After scoring at will against the #1 pitching team in the CL statistically and marching into the CLCS in 5 games over the Vista Panthers things took a turn for the worse for the Jersey Shore D-Bags. Being the Wild Card team, Jersey headed to Toronto for the 2nd straight year in the playoffs. Last year they were triumphant in 6 games after falling behind 2-0. This year the same wasn't to be true, even though the first 3 games things were quite similar.
Game 1
Game 1 would pit 2 youngester against each other. 21 year old Jose Ramos for Jersey and 20 year old Ramiro Jimenez for Toronto. While Ramos had the better regular season, it would be Jimenez's day to shine here in Toronto.
Jose Ramos who only gave up 8 HR in over 113 innings pitched this season would give up 3 to Toronto in the first 4 innings as German Rivas, Ben Moss and Vincent Hobbs would hit 3 HR that resulted in 4 runs before the 4th inning was even over. Jimenez on the other hand was overly efficient, going 6.1 IP, only throwing 72 pitches, giving up 1 ER on 3 hits, walking no one and getting 1 strike out. He would induce 12 ground ball outs on the day. Jersey finally got to MR Koshiro Shibutani in the 7th with a 2 run HR by Dave Dodd and an RBI triple from Tim Duncan in the 8th to make it a one run game. Jersey would have runners on 1st and 3rd with no one out in the 8th but the big guns of Lawrence Schroeder, Mike Bryant and Matt Doyle couldn't put anything in play worth while of bringing in a run that would have tied the game.
Jose Gomes danced around trouble in the 9th to keep it a 1 run game. Dave Dodd would leadoff the 9th with a double putting the tying run 180 feet from the plate. 2 groundouts left Dodd at 2nd before Alberto Perez and Luis Antonio Duran drew walks to load the bases. Toronto closer Jose Murillo would come in and strike out Peter Larson to end the game. The Bags stranded 5 runners in the last 2 innings and lost by 1 run. Lost chances would be a theme in this series.
Final Score: Toronto 4 Jersey 3
POTG: Ramiro Jimenez 6.1IP, 3H, 1ER, 0BB, 1K
Game 2
Game 2 was your example of a classic pitchers duel. Taking the mound for Jersey would be their ace Art Ellis, coming off a brilliant outing where he clinched Game 5 and the series for the Bags against Vista. For Toronto Mr. Incredible Jung-keun Yi.
Not to speed things along but both pitchers were excellent through 6 innings. Art Ellis despite walking 3 batters, hadn't given up a hit through 6 innings, and Yi was just as good, walking no one and giving up only 2 hits, a double to Manny Romero and a single to Mikey Bryant.
Yi would be pulled after just 73 pitches when Bryant started off the inning with a single and Matt Doyle was plunked to put 2 runners on with no outs. But like game 1 Jersey would squander the opportunity when Dodd would strike out and Adam Morrow grounded in a double play to end the inning. Ellis would surrender his first hit in the bottom of the 7th with an Overbeek single. Ben Moss would also walk, but Toronto would strand both runners taking us to the 8th in a 0-0 game.
Art Ellis entered the 8th inning with 100 pitchers even and was coming in to face the teeth of the Toronto lineup, a trio of left handers in Rivas, Cuan and Fujita. Kim was warming up in the pen, but manager Kevin Davis stuck with Ellis. He got Rivas to groundout before walked Cuan on 4 pitches. Maybe it was time for Ellis to go. Davis stuck with him, it would prove to be costly. Fujita would take the 3rd pitch of the AB and crush it. A homerun. Only Ellis's 2nd hit given up of the game. A very costly hit. It gave Toronto a 2 run lead in the 8th inning. Ellis would get another out and give up another walk until he was replaced by Gomes who ended the inning. Overall for Ellis, 7.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs.
Mike Bryant would give Jersey a small sample of home with a 2 out triple but Matt Doyle of course would leave him stranded with a stikeout giving Toronto a rare shut out of Jersey, a 2-0 win and a 2-0 lead in the series with their ace scheduled to start Game 3.
Final Score: Toronto 2 Jersey 0
POTG: Jung-kuen Yi: 6.0IP, 3H, 0ER, 0BB, 6K
Game 3
For Game 3 we would go to Jersey where the Bags went undefeated their in the Vista series. Hopefully the bats would wake up after a dismal performance in the first 2 games. Going to the hill for the Bags would be veteran Dan Macias to face the ace of Toronto Guillermo Mendoza.
After Macias set Toronto down in order in the first Jersey would get started early. Doubles by Schroeder, Bryant and Dodd would bring in 2 runs giving Jersey an early 2-0 lead. Macias would cruise through the 2nd and the 3rd before the real party started. A single and 2 run HR from Bryant would start the 3rd inning, followed by 2 more singles to keep it going. An error, hit by pitch, single and a bases clearing triple from Duncan would send Mendoza to the showers for his shortest outing of the season. He was charged with 9 runs, 8 earned, in only 2.1 IP.
Jersey wasn't done as Warren Goyer added a 2-run HR in the 4th and a 2-run single from Dodd in the 5th. On the other side of the ball Macias was the Macias of old. Besides a walk and 2 singles in the 4th that brought across a Toronto run, he was masterful. Macias would pitch a complete game, 6 hitter, giving up only 1 ER, walking 2 and strike out 5. The bats would knock in 13 runs on 14 hits, giving them some breathing room and a sense that the bats were back.
Final Score: Jersey 13 Toronto 1
POTG: Mike Bryant: 3-3, 3R, 2B, HR, 2BB, 3RBI, SB
Game 4
Game 4 would be a tough decision on who to send to the mound, Jose Ramos on short rest or Rob Goodship who hadn't start since the regular season. Jersey would select Goodship but in hindsight it wouldn't matter anyways. Toronto brought game 1 hero 20 year old Ramiro Jimenez back and he would top his Game 1 performance.
Goodship wouldn't even last 5 innings when German Rivas's solo HR, his 2nd of the series, would send Goodship to the showers with his 5th ER given up of the game. Earlier Fujita hit his 2nd HR of the series as well. Jimenez on the other hand was good, really good. He sliced and diced his way through the Jersey lineup giving up 4 hits through 7 innings of work. It only took him 83 pitches, walking 1 and striking out 3. The bullpen would come in and shutout the Jersey lineup for the last 2 innings giving Toronto 2 shutouts in 3 games. Jersey had been shutout in only 4 games all season long, and Toronto magic had done it twice in the series. Jersey was down to their last breath.
Final Score: Toronto 5 Jersey 0
POTG: Ramiro Jimenez: 7IP, 4H, 0ER, 1BB, 3K
Game 5
Game 5, Jersey's last stand, going against Yi who dominated them in Game 2. Going for Jersey was their kid ace Jose Ramos. Things would get started in true Jersey fashion of this series when the final out of the 1st inning was a runner thrown out at the plate to end the inning. In the 2nd and 3rd innings the teams would trade 2-run HR's, Toronto for Ben Moss and Jersey's for Sergio Rodriguez.
The tie would last until the 5th when Toronto would push across 2 more runs and a Fujita 2-out double in the 6th would give Toronto a 5-2 lead. German Rivas would hit his 3rd HR in 5 games in the 7th giving Toronto a cushy 4-run lead and 9 outs from the World Series. For the first time in the series though, Jersey actually put up a fight. The bottom of the 7th Sergio Rodriguez would hit his 2nd HR of the game, a solo shot chipping into Toronto's lead. In the 8th Warren Goyer and Manny Romero would hit back-to-back solo HR's off of Fred Martin to make it a 1 run game.
Jersey's bullpen was good in the entire series and got them to the 9th still down 1 run. A Peter Larson lead off single would even give them a chance. He would advance into scoring position on Sergio Rodriguez's groundout. But again clutch hitting, which Jersey has had all season would allude the Bags. Rookie Lawrence Schroeder would strike out and future hopeful MVP Mike Bryant would groundout to end the series and Jersey's season. Closer Jose Murillo would get his 4th save in 6 days against Jersey and a 6-5 loss would send the Bags home for the off season to think about where things went wrong after such a great season.
Final Score: Toronto 6 Jersey 5
POTG: Sergio Rodriquez: 3-4, 2R, 2HR, 3BI
What an interesting series it was. Toronto's pitching came to play, that is everyone except Mendoza, who you would have thought would be the pitcher to shut the Bags down. Ramiro Jimenez would baffle the Jersey bats in 2 starts and Yi in another. The CL's leading team in OBP, would draw 1 walk in the 4 games that Jimemez and Yi would start which is absolutely baffling. It just wasn't meant to be for this year's D-Bags. Toronto will continue their magical run, much as Jersey did last year, beating the 2 teams with the league's best records to advance to the World Series where they will face the LA Bruins, making their first World Series. We will have a new winner in the BSA this year. Look back for a season in review and team awards, coming soon.
GO D-BAGS
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