The passed week was a fairly rough one for Lehigh Valley as they went 3-4 on the week, and are now at 21-41 on the year, 16.5 games back of front running Scranton in the Northern division of the International League.  Looking at Iron Pigs among the league leaders, Mike Cervenak continues his rise in numerous categories, including at bats (5th-221), runs (5th-38), hits (1st-71), and average (.321). Andy Tracy is 3rd in walks (31) and 10th in homers (10). Among pitching leaders are Brian Mazone who is 5th in wins (6), 2nd in inninigs pitched (79.0) and 5th in WHIP (1.10) and JA Happ who is 3rd in innings (77) and leading the league in strikeouts with 81. Matt Childers is 6th in the league with 8 saves.

Week in Review–Lehigh Valley opened a series against Louisville Friday on the road with a 5-3  loss.  Les Walrond (1-3) started and went 4 innings giving up 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits.  He walked 2 and struck out 4.  The ‘Pigs were down 5-0 before mounting a comeback in the 8th and 9th cutting the lead to the final margin.  In the 8th Javon Moran hit an RBI double, scoring Rich THompson, who had tripled.  Mike Rouse singled home 2 runs in the 9th but it was too little, too late.  Jason Jaramillo continued to swing a hot bat, going 3-4 with a run scored, although he did commit an error(4).

The ‘Pigs lost their second straight to Louisville, 9-3, Saturday evening as JA Happ (2-5) had an extremely rough outing.  Happ went five innings giving up 8 runs on 13 hits, including 2 homers. He struck out one.  Lehigh Valley was behind 5-0 after 3 innings and it didnt get any better as the night went on. Andy Tracy led the offense going 2-4 with a double, and RJ Swindle added another scoreless inning, in mop up duty.

On Sunday evening Lehigh Valley showed some resilience with a 5-4 victory in 10 innings after blowing the lead in the 9th.  Casey Smith singled home Mike Cervenak who had also singled for the game winning run in the 10th.  Brian Mazone started and gave the ‘Pigs another quality start going 6.1 innings giving up 3 runs.  Matt Childers (2-2) got the win after giving up the game tying homer in the 9th with Steve Kline picking up his first save as a ‘Pig.  Offensively, Jason Jaramillo continued to swing a hot bat, going 2-4 with 2 RBI’s.  Both Rich Thompson and Mike Rouse added 2 hits as well.

The ‘Pigs struggles with Louisville continued on Monday, as they lost 5-1, spoiling a good effort by starter Gary Knotts.  Knotts (1-1) went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits.  The ‘Bats scored an additional 2 runs off of RJ Swindle, making the lead insurmountable.  The lone Lehigh Valley run came on a Andy Tracy RBI single in the 6th.  Tracy had 3 hits on the night for the ‘Pigs.

Lehigh Valley opened a series with Indianapolis on Wednesday with a 6-1 victory.  The ‘Pigs received help from unexpected sources.  Starter Travis Blackley(1-3) went 6 innings giving up 6 hits and a lone run.  He walked one and struck out 5 in by far his best performance of the year.  3B Brennan King smashed 2 homers (2,3) to pick up the offense, as both Andy Tracy and Rich THompson hit solo shots as well to account for the 6 Pig runs. Andy Tracy was 3-4 and Travis Blackley also added 2 hits for Lehigh Valley.

Another disappointing loss Wednesday afternoon as Matt Childers blew his second consecutive save, ruining a good effort by starter Les Walrond, as the ‘Pigs lost 4-3. Walrond, went 6 innings giving up 6 hits and 2 runs, while walking 2 and striking out 6. John ENnis (2-3) took the loss. Brennan King continued swinging a hot bat going 3-4 with a run and a double.  Mike ROuse had a key 2 run double and Rich THompson added 2 stolen bases.

JA Happ (3-5) recovered from a poor start in his last outing, with an excellent performance Thursday night against Indianapolis, going 7.2 innings and giving up 2 runs on 5 hits in a 9-5 Lehigh Valley win.  He didnt walk a batter and struck out 10, giving him a league leading 81 strikeouts. The ‘Pigs had a huge six run second inning, with the big blow being a 3 run double by Jason Jaramillo. Additional offense was provided by Rich THompson (2-5, rs, 3 RBI’s), Jon Knott (2-4, 2 runs, 2 doubles), Brennan King (2-4, 2 runs, rbi) and Casey Smith (2-3, run, rbi).  Steve Kline got hit around in his 1.1 innings of work, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits.

Transactions: On Monday, pitcher Ron Chiavacci was traded to the Houston Astros as the player to be named later in the Stephen Randolph deal.  After a very strong start, Chiavacci was horrible, going 1-7 with a 5.90 ERA over 58 innings pitched.  Opponents were hitting .320 against him.  Gary Knotts will take the spot in the rotation for now.  Also, OF TJ Bohn was returned to the ‘Pigs after about a week with the big Phils after Jayson Werth was placed on the disabled list.  While Werth is still on the DL, the Phils decided to activate Chris Snelling was has been out for over a month with knee inflammation.

On Tuesday, reliever Jason Anderson was recalled from Reading for his second stint of the year with Lehigh Valley. With Reading, Anderson was 0-1 with a 7.31 ERA in 14 games.  Opponents were hitting .323 against him.  Previosuly with lehigh Valley this year, Anderson was 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 5 games.  Expect to see him used mostly in mop up duty.

On Wednesday, OF Javon Moran was sent back down to Reading to make room on the roster for TJ Bohn.  Moran had added some spark to the ‘Pig offense hitting over .300 since his recall.

40 man report: Oscar Robles is now hitting .233 for Lehigh Valley, with 0 HR and 8 RBI in 28 games. He has helped solidify the Lehigh Valley infield but has been mediocre at best offensively.  Catcher Jason Jaramillo has picked it up tremendously over the passed several weeks and is now hitting .251 with 3 HR and 17 RBI including several key hits recently.  His recent defense has been superb as well. OF TJ Bohn was just sent back to the ‘Pigs after his second stint of the year with the Phillies.  He is still mired well below .200 and has done nothing for Lehigh Valley.  Starter James Happ is now 3-5 with a 3.86 ERA on the year and is leading the IL in strikeouts with 81.  He had one outstanding start and one horrible start this week but continues to be a leading candidate to be called up if/when an injury occurs to the Phils rotation.

Pork: The hitting streak of Mike Cervenak was snapped at 18 games.  It was a ‘Pig record, and the IL high for the year.

—Jason Jaramillo has a 11 game hitting streak.

–Lehigh Valley finished May at 15-15, after going 3-24 in April.

—Brian Mazone has gone at least 6 innings in every start since April 15th, including 8/9 quality starts.

—Brennan King has now gone 38 games without an error.

–To go along with his hot bat, Jason Jaramillo has thrown out 14 of the last 37 runners attempting to steal (38%).

–Interesting statistic…Left handed hitters are batting .308 against JA Happ, while right handed hitters are hitting .238.