What the Hail?
Hail - Yes
As folks were eagerly waiting to get their hands on a Ferrous Bobblebelly the sky opened up and the hail began to fall. The weather however would not dampen the IronPigs bats on this chilly April evening.
In an action packed game including 13 runs on 22 hits, the wood came to life and the ‘Pigs rocked 7 of those runs on 9 hits to win 7-6. Most importantly Lehigh Valley went 4-11 with runners in scoring position to pull off the win and garner their best start ever at 5W – 2L.
The Hitting
Scott Podsednik (CF) 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored
Dom Brown (LF) 1 for 3, 1 RBI, and 1 Run scored
I still hear a lot of rumbling about Brown around the park and not all of it is positive. It seems however as if he is on his way to silencing the naysayers. He’s hustling in the field and getting timely hits – while the season is young it’s a step in the right direction for Brown.
Hector Luna (3B) 1 for 3 with 1 run scored
Lou Montanez (RF) 1 for 3
Cody Overbeck (1B) 1 for 4, 1 RBI and 1 run scored
Erik Kratz (C) 2 for 4, 2 RBIs, and 1 run scored
Joe Thurston (Howell the 3rd) whacked a pinch hit dinger to right in the 8th for the game winner as the Chiefs Tyler Moore rocked his 2nd homer in the 9th.
Overall the ‘Pigs batted .290 and a powerful .363 with runners in scoring position.
The Bullpen
Austin Hyatt earned the win going 5 innings, giving up 2 (earned) runs on 6 hits with 3 SO and 4 BB.
Michael “Phear the Phro” Schwimer pitched 1 inning, giving up 2 hits and 3 (un-earned) runs while walking 1.
Jake Diekman with two strong innings gave up 4 hits, no runs and earned his 2nd hold of the year.
Other than the Tyler Moore blast Phillippe Aumont shut down Syracuse and earned his 2nd save of the year.
Overall the bullpen surrendered 13 hits and only 3 of the 6 scored by Syracuse were earned. The pen was saved by some timely fielding including 3 double plays and the Chiefs were 3-13 with RISP and left 9 on base.
The Harper
19 year old phenom Bryce Harper was held in check by the ‘pen and went 1 for 5 with 3 SO.
Bryce Harper (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Pursell)
Bryce Harper launches a souvenier out of play
Wishful Thinking
While the temperature board said 44 degrees it felt much colder than that and after a brief rain shower the Park emptied rapidly. As the temp board flipped screens there seemed to be a subliminal message displayed.
It didn't help... but was comical!
The Box
Click below for the Matt Provence IronPigs Radio Recap of the Game.
The Pix
Play Ball
Ferrous Bobble "belly"
Scott Podsednik steals 3rd and scores the first run on a throwing error by catcher Jhonatan Solano (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Pursell)
Dom Brown - SAFE after a lead-off walk - Brown would go on to score (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Pursell)
Hector Luna - SAFE after a single by Cody Overbeck - Luna would go on to score (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Pursell)
Erik Kratz grabs 2 RBIs on a double to left (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Pursell)
RUNning shoes
The IronPigs will try to repeat tomorrow evening at Coca-Cola Park. The Palm trees at the Tiki Terrace will be lit – hopefully it will raise the temperature a bit.
Pig Out!
DiPro’s Dish
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
I’m going crazy not being able to get to the games right now but I don’t mind it too much when it’s that cold. Fortunately I can still see the games on SECTV-2.
I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it is right now to see the Ironpigs at 5-2 and the SWB Yankees with the worst record in the International League at 1-5.
Yeah, you know, I had a comment which I was saving for the first episode of the podcast (which DiPro and I were going to record Friday afternoon, but alas, it was too cold and windy):
I was going to say that before we get too excited about beating the Yankees the first (two) games, keep in mind that team might be in for a long year. I know they have a couple good players, but I’m not sure they’re good enough or deep enough to be a winner. Add in the “no real home” factor, and they may end up resembling the ’08 Pigs a bit.
Or, I could be wrong. The season’s young. But I didn’t want to get too too excited by those first Yankees game(s).
OK … I realize this has nothing to do with the outcome of a game (unless, of course, it becomes one of those infamous baseball superstitions upon which the fate of a season rests), but did anybody else read this morning’s Hog Blog?
“A close look at Sandberg shows the start of a goatee on his face.”
I really hope this is a better idea than the skipper’s last attempt at facial hair — especially if it becomes a superstition of epic magnitude. XD