Spirit of Past Seasons
Jun 23 v Jerusalem L 5-8
Jun 25 @ Athens W 4-3
Jun 26 @ Athens L 5-6
Jun 27 @ Athens L 7-14
Jun 28 v Beirut L 4-8
Jun 29 v Beirut L 6-8 (F/10)
It was like a haunting, the spirit of seasons past as the Red Crescents crashed to just one win in the week. Beirut really seem to have our number this year as they get another two wins at the Peoples Palace, they’ve won 12 out of our 16 meetings this season now. The Athens line now has symmetry with a disappointing series loss in Greece, three wins each for 2049 and 33 runs scored each. The five defeats allow the Hebrew Hammers to climb above us into second place in the BURT, the first time we’ve been as low as third for a while. To be honest though, given the last three years showings we are still ecstatic to be in such a lofty position, with an actual winning record against two of the other BURT teams.
Two major injury worries surfaced during the week, star pitcher Ricardo Quadrado is complaining of back stiffness but is determined to play through it, I’m loath to let him do that but we just haven’t got much in reserve to replace him. We’ve already decided to send Nick Garner back to Port Elizabeth because although he won the only game this week, he won it despite having issued five walks. That’s nine in three games with only 7 K’s, just not good enough. Up in his place comes recent minor league FA signing Terrance Kelly, the fans were pleased when we signed him, let’s see how pleased they are when he pitches for Riyadh.
Centrefielder Jose Leyva has also suffered a torn labrum and will miss the rest of the season. With Riyadh holding a team option on his third and final year that could spell the end of his Red Crescent career if his replacement proves up to the task. That replacement will be 23-yr-old Ivan Gulledge, acquired back in 2046 in a trade with Mumbai. He’s had parts of three years now in Triple-A to hone his bat skills ( he was always a plus defender), now it’s time to prove it in the bigs. Masaki Sato, still determined to test free agency at the end of 2049, is still putting himself in the shop window, this week he picked up the BURT league Player of the Week award, a rare honour for a Riyadh player. He recorded 10 hits in the week (.417) with six homers and 13 RBI. With the new BNN Top 100 Prospect rankings out young middle infielder Jouo Rovanpera has worked his way up to ninth in the rankings, we have of course lost “Junior All-Star” from that Top-10
2049 Riyadh Results against the UMEBA (up to June 29th )
Vs BURT
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baghdad | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 96 | 81 | 11-6 |
| Beirut | 3 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 68 | 100 | 4-12 |
| Jerusalem | 7 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 64 | 40 | 12-5 |
| Manama | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 75 | 68 | 7-9 |
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 33 | 3-3 |
| Bucharest | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 20 | 0-3 |
| Cairo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 9 | 3-0 |
| Mumbai | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
| Tripoli | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 1-2 |