Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

Lehigh Valley is now 25-40, and in last place of the Northern Division of the International League, 13 games behind division leading Syracuse. ‘Pigs leaders thru 6/15 include: Hitting: Cody Ransom, 8th in AB’s (243), 7th in runs (40), 3rd in HR’s (15), 6th in RBI’s (46), 3rd in strikeouts (77); Andy Tracy is 2nd in Walks (43) and 3rd in OBP (.405); Rich Thompson is tied for 6th in SB’s (14). Pitching: Andrew Carpenter is tied for 5th in Wins (6); Nate Bump is tied for 5th in Wins (6), 6th in ERA (2.73), tied for 3rd in starts (13) and 4th in IP (79); Brian Mazone is tied for 3rd in starts (13) and 7th in IP (75); Scott Mathieson is 5th in saves (12); Joe Savery is tied for 7th in HR allowed (10) and 6th in walks (32).

Monday–One of the first blips on the Scott Mathieson (2-2) radar screen and it was a major one, as he allowed a game-winning, walk off Grand Slam to Fernando Martinez in the 7-6 Buffalo win over Lehigh Valley. An Andy Tracy RBI double in the first and solo homer (9) in the 4th gave Lehigh Valley a 2-0 lead, before Buffalo tied it at 2 in the bottom of the inning off of ‘Pigs starter Nate Bump. An RBI double by Melvin Dorta made it 4-2 ‘Pigs in the 6th before Buffalo chipped away with another run, making it 4-3 and leading to the departure of Bump, who went 6 innings giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 6. Lehigh Valley seemed to pull away yet again in the 8th on a two run homer by Cody Ransom (15) that made the lead 6-3 going to the 9th when Martinez launched his game winning slam. Tracy had a huge night for the ‘Pigs finishing a triple short of the cycle, going 3-3 with 3 runs scored, 2b, hr and 2 RBI’s.

Tuesday–Defense was Tuesday evenings culprit, as the usually sure handed Andy Tracy and Brian Bocock had two crucial errors, leading to four unearned runs in the 7-3 ‘Pigs loss to Buffalo, giving the Bison a series split. A Melvin Dorta Sac Fly put Lehigh Valley on the board in the second inning giving them a 1-0 lead that lasted about 10 minutes before Buffalo came back with two runs of their own off of starter Joe Savery. A Sac Fly by Andy Tracy knotted the game back up at two, and then in the 4th, Lehigh Valley took the lead once again with a lone run, 3-2. In the 5th, Lehigh Valley came undone, as four Buffalo hits, sandwiched around the Tracy error led to 3 unearned runs. Savery (1-7) left after five, with an ugly line of 5IP 8H 6R 3ER 1BB 2K. Buffalo added another insurance run in the 7th, aided by the Bocock error for the final margin of victory. Both Andy Tracy and Cody Ransom had two hits for Lehigh Valley.

Wednesday–OFF

‘Pigs Prospects: Scott Mathieson threw in 2 games this week, one very good, and one very bad. He earned his 12th save of the year against Buffalo, but it should be interesting to see how he responds from the walk off grand slam given up to Fernando Martinez on Monday evening. On the year: 2-2 with a 2.43 ERA in 25 games with 12 saves. 29.2 IP 20H 12BB 34K, 3 hr allowed, 1.08 WHIP. Opponents are still hitting below the Mendoza line against him (.194).

Andrew Carpenter had a nice outing against Buffalo, giving up just 2 runs over six innings and is now 6-4 with a 3.53 ERA is his 12 starts. In his last 10 starts, he is 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA. Carpenter has been hurt by the home run ball but continues to pitch well at the AAA level as he approaches 40 starts.

John Mayberry, Jr. returned from his sore knee on Saturday and was 3-16 since his return thru Tuesday’s game. Mayberry has slowed down a bit and is currently .267/.329/.462 with 9 HR and 37 RBI. He has stolen 7 bases and his K rate is around 24%. With his knee presumably healthy again, this is a big week for Mayberry to show what he has as the trade deadline approaches.

Notes: Nelson Figueroa was named the IL Pitcher of the Week for the week ending June13th. Figueroa was 2-0, and was not scored upon in his 12 innings on the hill, his first 12 as an IronPig. He allowed just 7 hits, walked 3 and struck out 10.

—Mike Zagurski has now not allowed an earned run in his last 17 appearances (since April 30) and his ERA now stands at 2.48. He continues to lead IL relievers in K/9 at 13.3.

–Lehigh Valley, after beating Buffalo in the first two games of their series appeared to be in position to win their first series of the year, but Buffalo came back with two wins of their own, leaving the Lehigh Valley streak alive.

Probables: Thursday: Mazone Friday: Carpenter; Saturday: Figueroa; Sunday: Bump

5 thoughts on “Lehigh Valley Weekly Report”

Zags and Mathieson seem neck and neck as to who is the first call-up. Depends on whether they need a lefty or righty, I guess. If it makes no difference, it depends on the most recent inside scouting report from people who have seen both in recent weeks.

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I would bring up Zagurski for several reasons. First, you can almost never have enough lefty relief help. Second, Zagurski’s got a little more experience in the bigs (although not a ton more). Third, and most important, Scott Mathieson may be my closer or primary set-up man in a year or two – I want him to continue to evolve and develop for as long as possible so that when he comes up, he hits the ground running. Fourth, I’m not against using Scott Mathieson as a secret weapon in September and the postseason (assuming we get there), so keeping him under wraps is not a bad idea.

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