The Manama Papers, Issue 3, 2039

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TheKenwyne
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The Manama Papers, Issue 3, 2039

Post by TheKenwyne » Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:43 am

Pearls complete 5-1 week on the road, prepare for tough start to May
Bucharest, Romania
-Abdulwahab al-Sakir for The Manama Papers, 11:42EET on 29/4/39

GM Jacob Lawton was in decidedly better spirits this week after his team delivered a strong week of results. Despite a 1-2 series loss to Mumbai in India, the Pearls since leaving the subcontinent have won 4 straight, sweeping Beirut in Lebanon and winning the first of the series against Bucharest here in Romania. The ebullient Mr. Lawton was, for the first time, upbeat as he updated us on how the team were faring.

In the injury department:
  • OF Rhett Lawson (oblique) has been activated from the Injured List and added to Manama's active roster, with OF Aurelio Lopez back down to ABA Khartoum after just one Plate Appearance in UMEBA. Lawson, prior to going down, had posted a .412/.389/.882 slashline across 5 games, and will hope to return as hot.
  • RHP Orlando Sanchez (shoulder) has been sent to ABA Khartoum to rehab his shoulder. Mr. Lawton indicated there was concern in the Manama front office over whether the Colombian Reliever would be able to stay healthy.
  • OF Rhys Normabell (undisclosed) is expected to return next week. "If he's sobered up by then," Mr Lawton snarked.
Mr. Lawton informed us that other than Lawson's activation, there were no other significant roster moves involving players in the Majors. A change to the pitching staff had been made, he noted, with LHP Jose Rodriguez moving to the Closer position in place of RHP Alistair Grieves. Mr. Lawton cited Rodriguez's hot start, and Grieves' early struggles including a catastrophic Blown Save vs. Cairo earlier this month. Rodriguez is pitching 0.97 WHIP, to Grieves' 1.12, but Mr. Lawton noted Grieves' struggles against lefties as a potential reason for the change, with Rodriguez much less hampered pitching to opposite handed batters.

As for standout performances of the week, 1B Sandro Trujilo was singled out as continuing to swing a hot bat. A .357 AVG and 1.098 OPS, including 2 Homers and 7 RBI highlight the week for the First Baseman. Competition was hot, Mr. Lawton was pleased to point out, with an excellent performance also turned in by OF Damien Mayne, celebrating his return from injury by by cracking 3 homers for a 1.160 OPS. He also gave plaudits to OF Armando Ojito, who managed a .308 batting average on the week, and, in a 3-4 performance that led the Pearls past Bucharest last night, his first homer of the season. "And we're in a city with the right sort of flesh pots to celebrate properly!", Mr. Lawton added, whatever that means. Probably haram. Please don't explain.

On the pitching side, LHP Gonzalo Fajardo continues to shine. He has 5 quality starts in as many outings, his ERA is 0.94 and his WHIP 0.73, both league leaders. He managed another 9 inning performance against Beirut this past week, giving up no runs on 3 hits and no walks with 4 strikeouts, but was deprived of a decision and his second complete game shutout after that game took 14 innings to conclude. An honourable mention, again, to RHP Ruben Nunez, who posted two wins in the week, and is Fajardo's main competition on numerous league wide leaderboards. Between them, the duo own the lead in ERA, WAR, Ks (Nunez leading the next competitor by 8 in this category), ERA+, Wins, IP, RA9-WAR, WHIP, Shutouts, FIP and QS.

Mr. Lawton signed off by declaring his pitching staff "the best in the fuggin league," clutching a large bottle of Romanian mystery juice as he went. He neglected to mention that it's a tough few days coming up for the Pearls, as after finishing up their 3 game series against Bucharest they head to reigning champions Jerusalem for 3 more. The next time you hear from me will be prior to the second game in their series against Istanbul.

***

Included here is an image from the UMEBA home page in game. So far, so "best in the fuggin league". Anyone know where I get the pleasant looking logos?
Image

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