Is This Team For Real?

Just over a month ago the Jersey Shore D-Bags sat with a record of 43-51 in the middle of a 10 game road trip and fresh off being swept in a 3 game series by Denver.  The season looked dismal at this point.  They were 14 games behind Pittsburgh for the division and 10 games out of the WC race and the word "fire-sale" was being murmured through the clubhouse and media outlets as the July 31 deadline loomed.  Something clicked after that loss with this team though.

Since then the D-Bags have been white-hot, winning 26 of their last 34 games, moving from 8 games UNDER.500 to 10 games OVER .500.  This run includes winning 8 of their last 10 series, including two 3-game sweeps and 2-game sweeps, the most recent coming this past week with a 4 game sweep over 1st place Pittsburgh.  They have won 11 out of 12 with 7 of those wins coming on the road.  The pitching staff as been more Hendersonville than it has been Jersey Shore, in 21 games in August the staff has yielded more than 4 runs, just 4 times and only one time in the last 12. 

This last 5 game stretch did not come with a few repercussions though.  After this team going for much of the summer months without an injury they suffered two in the same inning just moments apart.  On August 22nd, Curt Lucas replaced Jose Brito to start the 7th inning with the Bags trailing Pittsburgh 3-2.  On a pitch where Lucas got Rich Smith to ground out he immediately grabbed his elbow and signaled for a trainer.  He was taken off the field and the news was disheartening, torn flexor tendon in his pitching elbow, with surgery and rehab it is a year long comeback.  German Huerta came in and relieved Lucas and proceeded to strikeout Elijah Stuart on 5 pitches before pulling himself out of the game as well.  We later learned that he had strained triceps and will keep him on the shelf for up to a month.  Huerta was an important part of last year's bullpen before having control issues and problems avoiding the long ball this year.

The team will recall hard throwing MR Lucio Tapia who struggled with the club earlier this year but has looked much improved in AAA.  They will also call up MR Augusto "Buddy" Robles, who has been on the DL for nearly 5 months with irritation with his ulnar nerve.  He hasn't pitched in a big league game since 2007, but has posted average numbers in AAA the last 3 seasons. 

Each week it seems like someone new is producing on the offensive end, and this past 5 game stretch was no different as David Pena held the hot bat.  He hit in all 5 games, drove in runs in 3 of them, and added 2 HR, bringing his season total to a team high 22.  1B/DH Milliard Cross and 2B Antionio Ruiz also hit in all 5 games and have 10 and 6 game hit streaks respectively. 

 

After the 4 game sweep of the Pirates, Jersey has garnered some attention from the league and are no longer sneaking up, but in the thick of things.  It begs the question though, Is this team for real?  7 games remain in August against contending teams, and 34 games overall is what remains this season.  If this team can keep up it's winnings ways the end of this season could get interesting.  Of Jersey's last 13 games, 7 of them are against Greenville, the team tied with Pittsburgh for the division and WC lead.  Let's hope for a fun one.

GO D-BAGS

Sneaking Up

Our last update saw your beloved D-Bags sitting at .500 since the first time since the opening weeks of the season.  Over the past 9 games, they have treated us to some of the best baseball they have played all year, going 7-2 and climbing to 5 games over .500 for the best mark of the 2012 season.  With the recent surge they have snuck up to 5.5 games behind Wild Card leader and division foe Greenville, and 4.5 games back of Oklahoma.  

Over those last 9 games, the offense is averaging 5.8 runs per game, which is almost a run above their season average, but it hasn't been the offense that has been winning them games, for the first time in awhile we can, it has been the pitching.  In 8 of the last 9 games played the starter has made it at least through 7 innings, and only once gave up more than 4 runs.  That includes 2 excellent starts and wins from Jose Brito, while Jose Reyes has ran his undefeated streak to 9 starts.  The bullpen has been good, though they were responsible for one of the two losses.  They have given up 5 ER over the 9 game span.

On the offensive side of things, it has been a complete team effort.  Not just one person has stepped up to carry the team.  In 9 games, 10 different players have multi-hit games.  This includes Antonio Ruiz having a two triple game, Ik-jun Ye's muti HR game, Mario Ramirez's re-found swing and Milliard Cross's excellent play since being recalled from AAA to replace the recently traded Juan Garcia.  

As good as the D-Bags have been playing, they are running out of time to make a run.  Only 39 games remain, and while it might seem like a good number of games, being 5.5 games out is a tough number to make up.  Their 11-5 record for the month has gained them exactly 1.5 games in the WC standings.  The up coming 2 weeks will not be easy and will tell the fate of this team.  Tomorrow they start a 4 game series AT division leading Pittsburgh, who has won 6 games in a row.  Pittsburgh holds the series edge at 6-5 right now.  Immediately after that they travel to Oklahoma, who sits in front of Jersey in the WC by 4.5 games, for a 3 game set.  The D-Bags hold the series edge 4-2. An off day, then Pittsburgh comes to Jersey for a quick 2 game set before the Bags head to Madison for a 3 game set to the end the month.  Madison and Jersey are currently tied with a 64-59 record.  12 games against teams over .500.  It will be a very telling next 2 weeks!

GO D-BAGS!

Hernandez Shines in Debut; Tavarez Wins POTW

HERNANDEZ SHINES IN DEBUT

It had been nearly 6 weeks since Hector Hernandez had his last win.  In fact since his last win he has had 3 subpar starts and 4 bullpen appearances since beating The Bruins on 6/22.  In his last start for Orlando he didn't get out of the 2nd inning, giving up 3 hits, 3 walks and 5 earned runs.  While seeming like the odd man out of the rotation for Orlando, he was dealt the next day to Jersey Shore.  

His first start in for Jersey came this past week on 8/4.  He was facing the same Whitewater Warhawks that battered him around and knocked him out in the 2nd inning, but this time things were different.  After allowing a solo HR to Star Carlos Valle in the 1st inning and escaping a 2-on, 2-out jam in the 2nd something clicked for Hernandez.  He only allowed 2 hits and 1 walk in the next 6 innings, going 8 innings strong for his first win as a D-Bag.  It was an encouraging sign after much criticism for trading for such a struggling pitcher at the deadline.  Hopefully this is just the start of the good things we will see from Hernandez in the future.

TAVAREZ WINS POTW

For the first time this season a D-Bag has been named the Trillian Player of the Week.  That player was OF Ramon Taverez.  In 28 AB's, Tavarez pounded out 11 hits, including 2 2B, 3 HR and 5 RBI.  His splits were .393/.414/.786.  He also scored 6 runs in this time period.

 It was Ramon's first POTW award in his short career.  Tavarez first saw action in the big leagues as a 24 year old rookie for Jersey in 2010.  In 23 games he hit a pedestrian .238 with 0 HR, amassing 15 hits in 63 AB's.  That year he went on to hit 17 HR in AAA Tuscaloosa while posting a .358 BA.  In 2011 he saw time in spring training for Jersey, but didn't make the opening day roster.  He went on to lead Tuscaloosa in almost every major offensive category for a team that won 90+ games.  The most notable statistics were the 26 HR and 100+ RBI.  Power numbers that we hadn't seen in Tavarez's minor league career up to this point.

After dealing William Hinson in the offseason, Tavarez would have thought to be a shoe-in for a roster spot in 2012.  Yet, he started the season back in familiar Tuscaloosa.  He got the call up to the show in the last week of April and finally got his chance to start when others faltered during early May.  Once given that shot he hasn't looked back since.  On the year, Tavarez, is hitting .302/.329/.500 while bashing 11 HR and 39 RBI.

Prospect Lookback and Breakdown - Matt "Down Home" Doyle

With the 1st year player draft pool being announced this past weekend, we thought we would take the time to look back at the D-Bag's last year's first round pick, 1B Matt "Down Home" Doyle.

Doyle was a decorated star coming out of University of Texas, having one of the better careers the college level had ever seen.  He left school with the highest batting average ever sitting at .410, with 3 of his 4 years besting the .400 mark.  His OPS still sits 4th as well as his OBP and he ranks in the Top 10 of most every other major category over the college career.

Needless to say, Jersey was ecstatic when Doyle fell all the way to them at pick number 18 in the first round of last's year's amateur draft.  Pre-draft lists and reports had him going between 10-15, but as high as 7, so GM Josh Swain and co. jumped on the opportunity to add the collegiate star.

At age 22 at the time of the draft, the Virginia native was eager to jump into professional baseball and show his merit.  Jersey Shore sent him to their A-ball affiliate Manhattan to play for the Meatheads.  Doyle played in the Meatheads final 21 games after being drafted and things did not go as planned.  Instantly you could tell that pro ball pitching was much different than Doyle had seen at the college level.  He struggled immensely only managing 14 hits in 83 AB's for an impossibly low .169 average.  Combine that with only 3 walks in 86 PA, and his OBP was less than a 1/3 of what it was at Texas.

 Doyle on his struggles, "It was frustrating.  I went from a level where I hit everything, had extreme confidence and was having fun.  I get drafted and I couldn't have been higher, but once you start slumping it messes with your head.  Instead of going out there and having fun, I was out there mad at myself, trying to hard and wasn't getting results.  It was a long off season, so many things going through your head and I just wanted to get back out there."

In the off season Doyle spent time back in his high school gym hitting with his old high school coach just to get back to the basics.  About 3 weeks before Spring Training started Doyle flew down to Jersey's training complex and spent time hitting with Jersey Shore stars Parker Morrow and Mason Bonniface. 

Despite his struggles of 2011, Baseball America named him the 41st best prospect in VBL6 before the season.  Whatever he did in the offseason took immediate effect as he came out in April and hit .291, bashing 4 HR being thrust into the cleanup spot in Manhattan.  Through July his numbers are immensely improved from his first 21 game stint as a rookie.  He has put up a respectable .253/.333/.392 line while hitting 13 HR and knocking in 64 RBI.  He leads the team in RBI and is 2nd in HR.  He knows that those stats aren't going to stick out on a page, but a much needed improvement for the still young 23 year old.

If everything goes to plan Doyle should find himself tested with a promotion to Gainesville for the last month or so of the season.  If he continues to improve we can only help that we will see him manning 1st base for the D-Bags in the future.  

For our next prospect breakdown, we will take a look at 2010 1st round pick: 2B Mike "Coffin" Bryant

Jersey Shore - July 2012

June treated Jersey Shore very well with a 16-11 record in June, Jersey kept up their winning ways in July going 15-11 even though they faced a brutal schedule which included the majority of teams over .500.  They gained 3 games on Pittsburgh, but still sit 10 games out of first place, and 7 games out of the Wild Card.  We saw good pitching and even the first Pitcher of the Month Award for 2012.


Players of the Month:
SP Jose Reyes: 5-0, 1.16 ERA, 1.16 WHIP.  After coming off the DL in June and having 3 sub par starts Reyes turned it on in July winning all 5 of his starts and being named the Pitcher of the Month for the Trillian League.  His wins including ones against Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Greenville.  He improved his record to 7-1 on the season.

CL Daniel Morris: 1-0, 9 Saves, 0.00 ERA  0.72 WHIP.  For the 2nd straight month Morris was dominate making the Players of the Month list.  He appeared in 10 games, 9 of them in situations and converted all of them.  After he signed a one year deal which was deemed ill advised by fans, Morris has stepped in and been one of the best closers in the league.  He also signed a 3 year deal earlier in the month.

MR Jose "Dog Pound" Gomes:  1-0, 1.27 ERA, 0.82 WHIP:  2nd straight month for Gomes on the POTM list as well.  He set up Morris beautifully, giving up one ER all month long to Sacramento.  After a rough start to the season he has improved his overall ERA to 2.11 and his WHIP to 1.21.  He and Morris anchor the league's 3rd best bullpen ERA wise.

SS Jerome Lindsey: .315/.406/.413 2 HR 11 RBI:  Coming off the DL was a kick in the pants for offense at a position Jersey was sorely missing.  If he can stay healthy Jersey has a top of the lineup threat, but his problem has been staying on the field.  

OF Ramon Tavarez: .343/.365/.600 5 HR 16 RBI:  Tavarez is one of the stranger leadoff hitters you will see.  He lead the team in HR and RBI.  He took only 3 walks and struck out 14 times, but amassed a SLG% of .600.  The switch hitter mashed righties for the month, with his stats he is more of the prototypical 3 or 5 hitter, but looks to stay in the leadoff role.

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

The first roster changes came with the trade deadline.  Jersey sent 2B Jose Nunez to Los Angeles in return for 2B prospects Rafeal Lara.  Then Jersey dealt Tak-hing Ma and Juan Garcia to Orlando in exchange for SP Hector Hernandez and Bill Welshman.  Garcia was part of the original team but was sent to make room for AB's for Milliard Cross and Derrick Wright.  Hernandez will see where he can fit into the rotation.

Again the bullpen was dominate the starting pitching was better, and the offense stepped up enough to win 15 games.  The team still didn't show much power, hitting 18 HR in 26 games, but with the addition of Cross to the 25 man roster, we are hoping to see more of it the next month.

With Nunez being traded Top Prospect Antonio Ruiz was called up again to be the full time starting 2B.  He has struggled there thus far after killing AAA, we will see how he progresses through the later months in the year.  With Garcia being gone the 1B/3B/DH AB's will be split between Parker Morrow, David Pena and Milliard Cross.  If any of them falter, 26 year old 1B Derrick Wilson is posting historically big numbers in AAA waiting for his spot. 

A question that wasn't answered in July was again the young starting pitching.  Rob Goodship got 2 starts, one ok and one terrible.  Jerry Paige is still in AAA, awaiting his shot at the rotation as well.  The only other questions that can be asked is, can this team continue to stay healthy?  With being 7 games out, can they possibly make a run at the Wild Card?  Which prospects will continue to move up the ladder and which ones will get their shot at the big league club?  Can the bullpen continue to be dominate?  We will see in August!

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore - June 2012

After a dismal 9-19 dismal May for Jersey, the summer heat "heated" up the bats of the D-Bags.  With 1 day left in the month the Bags have a record of 15-11 for the month and will finish with their first winning month of the year.  Despite the overall good month, they went from 9 games back at the beginning of the month to 13 games at the current moment of red hot Pittsburgh.  The month of June brought out better play in many players, but these are the players of the month:

Players of the Month:

3B Parker Morrow: .393/.463/.542 2 HR 12 RBI, 10 2B, 28 R. Parker had an absolutely blistering month.  He hit in every game he started but 2 for the month, amassing 13 multi-hit games, including 5 3-hit or more games.  He scored a league high 28 runs, which more than doubled his total for the season.  His surge helped propel him to be selected as a reserve in this year's All-Star game.

LF Mason Bonniface: .352/.459/.538 3 HR 15 RBI.  Bonniface must have got the hint after the press called him out in last month's PR. Mason was dropped in the order to start the season, which apparently lit a fire under his ass to perform.  He raised his average 40 points and his OPS by over 100 points.  He had 9 multi-hit games, and 2 games with 4 or more hits.  It's no surprise the offense perked up when he had by far his best month.

1B David Pena: .329/.443/.519  5 HR  14 RBI 17 BB.  Needing production from the middle of the order, Pena stepped up in a big way to have his best month of the season.  Batting behind Bonniface and Garcia proved to be a great thing for Pena this month.  After a horrid 27 K's in the month of May, Pena had 26 hits to go with his 17 walks for a .443 OBP for the month.

CL Daniel Morris: 3-0, 4 Saves, 1.65 ERA  0.92 WHIP.  With the starting pitching continuing to struggle, the hard throwing closer stepped up in a big way.  Morris only gave up 3 ER all month long, and actually saw his ERA RISE, despite almost being lights out this month.  He was selected as the #1 closer for the Trillian League All-Star team later this month

MR Jose "Dog Pound" Gomes:  1 Save, 1.02 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 17K/3BB: The only pitcher on the staff better than Morris, was Gomes.  After an uncharacteristic May where a rough run pushed his ERA north of 4.50, Gomes was back to his normal self in June.  Pitching 17.2 innings, he only allowed 14 base runners, and allowed 2 of those to cross the plate.  He lowered his ERA by nearly a run, pushing it to 2.49 on the season.

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

Question of the month last month has been answered, Mason Bonniface appears to be back and healthy.

Can the offense continue to out-slug opponents while the Starting Pitching struggles continue?  I honestly believe if Bonniface, Lindsey, Pena and Morrow can stay healthy that the D-Bags should continue to be in every game regardless of the pitching struggles. The bullpen has been dominate and keep us in the games late.

Jersey Shore plays a brutal schedule in July, facing 3 division leaders and plays 6 of it's 8 series against teams above .500.  It should be interesting to see what happens.

With Jose Nunez coming off the DL later this week, it will be interesting to see what Jersey does with super prospect Antonio Ruiz. He was called up in May and played 2B with Nunez out, and saw time at SS when Lindsey went down for a week.  He had a pedestrian line of .260/.362/.340. We didn't see any of the power he showed in AAA this year thus far, but showed he has the ability to get on base.

With the starting pitching as bad as it has been, when and will we see Top pitching prospects Rob Gooship and Jerry Paige?  With the trade deadline just a month away, will Jersey come to the realization they will not compete for the playoffs and make some trades?  With only a few expiring contracts on the team, who will be available at the deadline?  These questions should be answered as we got through the month of July.

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore - May 2012

May was not kind to the D-Bags of Jersey Shore.  After a slow start a decent May would have put this team back into contention.  That wasn't the case as we saw the D-Bags post up a cringe worthy 9-19 record for the month.  The only bright spot was that 11 of the 19 losses were within 2 runs, which makes it all the more frustrating seeing that they were winnable games.  As we sit right now, the Bags are 24-33 and sit 9 games out of first place.

Players of the Month:

SP Jose Brito: 2-1, 3.71 ERA, 38 K's - The newcomer from Sacramento continued to the team's best starter going into the 7th inning of all 6 of his May starts.  Lack of run support has hampered his record, but still has only lost 1 games this season.

CL David Morris: 1W, 5 saves, 10.2 IP, 0 ER - People turned heads when Morris signed a 1-year deal for 8.4 million last year, but all he has done thus far is impress.  Although he did lose 2 games in May, he did not give up an earned run.  Both losses came on blown saves fully put on the shoulders of the defense which led to 6 unearned runs. 

RF Michael Paul: .309/.398/.444, 2 HR, 13 RBI - You can tell by these numbers that if he was the best, it was a slow offensive month.  Paul came from LA in the off season for his ability to get on base, and he did that May posting an OBP of .398 and scoring 14 runs.

Roster Questions and Changes:

The big question is: What in the Hell Happened to Mason Bonniface?!?  A slow start didn't concern many people but in May when he continued to post putrid numbers, head officials in Jersey are scared.  Bonniface coming off a season where he posted huge numbers including a VORP of over 61 and an OBP of .433, good for 2nd in the league.  In 2011 he has completely looked like a different player hitting with a line of .218/.358/.295 while only hitting 2 HR and 10 XBH through 200 ABs this season.  It is a big concern and a big aspect onto why this offense is struggling so much.

Jerome Lindsay the D-Bags former All-Star SS returned after missing 9 months with a broken kneecap to give this team some much needed production at SS.  In 7 games in May Lindsay hit .286, but had an OBP of .444, adding 3XBH.  Thus far in June he has gone 6 for 11, climing that avg to .375 and his OBP up to an even .500.

After signing a small contract of 680K for 2 seasons, Jose Nunez became a staple at 2B this season for the Bags.  The former 2B of Madison came in with low expectations.  Through May he posted a line of .283/.379/.361 driving in 22 and scoring 19 runs.  On June 1st he suffered a severe ankle sprain and will probably miss the entire month.

Because of the poor play by MI options other than Lindsay, super prospect Antonio Ruiz, who has tore up AAA ball this year, will be called up for this week's games.  He leaves Tuscaloosa where he put up 11 HR and 46 RBI, posting a VORP of 18.4.  He can play all 4 IF positions but will most likely see time at 2B, hoping to provide a spark for this struggling offense.  Ruiz was ranked the 40th best prospect this season by BA on April 1st, 2011.