Jersey Shore May 2015 in Review

May 2015 is in the books and your D-bags remain one of the streakiest teams in all of the BSA.  This might be the streakiest month though we have ever seen.  The D-Bags opened the month with high hopes with a tough schedule coming up and in the next 2 weeks managed to have the worst stretch in the team's history going 2-12.  This stretch included 6 1-run losses and bad play all around.  Losing much ground in the division and WC race, the Bags finish the month on a 13-1 run, which included closing out May on an 11 game winning streak.  What gives? What is going on?  Who knows, but here's the month in review.

Players of the Month

SP Rob Goodship 3-0 1.54 ERA 36K's 0.94 WHIP.  With Macias and Ellis on the staff who would have picked Goodship to be the best pitcher through the first 2 months?  He dominated this month giving up 6 ER total while ending the month with 22 straight scoreless innings.

MR Jaime "Mungo" Saenz 2-0 1.62 ERA 23K/2BB in 16.2 IP.  In a month where the bullpen got demolished in the first half of the season Mungo thrived.  Averaging almost 1.5K per inning he allowed the opposition to hit at a .182 clip and led the shaky bullpen.

1B Matt Doyle .299/.362/.335  8HR 34RBI 24R.  After a relatively slow start in April Doyle busted out in May.  Averaging more than a hit and RBI per game he led the offense in hits, HR, RBI and runs.  This is what to expect out of your MVP candidate and 2nd year superstar.

2B Mike Bryant .300/.371/.500 4HR 25RBI 22R.  When Bryant and Doyle hit the D-Bags thrive.  The two combined to knock in 59 runs in 28 games.  Bryant also added 8 2B and 3SB for the month.  He continues to show that his runner up for MVP last season wasn't a fluke.

3B Adam Morrow .317/.450 33H 25BB 22R.  This rookie continued to flourish hitting mainly out of the 2 hole.  His OBP of .450 is a godsend for the big boys behind him and had his 2nd straight 30 hit month.  The early talks of ROY hold merit, the kid can ball.  Won BSA CL Rookie of the Month for May.

RF Peter Larson .300/.463  82B 26BB.  Larson has such a good eye that he averaged 1BB shy of 1 per game.  When his bat is going an OBP of over 450 is never out of the question.  When Larson and Morrow both have a cominbed OBP over 450 is anyone surprised Doyle drove in 34 runs for the month?  He is the catalyst of this offense. 

Roster Questions, Changes and Answers

Thus far ::knock on wood::: the Bags have been injury free.  This creates little room for call ups and ABs for other players. We did see Rule V pick Jose Ortiz return from the DL after his spring training injury and hit 3-14 in limited action.  The Bags would like to see him get more AB's against RHP.  Super prospect CF Tim Duncan got a call up after the Bags struggled so much against LHP early in the season. Duncan who had been tearing the cover off of the ball in AAA pitching for the past 2 years had little success managing 8 hits in 37 ABs in 9 games getting 1 XBH hits and stealing no bases.  The 5th OF position has been a carousel looking for someone to take charge.

OF Taro Kino ripped up in AAA pitching as well with 11 HR hitting .404 with a .500 OBP, look for him to possibly get some BSA AB's this upcoming month.  Also we could see 3B Alberto Perez sometime soon, even though I'm not sure Jersey has a spot for him.  He had an astonishing 45 hits in just 27 games in AAA and is on pace for a monster season.  The 27 year old lost the battle to Adam Morrow in ST, but with the struggles of SS Marvin Taylor and 2B/SS/3B Antonio Ruiz, we could see Perez sooner than later.  

As the Bags end the month on an 11 game win streak all we can think is June plans on being another streaky one!  Let's hope the Bags can stay close in the division and WC so that elusive first playoff berth hopes will still be alive down the stretch!

GO D-BAGS!

Is This Team For Real?

Just over a month ago the Jersey Shore D-Bags sat with a record of 43-51 in the middle of a 10 game road trip and fresh off being swept in a 3 game series by Denver.  The season looked dismal at this point.  They were 14 games behind Pittsburgh for the division and 10 games out of the WC race and the word "fire-sale" was being murmured through the clubhouse and media outlets as the July 31 deadline loomed.  Something clicked after that loss with this team though.

Since then the D-Bags have been white-hot, winning 26 of their last 34 games, moving from 8 games UNDER.500 to 10 games OVER .500.  This run includes winning 8 of their last 10 series, including two 3-game sweeps and 2-game sweeps, the most recent coming this past week with a 4 game sweep over 1st place Pittsburgh.  They have won 11 out of 12 with 7 of those wins coming on the road.  The pitching staff as been more Hendersonville than it has been Jersey Shore, in 21 games in August the staff has yielded more than 4 runs, just 4 times and only one time in the last 12. 

This last 5 game stretch did not come with a few repercussions though.  After this team going for much of the summer months without an injury they suffered two in the same inning just moments apart.  On August 22nd, Curt Lucas replaced Jose Brito to start the 7th inning with the Bags trailing Pittsburgh 3-2.  On a pitch where Lucas got Rich Smith to ground out he immediately grabbed his elbow and signaled for a trainer.  He was taken off the field and the news was disheartening, torn flexor tendon in his pitching elbow, with surgery and rehab it is a year long comeback.  German Huerta came in and relieved Lucas and proceeded to strikeout Elijah Stuart on 5 pitches before pulling himself out of the game as well.  We later learned that he had strained triceps and will keep him on the shelf for up to a month.  Huerta was an important part of last year's bullpen before having control issues and problems avoiding the long ball this year.

The team will recall hard throwing MR Lucio Tapia who struggled with the club earlier this year but has looked much improved in AAA.  They will also call up MR Augusto "Buddy" Robles, who has been on the DL for nearly 5 months with irritation with his ulnar nerve.  He hasn't pitched in a big league game since 2007, but has posted average numbers in AAA the last 3 seasons. 

Each week it seems like someone new is producing on the offensive end, and this past 5 game stretch was no different as David Pena held the hot bat.  He hit in all 5 games, drove in runs in 3 of them, and added 2 HR, bringing his season total to a team high 22.  1B/DH Milliard Cross and 2B Antionio Ruiz also hit in all 5 games and have 10 and 6 game hit streaks respectively. 

 

After the 4 game sweep of the Pirates, Jersey has garnered some attention from the league and are no longer sneaking up, but in the thick of things.  It begs the question though, Is this team for real?  7 games remain in August against contending teams, and 34 games overall is what remains this season.  If this team can keep up it's winnings ways the end of this season could get interesting.  Of Jersey's last 13 games, 7 of them are against Greenville, the team tied with Pittsburgh for the division and WC lead.  Let's hope for a fun one.

GO D-BAGS