Homestand does at least bring four wins, but it’s not enough for fans
As we entered the second week of a 13-game homestand we did at least win four out of seven games, but with the Red Crescents now 4-5 on the homestand with four games left, it’s not really enough. Even the fans think that with the four-game series against Beirut attracting just 51,260 spectators including Riyadh’s lowest ever crowd, 11,157, on the Monday series opener. With last season’s average crowd only just around 300 short of 20,000, our sheikh owner was keen to see that closer to 25,000. Unfortunately, we have lost over 10% of our regular supporters over the course of this season and the current average is below 17,500. The end result will of course be less money to turn around what is already being recognised around the world as a rusting sinking ship. Perhaps the UMEBA’s decision to expand again so soon after contraction wasn’t right? The rest of the established UMEBA teams are laughing their pants off as the two expansionists flounder around in a deep pool, way beyond the other eight teams without much hope of any turnaround. There just isn’t the available players on the open market to improve the two new expansion teams who still have to contend with a glut of super inflated drafts which has stocked the previous eight team’s farm systems for many a year to come. Many South American Double-A affiliates would probably pulverise Cairo and Riyadh UMEBA teams. There wouldn’t be many fans of contraction so soon, but the emerging pattern of contraction, expansion and contraction would be very similar to the birth of American baseball where teams & leagues sprung up and disappeared with regularity as demand requested. All that worked through as the MLB became a mature league but not for decades, people forget that the UMEBA is only in it’s 11th season, it’s still a league searching for an identity, a shape & size that can see it move forward to develop itself into a properly established league.
Being back at home obviously suited Masaki Sato & Clive Timberlake, both lashed out with three homers each and the eight RBI from Sato trumped by Timberlake’s 10 runs driven in. Mike Schofield too, previously mired in a 2-29 slump, found home confines to his liking with a 5-13 week including two runs scored and his eighth homer of the season.
Bert Hackworth with six strong innings against Beirut on Wednesday became the first Riyadh pitcher in 2047 to post five wins, which kinda tells you how bad the pitching staff have been in general. Raymond Ortiz has now made five starts for the Red Crescents and hasn’t been tagged with any result yet despite his ERA being fractions below 8.00. Meanwhile Ch’ang-chieh Xin wore out the path between the bullpen and the mound, he pitched in four out of seven games, threw six innings and allowed just four hits and one unearned run.
Down in A ball South Guam Riyadh’s 2046 second round draft pick, 17-yr-old Kononae Walakino has really started to show some development, in 14 starts he’s posted a 6-3 record with an ERA a smidgen over 3.00. This season he’s added a couple of points of stuff to his arsenal while is now touching 100-101 mph on the radar gun, around an extra 3 mph as well as adding a sinker to his four-pitch selection. Not eighteen until December Walakino could be in Double or Triple-A before his 19th birthday and shady figures are suddenly laying large wads of cash on far eastern betting rings for him to be the first drafted played to play for Riyadh. Talking of firsts,
Jorge Gallegos, our first IC graduate has managed to overcome his nightmare debut, in which he gave up six hits and seven runs in just 1.2 innings, and in his third start he went seven innings allowing just four hits and a run. He’s got a hell of a lot of development to do to get anywhere near the upper echelons of the UMEBA systems, but the potential is lurking there. Maybe at eighteen he’s got limited time to reach that potential, within two years he has to be well on the path to his ceiling, but where there’s hope . . .
2047 Riyadh Results against the UMEBA (Up to July 27th)
Vs BURT
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baghdad | 4 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 78 | 112 | 5-14 |
| Beirut | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 92 | 122 | 9-13 |
| Jerusalem | 4 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 91 | 124 | 7-15 |
| Manama | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 89 | 96 | 9-12 |
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 21 | 2-1 |
| Bucharest | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 1-2 |
| Cairo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 1-2 |
| Mumbai | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 25 | 27 | 1-5 |
| Tripoli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 23 | 0-3 |