Last week was a wild one at Coca-Cola Park. It started with a rehab appearance by reigning MVP Bryce Harper, and got weirder and wilder from there.

The original plan was for Harper to play five games with the IronPigs and then return to the Phillies active roster. As Lehigh Valley manager Anthony Contreras pointed out though, “It’s all up to him.”

Well, after two games where he hit two home runs and drove in a walk-off run in the bottom of the ninth with a double, Harper decided he was ready. Fans who had bought tickets for Thursday, Friday or Saturday games were disappointed by his exit, but the Phillies fan part of them was excited to have him back with the big-league club.

Many of those fans learned a lesson Wednesday night when it appeared that Harper was done for the night. The Pigs were trailing, and Harper was not scheduled to hit in the ninth as the Pigs would need a rally to get to his spot in the order, so about half of the capacity crowd of 10,100 exited. Bad move. The IronPigs did rally, Harper did get another at-bat, and he delivered a two-run double to drive in the winning run and give Lehigh Valley a needed win against Gwinnett.

Then there was the Friday night game. The two teams combined to score 27 runs on 27 hits, with Lehigh Valley pitchers giving up 11 walks while striking out just four. Meanwhile, Gwinnett pitchers walked three and struck out 11. In all, there were 91 plate appearances, 10 extra-base hits and eight walks with 13 different pitchers throwing a total of 362 pitches in the game that took three hours and 47 minutes to play.

Perhaps lost in the shuffle was the return of Darick Hall from the Phillies. The young first baseman/designated hitter simply was not getting at-bats with the big-league club, which is never good for a young player. The decision was made to option him back to Lehigh Valley to get regular playing time.

“The last month has been crazy. It’s been more than I ever imagined, getting up there and being a part of the Phillies and being able to produce a little and help the team during the push that’s being made up there, getting 10 games over .500,” said Hall of his first experience in the majors. “It was just one of those things where I wasn’t getting consistent at-bats, so I come back and get some at-bats and be a part of trying to get to Vegas.”

Hall’s reference to Las Vegas points to the IronPigs fight to make the Triple-A championship game, which will be played in Las Vegas this year. It is possible that Hall returns to the majors before then though, as teams can recall two extra players for the final month of the season.

That brings up the question of who gets recalled. If the Phillies elect to add a position player and a pitcher, then Hall and veteran Jairo Munoz would have the edge on the one spot. Right-hander Mark Appel seems to be the leading candidate as a reliever.

WHAT ABOUT GUTHRIE? ... Many fans wonder what Dalton Guthrie must do to make it to the majors. The 26-year-old has hit .291/.357/.492 with 10 home runs this season for the IronPigs, but has not been given any consideration for a major league call-up, and it will not happen this season. In addition to his offensive numbers, Guthrie can play about anywhere on the diamond and the mystery deepens. It would be odd for Guthrie to get the call in September since the Phillies are in a pennant race, and with just two additional roster spots, using one on a guy who has never played in the majors would seem to be a stretch.

ANYBODY REALLY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS? ... Anyone who has been at an IronPigs game lately may have realized that game time is a relative thing. On Saturday night, with a game time of 6:35, there were nearly 60 Jeeps on the field from a pre-game parade, the anthem had not been sung, and the Pigs were still milling about in the dugout at 6:34. The start of the game was delayed until 6:42. Sunday’s game started nine minutes late. On average, the IronPigs games started an average of five minutes late on the most recent homestand.

GOOD GAME, LET’S EAT ... A baseball tradition has rehabbing players buying meals for their minor league teammates. Harper took it a step further and bought a spread from Mission BBQ in Whitehall for both the IronPigs and Stripers, and then followed that up with steak dinners from PRIME Steak House in Bethlehem, but that was only for the IronPigs.

KEEP AN EYE ON THIS ... There is a serious movement afoot for minor league players to become unionized. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is moving to get younger players into their own union to battle low pay, weak housing arrangements and other issues. The unionization movement was made possible when MLB took over the minor league system. This could get good.