The Royal Fortune,

April 11th, 2021

After generous Cap’n gave his crew a one-week paid vacation to visit their respective families (is rumored that each filibuster received 2 golden coins and a brand new eye-patch) the crew reported to work with an empty stomach, so Cap’n proposed to dine a delicious meal combination of Tacos and Pork that proven to be a lethal mix, sinking further the Royal Fortune to a 6-week losing streak

First and considering filibusters were near the Cancun shores where Royal Fortune was being repaired (again!), Cap’n decided to steal the famous Mexican dish at the most renowned restaurant of the city, “Cuddlecitos Bar” which earned its worldwide recognition thanks to food industry guru Craig “El Jefe” Dyer, but Cap’n and his crew never imagined the spiciness of the food they were about to eat.

It all started quiet, as Tacos were taken by surprise from the filibuster attack in 1st, led by a 1-rbi double from “First Mate” Baho giving the crew an early 1-0 lead.

A lead that stayed until the 3rd, where the “quieted” Tacos were no longer in “silencio” as they stroke back the crew 4 spicy jalapenos (jargon for runs in the Cancunian slang) that were answered back by the filibusters with 2 more bullets thanks to a joint effort between Filibuster of the Week “The Doctor” London, “Sub Gunner” Mabry and “Sub Sail Master” Mendoza. An attack that continued with another bullet launched in the 4th thanks to “First Mate” Baho which tied the affairs after 4 innings.

But then, the “Cuddlecitos Bar” issued a warning to his staff to destroy any filibusters that surrounded the restaurant shores, and the employees responded to the order with 3 more spicy jalapenos launched to the crew in the 5th to take a 3-run lead. A lead that was shortened in the same inning by the courageous crew thanks to “Sub Gunner Mabry” rbi single putting the game with striking distance, by just 2 runs

Another silent inning by the spicy Tacos set the stage for a dramatic ending with the Marauders crew top of the order heading to attack the bar and only down by 2 runs. The lead got immediately cut in half by a solo shot from “Quartermaster Lawrence” but then the crew felt just short by loading the bases and with 2-outs a pop-up to the SS ended the game with a 6-7 loss, and the crew couldn’t grasp their well-deserved first victory of the season

After such outstanding effort and with a hungry crew, Cap’n decided to navigate a little farther to the east towards Havana’s shores, which are famous for their delicious Cuban Sandwich (made from pork). And if you are in seek of good food, there is no better way to do it than going after the most famous sports bar owner of the city, Mr. Alford.

But when you are trying to steal bacon from Mr. Alford you better be prepared, and the crew simply wasn’t ready after such spicy feast from earlier, and the Pigs capitalize this with a 9-bacon attack in the first and 3 more bacon in the 2nd that let the crew demoralized knowing they were heading for its 12 loss of the season.

So Cap’n had no option but to start wearing his hat in the field to show some respect to the powerful Piggies. And boy oh boy the crew showed some character, scoring a total of 14 runs in the next 2 innings, thanks to a join crew effort from “Sub Gunner” Mabry, POW “The Doctor” London, “Sub Sail Master” Mendoza, and “Quartermaster” Lawrence rbi-extra-bases (these last 2 dropped massive bullet bombs). After this, the crew took their first (and only) lead of the game,14-12, which left astonished spectators and Pigs alike.

But as I said before, stealing bacon from Mr. Alford is not an easy task, and after this attack, he ambushed the crew with a massive 16-bacon run storm to take a lead again, a lead that they will never lose again in the affair. The courageous crew partially answered back with 3 more bullets in the 5th (and last inning) thanks to 3-run inside the park bomb from “Boatswain” Trotter, which happens to be his first career HR in TSSL (Congrats Zack!), but the crew came short losing 28-17

 Next week, and after such a bad food experience, the Cap’n has commanded his crew to be vegetarian for one week and try to eat some delicious grasshoppers from Garber’s farm to then sneak into Silverman’s luxurious ranch to refill its artillery by stealing some bullets. Cap’n is convinced that this time his prediction will become a reality!

Notable Filibusters:

POW Alan “The Doctor” London – 3/4, 2R’s, 2B, RBI

ROW Zack “Boatswain” Trotter – 3/5, 3R’s, HR, 3RBI’s

Jose “First Mate” Baho – 4/5, 3R’s, 2 2B, BB, RBI

Scott “Quartermaster” Lawrence – 3/6, 2HR’s, 2RBI’s, 3R’s, BB

Lastly, and this is a belated one, here is the proof again that Cap’n word is worth it, sharing part of his 'booty' (a bit scarce this year so we are using our treasure savings account lol!) with the best performers

Andy Mabry - Filibuster of the Week (3/14)                   

Johnny Manjarrez - Filibuster of the Week (3/28)

Arr!

Cap'n Cova

Gers

Lost opener 13-8 to Iron Pigs.....played well except one defensive inning where we made 4-5 errors opening the floodgates.  2nd game was close as we lost 7-5 to the M's....hitting was in absent with only 10 for the game and no walks.

We are just plating possum for now and will rally hard in second half of the season so beware!!!

Gems:

RR-5/6 3 2b's HR 5 runs and 2 rbi's and sensational catch in game 1

Winsor  HR

L Taub  4/5 

Red Sox hosted 2 Hall of Fame captains, John Unell and his Clowns and John Hauf and his Colt 45s. 

Game 1 saw the Clowns score 3 and the Red Sox answered with 3 of their own including a run scoring hit from Daryl Drake and a 2 run HR by Brian Babbitt (1st of 2 consecutive 2 run HRs).  The Clowns scored 2 more in the 2nd and 3rd en route to a 17-10 victory over the Sox.  It was a well earned win by the visitors and the Red Sox played their poorest game of the season.

Game 2 saw the Colts score 6 in the top of the 1st on the way to a 10-2 win over the Sox. The fielding was improved but the hitting was missing in action.

Honorable mention to Matt Casey who played flawlessly at RF, 2B and C through the 2 games.  The Red Sox will move forward and on to 2 new games next Sunday.

With the league enjoying its first week off since the start of the season, I feel it is the perfect time to reflect back on the first 5 weeks of the season and note some interesting observations.  I will do this again around mid-season and then again late season.  I will try to just stick to the numbers and trends and not personal opinions as those are pretty much meaningless.  So sit back and enjoy Chapter 1- A New Beginning.

The off-season brought about a plethora of changes to the league.  A new commissioner, new ballpark, new uniforms and some new rules made for some early season adjustments, but all for the betterment of the player experience.  The new 16-team format has not only created deeper team rosters, but has also led to a very healthy sub list.  We have already seen some teams benefit early on from the quality of subs they were able to acquire.  So, looking back at the first ten games, I wanted to offer up my five intriguing observations:

1.  Bob Weinfeld Division Dominance
     The first four weeks featured all inter-divisional matchups.  The standings for each division were nearly mirror images, with the Weinfeld Division sporting all but one of its eight teams with a .500 record or better.  On the flip side, the Silverman Division featured only one team with a winning record.  The teams is the Weinfeld Division had a 39-25 record overall to prove their dominance early on.  How will this all play out the remainder of the season?  Stay tuned.

2.  Walks-a-Plenty
     One of the new adopted rules was the use of pitching screens and with that came the introduction of the strike mat.  For the first couple weeks, pitchers were operating with a small window, as the plate itself was not a strike.  This was discussed and decided by the captains to include the plate as a strike and later on to modify the color of the mat to white.  My observation here is to look at the number of walks and the impact it has had on the season thus far.  After ten games, three teams have earned 50 or more walks.  The Astros and Red Sox are tied for first in their division and happen to have the top two walk totals of 56 and 53 respectively.  The Legends are the third team with 50 walks and currently have a winning record.  In contrast, the Astros have issued only 6 free passes for a +50 differential.  The Mariners are the only other team allowing single digit walks with 8.  The takeaway here?  Pitching is even more of a weapon for teams who make their opponent earn their trip to base.  The strike out number has also risen, which I would think will level off as players become more accustomed to the new zone.  

3.  Short Fields? What?
     The one constant you would hear year in and year out when games were played at Heritage Fields is "Oh you got the short fields more so you hit more homers."  The common thought was that homer numbers would decline without the existence of the shorter fields.  I don't have the numbers from 2020 in front of me from the games played in Plano, but I would be willing to bet that it would be close to even or possibly greater this season.  Through 10 games, we have seen a total of 225 homer runs hit.  Granted, a hand full of those may have been in the park jobs but that is still a high number.  Of the 16 teams in the league, twelve have a total of 12 home runs or more.  Ryan Driggers leads the league with 11 and a couple others are just behind with 9.  Team batting averages have also seen a climb.  This could be a result of deeper rosters due to only having 16 teams, the net protecting the pitchers which allows hitters to use the middle without concern, or maybe players have just gotten better.  Whatever the reason, we see nine teams with a .500 team batting average or better.  Interestingly, seven of those nine teams are playing in the same division.  I will let you guess which division that would be.  

4.  Are Clowns Scary or Funny?
     I can tell you that the Clowns may have been funny immediately after the draft, however they are seeming to be much more scary as the season has gone on.  Everyone was scratching their heads when this roster was assembled by captain John Unell.  A look into the numbers will tell you all you need to know here.  Although they just missed the team batting average cut at .499, they have an OPS of 1.240 and have scored the second most runs in the league at 133.  The more impressive things about this is that they started the season missing several of their key players.  They currently sit with a 6-4 record and only one game out of first place in the division.  You have to tip your hat to captain Unell.  He has made the pieces work effectively thus far and have put them in a great position going into division play.  Can they sustain this success?  There is no clowning around with this squad.  You better bring your A game.  

5.  Who Said Captaining is Hard?
     Having been a captain since 2017, I can attest that it isn't as easy as the Taco's rookie captain is making it look.  Craig Dyer seems to have learned from his mentor Cuddles Haas and has led his team to a division leading 7-3 record.  They also tout the first ever husband-wife combo in league history and have one of the cutest mascots in league history with Myles in the dugout.  I need to say that, for the record, the first shalom league team Myles ever was the mascot of was the Orioles of 2018.  They can't take that away from us!  Nevertheless, this team has had an impressive early season run and Dyer is proving to be a captain of the year candidate for sure.  As long as Cuddles stays out of the way, this team could be a force in that division for the remainder of the season.  Tip of the cap to Dyer.  

Well that is all for now.  I hope you enjoyed the first edition of observations.  If not, there is always next time.  Until then, keep swinging for the fences and sprinting to the back plate!  See you all next week!

Game 1: Batmen vs Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers believed the Batmen were working outside the law and did not appreciate their particular brand of justice. They were gonna stop at nothing to send the people of Shalom City a message that vigilantism would not be tolerated in these here parts. Fortunately, the Batmen came prepared with an arsenal of weapons in their Bat Utility Belts and prove that we are all fighting on the same side. The Batmen kicked things off with an early 5 runs from the first 9 batters. The Rangers were hot on their trail though and came right back with a streak of their own. Another 6 runs came in from the Batmen in the top of the 2nd. Omar Gonzalez and Dylan Buhrow with back to back doubles, followed by a single, double and triple from David Buhrow, Dalton Fallaw, and Nick Barr respectively. Next few innings would remain quiet, with the Batmen maintaining an 11-7 lead on the Rangers going into the 6th. Not leaving it up to chance, and with Doug Kramer and Steve Enda on base, Daniel Buhrow comes up and POWs the snot out of the ball clear over the RCFielder for a 2RBI triple. Dylan Buhrow would drive in the final run to seal the deal and provide a 14-7 victory over the Rangers. Justice once again prevailed in Shalom City! 

Final Score: Bats 14 - Rangers 7

Game 2: Batmen vs the Grasshoppers

We may have bats on our suits...but we definitely do not like insects...or Field 4 for that matter! There is a reason that field was picked to be the last number. Yeah...you heard us Field 4! Better start playing nice or Dylan Buhrow has something in his Bat Belt for ya! Anywho...I believe our defense looked great today and seems to be really geling now. We were just out hit and Scott Greenberg pitched a gem (which seems to be his thing against the Buhrow brothers). Nick is gonna hit the Peloton hard these next two weeks to better leg out those doubles to give Ariel a 2RBI homerun instead of a solo shot! Dalton Fallaw, Steve Enda, and Omar Gonzalez were flawless against this pitching giant, Buhrow brothers went 1-9 against him :(. Absolutely loved the 1-2 pitching knockout of Ariel Rodriguez and Dougie “Fresh” Kramer. This duo has definitely figured out their pitching groove. Freddy Barraez played lights out 3rd base with a stellar double play to home that prevented a run. Love the heart of Erik Clausen, who despite getting hurt in game 2, kept powering through and cheering on his team! Even though we lost, this team never gave up and continued to pick each other up. We tip our Bat cowls to the Grasshoppers outfield who made some of the most ridiculous catches to give their team a 10-4 win on the day. We will be ready for round 2!