A middle of the road, 3-3 week for Lehigh Valley, who now stand at 54-57, 9 games out of first place in the Northern Division of the International League. ‘Pig league leaders include Andy Tracy who is 8th in runs (57), 4th in homers (18), 2nd in RBI’s (67), and leading the league in walks (52).Mike Cervenak is 8th in RBI’s (57). On the mound, Andrew Carpenter is 3rd in the league in wins (9), 7th in ERA (2.72), 7th in IP (119), 9th in WHIP (1.20) and 9th in strikeouts (94). Kyle Kendrick is 5th in starts (20) and 8th in IP (118). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
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Daily Discussion
Two more shutout innings in relief for Scott Mathieson last night, giving him 18 innings this year without having given up an earned run between Clearwater and Reading. He has allowed just 14 baserunners in those 18 innings and the opposition is hitting just .129 against him.
Tim Kennelly, who has struggled hitting since his recall to AA Reading had a big night last night going 3-4 to go along with Domonic Brown’s 2-4 performance which included his first AA homer. Continue reading Daily Discussion
Daily Discussion
The Phillies 6th round pick, Steven Inch has signed. Inch is a 18 year old RHP from Edmonton, Alberta and was at Citizens Bank Park last night.
In Lakewood last night, Matthew Way made his Class A debut and pitched well, going 7 innings and giving up just 1 earrned run, while striking out 9. Anthony Gose stole his 59th and 60th bases for the BlueClaws. Jason Knapp returned to Lakewood as a member of Lake County, but is still on the DL and won’t pitch this series.
In the 20 run effort by Williamsport last night both Anthony Hewitt (3-5,3r, hr, 3rbi) and Zach Collier (4-6, 2r- 3b, 4RBI) had very impressive nights. Josh Zeid (4-3) threw 6 shutout innings.
Jason Anderson’s efforts in relief for Lehigh Valley deserve note. In 26 appearances the 30 year old Anderson has gone 0-1 with a 2.41 ERA and 4 saves. Opponents are hitting just .192 against him , .172 with RISP. His WHIP is 0.93 for Lehigh Valley. In his last 10 appearances, he gave up runs on only one occasion for a 1.46 ERA.
Daily Discussion
Down in Lakewood, the Phils 5th round draft pick, Matthew Way , will be called up to start Tuesday nights game. Way has been fairly dominant for Williamsport with a 1.67 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 37.2 innings pitched.
Zach Collier hit his first professional homerun in the WIlliamsport win on Sunday evening. Collier was 3-4 with 4 runs scored and the homer. Sebastian Valle also had 4 RBI’s in the Crosscutter win.
Dominic Brown was 2-7 in his first couple of games for Reading while Mike Cisco gave up 3 ER over 6 innings in his first AA start.
Quintin Berry continues doing all that is asked of him in Reading with his .279 average, 39 stolen bases and 69 runs scored. Berry, 24, was the Phils 5th round draft choice in the 2006 draft.
‘Pigs Weekend Update
07/30/09–Martinez vs. Carrasco in quite the pitching matchup. Columbus jumped on Pedro’s second pitch of the game, a homer by Michael Brantley to give them the early lead. Michael Taylor gave the ‘Pigs the lead back in the 4th on a long homer to straight away center, his 3rd as an Iron Pig. The lead didn’t last long as a four run fifth put Columbus up for good. Martinez departed having gone 5 innings, giving up 5 runs (4 earned) on 3 hits. He walked 3 and struck out 4, throwing 84 pitches, 53 for strikes. Single runs by Lehigh Valley in the 5th and 6th cut the lead to 5-4, but the bullpen had a difficult night, giving up 4 runs over the 8th and 9th, which led to the 9-6 Columbus win. Terry Tiffee was 3-4 with a run and an RBI, while Michael Taylor, Andy Tracy, and JJ Furmaniak all had two hits for Lehigh Valley. Carrasco left having gone 5.1 innings, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits. He walked one and struck out 6. The Marson/Donald combination had a rough night for the ‘Clippers with Marson going 0-4 and DOnald going 0-3 with 3 strikeouts. Continue reading ‘Pigs Weekend Update
Martinez vs. Carrasco Live Blog
Lineups are out and both Lou Marson and Jason Donald will be facing Pedro Martinez tonight with the weather clearing in Allentown. Michael Taylor and John Mayberry will be manning the outfield corners and hitting 5th and 7th respectively against Columbus starter Carlos Carrasco.
Apparantly, Pedro is on a 70-80 pitch count this evening.
Top of first: Second pitch of the game, homer….Columbus 1, ‘Pigs 0, Pop Out, strikeout, fly out. Martinez, 11 pitches, 8 strikes. Fastest pitch: 89 mph. 1 IP, 1H, 1ER, 0BB, 1K.
Bottom of First: Single(Ellison), fielders choice, double play. Carrasco, 12 pitches, 8 strikes. 1IP 1H 0ER 0BB 0K.
Top of Second: Fly Out, ground out, ground out (Marson). Martinez, 2o pitches, 16 for strikes. 2IP 1H 1ER 0BB 1K. A couple of COlumbus hitters looked silly on Martinez off speed pitches this inning.
Bottom of 2nd: Strikeout, Fly Out, single (Tiffee), STrikeout. Carrasco 28 pitches, 18 for strikes. 2IP 2H 0ER 0BB 2K. Columbus 1, Lehigh Valley 0.
Top of 3rd: Strikeout (Donald on 93 mph fastball), ground out, walk, fly out. Martinez, 37 pitches, 25 for strikes. 3IP 1H 1ER 1BB 2K. Martinez threw several pitches in the low 90’s, topping out at 93 mph.
Bottom of 3rd: Fly Out, Strikeout, STrikeout (Ellison ejected arguing call). Carrasco, 49 pitches, 32 for strikes. 3IP 2H 0ER 0BB 4K. Columbus 1, Lehigh Valley 0. Continue reading Martinez vs. Carrasco Live Blog
Daily Discussion, Savery Called Up to AAA
The Phillies 2007 first round draft choice, Joe Savery, was called up from AA Reading to take a place in the Lehigh Valley rotation. Savery, 23, was taken 19th overall of the 2007 draft out of Rice University with the 19th pick in the draft. After a dominant first half of the year, during which he went 12-1, Savery has struggled during his last several outings, going 1-3 with a 8.71 ERA in his last 4 starts. On the year, Savery is 12-4 with a 4.41 ERA in 21 starts. He has walked 53 and struck out 77 in his 112.1 innings of work. Opponents are hitting .262 against him (just .183 with RISP) and he has given up 13 home run balls. Continue reading Daily Discussion, Savery Called Up to AAA
Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
First off, a very interesting pitching matchup Friday night in Allentown. Pedro Martinez vs. Carlos Carrasco. Who woulda thought? Look for a live blog of the action tonight (whether permitting).
The climb to .500 and above continues to be a difficult one for Lehigh Valley as a slew of roster moves and trades have the team wondering who will be in the locker room each night. Despite the roster turmoil, the ‘Pigs did manage a 3-4 week (could have been worse) and are in 3rd place of the Northern Division of the IL at 51-54, 7.5 games out of first (6.5 out of the wild card). This weeks look at hitting leaders includes Andy Tracy who is 9th in runs (55), 5th in homers (17), 3rd in RBI’s (60), and leads the league in walks(51). Rich Thompson is 9th in the league in steals with 19. On the hill, Andrew Carpenter is 4th in the league in Wins (8), 9th in ERA (2.71) and 10th in the league in WHIP (1.19), Kyle Kendrick is 2nd in the league in starts (20) and 2nd in the league in IP (118.2). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
Roster Changes
Because of the addition of Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco, the Phils have optioned P Steven Register and OF John Mayberry back to (AAA) Lehigh Valley.
Daily Discussion
Before a couple quick daily notes on the goings on outside of the Lee trade I wanted to chime in as well with my opinion. The Lee deal was a no-brainer based on what the Phils gave up. Not to minimize the talent that Carrasco, Marson, Donald, and Knapp have, but the Phillies acquired a top of the line pitcher and a much needed bat without giving up the four names that they, as well as many pundits covet most (Drabek, Happ, Taylor, Brown). While significantly upgrading their rotation and their bench, they have also given themselves more financial flexibility next year in taking on Lee’s contract rather than Halladay’s, money that potentially could be spent before the August 17 deadline to sign draftees to bolster problem areas within the system, as well as re-signing some key components from the team this year.
While Carrasco’s talent at times wins the wrestling match with what is going on in his head, the head games he plays while pitching may or may not continue, changing the perspective on his value. Marson has big league talent, but at a position where there are legit future prospects in the Phils system, and value must be given to get value. Donald is an extremely hard worker and has a very good head on his shoulders but his future value is more than likely limited to super sub status, based on what we have seen in the last couple of years. Knapp is the big question mark. Guys that throw 98 mph do not come along every day. Again, however, being at least two years away from being major league ready giving up Knapp makes sense in an attempt to capitalize on the massive amount of talent collected in Philly vying for back to back titles.
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