It is getting very ugly for Lehigh Valley who went 1-6 since the last report and are in 5th place of the Northern division of the International League, 23 games behind division leading Scranton. On the year, Lehigh Valley stands at 46-72. Most incredibly, they still continue to lead the league in attendance, averaging over 9,500 fans a night.  The next closest team, Columbus, averages just over 8,700.

Leaders: Hitting,Andy Tracy is 2nd in walks (58) and is 5th in OBP (.378). Pitching: Brian Mazone leads the league in losses (12) is 9th in HR allowed (16), is 4th in the league in starts (23) and is 4th in IP (137); Joe Savery is 6th in losses (10); Drew Carpenter is 8th in losses (9) and 7th in walks allowed (45); Nate Bump is 7th in ERA (3.35); Scott Mathieson is 2nd in saves (20).

Monday–Lehigh Valley made it 13 of their last 14 with a 8-1 loss to visiting Buffalo on Monday evening, in yet another in a long line of sloppy games played by Lehigh Valley featuring 3 errors and little to no offense. Lehigh Valley and Buffalo traded first inning runs, the ‘Pigs coming on a Matt Rizzotti RBI single, and it was downhill from there as the Bison scored one in the 4th, two in the 5th, and three in the 7th on the way to the 8-1 drubbing. Brian Mazone (6-12) lasted 6.1 painful innings yielding 6 runs (5 earned) on 9 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 2 and was the victim of two errors by Neil Sellers and one by Brian Bocock. The lone offensive notable was John Mayberry who had 2 hits.

Tuesday–Eleven in a row at home,  and 14 losses in 15 games as the ‘Pigs were shutout 6-0 by Buffalo during another miserable night of baseball in Allentown. Buffalo was ahead 4-0 before you could look up as starter Andrew Carpenter (7-9) was hit early and often including two long home runs. Another night with nothing to speak of offensively, as Lehigh Valley had just four hits, none for extra bases the entire evening.   Carpenter lasted six innings, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits. He walked one and struck out 7. Lehigh Valley only advanced one batter to second base all night.

Wednesday–All Lehigh Valley needed for a victory was to have Shane Victorino patrolling CF and going 3-4 with a homer and 3 RBI’s in his rehab assignment to lead the ‘Pigs to their 5-1 victory over Pawtucket on Wednesday evening, breaking an 11 game home losing streak. It was the 2nd win in the last 15 games for Lehigh Valley. A 6th inning solo homer by John Mayberry (13) broke a 1-1 tie and a two run single by Victorino in the 7th opened up a bit of a margin for Lehigh Valley. Starter Ty Taubenheim went five innings allowing just a run and solid relief work by the combination of Stutes, Schwimer, and Mathieson preserved the victory. The relievers threw 4 shutout innings, striking out 6 including an impressive strikeout by Stutes when he struck out the rehabbing Carlos Delgado on 3 pitches. John Mayberry had his 2nd multi hit game in 3 nights.

‘Pigs Prospects

Matt Rizzotti is hitting .263 in his first 19 AAA at bats, with 3 RBI’s, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. He has one extra base hit in those 19 at bats.  Still much too early to pass judgment on how Rizzotti will handle this adjustment. His fielding needs a lot of work.

John Mayberry, Jr. rejoined the team Monday after a short stay in Philly. He is 5-11 since coming back to Lehigh Valley, including his 13th homer of the year.  On the year, .264/.326/.421 with 13 HR and 56 RBI; 13 SB.  His .238 avg. against right handed pitching is problematic when considering advancement.

Drew Carpenter has not been pitching well at all since his short stint with the Phillies.  In his last 3 starts, he is 0-3 with a 7.31 ERA, allowing 20 hits over 16 innings.  If this keeps up for a significant length of time, a 40 man roster spot may been in off season jeopardy.

Vance Worley has made 3 starts in AAA and two have been good ones.  His last start against Gwinnett was a rough outing as he allowed 7 runs in 5 innings of work, but his two starts this week will show whether his last outing was just a late season blip on the radar screen.

Michael Schwimer continues to pitch well and in his last 15 games combined between Reading and Lehigh Valley, Schwimer is 2-2 with an 0.92 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP.  Over 19.2 innings he has allowed 11 hits , 6 walks and struck out 15.  Schwimer continues to put himself on the fast track with impressive performances.

Mike Stutes has really begun to take it up a notch.  In his last 13 games, he is 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in 19IP.  He has allowed 12 hits, walked 9 and struck out 21 during that time period and has stranded all inherited runners since he joined Lehigh Valley.

Scott Mathieson has been unscored upon in 4 of his last 5 outings, but that one other outing was an ugly one as he allowed 4ER in 0.1 inning. Mathieson continues to be among the league leaders in saves with 20.  His strand rate of 38% needs a good deal of improvement.

Notes: John Mayberry currently has an 8 game hitting streak.

–Lehigh Valley lost a franchise record 11 consecutive games at home thru Monday.

–With the sweep against Gwinnett, Lehigh Valley was swept in back to back series for the first time in franchise history.

–The Phillies are 14-4 since the promotion of Greg Gross.  Lehigh Valley is 4-15.

–Lehigh Valley snapped a streak of 60 consecutive innings without the lead when they took the lead in the 6th inning on Wednesday.

–Lehigh Valley has not had a stolen base in the last 12 games (117 innings). They also have not hit a homer with a man on base since July 26th.

Transactions: With Antonio Bastardo’s callup to the big club, Ty Taubenheim has been called up from AA Reading.  With the recent placement of Nate Bump onto the DL, Taubenheim should slide into Bump’s rotation spot.  Taubenheim was 4-2 with a 4.17 ERA in his 12 games at Reading.

On Thursday, after one appearance for the Phillies, Antonio Bastardo was optioned back to AAA Lehigh Valley. The Phils activated Shane Victorino who was 4-6 with a HR and 3 RBI’s during his two rehab appearances at Coca Cola Park.

Probables: Thursday: Worley, Friday: Duckworth; Saturday: Mazone; Sunday: Mazone.