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New Jersey Jackals

Jackals Poised for Better Second Half

July 26, 2021 - Frontier League (FL)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


It's extremely unlikely that Jackals manager Brooks Carey has ever been mistaken for Al Pacino.

But, just like Michael Corleone in "Godfather III," the New Jersey skipper could easily deliver the line:

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

Back in the pennant race, that is.

After a first half of the season that had been up and down, up and down, up and down, the Jackals had just lost seven straight games and looked like they might be toying with disaster in the Northeast Division of the Frontier League - again.

Game 48 of the 96-game schedule was on deck, and it was on the road - a four-game series against the first-place Sussex County Miners, the team with the best record in the entire league. Very little had been going right for New Jersey. Key hitters had been missing from the lineup for weeks. Starting pitching was not performing well. The bullpen, a strong point since opening day, was beginning to bend.

The men from Little Falls might have looked vulnerable, but, in a blink, they were right back in - the pennant race, that is - sweeping all four from the Miners, including yesterday's 9-1 victory at Skylands Stadium.

They might have started the second half in last place, 10 games back and lugging an 11-game losing streak. Instead, they're now six games behind with a four-game win streak as they head for Washington, Pa., tomorrow night to face the Wild Things.

"We've been an up and down team all year, but we've managed to keep our heads above water," Carey said.

"We've had a lot of players in and out, we've had all kinds of different lineups, but we're still in the ballgame, we're still in the race.'

And Carey was quick to point out the team's key weakness over the first half.

"We've got to get better starting pitching," he said. "We've had to rely too much on the bullpen every night."

Sunday afternoon, Carey handed the ball to Jason Zgardowski for his first start of the year after 23 relief appearances. The move worked. The 27-year-old righty from San Antonio threw four shutout innings before newcomer Dakota Freese took over and went four solid innings, his longest outing since he arrived July 9.

On offense, with so many players coming and going on and off the roster, Carey has never established a stable batting order, though a handful of stalwarts have stood out during the first half for both diligence and production.

Start with 26-year-old first baseman/outfielder Dalton Combs, the only player to appear in all 51 Jackals games. The Indiana native and former draft pick of the San Francisco Giants leads the team with 56 hits and five triples and is second in the stats with 12 stolen bases while posting a .303 batting average.

Catcher Jason Agresti has been an iron man behind the plate, batting .312 and playing error-free defense, with Nicco Toni, who missed a month on the Injured List, providing error-free backup off the bench, batting .273 in 13 games.

Right fielder Russ Olive has been another reliable and productive ingredient, leading the team with eight home runs, 39 RBIs and 14 doubles while batting .301 in 42 games.

Third baseman/outfielder Stanley Espinal and center fielder Demetrius Moorer have appeared in 48 and 47 games, respectively. Espinal, at .274, leads the team with 32 runs scored, and Moorer, at .259, is first with 33 walks and 20 stolen bases.

But Carey has had to juggle his troops on a nightly basis to fill both constant and sporadic gaps. From July 8 through Sunday, for example, there were only two days that the Jackals did not appear on the league transaction wire, whether signing, releasing, activating or de-activating players.

One notable addition was outfielder Todd Isaacs, who joined the club June 20, after playing with Cleveland Indians' and Colorado Rockies' farm teams the past five years. The 25-year-old who grew up in the Bahamas has appeared in18 games and is currently batting .386.

When it came to pitching in the first half, it was the bullpen to the rescue most nights, led by Dylan Brammer (19 relief appearances, 1.97 ERA), Matt Vogel (20- 2.48), Reece Karalus (17- 3.22) and Jack Weinberger (18- 3.56).

Starters lasted seven innings three times in 51 games so far this year; they've lasted six innings six times. They've lasted five innings 14 times. That's 23 times that starters lasted at least five innings; less than five innings in 28 games.

Lefty 6-foot-4 Californian Jared Milch accounted for two of those seven-inning starts, including Saturday's win over the Miners.

By Carl Barbati, former sports editor of the New Jersey Herald, Daily Record and The Trentonian.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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