Yesterday Melanie completed her first olympic triathlon at Hagg Lake, finishing second in her age group. This is important to the EFL, because with the exception of Kangaroo pitching and Tornado hitting, the entire league seemed a little sluggish yesterday. Melanie proves there was no excuse for this lethargy. It’s not the heat — the high here at EFL headquarters yesterday was maybe 70. It’s not the calendar: we’re weeks away from the dog days of August. It’s not the food…
Whatever it was, maybe it will pass today. The National Weather Service is predicting funnel clouds for the ELF HQ region today. That might stir up some energy around here.
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Haviland Dragons | 56 | 33 | .632 | — | 447.6 | 343.9 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 55 | 31 | .635 | 0.1 | 473.2 | 357.7 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 55 | 34 | .616 | 1.4 | 463.7 | 360.6 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 49 | 38 | .566 | 6 | 467.7 | 409.7 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 49 | 40 | .553 | 7.1 | 425.9 | 378.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 47 | 42 | .527 | 9.3 | 411.2 | 382.7 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 43 | 43 | .504 | 11.4 | 375.9 | 372.0 |
| Cottage Cheese | 43 | 44 | .490 | 12.6 | 430.1 | 435.3 |
| Kaline Drive | 37 | 52 | .421 | 18.8 | 443.9 | 512.3 |
| D.C. Balk | 29 | 60 | .328 | 27.1 | 349.3 | 506.5 |
Haviland: L, 0 – 3. (.212, .270, .242; 8 ip, 2 er). Dragon hitters are apparently still sleeping off their late night celebrations for taking over the EFL lead. The pitchers, however, a more disciplined bunch led by , came through enough to keep the Wolverines from sneaking back in front. (Although sharp eyes will notice the W’s are already in front in terms of winning percentage.)
Old Detroit: W, 5 – 4. (.302, .362, .512; 16.3 ip, 8 er). Wade Miley again tried to sink the Wolverines with another crummy 5.3 ip, 4 er outing, but clever W’s management outfoxed him by leaving him 0% active for the month. Ha ha! Too bad the Mariners weren’t as clever.
Portland: W, 4 – 3. (.267, .313, .400; 11.7 ip, 4 er). A solid winning effort, nothing too splashy, allowed the Rosebuds to keep pace with the Wolverines as they both tiptoed toward the Dragons’ lair.
Pittsburgh: L, 3 – 7. (.250, .302, .400; 2.3 ip, 1 er). I don’t know. Maybe I see the A’s too much in light of all the trauma over the 12 previous seasons. Right now the momentum, the drive, seems to be missing, almost as if there is no fire in the Allegheny belly… No! Wake up! Don’t fall for it! It’s an Allegheny trick, lulling us to sleep! Remember Trout! Remember Altuve! Remember Aledmys Diaz, who homered yesterday!
Canberra: W, 3 – 0. (.207, .395, .241; 10 ip, 1 er). Two things stand out from the Kangaroo Saturday stats: 8 walks and a hit batter provided 60% of the baserunners for the ‘Roos. And Rick Porcello (7 ip, 1 er) got stellar support from Biagini and Devenski for an all-vowel-ending dominant pitching performance.
Peshastin: W, 1 – (-1). (.195, .233, .317; 21.3 ip, 7 er). Danny Salazar, distracted by his All-Star status, stank it up Saturday (5.7 ip 6 er). This presented a major problem, especially on a day when the Pear offense disapPeared. Fellow All-Star Max Scherzer stepped forward to save the day (7 scoreless innings) with help from his sidekicks Nick Tropeano (6 ip, 1 er) and Severino Gonzalez (2.7 scoreless). The Pears continued their upward momentum.
Flint Hill: “L”, 6 – 3. (.263, .391, .684; 9 ip , 3 er). The showiest offensive numbers of the day — except they only represent 23 plate appearances. Still, the Tornados managed to detach themselves ever so slightly from the .500 mark on the season.
Cottage: L, (-2) – 7. (.146, .205, .171; no pitching?) The Cheese misfired on offense, and didn’t fire at all on pitching, to assemble the worst day of any EFL team Saturday.
Kaline: L, 4 – 4. (.214, .313, .357; 5.3 ip, 3 er). Kris Bryant (.1 for 3 with a double and 2 walks), Brad Miller (1 homer in 4 AB) and Daniel Nava (2 for 3 with a walk) were the only lively ones on offense. Chase Anderson wandered through 4 innings, 2 er, and Dellin Betances relieved him to 1.3 innings, 1 er, after which Betances sat down — and no one bothered to replace him. Very strange.
DC: L, 4 – 7. (.286, .333, .393; 2.7 ip, 1 er). It took four Balks to get through 2.7 innings, but at least they did a good job before the team apparently ran out of available pitchers. With middling offense you can’t afford all those replacement innings.
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 55 | 31 | .635 | — |
| Baltimore Orioles | 50 | 36 | .581 | 4.6 |
| Boston Red Sox | 48 | 38 | .558 | 6.6 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 50 | 40 | .556 | 6.6 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 43 | 43 | .504 | 11.3 |
| New York Yankees | 43 | 44 | .494 | 12.1 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 34 | 53 | .391 | 21.1 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Washington Nationals | 53 | 36 | .596 | — |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 49 | 40 | .553 | 3.8 |
| New York Mets | 47 | 40 | .540 | 5 |
| Miami Marlins | 46 | 41 | .529 | 6 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 41 | 48 | .461 | 12 |
| Atlanta Braves | 30 | 58 | .341 | 22.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 29 | 60 | .328 | 23.8 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 52 | 35 | .598 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 49 | 38 | .566 | 2.8 |
| Detroit Tigers | 46 | 42 | .523 | 6.5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 45 | 42 | .517 | 7 |
| Kansas City Royals | 45 | 42 | .517 | 7 |
| Minnesota Twins | 31 | 56 | .356 | 21 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Chicago Cubs | 52 | 35 | .598 | — |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 46 | 42 | .523 | 6.5 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 45 | 42 | .517 | 7 |
| Cottage Cheese | 43 | 44 | .490 | 9.4 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 38 | 48 | .442 | 13.5 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 32 | 56 | .364 | 20.5 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Haviland Dragons | 56 | 33 | .632 | — |
| Texas Rangers | 54 | 35 | .607 | 2.3 |
| Houston Astros | 47 | 41 | .534 | 8.8 |
| Seattle Mariners | 44 | 44 | .500 | 11.8 |
| Oakland A’s | 38 | 50 | .432 | 17.8 |
| Kaline Drive | 37 | 52 | .421 | 18.8 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 37 | 51 | .420 | 18.8 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| San Francisco Giants | 56 | 33 | .629 | — |
| Portland Rosebuds | 55 | 34 | .616 | 1.2 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 50 | 40 | .556 | 6.5 |
| Peshastin Pears | 47 | 42 | .527 | 9.1 |
| Colorado Rockies | 40 | 47 | .460 | 15 |
| San Diego Padres | 38 | 50 | .432 | 17.5 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 38 | 51 | .427 | |