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EL1 Eastern League

Curve 10th Anniversary Team Voting Ongoing

April 15, 2008 - Eastern League (EL1) News Release


The Altoona Curve are currently letting fans vote for the members of the Official Curve Tenth Anniversary Team. Fans can vote online at AltoonaCurve.com and can also vote at Blair County Ballpark.

Voting for the team will end in late June and the full team will be announced prior to the Thursday, July 3rd game at Blair County Ballpark.

The Curve 10th Anniversary Team will feature one first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, catcher and relief pitcher and three outfielders and starting pitchers. In addition to those positions, two utility players will also be named to the 14-member team.

The club will commemorate several of the players selected for the Anniversary Team as part of a series of six Photo Ball giveaways. Those giveaways will take place on July 19th and 23rd and August 2nd, 19th, 23rd and 30th.

All fans who complete their ballots and include their name and email address will be eligible to receive one of several Curve Tenth Anniversary prize packages, including merchandise, tickets and the opportunity to participate in the on-field announcement of the Anniversary Team.

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Thunder Unveil New Character

On Sunday afternoon the Trenton Thunder unveiled their newest mascot, Strike. The new character is a giant thunder bolt modeled after the team's new alternate logo that debuted last August.

Throughout the month of March, fans were invited to visit the Thunder website and suggest a name for the new character. Suggestions were also accepted at community and school appearances throughout the month. Over 1,000 suggestions were made by fans with "Strike" being the most suggested name.

As part of the name the character contest fans had a chance to win a prize pack if their name was chosen for the new character. Nine-year old Jake Edwards of Hamilton, New Jersey was chosen at random from all the "Strike" entries to win a prize pack that included Thunder tickets and merchandise valued at over $500.

"We're truly excited to introduce Strike to Thunder fans," said Trenton Thunder General Manager Brad Taylor. "The name Strike is associated with both thunder and lightning and contains a great baseball reference as well. I think the fans really nailed this one out of the park."

Other top suggested names were Bolt, Flash, T-Bolt, Volt, Rod, and Zap. Some of the more unusual names were Hobbs and Wonderboy (in reference to the movie The Natural), Alex Tricity (play off of the word Electricity), Blitz (lightning in German), Fulgurite (lightning in Greek), Rayo (lightning in Spanish), Eddie (after Thomas Edison) and Franklin (after Ben Franklin).

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B-Mets Announce PDC Extension

On the eve of their season opener the Binghamton Mets announced a two-year extension of their Player Development Contract with the New York Mets. Their existing agreement was due to expire at the end of the 2008 season, but the extension ensures that New York will continue to furnish players for the B-Mets through the 2010 season.

"The Binghamton Mets are thrilled to continue the successful partnership with our parent Mets," said Binghamton Mets Team President Michael Urda. "The bond between New York and Binghamton has never been stronger, and we look forward to contributing through player development to the success of the big league club."

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Curve Announce "Economic Stimulus Plan"

Last week the Altoona Curve announced their own plan to battle the current recession in the United States economy by introducing the "Curve Economic Stimulus Plan". The goal of the plan is to stimulate the economy by giving the first 1,000 fans 15 years and over who walk through the gates for the Curve's Sunday, April 20th home game five dollars to spend freely at Blair County Ballpark.

The Curve's stimulus payment will come in the form of a $5 Curve Gift Card, which can be used by fans at Blair County Ballpark toward food, merchandise or ticket purchases at any time during the 2008 season. Unlike the federal government, whose economic stimulus payments will vary in amount based on number of children and other factors, all Curve stimulus payments are created equal.

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Canal Park Home Run Trot A Huge Success

The 12th Annual Canal Park Home Run Trot was held on Saturday, March 29th and attracted a record number of participants and raised a record amount of money for Akron Aeros charities and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The race raised $19,877.99 for Aeros charities, a 14-percent increase from 2007 and also attracted 707 runners, which is 118 more participants than last year.

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R-Phils Host Record Crowd

Reading's crowd of 8,251 on Friday night was the largest home Opening Day crowd in franchise history. That total topped the previous record of 7,547 that was set exactly six years ago Friday night.

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Eastern league Team News and Notes

For the week ending 8/30/99

Akron Aeros

The Aeros scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in back-to-back wins over Bowie on Friday and Saturday last week. 1B/DH Michael Aubrey has collected a hit in all nine games to open the year and is batting .282 with two homers and eight RBI. LHP Chuck Lofgren became the second pitcher in the history of the franchise to start back to back opening day games this season. Casey Whitten got the ball on opening day in 1995 and 1996.

Altoona Curve

1B Jason Delaney was the only Curve player to hit safely in the first four games of the season, going 6-for-13 (.462) with three RBI and his RBI single in the eighth inning on April 6th against Reading broke a 2-2 tie and led Altoona to its first win of the season. The Curve's announced Opening Day crowd of 6,736 was the largest in franchise history.

Binghampton Mets

The Binghamton Mets set a franchise record with 18 runs and tied the team mark with 22 hits in an 18-13 win at Erie on Friday. The B-Mets hit .411 and scored 36 runs while winning two out of three games against the SeaWolves. One day before the season started, it was announced that the NY Mets and B-Mets have extended their Player Development Contract through the 2010 season.

Bowie Baysox

INF Jonathan Tucker collected at least one hit in seven of his first 10 games this season and is hitting .314 with five doubles. Tucker leads the team with a .400 on-base percentage and nine runs scored and is tied for the team lead with five walks. RHP Felix Romero leads the Baysox with 11 strikeouts in 7.1 innings of relief.

Erie SeaWolves

Erie and Binghamton combined to score 69 runs on 89 hits during their three game series over the weekend. The two clubs also combined to commit 17 errors in the series. OF Freddy Guzman is tied for first in all of Minor League Baseball with four triples and leads the Eastern League with 11 runs scored. The SeaWolves offense ranks first in the league in runs scored (67) and hits (102).

Harrisburg Senators

The Senators' starting rotation was much better their second time through the rotation. Bobby Brownlie, Shairon Martis, Josh Hall, Marco Estrada and Ismael Ramirez combined to pitch 28 innings and allow 12 earned runs (3.86 ERA) in their second starts of the season after combining to post a 9.43 ERA their first trip through the rotation. 1B Luis Antonio Jimenez is tied for the league lead in home runs (4) and RBI (13).

New Britain Rock Cats

OF Dustin Martin collected multiple hits in four of his first six games this season and is ranked second in the league with a .520 batting average. The Rock Cats scored a season-high 14 runs in a win over Portland on Saturday. The run total matched their total output from the previous six games of the season.

New Haven Ravens

2B Scott Campbell, the first player from New Zealand ever chosen in the Major League Baseball draft, has hit in all eight games he has played in this season. His .545 average leads the league and he has hit two of New Hampshire's three home runs. The Blue Jays drafted Campbell in the 10th round of the 2006 draft out of Gonzaga. The Fisher Cats drew 5,914 fans for their home opener on Thursday.

Norwich Navigators

RHP Sergio Romo has not allowed a run and has given up just two hits in five shutout innings of relief this season and currently has a league-high four saves. OF Antoan Richardson has reached base in all nine games he has played in this season and he is currently ranked second in the league in stolen bases (5).

Portland Sea Dogs

LHP Dustin Richardson did not allow a hit until the fifth inning of his Double-A debut and struck out ten batters. He was even better in his second start, not allowing a hit until the sixth inning. He is 2-0 with a 1.87 ERA and an Eastern League leading 14 strikeouts. RHP Justin Masterson has been equally good, allowing only five hits and striking out 10 batters in nine innings of work.

Reading Phillies

LHP Fabio Castro took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in a 5-2 win over Altoona on Saturday. Castro left after seven innings giving up just one hit and three walks while striking out nine batters. OF Greg Golson currently has a seven-game hitting streak during which he is batting .419 (13-for-31). Golson has collected multiple hits in five of those seven games.

Trenton Thunder

2B Kevin Russo made the most of his first two hits as a member of the Thunder. He gave the Thunder a lead with a two-run homer in his Double-A debut on Saturday and added a key three-run double in Trenton's 8-4 win on Sunday. He has five RBI in just two games after driving in only 19 runs in 109 games with Tampa last season.

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Transactions

Akron Aeros

Placed OF Trevor Crowe on the DL

Received OF Stephen Head from Extended Spring Training

Altoona Curve

Placed OF Pedro Powell on the DL

Signed INF Brian Finegan and Assigned to Altoona (AA)

Placed INF Shelby Ford on the DL

Received INF Victor Alvarez from Hickory (A)

Binghampton Mets

Sent C Salvador Paniagua to Brooklyn (A)

Bowie Baysox

Placed INF Michael Garciaparra on the DL

Received RHP Daniel Lonsberry from Aberdeen (A)

Erie SeaWolves

Sent RHP Matt Rusch to Toledo (AAA)

Received RHP Matt Righter from Oneonta (A)

Placed RHP Brett Jensen on the DL

Activated RHP Marcelo Perez from the DL

Harrisburg Senators

Sent LHP Eude Brito to Columbus (AAA)

Received LHP Tim Bittner from Extended Spring Training

Sent INF Ed Rogers to Columbus (AAA)

Received INF William Bergolla from Extended Spring Training

Placed RHP Levale Speigner on the DL

Received RHP Steve Schmoll from Extended Spring Training

New Britain Rock Cats

None

New Haven Ravens

Placed 1B Josh Kreuzer on the DL

Received INF Marcos Cabral from Extended Spring Training

Norwich Navigators

None

Portland Sea Dogs

Sent RHP Chris Smith to Pawtucket (AAA)

Received RHP Miguel Asencio from Extended Spring Training

Reading Phillies

Placed LHP Jason Kershner on the DL

Received RHP Jason Anderson from Lehigh Valley (AAA)

Sent OF Michael Spidale to Lehigh Valley (AAA)

Received OF Jake Blalock from Clearwater (A)

Trenton Thunder

Sent INF Kevin Russo to GCL Yankees

Received INF Carlos Mendoza

Received INF Kevin Russo from GCL Yankees

Sent INF Carlos Mendoza to Staten Island (A)

Check out the Eastern League Statistics



Eastern League Stories from April 15, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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