Manama musings 2.0

[jjw]

Whelp, the Pearls lost their chance to win the regular season title, dropping 3 out of the 4 games at season's end with Jerusalem (all those losses coming in the final inning) to let the one-game lead they enjoyed at the start of that series slip away and finishing a game back in the wild card position.

Then came a thrilling 7-game Burt League championship series against the Hebrew Hammers, making it an amazing 11 games in a row that these clubs faced off with a title of some sort on the line.

Manama took a 3-1 lead but then looked like they were about to repeat the same kind of high-pressure failure as Jerusalem tied it up at 3 games apiece (or, put another way, that Jerusalem was about to repeat another stirring comeback), only to see Rick Claris -- who had been clobbered by the Hammers in his game 2 start, surrendering 8 runs in just 3 2/3 -- hurl 7 and 1/3 solid innings in game 7, giving up no runs on 6 hits and leaving with a 3-run lead (achieved early, led by veteran first baseman Jack Nichols 2-RBI double in the first and left fielder Patrick Strolz's run scoring single in the 2nd). Set-up specialist Calvin Fletcher quickly finished the 8th and all-star closer Owen McKelvey shut down Jerusalem in the 9th, earning his third save of the series and bringing a second consecutive league title to Manama (both times as the wild card team).

Strolz, who batted .519 and slugged .630 over the 7 games, was voted the series MVP, beating out SS Socrates Kazantziakis who hit .439, and McKelvey.

Now comes the Association championship against Banc winner Bucharest. It will be the 5th time Manama has played for all the marbles in the 13-year history of the Association. They have won only once, beating Beirut in the Association's inaugural 1937 season. Last season the Pearls lost the UMEBA title to Athens, 4 games to 1. Can they come out on top in '49?