A solid 4-2 week for Lehigh Valley after their 3-0 shutout victory behind Carlos Zambrano on Tuesday. Lehigh Valley is now 37-34 and tied for 2nd place in the Northern Division of the International League, 5 games behind division leading Pawtucket at the half way mark of the season.  The ‘Pigs have two more games against Toledo before moving along to Columbus where they will play four games and conclude their 8 game road trip next Monday.

‘Pigs Prospects: Cameron Rupp is twenty plus AB’s into his AAA career and is hitting .261, looking solid behind the plate.  Should be interesting to see whether the Phils decide to send Rupp back to Reading where AB’s are shared with Valle. I suspect Rupp will be here for awhile, as with Joseph out, it makes sense for Rupp and Valle to both get as many AB’s as possible with Lerud as the AAA backup.

Cody Asche got a very rare night off last evening and hits the half way mark of the season at .278/.332/.452 with 8HR 41RBI and 4SB. Over his last 10 games, Asche has hit ,308 with 2 HR.  Asche defense has been somewhere between good and very good and is producing like the 3B job for the Phillies will be his to lose in 2014.  The high strikeout rate needs work, but Asche progress has been excellent.

Leandro Castro has been in a bit of a funk hitting .222 with 1HR and 7RBI’s over his last 10 games, and left last nights game early on with an apparent ankle injury. Still, Castro has been a pleasant surprise this year, hitting .263/.302/.417 with 7HR 35RBI and 13SB in his first look at AAA pitching. While still not good, his walk and strikeout rates are significantly better than in years passed.

Ethan Martin had a nice outing his last time out against Scranton, allowing just one run over seven innings but has been far from consistent. Each good outing is matched by a poor outing and even in the better outings, control issues inevitably crop up On the year, Martin is 6-3 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP.

Next Week: Ruf, Robles, Aumont, Cloyd, Hernandez

‘Pigs Leaders (Note: Stats are thru Monday 6/17) Hitters: Cody Asche is 6th in AB’s (261), 10th in hits (72); 4th in triples (4) and 8th in strikeouts (67); Cesar Hernandez leads the league in triples (7) and 5th in SB’s (19); Jermaine Mitchell is 5th in triples (4); Darin Ruf is 6th in strikeouts (68)

Pitching Leaders: Ethan Martin is 4th in wins (6), has yielded the 2nd most walks (40) and 9th in strikeouts (62); Jake Diekman is 5th in saves (11); Tyler Cloyd has the 4th most HR allowed (12)

News and Notes: The ‘Pigs are an outstanding 11-4 in one run games.

–Josh Fields has hit safely in 19 of his last 23 games (.360, 32-89).

–Since coming back up from Reading, Justin Friend is 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA in 14 games.

–Through the first half of the season, no less than 11 IronPigs have been promoted to the Phils at one time or another.

Transactions: Last Wednesday, INF Michael Martinez and P Jake Diekman were called up to Philadelphia.  P Tyler Cloyd and INF Cesar Hernandez were optioned back to Lehigh Valley. On Monday, INF Miguel Abreu was re-assigned to Reading. On Tuesday, Steven Lerud was optioned to Lehigh Valley with the activation of Carlos Ruiz.

Probables: Wed: Martin; Thur: Valdes; Fri: Cochran; Sat: Cloyd