The ride here has been anything except boring for the boys of the Jersey Shore D-Bags. After leading the CL East for most of the season, it took winning 5 of their last 7 games, including a sweep of Greenville just to reach a 1 game playoff for the 84's. Late home runs by Boyd and Doyle lifted the Bags to their 1st division title in 6 years and a chance to host Pocatello, a team in the playoffs for the 1st time in 15 years, in the division round.
Jersey Shore quickly found themselves down 3-1 in the series with Boccabellas facing elimination on the road. But the team wouldn't let that happen. An 8-2 win fueled by 12 hits and a gritty 6 inning outing by Sergio Martinez on 3-day's rest sent the D-Bags back home, where they had to win both games, including beating the reigning 3-time Cy Young award winner Kevin Bush. Cristobal Santos would match Bush for 7 innings before handing things off the bullpen and a walk-off RBI double from Pat Zimmerman off of All-Star closer Adrian Martinez would send us to Game 7. Call it a high, momentum or just plain confidence but Jersey Shore would dominate Game 7, led by Roland Martin's 7 shutout innings and emerging star catcher Luis Rios with 3 hits out of the 9 hole as well seldom used 4th outfielder Wilson Martinez who doubled twice and knocked in 2 runs. A final score of 8 to nothing couldn't even be celebrated as the D-Bags loaded up and flew to Springfield that same night to face the Stars in Game 1 of the CLCS the very next day.
The Stars finished with the best record in the CL as well as best record in team history at 111-51. It was the Springfield's franchise 1st playoff appearance since 2011 when they were known as the Kansas City Cougars. That 2011 team was led by some names you might have heard of. They include the great Jean-Thomas Francoeur, John Garrett and John Crowe. The 2026 Stars might not have the HOF names yet, but they are loaded with talent. Trotting out the most productive outfield the BSA has ever seen in Derek Davidson, Calvin Bennett and Felipe Guerrero. Trotting out other bats that include Elliot Newell and Juan Rodriguez, the Stars led the BSA in runs with 1006. They became just the 2nd CL team in history to cross the 1000 run threshold, as the only other team to do so were the 2022 Greenville 84's. BTW....the 2022 Springfield Stars? A CL record of just 555 runs scored. What a difference 5 seasons can make.
The Stars strolled into the postseason with the #1 seed and looked part in beating the powerhouse Greenville team by scoring 28 runs in 5 games and finishing off the 84's with a shutout in a Game 5, 3-0 win on the road. They would get 3 days off to rest before Jersey Shore would come to town for the CLCS. Maybe the off days got them out of a rhythm or a funk, but the offense never came for the Stars. Jersey would take the first two games of the series in Springfield. Game 1 a close 4-3 contest, as the D-Bag bats put up 4 runs on Kyu-Pyeong Pak with the go ahead runs coming in the 6th inning off of the bat of Pat Zimmerman by way of a 2-run HR. Game 2 saw a slugfest in the 1st 3 innings, as Jersey came out in the 4th inning up 6-5. Jesse Green would pitch out of trouble multiple times in the next 3 innings before handing things off to the bullpen who tossed 3 nearly perfect innings leading to a 7-5 Jersey win to take a firm grip on the series, which was heading to Jersey Shore for the next 3 games.
Game 3 saw an early rain delay knock both starters out before the 6th inning while the Stars took advantage of 2 Jersey errors for 3 unearned runs. The score of 4-3 after 4 innings wouldn't change as both bullpens were dynamite. The bullpens combined for to throw 9 innings, giving up 5 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB and 6 strikeouts. Springfield would avoid going down 3-0 and breathed new life going into Game 4. The Stars would send Pak back to the mound and would face Roland Martin, the Jersey ace for the 1st time in the series. Pak would go on to toss a gem, allowing just 2 singles in 7 shutout innings and would get help with a 3 run 3rd inning fueled by a Derek Davidson 2-run HR as the Stars would go onto win the game 4-2 and even the series at 2 games apiece. The pressure would move to Game 5 with the winner getting a clear cut 3-2 advantage. We would see Sergio Martinez take on Long Haul Lopez. The Bags would get the scoring started right away with home runs by Boyd and Doyle in the 1st innings as well as a solo HR by Serna in the 4th. The Stars would cut into the 4-0 in the 7th with back to back homers from Davidson and Guerrero, but give them right back in the bottom half with a 2-RBI double from Doyle. Davidson would again homer in the 8th, but the Stars just started scoring too late and the boys from Jersey would win the contest 7-4 and go back to Springfield with the series lead.
With the series on the line, Springfield would go to Game 5 hero of the CLDS Hyo-Chin Ch'oe to try and send this series to a deciding Game 7. Cristobal Santos would take the mound on 3 days rest for Jersey. It was smooth sailing for both pitchers through 2 innings until Jersey would appease the hometown crowd with 4, third inning runs coming off the bats of Dodd and Doyle. The Bags would add 2 more runs in the 4th to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Ch'oe would be knocked out in the 5th inning, but that didn't stop the D-Bags from adding on runs. After 6 innings, the lead was 10-2 and would stay like that. Springfield would load the bases with no outs in the 7th, but would fail to score. With the Irvine-Baffin Island series still going on, Jersey Shore would finally get to celebrate the victory with cases of champagne in their own clubhouse taking their 1st CL Pennant since the 2022 team did.
Now comes Irvine. The wire-to-wire best team in the BSA all season long. The team with the best staff in the league. Their 477 runs given up rank 2nd all time, only behind the epic staff of the 2015 Hendersonville Hitmen. Their ace Masutaro with a historic 13.8 WAR season which shattered Scott Hill's previous record. They led the NL in OBP and finished 3rd in runs scored. The BSA will have a new champion this year. Either way, I think we are in for a great series. Congrats Larry and good luck!
GO D-BAGS
Showing posts with label greenville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greenville. Show all posts
Friday, November 11, 2016
Jersey Shore Ousts Pocatello and Springfield to Reach 4th World Series
The ride here has been anything except boring for the boys of the Jersey Shore D-Bags. After leading the CL East for most of the season, it took winning 5 of their last 7 games, including a sweep of Greenville just to reach a 1 game playoff for the 84's. Late home runs by Boyd and Doyle lifted the Bags to their 1st division title in 6 years and a chance to host Pocatello, a team in the playoffs for the 1st time in 15 years, in the division round.
Jersey Shore quickly found themselves down 3-1 in the series with Boccabellas facing elimination on the road. But the team wouldn't let that happen. An 8-2 win fueled by 12 hits and a gritty 6 inning outing by Sergio Martinez on 3-day's rest sent the D-Bags back home, where they had to win both games, including beating the reigning 3-time Cy Young award winner Kevin Bush. Cristobal Santos would match Bush for 7 innings before handing things off the bullpen and a walk-off RBI double from Pat Zimmerman off of All-Star closer Adrian Martinez would send us to Game 7. Call it a high, momentum or just plain confidence but Jersey Shore would dominate Game 7, led by Roland Martin's 7 shutout innings and emerging star catcher Luis Rios with 3 hits out of the 9 hole as well seldom used 4th outfielder Wilson Martinez who doubled twice and knocked in 2 runs. A final score of 8 to nothing couldn't even be celebrated as the D-Bags loaded up and flew to Springfield that same night to face the Stars in Game 1 of the CLCS the very next day.
The Stars finished with the best record in the CL as well as best record in team history at 111-51. It was the Springfield's franchise 1st playoff appearance since 2011 when they were known as the Kansas City Cougars. That 2011 team was led by some names you might have heard of. They include the great Jean-Thomas Francoeur, John Garrett and John Crowe. The 2026 Stars might not have the HOF names yet, but they are loaded with talent. Trotting out the most productive outfield the BSA has ever seen in Derek Davidson, Calvin Bennett and Felipe Guerrero. Trotting out other bats that include Elliot Newell and Juan Rodriguez, the Stars led the BSA in runs with 1006. They became just the 2nd CL team in history to cross the 1000 run threshold, as the only other team to do so were the 2022 Greenville 84's. BTW....the 2022 Springfield Stars? A CL record of just 555 runs scored. What a difference 5 seasons can make.
The Stars strolled into the postseason with the #1 seed and looked part in beating the powerhouse Greenville team by scoring 28 runs in 5 games and finishing off the 84's with a shutout in a Game 5, 3-0 win on the road. They would get 3 days off to rest before Jersey Shore would come to town for the CLCS. Maybe the off days got them out of a rhythm or a funk, but the offense never came for the Stars. Jersey would take the first two games of the series in Springfield. Game 1 a close 4-3 contest, as the D-Bag bats put up 4 runs on Kyu-Pyeong Pak with the go ahead runs coming in the 6th inning off of the bat of Pat Zimmerman by way of a 2-run HR. Game 2 saw a slugfest in the 1st 3 innings, as Jersey came out in the 4th inning up 6-5. Jesse Green would pitch out of trouble multiple times in the next 3 innings before handing things off to the bullpen who tossed 3 nearly perfect innings leading to a 7-5 Jersey win to take a firm grip on the series, which was heading to Jersey Shore for the next 3 games.
Game 3 saw an early rain delay knock both starters out before the 6th inning while the Stars took advantage of 2 Jersey errors for 3 unearned runs. The score of 4-3 after 4 innings wouldn't change as both bullpens were dynamite. The bullpens combined for to throw 9 innings, giving up 5 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB and 6 strikeouts. Springfield would avoid going down 3-0 and breathed new life going into Game 4. The Stars would send Pak back to the mound and would face Roland Martin, the Jersey ace for the 1st time in the series. Pak would go on to toss a gem, allowing just 2 singles in 7 shutout innings and would get help with a 3 run 3rd inning fueled by a Derek Davidson 2-run HR as the Stars would go onto win the game 4-2 and even the series at 2 games apiece. The pressure would move to Game 5 with the winner getting a clear cut 3-2 advantage. We would see Sergio Martinez take on Long Haul Lopez. The Bags would get the scoring started right away with home runs by Boyd and Doyle in the 1st innings as well as a solo HR by Serna in the 4th. The Stars would cut into the 4-0 in the 7th with back to back homers from Davidson and Guerrero, but give them right back in the bottom half with a 2-RBI double from Doyle. Davidson would again homer in the 8th, but the Stars just started scoring too late and the boys from Jersey would win the contest 7-4 and go back to Springfield with the series lead.
With the series on the line, Springfield would go to Game 5 hero of the CLDS Hyo-Chin Ch'oe to try and send this series to a deciding Game 7. Cristobal Santos would take the mound on 3 days rest for Jersey. It was smooth sailing for both pitchers through 2 innings until Jersey would appease the hometown crowd with 4, third inning runs coming off the bats of Dodd and Doyle. The Bags would add 2 more runs in the 4th to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Ch'oe would be knocked out in the 5th inning, but that didn't stop the D-Bags from adding on runs. After 6 innings, the lead was 10-2 and would stay like that. Springfield would load the bases with no outs in the 7th, but would fail to score. With the Irvine-Baffin Island series still going on, Jersey Shore would finally get to celebrate the victory with cases of champagne in their own clubhouse taking their 1st CL Pennant since the 2022 team did.
Now comes Irvine. The wire-to-wire best team in the BSA all season long. The team with the best staff in the league. Their 477 runs given up rank 2nd all time, only behind the epic staff of the 2015 Hendersonville Hitmen. Their ace Masutaro with a historic 13.8 WAR season which shattered Scott Hill's previous record. They led the NL in OBP and finished 3rd in runs scored. The BSA will have a new champion this year. Either way, I think we are in for a great series. Congrats Larry and good luck!
GO D-BAGS
Jersey Shore quickly found themselves down 3-1 in the series with Boccabellas facing elimination on the road. But the team wouldn't let that happen. An 8-2 win fueled by 12 hits and a gritty 6 inning outing by Sergio Martinez on 3-day's rest sent the D-Bags back home, where they had to win both games, including beating the reigning 3-time Cy Young award winner Kevin Bush. Cristobal Santos would match Bush for 7 innings before handing things off the bullpen and a walk-off RBI double from Pat Zimmerman off of All-Star closer Adrian Martinez would send us to Game 7. Call it a high, momentum or just plain confidence but Jersey Shore would dominate Game 7, led by Roland Martin's 7 shutout innings and emerging star catcher Luis Rios with 3 hits out of the 9 hole as well seldom used 4th outfielder Wilson Martinez who doubled twice and knocked in 2 runs. A final score of 8 to nothing couldn't even be celebrated as the D-Bags loaded up and flew to Springfield that same night to face the Stars in Game 1 of the CLCS the very next day.
The Stars finished with the best record in the CL as well as best record in team history at 111-51. It was the Springfield's franchise 1st playoff appearance since 2011 when they were known as the Kansas City Cougars. That 2011 team was led by some names you might have heard of. They include the great Jean-Thomas Francoeur, John Garrett and John Crowe. The 2026 Stars might not have the HOF names yet, but they are loaded with talent. Trotting out the most productive outfield the BSA has ever seen in Derek Davidson, Calvin Bennett and Felipe Guerrero. Trotting out other bats that include Elliot Newell and Juan Rodriguez, the Stars led the BSA in runs with 1006. They became just the 2nd CL team in history to cross the 1000 run threshold, as the only other team to do so were the 2022 Greenville 84's. BTW....the 2022 Springfield Stars? A CL record of just 555 runs scored. What a difference 5 seasons can make.
The Stars strolled into the postseason with the #1 seed and looked part in beating the powerhouse Greenville team by scoring 28 runs in 5 games and finishing off the 84's with a shutout in a Game 5, 3-0 win on the road. They would get 3 days off to rest before Jersey Shore would come to town for the CLCS. Maybe the off days got them out of a rhythm or a funk, but the offense never came for the Stars. Jersey would take the first two games of the series in Springfield. Game 1 a close 4-3 contest, as the D-Bag bats put up 4 runs on Kyu-Pyeong Pak with the go ahead runs coming in the 6th inning off of the bat of Pat Zimmerman by way of a 2-run HR. Game 2 saw a slugfest in the 1st 3 innings, as Jersey came out in the 4th inning up 6-5. Jesse Green would pitch out of trouble multiple times in the next 3 innings before handing things off to the bullpen who tossed 3 nearly perfect innings leading to a 7-5 Jersey win to take a firm grip on the series, which was heading to Jersey Shore for the next 3 games.
Game 3 saw an early rain delay knock both starters out before the 6th inning while the Stars took advantage of 2 Jersey errors for 3 unearned runs. The score of 4-3 after 4 innings wouldn't change as both bullpens were dynamite. The bullpens combined for to throw 9 innings, giving up 5 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB and 6 strikeouts. Springfield would avoid going down 3-0 and breathed new life going into Game 4. The Stars would send Pak back to the mound and would face Roland Martin, the Jersey ace for the 1st time in the series. Pak would go on to toss a gem, allowing just 2 singles in 7 shutout innings and would get help with a 3 run 3rd inning fueled by a Derek Davidson 2-run HR as the Stars would go onto win the game 4-2 and even the series at 2 games apiece. The pressure would move to Game 5 with the winner getting a clear cut 3-2 advantage. We would see Sergio Martinez take on Long Haul Lopez. The Bags would get the scoring started right away with home runs by Boyd and Doyle in the 1st innings as well as a solo HR by Serna in the 4th. The Stars would cut into the 4-0 in the 7th with back to back homers from Davidson and Guerrero, but give them right back in the bottom half with a 2-RBI double from Doyle. Davidson would again homer in the 8th, but the Stars just started scoring too late and the boys from Jersey would win the contest 7-4 and go back to Springfield with the series lead.
With the series on the line, Springfield would go to Game 5 hero of the CLDS Hyo-Chin Ch'oe to try and send this series to a deciding Game 7. Cristobal Santos would take the mound on 3 days rest for Jersey. It was smooth sailing for both pitchers through 2 innings until Jersey would appease the hometown crowd with 4, third inning runs coming off the bats of Dodd and Doyle. The Bags would add 2 more runs in the 4th to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Ch'oe would be knocked out in the 5th inning, but that didn't stop the D-Bags from adding on runs. After 6 innings, the lead was 10-2 and would stay like that. Springfield would load the bases with no outs in the 7th, but would fail to score. With the Irvine-Baffin Island series still going on, Jersey Shore would finally get to celebrate the victory with cases of champagne in their own clubhouse taking their 1st CL Pennant since the 2022 team did.
Now comes Irvine. The wire-to-wire best team in the BSA all season long. The team with the best staff in the league. Their 477 runs given up rank 2nd all time, only behind the epic staff of the 2015 Hendersonville Hitmen. Their ace Masutaro with a historic 13.8 WAR season which shattered Scott Hill's previous record. They led the NL in OBP and finished 3rd in runs scored. The BSA will have a new champion this year. Either way, I think we are in for a great series. Congrats Larry and good luck!
GO D-BAGS
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Jersey Clinches Playoff Spot Despite Decimated Starting Rotation
Jose Ramos, Roland Martin, Ramon Ruiz, Sergio Martinez and Stephen Puckett. The forceful rotation that was set to lead the Jersey Shore D-Bags to the playoffs and contend for their first BSA title. That's what many of fans and management alike saw heading into Spring Training for the 2026 BSA season. Fast forward to today, just 7 days left in the regular season and the D-Bags have clinched a playoff spot, but the starting rotation wasn't how they got there.
The injuries started on April 27th, when 5th starter and former Vista Panther, Cristobal Santos would leave a home game in the 2nd inning against Chicago with immense pain his shoulder. Jersey trainers were hoping it was a sprain, but news quickly came that he had a partially torn labrum which would require surgery and keep Santos out of action up to 4 months. To the DL goes Santos.
The D-Bags would promote super prospect Stephen Puckett to take his place and hopefully cement his place in the rotation for years to come. Everything was going smoothly especially with Jersey Shore up in 1st place in the CL East until June 6th when Puckett left a contest against the Madison Bombers with discomfort in his elbow. A worst case scenario was soon found out as Puckett would need surgery to remove bone spur from the elbow on his pitching arm. Best case scenario following surgery was a 4-5 month time frame, which would put Puckett out for the rest of the season.
Before the D-Bags had time to re-group, just 4 days later, 15 game winner from 2025 Ramon Ruiz would be pulled after 2 innings against Chicago and not return. Similar results would come back and Ruiz would require surgery to remove bone chips from his pitching elbow and would miss the rest of the season and could possibly push into Spring Training. What now?
With AAA also having a few injuries and the talent level barren, the D-Bags looked outside the organization and quickly sparked up a trade with the Vista Panthers. Jersey would bring in veteran starting pitchers Jesse Green and Jose Zamora looking to patch the rotation. To Vista went promising former 1st round pitching prospect Sloan Sanders, who at the time was dominating single-A pitching. Though neither were world beaters, Green and Zamora slotted into the 4th and 5th rotation slots.
With a strong bullpen and very strong offense, the D-Bags would trudge on through the summer months with the CL East lead in hand. On August 17th, Santos was sent to AAA for rehab and was recalled to the big club on September 7th. He was slotted back into the rotation and Zamora would head to the bullpen, though this wouldn't last long.
Just 10 days later staff ace and one of the team captains, 3 time 20 game winner Jose Ramos would leave a game with the Kings in the 2nd inning. Jersey brass feared the worst and soon received news that Ramos would be on the shelf for 3 months with bad elbow inflammation, effective ending his season. Since then the D-Bags have gone 3-7, coughing up the division lead.
With a week to play, the D-Bags who have clinched a playoff spot, trail their arch rival Greenville 84er's by 2 games and eye the playoffs down their top 2 starters and their ace young gun who they had such high hopes for. If the season ended today Jersey would host division rival St. Louis in the best of 3 Wild Card round with a win pitting them against the best team and a similiar built team in the Springfield Stars. For the D-Bags to advance deep into the playoffs, they must have Roland Martin and Sergio Martinez step up and lead this staff as winning slugfests in the playoffs are not how you win ballgames.
Can the D-Bags do it? Of course. Is the road a tough and very uncertain one? Very much so.
GO D-BAGS
The injuries started on April 27th, when 5th starter and former Vista Panther, Cristobal Santos would leave a home game in the 2nd inning against Chicago with immense pain his shoulder. Jersey trainers were hoping it was a sprain, but news quickly came that he had a partially torn labrum which would require surgery and keep Santos out of action up to 4 months. To the DL goes Santos.
The D-Bags would promote super prospect Stephen Puckett to take his place and hopefully cement his place in the rotation for years to come. Everything was going smoothly especially with Jersey Shore up in 1st place in the CL East until June 6th when Puckett left a contest against the Madison Bombers with discomfort in his elbow. A worst case scenario was soon found out as Puckett would need surgery to remove bone spur from the elbow on his pitching arm. Best case scenario following surgery was a 4-5 month time frame, which would put Puckett out for the rest of the season.
Before the D-Bags had time to re-group, just 4 days later, 15 game winner from 2025 Ramon Ruiz would be pulled after 2 innings against Chicago and not return. Similar results would come back and Ruiz would require surgery to remove bone chips from his pitching elbow and would miss the rest of the season and could possibly push into Spring Training. What now?
With AAA also having a few injuries and the talent level barren, the D-Bags looked outside the organization and quickly sparked up a trade with the Vista Panthers. Jersey would bring in veteran starting pitchers Jesse Green and Jose Zamora looking to patch the rotation. To Vista went promising former 1st round pitching prospect Sloan Sanders, who at the time was dominating single-A pitching. Though neither were world beaters, Green and Zamora slotted into the 4th and 5th rotation slots.
With a strong bullpen and very strong offense, the D-Bags would trudge on through the summer months with the CL East lead in hand. On August 17th, Santos was sent to AAA for rehab and was recalled to the big club on September 7th. He was slotted back into the rotation and Zamora would head to the bullpen, though this wouldn't last long.
Just 10 days later staff ace and one of the team captains, 3 time 20 game winner Jose Ramos would leave a game with the Kings in the 2nd inning. Jersey brass feared the worst and soon received news that Ramos would be on the shelf for 3 months with bad elbow inflammation, effective ending his season. Since then the D-Bags have gone 3-7, coughing up the division lead.
With a week to play, the D-Bags who have clinched a playoff spot, trail their arch rival Greenville 84er's by 2 games and eye the playoffs down their top 2 starters and their ace young gun who they had such high hopes for. If the season ended today Jersey would host division rival St. Louis in the best of 3 Wild Card round with a win pitting them against the best team and a similiar built team in the Springfield Stars. For the D-Bags to advance deep into the playoffs, they must have Roland Martin and Sergio Martinez step up and lead this staff as winning slugfests in the playoffs are not how you win ballgames.
Can the D-Bags do it? Of course. Is the road a tough and very uncertain one? Very much so.
GO D-BAGS
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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
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
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Jose Ramos Tears Labrum; Expected To Miss 4 Months
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Jersey Clinches 1st Division Title; Breaks CL Record for Wins
An improbable season, an improbable break out star, business as usual for the D-Bags. September 14th, Jersey was on the road in the middle of a 3 game series with the Vista Panthers. After winning the first game of the series 4-2, Jersey knew that this was the first day they would have a shot at clinching the the CL Eastern division for the first time in their history. It would take a Jersey win over Vista and a Greenville loss at Reno to clinch on that night, not probable, but what was probable this season?
Both games started at 7:05 MST and were played in the Pacific time zones. Jersey would get the scoring started in the 2nd inning, when singles by Goyer and Perez would put runners on the corners with one out. A RBI single by 3B Adam Morrow would score Goyer and back to back wild pitches from Michael Hoffmeyer would bring in Perez making it 2-0 Bags in the 2nd. Vista would get one back when a Yun-qi Qiao would hit an RBI groundout making it a 2-1 game after 2 innings of play.
Jersey 2-1. End of 2.
Cruising along in Reno, the Cards would get on the board first when Kent Hall, who is having a very rough year, doubled down the left field line scoring breakout rookie Sugiyama who had earlier tripled. Reno would lead 1-0 after 3.
Reno 1-0. End of 3.
Back to Vista, it didn't take long for Jersey to get the run they gave Vista in the 2nd as they quickly loaded the bases and Mike Bryant would score on a long fly out sac-fly from Warren Goyer. A walk from rookie Fransisco Ibarra would re-load the bases for Alberto Perez, whose solid hit line drive would find the outfield and bring home 2 more runs making the Jersey lead 5-1. A 1-2-3 inning on 3 pitches from Greg Schaefer would put Jersey to bat again and MVP candidate Bryant hit a scorching line drive that left the park easy for a 6-1 Jersey lead which would stand through the 4th.
Jersey 6-1. End of 4.
While Jersey was busy scoring in Vista, 1st overall pick in this year's amateur draft Jaime Guzman and and fellow 21 year old rookie Cristobal Santos had a pitchers duel going. Few men reached base as threw zeros up on the board which lasted until the bottom half of the 6th inning. Free agent signing Cade Delaney would hit a fly ball that looked routine which just kept carrying 401 feet for his 34th HR of the year giving Reno a 2-0 lead heading into the 7th inning.
Reno 2-0. End of 6.
After getting in a little trouble in the 5th Greg Schaefer switched on cruise control and would walk one and hit one batter over the next 3 innings. Jersey threatened a couple of times but Vista pitching would skirt out of trouble each time as the score remained the same through 7 innings.
Jersey 6-1. End of 7.
Players like Jaime Guzman are the reasons Reno fans have bright hope for the future. Guzman would go 7 1/3 before being pulled after a 10-pitch AB resulting in a single from 84's catcher Fransisco Diaz. It was by far the rookie's best ever outing and left to an ovation from the Reno crowd. A combination of relievers would take us to the bottom half of the inning where Kent Hall's 2nd RBI double of the game gave Reno a 3-0 heading into the 9th inning. Closer Didyu Ghosh would be called upon to save the game for the Cards. He would get Donahue and Hickman easily before a mini scare as former MVP Felix Morales would ruin the shutout with a solo HR into the RF bleachers. It would take only 3 pitches to get promising youngster Enzo Diaz to groundout and secure the win for the Cards.
Reno 3-1. FINAL 9:32 MST.
The final score was posted on the scoreboard in Vista and cheers came from the Jersey dugout and sparingly throughout the crowd. Schaefer would be pulled after 7 1/3 finishing his night on his 6th K of night night getting Artie Kelley swinging. Jose Gomes would take over and finish the 8th and 9th with no more trouble sending the D-Bags running out onto the field as 1B Alberto Perez fielded an unassisted ground-out for the final out of the game. Smiles could be seen around the crowd and Schaefer received a gatorade bath as this performance improved his record to 17-3 on the season, his previous career high coming in 2015 with 13 wins.
Jersey 6-1. FINAL 10:14 MST.
This win was Jersey's 109th win of the season and later and 4 days later with a walk-off win against Seattle Jersey would break the CL record for wins in a season with 112 which was previously set by the Regina River Sharks (now Austin) in the 2013 season where they would advance to the World Series. At the time of this publication Jersey sat with a 117-42 record with 3 games left to play in the season. 117 wins puts them 3rd all time behind two juggernaut Hendersonville teams of 2015 and 2014.
Not only did this Jersey team set the record for most wins in the CL, they also clinched the best record in the BSA this season, the 1st time a CL team will ever finish with the most wins in the BSA for a season. Quite an improbable run from a team who lost their ace in spring training which left big question marks heading into this season. With 3 games left, GM Swain plans on playing mainly back ups and saving pitchers to start in the playoffs.
It has been confirmed that Jersey will take on Austin in the 1st round of the playoffs. Swain has come out and said they plan on throwing Ramos, Schaefer and Ellis in the 1st 3 games as well. Here's to the boys finishing the season strong and looking forward to this year's playoffs!
GO D-BAGS
Both games started at 7:05 MST and were played in the Pacific time zones. Jersey would get the scoring started in the 2nd inning, when singles by Goyer and Perez would put runners on the corners with one out. A RBI single by 3B Adam Morrow would score Goyer and back to back wild pitches from Michael Hoffmeyer would bring in Perez making it 2-0 Bags in the 2nd. Vista would get one back when a Yun-qi Qiao would hit an RBI groundout making it a 2-1 game after 2 innings of play.
Jersey 2-1. End of 2.
Cruising along in Reno, the Cards would get on the board first when Kent Hall, who is having a very rough year, doubled down the left field line scoring breakout rookie Sugiyama who had earlier tripled. Reno would lead 1-0 after 3.
Reno 1-0. End of 3.
Back to Vista, it didn't take long for Jersey to get the run they gave Vista in the 2nd as they quickly loaded the bases and Mike Bryant would score on a long fly out sac-fly from Warren Goyer. A walk from rookie Fransisco Ibarra would re-load the bases for Alberto Perez, whose solid hit line drive would find the outfield and bring home 2 more runs making the Jersey lead 5-1. A 1-2-3 inning on 3 pitches from Greg Schaefer would put Jersey to bat again and MVP candidate Bryant hit a scorching line drive that left the park easy for a 6-1 Jersey lead which would stand through the 4th.
Jersey 6-1. End of 4.
While Jersey was busy scoring in Vista, 1st overall pick in this year's amateur draft Jaime Guzman and and fellow 21 year old rookie Cristobal Santos had a pitchers duel going. Few men reached base as threw zeros up on the board which lasted until the bottom half of the 6th inning. Free agent signing Cade Delaney would hit a fly ball that looked routine which just kept carrying 401 feet for his 34th HR of the year giving Reno a 2-0 lead heading into the 7th inning.
Reno 2-0. End of 6.
After getting in a little trouble in the 5th Greg Schaefer switched on cruise control and would walk one and hit one batter over the next 3 innings. Jersey threatened a couple of times but Vista pitching would skirt out of trouble each time as the score remained the same through 7 innings.
Jersey 6-1. End of 7.
Players like Jaime Guzman are the reasons Reno fans have bright hope for the future. Guzman would go 7 1/3 before being pulled after a 10-pitch AB resulting in a single from 84's catcher Fransisco Diaz. It was by far the rookie's best ever outing and left to an ovation from the Reno crowd. A combination of relievers would take us to the bottom half of the inning where Kent Hall's 2nd RBI double of the game gave Reno a 3-0 heading into the 9th inning. Closer Didyu Ghosh would be called upon to save the game for the Cards. He would get Donahue and Hickman easily before a mini scare as former MVP Felix Morales would ruin the shutout with a solo HR into the RF bleachers. It would take only 3 pitches to get promising youngster Enzo Diaz to groundout and secure the win for the Cards.
Reno 3-1. FINAL 9:32 MST.
The final score was posted on the scoreboard in Vista and cheers came from the Jersey dugout and sparingly throughout the crowd. Schaefer would be pulled after 7 1/3 finishing his night on his 6th K of night night getting Artie Kelley swinging. Jose Gomes would take over and finish the 8th and 9th with no more trouble sending the D-Bags running out onto the field as 1B Alberto Perez fielded an unassisted ground-out for the final out of the game. Smiles could be seen around the crowd and Schaefer received a gatorade bath as this performance improved his record to 17-3 on the season, his previous career high coming in 2015 with 13 wins.
Jersey 6-1. FINAL 10:14 MST.
This win was Jersey's 109th win of the season and later and 4 days later with a walk-off win against Seattle Jersey would break the CL record for wins in a season with 112 which was previously set by the Regina River Sharks (now Austin) in the 2013 season where they would advance to the World Series. At the time of this publication Jersey sat with a 117-42 record with 3 games left to play in the season. 117 wins puts them 3rd all time behind two juggernaut Hendersonville teams of 2015 and 2014.
Not only did this Jersey team set the record for most wins in the CL, they also clinched the best record in the BSA this season, the 1st time a CL team will ever finish with the most wins in the BSA for a season. Quite an improbable run from a team who lost their ace in spring training which left big question marks heading into this season. With 3 games left, GM Swain plans on playing mainly back ups and saving pitchers to start in the playoffs.
It has been confirmed that Jersey will take on Austin in the 1st round of the playoffs. Swain has come out and said they plan on throwing Ramos, Schaefer and Ellis in the 1st 3 games as well. Here's to the boys finishing the season strong and looking forward to this year's playoffs!
GO D-BAGS
Friday, May 31, 2013
Revisiting Old Trades; Part 1
With the commish dealing with personal issues and a lull in the league I thought I would create a new series revisiting some of the bigger trades we have seen in the league's past. After looking over some of the proposed trades to look at I have decided I want to focus on trades that happened AT LEAST 2 plus years ago. A lot of the big trades included prospects at the time and some might still be hard to analyze if they are still raw and haven't matured yet. Today we visit 2 trades. The first being between the Hendersonville Hitmen and the Quebec Les Capitales (Cleveland) and the Sacramento Mentalists (Los Cabos) and the Springdale Dynamos (Greenville).
Before I start I want to say I am using MY TEAM SCOUT for all historical scouting reports.
Trade 1:
3/2/2012 (5 years, 6 months ago): Hendersonville receives RF Luis Padilla, SP Mal Windham and $5M in cash from Quebec (Now Cleveland) in exchange for SP Carlos Arevalo, MR Tomomi Sanu, SP Jack Wolochow, and CF Jesus Carrillo.
Everyone knows 2012 was a different time and era for the BSA. Quebec finished with one of the worst records in the league in 2011, losing 106 games. Hendersonville won 109 games in 2011 after being ousted by surprise Long Beach who went on to win the championship.
To Hendersonville:
RF Luis Padilla - 21 years old. 2.5/4.5* 400K
SP Mal Windham - 24 years old. 3.5/4* 400K
$5,000,000 in cash
To Quebec:
SP Carlos Arevalo - 26 years old. 4/4* 1 year, $7.25M
MR Tomomo Sanu - 25 years old. 4/4* 1 year, $5.275M
SP Jack Wolochow - 27 years old. 1/1* Unknown
RF Jesus Carrillo - 29 years old. 1.5/1.5* 1 year, $1.7M
On the surface it looks like kind of a head scratcher for Quebec. They were by far the worse team, traded the 2 younger players both under team control AND gave $5 million dollars and took on 3 players who had just hit arbitration for the first time. While Padilla wasn't what he was today, nor did scouts have him as a monster prospect he still had the most talent in the deal. But like I said on the surface isn't always what "wins" the trade or gets the better end. Arevalo was coming off a very nice season for the Hitmen while Windham got quite shelled in his rookie season, even though it seems he was called up a little early having never played past AA ball before. Sanu was also one of the better relievers in 2011.
2011 stats:
Padilla: .337/.486/.590 83 AB, 5 HR, 17 RBI. (Rookie season)
Windham: 4-23, 6.62 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 5.81 FIP, 115K, 105BB in 178 IP.
Arevalo: 14-10, 3.62 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 4.37 FIP, 184K, 70BB in 203.1 IP.
Sanu: 8-2, 1 save. 2.23 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 3.61 FIP, 81K, 27BB in 72.2 IP.
Wolochow: 2-3, 5.45 ERA, 1.56 ERA, 5.63 FIP, 58K, 34BB in 74.1 IP. (with OKL & SF)
Carrillo: .231/.315/.387. 186AB, 13 2B, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 24 SB.
On the surface HEN gets the young talented rookie slugger and a talented pitcher (ratings wise) while Quebec gets a quality starting pitcher, quality reliever, a 4th OF type and throw in Wolochow. The main part of the trade is my mind is the Hitmen lost almost 19M off their bottom line before the 2012 season where they would have a payroll of 123M, one of the largest we have ever seen in the league and lose $36M for the season. The money cut was well needed.
Let's see how they fared after the trade:
Padilla: 6 years, 139 HR, 516 RBI, .308/.408/.493 (Still on HEN)
Windham: 1 year, 10-9, 5.17 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 5.33 FIP (Traded to GRN)
Arevalo: 1 year, 4-11, 6.50 ERA, 1.64 ERA, 5.10 FIP, 98K, 54BB, in 106.2 IP (Traded back to HEN)
Sanu: 6 years, 22-10, 17 saves, 475 K, 407.5 IP, 3.27 ERA
Wolochow: 1 year, 1-2, 5.91 ERA, 1.64 ERA, 4.79 FIP, 19K, 13BB
Carrillo: 2 years, .180/.278/.281, 18 2B, 6 HR, 46 RBI, 20 SB (Released)
In the end, Padilla has been far and away the best player becoming one of the best all around bats in the league. At the time no one could have seen it coming. The only player of value ended up being Sanu for Cleveland who has been an above average reliever for the Monsters for 6 seasons now. SP Arevalo was traded back to Hendersonville 4 months later, where again Quebec gave up money...and a lot of it, $10 million in cash along with shut down bullpen arm Oliver Donahue in exchange for CF Ingo Backx and 2B Bryce Hester.
At the end of the season the trade ended up looking like this:
RF Luis Padilla
MR Oliver Donahue
SP Mal Windham
$15M in cash
MR Sanu
SP Wolochow
RF Carrillo
CF Backx
2B Hester
While Hester and Backx ended up being BSA players, one word for this debacle for Quebec was ouch.
Trade 2:
1/13/2012 (5 years, 8 months ago) Springdale (Now Greenville) receives LF Stan Hickman, SP Ron Eager, CF Augusto Grinaldo, SP Ramon Cruz, MR Jesus Salazar, C Carlos Martinez from Sacremento (Now Los Cabos) in exchange for RF Arturo Morin and MR Javier Martinez.
In 2011 both teams struggled finishing 3rd and 4th in their respective divisions. Stan Hickman had been picked with the 9th overall pick in the 2011 amateur draft and SP Eager was coming off a shaky sophomore year. At 31 years old Morin had a monster year in 2011 (and the last time he would get over over 350 AB) and had just signed a 3 year deal making an average of $12M per season. It was the simple case of trading good young players for at the time a superstar caliber player.
To Springdale:
LF Stan Hickman, 22 years old, 1/4*, MLC
SP Ron Eager, 22 years old, 4/4*, 1 year $8.5M
CF Augusto Grinaldo, 21 years old, 1.5/1.5*, MLC
SP Ramon Cruz, 27 years old, 1/1*, MLC
MR Jesus Salazar, 24 years old, 1.5/2.5*, MLC
C Carlos Martinez, 23 years old, 1/2.5*, MLC
To Sacramento:
RF Arturo Morin, 31 years old, 4.5/4.5*, 3 years, $12M per year.
MR Javier Martinez, 28 years old, 4.5/4.5*, 1 year, $5.32M
On the surface here Sacramento gets the superstar and a very good middle reliever coming off 2 very good seasons in a row, but pays the price taking on almost $10M dollars and giving up the two very valuable pieces in Hickman and Eager. Interesting at the time and 6 years later, still interesting to see how things turned out.
2011 stats:
Eager: 5-14, 5.15 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 4.65 FIP, 131K, 63BB, 173IP
Hickman, Grinaldo, Cruz, Salazar and Martinez had yet to see the Major League Club
Morin: .303/.412/.502, 30 2B, 28 HR, 123 RBI, 140 OPS+
Martinez: 5-3, 5 saves, 3.12 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 3.84 WHIP, 97K, 23BB, 89.1 IP
What's not to like about those numbers? A middle of the order hitter and a middle relief/set up man both at ages where they should be in their prime. Eager, 22 at the time, was probably pre maturing brought up to the majors and was taking his lumps and the rest were just young minor league players at that point.
Let's see how they fared after the trade:
Hickman: (5 years): .281/.378/.472, 80 HR, 298 RBI. (Still on team)
Eager: (4.5 years): 51-33, 4.08 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 518K , 248 BB, 696.9 IP (Traded to LA)
Grinaldo: (1.5 years): .260/.344/.379, 436 AB, 19 2B, 11 HR, 58 RBI ( Traded to STL)
Cruz: (1 year): 1-1, 7.04 ERA, 2.05 WHIP, 5.52 FIP, 30.2 IP (Released)
Salazar: (1 year): 1-2, 7.79 ERA, 1.85 WHIP, 6.72 FIP, 17.1 IP (Claimed on Waivers by ORL)
Martinez: Never played (Traded to MAU)
Morin: (4 years): .271/.359/.435, 38 HR, 192 RBI, 1135 AB (Retired)
Martinez: (2 years): 9-7, 29 saves, 3.55 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 160K, 46BB, 135.2IP (Traded to BAF)
What a direction this trade took! In the following 20 months after the trade, Morin missed 7+ with multiple injuries which ended up derailing his career. He never came close to matching the numbers he put up with Springdale and last played in 2015 hitting an abysmal .186 before retiring. Martinez was a quality closer for a year then was moved to middle relief before being sent to Baffin in a 9 player deal. He played 1 season there before retiring at the age of 33.
Looking at it from the view point of Sacramento, things could have been a lot worse. Hickman, while very talented, has also been ravaged with injuries, only seeing 400AB twice in his 5 year career, but still putting up solid numbers the last 3 years, is only 28 years old, and on a very team friendly contract. Eager had a solid run with Greenville before being traded to LA which netted them stud MR Hassan and current 23 year old catcher and ROY candidate Chris Moore which looks to be the real deal. Grinaldo and Martinez were both pieces in bigger deals that brought the 84's CF Perez and SP Manning. Cruz and Salazar were both basically fillers that never amounted to anything for Greenville.
This turned out to be quite the bust for Sacramento. Making the playoffs in 3 of Morin's 4 years with the team, if he could have stayed healthy who knows if LCC could have advanced further in the playoffs. Not only did it hurt by him not playing up to expectations, it seems to be the trade that keeps on giving for Greenville. Both players they traded are long retired and to show for it they have Stan Hickman in his prime, 23 year old stud Catcher Moore, 28 year old stud MR Hassan on their roster now and pieces that helped them getting Manning and Perez.
This is an example of the repercussions a trade can have when a group of young players are traded for a veteran trying to put a team over the top. If one of the players going to Springdale would have flopped and declined there were 5 more who could have made an impact. Morin's injuries and decline killed the deal for Sacramento and leaves LCC sitting here 5+ years later wondering what might have been.
GO D-BAGS
Monday, August 27, 2012
Jersey Shore vs. Greenville; Winner to WS
These 2 are no strangers to each other. Playing 17 times per season over the last 5 years does that to teams. In this matchup, Greenville has the edge. 2 years ago they took the season series 10-7, last year 11-6 and this year a closer but still with the edge 9-8. This marks the 4th in a row that Greenville has won the CL East. Jersey has come in 2nd twice and 3rd twice, this year being the first they snuck into the playoffs via the Wild Card spot. This would mark the 3rd straight year that Greenville has advanced to the CLCS; 2 years ago being beaten in 7 games by Regina and last year beaten by Toronto in 5 games. The 84's are no strangers to big games. A 7 game series, winner to the World Series.
Game 1
We expected runs, high scoring, good bullpen pitching and high end drama and this series didn't disappoint. Game 1 featured two of the better starters in the CL this year as Art Ellis took the mound for Jersey and Tom Crowder for Greenville. After 2 innings we were knotted at 1 as the big boys knocked in the first runs of the game. Cooper Newell an RBI double and Matt Doyle his first HR of the postseason, a solo shot in the 2nd. A Carlos Perez solo HR made it 2-1 in the 3rd but the big break came for Jersey in the 4th. With Leon Foster coaxing a 2-out walk from Crowder, Manny Romero hit what should have been an inning ending grounder to SS. The usually soft and sure handed Raul Trejo couldn't field it cleanly allowing everyone to be safe and extend the inning. And wouldn't you know on the first pitch of the next AB, 3B Alberto Perez would hit his 2nd postseason HR and put Jersey up 4-2. Jose Alvarez kept the 84's close by hitting a 2 run bomb in the 5th to tie the game back up. The tie didn't last long. Bryant led off the 5th with a walk and advanced to 3rd on Matt Doyle's double. Leon Foster hit a long pop fly that looked routine......until it landed 5 feet over the short 325 foot porch in Right to put the Bags on top 7-4. Ellis would allow one hit in the last 4 innings going the distance for the CG and the Bags would add 3 more runs oh hits from Doyle and Foster for a convincing and statement making 10-4 opening game win.
Game 2
Before Game 2, John Bosma said in his press conference that the 84's needed to leave Greenville with a 1-1 split. He was probably right as going down 0-2 at home would have been devastating, while on the other hand Jersey could put an early strangle hold on the series with a Game 2 win. Dan Macias would face off against Oliver Beaudoin. It was a see-saw battle that changed leads 4 times and feature 1 tie in the first 6 innings. HR's by Carlos Perez and Manny Romero mixed in with Dan Macias escaping several jams left Greenville leading 5-4. Alberto Perez who with 3 hits in Game 1, tied the game at 5 with an 8th inning single, knocking in Mike Bryant. They failed to capitalize leaves 2 runners on base though. The bullpens did their join to send the game into extras and in the bottom of the 10th of of closer Daniel Morris, a Raul Trejo single, Jose Navarro sac bunt and a Greg O'Day grounder that found the OF gave the 84's a much needed walk off win. In retrospect the game should never have been that close. Greenville out hit Jersey 14 to 9 and left 23 men on base. The series would head to Jersey tied at 1 game apiece.
Game 3
Game 3 would feature a matchup of mid-season pickups from both sides. Greenville would send Donald Manning whom them acquired from Maui and Jersey would send Game 6 hero Jerry Burgess whom they acquired from El Paso. This game would get out of hand quickly. The 84's would knock Burgess out of the game before the 3rd inning ended tagging him for 7 earned runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Jersey would fight back and make it a 7-4 game after 6 innings but Greenville was resilient in this one. They scored 5 runs off of the usually sure fire bullpen, getting 4 off of Lucio Tapia, including a Carlos Perez HR, his 3rd in 3 games for a decisive 12-5 Greenville win. Greenville had 14 hits and left 24 men on base making a statement with their bats for the 2nd night in a row.
After the game Swain skipped his press conference but was heard saying, we have been here, down 2-1 before, we aren't worried. Game 4 would be one of coulda, shoulda, woulda.....so many chances on both sides. This game is one that might haunt John Bosma in his sleep. The starters were Ron Eager for the 84's and Rob Goodship going for Jersey. Both pitchers were sharp through 2 when Greenville got to Goodship in the 3rd. A double by Perez got the offense going. The next batter, Brian Cash, knocked in Perez with a single to open the scoring. After a flyout from the reigning MVP Felix Morales, little used OF Arthur Donahue would blast a 2 run HR out of CF to put Greenville on top 3-0, a score that would stick until the Jersey half of the 5th inning.
Up until the 5th, Ron Eager had been perfect, retiring all 12 batters he had faced. That would change on the 2nd pitch of the inning as Matt Doyle lined a ball to the gap in right center and would coast in with a stand up double. A flustered Eager hit Al Ryan with the next pitch to put two runners aboard with no outs. O'Day would talk to Eager helping to settle him down and getting the recent hot hitting Alberto Perez to hit into a fielder's choice getting the out at 2nd. That brought up Leon Foster to the plate with runners on the corners. Foster took a 1-2 hanging curveball and pounded it to the left-center gap where Doyle scored the 1st run of the day for the D-Bags easy and Perez coasted into 3rd base. The next batter was the catcher Albert Lopez, playing for the injured Duran, who lined a ball between short and third for a running scoring single setting up runners on the corners again for SS Marvin Taylor. Taylor walked on 5 pitches to load the bases for Peter Larson, who was making his first appearance in over a month after being on the DL. After fouling off 4 straight 2-2 pitches Eager would strike out Larson looking for a huge 2nd out. He still wasn't out of the trouble because Jose Ortiz would hit next with the bases loaded. Ortiz turned on a ball that barely snuck into the OF. It was enough to score Foster, but Lopez was held at 3rd. That tied the score at 3 and brought up MVP candidate Mike Bryant with a chance to bust the game open. Bryant, struggling thus far through the playoffs, eventually flew out to left to end the inning, but the damage was done and we had ourselves a tie game.
Both pitchers threw a perfect 6th and Goodship started of the 7th by striking out Stan Hickman. Cooper Newell hit a ball to the gap that nearly went out for a double and Goodship almost got out of the inning by getting SS Marcos Mesa to groundout, but Game 2 hero Greg O'Day lined a single into left scoring Newell for the go ahead run for the 84's. Goodship would get out of the inning with no more damage and Eager would set down the Bags in order in the their half of the 7th. Jersey elected to keep Goodship in the game in the 8th and set Greenville down on 12 pitches witch included a strikeout of Morales. Jersey's half of the 8th started off with a walk to Peter Larson which chased Eager from the game and entered was Randy Ellison, who was used for one batter, and got Ortiz to ground into a FC getting the force out at second. Manuel Medina then entered getting Bryant to groundout to first which advanced Ortiz to second with two outs. Medina's night was done and the 84's brought in Miguel Negrete to face Doyle. Doyle worked a full count before delivering the clutch single that brought Ortiz in from second and tied the game once again at 4.
Goodship would be pulled after pitching 8 strong innings and Dog Pound Gomes would take over. After getting Alvarez and Hickman in 6 pitches, again Newell was the instigator doubling down the left field line, setting himself up as the go ahead run at second. Pinch hitter Jose Navarro would come in and silence the Jersey crowd with a single into RF to put Grenville up 5-4 and 3 outs from a 3-1 series lead. Closer Jorge Valentin would come in to attempt to close it out for the 84's in the 9th. Alberto Perez would lead off the inning with a much needed single and add to the hopes for Jersey fans. Scott Powers would come in and hit for Leon Foster and lay down a beauty of a bunt between the mound and 3rd. On a very close bang-bang play Powers was called safe and the Bags were in business. Jersey would send Manny Romero to hit for C Lopez and on an 0-2 count he sat back on a curveball and lined it into LF to load the bases with no one out. What started out as a sacrifice attempt, turned into the bases loaded with no outs. Valentin would get Taylor to ground out to the short, where they would go home for the force out and the first out of the inning. Peter Larson would stroll to the plate next and would do what he does best, be selective. He walked on 5 pitches which brought home Powers to tie the game and leave the bases juiced. The next batter Jose Ortiz would fight off 2 pitches before punching a ball between LF and CF for a single that would plate Romero and send the crowd into a frenzy. The Bags mobbed the field as Romero crossed the plate and what looked like a 3-1 deficit turned into a 2-2 series tie.
Game 5
Game 5 you would think Jersey would have all the momentum. Coming back at home, maybe they partied a little late coming off their win. This game saw Art Ellis being unusually off as he walked 4 batters, only lasted 5.1 IP, the bullpen gave up 3 earned runs and Carlos Perez hit his 4th and 5th HR of the series as Greenville coasted to an 8-2 to win and a 3-2 series advantage. Also in this game Alberto Perez was hit on the hand and had to be taken out of the game. Derrick Wright came in, who plays very little 3B, to fill in for Perez. Luckily for the D-Bags nothing was broken but with Morrow being out, the only player who played any 3B was Wright, which forced them to go with Perez at 3B despite the sore and swollen hand.
Game 6
We would get a day off before Game 6, which was a rematch of Game 2, facing Macias against Beaudoin. This would turn from laugher to classic and another head scratcher for the 84's. Sore hand and all Perez lauched a 2 run HR in the 2nd and 2 batters later catcher Albert Lopez added another 2 run blast for an early 4-0 Jersey lead, which also chased the starter Beaudoin. In the 4th with Sugimoto Kuhabara on the mound Al Ryan led off the inning with a solo blast and 3 batters later Lopez hit his 2nd HR of the night and the route was on. 6-0 Jersey just 3.5 innings into the game with Macias on cruise control thus far. That's when things got interesting.
After striking out Newell to start the inning, Cash singled between walks to Hickman and Trejo which loaded the bases for Jose Navarro. Navarro took full advantage running the count to full against Macias before depositing a Gland Slam HR 447 feet away. To make matters worse for Jersey is two batters later O'Day hooked a ball around the left field foul pole for a solo HR which sent Macias to the showers and left us with a 6-5 game. And the inning wasn't over. Mungo was called in from the bullpen and has been almost perfect over the last 2 months. He gave up a single to Alvarez before getting Perez to fly out. Outs are hard to come by sometimes in a lineup like the 84's. The next batter was MVP Morales, who showed us why he was the MVP by putting the 84's on top for the first time today with a 2 run HR to make it 7-6 Greenville. A 6 run lead vanished in the blink of an eye and after a scoreless 5th and 6th, Jersey was 9 outs away from elimination.
The 7th was no different as left handed specialist got the left handed top of the order in order and Greg Schaefer came in and gave up a harmless single before sending the game to the 8th. The playoffs are built on heroics. Greenville used their bullpen effectively using RH Ellison against Doyle, who struck out, and LF Herrera against Ryan, who grounded out. Who else would start the 2 out rally other than, sore hand and all, Alberto Perez. A single into left kept the inning going and a wild pitch sent him to second. Pinch hitter Scott Powers hit a HUGE single into right field which tied the game. On a 1-0 pitch Lopez, Powers took off for 2nd testing the arm of O'Day. Usually one of the most accurate throwers in the league, O'Day sailed the ball into center field and Powers raced to 3rd. The go ahead run 90 feet away. Lopez, one of the slower runners on the roster, chopped a ball off the plate over the mound and was able to beat it out for an infield hit which scored Powers from 3rd and put the Bags back on top 8-7 and deflating which was once a loud, raucous crowd. Tapia pitched the 8th for Jersey, walked a batter after two groundouts, then struck out the hot hitting Carlos Perez to send the game to the 9th. The Bags were set down in order and Daniel Morris was sent out to save the game against the heart of the Greenville order. Morris was all business looking like the Morris of old. Using his slider he got Morales and Newell looking and quickly got ahead of Hickman 0-2 before lazily flying out to Powers in CF which would send us to a Game 7.
Game 7
Why not 7 games for this series? 9-8 during the season. Division rivals. Hendersonville, who took care of the LA Bruins in 5 games, sat awaiting. The matchup, why not, Manning-Burgess, rematch of the mid season pick ups. The stars aligned to send us this one. As the game got under way, Donald Manning was business as usual, breezing through the Jersey lineup through the first 4 innings. Burgess on the other hand was erratic but effective. In the first 4 innings Greenville stranded 8 runners, 2 per inning, many of those times getting runners on with less than 2 outs. You can only give a great team so many opportunities before they take advantage. Manning set down Jersey in order in the 5th and Felix Morales led off the 5th and said....to hell with runners on base and launched a solo HR for the first run of the game. Manning got into his first jam in the 6th when the Bags put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but he K'ed Powers and got Rodriguez to fly out to end the threat. After 6, Greenville 1, Jersey 0.
If Jersey was going to make noise it was now. They led off the 7th with the heart of their order. Bryant continued to struggle and flew out to left. Matt Doyle on the other hand continued his hot series by singling before pinch hitter Peter Larson struck out. With 2 outs Manny Romero crushed a ball to the gap in left center. Even though Doyle was running on the pitch the ball was hit so hard it didn't give Doyle a chance to go home, instead putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. You can't write stories like this. Stepping to the plate was who else, but Alberto Perez. This had been his series so far, injury and all. Manning ran the count to 3-1 before Perez got a pitch he liked. A chest high fastball that he turned on and sent the ball sailing into the left field bleachers. A 3 run HR in 1 run, in the 7th inning of Game 7 of the CLCS. Heroics. 27 year old rookie who played most of the season in AAA. Like I said you can't make this stuff up. But we weren't done yet.
Now with a 3-1 lead to work with Burgess came back out in the 7th. On his 4th pitch, Brian Cash hit a screaming line drive into the same left field bleachers to get a run back, 3-2 Jersey. Burgess struck out Morales before being yanked after a gutsy quality start. Gomes came in, walked Donahue before getting Alvarez and Hickman to ground out. Onto the 8th. Manning got the 1st out in the 8th before being pulled and left to an ovation. He pitched one helleva game. One mistake to Perez. Randy Ellison came in and got Powers to ground out for the 2nd out of the inning. Sergio Rodriguez came up and doubled to left and Bryant finally had a meaningful AB and knocked Rodriguez in for that all important insurance run. Doyle would single before Larson popped out to end the inning. Gomes, Saenz and Tapia combined to give up 2 hits, both singles, but escaped the inning when Navarro grounded out to 2nd. Onto the 9th. Jersey is 3 outs away from a World Series berth.
After what Greenville's pitching did in the 9th, you would think they were a lock to win this game. Back-to-back singles by Romero and Perez put Bags on the corners with no outs. A big Al Ryan strikeout followed by a Taylor ground out to 1st kept Romero and 3rd. Scott Powers was walked to load the bases and Herrera got Sergio Rodriguez looking on a full count to send Greenville up to the plate just down 2 runs. Everyone in the stadium including the Greenville dugout was shocked and bewildered when Daniel Morris was not brought in to close the game out. Tapia was sent back out and immediately gave up a single to Morales which awoke the crowd. Arthur Donahue stepped to the plate and Tapia quickly jumped in front 0-2. Tapia through a high fastball that Donahue reached up and got and hit a one hopper back to Tapia who gloved, immediately turned and fired to 2nd where Bryant was waiting and threw to 1st for the easy 1-4-3 double play. Jersey was one out from the World Series! Jose Alvarez stepped into the batter's box, took a big swing and a miss for strike 1. He fouled the 2nd pitch, a 97 MPH fastball straight back to send him in the hole at 0-2. With the Jersey dugout against the railing and Greenville crowd down to their last hope, Tapia got Alvarez to chase a changeup in the dirt for strike 3!! The Bags are the CL Champions! The crowd was quick to file out as Jersey celebrated on the field, which included Gatorade buckets, a mob on the field and even a pie. They had come back twice from 2-1, and once from 3-2 to knock off the 1 and 2 seeds on the road. They were making their first trip to the playoffs well worth it. Jersey will be the first CL East team to represent the division in the World Series.
As usual we will now go live to Josh Swain's press conference. ::Swain enters along with Jerry Burgess and Alberto Perez, all 3 clad in CL Champions gear, half soaked in champagne:::
Swain: "Give it up to the stars of Game 7 and to your CLCS MVP Alberto Perez!"
Reporter Dan Miles, NY Times: "Jerry, what is going on?? You get lit up in both of your early starts in both series and then come back and pitch great in both deciding games. Do you just up your game with pressure?"
Jerry Burgess: "If I do, it's not intentional! Haha! I go out there to pitch my best every time out and I've had some not so good ones recently. Today, I labored. I don't think I went through an inning without a base runner on. I gotta thank my defense and just thank myself for trusting my arm in a lot of situations. They are a powerful, powerful team. Just feels great to come through for my team."
Beat Writer Melissa Franklin, Jerseysports.com: "Josh, do these guys make you nervous? The Bags have not lost one game where they were ahead late in the game. Every tight game has been a win outside of Game 2, and that's where your boys came back to the tie game, but lost it in extras. You doing ok?"
Swain: "If anything they excite me! If you have watched Jersey baseball over the past couple of years you know that the bullpen has been our strong point. We have had our bumps this year, but for the most part when we get that lead, we rarely give it back. Clutch hitting is really what it's about. We could have folded in game 4, 6 and 7 but got the hits we needed. And really look no further than this guy, Alberto Perez. The kid was amazing."
Reporter Sally Trumpert, Trenton Free Press: "Alberto, first off, amazing series! 2nd how is your hand? And 3rd what changed from the Toronto series to this one?"
Perez: "Thank you! My hand is sore, but I will be fine. I got a good pitch to hit today and took advantage of it. The Toronto series I think I was trying to hard. Everyone loves Morrow, those are some big shoes to fill. After he went down people talked about how we had no chance, and that's hard to swallow for me because I was taking his spot. I was swinging to hard and that led to my 1-20 in the Toronto series. I allowed myself to relax these past couple games and got back into my rhythm. Hopefully I can carry it forward against Hendersonville."
Beat writer Sam Toddenfield, BSAreport.com: "Rumors have it that Adam Morrow might be available for the Hendersonville series and what is the status on Luis Antonio Duran, will he be back?"
Swain: "Sadly for Luis his hand is shattered, it will take 5-6 weeks to heal and if you know Luis he wants to be here so bad. We are going to place him on the DL and that will free up a roster spot. The trainer tells us Morrow has about a week til he can play, so if we add him to the roster we could possibly see him in game 5, 6 or 7. We are undecided if adding him will happen, but it is a possibility."
Reporter Vanessa Antuaco, Morgantown Today: "Jersey is in the World Series, give us a comment on what's that like and early thoughts on Hendersonville."
Swain: "It's one of those things where I still don't think it has hit me. We have built this team from the inside out and never reached anything like this yet. This team has the pieces, the role players are coming through and we feel great that we get to represent the CL in the series. As for Hendersonville, what can I say? They are the best of the best. Their stars are the best in the game. Scott Hill is the most intimidating person in the BSA. It will be an uphill challenge, but I think this team is good enough to compete and beat them. We will need some bounces to go our way and players to step up, but it can happen. Thank you everyone for your support!"
After going 1-20 against Toronto, Perez completely turned his game around to win the CLCS MVP. Perez hit 12-25, for an average of .480, including at least 1 hit in every game and drove in 9 runs. After he injured his hand he went 4-6 with 2 HR and RBI.
Jersey plans to start Art Ellis for Game 1 of the World Series which starts Tuesday. Lineups and a breakdown will be announced later. Welcome to the Series D-Bags!
Jersey Shore Flexes Muscle; Takes Down Toronto in 6
Staring at a 2-0 hole and a long flight back to Jersey reality set in. After 5 years or playing decent baseball and coming up short so many times this was the playoffs. Where the best of the best come to play. They had been good enough to enter this prestigious tournament and after 2 games had not played their best baseball, in fact it was far from their best. A game 3 win was a boost, but it was still far from Jersey baseball. Runs scored in odd ways, not the usual Jersey style of mashing and bashing. We held a press conference after Game 3 with GM Josh Swain and he laid out what Jersey had to do to win, and with surprise much of that came through. What came after that was 3 straight wins. Down 0-2 to winning the series 4-2. 4 game winning streak. How did they do it? Here's how:
Entering Game 4 you can tell the monkey was off their backs. There was that Jersey swagger back in the walks of a lot of the players. It would be a rematch of Game 1 with Dan Macias taking the mound for Jersey and Ricky Bolden for Toronto, both on short rest. GM Josh Swain told us it's the matchup he wanted. If Dan could outduel Ricky, Jersey had the advantage. They liked their changes agianst Jackson at home and liked the potential Ellis/Brito matchup in game 6. Fireworks started early. Toronto got 3 runs on 5 hits in the Top of the 1st before Jersey had a chance to bat. But a sac fly and a passed ball in Jersey's half of the inning put the game back to 3-2.
The 2nd inning starting and things didn't stop. D-bag killer Jaime "Gunner" Torres lifted off hitting a solo HR down the RF line to get a run back. But veteran Leon Foster got the run right back for Jersey with a mammoth 452 run shot off of Bolden. After the HR, a walk to Marvin Taylor, a single by Scott Powers and the eventual death blow came with catcher Luis Antonio Duran hit his 1st HR of the the postseason and 3 run blast that put Jersey up 6-4, a lead that would hold.
Macias would retire 13 of the next 16 batters before eventually being replaced and received a standing ovation from the Jersey crowd. With Gomes replacing Macias and striking out Cuan and Rivas to end the 7th, Toronto replaced MR Cole with MR Jones, which turned out to be a mistake. A 2B, 1B, BB and HBP left a run in and the bases loaded with Al Ryan at the plate who tore open the game with his first postseason HR and first Glad Slam by a Jersey player in playoff history. The Bags would add one more in the 8th before cruising to a 12-4 victory to the tie the series at 2 games apiece.
Who knew after the offensive explosion by the D-Bags in Game 4 that Game 5 would bring us the low scoring game of the series. We would see Shawn Jackson start for Toronto and Rob Goodship take the hill for Jersey in what could have been the last game at the Shore for the season. 40,200+ fans showed up to cheer on their Bags. Goodship made the first mistake in the 2nd inning when HR king John Crowe led the inning off with a solo HR to get the scoring started. Jersey tied the score in the bottom of 3 when Sergio Rodriguez and Scott Powers both doubled. Other than these two early runs, each starter was very good. It wasn't until the bottom of the 7th when Sergio Rodriguez led off the inning and reached 1st when John Crowe bobbled the throw from SS Pete Harvey. Shawn Jackson would retire the next 2 batters on a fly out and a sac fly before he was pulled in favor of the lefty Jung-Keun Li to face lefty Jose Ortiz. Ortiz took a 1-2 pitch from Li and rapped into the corner for an easy stand up double and Rodriguez came around to score the go ahead run. Goodship would cruise in the 8th and that would be his last inning of work. In what you have to call the biggest game of his career, he was brilliant. Throwing 8 IP, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB while striking out 9. Mungo was called in to save the game and it only took 11 pitches to strike out John Crowe, Luis Gonzalez and German Rivas all swinging. The crowd was in an uproar, Jersey had won 3 straight, all at home and took a 3-2 lead in the series going back to Toronto.
Game 6. A rematch of Game 2 with Jerry Burgess facing off against Jose Brito. Brito won the first match pitching brilliantly while Burgess was knocked around for 7 ER. Would this game be any different and could Toronto force that pivotal Game 7? Brito was his usual efficient self facing 3 batters over the minimum in the first 4 innings and not letting any runner get past first base. Burgess on the other hand lived dangerously. Allowing runners 1st and 2nd with 1 out in the first get erased by a double play ball. A walk, wild pitch and an error by SS Marvin Taylor allowed German Rivas to reach 3rd base in the 2nd inning before Pete Harvey grounded out to end the threat. A single in the 3rd was wiped off the board with the 2nd double play of the day and in the 4th a Rivas single, stolen base and a walk to Fujita put 2 runners on before Burgess hunkered down and struck out Gunner Torres looking on a nasty slider that just brushed the outside corner. Alberto Perez would lead off the 5th and thus far after taking over for Adam Morrow at 3B he was 0-17 in the series. Something had to give, and it did. He took a 2nd pitch fastball from Brito and pulled it deep and far and way back in the left-center field bleachers for his first hit of the series to give Jersey a 1-0 lead.
Burgess would settle down and Jersey would turn their 3rd double play ending Toronto's 5th inning. Both pitchers breezed through the 6th until some commotion in the 7th inning. With 2 outs in Jersey's top half of the 7th the usual pinpoint Brito came way inside and hit catcher Luis Antonio Duran on the hand which immediately dropped him to the ground. He had to be lifted from the game and came away gripping his hand. We wouldn't find out til later he had fractured the hand. Brito would get Taylor to ground out to end the inning. In Toronto's half of the 7th, after a groundout Burgess came inside and hit the Toronto catcher Kyuso Fujita in the back. Warnings were given to both sides and after 112 pitches, 6.1 IP and 0 ER Burgess was pulled in favor of Jose Gomes. Gomes got out of the 7th without incident and we headed to the 8th. A half check swing by Scott Powers combined with his upper echelon speed created a leadoff infield hit that chased Brito from the game. Jose Murillo was brough in and pinch hitter Al Ryan surprised everyone when he laid down a perfect sac bunt to put the insurance run on 2nd base with 1 out. Struggling superstar Mike Bryant came through knocking a hard line drive into RF, but Powers was held at 3rd giving the Bags runners at the corners. Matt Doyle knocked a grounder into the hole that looked like a hit but a diving stop by Zaragoza managed to get Doyle at 1st by a half a step but couldn't prevent Powers from crossing the plate and Bryant advancing to 2nd. The run gave Jersey a 2-0 cushion. With 2 outs now veteran Leon Foster and put a ball right down the right field chalk line for a stand-up double easily scoring Bryant and pushing the lead to 3-0. Murillo would get Manny Romero swinging to end the inning.
Jose Gomes walked Lugo to lead off the 8th before striking out Cuan to end his night as he was replaced by Lucio Tapia to face John Crowe. Tapia went 1-1 with Crowe until I can only describe as "the longest HR I have ever seen" on a 97 MPH fastball. Crowe hitting left handed crushed it to CF and Powers barely turned his head to watch it travel 485 feet and give the Toronto crowd a reason to celebrate as Toronto was back in it and only down 3-2. A single and a walk gave Toronto the go ahead run on 1st base with only 1 out while the crowd was on their feet. After a mound visit Tapia got the biggest out of his career by striking out All Star Kyuso Fujita before being pulled for closer Daniel Morris to face Gunner Torres. Morris amidst the avoided danger by getting Torres to ground out on the first pitch on a 2 hopper to Doyle at first base. Insurance runs at this point would have been nice, but Toronto brough in future HOF'er Martin Griffin to set the side down in order before heading to the bottom of the 9th. Daniel Morris, the longest tenured D-Bag, would retire the side in order as LuGo would fly out to Leon Foster to end the game and send Jersey to their first ever series win and sending them to the CLCS to face their division rival, the waiting Greenville 84's.
We now will go live to GM Swain's press conference:
::Swain comes out, untucked button-up business shirt, D-Bags cap, and big smile:::
Reporter Vanessa Antuaco, Morgantown Today: "Mr. Swain! You just won 4 games in a row. We talked with Toronto GM Jason Goldberg earlier and in his tenure with the Titans this is his first 4 game losing streak, how'd your boys do it??"
Swain: "I told you at the last conference how what we needed to do to win this thing. We needed some clutch hitting, Game 4 was full of that. Hell, we scored 12 runs on only 8 hits! I told you we would need another quality start and in fact we got 2 of them. Goodship was fantastic in Game 5 and Jerry really bounched back for a great Game 6. The bullpen stayed strong and we won the close games. That's what October baseball is about!"
Reporter Dan Miles, NY Times: "Everyone and their dog though (Art) Ellis would be the starter for Game 6. He was brilliant, Burgess had been lit up, what were you thinking there?"
Swain: "Burgess convo again? I told you guys the first time through that Burgess had been better in Toronto. Yes, Game 2 we saw him get lit up. Art could have gone. We thought he was close to 70% rested which would have been good enough to throw out there, but with a 3-2 lead, with us having confidence in Jerry, even a loss would have given us Ellis at 100% in Game 7. I don't want to say I played this one right, but it worked out didn't it?"
Reporter Sally Trumpert, Trenton Free Press: "Duran left tonight's game with an apparent hand injury, can you tell us any more on what happened?"
Swain: "At this time the medical staff hasn't given us an update yet. They have it on ice and we are waiting for the swelling to go down, but the said it doesn't look good, but we might not know for a day or two. Losing Luis would hurt. We already lost our 1-2 hitters against RH starters, losing 1-2-3 would almost be devastating. But we showed this series that even losing key pieces like Larson and Morrow, we have the talent to overcome."
Beat writer Sam Toddenfield, BSAreport.com: "Speaking of Larson, will he play in the Greenville series?"
Swain: "At this point we feel as he can play towards the end of this week. He will be added to the roster but will not travel to Greenville for games 1 and 2 but stay at home and rest and we will run some more tests. If all goes well and there are no setbacks there's a great chance he will play in Game 3 or 4. Last question guys!"
Beat Writer Melissa Franklin, Jerseysports.com: "You are very familiar with Greenville, what are the keys to beating them and can it be done?"
Swain: "Anything can be done. Yes, Bosma's 84's have had our number over the past couple of seasons. This will be a slugfest. 2 loaded offenses. We will need some starting pitching performances and we will need someone to step up. Toronto held down our superstar bats in this series, don't expect that to happen in the next one. Thanks everyone for your time, and I would like to congratulate you all on being here to see the D-Bags move on!"
:::Swain gets up to leave and stops:::: "Oh and one more thing. Let me introduce you all to the 2015 CLDS MVP Al Ryan!" :::Ryan walks out, waves, shakes a few hands and is presented with a the CLDS trophy:::
Ryan lead the team in batting during the series hitting .385, hitting 1 HR and driving in a team high 5 runs. The bullpen was stellar and probably was the difference in the low scoring series. They pitched 12 IP in 6 games, giving up 2 ER, 8 hits, 4 walks while striking out 18. With Jersey knocking out Toronto and Greenville knocking out Seattle, 2015 will mark the first time in BSA history that the CL East will represent the CL in the World Series.
With Burgess going in Game 6, the probable rotation for Jersey in the CLCS is:
Game 1: Art Ellis
Game 2: Dan Macias
Game 3: Jerry Burgess
Game 4: Rob Goodship
Whatever happens will happen, but the CL East will have a representative in the World Series and here is to rooting for our D-Bags!
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