Sympathy for the Dust Devil

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Haviland: W, 14 – 1. (.444, .531, .963; 9 ip, 1 er). I

Pittsburgh: W, 8 – 4. (.378, .425, .627; 2 ip, 2 er).

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Flint Hill: “W”, 0 – (-2).  (.163, .196, .367; 14.3 ip, 7 er). No one in the EFL has had a worse week than the Tornados.

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Eight days ago they awoke thinking they were in first place.  Then they discovered it was a mirage, a spell that was broken when a Commissioner mistake was corrected.

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Then came the Margot Affair when, driven to a hasty decision by the urgency of catching the Dragons, Tornado management activated the wrong player. They quickly tried to rescind it, only to be met by the impassive faces of unsympathetic fellow owners acting as an appellate body.

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Then the Commissioner failed to notice a two-game day in the AL East, which might have wasted a Flint Hill opportunity to legitimately take over first place for at least one glorious day.

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On Wednesday came the news that the long-awaited Todd Frazier trade (the one the Tornados have been planning for since the offseason as a way to get a trove of prospects, as they told me during trade negotiations back then when the Wolverines were thinking the same way about Frazier).  Anyway, the long awaited Frazier trade came down — but the White Sox inexplicably threw in David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle.  It’s difficult to imagine any way for the Tornados to acquire those other MLB pieces.

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To top it all off, on Tuesday evening the dispirited team turned in pathetic offense. Wednesday they found themselves expelled from the leading group of teams, over 2 games behind.  Can they recover? Will they get another chance to be in first place?

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Portland: “L”,  6 – 5.  (.238, .353, .429; 17 ip, 11 er).