All photos by Noise Nation Photographer Cheryl Pursell!
Photos of AAA National Championship! @OMAStormChasers @DurhamBulls @Ironpigs
Filed under Lehigh Valley IronPigs
Should the LV Phantoms Consider a Name Change?
New town, new fans… could the Lehigh Valley Phantoms benefit from a name change?
Think about it. We already have the IronPigs and the Steelhawks here in the Lehigh Valley. Could the Phantoms become more.. local?
Granted there are places in the Valley reputed to be haunted… the King George Inn.. (oh wait, yeah) well, while whatever cheap money making endeavor demolishes the King George Inn will certainly be “visited” by angry Revolutionary War era spirts that’s for another conversation.
Perhaps the Phantoms could use some suggestions:
– Lehigh Valley Metal Mice?
– Lehigh Valley Platinum Polar Bears?
– Lehigh Valley Wrought Iron Wrangers? (Ok, NY Fans wouldn’t like this one)
– Lehigh Valley Brass Bobcats
I’d love to hear your suggestions! Leave the in the comment section below!
Many teams perform a complete rebranding and are successful when relocating to a new city. Look at the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Richmond lost their Richmond Braves a year before and have a booming operation now. Even our beloved Lehigh Valley IronPigs were once the Ottawa Lynx. Could you imagine the Lehigh Valley Lynx playing at Coca Cola Park?
I’m going to say it here, the Phantoms are not going to change their name. I’m grasping for something to write in what will probably be the last “off-season” for Lehigh Valley Pro sports in a long time. Just next year the Steelhawks football season will lead into the IronPigs baseball season into the Phantoms Hockey season. We will have pro sports in the LV all year long!
So why would any successful team change a well recognized, successful and long term brand? I don’t know.
Staring at you Reading Phillies. Staring at you.
Filed under Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Phantoms Hockey, Steel Hawks
Next Year’s Bobbles
We’ll have plenty of post-mortem for the 2013 IronPigs yet to come, but for now consider this:
Which four players should be immortalized with an IronPigs bobble head figurine next season? Here’s what I’ve got:
- Pettibone
- Diekman (bobble side-arm as in Lakewood?)
- Ruf
- Asche
What say you Noise Nation? Any other ideas for giveaways or promos for next season? I was hoping for a mini-ironrail, but that will have to wait, I guess.
See you at the park (for the National Championship Game),
@Kram209
I Love Stats Like This
The Indianapolis Indians won the International League West Division with a record of 80-64. When they visited the Lehigh Valley to play the Ironpigs from May 2 to May 5, three of their starting pitchers were Francisco Liriano, Charlie Morton, and Gerrit Cole. While neither of those pitchers suffered a loss in that series, the Ironpigs won all 3 of the games they started. On May 3, Charlie Morton started and threw 3 hitless innings. The Ironpigs eventually won the game by a 7-1 score. On May 4, Gerrit Cole allowed 2 runs in 6 innings but the Ironpigs won that game in 13 innings by a 3-2 score when Leandro Castro drove home Cody Overbeck with the game winning run. Then on May 5, the Ironpigs faced Francisco Liriano. He allowed 4 runs in 5 innings but the Ironpigs managed another walk-off victory when Leandro Castro singled home Cesar Hernandez in the bottom of the 9th for a 5-4 Lehigh Valley victory.
Today, all three of those Indianapolis pitchers are in the starting rotation for the NL Central leading Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates currently have a record of 80-57. Liriano (15-6 2.57), Morton (7-3 3.00) and Cole (6-7 3.80) have combined to start 50 games for Pittsburgh and have a combined record of 28-16. So, 35% of the 80 wins by the Pittsburgh Pirates this year have come from the 3 guys who faced the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs in a 4 game series in early May. Pretty remarkable that the Ironpigs won all 3 of the games started by Morton, Cole and Liriano.
Filed under From the Desk of Decal, Lehigh Valley IronPigs
2 Goals Missed, 1 To Go & Maybe 1 More…
The IronPigs officially were mathematically eliminated from any playoff hopes tonight.
The IronPigs officially tied the season series with the SWB Railriders today BUT lost the newly minted IronRail Trophy in a tiebreaker that stated that in case of a tie, the winner would be whoever won the final game.
The IronPigs are still hanging on to their hopes for Highest Average per Game in Attendance but it’s as slim a chance as the Wildcard spot was this morning.
Ahead of the Lehigh Valley is Columbus.
Columbus has had 67 openings with 2 remaining. They have sold a total of 612,565 tickets this season for a current average of 9,143 per game.
The Lehigh Valley has had 68 openings with 2 remaining. They have sold a total of 594,261 tickets this season for a current average of 9,004 per game.
Both parks have a capacity of 10,000. It is a holiday weekend.
How the Pigs take the lead: Sell out both games giving them a final average of 9,036. Columbus sells an average below 10,900 for both games.
How Columbus wins: Sell 10,901 tickets over the two games.
*****
With that said, there IS ANOTHER CONTEST we can help the Lehigh Valley win!
Our beloved bartender from Coca Cola Park has entered her recipe in the “Thrillist’s Search for America’s Best Bloody”(Bloody Mary)
Known to some as Rebecca, to others as Becca and to most as “Fred” our favorite Balloon artist is currently in 6th place in the entire United States!
Let’s get the votes in! I know you can do it, we once almost voted the entire IronPig’s team into the IL All Star game, we can win this!
Win this for the Lehigh Valley! Perhaps if she wins she will demonstrate how to create the drink for the Vast Valley of Sports?
You’re looking for Lehigh Country Club, the Remedy by Rebecca Kline!
Click here to vote!
As Big Joe would say, “Do it NOW!”
OinK!
Filed under Coca Cola Park, Lehigh Valley IronPigs
Vast Valley of Sports: Episode 3 “IronPig’s Last Homestand”
The Noise Nation Staff was out in force yesterday getting some coverage of the end of the IronPig’s season!
The team seemed to have a light day as no batting practice as workouts were held but we found out how they keep themselves busy on the occasional mellow day at Coca Cola Park.
We got to chat with IronPig’s Manager Dave Brundage and General Manager Kurt Landes who gave us a review on the season and what’s to come in the remaining 3 games as well as insight on the deciding game of the IronRail Trophy competition tonight!
To close out we caught up with the guys from DuelingPianos.com who performed at last night’s game.
Enjoy!
Would Ya Take It? I Think I Would…
“So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time”
-Eagles
…
Frequent comment contributor “der Zuschauer” pointed out the IronPigs success recently. They’ve clinched at least a .500 record. They’ve remained alive in the playoff race into the final weekend of games–and into the final home stand. I have to say, if you had offered me–on April 1–a guarantee that we would be .500 or better and still alive for the playoffs during Labor Day Weekend, with a chance to bring home some IronRail hardware as well….I probably would have taken it. Yes, we had prospects to begin the season. But, we also had a very young AAA team, with a lot of unknowns. Continued competitiveness would have signaled to me that the team was fun to watch and never gave up. Indeed that’s exactly what we got.
…
I with I could say the same about myself. I love walk-offs, and am very sorry to have missed last night. I, too, left around the sixth inning when we were down 4-0 and it seemed the team didn’t have much fire. I didn’t either. Kudos to them–particularly the top half of the lineup and the bull-pen for holding it down and getting it done.
…
So we’re still alive I said! What do we need? Well, first and foremost, of course, we need to win. We need a win to clinch a winning record on the season. We need a win to keep hope alive for the playoffs. And, mostly, we need a win to take home the coveted IronRail trophy! Raul Valdes is on the mound and I like our chances! What else do we need? We also need Norfolk to drop at least one of their games in a doubleheader versus Durham. And, we need Buffalo to beat Rochester.
…
A Photo of the IronRail from the @IronPigs Twitter. Is the trophy in the house? I hope so. Love to see it get passed around at the Tiki Bar tonight!
..
What else is going on? Wall Calendars tonight for the first 7,000 adults. There’s an Elvis tribute. And, there’s a Tiki Post-Game Party! Sunday is a late start 5:35PM with Lunch Bags for 2,000 kiddos. I may be hosting a small tailgate if you’d like to stop by before the game. Monday is the fan appreciation day, again, and there will be some special giveaways and probably half-price concessions (not beer) after the middle of the game or so. It’s a 1:35PM start, and I’m planning a little post-game tailgate for any who are interested. Stop on by. Look for the flags.
…
Finally, I went on “Piggy Patrol” yesterday with Dan and Cheryl. We got some nice footage and a couple of interviews. Episode III of the Vast Valley of Sports is in the editing room as I type. Look for it soon!
…
See You at the Park!
@kram209
@Ironpigs Eliminated from One Race, Alive in Two Others!
With the loss in Scranton Wilkes Barre this evening the IronPigs are eliminated from the Division playoff race this season. (3.5 games behind in the Wild Card behind 3 teams with 4 games to go isn’t technically eliminated but might just as well be)
They fought long, they fought hard, they had injuries and they invested in an Easy Pass box for the Transaction Travel to and from Philadelphia but in the end it was just short.
Did we expect a championship? Sure, why not. I always expect it at the beginning of the season. Can we be upset they didn’t make it? Not really.
I have to say, win or lose, this team is the epitome of Lehigh Valley Professional Baseball. This team had solid representation at charity events (I don’t remember any players at the Annual Hackers & Homers golf tournament prior to this season when a good number of them attended), they were interactive with the fans and overall a good group of people who I never got the sense of being “Big Leagued” from.
For the other races, the Pigs are currently tied in the season series vs. the SWB Railriders at 7 games each. With 2 games remaining at Coca Cola Park in Allentown we will get to see these games and their results. The only tiebreaker, if both teams win 8 games, is whoever wins the last game is the season victor. Lose tomorrow and win Saturday and the trophy sits next to Kurt Landes’ desk for a year.
I AM kind of torn though. I want the Pigs to win yet I would love to see our beloved General Manager sing for us. Such the dilemma. Win or lose, I like that the “rivalry” has been re-established since it’s short run in the inaugural season in 2008 when Mr. Landes had to serve as a bat boy for the then SWB Yankees. (Anyone out there have a photo of that?)
The other race is the Average Per Game attendance! As of right now the IronPigs are in 2nd place behind Columbus. While we lost a few openings due to rain and subsequent doubleheaders, we still have a shot of being over 9,000 fans per game for the season. Sellout capacity crowds of 10,100 for the remaining 4 games would leave the average at 9,036 fans per game.
There are rumors of profit reducing efforts in Columbus to bolster attendance, (Dollar Dog days & such) I feel we can still get this win in there as well. It’s respectable to still maintain the high attendance since the beginning but darn it I wanna win at least one of these last two races!
Come on out and see this great team one or two or three or four last time(s)!
Honorable mention to SWB for their attendance this season. Well over 6,000 fans per game this season it far eclipses it’s draw in 2011 (4,586) and 2010 (4,981). Hats off to you RailRider fans and team ownership for making the investment for those fans.
With that said, BRING HOME THE IRONRAIL TROPHY!
OinK!
Filed under Lehigh Valley IronPigs
Lepchenko Advances at US Open with Zheng
Our local Tennis Pro Varvara Lepchenko lost a heartbreak in the opening round of the US Open in New York City earlier this week but continued on in Doubled competition with partner Saisai Zheng of China.
Lepchenko and Zheng defeated Sofia Arvidsson and partner Kaia Kanepi in two set winning 6-3, 6-3.
The duo move on the the second round facing Cara Black and Marina Erakovic.
Some photos, all from the Varvara Lepchenko Fan Page on Facebook. Enjoy!
Celebrating the doubles victory!
Some pre US Open Practice
Practice make Perfect right?
“A quiet moment in Ashe Stadium”
From the first round.
Filed under Varvara Lepchenko
noisenation.mlblogs.com 