PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

The Indianapolis Indians have announced their End of Season Awards for 2010:

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MVP:� Brandon Moss

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With two games to go, Moss is leading the International League's active players with 95 RBI.� He has the team-best 22 home runs (4th in the league) and 31 doubles in 134 games for the Tribe, with a .265 batting average.� He also leads the team in games played, as well as runs (72), hits (131), and total bases (232).� The 22 homers is his personal best for a season.� Moss was also the team's Player of the Month for July, when he hit .315 with 8 doubles, 8 homers, and 31 RBI, and reached base in 24 of his 28 games.� He had a 12-game hitting streak in mid-July.

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Rookie of the Year:� Alex Presley

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Presley joined the Indians at the end of June.� He had been hitting .350� for the Altoona Curve prior to his promotion, with13 doubles, 7 triples, 6 homers, and 47 RBI.� He also had a 21-game hitting streak while with the Curve.� Since joining the Indians, Presley has barely slowed down.� He is hitting .300 with 15 doubles, 6 triples, 6 homers, and 37 RBI, with 2 games to go.� He hit .346 in June and .330 in July.

Presley's most exciting game with the Indians was only his third after joining the team.�� In that game, he went 5-for-6 and hit for the cycle -- the first time an Indians' player has done so at Victory Field.� He also had a long hitting streak (13 games) in mid-July, and had 5 hits in the July 19th game.

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Losses for all of the Pirates' affiliates on Friday night:

Reading Phillies� 9,� Altoona Curve� 4 ...������� (box)

The R-Phils attacked Curve starter Jared Hughes early, and the Curve bats could not keep up.� Hughes retired the side in order in the 1st inning, but gave up 3 unearned runs on a walk, a single, and two errors in the 2nd inning -- the throwing error was by Hughes.� A walk, a double, and a single added 2 more runs in the 3rd inning.� In the 4th inning, Hughes gave up another 3 runs on two singles, a triple, and a double by former Indy Indian Tagg Bozied.� Hughes was done after those 4 innings, having allowed 8 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks, though he struck out 6 batters.

The Curve hitters were hitless in the first 4 innings.� The only batter to get on base was CF Anthony Norman, who reached in the 3rd on Bozied's fielding error at first.� Two home runs, one by C Kris Watts in the 5th, and one by 2B Chase d'Arnaud in the 6th, got the Indians onto the scoreboard, but they were still trailing 8-2.

Each team scored in the 7th.� Tom Boleska had relieved Hughes to begin the 5th inning, and he retired the first 7 batters he faced in order.� Then in the 7th, he walked Bozied, then gave up a single and a double, allowing Bozied to score.� In the bottom of the frame, 1B Matt Hague led off with a single, then scored on singles by Watts and Norman, to make it 9-3.� The Curve added one more run in the bottom of the 9th, when SS Jordy Mercer, Hague, and RF Miles Durham led off the inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases.� Watts' sacrifice fly plated Mercer, but two ground outs ended the inning without any further scoring.� Bryan Morris pitched two perfect innings to wrap it up for the Curve.

The Curve have won the Eastern League's Western Division title, and will begin the first round of playoffs on Wednesday.� None of the other playoff slots have been settled yet.� The Bowie Baysox and the Harrisburg Senators are tied for second place in the Western Division.� The Trenton Thunder are in first place in the Eastern Division, with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 2.5 games behind, with 3 games left to play.

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The wind had the flags doing this, and the flag poles swaying, all evening.

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Louisville Bats� 16,� Indianapolis Indians� 6 ..���� (box)

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It got ugly early at Victory Field tonight, and it didn't get much better as the game went on.� The Louisville Bats clobbered the Indianapolis Indians 16 - 6, and the two teams combined for a total of 30 hits.

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The Ugly:

* Starter Mike Crotta (photo) lasted only one inning.� The first four batters in the top of the 1st reached base:� a slow roller single to short that CF Dave Sappelt beat out for a single, double down the left field line by SS Zach Cozart, four pitch walk to RF Danny Dorn, and a bases-clearing triple to the 418' mark in left-center by 1B Todd Frazier.� Tribe SS Pedro Ciriaco made a diving stop and great throw to first base to make the first out of the inning on C Devin Mesoraco, then Crotta walked 3B Mike Costanzo.� 2B Eric Eymann hit a little dribbler just a few feet in front of home, but when C Jason Jaramillo had to leave the plate to field the ball, since he had a better angle than Crotta did for the throw to first, then Frazier took the opportunity to break for home and score.� LF Michael Griffin capped the inning with a wind-aided 2-run homer over the right field wall.� Crotta struck out Bats' pitcher Tom Cochran to end the inning.� The Bats had a 6 run advantage before the Indians came to the plate.

*After two scoreless innings and just one walk, reliever Corey Hamman (photo) got into trouble in the 4th.� With one out, Michael Griffin drove another triple to the 418' sign in left-center.� Hamman struck out Cochran again, for the second out of the inning, but he had trouble finding that third out.� The next four batters reached base -- an RBI double into center field by Sappelt, a walk to Cozart, a 2-RBI double that rattled around in the right field corner by Dorn, and an RBI double out of CF Alex Presley's reach in center by Frazier.� Bats lead, 10-3.

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*Anthony Claggett gave up another 2-run homer to Griffin in the 5th inning, for a 12 - 3 lead.� Then he gave up 3 more runs in the 7th.� With one out, he surrendered a double to Eymann, singles to Griffin and pinch-hitter Sean Henry (RBI), then after a ground out, another RBI single by Cozart.� Claggett was relieved by Brian Bass, who gave up another single to Dorn, driving in the third run of the inning.� Bats up 15-6.

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