Playing in the Sand (2040-6)

[Fat Nige]

Regular Season review (pt.3)

August marks the start of the downhill stretch that leads to the Post Season and it was downhill for the Chariot Archers. Just two games wee won in the first 10 in August and although Cairo went on a six-game winning streak then, it wasn’t enough to save the month. They finished below .500 for the second consecutive month with a 13-14 record. Thankfully the BURT as a whole was still in that tailspin also leaving Cairo’s 65-66 record still good enough to be six games ahead of Manama. What it wasn’t good enough for was to be ahead of the BANC, bottom-placed Beirut was two wins ahead of Cairo. It truly was a shameful season for the BURT leaving the BANC crowing in full voice how the United Cup as already settled.

August saw the pitching staff take a hit injury wise, Tony Caraballo, who was nominally the Chariot Archers #1 starter had already picked up a sore back on the last day of July and was expected to miss a least a week when the bullpen took two more big hits. Three days in Jose Bruno, who’d been signed late May to a 1-year deal after Montreal released him also felt back tightness and wouldn’t pitch again in August. Since his arrival he had been a steady innings eater in the heart of the bullpen and just five days later another solid pitcher went down. Troy Downey had missed 7 months with a shoulder inflammation at the start of his Cairo career in 2038 and now had torn his UCL which meant not only would he be lost for 2040 but he probably wouldn’t pitch in 2041 either; this would almost certainly spell the end of his career at Cairo. He had a solid but unspectacular 4-5 record with three saves and a 2.64 ERA record on the year, his highlight had been 55 K’s in just 44 IP. These losses brought up two replacements from Triple-A Nairobi, Zhi-jun Mao, mid-May signing was promoted along with 22-yr-old Bjorn de Rooij, a promising lad picked up in 2039 after Istanbul had released him. Working his way through two part seasons in Taipei, de Rooij had posted a 3-3 record with 3 saves and a 2.12 ERA in 20 outings at Triple-A this season so far; he was currently rated the #92 UMEBA prospect. This month’s rotation stars were Jesus Lopez (3-2 from 5 starts), Francisco Quintana (3-1 from 5 starts) and Tony Caraballo recovered his form enough to go 2-1 from his five starts. De Rooij got into six games in his first month in the majors and converted two save situations. Although he gave up four runs he didn’t walk anyone while striking out nine of the 40 batters he faced.

Mauro Garcia continued his “Sultan of Swat” persona and launched eight more over the fences to become the first Chariot Archer to hit 30 homers in 2040. Aubrey Anderson chipped in too with seven homers. Cairo maintained their patient base running this month, only stealing 13 bases again but this month they achieved a 100% success rate. Miguel Gill had been filling in adequately for the season injured Young but on the 8th he suffered a fractured arm and would miss the rest of the month. It left the outfield crew stretched a bit but Higino Ocha stepped up to the plate and covered most of the games in Centre. Not his best position as a -5.1 ZR shows but at least he had an average of .256.