On to the CLCS; Jersey Shore vs. Toronto

After flexing their muscle a little bit, Michael Hoffmeyer came in and shut down Jersey.  Making a statement.  It didn't work.  Jersey combined to score 26 runs in the next 3 games at home to send the Vista Panthers home for the winter and advance to the CLCS for the 2nd straight year.  Last year Jersey played a back and forth series for the ages, besting their chief rival the John Bosma led Greenville 84's for the team's first World Series appearance.  Here they sit again, 4 wins away from repeating as CL Champions.  Standing in their way are Jason Goldberg's Toronto Titans who pulled the upset and beat the 110 win 84's to much shock and awe around BSA nation.  This will be a rematch of last year's ALDS where the Bags won in 6 games.  Let's break it down!

The season the Bags and Titans played each other 9 times, with Jersey going 6-3 in those games.  That included an early season home sweep, Jersey taking 2/3 at home in June and Toronto getting revenge and taking 2/3 at home in August.  Toronto's park is considered death to right handed bats and one of the toughest parks in the league to hit a HR for a dead pull hitter from the right side.  This is due to the Left field line being 370 feet from home plate combined with a 10 foot wall, which is very similiar to Vista's home park in that matter.

Offense:

In retrospect the teams batting averages sat at 2nd and 3rd in the CL.  The biggest difference in these two offenses is the power.  Jersey almost hit double the HR during the year, hold a 65 point advantage in slugging and scored 180 more runs during the year.  A little of this will be because of the different home parks, but Jersey has the power bats.  Outside of Rivas and LuGo, no other Titan had 20+ HR, Jersey had 4 of these players, including Bryant's 40 HR season.

Pitching:

Without Bolden, Savador Perez and Jose Brito the starters for Toronto on paper are not nearly as tough as the starter's Toronto from last year.  The Starter's ERA is almost up a full run from last years team.  Let's not sugar coat it though, Mendoza is one of the best pitchers in the league and the young Jinemez can be the Wild Card for Toronto in this series.  On the other hand Jersey runs with the veterans Ellis and Macias with their own youngster Jose Ramos.  Both bullpens were top 3 in the CL and I would consider them a wash.  

The Starter's

Jersey Shore vs. Toronto:

Art Ellis: 1GS, 0-0, 4.50ERA, 8IP, 4ER, 1BB, 5K

Jose Ramos: No starts

Dan Macias: 3GS, 1-2, 8.36ERA, 14IP, 13ER, 7BB, 14K

Rob Goodship: 3GS, 1-0, 4.66ERA, 19.1IP, 10ER, 1BB, 18K

Toronto vs Jersey Shore:

Guillermo Mendoza:  2GS, 1-1, 3.10ERA, 20.1IP, 7ER, 5BB, 23K

Jung-keun Yi:  1GS, 1-0, 2.57ERA, 7IP, 2ER, 0BB, 6K

Shawn Jackson: No starts

Ramiro Jimenez: 2GS, 0-1, 9.82ERA, 11IP, 12ER, 5BB, 5K

Lineups:

The lineups will be the same as the CLDS for Jersey.  They are:

vs RHP:

1. LF Peter Larson
2. SS Lawrence Schroeder
3. 2B Mike Bryant
4. DH Matt Doyle
5. RF Dave Dodd
6. 1B Alberto Perez
7. C Luis Antonio Duran
8. CF Fransisco Torres
9. 3B Adam Morrow 

vs. LHP:

1. CF Sergio Rodriguez
2. SS Lawrence Schroeder
3. 2B Mike Bryant
4. 1B Matt Doyle
5. RF Dave Dodd
6. DH Manny Romero
7. C Warren Goyer
8. 3B Alberto Perez
9. LF Tim Duncan

Hitters vs. Probable Toronto starters:

vs. Mendoza:

Rodriguez 2/4  .500
Schroeder 1/2  .500
Duran 6/13 1 HR .462
Taylor 2/7  .286
Bryant 3/11  .273
Larson  5/23  .217
Dodd  1/6  .167
Doyle 2/14  .143
Romero 1/8  .125
Perez 1/9  .111
Morrow 0/6  .000
Torres 0/3  .000

vs Yi:

Schroeder 1/2  .500
Rodriguez 5/13  .385
Bryant 6/17  2HR  .353
Larson 1/3  .333
Perez 3/11  .273
Morrow  3/12   .250
Romero 2/10  HR  .200
Doyle 1/9  .111
Goyer 1/16  .063
Duncan 0/4  .000
Dodd 0/2  .000

vs. Jackson:

Duran  2/4  HR  .500
Doyle 1/2  .500
Larson 6/15  .400
Bryant 1/4  .250
Goyer 0/3  .000
Taylor 0/5  .000

vs. Jimenez

Duncan 4/6  .667
Perez 2/4  HR  .500
Morrow 1/2  .500
Romero 2/5  HR  .400
Dodd 2/6  .333
Schroeder 1/3  .333
Torres 1/7  HR  .143
Goyer 0/1  .000
Doyle 0/4  .000
Bryant 0/5  .000
Rodriguez 0/6  .000


Looking at this, The Bags have obviously struggled versus Mendoza, which is a blessing they will not be facing him 3 times in this series.  There has been more success against Yi, and not much to go by against Jimenez and Jackson.  It should be interested to see how the Toronto starters can handle the Jersey bats, especially after considering how much they knocked around the Vista pitching in the last series.  Either way we have two talented teams going at it for a berth in the World Series.  Be prepared for a great series!

GO D-BAGS