Category Archives: Lehigh Valley IronPigs

The Pigs got on the board first manufacturing one run in the 2nd inning combining a Hector Luna double with a pair of sacrifice flies.

The Bison struck back in the 5th inning. After Reading native Zach Luna Lutz doubled, he was gunned down at third trying to advance on Vinny Rottino’s ground ball to shortstop. Rottino scored on catcher Lucas May’s triple down the right field line. The Bison jumped to a 2-1 lead when May scored the go ahead run on Omar Quintanilla’s ground out.

The Bison added another in the 6th with a solo home run from Bobby Scales.

Starter Pat Misch was pulled after 5.2 innings allowing 3 earned runs, striking out 2 and walking none. He allowed 5 hits.

On came Michael “Phear the Phro” Schwimer who struck out Zach Lutz to end the 6th. Schwimer went on to shut down the Bison in the 7th 1-2-3. (insert SWB joke here)

Buffalo’s Chris Schwinden tossed 7 great innings before being relieved by Jack Egbert. His final line was 1 run on 4 hits with 1 walk and 1 strike out.

Joe Savery came on in the 8th striking out his first batter with 3 pitches. He got a quick 2nd out on a grounder before allowing a base hit to Scales. Savery was almost out of the inning on a fly ball to left that bounced out of Domonic Brown’s glove. E-7 and the Bison add an insurance run. Former IronPig Val Pascucci struck out to end the inning.

After a quick out in the 9th, Hector Luna singled for his second hit of the night giving the Pigs a little hope. Frandsen followed up with a bunt single. Overbeck then tried a hard swinging but, advanced the runners but gave the Bison that 2nd out. Mitchell then added a little excitement to the end by striking out on a wild pitch (Scoring Luna) but didn’t make it to first in time to save the game and the winning streak.

Final Score – Pigs 2 Pigs 1 – Bison 4

One note about Buffalo, looking at their roster, they could easily win the best player names contest in baseball.

– Valdespin

– Scales

– Satin

– Pascucci (Yes, that Pascucci of IronPig notoriety)

– Rottino

– Quintanilla

– Egbert

Tim Chorones will have a field day when the Bison come visit CCP!

Per @MLBTransactions on Twitter:

“CLEVELAND INDIANS: Agreed to terms with OF Johnny Damon on a minor league contract.”

The IronPigs won’t face the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland’s AAA team/2 time reigning IL Champs) at home until July 20th.

It’s a possibility we may see Johnny Damon at Coca Cola Park.. but I don’t think it’s a good chance. He’s most likely looking for a door to a big league job and if he doesn’t get it by July 20th he will probably seek it else where.

Never know.

******

In other news, the IronPigs are offering a special deal for the April 26th game.

More than three decades after being collectively dealt to the Chicago Cubs for shortstop Ivan DeJesus, Ryne Sandberg and Larry Bowa will reconvene at Coca-Cola Park on Thursday, April 26 when the IronPigs host the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees at 7:05 p.m. For this game only, a special ticket deal is available for fans that purchase their seats online and enter the unique promo code available only on the IronPigs’ Facebook (www.facebook.com/lhvironpigs) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/ironpigs) pages. Make sure to “Like” the IronPigs on Facebook and “Follow” the team on Twitter for exclusive promotions throughout the season.

· Purchase Tickets
· SPECIAL DEAL: Facebook
· Twitter

Fans attending this special reunion game will be rewarded with a boat load of special promotions, including:
Ryne Sandberg bronze statues for the first 3,000 fans 18 and older.
An hour-long autograph session from 7:05 p.m. to 8:05 p.m. featuring former Phillies player and manager, Larry Bowa. He is also slated to throw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch.
The only “Dollar Dog” night of the season featuring $1 hot dogs for the entirety of the game.
Ladies Night featuring a a pre-game Happy Hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. with live music and $2 domestic drink specials in the AT&T Plaza.

OinK!

Last week, then IronPig and current R-Phil Tyler Cloyd took the IL Pitcher of the Week honor.

This morning the International League announced this week’s pitcher and batter of the week and both have a connection to the IronPigs.

Former IronPig DeWayne Wise of the Empire State Yankees was named IL Batter of the Week.

Dewayne Wise’s 2012 season got a late start as he was away from the team to be with his wife while she gave birth. He was activated from the Temporarily Inactive List last Monday, and in his first game of the season at Syracuse he went 3-4 with a double and a home run. Then after a suspended game on Tuesday, the Yankees traveled to Buffalo where Wise helped the team win two out of three from the Bisons. He hit a three-run home run on Wednesday, doubled and scored twice on Thursday, and concluded the series with a four-hit performance on Friday afternoon that included two more doubles. Another home run Saturday capped off a week in which Wise led the International League with a .458 batting average and was 2nd with three homers, seven runs scored, and a 1.042 slugging percentage.

Ross Ohlendorf of the Pawtucket Red Sox was named IL Pitcher of the Week.

Right-handed pitcher Ross Ohlendorf made his first start of the season on Tuesday, trying to salvage a split for his Pawtucket Red Sox in the last of a four-game series with North-leading Lehigh Valley. Ohlendorf blanked the IronPigs for six innings as Pawtucket cruised to an 8-0 victory. He faced just
one batter over the minimum and threw 42 of 62 pitches for strikes in an efficient outing, his first after missing most of the 2011 season with a right shoulder injury. Ohlendorf surrendered only two hits and one walk in 6.0 innings. His WHIP of 0.50 was the best among all IL starters during the week.

So we have a former Pig win the Batting award and the Pitcher honored because he was able to hand the IronPigs 1 of their 2 losses so far this season.

Nice!

With the best record in the International League at 10-2, the Pigs are making an impact!

Before you jump to conclusions and the drive by eggings begin… keep reading.

Is it time for IronPig’s catcher Erik Kratz to go up to the Phillies?

Kratz has been receiving minimal playing time so far this season. He has played in only 5 of the 12 games this season with only 17 plate appearances. In those appearances he’s hitting .250.

With the expansion of the International League roster size this season, Manager Ryne Sandberg made the choice to carry three catchers on the roster this year adding Tuffy Gosewisch and John Suomi to the rotation.

Gosewisch in 6 games is hitting .211 with 5 RBI including that Grand Slam last week.

Suomi, has 4 games under his belt in 2012 and is hitting .250 also with a home run to his credit.

It’s a clear 3-way platoon for the Pig’s backstop and soon someone will be relegated to pinch hitting, late game replacement and double header start duties.

*****

Now to look at the Phillies.

Brian Schneider has appeared in 2 games with 6 at bats and no hits. At 35 years old, he’s getting closer and closer to that age when you start applying to be the manager of the Crosscutters. Forgive me Northampton fans.

Really.

He had a great career but the Phillies are heavy on catchers and I’m not fond of catcher platooning to begin with. The relationship between a catcher and pitcher can be a great benefit to a team yet also a terrible obstacle to overcome.

Gosewisch and Suomi can carry the load at Lehigh Valley. I believe it’s time that the perennial IL All Star catcher Erik Kratz is listed next to Carlos Ruiz on the Philadelphia roster.

Granted, Suomi was added to the Disabled List today with an Injured Valendia (See glossary link at the top of this page), releasing Schneider and pushing Kratz up makes the most sense to me.

Those are my thoughts… what are yours?

The wind in Buffalo seemed to be affecting everyone involved in the IronPig at Bisons game tonight. You could see the results of it on the MiLB video feed, hear it on Matt Provence’s IronPig Radio broadcast, see right handed batters call time with gusts blowing infield dirt at them like a sand blaster and sent two of Hector Luna’s throws to first wide right like a Scott Norwood field goal.

In years past this would have been a hinderance to the Pigs but this season everything seems to work out for our beloved swine swingers.

The Pigs jumped out to a 4-0 start in the top half of the first inning thanks to a Podsednik single, a walk, a Luna single, a throwing error and a Mitchell double. Bison pitcher Jeurys Familia issued the IronPigs 6 walks in his 4 innings of work struggling with control on this windy night throwing only 52 strikes out of 92 pitches.

The Pigs added 2 more runs in each the 5th and 6th innings bringing the score to 8 to 1 with the Bison getting one back in the bottom of the 5th on an Omar Quintanilla double right after one of Luna’s wind assisted throwing errors allowed Bison Rob Johnson to advance to 2nd base.

Austin Hyatt had a great night! Despite one unearned run, Hyatt was pulled after 5.2 innings of work with a pitch count that reached 90. It’s still early in the season and I see Hyatt going deeper into games soon.

David Purcey came on in relief going scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts and no walks. Following Purcey was Brian Sanches who gave up a pair of hits but got a “Cut on and Missed Strike 3” to end the 8th inning. Sanches stayed in for the 9th and retired the first two batters in quick order before allowing a base hits to Jordany Valdespin and Bobby Scales. The floodgates cracked a little bit and another hit by Lucas May allowed Valdespin to score making it 8 to 2. Fear not though Pigfans, Zach Lutz grounded out to first baseman Cody Overbeck to end the game.

Final Score: IronPigs 8 – Bison 2

In the end, Austin Hyatt came away with the win improving his record to 2-0 on the season.

Multi-hit games by Frandsen and Mitchell with 2 hits apiece. Mitchell also led the offense with 4 RBI on the night.

The IronPigs are now riding a 6 game winning streak and a 10-2 record!

*****

With Buffalo we also got to see a local player in Zach Lutz. Lutz, a native of Reading attended Governor Mifflin High School and Alvernia University where he was drafted in the 5th round of the MLB Draft in 2007 by the Mets.

Another Alvernia alumni who succeeded in the Major Leagues is Wade Miller who spent nine years between the Astros, Red Sox and Cubs. Miller was inducted in the R-Phil’s Hall of Fame last summer.

*****

Pig’s will stay in Buffalo to continue this series with a 6:05 PM start. Don’t forget to set your reminders to listen to the Pre-game show at 5:35PM on 1230AM or 1320AM then tune into live video footage of the game via MiLB Video. They charge for video but it’s not too bad if you purchase an entire season pass.

OinK!