9/29 Redemption: SISIG vs BALUT

Tonight's Philly Pinoy Mixed Fall League (MFL) marquee match-up was another Battle at the Bottom on lanes 19-20 between my beloved Team BALUT and the formidable Team SISIG, with Lolet and her two anchors, Romy and James.  Lolet had prebowled so we missed her tonight.  Romy and James had their fatigue green team shirts on, while Edmer, Lowen and I had our Cory Yellow shirts on: LABAN, mga kapatid!  Makibaka, huwag matakot!

Team SISIG (L-R): Romy Libo-on, Lolet Pike, James Que
(photo courtesy of May Libo-on)

The lanes were still being oiled at 6:45 pm, so we relaxed and made chika.  It was Desi's birthday, and he and Alice brought in a yummy Filipino feast for us all.  We sang the birthday song to him and he promptly danced and gave us a big smile.  Happy Birthday, Desi! 

Desi's Team TAPSILOG was up against #1 Team DAING in the Almusal Battle match-up on lanes 15-16.  Next to us on lanes 17-18 were my GoPapa Joel's Team GOTO against Team ADOBO = delicious combination!  On lanes 11-12 were Team LAPU-LAPU and Team PISBOL = the Palaisdaan Battle.  The Giyera de Patani of Compendio vs. Compendio was to be raged on lanes 13-14 with Team MONAY going against Team KROPEK.  Exciting night!

It is intimidating playing with such great players such as Romy and James of Team SISIG.  Since Team BALUT is hungry for a win, we all wanted to play well.  I think I felt the pressure (and lack of practice due to flu this week), and can only describe my performance in the first game with one word: karumaldumal.  Buti nalang my GoPapa Joel calmed me down, dahil nagdadrama na ako sa bolingan with matching cry-cry at lumuluhaluha *hikbi* sa kasamaan ng laro = couldn't hit spares, couldn't control the ball, couldn't catch a break and ended up with a 115, which is 50 pins below my 164 average!  I recovered a little by the end of Game 1, so happy that Edmer was playing an awesome above-average game, and Lowen was getting some good spares and strikes.  Even with Romy and James not hitting their averages, we got beat by 33 pins.  Game 1 goes to SISIG.  Fight, BALUT, fight!

The noise was up around lanes 15-16 as Game 1 of the Almusal Battle against Teams TAPSILOG and DAING was decided in the last frame with Angie winning it for TAPSILOG by two (2) pins!  Unbelievable!  Hanep talaga!

Tuloy ang laban ng SISIG at BALUT.  Lolet's prebowl score for Game 2 was 20 pins above her average.  We all struggled with the lanes, with Romy and James playing close to their (very high) averages.  Lowen played at his average and I finally got closer to my average, but Edmer continued to play above average = so proud of how we all continued to fight!  We lost Game 2 to Team SISIG, but we were getting our groove.  Feeling good....

Lowen started off Game 3 with a strike = yebah!  Edmer was playing a clean game, and I started out clean as well.  Of course, Team SISIG was keeping up with their share of marks.  Then Lowen just continued to bowl up a storm = hanep talaga, galing galing! And Edmer was throwing his share of strikes!  I got the curse of the open frame but then won the 50/50 raffle = $33, baby!  Ibalik ang suwerti!  As I finally gave up on my Spinderella ball and switched to my Beast Ball, the marks started coming and I got a double.  BALUT was pulling away from SISIG: Game 3 was going our way.  

And at the final frame, we continued to fight, hoping to close the gap on total pins as well.  As the final pins fell, redemption finally came BALUT's way = TIE, BABY!  We got Game 3 and total pins and split wins with Team SISIG.  I love you, my teammates, we did it!  Edmer was above average all night, and Lowen bowled a 149 while I finally hit my average on Game 3.  Nabuhay ang Sisiw sa Loob ng BALUT!  Babangon ang BALUT!  Malalagut kayo sa BALUT! Yebah evah evah!

SO for some unofficial results for tonight:

•  Teams MONAY and PISBOL are tied on top with 11 wins a-piece.  Needless to say, the Giyera de Patani was won by Chelo of MONAY against Roy of KROPEK = binudbod daw sa MONAY ang KROPEK, aray ko!  And the Palaisdaan Battle was won by PISBOL = in-escabeche nila ang LAPU-LAPU!
• Team DAING split wins in the Almusal Battle against Team TAPSILOG and holds on to third place.  The rest of the current unofficial rankings are provided here.

Team #	TEAM	RANK	CURRENT			Wk 4
			win	loss		win	loss
5	MONAY	2	11	5		3	1
9	PISBOL	1	11	5		4	0
7	DAING	3	10.5	5.5		2	2
6	GOTO	4	9	7		3	1
1	LAPU-LAPU	6	8	8		0	4
4	TAPSILOG	5	8	8		2	2
3	KROPEK	7	7	9		1	3
8	ADOBO	8	6.5	9.5		1	3
10	SISIG	9	6	10		2	2
2	BALUT	10	3	13		2	2

• Top male averages to date are still Paolo-PISBOL (202), Romy-SISIG (197) and Joel C-GOTO (191) but Joel D-DAING (182) continues to play well.
• Top female averages to date are Jing-BALUT (159), Mitchie-LAPULAPU (151) and Alice-KROPEK (149) taking over the third spot this week.  Chelo-MONAY (145) and Angie-TAPSILOG (144) are not far behind.
• Tonight's 200 clubbers are Paolo-PISBOL (204 and 223), Atit-PISBOL (214! Yebah!), Art-MONAY (214, galing!), Roy-KROPEK (212, galing mo, honey!), Desi-TAPSILOG (232, happy birthday!), Joel D-DAING (226), and last but not least, my Go Papa Joel C of Team GOTO got the highest individual scratch game to date of 252 = incredible!
• Folks that completely "turned pro" this week and played at and above  (WAY ABOVE!) their averages all night long in every single game are Atit-PISBOL, Ed-LAPULAPU, Lanie-DAING and my awesome teammate Edmer-BALUT.  Ang gagaling ninyo = bow, my friends!
• Folks that had stellar single games 20 pins or more above average (200 clubbers and "turned pro" folks excluded) are Sansu-PISBOL (122 and 130!), Edwin-MONAY (173!), Angie-TAPSILOG (178!), Jay-DAING (177!), Grace-ADOBO (151!), Blue-ADOBO (164 = sandbagger ka pa rin, mahal kong fellow bowlcoholic....), Eden-GOTO (154 and 151, idol!), Ryan-GOTO (170!), Lolet-SISIG (112!), and of course my very own teammate Lowen-BALUT (149!).  We see sparks of bowling genius showing, my dear fellow bowlers, it is so great to see y'all improve!

Remember to watch out for the official results on the Palace website.

Till next blog, I'll see y'all on the lanes for practice.  Bowl, baby, bowl!