Its been a rough two weeks for Lehigh Valley, even with an 8-1 win last night, as they have gone 3-7 since the last report and now sit at 52-52, and in 3rd place of the Northern Division of the International League, 5.5 games behind division leading Pawtucket and 2 games behind Norfolk in the race for the wild card. Lehigh Valley is in the midst of an eight game road trip during which they play two more in Rochester, followed by a four game series in Pawtucket.

‘Pigs Prospects: Cody Asche has hit safely in 20 of his last 27 games and is hitting .359 during that time frame. Taking it back a bit further, Asche has hit in 38 of his last 49 games (.324). After having a fairly miserable time hitting left handed pitching during the first two months of the season, Asche has been a solid .294 since May 26th.  He continues to show the occasional pop, good base running and very good defense. On the year, Asche is at .292/.352/.451 with 12HR and 60RBI, to go along with 11SB. Extremely solid. I really hope to see him in Philly before the end of the year.

Ethan Martin  has pitched extremely well over the last 6 weeks and became the 4th 10 game winner in Lehigh Valley history last week. In his last 9 starts, Martin is 6-2 with a 2.87 ERA (47IP, 15ER). When Martin walks three or fewer hitters in a start, he is near unbeatable at 9-1 with a 2.69 ERA in 11 starts. On the year, Martin is now 11-5 with a much improved 4.35ERA. His WHIP is hovering around 1.40 and the problematic BB rate stands at 5.2 per nine innings.

Phillipe Aumont–Since his most recent demotion, Aumont has thrown in 6 games and has given up 2ER in 6.1IP. In those six plus innings, Aumont’s problems with the walk continued with seven issued. Hitters continue to have great difficulty hitting him as he struck out 10 during that same time period. The biggest issue Aumont is the lack of any sort of consistency. You have no idea what is going to happen when he throws the ball and more often than not this year, he cant find the plate. On the year for Lehigh Valley, 17 games, 0-0 with a 4.76 ERA in 17IP. He has walked 22 and struck out 23 in those 17 innings and the opponent is hitting just .186 against him.

Cameron Rupp is right around the 100AB mark since joining Lehigh Valley and is hitting .232/.274/.284 with 3HR and 13RBI. He is hiting lefties well at .333 but struggling against RHP at .189. Rupp’s defense has been very good as he has thrown out 9 of 23 (39%)of would be base stealers. On the year between Reading and Lehigh Valley: .240/.307/.426; 11HR 34RBI.

Freddy Galvis is right back where we thought he would be after a slow start returning to Lehigh Valley after his demotion. Galvis has hit in 10 of his last 12 games (.375), raising his average from .190 to .286. His defense is as solid as expected. For Lehigh Valley: .286/.320/.429 in 91 AB’s; 2HR 14RBI’s.

Leandro Castro is hititing .261 since coming off the DL (17-65). His run production has been extremely limited during that time frame with just 5 RBI”s in his last 65 AB’s.  Castro continues to lead IronPigs OF with 6 assists but sometimes makes things far too exciting in the field.

Next Week:Hernandez, Gillies, Cloyd, Morgan

News and Notes: Adam Morgan returned to the Lehigh Valley rotation against Rochester on Monday evening and threw 4 innings, giving up 2 runs (1 earned).  He was on a pitch count and left after having thrown in the neighborhood of 70 pitches.  He was less than sharp, which was to be expected in his first start back.

–Keep an eye on SP Greg Smith. Smith, who has previous major league experience, threw 8 shutout innings on Sunday and is now 4-0 with an 0.26 ERA as a starter in the Lehigh Valley rotation. He went 25.2 innings as a starter before allowing an earned run.

–2B/OF Cesar Hernandez has now hit safely in 17 of his last 19 games, hitting .375 (30-80) over that time frame.  He has played around a half dozen games in CF and the transition has been less than smooth.

‘Pigs leaders: (thru Monday): Hitting: Cody Asche is 4th in AB’s (375), 9th in RBI’s (57); 5th in hits (108); Cody Overbeck is 5th in strikeouts (97); Cesar Hernandez is 10th in hits (102); 3rd in SB’s (29); leads the league in triples (8) and is 9th in avg. (.308)

Pitching:Ethan Martin is 2nd in wins (10), 2nd in walks (61); 5th in K’s (93); 7th in starts (19); Tyler Cloyd is 6th in losses (8) and 5th in HR allowed (15); Jake Diekman is 9th in saves (11).

Probables: Wed: TBA; Thur: Cloyd; Fri: Smith; Sat: Morgan

Transactions: Last Thursday, RP Jay Johnson was promoted to Lehigh Valley from Reading. On Monday, Adam Morgan was activated and assigned to Lehigh Valley.  On Tuesday, P Raul Valdes was called up to Philadelphia as Joe Savery was placed on the DL.