Two wins on the bookends of the week, surrounded by five losses in the middle. 4-24, 2-5 this week, 14.5 games out of first, a month into the season. Can it get any worse? Lets hope and pray the answer is no. Every day it seems I say to myself, and I am sure Dave Huppert, the ‘Pigs manager says to himself, “It can’t get any worse, and then it does. Looking at league leaders, Andy Tracy is now 6th in the IL in homers with 5. As far as pitching leaders go, James Happ is 5th in the league with 33.1 innings pitched and 2nd in strikeouts with 37. Brian Mazone is 2nd in the league with 38.1 innings pitched.

40 man Roster Review: J.A. Happ has picked up the pace tremendously over his last 2 starts and is now 0-3, with a 3.51 ERA. The 6’6 lefty has pitched 33.1 innings, given up just 25 hits, walked 19, and struck out 37. The opposition is hitting just .207 against him and the primary issue has been his control, which has been improving. Outfiedler TJ Bohn is hitting .185 in 54 at bats with no homers and no RBI’s. He has struck out 17 times in his 50 at bats. Catcher Jason Jaramillo is hitting .186 in his 86 at bats. He has 2 homers, 4 RBI’s, is hitting .133 with runners is scoring position and has a .227 on base percentage. Jaramillo has improved a bit defensively, now having thrown out 5 of 27 potential basestealers (19%).

Game 23 of the season, finally saw Lehigh Valley put it all together with a fine effort both on the mound as well as at the plate last Friday evening, where they came away with a 6-2 victory over Rochester. The ‘Pigs jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first on a Mike Cervenek (3) three run homer. That was all Brian Mazone (2-3) needed as he scattered 4 hits over eight innings giving up only 2 runs (none earned). He walked 3 and struck out 5. The offense came to life with Cervenek going 3-5, Javon Moran was 2-4 with 2 runs and a stolen base,and Jason jaramillo was 2-4 with a run. Brennan King (2-4) and Chris Woodward (3-4) also had multi hit games as Andy Tracy added his 4th homer of the year, a 2 run shot in the 7th inning. Much of the damage came off of highly regarded prospect Phil Humber who didnt get out of the 5th inning and gave up 4 runs.

Just when we all thought that it couldnt get worse than the last start of JD Durbin when he lasted 0.2 innings, the game last Saturday against Rochester was, in fact, worse as Durbin (0-5)lasted only 0.1 innings giving up 5 runs, all earned, on six hits while walking two, as the ‘Pigs lost to Rochester in a 10-0 embarrassment. The ‘Pigs were outhit 20-2 in a game that deserves no more detail than I have just given. Lehigh Valley was simply horrible and looked completely lifeless. Unfortunately, I made it to the game last Sunday to see Lehigh Valley fall to 3-22 in a 5-1 loss to Rochester. Travis Blackley started and had probably his best outing before he left with a groin pull after the 5th inning. He went 5 and gave up one run on one hit. he walked 3 and struck out 5. Kevin Beirne (0-1) came in and took the loss after giving up back to back homers in the 7th inning. Shane Victorino and Mike Cervenek each had 2 hits for the ‘Pigs. As an aside, Valentino Pascucci was absolutely horrible striking out three times, twice in critical situations and also made an error.

The series that began Tuesday at home against Syracuse, started once again without the ‘Pigs offense, as they wasted the second consecutive excellent performance by JA Happ, on the way to a 1-0 loss. Happ pitched seven shutout, one hit innings, walking 4 and striking out five, however it was all for naught, as the Chiefs lone run in the 9th against Matt Childers (0-1), was plenty to put away the hapless Pigs. Happ threw 104 pitches, 66 of them for strikes. The 10:30 a.m. start on Wednesday inspired no extra effort or luck from Lehigh Valley as they lost , yet again, 9-4, falling to 3-24 on the year. The ‘Pigs were swept by the Chiefs and swept on their homestand. Kevin Beirne (0-2) got the spot start on Wednesday and lasted only 2.1 innings giving up 4 runs on 4 hits. Beirne seemed to have pitched well compared to the effort of reliever Vic Darensberg who came in to relieve Beirne and promptly gave up five straight hits, blowing the game wide open early 8-0. Andy Tracy (2-5) hit a 2 run homer (5) to cut into the lead, and Joey Hammond (3-4, rs), Mike Cervenek(2-5, rs), and Casey Smith (2-4, rbi) all had multiple hit games for the ‘Pigs.

The ‘Pigs began a 8 game road trip last night in Columbus with a 5-3 victory(i.e. win) over the Clippers. Brian Mazone (3-3) started and pitched effectively, giving up 3 runs on five hits over six innings. Matt Childers picked up his 3rd save of the year. A good offensive effort was led by Brandon Watson who was 3-4, with 2 runs scored and an RBI. Chris Woodward had a key double in the 7th inning eventually scoring to extend the ‘Pigs lead to the 2 run margin of victory.

Transactions–Mike Spidale and Javon Moran were both returned to Reading after the game last Sunday. Spidale hit .176 in 12 games for the ‘Pigs. He did have 6 runs scored and 3 stolen bases. Javon Moran hit .200 in his 15 at bats for Lehigh Valley. Called up from Reading was OF Rich Thompson. Thompson, 29, played last season for Tuscon (AAA) and hit .295 hit 3 homers, 41 RBI’s and 15 stolen bases. He also had an on base % of .360. Hopefully, he will provide some energy to the Lehigh Valley lineup. Thompson was hitting .300 for Reading prior to the recall. TJ Bohn returns to the ‘Pigs from the Phillies after the activation of Shane Victorino from the DL. Bohn was hitting .186 when recalled by the Phillies and went 1-3 during his short stint in Philly, used primarily as a late inning defensive replacement for Pat Burrell.

The transactions on Monday began to show the fallout of the 3-22 start with the release of 1B/Of Val Pascucci. Pascucci was simply horrible this year after leading the Pacific Coast League (AAA) in homers last year with (34). Hitting mostly cleanup, Pascucci had 1 homer and 7 RBI’s in his 25 games. He was hitting .232 with 25 strikeouts and was additionally horrible in the field making several costly errors. Javon Moran was recalled from Reading having spent less than 24 hours on their roster. Additionally, Travis Blackley was placed on the disabled list with a groin pull.

On Tuesday, Joe Bisenius was activated from the disabled list and sent down to AA Reading. In 3 games with the ‘Pigs, Bisenius was 0-1 with a 10.38 ERA. Opponents were hitting .286 against him. He walked six and struck out four in 4.1 innings. Called up from Reading was 29 year old reliever Jason Anderson, now in his second tour of duty with Lehigh Valley this year. He was 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA in 2 games for the ‘Pigs before being sent down to Reading. In Reading, Anderson pitched in 6 games and was 0-1 with a 10.29 ERA, with 4 walks and 8 strikeouts in 7 innings. Opponents were hitting .296 against him. Not quite sure what the purpose of this move is other than to remove Bisenius from such a poor environment with the ‘Pigs. Additionally, Infielder Oscar Robles, 32, was claimed off waivers by the Phillies from the Padres and was assigned to Lehigh Valley by the Phillies. Robles was hitting .208 for Portland (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League with 1 homer and 10 RBI’s. Robles spent time each of the last three seasons in the majors, last year with the Padres and 2005-06 with the Dodgers. He can play second, short, or third, and in 2005 had a very productive year for the Dodgers hitting .272 in 363 AB’s. Robles does take up a spot on the Phillies 40 man roster

Pork– The victory last Friday in Rochester was the ‘Pigs first road win of the year after 14 straight losses.

–Andy Tracy homered in three consecutive games last week.

—Shane Victorino was in the Lehigh Valley lineup last Saturday and Sunday on a rehab assignment before his activation from the DL on Tuesday. He went 3-8.

–Jason Jaramillo’s hitting streak ended at 10 games.

–In their 10-0 loss last Saturday, Lehigh Valley pitchers managed to throw a truly amazing 193 pitches.

—Brandon Watson returned to the lineup Sunday after missing six games with an injured shoulder.

—Kudos to Brennan King, Andy Tracy and Brandon Watson who took the time to sign numerous autographs prior to last Sundays game. The smile on the face of my son who is eight was truly worth the price of admission and much more.

–Attendance during the 4 game homestand was 29,786 (7446/GM). For the year the ‘Pigs are well over 75,000 in 12 dates.

–The ‘Pigs are averaging 2.3 runs per game.

–The record of the Phils minor league system is currently 38-67, the worst in baseball.

–Lehigh Valley has the worst batting average in the IL (.214) and are last in hitting with runners in scoring position (.150).

—JD Durbin has lost his spot in the starting rotation and will be replaced, at least in the short term, by Kevin Beirne.