Monthly Archives: July 2010

The Pigs lost last night 2 to 4 ending their hopes for their first 4 game series sweep of the season. I saw a few sad faces carrying brooms out of The Coke last night and I have to say I was a little disappointed myself.

Brian Mazone was pitching well into the 6th inning but then just fell apart. Allowing 5 hits and 4 runs in his final inning, Mazone was replaced by Michael Stutes who came on for 1.1 innings striking out 4 and walking one. Combine that with his last appearance and it seems Stutes is becoming comfortable in the AAA level.

An odd play occurred in the top of the 8th when Oscar Villarreal walked Gil Velazquez. Villarreal appeared to call for time, then tossed the ball towards the ball boy and it rolled into the dugout. The first base umpire gave a yell and awarded Velazquez third base. It was a few plays later when the official scorer added the error so it wasn’t just us fans who were confused about that. Technically, time was not granted, but I put this on home plate umpire Chris Bakke. Pitchers and batters call for time out all the time. Pitchers want new balls after just about every play and it is rare for an umpire to acknowledge time out with little more than a hand wave. Hand wave or heat wave…. it happened and it didn’t seriously impact the game so it will soon be forgotten.

Looking at the Ironpig Fan’s schedule for the next few weeks I realized that yesterday was the last home game for the next 2 weeks. 14 days without an Ironpig’s game!! 14 days! Of course we have all that All Star stuff but there is a chance that our Ironpigs will see limited if any time playing. Ransom is off the roster as he was promoted. Tracy is still a little sore from that hit by pitch two nights ago.. he will start, I would guarantee it, but don’t look for more than one at bat. Nate Bump is still not feeling too great. Then we have Mathieson who I would expect to pitch no more than one inning. Not looking good for a lot of Oink cheers on Wednesday.

Saturday is the Pigapalooza Fan Fest event. I am going to miss most of this, I have a wedding to go to… so you may see me there early or late.

Monday is the Home Run Derby. This should be fun. Participants below:

IL
Andy Tracy
Jeff Frazier
Dan Johnson

PCL

J.P. Arencibia
Jay Gibbons
Alex Gordon

Tuesday will be the All Star Workout day. Fans can attend this at no charge and the Ironpigs website states players will not be available for autographs. There will be a lot of players buzzing around… might be time to brush up on what some of these players look like in plain clothes. The parking lot might be full of them looking for something fun to do Tuesday night in the Lehigh Valley. This event runs from 2:00 to 4:30pm at Coca Cola Park.

Then on Wednesday we get what we have been waiting for for over a year. The 2010 AAA All Star game! I may know of a few extra ticket packages left.. if you are still in need of a ticket, let me know at editor@lvnoisenation.com

So when the All Star game is over.. we have a solid 8 days until baseball returns to the Lehigh Valley. The Pigs set off today on a 12 game road trip including Syracuse, Scranton, Louisville and Indianapolis. That might be a good week for a picnic..

OinK!

The Ironpig’s announced that Nate Bump’s addition to the Disabled list has been retracted. He is currently on the active roster for Lehigh Valley.

Also, Brian Bocock and JA Happ are not yet on the Ironpig’s roster. Not sure what the deal is with Bocock, he was designated for assignment a few days ago. Interesting.

Andy Tracy is not in tonight’s lineup and is expected to miss a few games after being hit on the elbow in last night’s game. Hoping he feels better soon!

OinK!

The Ironpigs announced today via Twitter that Nate Bump has been placed on the DL with a viral infection. (Jared, guess it’s good you didn’t get your jersey signed the other night)

Replacing him on the roster from Reading is Michael Schwimer. Schwimer is primarily a reliever and has been doing ok in Reading this season.

Also, I may have failed to mention that JA Happ has been assigned to the Ironpigs roster following his return from the DL. Heard he’s not too Happ-y about this but it seems to be the right move. Rather be healthy than keep pushing through an injury.

OinK!

If you thought to yourself yesterday that it couldn’t get any hotter.. well today it did. The Time/Temperature sign registered at 105 degrees when I set foot into The Coke this afternoon. There was a lot going on today so I will try to keep this short. Photo’s of below noted events will be posted at a later time.

The evening began with the 3rd annual hot dog eating contest. Noise Nation’s own Steve Richter saw his dream come true as he was finally selected to compete (after being passed over the past 2 years). Steve made an impressive showing, coming one bite short of 8 hot dogs in 5 minutes. The winner topped out at 10 hot dogs. On a hot day like today the totals were low as last year the winner ate something like 17 hot dogs.

The Ironpig’s bats are alive and their pitching is incredible! The Pigs slapped out 12 hits for 6 runs and Brandon Duckworth threw 7 incredible innings allowing only 3 hits, 3 walks and no runs. Duckworth kept the Noise Nation busy with 10 strike outs!

Madson came on to record a hitless/scoreless inning.

Then came Savery. He promptly loaded the bases, walked one, allowed 3 hits and 3 runs. He was saved by a double play and a grounder to end the inning and the game. I did hear a “Joe Must Go” chant during this inning and I have to say I agree it is time for him to do some soul searching. Maybe Reading, maybe Clearwater, maybe a visit to Jorge Valendia in Williamsport.. anything to get his confidence and control back. How much more will the Phillies organization invest in a pitcher who suffers such heartbreaking outtings…

Another topic of conversation is that the Pigs have won 3 straight games and are looking at a possible sweep of Pawtucket tomorrow. Granted, the Pawsox aren’t the powerhouse they were a couple years ago, but still.. wins are wins. Looking back at my “Bad Apple” theory… the Pigs are 3 and 0 since Cody Ransom was called up to the Phillies. The team’s hitting has been on fire and the pitching has been solid. I’m not saying Cody Ransom was the apple contaminating the rest… I’m just saying…

Tomorrow is wednesday and looking forward to bringing my broom along to the park. We had a great time tonight. To keep ourselves occupied we decided to keep the big pig flag waving during the whole game. No particular reason, just to have some fun. We took turns and that flag didn’t stop for the entire 9 innings. A great big OinK to all who participated.

OinK!

There is a lot involved with a trip to Coca Cola Park and it is easy to overlook some of the fun, simple stuff that isn’t screaming at you the entire game. Some of these things are fun, kid friendly and relatively inexpensive.

One of those distractions from the game that has become very popular is Ferrous & FeFe’s Pig Putt. Basically a miniture golf style setup with the goal of making it into one of the cups leading to a pipe aimed at the final hole. A hole in one wins you a prize. Usually an Ironpig’s hat.

Just something to keep in mind when you next visit The Coke and feel the need to get up and walk around.

Tonight is the Diggity bobble head giveaway night.. although his unsportsmanship conduct in last night’s pork races was uncalled for, the team has decided to follow through with their planned tribute to hot dogs.

See you there!

OinK!

The Ironpigs won tonight by the score of 8 to 2.

Drew Carpenter was unhittable early until he surrendered two hits. He soon began showing signs of exaustion and was taken out of the game. Can’t blame him though.. the temperature at The Coke reached 102 just before game time and stayed around 98 until the sun set giving a slight relief to 93 degrees at the completion of the game.

In the third inning the Pawsox decided to load the bases by pitching around Domonic Brown and up came Andy Tracy. Did the Mighty Tracy leaves the fans of Pigville disappointed? Certainly not! Tracy launched a long grandslam to Right-center field setting up a 4 run lead for Carpenter, who took a no-hitter almost 6 innings. Domonic Brown also hit a solo home run, igniting a 4 run 7th inning. In fact, everyone in the Pig’s lineup had a hit tonight except the hottest hitter on the team in Melvin Dorta, who went 0 for 5.

Ryan Madson, on a rehab assignment, came on in the 8th and promptly loaded the bases with 2 walks and a hit. He lasted .2 innings and I hope there were no chairs waiting for him in the Lehigh Valley clubhouse. He hit 94 mph a few times and most pitches were in the 90-91 range.

The best way to describe this game was hot. Really hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter. Nice of the CCP staff to set up sprinklers for fans to cool off with.

We did get a special treat for on field promotions with “Al Star” making a guest appearance for an on field contest. Bobbing for bananas was the event where two young women were to pull bananas out of a tub of water using only their mouth. Quite a talent I imagine. They got really wet and it ended in a tie with each contestant able to pull only one banana out of the water. Hope to see more of Al Star this week.. really surprised we haven’t seen him out and about more this season.

Until tomorrow…

OinK!

I’m going to start a new category of posts soon that will focus on various aspects of Coca Cola Park.

Being that The Coke is currently the self proclaimed only place in minor league baseball to provide free bubbles before games and balloons after games, I felt the title of Bubbles and Balloons would be appropriate.

Stay tuned for the first Bubbles and Balloons post soon!

OinK!

First off I would like to thank everyone who attended the Tailgate party prior to yesterday’s game. The sun was hot, the breeze was cool and there was a lot of food and fun.

The crowd at The Coke again filled it to its capacity at 10,000. It was an enthusiastic crowd as I heard many cheers and boos and a nice 4 or 5 lap wave got started in the later innings. I love to see stuff like that.

Ferrous and FeFe came out pregame with one of their “skits.” Ferrous pretends to faint about eating a hot dog, FeFe comes out to rescue him only to find that Ferrous was playing possum and stole a very non-family environment kiss in the process. FeFe quickly pushed Ferrous to the ground and delivered a swift kick to Ferrous’ crotch. I wonder when the 1980’s era Ferrous and FeFe after school specials will begin.

Anyways, there was a game too. Pigs win 6 to 4 against the Pawtucket Red Sox!

Can I say it enough… DOMONIC BROWN! Brown only had one hit last night, a 400+ foot homerun to the deepest part of centerfield, but he ended the night with 4 RBI driving in one on a sacrifice fly and one on a ground out. Brown seems to have everything. Strong and accurate throwing arm, speed (and hustle), hits for average, hits for power, hits in clutch situation, can leap the PPL building in a single bound! Just amazing. To top it off he has an incredible outlook on the game and a great attitude about playing ball. He truly looks like he’s having fun out there.

JA Happ’s rehab start looked much better than the last one. He was in the high 80’s topping out at 91 (that I saw) and he had a lot of bite on his breaking ball. He seemed to tire in the heat around the 4th inning and became a little wild. A little wild isn’t too bad if you are throwing 95+ but at 90- it wasn’t getting the job done. Happ threw 103 pitches, 62 for strikes, in 5.1 innings allowing 6 hits, 4 runs, walking 4 and striking out one.

Stutes came on for 1.2 innings of relief and earned his first AAA win. He allowed no hits or runs, walked one and struck out one.

I suppose the only pitcher who missed the memo that I was hot and tired after that 17 strikeout performance two nights ago was Scott Mathieson. He came on in the 8th and struck out a quick 4 for his 15th save.

I have to also mention Melvin Dorta. He was 3 for 4 tonight raising his average to .308. What a sleeper this guy has become.

The new improved Ironpigs will compete again tonight at The Coke vs. the Pawsox and again will have post game fireworks.

OINK!

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!