Our Fates: Curse them? Accept them?

Haviland: W, 3 – 2.   It’s not like the Dragons came roaring down the wind.  But when they roll over and belch even just a little fire (say, 4 relievers delivering 6.3 scoreless innings), you take cover like the W’s did.  Just wait until the Dragons realize their ace (Carlos Carrasco’s broken hand after only 2 pitches Saturday).  Will they awake to lay waste to the region as retaliation?  Or will they succomb to despair?  

Old Detroit: “L” , 7 – 6.  Wolverine fans mutter under their breath about why do they have to put up with a management who, when given three pitchers (Hellickson, 9 shutout innings; Liriano, 6 ip, 2 er; DeSclafani, 4 ip, 4 er) only have the worst one active. And why won’t AJ Preller (also known as Crooked AJ) play Austin Hedges?!   And also, why won’t the MLB teams put injured players on the DL, for crying out loud, so their EFL partners can activate their Hellicksons or Druries? I smell a rule change proposal this offseason, which might have to be called the Hellickson Rule.

Portland: W, 3 – 1.  It is no great honor to be hard to please, so I hope Rosebud fans are reveling in being back in front of the mightiest EFL franchise of all time, the Alleghenys. Jon Gray completed a 9-inning shutout, and the Rosebud management worked some magic by having him active!  Someday maybe the Wolverines will have someone decent at the helm, like the Rosebuds do.

Pittsburgh: L, 1 – 7. Pitchers David Price and Jameson Taillon both struggled (totalling 11 ip and 8 er), and heroes sung (Altuve, Aledmys Diaz, Schimpf, Swanson) and unsung (Pedro Alvarez) went hitless, leaving the team with a .584 OPS on the day. It’s odd to see an Allegheny team look so demoralized.

Canberra: W, 3 – (-1). A .681 daily OPS isn’t much, but it’ll do if Ervin Santana and three relievers combine to hurl 9.7 scoreless innings. The ‘Roos had reason to be down under during June and July while their team, so fine on paper, struggled.  But it has been fun to see them rebound in the last 6 weeks.  It’s hard not to root for them to join the Rosebuds in front of the Alleghenys,  but we’re the Commissioner’s Office, duty-bound to treat everyone fairly, s0 we stay away from rooting for more than one EFL team at a time.

Peshastin: W, 9 – 4.  And besides, if we did start rooting for every underdog, where would it stop? Wouldn’t we have to root for the Pears to pass Pittsburgh, too?  And Old Detroit and especially Haviland later? After a while it would get pretty ridiculous.  It would also uncomfortably expose the Commissioner’s puny influence as the Triumvirate keeps beating the rest of the league despite the Commissioner’s efforts on their behalf.  Better to conserve the Commissioner’s Office reputation by foreswearing rooting for more than one team at a time.

Flint Hill: W, 14 – 6.  The Tornados gave themselves a huge boost toward their .500 goal with a monster offensive performance led by EWIe Xander Bogaerts’ 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a homer. (Reminder: a EWIe is an ex-Wolverine infielder who sucked with Old Detroit but blossomed pretty much immediately when someone else got him. Think Altuve, Forsythe, Segura, Aledmys Diaz (honorary member, since the W’s were the last non-Allegheny team bidding), etc., etc.)

Kaline:  L, 3 – 4. The dispirited Drive — sort of a soft liner to the edge of the  outfield grass these days — thrilled to see James Paxton carry a no-hitter into the 5th inning.  But then, like the M’s, they watched as the other team eked out a few runs and their own team couldn’t answer.

Cottage: L, 4 – 5.  The Cheese are in a dry, cool, dull place where it’s hard to see a meaningful goal that might be within reach. The listless Drive are too far off to catch, the spunky Balk are too far off to worry about, there’s no danger of 90 losses or a sub .400 record.

D.C.:  W 2, L (-1); 7 – 3.  A timely surge yesterday leaves the Balk only 0.4 games behind the Twins for 39th place in MLB/EFL.  Ewie Welington Castillo homered, and rookie stud Corey Seager singled, tripled, and walked to lead the Balk to their double win.  So now the Balk have given themselves two attractive options: beat a real MLB team in their expansion year, or nail down that #1 pick next spring.  They can’t lose!