Game Summaries: 4/7–Lehigh Valley moved over .500 (1-0) for the first time in team history with a 7-2 victory over visiting Scranton. The Ryne Sandberg era began with a bang bringing with it a new brand of baseball in Allentown, with it being made clear early that the team will be aggressive. Starter Vance Worley was dominant, going six shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits, while walking one and striking out 9. Lehigh Valley put up a three spot in the first inning on RBI singles by Delwyn Young and Brandon Moss. The ‘Pigs tacked on three more in the 5th on a solo homer by Delwyn Young and a two run blast by Jeff Larish. Brandon Moss had a big day at the plate, while Mike Stutes was very impressive in relief, striking out three of the four hitters he faced.
4/8–After a rainout on Friday evening, Syracuse came to town and quickly knocked the ‘Pigs back down to Earth with a 2-1, ten inning victory in Allentown on Friday night, in which both Syracuse runs were unearned. The first Syracuse run was scored on an ugly passed ball by ‘Pigs catcher Dane Sardinha in the third inning. It remained a pitchers duel between Lehigh Valley started Nate Bump (5Ip 6H 0ER 0BB 3K) and Chiefs starter Garrett Mock until Josh Barfield hit his first homer of the year for the ‘Pigs tieing the game at one. The game remained tied until the 10th inning, when a Mike Stutes throwing error allowed Syracuse the opportunity to score the go ahead run. Lehigh Valley left 13 men on base and were 0-15 with RISP.
4/9–Back to the old again for Lehigh Valley on Sunday as they were shutout 2-0 by Syracuse wasting a very good effort by Eddie Bonine. Bonine (0-1)went six strong innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 8. Syracuse scored their first run in the 3rd, on a passed ball by Erik Kratz and added another in the 6th when Corey Brown tripled and then scored on a throwing error by Josh Barfield. Lehigh Valley was again “ofer” with RISP, going 0-5, making it 0-20 over the last two games.
‘Notes:Mike Stutes stranded three inherited runners last Thursday, and one more on Saturday and is 13/13 stranding inherited runners in his AAA career.
–1B Jeff Larish hit a homer on his first swing as an Iron Pig making it easier for the fans in Lehigh Valley to forget fan favorite Andy Tracy who signed with Arizona in the off season.
–SS Kevin Frandsen was hit by a pitch in the forearm in the season opener and was out of the starting lineup on Saturday. He was back in the lineup on Sunday, starting at 1B.
—3B Ronnie Belliard had multi hit games each of the first three games.
–The line on the Lehigh Valley bullpen thru the first three games: 11IP 8H 1ER 4BB 18K. Impressive.
Probables: Monday: Brian Bass; Tuesday: Ryan Feirabend; Wednesday: Vance Worley
Phuture Phillies 
First time above .500. That’s a pretty telling statistic!
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I know I’m late to the party – but can someone tell me why Rizotti is at AA?
Are we letting him beef up his numbers so he can be dealt?
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First game of season, first time over .500 in franchise history. They finally get off to a good start.
On an unrelated matter, what gives with the game summaries and all around content of the Iron Pigs website. In yesterday’s summary they gave the pitcher’s name as Eddie Bump, not a typo because they repeated it. You’d think whoever wrote game summaries could at least get the name right. They also do not update the player roster. They make note it was updated on 4.2.11. How about updating whenever a move is made.. For the current roster got to go to Milb.com team page and click on roster.
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Not only that the game summary writer also erroneously reported that Dan Meyer was in line to be one of the starting pitchers for the season the day before he was released and caused it to be passed along.
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I will be sure to pass along your displeasure with them Marfis.
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Rick,
Matt Rizzotti is at AA because apparently he came to Spring Training out of shape and did not have a good spring training. When he was taken off the 40 man roster a couple of weeks ago, any team could have claimed him off waivers and added him to their 40 man roster. No team claimed him. So he has zero trade value right now. IF he completely lights it up again this year, in both AA and then AAA, he might become worth a low level prospect from another team looking for a hitter. But he doesn’t have much value right now.
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Pretty much this.
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Colorado – thanks for the quick reply/ info.
I find it hard to believe that someone in a potential make or break season doesn’t spend the entire winter locked in a gym with a personal trainer working out. Does this guy want to play in the majors for $450 K [minimum] a season or does he want to ride a bus to places like Erie, PA??? Makes you wonder.
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Well, historic Erie is quite…
Yeah, I cant even come up with a good joke there. I’ve been to Erie one time (for a competition in HS) and its not very interesting.
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From BA’s daily dish
* Joe Savery’s pitching career never lived up to expectations after the Phillies drafted him in the first round of the 2007 draft. As a hitter, he’s exceeding them in the very early going.
Savery apparently left his fastball at Rice, as he lost enough velocity to go from being a first-round pick to an organizational arm. But after moving to first base during instructional league last year, Savery is hitting 12-for-15 (.800) in his first four games with Clearwater. He’s doubled twice and homered. As a 25-year-old conversion project, Savery faces long odds of ever getting to the big leagues, but he can look to the story of former first-round pick Brian Bogusevic for inspiration. Bogusevic gave up on pitching during the 2008 season, four years after he was drafted. Last year he made the majors at the end of the season as an outfielder.
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