Potpourri

EFL Standings for 2016

Old Detroit:  W (-1), L 1; 2 – 2. (.267, .450, .667; 5.3 ip, 4 er) .  Seems a rather harsh result for what was essentially a tie on an off-day — 1.9 to 2.0.  But with great power comes great responsibility, I guess, which means if you want to enjoy the benefits of a winning percentage over .600, you have to live up to a tougher standard.

Haviland: W, 3 – (-1) (.273, .292, .409;  16 ip , 2 er). The league’s best pitching currently belongs to the Dragons, barely better than the Rosebuds. Mercurial Vincent Velasquez was in his quicksilver state yesterday, striking out 7 in 5 shutout innings. Danny Duffy added 8 innings, 2 er, and Juan Nicasio mopped up with three more scoreless frames.

Portland: L, 1 – 6. (.175, .222, .275;  7 ip, 4 er).  A rough day in Portland.    Ian Desmond was the only hitter to have a better than average day  — and that was only because his one hit was a homer.  From the internet: “Generally mid to late May into the first two weeks of June is peak bloom time for roses.”  It’s now late June, so I suppose we are already slipping past the prime season for rosebuds. Perhaps better irrigation would help keep those buds coming?  Some way of keeping them cool? Because the same source predicts a second peak bloom once the weather cools in September…

Canberra:  W, 10 – 5.  (.444, .565, .889; no pitching).  Wow. Only 5 hitters, but 23 plate appearances (or 24 if you count the sacrifice bunt).  All five hitters had OPSes of at least 1.000 — Kipnis exactly at 1.000 up to Logan Forsythe at exactly 2.000 on the day. They went 8 for 17 with 5 walks  and two homers. Thus the ‘Roos took 10% off their deficit in the EFL pennant race.   It would be nice to see them in the thick of things again.

Pittsburgh:  “L”, 7 – 4. (.370, .393, .741;  8.7 ip, 4 er).  Mike Trout  (3 for 4 with 2 2bs and a hr) and Aledmys Diaz (2 for 3 with 2 doubles) led the A’s offense. Pretty impressive, eh?  Well, reserve judgment for now…

Flint Hill: W (-1), L 1; 2 – 5. (.333, .444, .600;  19 ip, 13  er).  The Tornado traded  Jeff Samardzija to  the Balk yesterday effective at the end of the month.  Samardzija turned in a 6 ip, 6 er performance last night.  A nasty gesture by an ungrateful Tornado reject?  Or maybe a bit of sharp dealing by the (relatively) veteran Dragonmaster? Did the trade come before the meltdown?  Would the Balk have agreed to the deal if it were offered this morning after the meltdown?  Such interesting questions!

Peshastin: L, 6 – 7.  (.364, .400, .591;  2 ip, 0 er)  Light returns on such good hitting, mostly because they only mustered 24 plate appearances.  Seven different batters appeared in the game — all reached bast safely at least once.  It was just enough, because…

Cottage:  “W”. 4 – 6.  (.258, .303, 290;  5.3 ip, 4 er) ... the Cheese had a moldy day. My mental image right now for the Cheese and Pears is two boys who’ve been swimming each trying to get out of the pool before the other.  For a moment there they were both on the bank, just barely, but now they’ve knocked each other back in, and at this moment both are underwater.  Which is a good thing, because it keep the actual combatants out of focus for the moment, so we can visualize them as grade school boys rather than old guys in their 60’s.

Kaline:  “W”, 8 – 11.  (.419, .438, .806; 4.7 ip, 7 er).  Wow.  The Drive played it very big on both sides of the plate.  Kris Bryant led the way on offense, piling up three homers and 2 doubles,with 16 total bases and 6 RBI.  That’s an OPS of 4.200! The pitching results were… Wow, too.

DC: .L , 3 – 7. (.235, .235, .235 – very convenient!  Thanks!.  1 ip, 0 er)  So that straight line of .235 is an impressive feat, but didn’t help your team too much. Hopefully that Shark you just bought will use its teeth on opposing hitters rather than its own team’s ERA from now on.