Pop, Pop, Pop....
That's what you heard in the Bomber locker room following their dramatic 3-2 win in game 163 to clinch the Billy Martin Division crown in the Thurman Munson League.
South Carolina are Division Champs! Wow, what a ring THAT has to it. But as with anything the Bombers did this season, this was far from easy.
Injuries struck this team, just as they do any team, right SoCal? But a third of the starting lineup was out at one time, and the entire OF was out another. But this team was resilient in fighting off that turmoil and put together one hell of a second half.
South Carolina started April going 14-11 and by the end of May was 26-27 and struggling to find themselves. But the injury bug riddled the team like the flu and the AAA squad that was fielded provided disastrous results, going 8-18, and SC was 34-45 by the end of June, and an even worse 37-51 at the All Star Break, which couldn't have come at a better time. Because that's when the walking wounded started to return!
SC came out of the All Star Break going 10-6, finishing the month at 13-12 and over 500.
August showed another positive month going 16-12 and then they caught fire, going 18-10 in September and clinching no less than a tie for the Division, 2 games up with 2 to play - in San Francisco. We lost those last two, setting up Game 163 in South Carolina.
The Bomber fell behind in that game 2-0 in the first inning, but by the 4th, Fernando Guzman launched a game tying 2 run homer. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the 9th when Guzman came to the plate again and did his best impersonation of Chris Chambliss at 9:49pm, hitting a 9th inning walk off HR putting the Bombers into the Playoffs in front of 50,372 rabid fans!
The Bombers were dispatched by the eventual TML Champions, Eureka Hornets in 7 games and that's where John "Flipper" Martin had his coming out party! Martin pitched games 2 & 6, winning both going a combined 14.1 IP, 6 H, 3BB, and 8K's allowing just 1 unearned run. That's right, Martin went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA!!!
All in all, from all aspects this was a tremendous stepping stone of a season for SC. The Bombers lead the TML in HR's for the 1st time (201). Fan interest went up 5 points (65 now), Attendance record was set (3,573,910), First time over 500 for a season, first playoff appearance, budget increase anticipated at approximately 10MM to spend in free agency,
From a roster point of view, things can't look any better.
The previously mentioned Martin, will be going into his fourth year and is looking to finally put together the Cy Young type season that the team and it's fans know is possible.
Aaron Harris, Matt Murphy, and Jason "Peanut" Adams, all rookies, played a prominent role in the SC rotation.
Harris, 25, went 14-9, 5.09 ERA in 176 IP for 29 starts for SC.
Murphy, 25, went 11-8, 4.18 ERA in 140 IP for 23 starts and
Adams, 24, went 2-4 6.34 ERA in 38 IP and 7 starts.
Adams, allowed the Bombers to take out some slumping SP's (Nicholson and Harris) and give the team some much needed innings to preserve the bullpen. He truly did, "Take One For The Team". Adams earned the promotion by going 13-4 w/ 3.75 ERA and WHIP of 1.29 in AAA.
Harris, really gave all he had. He simply appeared to have run out of gas by September and was removed from the rotation once the September call ups arrived.
Other rookies to make a significant impact is the probably runner up to the Rookie of the Year Award, Jorge Rosas. The one Bomber that could NOT afford to be lost. The 21 year old phenom played 158 games, hit .306, with 27 HR's and 100 RBI's. In any other season he would have been a lock to win the hardware. Rosas also stole 33 bases and fell 3 HR's short of a 30-30 season.
The next rookie to make the leap and have an impact is Bernardo Cisneros, 25 years old
2nd Rd pick in the 2013 draft, Cisneros provided above grade defense as well as contributing with the stick. in 85 games, Cisneros hit .275, with 11 HR and 36 RBI primarily hitting in the bottom third of the order. An OB of 351 and an OPS of 782 in a rookie season gives management plenty to be happy with.
The last rookie probably had the most significant impact. SS Mike Woods, 24 years old.
A 1st Rd pick in the 2014 draft, Woods plays a gold glove caliber shortstop and given that a majority of the SC pitching staff throws upwards of 65% in ground balls! Woods call up allowed SC to move Gerald "PePe La" Pugh to 3B which is his best defensive position.
But now it's onto planning the defense of the Division Crown and some of the short term goals are to improve on the pitching categories across the board. SP ERA has to rank better than 10th overall, and the Bullpen ERA has to improve on it's 7th overall ranking. Runs against has to come down too.
With the down years that Nicholson, Gibbons and Yamaguchi had, SC is looking for all 3 to rebound to be solid SP's in the ABL, and if that happens things will look very good for South Carolina.
All in all, the core of this team is under team control for at least the next 4 seasons and at a low cost to the owner.
Now...onto the Draft!
