D-Bags Owner Seung-min Kim Dies; Son Takes Over

A sad day in the midst of a great season happened this past week as the Jersey Shore D-Bags announced the passing of the only owner this franchise has ever seen.  Seung-min Kim died of natural causes in his Manhattan penthouse early Sunday morning on June 5th.  His wife reported he was up late with the BSA network on when he never came to bed.  She found him dead in his favorite easy chair.

His son, Seung-min Kim Jr. has been groomed to take over his position for sometime now.  Born in Atlantic City, Kim Jr. grew up playing ball and attended Rutgers, followed by Business School at nearby Penn.  He graduated with his MBA just 2 years before the BSA formed and his father purchased the D-Bags.  He was immediately hired and ran analytics behind the scenes but was always a clubhouse staple.  A person with a lot of power within the organization, but a young enough one to fraternize and see eye-to-eye with the players.  The transition should be an easy one for the franchise as in the past 1-1.5 years the Sr, Kim's duties became less and less as he spent less time at the ballpark and more time in the families vacation home in the Caribbean island of St. Marteen.  

While Kim Sr. was known through baseball circles as a cutthroat business man who always wanted results, the Jr. Kim has praised patients and will give the GM a bigger leash with the payroll.  It is a sad thing that Kim Sr. could never see his team bring home a championship as Jersey Shore made it to the World Series, only to come up empty both times.  Once to Hendersonville in an epic 7 game battle and the other just 2 seasons ago to the Boston Rebels.

For the remainder of the season the team will wear a patch on their left shoulder with SKS to commemorate the late owner.  At the time of his death, the Jersey Shore D-Bags currently sit atop the CL East division with a 3 game lead over rival Greenville and boast the best record in the CL at 41-16.

GO D-BAGS 

Jersey Rallies From 5 Down & Wins in Extras; Seattle Butt hurt in Process

The Seattle Pikes visited Jersey earlier this month for a 3-game set which the D-Bags would eventually sweep.  The middle game of the series was the game of the year for Jersey Shore and one of the biggest comebacks in team history.  Down 5 going into the bottom of the 9th, there was little hope for the home town team.  Especially considering a comment GM Kevin Carter made just days earlier on Twitter about "the great pen" Seattle is suppose to have.  The best part about the comeback is All-Star Jim Nelson retired Kisuki and Bryant back to back to start the inning with 2 outs.  Then all hell broke loose.

A single from Dodd gave an extra batter and the next man up was Francisco Torres would would take a 1-2 pitch and deposit it the Right-Center bleachers for a 2-run HR.  Still, the Bags would still trail by 3.  Seattle would go to the pen and bring in wonderkid Christian Escobar and his 99 MPH fastball.  Rookie Own Carter would leg out an infield single that "King" Martinez couldn't make a play in time with.  3B Fabrice Brodeur would then walk on 5 pitches to put the tying run at the plate, another rookie, 2B John Moore.  Moore would fight off 3, 1-2 pitches, fouling them all back before slicing a double down the left field line.  Both Carter and Broduer would score, making it a 1 run game.  Seattle would opt to leave Escobar in the game to pitch to SS Lawrence Schroeder, which would turn out to be a bad decision.  Schroeder would take a 2-2 pitch and knock it up the middle scoring Broduer.  The game almost ended when Moore, who was off with the pitch, came sliding home only be to be tagged out at the last second to send the game the extras.

Both bullpens would match each other until the 14th inning when Ricardo Berroa would walk, take 3rd on a single from Brodeur and score on an errant throw when he was sliding into 3rd base.  It was a walk off win but there was more talk about the HBP from Jersey closer Gerald Johnson that broke Seattle's DH Luka Lagerweij's hand in the 13th inning.  

Seattle GM Kevin Carter came out in the post game press conference and blamed the Jersey staff for intentionally hitting and hurting Lagerweij.  GM Swain had this rebuttle. "I completely respect Lagerweij's game.  I actually feel bad for the guy.  He has supreme power and he plays his home games in one of the hardest parks to hit a HR for a left-handed hitter.  One thing I don't respect though is showing up pitchers.  In the 1st inning he hit a 3-run HR.  Yes, our pitcher Garcia made a mistake and he capitalized on it, but you don't stand and admire your work, plus it was a 349 foot shot.  He acted like he hit 500 feet.  Our catcher Carter noticed he kept creeping closer and closer jamming the plate and our Manager Negrete told Johnson to brush him off the plate.  The ball tailed a little bit and got him on the hand.  No negligence.  Part of the game.  We hope for a speedy recovery and this conversation is over."

Through Saturday May 28th, Jersey Shore sits with a 35-16 record which is the best in the CL, and that's after a current 4-game losing streak.  With 3 games left in May, the D-Bags need to win 2/3 for a 20 win month.  They finish a quick 2-game tilt with Vista before finishing the month with 2 @ division rival Chicago.

Ramos-Bryant-Bags Off to Hot April Start

April has come and May begins tomorrow and the Jersey Shore D-Bags can look back with an approving look on their face after going 17-9 and ending the month tied atop the standings with the reigning BSA champs Greenville 84's.  The team tallied that record despite only playing 10 of their first 26 games at home.  For once the pitching has led the team.  The club's ERA sits 2nd in the CL while the offense doesn't trail far behind finishing the month 5th in CL in runs scored.

The pitching staff was led by staff ace Jose Ramos who is hoping to bounce back from his down year last year after finishing 2nd in Cy Young award voting in 2020.  Ramos started 6 times for Jersey in April and won all 6 starts, giving up more than 2 ER only once and went 8 innings in every start except a rain shortened start vs Springfield.  He finishes the month with a 1.93 ERA, 1.01 WHIP to go with a an excellent 5 K/BB ratio.  In his last 2 starts he beat 1st place teams St. Charles and Toronto as well.  

On the offensive end of things, it's but who else, Mike Bryant leading the team in almost every category.  Reigning MVP Dave Dodd had a slow start and is starting to pick things up, but it's Bryant who has been Mr. Consistent thus far for the Bags.  He has played in all 26 games so far and finishes April with a slash line of: .377/.431/.726 to go along with 5 doubles, a triple, 10 HR and 28 RBI, good for 2.1 WAR in the first month alone.

Look ahead to the May schedule, we have inter-league play starting where the Bags will travel to the bayou for a 3 game set with New Orleans before welcoming the Maui Tropics to town for a 3 game set.  May will also feature the first of 17 games between Jersey and Greenville when Jersey travels to Greenville to play a 4-game tilt on May 23rd.

GO D-BAGS