The All-Star Break has faded from view, the trade deadline is upon us and fans and players alike are watching the scoreboard a little closer than before.

The IronPigs come home from Durham, North Carolina with a split of their six-game series with the Bulls (Rays) that left the two teams tied at the top of the International League East division with Jacksonville (Marlins) joining them as all three teams are 54-45. Buffalo (Blue Jays), Scranton (Yankees) and Worcester (Red Sox) are all hanging around and are within reach of the top spot in the division.

Lehigh Valley returns home this week to host the Syracuse Mets, so let’s see who’s coming in hot for the IronPigs.

Looking at all the games since the All-Star Break, the most interesting name on the hot sheet is the one at the top. None other than Scott Kingery.

While Kingery has been going through Death Valley in his career, he has turned a corner. In seven games since the break, Kingery is batting .412 (7-for-17) with two home runs and has drawn as many walks (5) as he has strikeouts for an on-base percentage of .545 and a slugging percentage of .824.

Interesting time for him to get hot. The prevailing consensus among pundits and scouts is that Kingery will need a change of scenery if he is to ever get his major league career back on track. With his hot streak heading into the deadline, don’t be surprised if another team asks for him to be included in a trade, seeking to get a no-risk, high-reward return on a talented player.

Jorge Bonifacio, Dalton Guthrie and Nick Maton are all hitting .294 since play resumed, with Maton having played in eight games compared to five for the other two players. Maton was recently activated from his rehab assignment and optioned to the IronPigs. In his last five games, Guthrie has three home runs for the Pigs.

On the mound, lefty reliever Jonathan Hennigan was scuffling for a while but since the break, has thrown five hitless innings with the only blemishes being a hit batter and a walk. In his first start since being activated from the IL, Kent Emmanuel threw five scoreless innings, giving up two hits to beat Durham on Saturday. Tyler Cyr has notched two saves in four innings covering four games, and has allowed only an unearned run.

WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?

... Strange happenings on the infield. The Phillies traded for major league infielder Edmundo Sosa when they shipped reliever JoJo Romero to St. Louis. The move is odd because the team already had Bryson Stott and Didi Gregorius as middle infielders, and had Johan Camargo and Yairo Munoz backing them up, plus Kingery, Maton backing them up at Triple-A and Jean Segura likely to come off the IL this week. Camargo was optioned back to Lehigh Valley.

READING TEA LEAVES

... Any time the trade deadline approaches, every transaction is scrutinized like it’s a conspiracy theory pointing to the next move the team might make. On Monday, the Phillies released IronPigs catcher Edgar Cabral, and it was expected the next move might be Logan O’Hoppe joining the team from Double-A Reading. Instead, Karl Ellison was summoned from Jersey Shore. Could the Phillies be preparing to deal one of their catchers - Rafael Marchan, Donny Sands or potentially even O’Hoppe, who has been highly sought after by other teams.

BACK TO PHILLY

... Mark Appel was recalled to take the place of Kyle Gibson who went on the bereavement list Saturday after the death of his grandmother. Appel will likely be part of a bullpen game for the Phillies Tuesday in Atlanta after throwing two good innings Sunday in Pittsburgh. If the Phillies were smart, they will consider keeping Appel and cutting loose Jeurys Familia, who gave up five runs Friday as the Pirates made an 8-2 game an 8-7 game in the ninth, and then gave up another run in the ninth inning Sunday when the Phillies had an 8-1 lead going into the inning. The inning could have been worse if not for a dazzling defensive play by Gregorius.

MISSED THEM BY THAT MUCH

... There was a shot that Mets pitchers Jacob deGrom and Trevor May – a former Phillies prospect – might pitch for Syracuse this week as part of their respective rehab assignments. deGrom will be pitching tonight but it will be in Washington, D.C. for the Mets rather than for Syracuse, and May could very well be back in the bullpen tonight for New York that same night. May made three relief appearances with the Syracuse version of the Mets, and the plan is for him to rejoin the team on their trip to D.C. May’s three outings weren’t overly impressive, and there has been no official word from the Mets on where he will pitch this week.