Monthly Archives: June 2010

Big moves today by the Phillies organization.

Scott Mathieson back to Lehigh Valley

Mike Zagurski to Philadelphia

Greg Dobbs designated for assignment

Jimmy Rollins activated from DL

Carlos Ruiz assigned to DL

Big day Pig Fans! Big day!

Voting for the AAA All Star game ends in just 3 days…

I remember last summer when the ticker counting down to the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until the 2010 AAA All Star game appeared in the concourse of Coca Cola Park. It had something like 400 + days to go when I first looked at it and now it is down to just a couple weeks!

With that, I do encourage you to vote. In this electronic age it is fairly easy to vote. You log in, it asks for a name and email address and you are allowed to vote a maximum of 25 votes. It makes it a whole lot easier to vote and I imagine to tally votes doing it this way. Imagine having to tally thousands of paper ballots? I’m surprised we haven’t seen more about fan voting in the local media. Maybe the papers are still stunned by the 1957 MLB All Star game fiasco?

In 1957 the All Star game was held in St. Louis and featured the American League vs. most of the Cincinatti Reds. Well that would have been the case if commisioner Ford Frick hadn’t stepped in and added Willie Mays and Hank Aaron to the roster.

When fan voting began that year, Cincinatti fans started voting. They voted, and voted and voted… then voted some more. To make things easier the local newspaper printed out ballots that were prefilled to vote for all of the Red’s team. To vote, a fan just had to sign their name and turn in the card. Fans were found to have collected hundreds of these ballots and even bars would refuse to serve anyone without casting a vote for the Reds. When tally day came around, 7 of the 9 starting positions were Cincinatti Reds. As a result, Frick took the vote away from fans and gave it to managers and players until the fan vote was restored in 1970. I wonder how many Cincinatti fans yelled out his name in anger following that decision…

Today’s system of combining fan votes, team votes and media votes seems to work pretty good. You get the prospects and the home team usually gets a few players on the roster who might not have made it otherwise.

So don’t forget to vote for your favorite players and before you know it it will be All Star weekend here in the Lehigh Valley!

The Pigs continue to roll as they took the Tide down 6 to 4 in the series opener in Norfolk last night!

Thompson, Tavares, and Sellers all had 2 hit games and Brian Bocock came out of his shell last night knocking out 3 hits and 3 RBI including a triple.

Joe Savery had another very bad outing. Allowing 3 runs in the first innings, his early troubles continue. He avoided his 8th loss with an Ironpig comeback in the 6th inning but the former #1 pick only lasted 4 innings allowing 7 hits for 4 runs with 90 pitches for 47 strikes.

Looking at Savery pitch, I know I mentioned it previously, he has a hitch in his windup and appears to throw with just his arm. His known ability to get into trouble situations and then “get out of them” was a source of pride in Reading last year although the way he “get’s out” of these situations here with the Ironpigs is usually initiated by Dave Huppert walking to the mound. How long will the Phillies let this guy embarrass himself at AAA. Allow him to take a break in Clearwater or Reading, clear the head get back in a good routine and play good baseball…. just my personal thoughts.

Anyways, game 2 of the 3 game set in Norfolk set for tonight at 7:15.

OINK!

Yesterday was a wake up call to many die hard Ironpig fans, those who attend most games I should say. The blaring music was replaced by organ music and other sound effects were kept to a minimum. It was nice.

Don’t get me wrong, I like metal music too! It gets the crowd pumped up and cheering. It gets people dancing up on the scoreboard screen and gives you that really good “I’m part of something bigger than myself” feeling.

There are a few “questionable” songs that are played at the park though. People of my generation and older hear some of these new songs with the lyrics hard to understand and think it has a nice beat to it and don’t really pay attention to it. The kids at the park know these songs, they know them well.

When one of the players, Willy Tavares I believe, walks up to the plate a song clip singing about “Supermanning a Ho” plays loudly. Yesterday a 14 year old boy explained to me what supermanning a ho really was. Yikes. I’m not going to say it but ask anyone under the age of 20 and they will probably be able to fill you in. Be ready though, you might not get the answer you expect!

Another song, this one by Christina Aguilera, sings about a “Candy Man.” Not exactly the song Willy Wonka sings at his chocolate factory.. This one goes on with lyrics that say:

“He’s a one stop shop, makes my panties drop”

“He’s a one stop shop, makes my cherry pop”

“He’s a one stop shop, get it while it’s hot, baby don’t stop”

Yes, both of these songs are played regularly during games at Coca Cola Park.

Maybe I’m getting old. A few people have mentioned this to me and thought I would reach out to the readers and get your thoughts if this is appropriate for a “Family Environment”

Readers?

Photo from Noise Nation member Decal.

This was a great day and a great game. So many things to make note of… I hope I remember everything.

The Pigs won today defeating SWB 4 to 1! They took 3 of 4 from the Yankees and finally won their first series of 2010!

Today was Turn Back the Clock Day and it was accompanied with an old time scoreboard look, organ music and a little less advertising and hooplah. Also got to meet a Ed Jones who played with the Allentown Cardinals when they played in the 50’s. Real nice guy and had some mementos with him along with some good memories to share with the kids.

I’m going to start off with Cody Ransom. He has really worked hard and turned himself around with his fielding of the hot corner. Today he snagged a few balls behind the bag and gunned down the runners at first. He also made an amazing snag of a line drive, landing on third to complete an unassisted double play. That catch made a huge difference in the game as the Pigs held only a 1-0 lead at that point and with only one out that ball was easily a run scoring double. Good job Cody! Keep it up!

We also saw Andy Tracy get ejected. Andy is a veteran player and is widely known to not protest calls. Well today he was called out on a pitch well high and outside. My thought was that how delayed the call was the umpire, Johnny Conrad, felt Andy was showing him up and called the third strike well after Tracy began his trot to first. On the way back to the dugout words were exchanged and he was tossed. I have never seen him as angry as he was today. He might have a game suspension heading his way this week as he made contact with the umpire. A member of the Noise Nation who was within hearing distance believed Andy said “Well throw me out” and Conrad complied. We haven’t had a scuffle like that at Coca Cola Park since Steve Kline went crazy, earning himself a suspension and eventual release a few days later.

The Pig’s bats did come alive today smacking 12 hits for 4 runs. Four Ironpigs had multi hit games and Melvin Dorta extended his hitting streak to 11 games. The Pigs also stranded 12 on base.

One thing of note was Scranton’s lack of an effective double play between second and short. At least three times errant throws allowed a baserunner to reach first. They did complete one double play later in the game but it was hot and I have the feeling that everyone wanted that game to end and come home.

Nate Bump took a hard line drive off of his arm this afternoon. Rumors circulated that he will be fine for his next start but you never know until the day after an injury like that. Also with Jimmy Rollins pending return we might see Wilson Valdez back in a Pig’s uniform although he did hit another home run. We’ll see. Hope to see Mathieson back too.

Pigs head to Norfolk tomorrow. Hope they had a chance to spend some time with their families before leaving. Game is at 7:15 tomorrow and we’ll be listening.

OINK!

The Ironpigs came through tonight and defeated the Scranton Yankees 5 to 4.

Every Ironpig (except John Mayberry) had a hit tonight and Melvin Dorta extended his hitting streak to 10 games. The season long is 12 games by Rich Thompson earlier this year.

Figueroa pitched another great game and although his scoreless inning streak came to an end on a massive home run to centerfield, he picked up his 3rd win in 3 opportunities as an Ironpig.

Andy Tracy, how can I post about the Ironpigs right now and not mention Andy, set the standard and led by example today by sprinting out a routine pop up to centerfield. To be honest, I didn’t see the ball fall short between the shortstop and centerfielder as I was watching Tracy tearing around first base like he was looking for a triple and slid safely into second base for a 2 base error. Hustle! Something others on the Ironpigs could benefit from,, (cough) right-fielder (cough).

Also some clarification on Scott Mathieson. I’m sure you’ve heard every rumor out there by now but it really does have to do with sections of the Collective bargaining agreement that says he has sufficient time in the majors and in the organization to be granted a designation special to that situation. It would take a really big effort for him not to land back with the Ironpigs. I am wondering, though, how happy is Mathieson with the Phillies. He must be thankful for the Phillies continued support through 2 Tommy John surgeries but their reluctance to promote him and then sending him back after only one mediocre showing. (The Phillies could have used a fresh arm tonight with Lidge blowing his first save of 2010)

Tomorrow is Father’s day. I’ll be at the game but meeting up with Dad later in the day. The team has announced that dad’s can come on to the field with their kids and play catch after the game. What a great thing to do. I’m sure groundskeeper Bill Butler isn’t supportive of a few hundred folks tromping around his outfield but there is a whole week before the next game so it will be a good time for all.

See you tomorrow!

OINK!

Reports are coming in that Scott Mathieson’s promotion to the Phillies has been cut very short. He was designated for assignment today. He has options remaining but rumors are circulating that there is a chance the Phillies could lose him with this move. Stay tuned for more info.

Carlos Ruiz was hit in the head by a bat last night and was taken to a hospital to be checked. He has not yet been put on the DL but Ironpig’s catcher was called up to serve as the Phillies 2nd catcher.

Thanks to Decal for the updates!

Our beloved Ironpig outfielder Chris Duffy is no longer the only Chris Duffy in the Phillies organization…

What? Two Chris Duffy’s? That is correct.

The Phillies have signed their 2010 Draft pick, an outfielder from the University of Central Florida and his name is Chris Duffy. This spring Duffy hit .436 with 18 home runs as a college senior. Duffy, at 6’2 240lbs could be looking at a future replacement of Ryan Howard. The Phillies 26th round pick (801st overall) is being viewed as a sleeper prospect. Let’s hope the system helps him develop into a player that we might see one day in Coca Cola Park!

Not to keep rubbing it in, but I finally located a video of the grand slam Scott Mathieson gave up in Buffalo in the bottom of the ninth to lose a 3 run lead. This guy hit that ball hard and the music playing was pretty cool. Anyways… for your enjoyment or discomfort: