Category Archives: Uncategorized

Twitter is a wonderful thing… before press releases went out us fans had the opportunity to find out who’s coming up to fill the vacant spots on our favorite team’s roster.

This morning both Cody Overbeck and Phillipe Aumont tweeted of their promotion to the IronPigs!

Welcome to the team and see you soon!

OinK!

Per Michael LoRe’, Justing DeFratus will be joining the IronPigs in Pawtucket.

That’s one, two to go…

Yesterday really did happen. Hail and Farewell to Belliard and Gordon, wishes for quick healing to Bump and Bonine. Give them your best in Philly Worley!

Really, this might turn out to be a good thing (never happy for injuries) in the terms of who we have as starting pitchers. Losing Gordon is a huge blow to the team but looking at the stats:

Brian Bass: 4-4, 5.02 ERA, 26 BB, 40 K

Nate Bump: 2-6, 6.71 ERA, 16 BB, 36 K

Ryan Feierabend: 5-3, 5.79, 22 BB, 45 K

Eddie Bonine: 3-4, 5.16 ERA, 8 BB, 44 K

Vance Worley: 4-2, 2.62 ERA, 12 BB, 47 K

Brian Gordon: 5-0, 1.14 ERA, 7 BB, 56 K

Not exactly all star stats, minus Gordon, but does show a nice Strikeout to Walk ratio in the Pigs favor.

***

Let’s see what we have in Reading as far as starters. (Sorry R-Phils fans, stuff like this rolls downhill)

Austin Hyatt: 6-4, 4.35 ERA, 29 BB, 78 K

Ryan Edell: 5-1, 3.50 ERA, 9 BB, 50 K

JC Ramirez: 5-5, 4.30 ERA, 22 BB, 21 K

Chris Kissock: 2-5, 5.81 ERA, 12 BB, 25 K

Josh Zeid: 2-3, 6.80 ERA, 25 BB, 32 K

BJ Rosenberg: 2-1, 2.17 ERA, 11 BB, 42 K

Reading does have some options for the Pigs to pull from, I’d seriously doubt they would pull from Lakewood or Clearwater for anything more than a spot start. Jason Anderson is still out there pitching for the Somerset Patriots. Mazone is retired. Anyone got Ron Chiavacci’s number? Drew Carpenter can always start too.

Somewhere out there, there is a Phillies executive making phone calls and very thankful for today’s day off. My thoughts, they are going to pull Reading starters up one at a time for spot starts. One will probably make the road trip to Pawtucket with them and then an 8 game home stand making it easier to ferry players to the Lehigh Valley as needed. Expect a few signings or minor league trades as well.

So as it stands now, the IronPig’s starting rotation looks like this:
1. Feierabend
2. Bass
3. Vacant
4. Vacant
5. Vacant

My Guess (In no particular order):
1. Feierabend
2. Bass
3. Carpenter
4. Prospect from Reading
5. Free agent signing

What are your guesses?

What a wild game tonight! Combined 15 runs on 25 hits and 3 errors led to a barn burner with the IronPigs coming out on top by a final score of 8 to 7.

For the hitters, Brandon Moss “Hogg” led the team by going 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI and the go ahead home run in the bottom of the 8th.

Pitching wise was a different story. Starter Nate Bump went only 2 innings and left while warming up in the 3rd with what looked like a hamstring (or something in that area) injury. In fact, Bump noticeably pulled up after covering first on a Daniel Dorn ground ball fielded by Josh Barfield for the 2nd out of the 2nd inning. No status on him heard tonight.

For the others.. boy what a day for transactions in moves that seemed to decimate the IronPig’s starting rotation.

First, Bump pulls up lame tonight.

Then it’s announced that the leading vote getter for starting pitcher in the IL All Star team had opted out and signed a Major League contract with the NY Yankees.. I have mixed feelings on this. I am really bummed to see our best starter leaving but very happy for Brian Gordon and his family. In 15 seasons in baseball, Gordon has only been to the show once before (2008 with Texas appearing in 3 games for 4 innings). Congratulations Brian and I wish the best of luck to succeed!

Then, more bad news came around. Confirmed early in the game by the IronPig’s media department, Shoeless Eddie Bonine will soon undergo Tommy John surgery. He won’t be back anytime soon if ever.

Add in Belliard’s retirement. I think it’s respectable when a player hangs up his hat after a long career. Going out while still capable is an honorable thing and gives the next generation an opportunity to play. Good luck Belliard and best of luck in the future.

Tonight would not be complete without congratulations to Pete Orr and his family. Orr was a late scratch from the lineup to attend the birth of his child.

So with all that said I will sign off for the night. The Pigs head to tour the Baseball Hall of Fame with their manager tomorrow and I’m going bowling.

OinK!

Brian Gordon signing with the Yankees started a flood of players to be lost.

Belliard retires.

Orr has a baby.

Bump leaves game injured.

Also heard Shoeless Eddie Bonine is expected to have Tommy John surgery.

Exactly how good IS the R-Phils starting pitching staff?

SE 2’s Doug Heater has reported that IronPig pitcher opted out and signed with the Yankees. More details later…

The IronPigs lost a heartbreaker to the Bats tonight by a final score of 7 to 8. The Pigs took an early lead and were up 5 to 3 before Perez came in and quickly allowed Louisville to plate 4 runs. The Bats added one in the 9th for insurance and it proved to assist as the Pigs scored two in the bottom of that inning to fall 1 run short.

Erik Kratz had another great night both at the plate and behind the plate. Erik went 3 for 3 with two walks (one intentional) and 3 RBI. Kratz also made a great play at home blocking the plate and tagging out the runner with a slightly late throw.

So that’s that. Tomorrow is the final game in the 4 game set in Louisville’s only appearance at The Coke this season. Hope to pull out a series win and keep that win column growing!

***

Today was also Dog Day at the park! There was a reported 455 dogs in attendance and my dog Wally was one of them. Some photos from today:

Scott Mathieson brought his dog too!

Dr. Melvin!

Nurse Holly!

Coolest dog in town!

Sandberg getting ejected - Heather Mastropieri

I’m in an opinionated mood today so I will put this out there and ask for your thoughts/comments..

The Pork Race is getting stale. Even though Hambone won yesterday, we all know it’s fixed… and it’s losing its luster, its excitement and thrill. At least for me it is. We know what’s going to happen..

“HAMBONE IN THE LEAD!”

“OH DIGGITY!! YOU CHEATER!”

“Kris P. Bacon wins!”

“Insert advertising slogan here”

Yeah, I know 4 years is tough to keep up an act and those getups aren’t easy to run in… and to criticize without suggestions for improvement is in poor taste… so here are my suggestions. (Feel free to add your own in the comments)

1. Let them run. They jog now, paying more attention to where they are “supposed” to be and theatrics than they are about running. For example, take a look at the R-Phil’s Veggie Racers. They tear across the park with a competitive drive pushing and shoving the whole way. To them it is about winning, about bragging rights and holding up that vegetable’s good name.

2. Give it more of a story line than Hambone loses and Diggity cheats. Yes, I’ve got an angle on this one. You have to go back a ways or at least pay attention to the Boomerang Network late at night.

Remember the cartoon “Wacky Races”? Penelope Pitstop, Peter Perfect, the Ant Hill Mob, the Army Surplus Special… and who could forget Dastardly and his laughing dog, Muttley!

For those not old enough to remember, Penelope Pitstop drives along honestly and sincere hoping to win while the others fumble around trying to get their jalopies through the entire race. The bad guy of the show, “Dastardly”, comes up with clever but ill fated attempts to sabotage the other racers and always seems to come up short on the win. His dog Muttley always shakes off the self imposed disasters with a hushed laugh.

I love(d) this show! You can still watch it on Boomerang late at night and there are some clips on youtube so check them out.

This is my suggestion to help reinvigorate the Pork Races. Don’t allow a cheating Diggity to win while he cheats.. show the kids in attendance that cheaters don’t always win and have the cheating be the exact reason why Diggity doesn’t win. And let these folks run. The race used to have excitement and thrill.. the promo video is cute, but it really builds up to, well… not much.

That’s my opinion and does not reflect the opinion of all. I encourage you to leave your own in the comments, below.

As a kid I loved watching the WWF wrestling on Saturday mornings. The good guys vs. the bad guys and the feuds and battles of all those now classic names of the 80’s. I even was a die-hard fan of the short run WWF cartoon and had the rubber wrestlers to recreate the best matches at home.

Today the Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies affiliate) hosted the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. I would love to see these guys at Coca Cola Park!

I am posting two examples of Volkoff’s singing.. one looks like it was vintage 1980’s and the other was recorded tonight in Lakewood and posted by the Blue Claws on youtube.

From this:

To this:

While the first video brings back fond memories of youth.. I really like the second better.

Nikolai Volkoff, born on Oct 14th, 1947 in what was then the Socialist Republic of Croatia (as Josip Nikolai Peruzovic) was on the Yugoslavian weight lifting team until he defected to Canada while participating in a competition in Vienna. He received training from the legendary Stu Hart and made his wrestling debut in 1967. While playing a heel for most of his career, he later became a fan favorite and has stayed in the wrestling industry making appearances now and then.

The Iron Sheik, (Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri), was born on March 15th, 1943 in Tehran, Iran as he was billed as a wrestler. He moved to the US in the 1970’s to partner up with Volkoff and become the most jeered wrestlers in the land. The Iron Sheik was also involved in a few incidents in the Lehigh Valley area but I can’t recall the specifics so I will spare you from that. I believe Jimmy Snukka and Hacksaw Jim Duggan were involved..

So the Blue Claws hit the jackpot with this promotion in my eyes! I would love to see more celebrity visits to The Coke. Can we trade a couple bobble head nights or jersey auctions for something like this?

OinK!

Who said Ryan Feierabend can’t pitch at home? Feierabend went 7 innings, allowed 1 run on 3 hits and took the win in a 6 to 1 victory over the Louisville Bats. (Thanks Dean)

John Mayberry was the star hitter of the game going 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. He also scored 2 of the Ironpig’s runs.

Dontrelle Willis looked confident when he was warming up in the bullpen today. Nods to his catcher and big smiles until he took the mound against Ironpig hitters. He went 6.1 innings allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, (1 run was unearned) striking out 3.

The play of the day goes to Rich Thompson, who started in left field. In the 4th inning with the score 1-0 Ironpigs, Devin Mesoraco hit a long fly ball that appeared to be clearing the wall but up went Thompson and pulled the ball from above the yellow line. Don’t think it was headed out? I had the best view in the park standing behind the bullpens only feet from the catch. It might have hit the top of the yellow wall but it was going for a HR for sure.

By winning the first two of this only home series vs. Louisville, the Pigs secure at least a series split and look to go for the win as they face them on one of my favorite days at the park… Dog Day!

Yes, my best pal Wally will be in attendance is looking forward to seeing all his fuzzy friends!

Speaking of fuzzy friends I want to send a shout out to someone else who has “fuzzy” friends… Today I met Kelly, the best friend of the mascots and works in the promotions department at the Ironpigs. I observed her doing her job and helping kids enjoy the mascot autographs and she was so kind and caring with the kids. Want to say thank you to Kelly and appreciate your hard work!

See you tomorrow!

Woof!