A good weekend for Lehigh Valley as they took 2 out of 3 from Scranton as they go into the All Star Break. With this being All Star week, no Lehigh Valley report this Thursday, just a brief ‘Pigs update next Sunday, as Lehigh Valley gets back into the action.
Saturday (1)–The ‘Pigs played two on Saturday after their game in Scranton on Friday was rained out. JA Happ (0-1) got the start and took the loss in the 3-0 Scranton victory in game One. Scranton put two runs on Happ in the third inning on 3 consecutive hits and a sacrifice fly, and added an insurance run in the 5th on Jesus Montero’s 7th homer of the year. Happ left after 5, having allowed 3 runs on 5 hits. He walked 3 and struck out 7. Lehigh Valley was unable to do much of anything against Scranton starter Tim Redding who allowed just four hits.
Saturday(2)–Lehigh Valley managed to spilt the twinbill with a 6-3 win in the nightcap on Saturday. Neil Sellers got the ‘Pigs on the board with a 2 run homer(2) in the second inning. Scranton came back with a run in the 4th to make it 2-1, however, the ‘Pigs bounced right back with a 3 run 5th (Duffy RBI triple, Tracy 2 run double) to give Lehigh Valley a 5-1 lead. Two more Scranton runs in the bottom of the inning spelled the end of the night for starter Andrew Carpenter who lasted 4.2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 3. Mike Zagurski came in to get the final out in the 5th, earning the win, while Scott Mathieson pitched two more scoreless inning for his 16th save of the year. Chris Duffy was 2-4 with 2 runs scored, a triple and an RBI while Andy Tracy added two hits, including his two run double.
Sunday–Lehigh Valley picked up the odd one run win in their 5-4 victory over Scranton Sunday. An RBI single by Neil Sellers got things going in the third and John Mayberry followed two hitters later with a two run single, giving the ‘Pigs the 3-0 lead. Nate Bump who is recovering from Lyme’s Disease, got the started and pitched 2.2 scoreless but left in the third with two outs. Brandon Duckworth came on in relief and gave up a homer to Chad Tracy in the 4th, cutting the Lehigh Valley lead to 3-1. Another John Mayberry RBI single gave the ‘Pigs back their three run cushion in the 5th, but a very rough outing by Mike Zagurski led to three Scranton runs in the 7th, tying the game. Good hustle by Paul Hoover who scored on a wild pitch in the 8th, giving Lehigh Valley the 5-4 margin of victory. Oscar Villarreal (1-2) picked up the win in relief. An exciting 9th with Scott Mathieson earning his 17th save. He allowed a lead off double to Juan Miranda, then struck out both Jesus Montero and Jorge Vazquez. Then came walks to Reid Gorecki and Eric Bruntlett. The game ended on a bases loaded strikeout of former Phillie prospect Greg Golson.
Notes: The 17.2 inning scoreless streak of Drew Carpenter was snapped on Saturday.
—Domonic Brown missed this series due to the Futures Game. Brown has reached base safely in each game as an IronPig (14 games).
–Closer Scott Mathieson is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 5 saves in his last 6 games. (8IP 5H 0R 4BB 15K).
—Michael Schwimer did not allow a run in either of his first two outings for Lehigh Valley.
–After a rough early outing against Durham, Mike Stutes has settled down for three consecutive scoreless outings.
—Andy Tracy returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing two games with an elbow contusion.
Phuture Phillies 
It seems that Happ will need 2 more starts before his mph and location get back.
That could be the last part of July. ASSUMING he will be near the Happ of ’09, we COULD make a good run for the playoffs even though Utley won’t be back until Sept. THAT hurts.
But Polanco will soon return (?) which would help. I am looking forward to both Mathieson and Stutes being on the big club in September. They could help for the stretch run and set themselves up for the ’11 roster. Maybe Schwimmer thereafter.
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Charlie says Polanco will play third. Not a problem . But the reason is “he signed at third”. Is he serious. gad zooks
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It’s going to be hard to get a rehab start on Tuesday. LHV and Reading are in their All-Stat breaks. Clearwater & Lakewood are off.
James can almost shut down the site on Wednesday because there will be nothing to report.
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Gregg got this up quick. I wasn’t even back from Sunday’s game yet!
Mayberry’s single was an impressive shot. It was a soft pop fly that died and hit the grass before the infield dirt, rolled on the ground and snuck under Eric Bruntlett’s glove at short (he was expecting the short hop).
On the prospect front, Stutes hit 93 on the stadium gun and Mathieson hit 96. I didn’t catch a radar reading on Zagurski. Brian Bocock made a great play on a groundball to short to retire Reegie Corona in the 4th inning.
The ‘pigs had Michael Schwimer warming up with two outs, bases loaded in the ninth. The game could have only progressed two batters further. How quickly could he possibly have warmed up?
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**** I didn’t catch a radar reading on Zagurski.****
No big deal…we know from his short stint on the Phillies that he routinely sits 93-94.
****The ‘pigs had Michael Schwimer warming up with two outs, bases loaded in the ninth. The game could have only progressed two batters further. How quickly could he possibly have warmed up?****
Sounds like a question for his next mailbag…
****Charlie says Polanco will play third. Not a problem . But the reason is “he signed at third”. ****
Well, its not like the guy is a recent Gold Glove 2B or anything…oh wait.
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Alan did you see Stutes breaking ball and off speed stuff? only saw him once and to me he looks like he has nice offspeed stuff, and a idea how to pitch, but thats only after one time maybe he was having a good day.
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Is Quinten Berry no longer apart of the Phillies organization?
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I think Berry is in a holding pattern until his contract is disposed. I imagine he clears aivers, and re-assigned to Reading. He was recently DFA’d.
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Zach, he’s in limbo. If he clears waivers he may likely return to the Reading Phillies.
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Mikemike, I’ve seen Stutes before but I didn’t get a good look yesterday. The sun forced me to take cover higher up under the shade. I think Stutes has very good offspeed pitches that he showed in Lakewood and Williamsport. He needs to work on his command a shade yet.
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My impression of Stutes (just by word of mouth and statistics) is that we are looking at another Chad Durbin. By the way, this is meant as a compliment as Chad Durbin who has, for the most part, been a critical component for this team. But it would be nice to have a cheaper version of him next year.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Our current bullpen and minor league system is just stacked with good relievers and relief prospects. We don’t need relief pitchers – period. We do need the relief corps to get into a good rhythm and we do need to find ways to work the younger relievers into the mix. I have no doubt that many of these younger players will be traded for other players and that’s fine too as there is clearly a surplus and a rather large one at that. To me, the only untouchable on the bullpen side should be DeFratus. Everyone else should be in play, except I would hesitate before trading Mathieson as I think, in the long run, he’ll be worth far more to us than he would fetch in a trade due to his long injury history and more advanced age for a prospect.
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I agree we have quite a few future major league bullpen arms in our system. Only issue is I can’t see the big club using more than 1 or 2 in any given year. No way they are going to trust more rookies than that on a championship hopeful team.
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****The ‘pigs had Michael Schwimer warming up with two outs, bases loaded in the ninth. The game could have only progressed two batters further. How quickly could he possibly have warmed up?****
Sounds like a question for his next mailbag…
Probably just getting some work in once he knew he wouldn’t be used otherwise? I think he’s mentioned something to that effect in his writing here before.
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Rodeojones, I was at the game and looking into the ‘Pigs dugout. Mathieson couldn’t find the strike zone and after two walks Huppert had to get a reliever up.
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Alan – you’re probably right – the question was phrased by the OP as ‘why would you get up a guy you aren’t going to use?’. If you feel that he could have still be used that is a different matter entirely.
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He had to be. Why else would he start working with two outs in the ninth inning on getaway day?
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And for what it’s worth, I did submit it as a mailbag question.
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Maybe Huppert just wanted to light a fire under Mathieson . I trust this manager too bad he doesn’t have players.
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It wasn’t lighting a fire so much as the reality that his pitcher had thrown something like eight balls in nine pitches and was in danger of losing the game.
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