Lehigh Valley has hit a significant rough patch following the All Star break, as they have been decimated by injury and other roster attrition.  Their lead over second place Pawtucket has dwindled to a single game, with five more games against the Red SOx coming up over the next week.  The ‘Pigs now sit at 56-42 on the season and return home for a 10 game home stand starting Friday.

‘Pigs Leaders: Rich Thompson is 7th in runs (55); 9th in triples (5)and second in stolen bases (29); Brandon Moss is 4th in homers (17); 9th in walks (44); Delwyn Young is 10th in k’s (87).

Ryan Feireabend is tied for 2nd in wins(9), 2nd in HR allowed (19) and 6th worst ERA (5.46); Brian Bass is tied for 4th in losses (8), is 5th in IP (110) and is tied for the league lead in starts (19); Nate Bump has the 2nd worst ERA (5.88) and has the worst WHIP (1.63); Mike Zagurski is 8th in saves (10)

Starting Pitching:Brian Bass has been throwing much more consistently, even with his latest start being a bumpy one. His last three starts have all been losses, however he threw 18 innings, giving up nine runs in those starts.  On the year, Bass is 4-8 with a 4.24 ERA in 19 starts, to go along with a 1.42 WHIP and a .279 opponent batting average.

Scott Mathieson returned to the rotation after spending a couple of weeks with the big club.  Mathieson has been having a bit of a hard time getting stretched out, throwing a lot of pitches in a minimal amount of innings as a starter.  He threw just 3 innings followed by 2.2 innings in his two most recent starts, giving up 2 earned runs in each.  As a starter, Mathieson is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 3 starts.

Nate Bump threw six shutout innings in his most recent start, however has been inconsistent at best, just plain bad at worst.  In his two previous starts to the six shutout inning appearance, he did not make it out of the fifth inning in either and got hit around in both.  On the year Bump is 2-6 with a 5.88 ERA in 17 starts to go along with a 1.63 WHIP and an astronomical .340 opponent batting average.

 Ryan Feireabend continues putting up Wins, even with a fairly bad pitching line, as he is 9-5 on the year with a 5.46 ERA in 18 starts.  The home run ball has been his biggest issue, as he has given up 19 on the year.  Feirebaned WHIP stands at a high 1.39 and opponents are hitting .274 against him. He has been fairly good in his last three outings, going at least 6 innings in each and allowing 7 ER in 19 IP (3.32).

Tyson Brummett has been poor as a starter for Lehigh Valley, going 1-3 a 6.15 ERA in his five starts.  In his most recent start, he gave up 6 ER in five innings.  As a starter, the opposition is hitting well over .320 against him.

Infielders:Cody Overbeck has been a bit better, hitting .243/.282/.405 over his last 10 games with a HR and 6 RBI, but is still really struggling to adjust to AAA pitching, hitting just .213 in his first 100 plus AB’s. He is striking out at a 34% rate in AAA and has 3 HR and 14 RBI in his first 103 AB’s.

Josh Barfield has been just ok since the All Star break hitting .250 with just 2 RBI’s but has played solid defense. On the year, .267/.295/.390 with 5 HR and 39 RBI, to go along with 9 SB’s. Barfield is hitting just .225 with RISP.

Brian Bocock has been hot over the past 10 games, hitting .344/.447/.438 during that time period, raising his average to approaching .240 on the year, to go along with 4 HR and 28 RBI.  His defense while solid, has been less than spectacular.

Tagg Bozied has begun seeing more action over the last couple of weeks with the season ending leg injury to Jeff Larish.  Bozied is hitting .324 over the last 10 games with a homer and 5 RBI, raising his average to .253/.398/.555 on the year. He has hit 10 HR and has 30 RBI in just 146 AB’s.

Kevin Frandsen has picked up where he left off prior to his suspension, hitting .304 in the 5 games since his return to the ‘Pigs lineup.  Hitting well over .300 on the year, Frandsen’s production will play an important part of the success or lack thereof for the IronPigs down the stretch.

Pete Orr just returned to Lehigh Valley after spending a week in Philadelphia.

Notes: 1B Jeff Larish suffered a nasty broken leg just after the all-star break and will likely miss the remainder of the season.

–Lehigh Valley currently has their smallest lead for first place since May 17th.

–LHP Ryan Edell had a 16.1 inning scoreless streak snapped July 19th.  He is 2-0 with a 1.53 ERA in his last 6 games.

—Rich Thompson has hit in 11 of his last 12 games.

Transactions: Kevin Frandsen was removed from the restricted list and activated.  Jason Grilli was released per an opt out provision in his contract and signed with Pittsburgh.  Pete Orr was optioned to Lehigh Valley from Philadelphia; Jeff Larish was placed on the DL (Right leg fracture); Vance Worley was called up to Philadelphia; Scott Mathieson was optioned to Lehigh Valley from Philadelphia; Tim Redding was released; Joe Savery was promoted from Reading.