Manama musings 2.0

[jjw]

How things have changed for Manama over the past month - and plainly not for the better. A league lead that was once 5.5 games has become a deficit of the same magnitude to the surging Jerusalem Hebrew Hammers. Ok, the Pearls are pretty much a lock for the Burt wild card, what with their 12.5 game lead for that slot over the Baghdad Kings, which would mean a repeat of last season's battle with the Hammers. Recall they played 11 straight games against each other at the end, counting the 7 game league playoff, a marathon that ended with Manama going on to the Association championship series -- where they blew a 3-0 game advantage to Bucharest. The Pearls very much wanted to erase the still lingering pain of that historic collapse, but the way things are going now the club will be very lucky to pose any kind of a threat to Jerusalem in the playoff.

The Pearls continue to hit well; certainly as well as -- and in most categories better than -- any UMEBA team. But the pitching has fallen off over the last month, and switching several pitchers between the rotation and bullpen as the team struggles to find the right combination has not helped much, if at all. Rick Claris, a star starter the past two seasons, failed to make it this season and is relegated to middle relief with an ERA over 5. Calvin Fletcher, projected to be one of the top hurlers in the Association, suffered a similar fate after a more than decent first half, and is now down in AAA ball trying to find what's wrong and how to fix it. Damian Theophanous may be tied for the league lead in victories with 13, but he too has been dispatched to the pen due to an ERA over 5 (most of those wins are the result of the club hitting fabulously with him on the mound, and at one point his record was 10-1, but even solid batting cannot always overcome poor pitching and he's now 13-5). And recently, after standout setup man José Velásquez was moved to the rotation and demonstrating that is where he really belonged, he tore his flexor tendon and will likely need Tommy John surgery. And so now two other top relievers, southpaws Armando Rodríguez and Wayne Mawle, have been shifted to starting roles. But all this depleted the bullpen's capacities; Huang Cheng has been quite fine as a closer, and last season's all-start closer, Owen McKelvey, appears to have regained his form and is back in a setup role, but middle relief is now a real weakness.

One notable and very bright light for the Pearls this year remains outfielder-first baseman Patrick Strolz, who has an outside chance to bat .400 (he's now at .392, and also has a remarkable .455 on base percentage to go with his .563 slugging).The UMEBA single season batting record is held by Mike Román, who batted .381 back in the Association's inaugural season, 2037. With but 32 games to go for Manama, Strolz seems a reasonably good bet to at least beat that, even if he never tops the magical 400 level.