Podsednik’s First Hit + Random Notes

It was 18 up and 18 down for Red Wings pitcher Kyle Gibson when Scott Podsednik led off the bottom of the 7th inning still looking for his first hit in an Ironpigs uniform.   What followed was a memorable moment that broke up the perfect game, the no-hitter and eventually the shutout.    It made me wonder if any other Ironpigs player ever had a triple as their first hit in an Ironpigs uniform.

Ryne Sandberg likes to run and now with Podsednik, Thompson and Orr he has 3 guys capable of stealing a base at any time.   I liked Ryno’s lineup today, borrowing from Tony LaRussa by putting a leadoff guy in the #9 spot. That keeps Thompson, Podsednik and Orr back to back to back in the batting order.

Jeff Larish has been a much better hitter on the road this year, hitting 7 of his 8 homeruns away from Coca-Cola Park.  His road batting average is .295 compared to .183 at home.   Hopefully a trip out of town will help him get his stroke back.   No DH again vs. Gwinnett so one of the big bats will have to sit.  I like watching the majestic moon-shot homeruns of Erik Kratz and Tagg Bozied.   Makes me wonder why it took so long to get Bozied into the lineup.   There is a nice balance of left/right power on this team.

There was a report last week that the Braves may promote Julio Teheran for a start on June 1 but I guess that won’t happen since he is scheduled to pitch against the Ironpigs on Monday.  That means the Ironpigs will be facing 2 of the best young pitchers in the IL on consecutive days.   Looks like the Ironpigs will miss Todd Redmond this series since he pitched on Sunday.  With Rodrigo Lopez traded to the Cubs it appears we’ll be seeing some different starting pitchers than we saw last week.

Could the Achilles heel of the 2011 Lehigh Valley Ironpigs be their starting pitching?  The combined ERA of Bump, Bass, Bonine and Feierabend is 5.64.

Let’s have a good roadtrip and hope for an uneventful Opt Out Wednesday.