My Week 7 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

This was the first time in three meetings against my cousins that things weren’t entirely positive for me. I missed nearly as many single pins as I made, and, had I been perfect on single pins, my night would’ve been right around 600. The positives I did take out of it were the fact that I wasn’t leaving the ball out again (the result of reminding myself to keep my elbow in), and that I struck out in the 10th frame in two of the three games.

Result: 168-182-190=540
Average (21 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 177
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 535

The team loss of all points resulted largely from Bob Fosdick, my cousins’ anchor bowler in the summer, being a steamroller, particularly in the first two games, after which he had a clear shot at a 700+ night.

The sweep of “J.E.M.S.” helped “Trip N Shred” climb back to the middle of the pack, as we now sit in a tie in a four-way tie in points for 10th place, with my team having the best of the pinfall. At the top, “Phase 10 Pins” now hold a four-point lead over “Team 13.” This week is one I have circled on my schedule, as my team faces the “Lounge Lizards,” which, as some of my readers know, is the team my cousins are on in the summer.

We went into last week unable to really afford getting swept; we were, and “Trip N Shred” now find ourselves at the bottom of the standings, tied in points with “El Equipo,” the only team we happen to have a net win against so far. “Phase 10 Pins” now hold a four point lead over “J.E.M.S.,” who are our opponents this week.

My Week 5 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

Really bowled better than my score tonight, and the score was largely ruined by 5 splits in the third game. Remembering to keep my elbow in, I got largely strikes or manageable leaves until the lanes dried out to start the third game (though the light split in the 3rd frame of that game was definitely an over-adjustment). I missed 2 more single pins, but really wanted more single-pin leaves than the lanes were giving me tonight.

Result: 192-191-124=507
Average (15 games): 168
Average for last 9 games: 170
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 516

We got swept tonight, and it was basically a team loss, because Eileen was the only other one with a game over her summer average. Our best chance at points came in the second game, when I needed a double in the 10th frame for the win, but left a washout on the first shot.

With the winning night against “El Equipo,” “Trip N Shred” stayed out of last place and are now tied in points for 13th with the former team and “Zoots.” “Phase 10 Pins,” of which my friends Ralph and Brian are members, are now the league leaders by 2 points over “Guess Who?” Wednesday night’s opponents are “Shake And Bake,” a member of which is Al, my online friend.

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

The good news: I left 7s four times last night, and didn’t miss one of them, so I’m making progress on my weaker corner pin. More troubling, however, is the fact that I’m still leaving shots outside (and too fast, besides), and it may take a lesson to get that problem sorted out (though “CoachJim” told me in the chat today that he thought it was a problem with late timing).

Result: 181-151-183=515
Average (12 games): 168
Average for last 9 games: 165
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 516

The best news out of the night is that we recovered from losing the first game by 100+ pins to take the last two games and total for our first winning night of the summer. Rob, while not spectacular, was steady all night, and John did well in his first two games; Eileen had an “off” night, but got into the second game act with a 141.

Another adjustment in the results from the previous week (Brian and Ralph’s team was allowed to average in new after all, being a week behind), combined with this past week’s sweep, dropped “Trip N Shred” to near the bottom, tied with “Wyld Stallyns” in points and ahead of them in pinfall. Team 12 has established an early 2 point lead over Team 13 at the top of the league standings. Wednesday night’s opponents will be “El Equipo,” a team also fairly close to the bottom.

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

This week was at least a little better: I found a line that gave myself a chance at strikes, and, in my worst-scoring game, I was clean through 6. Uncharacteristically, though, I missed more single pins than I made, and 2 of those misses cost me a game over 200.

Result: 162-183-167=512
Average (9 games): 167
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 512

John couldn’t think of bowling without knowing how his Philadelphia Flyers (who played, and lost, an elimination game for them in the Stanley Cup finals…sorry John!) were doing, so he stayed home. We were prepared to take his five-pin drop until we got an offer from Tony Attardo to sub, which my other teammates OK’d. He wasn’t able to help us much, though he gave us a chance to win the last game by posting a 277, which is, I believe, the best game ever bowled by a member of my team, including myself. I blew it, though…a double would’ve put my team in a position to win with any count, and when I left a washout on the second ball in the 10th, I had to convert the spare for the tie, which I narrowly missed.

This update is as late as it gets; apparently, there’s a new league secretary, as the indicator in the Bowler Express standings sheet for where the league secretary is this week is not on the lane Donna’s team is on.

An adjustment in Brian and Ralph’s entering averages (they thought they were averaging in new instead of using last year’s average) meant “Trip N Shred” actually split the points again. As a result, my team stands in 8th, trailing “Shake And Bake” and “Hocus Pocus” in pinfall. Team 12, which appears to be a team in which the highest average is actually the vacant score (150), is the only team that hasn’t lost points yet. My team may be up against it tonight…we face Team 13, which has Harry Thibeault Jr. (as I posted earlier in the month, he had the high average in the house during the winter) as one of its members.

Before I continue with the normal post, I need to note that the “Vacant For Now” was filled by my friends Ralph and Brian, who are bowling with their wives this summer.

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

I just didn’t feel like myself last night, for whatever reason; I sort of got it together the last game, but that was only the “got one lane but not the other” variety. On the bright side, I only missed one of my nine single pins.

Result: 133-166-163=462
Average (6 games): 165
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 502

Team took one game, but, ironically, that was my lousy game, and we lost the second game by 5 pins despite a 193 from John. Also on the plus side, Eileen had another decent night, and could’ve broken 400 again if her second game had been a bit better.

I meant to do this post yesterday, but got distracted by other things.

With the winter leagues all having wound down, it’s time to recap the season and acknowledge those who posted the high scores during the 2009-10 league season (average leaders are based on a minimum of 72 games in the league in which the average was posted):

Men

Average: 224.8 Harry Thibeault Jr. (Westgate Mixed)
Series: 810 Dan Esdale (Thursday Night Patriots)
Game: 300 Ed Godino III (Brockton Ten Pin), Bill Major (2, Coke Classic), Rich Fulton (2, Coke Classic), Troy LaBrie (Coke Classic), Tat Tatnall (Coke Classic), Matt Yandek (Coke Classic), Jewel Brown (Saturday Seniors {youth}), Tom Hedding (Saturday Seniors {youth}), Ken Norris (Sunday Niters), Alex Aguiar (Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen), Grant Henderson III (TNBA), Carl Nordstrom (Thursday Handicap Doubles), Dan Esdale (Thursday Night Patriots), Jay Krushas (Thursday Night Patriots), Ed Alfieri (Westgate Mixed), Jim Alfieri (Westgate Mixed), Derick Thibeault (2, Westgate Mixed)

Women

Average: 212.9 Sandi Litchfield (Westgate Mixed)
Series: 754 Tina Gannon (Coke Classic)
Game: 300 Tina Gannon (Coke Classic)

Congrats again to all those mentioned in this post. Note: The 300 games for the men were listed in no order other than alphabetically by league name, and where the bowler had more than one 300 game in the league, that was noted before the league name.

Splitting the points on the first night of a league means landing in the middle of the standings, and that worked perfectly for us, as we stand 8th place in a 16-team league, with only “Guess Who?”, our first-night opponents, ahead of us in pinfall among the 4-4 teams. Two unnamed teams, numbers 13 and 12, swept their matches (with #13 listed first by pinfall). Our second week opponents are “Vacant For Now,” which means we may have to beat a team of 150 scores, but that there could be a team in its place by the time Wednesday night rolls around.

There were not many real surprises for my team in the awards we received, as Eileen (women’s C high series), John (men’s C high series), and myself (men’s A high game) won top awards (Patrick and Carl won secondary individual awards, as well), but the big surprise was something that did not happen for my team last year…my team won a team award, that for second-place high team game. It might make sense when you consider that the league champs, runners-up, second place in half, two team high series, and a team high game were awarded before 2nd high game and a team can only win one of those awards, but it was a surprise because I couldn’t really think of a particularly high game that we had as a team. The extra $20/bowler was nice, however. Eileen also won the women’s most improved award, improving by something like 18 pins on the average that she had established at the start of the season.

The business meeting was fast-paced, but I do remember Jo-Ann Coles being elected treasurer (Mary-Ellen LaBelle, who had the position for years, wanted to step down), a rule concerning foul language was adopted, and a rule modifying how new bowlers are classified was rejected. I had also proposed going to a seven-point system, as my virtual league was run, but that proposal was not really greeted with much enthusiasm. Someone else moved to a return of the handicap basis to 80%, but that was turned down, as well.

The last item for this post is what I’ve promised…a photo of the champs:

Andy Dawson, who bowled for the team in the second half and had the back problem for the roll-off, is not shown in the photo.

“Butz-N-Gutz,” the first-half winners, won tonight’s roll-off for the Brunswick Mixed League championship, defeating “The Dynasty” by a score of 3082-2901 in a three-game, total pinfall match. Shawn Coles was the star tonight, getting his night off to a fast start with the first 8, leaving a 4 pin in the 9th frame, on the way to a 267 first game, and had a 30-clean bid ruined in the 4th frame of Game 3 by a 1-2-6-10 washout which he failed to convert, ending with a 650 series (this may be corrected in a future comment). As for how the match progressed for the teams, “Butz-N-Gutz” won the first game by 82 pins, taking the second game by 73 pins for a 155 pin lead after two games, and made it a sweep of the three games by winning by a much-closer 26 pins. It should be said that “Butz-N-Gutz” won despite one of their bowlers taking a five-pin drop due to a back problem (he was present as a spectator, however).

The league banquet is Saturday night…a photo of the winning team should follow when I get home from that.

Since the roll-off this week is known to be Butz-N-Gutz vs. The Dynasty, I decided to post this note in lieu of a formal standings update: in a week where scoring seemed to be down, I had the high game and third high series in my average division last week. The 233 was not the high game of the week, however, as David Gomes of Butz-N-Gutz, who is in the men’s B division, had a 279 game, which I believe was the fifth one in the league this season. Nice shooting, Dave! 😀

My Week 34 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

This really wasn’t the kind of finish I envisioned, because I failed to get my +1. However, I like ending the season on a positive note, and a 233 in the last game was enough of a positive to satisfy me.

Result: 197-151-233=581
Final average (102 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189

I may not have met all of my goals for this season, but the least I usually hope for is to improve my average year-to-year, and the 186 average represents a three-pin improvement on last season in three more games than last season. I will analyze my performance more in a future post, but I will say that another goal of mine was to avoid the really bad nights: the bad nights I wanted to avoid were those where I scored less than 500 for the night, and I only had one night in that category, and that fairly early in the season. I also had a first this season…this was the first year I had more than one game of 250 or over (the 267 just after Christmas and the recent 255).

I had the only good night among my team, and that led in part to my team getting swept on the last night. It should be said, however, that some of the members of the other team did well tonight, too, especially the other Eileen in the league, Eileen Bornemann (a neighbor of John and Eileen’s who joined the league mid-season), who had a 190 first game.

As I (think I) noted in the last league night recap, we slipped back to last place, and have to face “Double D” again in a situation where we have to reverse last week’s result in order to climb out of the basement (a sweep would be good, but let’s not get greedy here 😉 ). As “The Dynasty” hold a seven point lead over “Warren’s Girls,” next week’s roll-off is now set without even waiting for the position round results: “The Dynasty” will face “Butz-N-Gutz,” the first-half winners, in a three-game, total pinfall match for the league championship.

My Week 33 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

I didn’t really have a bad night, as when I got strikes, they usually came in bunches, but the fact of the matter was that we would’ve earned a split if I had made all of my single pins.

Result: 213-168-211=592
Average (99 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 605

On a night we could’ve used everyone, everyone had at least one bad game, so we only wound up taking the last game and missed taking total by 20+. Same teams, same pair next week, and we need to reverse tonight to get out of the cellar.

“The Flintstones” may have been swept, but “Foxy SRS” and “Double D” split the points in their match, so, as a result, my team remained in 9th place, albeit by only a half-point over “Double D,” who are our opponents next week. Depending on what happens in the match, we may end the second half the way we ended the first half, by bowling against the same team two weeks in a row (the opponents at the end of the first half were “The Dynasty”), as, after next week, only the second-half position round and the roll-off remain. Speaking of “The Dynasty,” they now hold a six point lead over “Warren’s Girls.” Next week could also be a preview of the roll-off, as “The Dynasty” bowl against “Butz-N-Gutz,” the first half winners.

My Week 32 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

The 10 pin was really my nemesis tonight: I had it 6 times, and missed it 4 of those. However, I did make the two I had in the third game, and, when I made a side rotation adjustment along with moving inside later in the second game, that saved that third game. The side rotation was needed to get the ball to finish playing that deep in, and all it needed was an adjustment on my Robbie’s Revs device.

Result: 160-164-205=529
Average (96 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 636

My team had Patrick absent (problems with his house), and with John struggling in his first two games, we got swept, although the last two games were fairly close. Carl was the one member of my team who “showed up,” as he was over his average in all three games.

“The Flintstones” are officially out of the second-half cellar, as we’re now 2.5 points ahead of “Double D,” and are actually now in a tie in points for the 8th position with “Foxy SRS” (the latter team has the edge in pinfall for the purposes of determining position round pairings). “The Dynasty” increased their lead over “Warren’s Girls” to four points at the top of the standings. Next week could also figure into position, as we face “Butz-N-Gutz,” who are only two points ahead of us in 7th.

Individually, Eileen swept all of the honors for the week (high scratch and handicap game and series) in her average division, while I had the high handicap game in mine, missing the high scratch game in the division by only 2 pins (Carl Nordstrom had a 257.).

My Week 31 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

The notes and comment to the series should be self-explanatory, but I wish I could’ve carried what I found in the middle game into the last game and at least been over 200 again. The comment said it all, though: “Given what happened the rest of the night, I’ll take my 255 middle game and like it.”

Result: 164-255-162=581
Average (93 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 604

Eileen had a game where she beat everyone else on the team again, but she did it with a very good 168 in her last game this time. We didn’t win that game, but we won the first two plus series total for three points. Rob told us his team got swept, so we’re unofficially out of the cellar (it becomes official when the standings are updated).

Last week’s sweep of “The Wild Samoans” helped “The Flintstones” pull to within a half-point of “Double D” for ninth place in the second-half standings, and the race is getting tight at the bottom, as we’re also only a point out of the eighth spot, held by “Foxy SRS.” With four weeks left, “The Dynasty” hold a three-point lead over “Warren’s Girls.” “The Mustangs,” who are in the middle of the pack, are my team’s opponents tomorrow.

Individually, John’s 196 was the high scratch game for the week in his average division and his 497 the high scratch series in the division. Carl followed John’s game fairly closely with a 181, good for second in the division this week.

My Week 30 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

My swing tempo practice the other day paid dividends, as I had my best league night since January tonight (the virtual league make-up doesn’t count). I really wanted the 600, and could’ve gotten there with another break, but I also missed a couple of single pins, so I guess I’ll have to settle for the narrow miss, which was still over my AVG+1. For a change, I was actually better on my non-split multi-pin spares than on my single pins (I only missed one of the former, but two of the latter, and had each type of spare five times.).

Result: 179-224-196=599
Average (90 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 186
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 624

We took all four points tonight, and everyone contributed something at some point in the night, but I’ll single out John for just missing a 500 of his own tonight.