Win streak snapped and back to four losses
Apr 14 v Manama L 2-3
Apr 15 v Athens W 8-1
Apr 16 v Athens W 5-3
Apr 17 v Athens L 4-6
Apr 19 @ Manama L 5-6 (F/11)
Apr 20 @ Manama L 1-2
So, our record winning streak was snapped at six, right at the start of the week. The crowds though have stuck with us, the last win of the streak, on Tuesday 13th, was our biggest ever attendance to date at 27,973, just 27 short of capacity. Three games later as we beat thew Centaurs 5-3 the attendance was 27,933, one short of our third highest attendance, so the fans are sticking with us so far.
Four losses in the week look to be us heading back to the bad old days, but to be honest we’re not worried at the moment as three of them were by a single run and the other by two runs, leaving us with still a run differential of +20, second in the UMEBA. Our batters are still slugging away, first in homers and extra base hits in the BURT, our rotation has the second-best ERA in the BURT, but the finger is pointed at our bullpen whose ERA is only fourth in the BURT. We thought the ‘pen might be better this year, so changes might be made. The first of with was 30-yr-old Rule 5 pick Angel Romero being returned to Baghdad, in seven outings he had an ERA of 10.50, a WHIP of 2.15 and had allowed nine hits in six IP. We have added back 28-yr-old James Matarazzo who had just cleared waivers and was heading for Port Elizabeth before we decided to give him a chance in Riyadh. One other departure was 31-yr-old utility infielder Jonathon O’Reilly who was claimed off waivers, unfortunately in his short time with us he was an adequate defender but was hitting a mere .197.
Umar “All-Star Jr” Doger racked up his second ever UMEBA win, pitching seven innings, allowing just one run and a walk while striking out five more batters. If he works on his control, six walks in three games, he really could be the mega-star predicted. Diesel “All-Star” Dave is hitting his straps too, three homers and nine RBI this week, he now leads the team in homers (6) and RBI (14). Vinnie Coalman is proving a good lead-off man with nine walks with #2 batter Daryl Pris also working seven walks, helping Sato & Dave rack up those RBI with their 11 homers so far
2049 Riyadh Results against the UMEBA (up to April 20th)
Vs BURT
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baghdad | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15 | 1-2 |
| Beirut | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 16 | 0-2 |
| Jerusalem | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 10 | 3-0 |
| Manama | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 22 | 3-3 |
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 2-1 |
| Bucharest | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
| Cairo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 00 | 0-0 |
| Mumbai | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
| Tripoli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
