The Manama Papers, Issue 5, 2039

[TheKenwyne]

Standout Performances from Nornabell, Trujilo, highlight mediocre stretch for Pearls
-Adbulwahib al-Sakir
Manama, Bahrain, 27/5/2039, 16:00AST

Current Pearls' Record: 27-22, 1 GB.
Run Differential: +58

The Manama Pearls' was gruelling road trip came to an end Wednesday night and, to celebrate, OF Rhys Nornabell went ahead and set a regular season record by slugging three home runs in the penultimate game against the Baghdad Kings. He is the first player in Burt League history to achieve this feat, as he helped the Pearls to an 11-5 victory. His home runs came off three different pitchers; starter LHP Ruben Frias (one on, two outs) and relievers LHP Henry Waddell (two on, two outs) and LHP Alphonse Salarani (none on, two outs). The display of clutch hitting won him many plaudits. He informed the reporters after the game that "the beers will taste better tonight after this win," before being hauled off amidst shrieks of "not again you ingrate," from general manager Mr. Lawton.

Also on fire as the road trip closes off is 1B Sandro Trujilo, who stretches his hitting streak to an UMEBA leading 24 games. He also leads the Burt League in Batting Average (.353), Home Runs (12), RBI (39), OPS (1.035) and Batter War (2.1). If you include the Bancroft League, he's doing noticeably less well.

However, despite excellent contributions from these hitters the pitching has regressed towards the mean. Though still leading the league in most statistical categories, Manama's lead has been cut across the board, with their starting pitching now sporting an ERA of 4.03 (Baghdad are next with 4.33). The bullpen has continued to be good, but has needed continued tweaking to find the correct alignment; most recently, LHP Tony Nelson has been moved to the rotation, with LHP Juan Pagan headed to the bullpen after rejoining the team from the IL, with RHP Lawrence Resendez joining him there after a few wayward starts. RHP Ronald Stewart continues to operate in the rotation for now. The most disturbing pitching snafu for the Pearls has been the deterioration of RHP Ruben Nunez, who is contractually obliged a spot in the rotation. His ballooning ERA (5.19) and WHIP (1.37) may be making elements of the Pearls' personnel wish this was not the case.

***

[ThePreyingManta]

Hate to burst your bubble, but 1B Roberto Perez hit 3 homers in a game on May 2.

[TheKenwyne]

That's my bad, it's a Burt League first. Misread the leader-board. Whoops!