Another depressing weekend in Lehigh Valley, with the ‘Pigs losing each game. See below for details as well as notes.
Friday–Lehigh Valley concluded their series with Louisville, losing 5-2 to the Bats on Friday evening. Former Phillie prospect Matt Maloney shut down the ‘Pigs throwing six innings and giving up just two runs. Brian Mazone started for Lehigh Valley and had a good outing, throwing 7.1 innings allowing only 2 earned runs on 8 hits, while throwing just 91 pitches. A costly error by Cody Ransom made the first inning difficult for Mazone, who gave up an early three run homer. A Melvin Dorta RBI single and a John Mayberry sac fly led to two runs for Lehigh Valley in the first, but that was all the ‘Pigs could muster the whole evening. Louisville added a run in the 4th and another in the 8th for the final margin of victory. Cody Ransom came to the plate with the tying runs on base in the 9th but hit into a game ending double play.
Saturday–Buffalo came in for a weekend series and a crucial 7th inning error by Cody Ransom, his 11th of the year cost the IronPigs, as it allowed the winning run to score in their 4-1 loss when Ransom bobbled a grounder by Buffalo pitcher Dillon Gee. Brandon Duckworth started for Lehigh Valley and after struggling with his control early, settled down for a nice outing going 6 innings and allowing just one run. Mike Zagurski (0-2) took the loss in relief. The ‘Pigs scored their lone run in the 3rd inning on a Melvin Dorta homer (1). Dorta had a two hit night for the ‘Pigs who had only 3 hits for the second consecutive night.
Sunday–Yet another one run loss for Lehigh Valley, this time 6-5 to Buffalo, their 14th one run loss of the year. Lehigh Valley scored first on a Neil Sellers RBI double in the 2nd inning. Another costly error by Cody Ransom led to two Buffalo runs in the third and the Bison tacked on two more in the 4th off of starter Nate Bump (4-2) who has a rough outing, going 5 innings and giving up 5 runs (2 earned) on 12 hits. He didnt walk a batter and struck out 2. The ‘Pigs cut the lead to 4-2 on a Cody Ransom Rbi single, however single runs by Buffalo in the 5th and 6th extended their lead to 6-2. Lehigh Valley started chipping away, with a Cody Ransom RBI double and Neil Sellers SAC Fly in the 6th, followed by a Sellers RBI single in the 8th, but the ‘Pigs fell one run short once again, with John Lujan striking out the side in the 9th to end the game. Lehigh Valley struck out 14 times on the day. Mayberry, Ransom and Sellers all had multi hit games.
Notes: Brian Schneider, on a rehab assignment started Friday and caught five innings, and went 0-2 at the plate. On Saturday evening, he caught seven innings and took an 0-3. Sunday afternoon he caught the whole game, and went 0-3 at plate.
–With their 16-27 record as a team, Lehigh Valley is still ranked 2nd in the IL in ERA at 3.59.
–Lehigh Valley has committed 9 errors in their last 7 games, leading to 11 unearned runs.
—DeWayne Wise remains out of the lineup with a sore ankle. He was injured Wednesday evening sliding into home.
–Among the league leaders in home runs, Cody Ransom now has more errors (12, then homers (10).
—Andy Tracy, on the DL with a strained shoulder is eligible to come off the DL today (5/24).
–Since his move to the bullpen, Ryan Vogelsong has made 3 appearances and has yet to allow a run. He has given up just 2 hits in his 6 innings of work and has struck out 9.
Transactions: With the assignment of SS Wilson Valdez to Lehigh Valley from Philadelphia, relief pitcher John Ennis was re-assigned to Reading from Lehigh Valley having given up an earned run in his one inning of work. Valdez was then called back up to Philadelphia without having played a game in Lehigh Valley thanks to the reoccurrence of Jimmy Rollins calf injury.
Phuture Phillies 
With the likely imminent arrival of Paul Hoover, given not being claimed, they can put off the demotion and/or release of either Sardinha or Suomi due to the injury to Kevin Nelson at Reading. So they could bounce down one and then return Torre Langley to Lakewood and maybe the fairly newly signed Jeff Lanning, who was demoted from Clearwater when Joel Naughton was activated from DL, might be another of the released catchers from other organizations, to be released joining James Skelton as released.
If Andy Tracy is ready to come off DL and they wish to continue in that vein, it appears Sellers would slide back to 3B from 1B , and being there is only 3 Middle Infield types at present by my count in Bocock , Maza, Dorta. So maybe they bounce one of the 5 OF’s, given DeWayne Wise will return Soon , if he had been placed on the DL, not sure if he was , not seeing the roster right now.
So, given the imminent (?) return of Tracy and/or Wise and the expected demotion of Hoover , what do they predict?
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Nice work Gregg. Just curious, but do you have a press pass to the LHV games? It seems like you always have some inside info.
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I didn’t go to the game. I listened to it on the radio and it was still horrid. Don’t blame bump. The defense was ironpigish. Between the umps and the fielder he must of had
twenty potential outs in the first three innings. Just a disgrace.
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Nice write-up, gregg. I also had noticed how well Vogelsong was pitching in relief. I wonder if he could get called up in that role at some point. Do you know if his velocity and stuff ticks up in that role?
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His velocity has been a little higher and he has been throwing strikes, which has really been his biggest issue. They couldnt really keep him in the rotation much longer because he was killing the bullpen each start, not throwing alot of innings, but he has really taken to the bullpen so far. He generally has good “stuff”, its his command that needs work.
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I swear that everytime I read the LHV boxscore Cody Ransom has a costly error. His batting average might be higher than his fielding percentage.
I feel so badly for the LHV fans. They support this team like no other. They’re #1 in the league in attendance. On this site we don’t concern ourselves with wins and losses but I’ll bet most of the fans that attend these games would like to see good, solid baseball and a win once in a while.
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Aside from Mathieson and, to a much lesser extent, Mayberry, I have close to zero interest in the box scores at LvH. AAA is not a prospect league and it shows – it’s a taxi squad and, for a few players, a finishing school, with some minor exceptions. I do feel bad for the fans, but that’s just the way it is and it’s been that way for at least 5-10 years (Utley and Howard were in that last group of players for whom AAA was a real proving ground).
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I think it’s certainly frustrating to local fans. I’ve written about the merits of watching minor league veterans vs. hot prospects before. I like watching good AAA players. But these minor league vets just aren’t very good. Brian Bocock is really a joke of a hitter. There are people in the crowd with higher BACs than Bocock’s OPS.
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Hey Catch, I hear you but I really like Minor League baseball. Maybe it’s because I can’t afford to go to many Major League games or maybe because I’m in a Major League dead zone here in CT. It’s 2 to 3 hours in any direction to see the Yankees, Red Sox or Mutts. Minor League baseball is close enough.
When I go to a New Britain Rock Cats game once in a while, I see people there who know the players, they have a connection to the team. It’s interesting that the Rock Cats might be the only team in the Minor Leagues with a worse record than LHV. Reading is trying to get there but it’s not there yet.
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Catch 22: “taxi squad + finishing school”
Great description of today’s AAA. I would add “holding tank” in some cases.
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Hoover has indeed been DFA’d. I can’t imagine he gets claimed or traded.
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