With “Babe and Balls” taking only one point against “Warren’s Girls,” my team slipped out of first place, but we’re still only two points out, with “Vacanczz” the new leaders, my team tied in points with “The 5 G’s” (the core members of the team being the former core members of “The Dynasty”) and “Fire In The Hole,” and my team in third position due to pinfall. Next week could be important for position, as we are up against the aforementioned “The 5 G’s.”

My Week 6 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series sheet on BowlSK)

Mistakes in the middle of the game made the first one a “what might have been” game, but, overall, this was a pretty good rebound night after last week. Sometimes, a subtle change makes the difference, and the chat gang made a suggestion to spread out my index finger; my carry was better tonight, so I think that suggestion did the trick. 😀

Result: 189-204-226=619
Average (18 games): 194
Average for last 9 games: 198
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 595

John gave me my main back-up tonight with a night that was only about a mark from 500, but that wasn’t enough to prevent losing two games and total to “Warren’s Girls,” who we ended up bowling against due to league contraction (two teams had dropped out of the league). Tonight was also an interesting night for Eileen, not because she scored particularly well, but because she converted two tough splits, first a 5-7 (which I had seen her make before), then the 4-7-10, which I had not seen her make.

“5 Blind Squirrels” lost all 7 points to Team 7, and have, thus, fallen to dead last in the standings with two weeks left on the schedule before the first of two position rounds. “Five Fingers of Death” increased their lead to six points over “Furious Five.”

Last week’s sweep at the hands of “Fire In The Hole” meant that “Babe and Balls” slipped into a three-way tie in points with the former team and “Vakanczz,” with my team and the latter team having more pins than the former team.

Individually, scoring seemed to be down league-wide, as, although Shawn Coles posted a 670 for high series of the week, Jim Blyth had the next-best series with only a 626. No woman had a series over 500, with Sue Young posting a 465 for the women’s best series.

“Dee’s Boys” provide the opposition for my team this week. My formerly online-only friend Keith is on this team, so I’m very much looking forward to this.

My Week 5 bowling, frame-by-frame (Links to series sheet on BowlSK in new window/tab)

As I also noted in the BowlSK comment, new pins came in this week, and what were strikes last week became weak and half 10s. I left 9 of those total, and it was a good thing I made them most of the night (I missed one, and one other one came filling a spare in the 10th) or this night could’ve really gotten ugly. As it was, I made other mistakes (8 frames with either splits or washouts), so not striking enough to make up for them was what did me in. I hope this was just one of those “average adjustment” nights.

Result: 188-154-154=496
Average (15 games): 192
Average for last 9 games: 208
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 593

This turned out to be a very bad night for my team, as well (losing all 4 points), as Eileen and Patrick were the only ones who really contributed anything positive. It should be said that the other team had a 95 average bowler come within a few marks of 500, as well, so this was just a “perfect storm” night for them.

Last week, “5 Blind Squirrels” ran up against “4 + sk8 = #1”, who had the hottest bowler in the league in the early going (“sk8shorty01,” a chat buddy, who had posted the first 800 series in the history of the virtual league two weeks ago); said bowler has cooled off considerably in the last two weeks, however, and, combined with yours truly being the hottest bowler in the virtual league at this moment (I ended up having the high series of the week again last week.), my team took 5 points and climbed back into 5th place, 7 points behind the new leaders, “Five Fingers of Death.”

“Babe And Balls” had the league lead going into this week, and, with all 4 points, held on to it, and we’re now actually the outright leaders in points, 2.5 ahead of “The Incredibowls.” Individually, my lead for high series on the season didn’t last long, as Ed Godino III used a 277 game to post a 710 set to take the lead. I still had the second high scratch series of the week, however, and Eileen had the second high scratch game in her division (she and John are both now in their respective B divisions).

“Fire In The Hole” will be providing the opposition this coming Wednesday night.

My Week 4 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link is to series sheet on BowlSK)

We ended up bowling for forfeit points tonight, so my gutter ball in the 3rd frame of Game 2 had a lighthearted feel to it. I had hoped to make the spare after that, but couldn’t carry the 10. Overall, though, I think the forfeit situation allowed me to relax, and it showed in my consistency: this is the closest I’ve ever been to a triplicate (one pin over a 224 triplicate), and this is the first time I’ve been over 220 in all three games of a series. 😀

Result: 224-225-224=673
Average (12 games): 198
Average for last 9 games: 212
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 600

As well as I’ve been bowling, I didn’t need much help to take forfeit points, and we were over our team average in all three games tonight (forfeit rule is that a team must bowl within 50 pins of their average to win points by forfeit). Carl gave me good support tonight, as he had all three games over average, and John and Eileen had over-average totals, as well.

Despite my big night and good back-up from my chat buddy, “Dennis Michael,” “5 Blind Squirrels” only managed to take two (out of seven) points from “Five Fingers of Death” last week, and we now stand next to last in the standings, four points ahead of Team 7. “Furious Five” continues to lead the league by a point over “AAA.”

And almost had my first honor score in the same night! I had hoped to make this a BowlSpace exclusive, but they changed the blog feature there so that new posts require moderator approval (likely an anti-spam measure), and I didn’t want to keep my regular blog readers waiting too long for this. I’ve expanded on what I wrote on BowlSpace, however, so consider this a treat. 😀

My Week 3 bowling, frame-by-frame (Links to series sheet on BowlSK)

The night started innocently enough, and it looked early on like my run of bad games would continue, but I had four in a row in the middle of the game after moving inside; however, I limped home with a couple of splits late for a 174. I felt on the second ball of the 10th frame that I was losing my feel for my timing while trying to concentrate on being good with it, and that caused a “Big 4,” I thought.

I bore down on my concentration on my timing after that end, however, and it paid off, as I ran off the next ten in a row to start the second game. I actually thought I had my nerves under control on the 11th shot, but my heart was still racing, and I couldn’t completely keep from throwing the shot a bit fast, and left a wide 2-7 as a result. I converted the split for a 288, 20 pins better than my previous personal best game. It took me nearly 20 years to improve on that 268, but keep in mind the length of time that I had been away from bowling, as well.

I still needed a strong game for my first 700 series, however, and I calmed down enough after my honor score threat to throw four of the first five strikes. A miss of a single 10 gave me pause, but I didn’t panic, as I continued to throw well, and came up in the 10th needing the first two strikes to virtually cinch 700. The first shot in the 10th was light, but I got one of those “mixer” type strikes that I like. I then flushed the second shot, meaning I only needed to keep it on the lane for my goal, and I threw another good shot, but left a blow-out 7 for a 245 final game and a 707 series. 😀

After the 288, and again at the end of the night, I made it a point to thank Tony Attardo, who brought up the timing issue the other morning, and I also received congratulations from my other friends in both Wednesday night leagues, as well as Ray, who was in the pro shop last night. I certainly hope this isn’t the only 700 I ever throw.

Result: 174-288-245=707
Average (9 games): 190
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 580

As for the team, John and Eileen backed up my 288 by both being over average themselves, and they continued that in the third game, as well. Our opponents had one bowler who was averaging in, so looking at the recap and estimating the result using the “over average” method, I think we took the last two games and total.

News for my virtual team was better last week, as we took our first points of the season, grabbing five from “AAA,” and it was enough to move up a spot to 6th in the standings. “Furious Five” holds a three-point lead on “4 + sk8 = #1,” the latter team which was paced by my chat buddy “sk8shorty01,” who submitted the Bowling Community league’s first-ever 800 series with an 802. The team also set the 5-man team scratch game and series records.

To my surprise, “Babe And Balls” only lost one point last week, and we now stand in first place by a half-point over “The Incredibowls.” Eileen seemed to be our top performer, as she had the women’s high game with handicap in the league this week. “Bowling Stones,” a team that includes a neighbor of John and Eileen’s who returned to the league (he was on “Double D” last season), are our opponents this week.

My Week 2 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link is to series sheet on BowlSK)

There’s a disturbing trend two weeks in: I’ll have one good game, and two pretty ugly ones. Tonight, it was too many single-pin misses in the first game, and not being able to make the 3-6 for the life of me all night. I’m having the feeling a coaching session with Ray is in order to get my consistency back.

Result: 143-247-140=530
Average (6 games): 167
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 507

We took on a team of new bowlers tonight (including a couple of bowlers that joined the league tonight), and the difference in handicap was too much for us to overcome even despite my 247 second game, so the team lost all four points tonight. Patrick was pretty consistent all night, and Eileen threw in a 165 first game.