Monthly Archives: June 2011

Well the season is in full swing and the team is doing great. Looking at something more important this morning.. food!

At the game last night I saved a dear friend from making a horrible mistake. She bought a super pretzel. It was dry, had freezer burn and parts of it looked like a hard pretzel not soft. I went and got her a Philly Pretzel twist and trashed the supposedly super one. She was a little hesitant at first but agreed whole heartedly that I did her a favor.

Another thing I noticed is that it appears that Mrs. T’s has returned to the park in pierogi form! Those nasty potato-like burnt things served earlier in the season turned me away from the food stands for a while. (About as long as they sat in my stomach, which felt like weeks).

So far, I’ve been watching what I’ve been eating at the park. I enjoyed the pork plate on Thursday, they roast a whole hog every Thursday home game and wish I could remember the name of the vendor who comes in especially for that. My friends could live without me having potato salad and baked beans on windless nights, but I love it.

Still haven’t tried the 3 little piggies sandwich. In fact, I actually forgot it existed until last night’s game when someone mentioned it.

We still have the basic favorites.. Aw Shucks Corn, the Jaindl Turkey sandwiches, the hot dogs from the center field grill stand…

I am torn, however, on which is the best new food item of the year. The new Gyro stand is incredible. They make them fresh, hot and tasty. I’ve been to Greece in my many travels and the folks here at The Coke make them right. They also have a store out on Airport Road, within the shopping complex by the 22 exit. The other contestant competing for my love is the waffles and ice cream. A wonderful addition to the ice cream stand. You get a paper plate sized waffle that is over 1 inch thick, a few scoops of ice cream, an ice cream topping of choice ( I prefer pineapple ) and whipped cream if desired. The only downside is a longer wait for the waffle.

I declare The Gyro Company as my favorite new food item of 2011!

The waffle wait has a little to do with this decision but add in some delicious calamari rings from the gyro folks and it’s clearly the winner.

What’s your favorite?

OinK!

It was ugly, very ugly. Kudos to Durham for playing stellar defense.

Pigs lose by a final score of 0 to 6.

Tomorrow is another day…

Keep voting Lehigh Valley!

The Ironpigs are currently leading 7 of 9 positions for the AAA All Star game in 2011!

The standings so far:

CATCHER
1) Erik Kratz, Lehigh Valley
2) Jesus Montero, Scranton/WB
3) Jesus Flores, Syracuse
4) Devin Mesoraco, Louisville
5) Michael McKenry, Pawtucket

FIRST BASE
1) Jeff Larish, Lehigh Valley
2) Lars Anderson, Pawtucket
3) Ryan Strieby, Toledo
4) Jorge Vazquez, Scranton/WB
5) Chris Marrero, Syracuse

SECOND BASE
1) Josh Barfield, Lehigh Valley
2) Jason Kipnis, Columbus
3) Will Rhymes, Toledo
4) Tony Thomas, Pawtucket
5) Luis Hernandez, Buffalo

SHORTSTOP
1) Jose Iglesias, Pawtucket
2) Chris McConnell, Syracuse
3) Cale Iorg, Toledo
4) Ramiro Pena, Scranton/WB
5) Luis Figueroa, Buffalo

THIRD BASE
1) Ronnie Belliard, Lehigh Valley
2) Lonnie Chisenhall, Columbus
3) Russ Canzler, Durham
4) Brandon Laird, Scranton/WB
5) Argenis Diaz, Toledo

DESIGNATED HITTER
1) Michael Aubrey, Syracuse
2) Cord Phelps, Columbus
3) Chris Carter, Durham
4) Andy Marte, Indianapolis
5) Scott Thorman, Toledo

OUTFIELD
1) Brandon Moss, Lehigh Valley
2) Jeremy Hermida, Louisville
3) Desmond Jennings, Durham
4) Yonder Alonso, Louisville
5) Rich Thompson, Lehigh Valley
6) Lucas Duda, Buffalo
7) Benjamin Guez, Toledo
8) Daniel Nava, Pawtucket
9) Delwyn Young, Lehigh Valley
10) Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Buffalo

STARTING PITCHER
1) Brian Gordon, Lehigh Valley
2) Adam Wilk, Toledo
3) Zach McAllister, Columbus
4) Tom Milone, Syracuse
5) Julio Teheran, Gwinnett
6) Andrew Miller, Pawtucket
7) Ross Detwiler, Syracuse
8) Alex Cobb, Durham
9) Dontrelle Willis, Louisville
10) Mike Minor, Gwinnett

RELIEF PITCHER
1) Drew Carpenter, Lehigh Valley
2) Scott Mathieson, Lehigh Valley
3) Kevin Whelan, Scranton/WB
4) Jeff Mandel, Syracuse
5) Mike Zagurski, Lehigh Valley
6) Josh Wilkie, Syracuse
7) Michael Schwimer, Lehigh Valley
8) Tony Pena, Pawtucket
9) Taylor Tankersley, Buffalo
10) Matt Hoffman, Toledo

Don’t forget to vote for shortstop Brian Bocock who you will need to write in!

Which team has the best fans Lehigh Valley? 🙂

*Standings from the .

John Mayberry hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning tonight to give the IronPigs a walk off victory over the Durham Bulls by a final score of 6 to 5!

Nate Bump looked good early but encountered problems in the 5th riding a 5 to 1 lead. Bump allowed 4 more runs to tie the game and was pulled for Michael Schwimer. Schwimer went two scoreless innings and Carpenter and Zagurski each added an inning, leaving Zagurski with his second win of the season.

I am really liking what I’ve seen out of Mayberry since his return. He has more hustle and seems to be trying a lot harder now than he did when we last saw him at The Coke. Mayberry made a great diving catch earlier in the game and had an RBI double before his solo home run capped off a 2 for 5 night for the slugger.

On another note, the game started off with a video of Ironpig players dressed up like Chippendales dancers. I guess the theme from yesterday will continue. Not to stir the fire, but just acknowledging the newest direction the organization seems to be taking. Hey, Las Vegas tried the market to the whole family thing a few years back and quickly returned to the “Sin City” moniker. Will we soon see a “What happens at The Coke.. stays at The Coke” theme arising. I’m not sure why though. It appears there is a determined effort to restore the attendance levels of 2010. Standing at a per game average of 8,804 is nothing to laugh or cry about. Many teams would pray for attendance like this. Personally, I enjoy the old standby gags, the organ music, the random video clips to fire up the crowd. Maybe more tradition and less creativity would be in order?

Anyways, tomorrow the Pigs look to win the 4 game series and we get our last shot to say hello to old friends JJ Furmaniak, RJ Swindle and Dan Johnson.

See you there!
OinK!

The Ironpig players are reported to have helped out the community this morning for lunch.

From the Ironpig’s media office:

Select Lehigh Valley IronPigs players, coaches, staff members and their wives will be preparing and serving food at the Lehigh County Conference of Churches Soup Kitchen at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Allentown on Thursday, June 9, at 12 noon. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is located at 38 S. 8th St., Allentown, PA, 18101. Please note that because the IronPigs personnel in attendance will be serving food beginning at 12 noon all interviews must be conducted from 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. only.

All of the food that will be served on Thursday has been provided by the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. We anticipate serving more than 200 meals on Thursday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. The Soup Kitchen is run through the Lehigh County Conference of Churches. More information on the Soup Kitchen is available by clicking here.

This team has a great attitude and adds a personal touch that anyone can appreciate! Could this be the influence of a First Lady of the Ironpigs? I hope so 🙂

Thank you Ironpig players! You are awesome and we are behind you!

I’ve been doing some math and although I may not be exact in calculations, I have attended my 250th Ironpig game this week.

With the understanding that rain outs turn into double headers and occasionally home games are lost or gained by scheduling conflicts, below is my arithmatic.

2008 – 3 games missed out of 72 home games, 1 exhibition vs. the Phillies and 1 exhibition vs. the R-Phils
2009 – No games missed out of 72 home games, 1 exhibition vs. the R-Phils, 2 Scranton “home games” at CCP and 1 trip to PNC park in Moosic.
2010 – No games missed out of 72 home games, 1 exhibition vs. the R-Phils, 1 trip to PNC park in Moosic.
2011 – 4 games missed out of 31 home games, 1 exhibition vs. the R-Phils, 1 trip to PNC park in Moosic.

With this math, last night or tonight would be my 250th Ironpig game attended.. I choose to celebrate it tonight!

What do I have planned? I’m going to grab an “I’m celebrating” button from fan services.. definately going to have a Philly Pretzel and possibly a gyro..

Anyone else out there make it to the 250 game mark yet? I’m curious to know…

Anyways, if you want to celebrate with me come out to see the Ironpigs take on the Durham Bulls tonight!

OinK!

Today was Ferrous the Pig’s birthday! The Noise Nation wishes you a happy birthday and here’s to a wonderful year!

Not to be overlooked was the generosity of Ferrous’ friends the Pork Racers. Carted out on a grounds crew vehicle.. a large wrapped box approached the home team dugout and, to the excitement of the crowd, an exotic dancer jumped out. That’s right.. the Pork Racer crew got Ferrous a stripper.

The “dancer” flew around Ferrous with her best dance moves and got so into the dance that her wig fell off revealing that the dancer was actually a man! The PA announcer quickly commented on what the Pork Racers intended as a joke on their pal Ferrous and the crowd squealed with delight, or shock… I’m not sure which.

I still don’t know how I feel about this….

It was hot and humid today, no doubt.. but it didn’t phase the Ironpigs who took down the formidable Durham Bulls this evening at The Coke.

Moss, Young, Bocock and Orr had multi-hit games for the Pigs and the offense came alive for 2 runs and 12 hits!

Yes! 12 hits! The final achievement of the Philly Pretzel Dozen Challenge! With these 12 hits the Philly Pretzel Factory will donate $60 to the National Brain Tumor Society (Our chosen charity for 2011) and $60 to the Lehigh Valley Rollergirls! Though this was the final instance of this contest, we were promised something new and exciting from our friends at Philly Pretzels and we are looking forward to it! A great group of folks and awesome pretzels!

Vance Worley came out tonight with a mission. The Worley Bird went 7 innings allowing only 3 hits and no runs with 6 strikeouts. He increased his record to 4 wins and 2 losses and now boasts a 2.33 ERA.

We had a great time tonight catching up with Noise Nation member Tim Keeler who is home on leave from the Army! Tim, it’s nice to have you home and many thanks for making sacrifices to ensure our safety and freedom!

See you at the game tomorrow!

OinK!

… are they Pigs in Space! (For those old enough to remember this, enjoy!)

I got to see the best part of today’s excitement at The Coke this afternoon… the autograph session with the Ironpig’s team!

I got most of the Pigs autograph and delivered the team signed photo to my 5 yr old nephew for his collection.

Tonight was my older nephew’s high school graduation and I missed the terrible results, which I can’t even bring myself to post tonight.

Good teams are bound to have a terrible loss now and then.. tonight was one of those times.

It’s a factor that we haven’t seen out of the Pigs before. That feeling, that aura of winningness… the away teams coming in gunning to take down the top dog. You see it with any sport. Everyone plays harder to beat the 1st place team and the Ironpigs are no different. It’s one thing to fight to the top of the hill.. and something completely different to defend it when you get there.

Hopefully tomorrow dawns a new day and the Pigs come out swinging to defend the foothold they have on 1st place in the IL.

OinK!