Monthly Archives: August 2011

You could hear the Fat Lady warming up in the tunnels at Coca Cola Park tonight. It’s not over until she sings but a 4 game losing streak combined with a hitting slump and Erik Kratz’s questionable suspension have her ready to go.

Pigs lost to SWB tonight by a score of 2-6.

Pawtucket lost tonight and remain 2 games ahead of the Pigs with 4 games to go.

Gwinnett at the moment holds a 1 game lead over the Pigs in the wild card race. That could go to 1.5 or .5 games pending the result of the 2nd game of their double header tonight. At the writing of this post, Gwinnett holds a 2-1 lead in the 6th inning.

Is it April yet?

A revised roster was released this afternoon announcing a 3 game suspension for Erik Kratz for involvement in the 8/26 game’s incident. I don’t have the details but I remember the benches clearing a couple times.

With 5 games remaining into the playoffs the Pigs will depend on Dane Sardinha’s .126 batting average and John Suomi who was called up from Reading.

Also, Tagg Bozied was placed on the DL with a left shin contusion.

Yet another nail…

From our friends at SE2

The Pigs tried tonight, they really did.

In a 14 inning effort, the Pigs fell to SWB at Coca Cola Park tonight.

The game looked well in hand with a 1-0 lead in the 9th and Justin DeFratus on the mound. DeFratus had Jorge Vasquez (The IL HR leader) with a 1-2 count. Two very very very close pitches were called balls by home plate umpire Karl Best and on a 3-2 count Vasquez hit a solo HR to tie the game. DeFratus struck out the next two batters and retired the last on a fly ball.

The Pigs threatened in the 13th but to no avail. In came Juan Perez who quickly showed why his record is now 0 and 5. He allowed back to back singles before Brandon Laird sent a souvenir into the Lawn seating. The Pigs loaded the bases in their half of the 14th but no one crossed home plate and we all headed home.

Tonight was a great opportunity for the Pigs to move ahead. Both Pawtucket and Gwinnett lost. With all three losing no ground was lost but time is getting short. With only 5 games remaining the Pigs are holding in a tie with Gwinnett for the wild card slot and 2 games behind Pawtucket for the IL North.

The Pigs need to win. Plain and simple. Sure they could get in with the other teams losing but who wants to see that? Not me.

PawSox (Red Sox)
Signed: LHP Greg Smith, C Jeff Howell (Lincoln (American Association))
LHP Randy Williams (outrighted to Triple-A)
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Chris Balcom-Miller, RHP Miguel Gonzalez, RHP Kyle Stroup, C Jayson Hernandez, 1B Jonathan Hee, OF Ryan Kalish
Placed on 60-day DL: RHP Brenden Shepard
Transferred to 60-day DL: 3B Garin Cecchini
Reinstated from DL: RHP Anatanaer Batista, RHP Michael Olmsted, RHP Mathew Price, LHP Royce Ring, 2B Zach Gentile, OF Andrew Turocy

Gwinnett (Braves)
Signed: RHP Juan Jaime, 3B Wes Helms
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Randall Delgado
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Erik Cordier, 2B Phil Gosselin, OF Willie Cabrera

Durham (Rays)
Optioned to Triple-A: C Robinson Chirinos
Option transferred: RHP Chris Archer (Double-A to Triple-A)
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Jason McEachern, RHP Ryan Reid, OF Brett Nommensen
Reinstated from DL: RHP Joe Cruz, RHP Albert Suarez

Columbus (Indians)
Traded: LHP Drew Pomeranz to Rockies as player to be named in deal in which Rockies traded RHP Ubaldo Jimenez to Indians for RHP Joe Gardner, RHP Alex White, 1B Matt McBride and a player to be named
Recalled: RHP Josh Judy, RHP Zach McAllister, 1B Shelley Duncan, 2B Cord Phelps, 2B Luis Valbuena, OF Ezequiel Carrera
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Josh Judy, RHP Zach McAllister, 2B Luis Valbuena, OF Ezequiel Carrera
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Clayton Ehlert, RHP Jose Flores, OF Thomas Neal, OF Nick Weglarz
Reinstated from DL: RHP Danny Salazar, LHP Kelvin de la Cruz, LHP Giovanni Soto, C Juan Apodaca, OF Anthony Gallas

Transactions retrieved from:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/08/minor-league-transactions-aug-17-24/

With Cole Hamels return, Pete Orr comes back to the IronPigs.

Good to have him back!

Don’t forget tonight’s doouble-header starts at 6:05pm.

OinK!

Last week I posted a photo for a “best caption” contest and the submissions are in! Below are the contenders. Voting will continue until 12:00 noon EDST on Friday September 3rd. You may vote as often as you’d like, but I believe WordPress cuts you off at a certain point.

Let's hear your funniest caption to this photo!

1. “C’mon, Mossy, fire it up! Ferrous is closing fast!”

2. “Where’s the Easy Pass? We need that for the turnpike. Philly here we come!”

3. “Richie I ‘cayn’t’ find the throttle, back in Georgia the controls was on the other side. You dang Yankees and your fancy 4-wheelers”

4. “Please stand clear of the doors – por favor mantangense alejado de las puertas. Gather your belongings, please take small children by the hand and enjoy your day at the Magic Kingdom”

5. ‘“Cletus (err, I mean Richie), you’re so dumb, the other dipsticks call you a
dipstick!” — Brandon Davis Moss Hogg’

6. ‘“Hurry up Moss Hogg we’re in hot pursuit of them Pork Racing Dukes cuuuee cuuee Wait for Flash! — Richie P. Coltrane’

7. “Richie look on the right, I’ll never hit left handing pitching if we don’t find my contact”

8. “You sure this will get us on the 40 man?”

9.
Richie T. “Hey Moss Hogg, take me out to the ballgame!”

Moss Hogg “I’m already here!”

10. “Why aren’t we moving?? We outta gas??”

11. “Richie get on! The Phearful Phro is attacking!”

12. “hey Brandon I know Ryno wants us to be agressive on the base paths, but this is insane”

13. “Go any slower and Hambone will pass us!”

Vote below:

The winner will be announced Friday afternoon. Tiebreaker will be my vote.

The winner will receive a wonderful “Mystery prize” from my collection. 🙂

Today’s game was rightfully pushed to tomorrow. I realize there needs to be an effort to play when possible… but if there is a declared state of emergency and major severe weather, that’s a no-brainer. There’s time to take risks and a sporting event is not one of them. Enough of that.

The IronPigs have 8 games remaining.

Double header with Syracuse tomorrow.

Tuesday and Wednesday against SWB Yankees.

Thursday off.

Friday and Saturday against Buffalo

Finish the season with 2 in Syracuse.

8 Games

Syracuse

Last week the Chiefs were our best friends, taking 4 of 6 games vs. the Pawsox. They finished the week out going 1-2 vs. Rochester.

The Chiefs also have Stephen Strasburg in their rotation. He last pitched on Saturday against Rochesters’s lineup going 5 innings allowing 1 run on 2 hits striking out 7. Thinking a 5 man rotation, his next scheduled start would be Sept 1st, but they have an off day on Wednesday. They could push him ahead for that game to get more late season work in on Thursday. There is a slight chance the Pigs could face Strasburg on the final day of the season. How important that game could be…

Scranton Wilkes Barre

Although losing a double header to Pawtucket on Friday (no games on Sat/Sun), the Yankees took down Rochester 7 straight games. While Rochester has been getting slammed the past couple of weeks they did take 3 of 4 games from the IronPigs the week before last.

Buffalo
Last year we found ourselves saying, “Well at least we aren’t Rochester” and that’s what Buffalo fans are saying this year. They can play spoiler but these games are definately winnable.

***

So the Playoffs. In 9 days we will know the bracket. (If 4 teams qualify as a bracket)

Pawtucket is currently up on the Pigs by 1 game. Like the Pigs, they did not play today.

SWB is currently 7.5 games behind Pawtucket and 6.5 games behind the Pigs. Their elimination number is 2. It would take an earthquake and a hurricane for them to make the.. wait, no.. an earthquake, hurricane and volcanic eruption for them to make the playoffs.

The North is about the Pawsox and IronPigs.

Durham has a 3 game lead on Gwinnett in the South division.

Durham won the first half of a double-header today and are leading early in game 2.

Gwinnett stomped Norfolk for a win today.

The west is, and always has been the Columbus Clippers territory. Expect them to be the South/West representative in the Governor’s Cup finals.

While a real possibility of winning the North division, the Pigs are also currently leading the wild card race.

As of this post the Pigs and Gwinnett are the only real contenders, with Gwinnett 1.5 games behind. Indianapolis, Louisville and SWB still have a slight shot at it but I don’t see any volcano in PA ready to erupt.

***

In it to win it, or lose it.

The Pigs hold their fate in their own hands. If they win, they are in.. if they play .500 baseball this week they will have to depend on 1 of 2 other teams to play less than .500 baseball. If they play under .500, well then we have an off season full of what if’s.

The double-header tomorrow is huge. Being 2 – 7 inning games is also a key point as the IronPigs strengths are scoring late in games and their closer. (Either Schwimer then and DeFratus now) If they sweep the 2 games tomorrow they set themselves up to drive into the playoffs. If they split or (gasp) get swept, it’s an omen that it isn’t meant to be.

One thing for sure… it’s been a hell of a ride so far and I’m not getting off the bus just yet!