After a 4-3 week, The ‘Pigs record stands at 38-57, in last place, 21.5 games behind division leading Pawtucket in the Northern Division of the IL.  Hitting leaders include Mike Cervenak who is 2nd in the league in at bats (355), 7th in runs (55), first in hits (110), 8th in doubles (21), and 3rd in average (.310).  Andy Tracy is 9th in slugging % (.519), 4th in on base % (.398), 2nd in walks (50), 8th in RBI’s (56), and 5th in doubles(25).  Among pitching leaders are JA Happ who is 3rd in strikeous (104) and 9th in ERA (3.54); Brian Mazone who is 8th in wins (8), 8th in ERA (3.53), 4th in IP (114.2), 5th in homers allowed (15), and 4th in WHIP (1.16).  Matt Childers is now 2nd in the league with 15 saves.

Another difficult outing for the rehabbing Kris Benson last Friday evening in a 7-6 loss to Pawtucket. The Red Sox jumped out early to a 4-0 lead and Benson left after 5 innings, having given up 6 runs on 9 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 2, while throwing 86 pitches, 53 for strikes. RJ Swindle took the loss in relief. The ‘Pigs did mount a nice comeback behind Brandon Watson (2-4, double, 2 runs), Mike Cervenak (2-5, rbi), Jason Jaramillo(2-4, 2 doubles, 2 runs) and Mike Rouse (2-3, 2 RBI’s).

Saturday night brought a very strong outing from Travis Blackley (4-5) who settled down nicely after giving up 2 first inning runs in a 5-2 Iron Pig victory. The ‘Pigs came back from the 2-0 deficit with a 4 run third inning, including a 3 run homer by Andy Tracy (14) leading the ‘Pigs to the victory. Blackley went 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits.  He walked 3 and struck out 8.  Matt Childers pitched 1.2 scoreless innings to get his 14th save. Brandon Watson has a big game for the ‘Pigs going 3-3 with a run scored and 2 stolen bases. Mike Cervenak (2-5, double, 2 RBI’s) and Mike Rouse (2-4, run) also had multi hit games for Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Valley returned home on Sunday to face Louisville and Les Walrond (3-7) had an absolutely incredible outing for the ‘Pigs, pitching a complete game shutout giving up only 5 hits and striking out seventeen, leading the ‘Pigs to a 2-0 win.  83 of the 115 pitched thrown by the 31 year old Walrond were strikes. Offensively, Brandon Watson stayed hot going 2-5, with 2 runs and a triple.  Mike Cervenak (2-4) and Oscar Robles (2-4) knocked in runs for Lehigh Valley.

The ‘Pigs won their third straight Monday evening behind a strong effort by Brett Myers (1-1).  Myers went 7.1 innings, yielding 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits.  He walked 2 and struck out 6.  His velocity was anywhere between 89-94 throughout the game.  Louisville had a 3-0 until the 6th inning when Brandon Watson scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Rich Thompson.  This was followed by a truly horrific play in the outfield by Louisville when they allowed a routine fly ball to fall in between the RF and CF, allowing 2 runs to score and the ‘Pigs to tie the game.  Jon Knott hit an RBI single, scoring Andy Tracy to give Lehigh Valley the 4-3 margin of victory. Matt Childers came in to pitch a scoreless ninth for his 15th save.

The Lehigh Valley winning streak was snapped at three on Tuesday evening, as Brian Mazone (6-7) had his third consecutive rough outing, this time against Louisville in the 8-2 loss.  Mazone went 5 innings, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits.  He walked one and struck out 4.  In a weak offensive effort, Rich Thompson was 2-4 with a double and an RBI and the red hot Mike ROuse was 2-4 with a double and an RBI as well.

It became very clear on Wednesday evening that Kris Benson is nowhere near ready for the Phillies as he has his third consecutive disappointing outing, this one being the most disappointing.  He went 4 innings and gave up 7 runs on 8 hits, in the 10-3 ‘Pig loss. Former Phillie prospect Matt Maloney got the win for Louisville giving up 1 earned run in 6.2 innings.  Lehigh Valley was behind 4-0 before they could look up, and it didnt get much easier.  Jon Knott hit his 10th homer of the year for Lehigh Valley, and Mike Cervenak was 2-4 with 2 RBI’s.

Travis Blackley gave Lehigh Valley another quality start Thursday evening, improving his record to 5-5, in the 8-3 ‘Pig victory over Syracuse.  Blackley went 7 strong innings giving up 3 runs on 7 hits.  He walked 3 and struck out one.  The ‘Pigs offense was led by Jon Knott who was 3-4, with 2 runs and his 11th homer of the year, along with Rich Thompson who was 3-5 with a run and 2 RBI’s. Jason Jaramillo added 2 hits for Lehigh Valley and TJ Bohn had a key 3 run double in the 8th inning to break the game open.

Transactions: With the Phils placing Tom Gordon on the DL, in a move that was a long time coming, RJ Swindle, 25, was recalled for the second time in 2 weeks by the Phils.  Swindle will work as a situational lefty out of the bullpen.  (For more details on Swindle see last weeks entry).

–3B Brennan King was placed on the DL on Monday, retroactive to Friday July 2rd, with an elbow injury.  Infielder Joey Hammond was recalled from reading to fill in the spot on the Lehigh Valley roster.  Hammond, 30, hit .219 in his first stint with Lehigh Valley earlier this year in 21 games.  In 202 AB’s with Reading, Hammond has hit .277 with 3 HR and 24 RBI’s.

–On Wednesday, relief pitcher Joe Bisenius, 25, was recalled from Reading to take RJ Swindle’s place in the ‘Pig bullpen.  Bisenius, a member of the Phils 40 man roster, began the year in Lehigh Valley and went 0-1 with a 10.38 ERA in 3 games early on with lehigh Valley.  In Reading, Bisenius was very strong until recently when he has struggled.  For the year in Reading Bisenius is 2-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 23 games.  In his 32.1 IP, he has walked 20 and struck out 26, while allowing opponents to hit only .225 against him.  Look for him to set up Matt Childers.

—On Thursday JA Happ was returned to the ‘Pigs from the Phillies after two successful starts.  As the Phils won’t need a 5th starter until after the All Star Break, it makes some sense to add a position player, which the Phils did in the recall of Mike Cervenak.  Cervenak, 31, an International league All Star this year, is hitting .310 with 7 HR and 52 RBI’s for the ‘Pigs.  He can play 1B, 3B, RF and LF if needed in Philly.

Notes:Travis Blackley is 5-2 with a 3.00 ERA in his last 7 starts.

—Kris Benson’s Iron Pig stats:  3 starts, 0-2 with an 11.77 ERA in 13 IP.  He has walked 2, struck out 5 and has a WHIP of 1.85.  Opponents are hitting right around .400 against him.

–The 17 strikeouts by Les Walrond on Monday night were a ‘Pig team record an an IL record this year.

–Lehigh Valley is 33-27 since their 5-30 start.

–Interesting statistic….Lehigh Valley pitcher have struck out the most batters in the IL, while their hitters have struck out the least.

–In his last 4 starts Brian Mazone is 1-2 with a 5.96 ERA.

–Closer Matt Childers has a 10.1 inning scoreless streak and has not allowed an earned run in his last 14 outings.

–Lehigh Valley was extremely upset with Louisville stealing bases while up by 5 runs in the 9th inning in the game Wednesday evening. The ‘Pigs responded by Stephen Randolph hitting a Louisville batter leading to his ejection, which led to 34 year old 1B Andy Tracy’s first appearance pitching since college.