Both the Phillies and the IronPigs are struggling teams.

Philadelphia stands at 37-40, five games behind the New York Mets and in third place. Lehigh Valley is 21-28 and in fourth place, 13 1/2 games behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Yankees), who spent the past week beating up on the Pigs.

A major part of the problem in Philadelphia has been the bullpen. Its starters have generally pitched well, especially the top three in the rotation, with Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Zack Eflin posting a combined ERA of 3.39 in 47 starts. Lehigh Valley starters have struggled at times this season, but its top two pitchers – Ramon Rosso and Christopher Sanchez – have an ERA of 3.68 between them.

Overall, Philadelphia starters have a 3.99 ERA this season, while Lehigh Valley starters have a 4.31 ERA. The bullpen points to the problem, especially for Lehigh Valley. Phillies relievers have a combined 4.55 ERA, while the gang at Triple-A have a combined ERA of 5.10 this season.

At the plate, Philadelphia hitters have somewhat of an anomaly when it comes to its hitting with runners in scoring position. As a team, they have hit better (.254) with runners in scoring position than they have overall (.239). Lehigh Valley hitters have just a .217 average with runners in scoring position, placing them 19th out of 20 teams in the Triple-A East, and have stranded a league-high 358 runners through 48 games. As a group, Lehigh Valley hitters overall are batting just .222 on the season, putting them ahead of only the St. Paul Saints in the Triple-A East.

A glaring issue in Philadelphia has been fielding. Statistically, the Phillies rank in the middle of the National League in fielding percentage at .983 and are 10th in errors (47) as a team. The problem has been its fielding over the past couple of weeks, which has led to several losses. Thankfully, the fielding at Lehigh Valley has been pretty good, with the team ranking second in the East with a .986 fielding percentage and second in errors with just 22 miscues.

Reading is 19-30, in fourth place, and 12.5 games out in the Northeast Division of Double-A, trailing the Somerset Patriots, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. High-A Jersey Shore (formerly Lakewood) is at 20-28, 11 games behind Hudson Valley (Yankees) and in fourth place.

As for the Clearwater Threshers, they’re in fourth place, putting all four minor league teams in the same spot. The Threshers are alone, though, with a winning record of 25-23, 7.5 games behind Tampa, who is an affiliate of; wait for it - the New York Yankees.

NEXT! ... With the Phillies looking for help in the bullpen, all eyes turn toward Lehigh Valley. The best option is likely J.D. Hammer, who pitched in 20 games with the Phillies in 2019 and had a very respectable 3.79 ERA. The problem was he walked 12 batters and struck out 13 in 19 innings. With Lehigh Valley this season, the 26-year-old has a 1.53 ERA in 15 games, but still struggles with command, having walked 10 batters in 17 2/3 innings of work. The upside is that his strikeout numbers are up, as he is averaging 15.3 strikeouts per nine innings, by far the best of his career.

THAT WENT WELL ... Lehigh Valley’s six-game home series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was a definite disaster that culminated in a 19-1 loss on Sunday with the Pigs giving up a franchise-record 23 hits in the game, and tying the team mark for runs allowed, equaling the 19 they gave up in a 21-19 win in Rochester back in 2019. Scranton had 11 extra-base hits in the game, three more than Lehigh Valley had in the series. As for the pitchers, Lehigh Valley hurlers averaged just under 200 pitches per game (1,174) and in three of the games, threw 214 or more pitches.

BYE-BYE, DIDI ... Didi Gregorius certainly looks ready to hit. The veteran shortstop has been on a rehab assignment with Lehigh Valley, which was interrupted last week when his ailing elbow had some stiffness. With Lehigh Valley, Gregorius has hit .571 (8-for-14) with a 1.595 OPS in six games. It’s likely that the Phillies will activate him off the IL this week, and he could quickly be reunited with middle infield partner Jean Segura, who returned from the IL on Monday.