Still Chasing .500 or Better
Sep 15 v Bucharest L 5-7
Sep 17 @ Beirut L 3-4
Sep 18 @ Beirut W 5-2
Sep 19 @ Beirut W 6-3
Sep 20 @ Jerusalem W 5-2
Sep 21 @ Jerusalem L 5-10
It was back to a .500 week, but has the chance of a winning season gone? Just eight day & seven games are left in the 2049 season, a game at Jerusalem, three at Manama and finally back home to face bottom side Baghdad in a three-game series. Out of that lot we need three wins to record the Red Crescents first ever winning season, eminently possible, but is it likely? We’ve given the fans a 50-cent discount, down to $10.50 for the final series to reward them for sticking with us all season (although the numbers have been slowly flagging over the last few weeks). We’ve past the two million fans through the gates for the first time and our average attendance for 2049 will be around 50% up on 2048 and certainly the best ever for Riyadh. It’s been a long hard slog, but finally the finishing post is in sight; we are of course eliminated from the post season once more but about two months later than normal as we were still in with a mathematical change right up to mid-September.
Kevin Morales’ mini 2-game losing streak has now ruled out any chance of him getting his first ever career 20-win season in the bigs, but he still has a chance of equalling his career high of 19 wins, set a decade and a half ago in Louisville. Ricardo Quadrado has posted his 12th win of the season, the third Riyadh pitcher to reach that mark after Morales and Sean Gardner. Constantino Teixeira now has 31 saves in 34 attempts in his debut UMEBA season, easily beating the previous single season tally of 10 set last year by Olando Sanchez.
33-yr-old Daryl Pris was only originally signed as a cheap backup shortstop but has ended up being the starter for virtually the whole season and will in all probability retain the role for 2050 as well while, with Grady Fern remaining unsigned, there is a train of thought that the then 33-yr-old Atissi Mbamba might be his middle-infield partner in 2050.
2049 Riyadh Results against the UMEBA (up to September 21st )
Vs BURT
Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baghdad | 7 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 169 | 147 | 19-11 |
Beirut | 5 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 127 | 158 | 12-19 |
Jerusalem | 10 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 126 | 111 | 20-12 |
Manama | 9 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 132 | 143 | 13-17 |
Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Athens | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 33 | 3-3 |
Bucharest | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 36 | 0-6 |
Cairo | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 26 | 27 | 4-2 |
Mumbai | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 28 | 26 | 4-2 |
Tripoli | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 22 | 3-3 |