AFter wins the last two evenings, Lehigh Valley has lost 7 of their last 10 games, and have gone 12-19 since May 30th.  The ‘Pigs are 41-44 and in 5th place of the Northern Division of the International League; 10 games behind division leading Syracuse. They are 6 games behind Rochester for a wildcard spot.  Lehigh Valley returns home for a quick two game series against Syracuse before leaving on a long 10 game road trip that will take them into the all star break in mid July.

‘Pigs League Leaders, Hitting:Maikel Franco is 7th in AB’s (302); Tyler Henson is 5th in strikeouts (84) and 5th in SB’s (16).

Leaders, Pitching: Barry Enright is 4th in losses (8); leads the league in HR allowed (16); has the 6th worst WHIP (1.54) has the 7th worst ERA (5.20); is tied for 4th in starts (16); Luis Garcia is 3rd in saves (15); Greg SMith is 9th in IP (94.2)

‘Pigs Prospects: Maikel Franco’s struggles continue and he has been out of the lineup over the last two days.  Franco had 105 June AB’s and hit .162/.196/.238 with 1HR and 11RBI.  Franco’s year has been a roller coaster with April and June being very poor, with a good May sandwiched in the middle.  On the year, .209/.267/.318 with 5HR 31RBI.

Tyler Knigge has been outstanding, going 4-1 with a 1.29 ERA in 20 games since May 2nd. On Monday, Knigge allowed his first walk in AAA (14 innings), and first walk in 17 innings overall.  Remarkably, Knigge has retired 38 of the last 43 batters he has faced for Lehigh Valley.

Cameron Perkins returned to the starting lineup on Monday after missing 4 starts with a concussion. His line for Lehigh Valley thru 82 AB’s is .220/.273/.293 with 0HR and 6RBI.  While battling a couple of injuries, the short term transition to AAA has been a challenge for Perkins who continues to struggle with any semblance of power.

Next week: Aumont, Castro, Martin

News and Notes: Lehigh Valley has the best road record in the IL at 22-16.

–SP Jason Marquis was excellent in his Lehigh Valley debut, coming back off of Tommy John surgery. He yielded just a lone run on 3 hits over 6 innings of work.

–SP Barry Enright is 0-6 with a 7.67 ERA over his last 6 starts.  The team is 5-11 in games he starts.

–Russ Canzler returned to Scranton with a vengeance after being released by the Yankees organization on June 20th.  He hit a game winning 3R HR in his first game back, now playing for Lehigh Valley

–Over his last 22 games between Reading and Lehigh Valley, Sebastian Valle is hitting .303 (19-63).

–In his last 6 starts, the opposition is hitting .181 against Brad Lincoln.

–The ‘Pigs are 2nd in the league in attendance, averaging almost 8700 per game.

–If you take out the one outing where Cesar Jiminez allowed 4ER, his ERA in his other 26 games is 0.72.

–Phillippe Aumont threw a scoreless 2.1innings on Monday, pitching for the first time in two weeks (elbow tendonitis)

Transactions: Quite the revolving door this week, with a summary below.  The summary does not include pitchers Sean O’Sullivan and Luis Garcia who went up to Philly and then back down to Lehigh Valley.

Comings: SS Edgar Duran was promoted from Reading; INF Rusty Ryal was promoted to Lehigh Valley from Reading; SP Jason Marquis joined the ‘Pigs from Ext Spring Training; C Lars Davis was promoted from Reading; OF Grady Sizemore was assigned to Lehigh Valley; INF/OF Russ Canzler was signed and assigned to Lehigh Valley

Goings: INF Matt Tolbert was activated from the DL and sent to Reading; Andres Blanco was promoted to Philadelphia; P Shawn Camp was released; C Koyie Hill was called up to Philadelphia

Probables: Wed: Marquis; Thur: Enright; Fri: Bootcheck; Sat: Lincoln