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!
