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
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