For the 2nd year in a row, Jersey Shore has taken a major blow to their Starting Rotation. After losing Art Ellis for the majority of the 2017 season, ace Jose Ramos was taken out in the 4th inning of his 2nd start vs. the St. Charles Sheens. After giving up a 1st inning run, the Bags spotted Ramos 7 runs in the first 3 innings and he was cruising along. The last batter he faced was Dominique Marquis, whom he struck out on 3 pitches, the last being a beautiful change up which he got Marquis to waive at. He immediately grabbed his arm and the trainers rushed out.
After trainers took a look at him it had come to light that he partially tore his labrum in his pitching arm. The doctor's gave the diagnosis and told the media if everything goes right he should be able to pitch again in 4 months. This means he should return to rehab towards the end of August, possibly into September. The only good news is if the team is in playoff contention, he could get a few starts in after rehab and possibly in the playoffs if the team makes it that far.
"It really is a blow. I felt the kid was going to establish himself as one of the league's premier pitchers this year. We are lucky in a sense that it will not require Tommy John surgery, which you know, would have kept him out 12-14 months. We are also lucky that we are one of the few organizations who has depth at starting pitching. Management bringing in Lara over the winter now looks a helleva lot more important than it did at the time," is what GM Josh Swain had to say about the injury.
Jerry Burgess took over the 5th spot in the rotation after being regulated to the bullpen this year and has looked overly dominate in 2 starts since the injury. In 4 starts since coming over to Jersey this season, Jose Lara has struggled to an ERA of 8.22 which the team expects to even out after some more starts. Art Ellis has also struggled posting an ERA of 5.59 after 3 starts. We do not expect these 2 above average pitchers to continue to struggle, and hope we see a turnaround soon.
After 18 games, Jersey has yet to find an offensive rhythm, as they have scored almost a league worst 63 runs, their MVP is hitting under 200, and only 2 regulars have an average of 265 or higher. The team, after being swept by Greenville recently, fell to 8-10 and sit 5 games out of the division. They are hoping some home cooking, they play the net 8 games at home, will help even the team back out. They have played 18 games thus far, 4 at home and 14 on the road. They are undefeated at home, while going 4-10 on the road. They say games in April don't matter as much as games late in the season, but in a division that looks better than usual and with Greenville surging and #1 in both offensive and pitching categories, falling too far behind could leave a very tough climb for the rest of the season.
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