The Pigs got a bad roll of the dice with the one day road trip to Pawtucket today and the result was the second straight shutout, losing 0 to 8 to the Pawsox.
Now we all know that the Pigs are now pretty much at the same spot this season, record wise, as they were in that dismal 2008 season. Anyone who can see the imbalance of wins and losses can see that they lost far more games than they have won.
I know a good friend will have a fit at what I’m going to say next, but it does deserve mentioning and by mentioning does not mean I agree with it. Just pointing it out.
The minor leagues are all about prepping players to play at the major league level.
1. Develop prospects for the future and/or to trade for established players
2. Have veteran players ready to fill a MLB roster spot if the parent team is in need.
3. Entertain the fans who will be footing the cost of the program.
How well has the Ironpig’s organization completed these tasks? Let’s break it down.
1. Michael Taylor, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Carlos Carrasco were all used to obtain pitching stars Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay.
2. With the mass injuries with the Phillies this year… Dane Sardinha, Wilson Valdez, Paul Hoover, Antonio Bastardo, Scott Mathieson, Mike Zagurski, Gregg Dobbs, Brian Bocock and Cody Ransom have all been called up to the bigs to fill roster spots and in the cases of Valdez, Sardinha and Hoover they have had considerable playing time.
3. The Ironpigs currently have the highest per game attendance in all of AAA Baseball.
So while the team is playing ok ball, having terrible results, the organization is truly completing its mission with the Phillies.
Also of note: INF Ozzie Chavez promoted to Lehigh Valley from Reading.
Tomorrow is the 4th of July.. going to be hot. Make sure to stay hydrated.
Oink!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Yeah, it’s such a different atmosphere over here in South Africa. Everybody wants to win. Not everybody can and everybody understands that, but everybody wants to try all the same.
And, if they don’t — at least they fire the manager!
Aside from the much-talked-about vuvuzela horns, this year BIG, OVER-SIZED COLORED GLASSES seem to be all the rage with the fans over here. Very popular indeed as the merchants are doing brisk business in all the cities and stadiums.
Personally, I think the oversized glasses look really, really f—ing stupid on the people.
But, hey, it’s the fans’ money and they can spend it any way they like.
(It’s a lot easier to be philosophical when you are pounding on people putting four past the keeper three out of five times out)
I agree with one part for sure. Fire the manager!!
I didn’t realize you were going to SA… send me a postcard man. I collect stamp with foreign postmarks.
All I ever asked for was .500 — the IronPigs cannot even manage .400 this season (and not for the first time, either)
I should do an article to explain how European professional football runs their player development program.
There is no affiliated minor league system, as in baseball.
Football teams want their “feeder” teams winning for a variety of different reasons :
Morale is a HUGE one — players on losing teams get frustrated and stop concentrating and focusing. This hampers a player’s development, which will affect the big club.
Players on losing teams can begin to develop bad habits and bad attitudes — sometimes, these things can stay with a player forever even when they move to a new team.
Football uses the promotion / relegation system…whoever finishes last in AAA would have to play the next year in AA and, of course, whoever won AA would be promoted to AAA.
A powerhouse club, say Bayern Munich of Germany, will have a reserve team playing in the country’s 3rd division.
Bayern want the reserves winning. Not so the reserves can move up to the 2nd divison. In fact, if the reserves qualify for promotion (and it happens with the reserves of powerhouses all the time in various countries), Bayern will intentionally not fill out the required paperwork and the reserves will stay in the 3rd divison.
Bayern want the reserves winning so the players can go through important situations that they will face when they make it to the Bundesliga — how to defend a slim lead late, how to stay organized and mount an assault to come back and tie / win the game, etc.
In baseball vernacular, they want their players playing in meaningful games. And in pressure situations. They want their guys at the plate hitting with men on bases and none or one out.
Two outs, nobody on base does not do anything for anybody anymore after a while…
England used to be the one country that did things differently…
All the First Division teams had reserve teams in a league just for FD rt — it was known as “the Stiffs” and, typically, maybe a few hundred people would turn out to watch.
I am not sure if the Stiffs still exist…
English teams now prefer to send a player who is slightly on the wrong side of the bubble “out on loan” to a club at the highest level possible and one where the player will not sit the bench.
“Getting games” is very important, but, so is playing in “meaningful matches” — no matter what the level.
The last place a European professional football club would send a top prospect out on loan to is a club who is, seemingly, unconcerned with an inability to maintain a record of even .400
It is pretty obvious that the Philadelphia Phillies, historically, choose to re-stock their team with finished Major League products — either acquired via trade for a truckload of minor leaguers or via free agency.
They care little about the overall strength of their minor league system.
The records speak for themselves.
The Phillies can do what they want. There IS more than one way to skin a cat. Make no mistake about that.
Meanwhile, I do know of places the exact same beer that costs far less. The exact same food that costs far less. Plenty of girls who are every bit as pretty as the ones you can find at the Park.
NOTE TO IRONPIGS :
If you want MY hard-earned money, you will need to do a better job with the entertainment on offer.
I AM NOT PAYING FOR CHRONIC LOSING
I don’t care if the Phillies ever win the World Series — (I know the minor league history of Philadelphia and the average length of affiliation agreements with AAA cities, it is NOT written in stone that the IronPigs will ALWAYS be with the Phillies)
The thing that REALLY makes me SICK TO MY STOMACH is all the ACCEPTANCE of the losing.
The rationalization, the justification, etc.
And I absolutely refuse to BUY it.
(I can watch for free on Channel 2, if necessary)
I would be so far less aggrivated if I didn’t have to hear the “happy spin” song continuously playing all day long in IronPigs Land.
Sadly, I haven’t listened to a game on the radio in almost two months.
I’m sick of it.
I would rather hear discussions on the price of tea in China as the IronPigs are getting pounded by whoever, wherever.
Seriously.
I am, sincerely, very happy everyone else is doing so well with the IronPigs and I am strongly considering staying here in South Africa forever, so as to not spoil everyone else’s fun in the Lehigh Valley.
Go IronPigs — You Can Make .400 This Year! (eyes rolling)
I hear the calamari is great in SA… have you tried any? 🙂
PS — what the hell happened to JOHN MAYBERRY since I stopped paying any attention?
.238 avg ???
Just an update from last night’s game re: Mayberry. The Pawsox first run scored when, runner at first, a ball was lined down the left field line. Mayberry jogged to it then ran right past it allowing it to reach the outfield wall. His glove was never below one foot above the ground. Later in the game I missed a play and asked how the 2nd run scored and someone told me, “Mayberry again”
Also, the rest of the IL is learning that he can’t hit a breaking ball? Funny how the ball comes shooting out of the right-field corner now so quickly, but if it rolls to the left corner it takes FOREVER.
That article you did earlier in the year about Mayberry maybe not wanting to play…
…maybe there is some truth in there somewhere.
I have said it before, of all the players who have everything to play for, as the English would say — it’s Mayberry!
His sinking batting average and reports of laziness on defense make me think somebody is sulking because they are not collecting a Major League paycheck.
Something is wrong with that guy. All the physical tools are in place. They are just not being used to their full potential.