Lehigh Valley is now 29-43, and in 5th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 12 games behind division leading Syracuse.  The ‘Pigs are 5-5 over their last 10 games.

Leaders: Hitting: Cody Ransom is 8th in AB’s (264), 2nd in runs (44),3rd in HR (16), 4th in RBI’s (51) and 3rd in K’s (79),  John Mayberry is 8th in runs (40); Andy Tracy is 2nd in walks (44) and 3rd in OBP (.406); Rich Thompson is 7th in stolen bases (16).

Pitching: Nate Bump is tied for 8th in Wins (6), 7th in ERA (2.62) and 9th in IP (82.1); Andrew Carpenter is tied for 8th in Wins (6); Brian Mazone is tied for the league lead in starts (15) and is 7th in IP (86); Scott Mathieson is 5th in saves (15); Joe Savery is 5th in walks allowed (34); Ryan Vogelsong is 7th in walks allowed (33) and 9th in K’s (67).

Monday–Despite another lousy start by Joe Savery, Lehigh Valley overcame a typical 3-0 early deficit in a Savery start, crawling back to 4-2, before a four run 6th inning gave them their 6-4 margin of victory over Norfolk.  An RBi single by Rich Thompson made it 3-1 in the 3rd. A fourth run off of Savery led to his departure after four, yielding 4 runs on 7 hits.  A Brian Bocock RBi single in the 5th, made it 4-2, and the floodgates opened in the 6th for Lehigh Valley with a four spot (two run triple by Bocock, RBi single by Thompson).  Brian Gordon (1-1) came in and pitched three shutout innings in relief of Savery, giving up just one hit.  Ryan Vogelsong added two shutout innings in relief of Gordon, earning his first save.  A huge night for the light hitting Bocock who went 3-4 with a triple, 2 runs, a stolen base and 3 RBI’s. Rich Thompson, Neil Sellers, and Willy Taveras each added 2 hits apiece as well.

Tuesday–The Lehigh Valley three game winning streak came to an end Tuesday evening in their 9-4 loss to Norfolk.  Norfolk again got out to an early lead, from which the ‘Pigs could not recover Tuesday evening as the 5-0 early deficit was too much.  Brian Mazone (4-7)started and was less than sharp, going 5 innings and giving up 5 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits.  FOur Lehigh Valley errors (Tracy2, Dorta2) didnt help matters. A two run double by Cody Ransom cut the lead to 5-2, but the game was busted open against reliever Alex Concepcion who allowed four runs in the 6th, which put the game away for Norfolk.  A two run single by Willy Taveras in the 9th made the game somewhat respectable.

Wednesday–A second straight Lehigh Valley loss, this time 5-4 to Norfolk in a second consecutive lackluster start by Andrew Carpenter (6-6). A two run homer in the 2nd inning by Cody Ransom (16) gave the ‘Pigs an early 2-0 lead, but a three run third by Norfolk quickly wiped that away.  Norfolk added a run in the 4th, making it 4-2, and Carpenter left having gone 5 innings, giving up 4 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits.  He walked 3 and struck out 4.  A key error by Melvin DOrta led to a Norfolk run in the 7th, making it 5-2.  Consecutive RBI doubles by Cody Ransom and Chris Duffy cut the Norfolk lead to 5-4 in the 8th, but Lehigh Valley fell short, leaving Willy Taveras on 2nd to end the game.  A huge night for Andy Tracy who went 4-4 with 2r, 2b, 3b.  Both Ransom and Duffy added two hits as well.

‘Pigs prospects-John Mayberry is struggling a bit, having gone 6-29 (.207) this week with 2 RBI’s. On the year .261/.325/.437 with 9 HR 39 RBI and 7 SB. .275 vs .LH, .257 vs. RH and .232 with RISP. In June, Mayberry is hitting just .200. His K rate stands at 23%.

Drew Carpenter-2 forgettable outings for Carpenter his last two times out as he gave up 7 runs (6 earned) in 10.2 innings of work, taking two losses. In his 14 starts this year, Carpenter is 6-6 with a 3.74 ERA in 77 innings.  He has walked 23, struck out 51 and given up 8 homers. His WHIP is 1.29 and the opposition is hitting .266 against him (.230 with RISP).

Mike Stutes made his first 2 appearances for Lehigh Valley and got away without allowing a run, although he did give up 3 hits, and walked 2 without striking out a batter in his 2.1 innings.  The hard throwing reliever needs a chance to settle in before any real judgement is passed.

Notes: Lehigh Valley stole 5 bases in Monday evenings game. (Taveras (2), Thompson, Ransom, Bocock) That was a franchise record.

—Melvin Dorta’s 13 game hitting streak was snapped on Wednesday. The streak was a Lehigh Valley season high.

—Oscar Villarreal is unscored upon in 9 of his last 10 games (13.1 IP, .100 opp. avg., 1.35 ERA)
–Since his return for the DL a month ago, Andy Tracy’s OBP is still over .500.

–Since the addition of Willy Taveras, Lehigh Valley has 21 stolen bases in 18 games.