A decent week for Lehigh Valley who went 4-3 this week, including their current 3 game winning streak and are now at 19-27, in 5th Place of the Northern Division on the International League, 11 games out of first.
Looking at Lehigh Valley league leaders, Jason Donald 5th in at bats (175) and 4th in strikeouts (45), Rich Thompson is 4th in at bats (175) and 7th in stolen bases (11), Andy Tracy is 6th in homers (8) and 8th in RBI’s (29), John Mayberry is 7th in homers (8) and 10th in slugging % (.540),Mike Cervenak is 7th in average (.326). In pitching categories, Kyle Kendrick is tied for the league lead in starts (10) and 9th in innings (53.0), Mike Koplove is 5th in the league in Saves (6), Andrew Carpenter is 7th in homers allowed (7), and Carlos Carrasco is 4th in strikeouts (52).
Week in Review- 5/25/09–The recent dreadful play of the ‘Pigs continued on Memorial Day, as another early lead was lost in this 8-7 loss to Buffalo. Lehigh Valley jumped out early on an Andy Tracy RBI double in the first and added three more runs in the third on a three run homer by Tracy (8). Buffalo came back in the 4th with a five spot off of starter Rodrigo Lopez who was knocked out after only 3.1 innings, giving up 5 runs on 9 hits. The ‘Pigs bounced right back in the fifth to retake the lead on a two run triple by Miguel Cairo, but that lead didn’t last long as Steve Register (0-1) looked awful in his second appearance as a ”Pig taking the loss. Pablo Ozuna, Miguel Cairo, and Andy Tracy all had two hits for Lehigh Valley.
5/26/09–You could mail in a low scoring game for Lehigh Valley as they had Cervenak, Mayberry and Andy Tracy all missing from their lineup, but Andrew Carpenter (2-0) picked up the slack from the mound, going 7 innings and giving up only a run on six hits, while walking one and striking out four in the 2-1 ‘Pig win over Buffalo. The ‘Pigs scored their first run when a bases loaded walk to Jason Ellison scored Lou Marson, and scratched out their second run when Marson scored on a passed ball on a third strike to Ellison in the 6th. Sergio Escalona and Mike Koplove combined on 2 scoreless innings in relief with Koplove getting his 5th save. Miguel Cairo had two hits for Lehigh Valley.
05/27/09–Two in a row for the ‘Pigs after a 5-3 rain delayed victory over Buffalo on Wednesday. Lehigh Valley scored three in the third inning on RBI double by David Newhan and an RBI single by Pablo Ozuna to take the early 3-0 lead. They added two more in the sixth on homers by Paul Hoover (1) and Jeremy Slayden (3). Buffalo came back with three runs off of Kyle Kendrick(4-3), who finished the night with a “quality start”, going 6 innings, and giving up 3 runs on 9 hits. He struck out 2 and didn’t walk a batter. The combination of Bowers, Walker and Koplove pitched three scoreless, hit less innings with Koplove earning his 6th save. Offensively, David Newhan was 3-4 with a run, double, and stolen bases, Paul Hoover was 3-4 with the homer, and both Jason Ellison and Pablo Ozuna added two hits as well for Lehigh Valley.
05/28/09–Antonio Bastardo(1-0) got his second AAA start today in the series finale against Buffalo, and was outstanding, going seven shutout innings, yielding just 6 hits and a walk in the 7-1 Lehigh Valley victory. He threw 95 pitches, 59 for strikes and started most hitters with strikes. Lehigh Valley took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a 2 run homer by JJ Furmaniak (2), and added another in the fifth on an RBI single by Miguel Cairo. The score remained 3-0 until the 7th when a David Newhan RBi double knocked in Pablo Ozuna and a two run single by Jeremy Slayden opened it up to 6-0. Miguel Cairo (1) homered in the 9th to make the final 7-0.
‘Pig Prospects–Lou Marson– A 5-25 (.200) week for Marson who hit his first homer of the year this week. Marson is at .200/.325/.308 after 70 at bats with a homer and 3 RBI’s. He is one of several ‘Pigs struggling with RISP, at just .111. Behind the dish, Marson is picking up the pace, now at a 18%(5/23) rate at throwing out runners, although he did have a costly passed ball last weekend.
Jason Donald– I think it may be time to start having some legitimate concern about Donald. For the week, Donald was 3-15 (.200) with an RBI and 4 strikeouts. He was given a day off on Monday and two more Wednesday and Thursday(sore hamstring), after committing his first two errors of the year at SS on Sunday. His batting line is .234/.299/.337 and only .170 with RISP. He has struck out in over 26% of his at bats. AFter 170 AB, much more was expected. He has been hitting all year in the #2 hole in Lehigh Valley and it may be time to move him down in the order to take some of the heat off.
Kyle Kendrick- Two solid, but unspectacular starts for Kendrick this week, who pitched six innings in each and gave up 3 runs in each. He did pick up two wins. He walked 2 and struck out 6 over the 2 games, and now stands at 4-3 with a 4.25 ERA in his 10 starts. His WHIP is 1.47, opponents are batting .272 against him, and he has walked 20, while striking out 38. Unlike Carrasco thus far, Kendrick does bear down with RISP, as they are hitting just .190 against him.
Carlos Carrasco- Had a good outing while taking the loss against Durham last Sunday, going 6.2 innings and giving up 2 runs on six hits, while walking 2 and striking out eight. All his pitches were working well, particularly his curve. His fastball was hovering between 91-93 all day. Now, Carrasco must string together several good outings, something he has been unable to do since the earlygoing this season. On the year: 0-6, 5.81 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 9.55 K/9, and .351 avg with RISP.
Antonio Bastardo- Two starts for Bastardo this week and it looks like there alot to look forward to. He threw 13 innings, giving up 3 runs on 11 hits. He walked just 3 and struck out 12. His control was excellent, showed poise and pitched out of a couple of jams. Including stats from both Reading and Lehigh Valley, Bastardo is 3-2 with a 1.89 ERA. He has a WHIP of 0.88 and the opposition is hitting well under .200 against him.
Andrew Carpenter- Another well pitched game from Carpenter this week against Buffalo, getting the win and going 7 innings, giving up a lone run. In his 8 starts, Carpenter is 2-0 with a 3.61 ERA and a WHIP of 1.35. He has struck out 29, while walking 19 and the opposition is hitting .257 against him and just .222 with RISP. Carpenter is clearly pitching with a sense of renewed confidence since his spot start in Philly, and is at this stage the most consistent starter for Lehigh Valley, never failing to go at least five innings.
Sergio Escalona- Escalona made his first two Lehigh Valley appearances this week, having difficulty in his first outing, giving up a long three run homer, but settling in and getting a hold in his second outing. In 16 outings between Reading and Lehigh Valley, he is 0-0 with a 3.20 ERA and 10 saves. His WHIP is 1.42, and the opposition is hitting him at a .240 rate.
Jeremy Slayden–has started seeing regular playing time with John Mayberry’s callup this week, and it is paying off , going 8-27 (.296) with a homer and 6 RBI’s. After getting off to a very slow start and getting very little playing time, Slayden is now at .226 with 3 HR and 8 RBI in his 92 at bats. He is like most Iron Pigs, in that he is struggling with RISP at just .217. His line: .226/.282/.398
Notes: Jason Donald (hamstring) and Rich Thompson (back) were out of the lineup both Wednesday and Thursday, meaning the ‘Pigs were missing hitters 1-5 in their lineup (Thompson, Donald, Cervenak, Tracy, Mayberry).
During their last 8 game homestand, the ‘Pigs scored two total runs from the 6th inning on. Simply awful.
–In their last 10 games, Lehigh Valley is batting .096 (8-83) with RISP.
–Each game last weekend against Durham was soldout in Allentown.
–Andy Tracy missed games Tuesday through Thursday to be with his wife for the birth of their daughter in Ohio.
–Lehigh Valley starters have had quality starts in 9 of their last 11 games.
–Tyler Walker still has not allowed an earned run this year (12.2 innings) and has allowed just 5 runners on base.
—Miguel Cairo’s homer on Thursday was his first in 850 at bats.
—Paul Hoover had back to back multi hit games Wednesday and Thursday, replacing Andy Tracy at first base.
Phuture Phillies 
Thanks for the report as always, Gregg.
Position players’ struggles aside, Bastardo is one of the main reasons I now look forward to checking this team’s box scores every few days. The guy is straight dealing! Possible looming replacement for Moyer?
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I read somewhere that Dubee is pegging Bastardo as a reliever — given his recent conversion back to the rotation in Reading and LV, can we declare that experiment over?
I’d imagine the Phils need him more as a starter…
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Then there’s a left-hander who is climbing everybody’s charts, Antonio Bastardo, who has a 50-9 strikeout-walk ratio between Double-A and Triple-A. The Phillies dangled Bastardo in July for Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes. But a year later, he is actually drawing some Johan Santana comparisons, and might have passed Carrasco as their No. 1 pitching prospect.
From Jayson Stark. HUHHHH???? Johan??? What’s crazy is that that means someone actually compared him to Johan in some sort of way.
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The may need Bastardo in the rotation sooner rather that later. Looks like Myers may need to have season-ending hip surgery.
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just saw csn report that worley may be the man called up. most people there say hes ready for the show. i think i would lean towards bastardo. what did he do today 6 shutout innings. also brown and taylors stats are almost mirrors of each other.
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Off Carpenter’s last two starts and throwing out his first Phils inning ,he should get one or two start . They have to get rid of
Taschner and break in Bastardo if Myers is out . Then reevaluate when Romero is ready . Bring in a star if they get hurt or stink biggggg trouble. Besides the guy you need for the playoff may be a lot cheaper later. Worley certainly would not upset me.
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Six strikeouts in 13 innings doesn’t strike me as AAA dominance, certainly not the kind of results that would make me change my opinion of Carpenter that I held previously.
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I have to think the Johan comparison comes from them both being smaller lefties with good change-ups. It goes without saying that Bastardo is a very poor man’s Santana and to say that Santana is Bastardo’s ceiling would even be a stretch. When Santana was Bastardo’s age he pitched 108 innings in the majors with a 2.99 ERA.
That being said, what got into Bastardo today? A GO/AO of 0.67 compared to last year’s 0.45 and only one strikeout? It’s like he was a completely different pitcher than the one we’ve been talking about. Even half of the hits he gave up were on ground balls. Although now that I look at it, the GO/AO is not out of line with what he’s done this year (0.87). Let’s hope he keeps that part up and regains the Ks next time out.
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Got to watch Bastardo’s start at Buffalo yesterday. In the early innings, he got a lot more ground balls than I expected as I had read he was more of a fly ball pitcher. He topped out at about 91-92, but mixed his pitches well. He seemed to throw more fastballs in the early innings. He ran a lot of deep counts but only walked one and struck out one. He is a small guy (kind of reminds me of Fabio Castro in stature–hopefully not in talent). Speaking of Castro, it’s hard to believe he is still in AA after many years. Back to Bastardo–he will not be helping us at the plate–wow did he look lost there. Anyway, considering his low strikeout total, I thought he was poised and threw a very solid game. I would guess the Bison only got about 4-5 hard hit balls off him in 7 innings. It was also interesting that he seemed to be more agressive facing righties and nibbled more against the lefties (rarely pitching inside against them). He may be put right into Myers spot, but I think they will wait a little longer and let him get some more work at the AAA level first. Offensively, LV put out one of the worst line-ups AAA baseball has ever seen (and scored 7 runs). Donald was out of the line-up again, Cervenek is hurt, and Andy Tracy was with his wife who was having a baby. Of course, Mayberry is playing with the big boys for now.
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what’s the story on Donald? Is he hurt of just getting a mental break?
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Mike–
DOnald has been out with a sore hamstring over the passed couple of games, as I mentioned in the above report. More than likely, he will be back in the lineup tonight.
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Alan Says:
Six strikeouts in 13 innings doesn’t strike me as AAA dominance, certainly not the kind of results that would make me change my opinion of Carpenter that I held previously.
Give the guy a small bone. He seems like the old Carpenter
since he came back. Its worth a try before he go trade nuts
You cant hold that first inning against him. His last game was very clean.
may 26 Pitches-strikes: Carpenter 90-58
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