefan Welch

From Venezuela:
Luis Sanz
Carlos Garcia

That’s all for now, tune in to tonight’s game with pregame at 6:05 p.m.

– Mike

By Rob Egan

Photo Credit: Mark Olson

Jameson Taillon is part of the “one-two punch” that new Altoona Curve manager Carlos Garcia described this week when talking about the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rotation. The hard-throwing right-hander, who won all three of his starts with the Curve late last season, will return to the Double-A club to begin 2013.  He will lead a pitching staff that looks to be the strength of Altoona at the outset of the coming season.

According to Pirates’ Director of Player Development Larry Broadway, Taillon will be joined by newly-acquired Stolmy Pimentel, returnee Tyler Waldron, and Double-A rookie Casey Sadler on the Curve’s starting staff.  The fifth starter will likely come from a group that includes Minor League Rule 5 draft pick Ethan Hollingsworth, recently-signed free agent Luis Sanz, and two pitchers who spent the bulk of last year in Bradenton in Jhonathan Ramos and Eliecer Navarro.  Of all of the potential starters, six are right-handed, including the four already slotted in the rotation.  Ramos and Navarro are the left-handed options.

With just nine days to go before the Curve heads north, Broadway rattled off five relievers that are good bets to be a part of the pitching staff.  That list is headed by a member of the Pirates’ 40-man roster, right-hander Hunter Strickland.  Fellow right-handers Jeff Inman and Jason Townsend, who, like Strickland, spent time in Altoona in 2012, are expected to be back to begin this campaign.  Zach Thornton, a right-hander acquired from Oakland in exchange for Chris Resop in late November, could be the Curve’s closer in 2013 after racking up 16 saves for the Athletics’ high Class A club in Stockton last year.  Nathan Baker, who began last year in the Altoona rotation before finding his niche in the bullpen, will give Garcia a left-handed option in relief.

The projected roster of position players will blend a fair amount of speed, a little bit of power, and plenty of versatility.  Broadway identified only four players as being “everyday players”.  First baseman Alex Dickerson and second baseman Jarek Cunningham will be relied on for extra base hits and RBI, while center fielder Mel Rojas, Jr. and shortstop Gift Ngoepe will keep things moving on the bases.  Dickerson, a third-round pick in 2011 out of Indiana, avoided a sophomore season jinx in Bradenton last year by socking 13 home runs, driving in 90, and batting .295 en route to being the first Marauder to earn Florida State League Player of the Year honors.  The left-handed hitter also showed a bit of speed with 12 steals for the Marauders.

Cunningham will be looking to improve upon his 2012 stint with the Curve (.217, 6 HR, 45 RBI in 105 games) and provide some right-handed pop in the middle of the order.  Rojas, son of the former Major League relief pitcher of the same name, stole 16 bases and rapped 12 triples while patrolling center field in Bradenton last season.  Meanwhile, Ngoepe (pronounced en-GO-pay) hails from South Africa, speaks British-accented English, and is noted for his excellent glove work.  In 2012 with the Marauders, Ngoepe sported a solid .330 on-base percentage, stole 22 bases, and flashed power with nine home runs.  He followed that up with an even better Arizona Fall League performance – hitting .261 and getting on base at a .370 clip.

The other four positions on the diamond aren’t as clear cut at the start of 2013 for Altoona.  Carlos Paulino will be one of two catchers to split time with the club.  The right-handed hitting backstop was acquired in a 2011 spring training trade from the Marlins in exchange for former Curve infielder Jim Negrych.  Paulino hit .251 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 84 games.  He will be joined behind the plate in Altoona by either returnee Charlie Cutler (.296, 2 HR, 19 RBI, .407 OBP) or waiver wire pick-up Ali Solis (.283, 6 HR, 40 RBI with Double-A San Antonio in the Padres’ system in ’12).

Third base, right field, and left field will be manned by a collection of players competing for at-bats, said Broadway.  Those corner infield/outfield-types will probably consist of Stefan Welch, Oscar Tejeda, Justin Howard, and Dan Grovatt.  Andy Vasquez is likely to make the Curve as an outfielder with Carlos Mesa, a Cuban defector, also a possibility for one of those spots.  Kelson Brown, who was solid as a reserve third baseman and shortstop in 2012, is trying to win a similar spot on this year’s edition.

While there may be a surprise or two joining the Curve’s 25-man roster before the March 30 exhibition game against the Pirates at Peoples Natural Gas Field in Altoona, Broadway seemed fairly firm on 20 players – nine pitchers and eleven position players.  Three of the four pitchers in the running for the final rotation spot will make the club, at least as a long reliever.  The last two spots may come down to who will join Paulino at catcher and a reserve infield position.

A breakdown of what a potential Curve roster could look like to start the 2013 season

Former Pirates’ All-Star Second Baseman Carlos Garcia was named the seventh manager in Altoona Curve history back in January. On Monday, eleven days before he and his team will arrive in Altoona, Garcia chatted with me for a few minutes about his time as a player and minor league manager in the Pittsburgh organization.

Egan: You were coming up through the Pirates’ minor league system as a player during the last golden era in the early 1990s. Do you see some similarities in what you saw in the minor leagues then to what you’re seeing now?
Garcia: Definitely. You can see the job the scouting department is doing and the talent they are bringing to the table. Now, it’s for us to develop the talent and put it in Pittsburgh. The greatest years in Pittsburgh haven’t happened yet. These kids have the tremendous potential to become a great team again.

Egan: Everybody’s talking about the fourth and fifth starter here in major league camp because it’s assumed A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez, and James McDonald will man the first three spots. The Pirates are hoping two spots will be filled soon by guys named Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon. Talk about the talents you’ve been able to see from them down here this spring.
Garcia: Tremendous talent. Right now, we’re talking about needing number four and five starters. In the future, (Cole and Taillon) are going to be the one-two punch. They are the faces of the organization and we’re looking forward to them making an impact in the future.

Egan: Stan Kyles joins the organization as pitching coach for the Curve and you know the rest of your staff from working with them before in hitting coach Ryan Long, trainer Mike Zalno, and strength and conditioning coach Ricky White. What are your impressions of them?
Garcia: Kyles brings a lot of experience. He’s a guy who’s been coaching at the Triple-A level and in the big leagues (with the Brewers). I had the opportunity to work with Ryan Long my first year as a manager (in Bradenton in 2011) and I can only say great things about the guy. He works very well with the young players. He’s been doing a tremendous job for the guys who have been in Altoona. Mike Zalno is a veteran of the organization and he does a great job for us. Ricky is a guy we can count on to get the guys in shape to be ready to play.

Egan: Working with the players, do you think it’s important that as a manager you can speak from your own major league experience about what it’s going to take for them to get to that level?
Garcia: Well, they know I’ve been there. They know I did the work to be able to create the opportunity to play at the big league level. They know that I did what it takes on the way there (in the minors) to collect a lot of experience. For me, from past experience as a player, if I had a coach who can share that kind of (major league) experience with me that would be really beneficial in my approach to get to the big leagues. I’m looking forward to showing them the sacrifice and the work they’ve got to put in – day in and day out – to get to the big leagues.

Egan: How has being of Latin American descent helped you in working with players from that part of the world?
Garcia: Definitely, it helps a lot when you have somebody of the same background. The communication barrier is going to be less difficult and I’m happy to help with that.

Egan: On the personal side, what’s your favorite music? What do you like to listen to?
Garcia: I enjoy any type of music. Salsa. Meringue. Where I come from (Venezuela), that something that I really enjoy, too.

Egan: What’s your favorite movie?
Garcia: The Godfather (laughter).

Egan: What was your favorite big league town to visit when you played?
Garcia: I loved New York, but I really enjoyed playing at Wrigley Field in Chicago. That was my favorite place. The fans are really close to the action and interact with the players and the day games definitely helped where you can enjoy the rest of the city after the game. My family, it was one of their favorite trips over there. We had a great time in Chicago.