‘Pigs Weekend Update

7. Lehigh Valley

A look at the Lehigh Valley weekend.  See below for recaps, notes and a transaction.

Friday–STarter Joe Savery was hit hard very early in a five run first inning  and that was all CHarlotte needed to beat the ‘Pigs 8-4. Savery threw six shutout innings after the tough first, leaving with a line of 7IP 9H 5ER 4BB 2K.  The ‘Pigs cut the lead to 5-1 in the 5th on a Rich Thompson RBI single, but a three run 8th off of reliever Ehren Wasserman put the game away for Charlotte.  Andy Tracy hit his 7th homer of the year, a two run shot, to make the game borderline respectable. Neil Sellers and Rich Thompson both had three hits apiece for Lehigh Valley.

Saturday–More of the same for Lehigh Valley as they were unable to get anything going offensively in their 2-1 loss to CHarlotte.  Brian Mazone, pitching on 3 days rest was excellent, going 6.2 innings and allowing just a homer to Tyler FLowers, a solo shot, on the last hitter he faced.  Mazone allowed just 3 hits, walked one and struck out three.  Ryan Vogelsong (2-3)took the loss in relief after the winning run scored following a costly error by Rich Thompson on a single allowed Stefan Gartrell to score from first. The ‘Pigs scored their lone run in the first inning when Willy Taveras (who had walked) scored on a John Mayberry ground out.

Sunday–The ‘Pigs salvaged a small part of their weekend as the bats woke up in a 17 hit effort, a 11-5 victory over Charlotte.  Starter Andrew Carpenter was very rocky lasting just four innings, giving up four runs on four hits.  He walked 2 and struck out 2.   Alex Concepcion (2-1) picked up the win in relief.  Charlotte was winning 4-0 before Lehigh Valley got on the board with a run in the 4th on a Chris Duffy solo homer (4).  A five run 5th put the ‘Pigs up for good with key hits being a Rich Thompson 2 run single, and an Andy Tracy two run triple.  Lehigh Valley added three more in the 7th and 2 runs in the 8th to ice the game.  Both Dane Sardinha and Luis Maza had two hits apiece for Lehigh Valley, while Thompson, Tracy, Duffy and Dorta added two apiece.

Notes: Rich Thompson stole a base in his 4th consecutive game on Friday evening.  He has 14 on the year

—Willy Taveras was 1-13 in his first weekend with Lehigh Valley. Despite struggling at the plate, he did manage to steal three bases. He was leading off and playing in CF.

—Mike Zagurski made his 13th and 14th consecutive appearances without allowing a run on Saturday and Sunday.

—Neil Sellers is hitting .353 over his last 18 games.

–With the departure of DeWayne Wise (signed with the BlueJays organization), Lehigh Valley has no OF that has more then one assist.

John Mayberry received the day off on Sunday after appearing to injure his knee Saturday while sliding into the wall attempting to make a catch.  Mayberry stayed in the game for an inning and then was replaced as part of a double switch.

Transactions: Pitcher Nelson Figueroa was activated and Relief Pitcher Ehren Wasserman was placed on the DL with an arm strain.  Wasserman has been consistently poor this year, going 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA in 18 games. Figueroa will be going into the Lehigh Valley starting rotation, with Brandon Duckworth returning to the bullpen.

16 thoughts on “‘Pigs Weekend Update”

  1. Looks like Zags is close to his A game. Just a question of opportunity now. If this continues, no way he will not get a Sept. callup.

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  3. Thanks Gregg. I was wondering about Mayberry. Hope it’s nothing serious. Interesting that Sellers hit in the 3rd spot but he has been playing well.

    Anybody know how hard Zags is throwing? I saw him late last year and he was hitting 93 on a New Britain gun. Considering Flande also hit 93 a few times on the same gun, I don’t think he was hitting 93.

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  5. It really sucks about Savery. I fondly recall watching him in the College WS when he was a 2-way star. That guy could pitch prior to the arm injury. He was consistently 91-93 with good movement at Rice. Damn shame. What’s he hit now? 86?

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  6. For god sake move him to relief or start over as a batter but this isn’t working. I wish I knew how many great arms are ruined by the college coaches every year.

    Note: Bill Gillies was a big backer of college baseball probably he thought it would save a buck. In the long run the college pitching has been a killing field. Don’t dismiss most great pitchers are good for 10/15 years and there are only 200 or so average or above starters every year.

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  8. Pitchers’ arms have fallen off since the days of Hoss Radbourn. College baseball is hardly the cause of ruining young arms.

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  10. ****Pitchers’ arms have fallen off since the days of Hoss Radbourn. College baseball is hardly the cause of ruining young arms.****

    Well, Rice has a terrible reputation for ruining its pitchers. In most cases, you’re probably right but getting a pitcher from Rice is always an interesting risk management.

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  12. Never never use a high draft pick on a pitcher from Rice or a hitter from Stanford. When is someone going to hand Savery a bat and tell him to give up on this whole pitching thing. The only other option is to see if he gains 10 mph on his fastball coming out of the pen.

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  13. Jbird, I think we would settle for a gain of 5 mph. Another option would be to apprentice him to Jamie Moyer.

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  15. I was pulling for Savery but the issue is that even if you think moving him to the pen gains mph on his fastball that isn’t going to help him throw strikes – and to me that’s been his biggest issue all along. Last thing you want is a reliever who can’t throw stirkes.

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  16. regarding savery, forget the bullpen lets see if hes got anything left with the bat

    pretty sad when the only reasons to watch a AAA team are a lefhanded reliever and a closer

    just a terrible team

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