Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

7. Lehigh Valley

A fairly good week for the ‘Pigs having gone 4-3, and now stand at 9-11, and in 4th Place of the Northern Division of the International League.

4/27/09– The ‘Pigs four game series with Pawtucket ended on Monday evening in dramatic fashion with a walk off RBI single in the 12th inning by Paul Hoover, to score John Mayberry giving Lehigh Valley a 2-1 win and a series split.  In what was a pitchers duel between Andrew Carpenter and Clay Buchholz, Lehigh Valley picked up a much needed extra inning win.  Carpenter went 7.1 innings, and pitched extremely efficiently and well, yielding just one unearned run.  John Mayberry was the offensive star of the night for Lehigh Valley with a very long homer(4) to tie the game off of Buchholz and a double in the 12th that led to the winning run.  Tyler Walker (1-0), was exceptional for the ‘Pigs going three scoreless, hitless innings, while striking out three.

4/28/09–Up the turnpike to Scranton went the ‘Pigs to face the 15-2 Yankees.  Rodrigo Lopez (1-1)returned from the DL to pitch 5 shutout innings, giving up only four hits to lead Lehigh Valley to a 6-0 victory over the first place Yankees.  Jake Woods and Mike Koplove each added two scoreless innings to complete the shutout for a bullpen that has become extremely effective.  A five run third inning did the offensive damage for the ‘Pigs, lead by a solo homer by Jason Ellison (1) and a three run jack by the red hot John Mayberry (5). Ellison added another run in the 7th on an RBI Single.  Rich Thompson also had two hits for Lehigh Valley.

4/29/09–The Yanks returned the favor on Wednesday night with a 7-0 shutout of the visiting ‘Pigs behind the pitching of Alfredo Aceves who pitched eight shutout innings.  The Yankees scored early and often against ‘Pigs starter Justin Lehr (3-1), who left after four innings, having given up seven runs on seven hits. Nothing very positive to report other than a multi hit night for Mike Cervenak.

4/30/09–Kyle Kendrick got the call against Toledo on Friday and had his old batterymate, Carlos Ruiz, behind the dish to start the game.  Kendrick pitched six shutout innings, giving up only three hits, while walking two and striking out four, and left the game having thrown 97 pitches, with a 4-0 lead.  Lehigh Valley took the lead in the fourth on a two run double by Ruiz, who later scored on an RBI single by JJ Furmaniak. The ‘Pigs added another run in the 5th on a sac fly by John Mayberry.  Tyler Walker pitched two scoreless, hitless innings, yet again, striking out three.   Both Andy Tracy and Carlos Ruiz had two hits for Lehigh Valley in the 4-2 victory.

League Leaders: The following Iron Pigs are among the league leaders in various categories:  Jason Donald is third in at bats (82) and fourth in strikeouts (22); Mike Cervenak is 8th in at bats (77); John Mayberry is 3rd in doubles (7)  fourth in homers (5) and 9th in SLG (.615); Paul Hoover is 6th in strikeouts (19).  Justin Lehr is third in wins(3); Gary Majewski is 7th in Saves (2); Andrew Carpenter is fifth in innings (23.1) and 4th in homers allowed (4); Carlos Carrasco is 6th in strikeouts (23)

‘Pig Prospect Review: Jason Donald– Has still been flawless in the field and is showing very good range at SS, leading to league leading number of double plays for Lehigh Valley.  His performance at the plate is starting to become a concern. He was 6-28 on the week (.214) and stands at .244 on the year.  He is not walking, is striking out alot, and his SLG is low as well.  He has a homer and 4 RBI on the year with a stolen base.  Worthy of mention was a game tying homer off of Red Sox flame throwing prospect Daniel Bard.

John Mayberry–Impressive to say the very least this week.  He was 9-26 (.346) and hit with power and was a clutch performer, driving in key runs for Lehigh Valley. He had 3 homers on the week to go along with 6 RBI’s, to put his average on the year at .269, with an impressive .371 OBP.

Carlos Carrasco had a very rough outing this week, lasting only 2.2 innings, while giving up 6 runs on 8 hits in a loss to Pawtucket.  He complained of both a blister and soreness in his elbow after the start, although he didnt expect to miss a turn in the rotation.  His outing this week inflated his ERA on the season to 4.57, with a still impressive WHIP of 1.15.  His control has been excellent thus far and hopefully, his last start was an aberration.

Jeremy Slayden had an extremely tough week, going 1-17 (.059) with 4 strikeouts and is hitting just .171 on the year. Slayden is a middle of the lineup type of hitter but has been hitting just .176 with runners on base thus far. Slayden’s primary attribute through the minors has been his consistent bat.  He simply has not been hitting the ball hard this week, and after beginning the season on the DL, he should begin to pick up the pace soon after 40 plus at bats.

Drew Carpenter had a very good start against Pawtucket, needing just 77 pitches in 7.1 innings, while not giving up an earned run on 4 hits.  He has appeared more and more comfortable on the mound through his stats and was getting ahead of hitters right from the first inning, a previous issue for Carpenter. He has a 3.86 ERA through 4 starts, with a WHIP of 1.33.  Opposing batters are hitting .259 against him.

Notes:  Andy Tracy was a late scratch from Mondays’ lineup with back spasms.  He also missed games Tuesday and Wednesday. He returned to his normal cleanup spot on Thursday.

Carlos Ruiz, back on a rehab assignment with the ‘Pigs was scheduled to catch six innings of Thursday’s game and catch again on Friday.

John Mayberry was moved back up in the lineup into the cleanup spot for Tuesdays’ game.  Dual reasons for this decision…Tracy’s absence from the lineup, and Mayberry has been on fire.

In a problem area, opposition baserunners have stolen 16/17 against ‘Pigs catchers for a 94% success rate.

Jason Donald leads IL shortstops in fielding and has gone over 110 chances without an error.

Very interesting pitching matchup for Friday nights game at Coca Cola Park.  The rehabbing Dontrelle Willis takes the hill for Toledo against Carlos Carrasco. Other probable Lehigh Valley starters for the weekend:  Saturday: Drew Carpenter, Sunday: Rodrigo Lopez.

Jason Ellison’s homer in the game on Tuesday was his first in 449 at bats.

The ‘Pigs bullpen have allowed just 1 earned in the last 39 innings pitched.

32 year old Tyler Walker , signed out of the Mariners organization, has been absolutely exceptional out of the ‘pen, going 10 shutout innings thus far this year, allowing one hit, no walks, and striking out nine.

Transactions:  Rodrigo Lopez, RHP, was activated from the DL in time to start Tuesday’s game against Scranton.  Infielder Jorge Velandia,who has seen extremely limited action this season, was placed on the DL with a “right shin contusion”.  Velandia is 1-10 thus far on the year.

27 thoughts on “Lehigh Valley Weekly Report”

  1. Great report! Thank you for your hard work.

    I wonder if Lidge goes on the DL if Walker will be brought up?

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  2. Thanks Chrstian. Walker is the leading candidiate in my mind based on the way he has pitched but also his major league expereience. Majewski and Koplove have pitched very well also.

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  3. The Phils could bring up any one of three veteran pitchers. A lot better than last year. Once again Huppert and his staff are proving the superior handling of problem children pitchers
    Carpenter and Kendrick are at least on the radar now.

    BTW the “Really Big Mens Club” has really taken off. Soon Taylor and co. will be making the hot sheets

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  6. I’ll reiterate what others have said, these reports are great. It was nice to see Kendrick pitch well yesterday, I still have hopes for him. Based on history, who would the brass call up first, Kendrick or Carrasco?

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  7. I bet it’s kendrick, I’m actually not sold on CC at this point, kid seems more up and down then a rollarcoaster. Real bad sign if you ask me.

    PP (Or anyone else who has a clue about this question…)

    Is there a statistical correliation between the beta of a pitchers by start effectiveness (weather that be game to game ERA, Whip, Strikeouts etc…) vs their seasonal effectiveness?

    I would love to run a regression on this… if I only had the stats.

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  8. To clarify my last post for anyone wondering, beta is indicative of the variability of a data set. In plain english, I just want to know if a more consistant pitcher makes a better overall pitcher, and I don’t want it to be just an opinion, I want fact.

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  9. Yeah, I would think for a spot start KK gets the call-up as well. If its more long term then I think they’d try to stretch Happ out.

    Reports are that the Phils are looking for a RH OF bat off the bench. Any reason this can’t be Mayberry? It’s not like he’s 21-22-23 and needs to be playing everyday, why not bring him up and give him a shot?

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  10. The Phils are susceptible to left-handed pitching (see last game for example). It is good to see Mayberry (AAA) and Taylor (AA) starting to hit the ball hard. Hopefully, Donald will follow suit. This will bode well for the future. For the present, if they decide to make a move from their farm system, I think it will be Mayberry, who can play all outfield positions and probably first base as well. If that happens, Taylor might be moving up to AAA sooner than we think.

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  11. If the big club needed a pitcher, I would expect Majewski would get the call with Happ getting the start. Majew has pitched very well and has done it before. There’s no question the big club is still looking for a RH bat with speed but Mayberry needs to do what he’s doing for a much longer time period. Right now, he’s just showing that he’s a real streak player, up and down, and that’s what the big club wanted to see him improve on. As far as Taylor, he just started hitting and you’re already going to promote him? No way… I am encouraged though that he’s finally hitting the ball hard. Dom Brown too..

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  12. Marson has to play more He should no longer be thought of
    as a prospect (Coste is seemingly cooked)

    I caught hell because i said the 25th spot should be open
    to needs. Cairo is a good player but a look at Mayberry etc.
    might help

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  13. Nowheels do you mean not a prospect because he should stay with the big club or because he somehow lost his prospect status do to his play w/ the phils? i’m pretty sure you mean the former and not nthe latter. He is still our future. Looks like Valle has caught D’arnaud though still way too early to tell.

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  14. Nowheels i have to agree w/ you, i would rather see mayberry than have a 24 man roster like they did when so so was here. I think if they got mayberry 150 AB’s(since someone will also most likely get injured) He is ready to hit .250-7-20 w/an ops of .315. I would put the BA lower but most of his AB’s will be coming against lefties. If he was a starter i would say .230-20-70 w/obp of .290. that’s why he isn’t a starter. I think his prime years he will be a .255-25-90 hitter w/ an obp of .325.

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  15. Nice hitting night: Taylor had 3 hits (2 2B and HR), Dom had 2 hits 92B and HR) and Mattair had 2 hits. Taylor and Dom each threw out a runner at the plate also. I agree that Coste looks done. The team will have to decide what to do when Ruiz comes back because I’m sure they see as well.

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  16. I forgot to mention that one of James’ personal favorites Heitor Correi was activated at Lakewood yesterday.

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  17. Nothing against Marson, but I find it very curious that Coste is considered done after 40 ABs this year admittedly not hitting well yet although he does have four doubles while Marson is considered an improvement with 17 ABs hitting under .250 with seven strikeouts and one extra base hit so far this season. Marson’s time will come, but he is by no means a clear improvement on Coste as a backup catcher at this stage.

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  18. Have you seen Coste catch compared to Marson. It isnt even close. I just think Marson’s time has come.

    Marky Mark that would be the former. If Sifpa has faith in Coste it should be as utility as I see it. ABs isnt the point a veteran has to deliver in a time of need and he clearly hasnt

    Btw I like Coste and his story and hope like hell to be wrong

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  19. Seems like Carlos is mad about his last start or something
    5ks in 2.1 innings

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  23. cairo gone park out of the rotation happ in next in line carrasco or kendrick. 1 month is more than the benefit of the douldt. didnt they realize anyone can look like cy young in spring training. park cannot handle ny or philly.

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  24. The problem with putting Happ in the rotation is lack of an effective lefty in the pen. Taschner is not doing it. Putting Happ in the rotation weakens your bulllpen substantially for the other 4 days of the week. He can’t pitch all 4 days but he’s available.

    When is Romero’s 50 games up? Will he need some work in the minors first? I assumed he’s pitching in extended spring training or is that not allowed either?

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  25. It’s not the pressure. Park wasn’t good in Texas either. I doubt Kendrick is any better as an MLB starter, honestly. Not with that K rate. The best 5th starting option right now is J.A. Happ. It’s time to give him a shot, let Park do his work in the ‘pen.

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  26. Better make that the fourth starter for Happ and warm someone up.

    Ruben said on the Phils page Hamels MIGHT need to go on the DL. At least in past years,that means they are getting you ready for the bad news
    If Park gives up three runs in the first inning next start he will hit double digit ERA
    Blanton needs only two runs in the first to go over the J Durbin line. How the hell are they in contention

    Carrasco,Kendrick or both?????

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  27. Bellman they have opinion in the minors, Zauguski is almost ready and there is Swimmer, Bastrado

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