Lehigh Valley has seen their division lead dwindle to just a half game over second place Pawtucket after losing two out of three in Scranton and now stand at 63-49 with 30 games left in the season.  Their half game lead is their smallest lead since May 17th. The ‘Pigs begin a long road trip in Durham on Thursday.

‘Pigs Leaders: Hitting: Rich Thompson is 6th in runs (62), is 5th in triples (5) and 2nd in steals (33); Brandon Moss is 3rd in homers (20), 9th in RBI’s (62),5th in SLG (.514), 9th in OPS (.868)and 8th in walks (50); Erik Kratz is 8th in OBP (.383).

Pitching: Ryan Feierabend is tied for 3rd in wins (9), has the 5th worst ERA (5.53 and is 5th in HR allowed (20)); Nate Bump has the 8th worst ERA (5.27); Mike Zagurski is 9th in saves (10); Brian Bass is 5th in IP (121), and 9th in walks allowed (46)

Infield: Carlos Rivero played in his first game with Lehigh Valley yesterday going 1-4, starting at 3B.

Josh Barfield has been slumping hitting just .211 over his last 10 games.  He did see his first start of the season in CF, without incident. On the year, .262/.290/.379 with 6 HR and 47 RBI to go along with 10 SB in 17 attempts.  Has been solid at 2B.

Freddy Galvis made his first start of the season for Lehigh Valley last night going 1-4, 2R and a stolen base. 

Kevin Frandsen has really been struggling over the last 10 games, hitting just .138, with 2 RBI’s in 29 AB’s.  He may see his playing time decrease markedly with Galvis and Rivero’s presence.  Still valuable for his versatility. Frandsen has hit just .217 post suspension.

Pete Orr has been on fire, hitting .371 over the last 10 games, hitting safely in 9 of those 10 contests. Orr is hitting .296 since the All Star break and has been one of the few ‘Pigs who Sandberg has been able to count on consistently over the last several weeks.

Cody Overbeck has hit .257 over the last 10 games but without a homer and with just 1 RBI during 35 AB’s during that time period.  Seeing all his time at 1B, power production is needed from that position and Overbeck simply has not done that consistently during his first 140 plus AAA at bats.  He has hit just 1 homer of the past 5 weeks.  Overbeck’s line at Lehigh Valley: .218/.273/.345 with a 33% K rate.

Starters: Scott Mathieson is still getting stretched out as a starter but has looked pretty good in doing so, going 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA in his 6 starts thus far.  Long counts and the home run ball have been his issues, as he has been unable to go deep into games because of the deep counts.  An excellent 12.0K rate as a starter goes along with a poor 5.4BB rate.

Nate Bump threw 6 shutout innings against Buffalo on Saturday evening and is 1-1 with an 0.95 ERA in his last three starts (19IP 2ER BB 13K). On July 25, he won for the first time in his previous 10 outings.  The ‘Pigs need consistency from Bump if they are going to be successful as the season heads down to the last month.

Ryan Edell transitioned back into the rotation after Tyson Brummett was sent down to AA Reading.  After performing very well as a long reliever, Edell struggled in his first outing back in the rotation, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits in 4 innings of work.

Ryan Feireabend had an ugly outing on Sunday against Buffalo, giving up 5 runs on 9 hits over 5 innings.  In his previous three starts, Feireabend went 17.2IP giving up 9 runs on 23 hits.  While Lehigh Valley seems to win when he pitches, he has thrown fairly poorly all year with an ERA sitting at 5.50.

Brian Bass has given several workmanlike efforts his last few starts going 1-1 with a 4.08 ERA in his last three outings.  Bass has been steady over the past couple of months, giving the ‘Pigs innings when needed.

Notes: Lehigh Valley has scored 4 or more runs in just 2 of its last 18 games.

–Lehigh Valley is hitting just .219 with RISP since June16th.

–Lehigh Valley lost three straight one run games last Thursday, Friday and Saturday yet still have the best record in the league in one run games.

–Brandon Moss has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games.

Transactions: Last Saturday, Domonic Brown and RP Drew Carpenter were optioned back to AAA Lehigh Valley.  Brown, who is expected to be the everyday Lehigh Valley leftfielder hit .246/.335/.393 in 183 AB’s with the Phils.  Brown had 5 HR and 19RBI, and also stole 3 bases. His 12%bb/16% k rate, were impressive after last seasons struggles. Brown surely goes back to Philly come September 1.  Carpenter struggled in his role of long reliever with the Phils, throwing in 6 games and going 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA, with a WHIP of 1.82 with the big club.

To make room for Carpenter, the ‘Pigs sent pitcher Les Walrond down to AA Reading. Walrond was unscored upon in 10 of his 11 appearances in his second stint with Lehigh Valley this season.

On Tuesday, both SS Freddy Galvis and 3B Carlos Rivero were called up from AA Reading and both should be seeing the bulk of the playing time at their respective positions.  Galvis, a 21 year old SS was hitting .273/.326/.400 in over 400 AB’s with Reading this year, to go along with 8HR 25 RBI and 19 SB.  His defense, considered his strong suit has been inconsistent this year.  Rivero, a 23 year old 3B acquired from the Indians in the off season, was hitting .285/.340/.449 with 11 HR and 53 RBI for the RPhils.  He had made 20 errors at 3B prior to his call up.  To make room on the roster, SS Brian Bocock was sent to the Pirates organization in a “non compensation” deal and INF Tagg Bozied was placed on the DL with what the ‘Pigs are calling a “left shin contusion”.