Month: August 2009

Notes from Aug. 31 practice

The weather was actually comfortable enough for me to bike it to the lanes today, so I took the opportunity to head there to get some practice in. I had a slow start (167), but then had a second game with five in a row for a 222, followed by a 203 final game. I used the Hy-Road in all three games again, so I think I’m becoming more comfortable using that ball.

Lane man’s new “toy”: As I was finishing up, Rob Lawson, the lane mechanic, brought out his new “toy,” a Kegel Kustodian Ion lane machine. As Rob told me the machine had 30 patterns preloaded on the machine, I’m assuming they got the “Sport” upgrade. This machine should increase the variety of patterns the house is able to put out, probably including the PBA ones. “Junior” told me about something he’s thinking about related to the new lane machine, but I think I’ll play his thoughts close to the vest until he actually decides to do it.

Westgate Lanes 50th anniversary celebration: I haven’t noted this until now, but Westgate Lanes will be celebrating their 50th anniversary on Sept. 11. On that day, bowling will be just 50¢/game, and shoe rental will be 50¢, with this special running all day. Also on that day, The Cavaliers and Mudslide will be playing in the pub starting at 5 PM. I’m certainly going to be there at least part of the day, so I hope to see some of you. 😀

Tapped to death

My brother and I had a bowling outing for the first time in months today. I went into the third game with a triplicate possibility after a pair of 213s (first one of the clean variety), but then I couldn’t stop leaving single pins and missed many of them for a 140 score. It should be said that if I bowl that kind of game Wednesday night in the Brunswick Mixed no-tap tournament, I should be in great shape. My brother, to his credit, had a 168 first game, which we believe to be his best ever.

End of summer 2009

Based on our 15th place finish, my team received $45/person out of the prize fund, with an extra $3.25/person out of the excess. I chipped in $1.25 for the usual scholarship fund collection.

This year, I did enter the end-of-season no-tap tournament with my winter league situation more or less settled. I didn’t think I did too badly, as I had a 268 first game that started open-spare, then closed out with the last 10, 7 natural. It was downhill from there, however, and I finished out of the money. Tim Major was the star of the night, as his no-tap 300 (only non-natural strike was in the 7th frame) in the last game helped him take top honors for the men. Jane Welch had the high score for the women.

The meeting for the Brunswick Mixed League will be next week, and the league will be running a no-tap tournament of their own following the meeting. I am looking forward to seeing my “old friends,” as well as meeting the new bowlers.

Aug. 19 league night (final night of Wed. Summer Mixed)

As my Brunswick Command wrist device had given out during the tournament on Sunday, I had to stop in the pro shop before bowling to pick up a sturdier wrist device. Ray suggested a Robby’s Revs I and showed me how it could be adjusted. There wasn’t really time to practice with it before league, so I had to adjust it on the fly during warm-ups.

My Week 15 bowling, frame-by-frame (BowlSK)

I did figure out the wrist device enough by the time it counted to have a couple of games in the 200s. The third game was the letdown, however, the double I had in the 10th frame of that game was clutch, as it gave my team the game points, which turned out to be our only points of the night. I felt kind of bad that I was just about the only one on my team who “showed up,” but it should be said that “The Insiders” were also hot, with the killer coming fairly late in the second game, when all of their team members put up turkeys. “Shihoots” won their match, so we finished next-to-last.

Result: 204-202-152=558
Final average (45 games): 181 Last 9 games average: 182

At this point, I’ll congratulate “Country Bumpkins” (Mary Ann Peters, Andrew Dawson, Bill Hamelin, and Carl Nordstrom), as they won their match against “Phoenix Kings” to take the league title. 😀

Cross-training #108

MLB.com noted that the Texas Rangers participated in reliever Eddie Guardado’s “Celebrity Bowl” event at Splitsville in the Arlington Highlands last night after their game against the Boston Red Sox, which they won 4-3. The tournament benefited Ava’s Friends (after Eddie’s daughter), an organization that supports families with autistic children.

The first road trip

The plan in the morning was to meet Sally Toppan and Debbie Dion at Westgate Lanes, get my gear loaded into Sally’s trunk, and leave at around 10:30. They were running a bit behind schedule, but we arrived at AMF Cranston Lanes with enough time to get a couple of warm-up games in. When I asked the desk clerk what shot was out there, I was informed that it was the Scorpion, the same shot they used last time The People’s Tournament was there.

During my two games of warm-up, I was first trying to play the track area (around the 10 board at the arrows), but thought later that I got a better look playing outside straight up 5. I informed my Facebook friends of this plan by a text message status update, but that plan was scotched when I started practice before the start of scoring for my squad. The BowlSK link below should show you what I ended up doing when it counted:

My 12:30 PM squad performance, frame-by-frame (BowlSK)

I didn’t think I did that badly for not only my first time in this house, but my first time on a PBA shot in any house. I learned that my key was to stay under the ball (which is usually the case on even the house shot at Westgate Lanes). However, it turned out it was easier said than done, as the back plate of my wrist brace gave out during the tournament. Having gone through two of those in one winter league and nearly two full summer leagues, I think it’s time to invest in something sturdier, and will talk to Ray about it next time I see him in the pro shop.

Although I missed the cut, I couldn’t head home until Sally and Debbie were finished, and they both cashed, with Sally making it into the second round of roll-offs. I told them on the ride home that I still enjoyed the experience, and was looking forward to doing it again.

Aug. 14 league standings update

As I noted in the latest league night recap post, my team did, indeed, avoid the last place match, and will bowl as the 13th place team against “The Insiders” next week. If we sweep, and Team 15 has a winning night against “Hocus Pocus,” we can move up to sole possession of 12th place. We are guaranteed of staying out of the basement, as the “Lounge Lizards” will only have 34 points if they split, and if that happens, “Shihoots” will have 2 more points than us if we get swept.

At the top of the league standings, “Phoenix Kings” have just a single point lead over “Country Bumpkins,” so the latter team can win the league championship if they have a winning night against the former. “Amelia” is only four points off of the lead, and can move into a tie for first if they sweep “Git R Done” and the first place match is split.

Cross-training #106

Just for my home-area readers…

About.com notes that the third annual “Beckett Bowl,” hosted by Boston Red Sox Cy Young Award candidate Josh Beckett, will take place on Sept. 10 at the Lucky Strike Lanes on Ipswich St. in downtown Boston, with an after-party at the Boston House of Blues. More information in the article linked above.

Two for the price of one

As the title of this post alludes to, this one recaps two different series, as we had the make-up third game against “Country Bumpkins” last night…

Week 11’s bowling, frame-by-frame (BowlSK)

I was no great shakes on the night we originally bowled them, but learned how to better throw the Hy-Road since then and was effective in the third game. Indeed, the four-bagger near the end came at a point where I needed to help keep Carl Nordstrom (“Country Bumpkins'” anchor, who happens to be Eric’s father) off my team’s tail. Claiming the third game, we also won total, since we won the first game and tied in the second game.

Result: 178-170-193=541

Week 14’s bowling, frame-by-frame (BowlSK)

The first game was a bit of a letdown after my performance in the make-up game, but I got it together in the second game and had one of my better games of the summer. I think I just ran out of gas in the third game, but the team won 6 of the 8 points (first two games and total), which was enough to avoid the last place match. Indeed, I checked what some of the other teams near us in the standings did, and we, in fact, moved ahead of “The Insiders” for 13th place; however, that means we face said team next week.

Result: 157-238-151=546

My “real” average for the blog is back to being the official one, as well as the AVG+1 score, but the last nine average is skewed with the Week 11 series being included…

Average (42 games): 181 Last 9 games average: 189
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 572

Aug. 7 league standings update

The 6-2 performance against the “Lounge Lizards” this week made the margin to last place for us more comfortable; however, if we are to avoid the last position round pairing next week, we need to win the make-up game against “Country Bumpkins” (also next week), split against next week’s opponents, “Shihoots,” and take total in that match by at least 589 pins. As this represents an average winning margin of 197 pins/game, we would realistically need to either sweep “Shihoots” or win 6-2 and also win the make-up game against “Country Bumpkins” to avoid a position-round rematch with the “Lounge Lizards.” (Note: I did not consider the possibility of ties for game or total when calculating scenarios.) “Phoenix Kings'” lead on “Country Bumpkins” is 5 points, and both teams face teams near the middle of the pack next week.

Counting the two completed games against “Country Bumpkins,” my average is officially 181.

A game to be proud of

My Week 13 bowling, frame-by-frame (BowlSK)

I spun a beauty, as they would say about a baseball pitcher, in my first game last night: I only scored a 215, but everything was either a strike or a 9-spare, and, indeed, because I got all strikes in the 10th frame, it would’ve been a 300 game if it had been 9-pin no-tap (where 9 pins on the first ball counts as a strike). My second game was better-scoring (a 222), but had a couple of opens, and I lost my line a little bit in the last game, but still got a 185 for a 622 set, my best one this summer.

Result: 215-222-185=622
Average (36 games): 181 Last 9 games average: 187
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 567

The bonus about last night was that I was bowling against my cousins’ team, and my team won 6 of the 8 points. We lost a close first game, won the second one by 130+, and white-knuckled a win in the last game. In said last game, my team was down by 2 with myself and Bob Fosdick, my cousins’ friend, coming up in the 10th frame, and we both left difficult spares, a 2-8 for myself, and the 5-6 (I believe) for Bob, which we both missed. The difference? I was working on a strike, while Bob was open in the 9th.

July 2009 People’s Tournament results

Note: These are results from a tournament that the author of this blog participated in.

The People’s Tournament reported William Webb (AMF Silver Lanes {CT}, 207 avg.) as the winner of the July event at Westgate Lanes. Webb defeated Ray Swagerty (Lanes & Games, 190 avg.) by a score of 195-176 (with handicaps) in the final match. Representing Westgate Lanes, Sean Richard (198 avg.) made the semifinals, while Chris Gunn (191 avg.) was also in the top eight.

Aug. 3 practice

Despite feeling a bit drained from the weekend, I hit the practice lanes today in the hopes that a good session could energize me for the rest of the week. I largely succeeded: I overcame a slow start in the first game to get a game in the 190s, and everything came together in the last game, where I left 2 shots out right (one of which led to my only open of the game, when I peeled the 2 off the 2-4-8), but was throwing the ball well otherwise to score a 211. Other than first ball work with the Hy-Road, I experimented with going back to using my strike ball for my left-side spares, and I was finding myself more consistent making them on that side. I may end up using my plastic ball for only my 6 and 10 pins (or any other leave where I have to hit the 6 pin full, even if it isn’t there, such as with the baby split).