Monthly Archives: August 2011

Dave Bush was activated and Feierabend to the DL with turf toe, more widely known as the Injured Valendia named for former IronPig Jorge Valendia who was very prone to this condition, especially when a roster spot was needed.

OinK!

The Pigs lost two tonight to visiting Toledo. They added a little excitement in both games but in the end it leaves the series at a split.

Pawtucket won and increase their lead in the IL North.

Durham won their first game and, as of this post, have a big lead late in their game 2.

Gwinnett lost.

The division looks to be slipping away and the wild card race will be close.

The key to getting into the playoffs? Winning games.

OinK

The Pigs won the suspended game by a final score of 2-1 on Cody Overbeck’s walk off home run! Michael “Phear the Phro” Schwimer blew the save in the top of the 9th but earned his 9th win of the season. (I wonder if he had this planned 🙂 This places him in a tie with Feierabend for most wins on the team. At 9-1 with a 1.88 ERA, Schwimer is far leading the team as pitcher of the year for the Pigs.

Game 2 tonight got started and then it was suspended. Delwyn Young even asked to borrow our umbrella hat.

So tomorrow will not be a triple header, but another double header. Both 7 innings. The continuation of tonight’s game will begin at 6:05pm.

Oink!

Looking at the storms that rolled through yesterday and all last night, there was a lot of water dumped on the field at CCP. Also consider that it has been raining most of today. I’m hearing rumors of Musikfest canceling shows, maybe even the whole day’s events due to flooding.

Per weather.com the hourly chance of rain:
3:00pm – 55%
4:00pm – 60%
5:00pm – 75%
6:00pm – 95%
7:00pm – 95%
8:00pm – 90%
9:00pm – 80%
10:00pm – 60%
11:00pm through 7:00am tomorrow – 40%

It looks like it’s going to rain today/tonight.

Looking at tomorrow:
10:00am – 50%
11:00am – 60%
12:00pm through 4:00pm – 70%
4:00pm through 12:00am – 40%

It’s probably going to rain tomorrow too.

Will we get baseball in either day? Doubtful, but I’ve seen stranger things happen before.

***

A lot of jokes flying around about the possibility of a “Triple-header” being played tomorrow if today would be postponed.

Only 3 times in recorded MLB history has there been a triple header.

1. Brooklyn Bridegrooms vs. Pittsburgh Innocents (I almost thought that was the Steelers for a moment) on Sept. 1, 1890.

2. Baltimore Orioles vs. Louisville Colonels on Sept. 7th, 1896

3. Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinatti Reds on October 2nd, 1920.

Triple headers are now prohibited under the current collective bargaining agreement, except… EXCEPT (ha ha ha) when the first game is a suspended game from a prior date.

Could it happen? It could. Looking at the weather forecast… I doubt it. But it sure would be fun.

As Monday is “Gobblers: What could have been” day, a triple header (as our friend Jimmy T reminded us last night) a triple in bowling is known as a Turkey. A triple header on Gobbler day? Will Matt Provence gobble on the air for each strikeout? Will the gobbler gobble over the PA system for the strikeout? Well if it were four strikes in a row that would be called a Hambone…

Ok, I’m getting past myself. Also saw that the Phillies signed pitcher Dave Bush to a minor league contract and intend to assign him to the IronPigs.

Bring your rain coat and see you at the park.

OinK!

The game got into the 4th inning but the rain started and didn’t let up. After a 2 hour delay including the post game fireworks and the debut of Tony the Tarp Slider, the game was suspended. It will be made up as part of a double header tomorrow starting at 5:35pm.

Game 1 will continue to 9 innings. Game 2 will be 7 innings.

OinK!

The title says it all. See you at The Coke!

OinK!

The Pigs seemed happy tonight as they took down Toledo by a final score of 6-2.

The Pigs got on the board early and often scoring runs in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th & 7th innings. Barfield and Kratz had multi hit games.

Ryan Edell started and pitched a gem! He went 7 innings allowing only 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 7. Drew Carpenter pitched a nice inning in relief and although allowing a late 2 run monster HR in the 9th, Juan Perez closed out the game.

***

Some other notes… looking back on some reader suggestions I noticed tonight some of them being implemented at The Coke. There are IronPig water bottles now available for sale (able to bring them into the park and fill with water) and also saw a pitch count on the bullpen sign more often than I ever remember seeing. Many thanks to the IronPig’s staff for looking out for us and helping make the IronPig experience a better one!

Like we didn’t see this one coming.. but it’s not as bad as it sounds.

Announced today by the IronPigs, ticket prices will essentially go up by $1 per ticket. This is only the second time in 4 years that ticket prices have changed (Sections 101 and 102 were $7.50 in 2008) and we should feel good about that.

There is some incentive for season ticket holders though. The Pigs have locked in the current rates for anyone who renews their season ticket plan for multi-year committments. If you sign up for 5 years, you retain the current rate AND if you are a full season ticket holder you will receive 1 giveaway item per account for every giveaway during that 5 year period! (No additional cost)

I’m happy to see this. Finally seeing some full season ticket holder benefits. No more getting to the game 4 hours early for a bobblehead. Getting a better rate on tickets. I plan on signing up. You should too.

OinK!

Per Todd Zolecki on twitter @ToddZolecki, the Phillies have signed Jack Cust to a minor league deal pending a physical.

From 2001 to 2011, Cust has played for the Mariners, Rockies, Orioles, Padres and Athletics.

Between 2007-2009 Cust hit 26, 33 & 25 home runs in each year, respectively.

He was cut by the Mariners on July 29th of this year after hitting .213 with 3 HR in 67 games.

Of note, Cust was named on the Mitchell Report but has denied ever trying or using steroids.

If, or should I say when, Cust is assigned to the IronPigs we can only wonder who loses out in IronPig land. You have Domonic Brown who isn’t going anywhere. There’s Brandon Moss Hogg who leads the team in HR and RBI. Delwyn Young who the Phillies love and then there’s Rich Thompson who all of us fans love. I won’t say it. I don’t even like thinking about who will depart to Reading in this scenario.. but you know it as well as I do.

OinK

The embed function didn’t work great so click the link to view:

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=11266

Minor League Ballpark Tour: Lehigh Valley IronPigs: MyFoxPHILLY.com