Dragon outfielder (and old pal of the Canberra Captain Kangaroo) Steven Souza made the defensive play of the day.
Not this play:
A different one.
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EFL Standings for 2017
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Cottage Cheese | 33 | 14 | .695 | — | 260.5 | 169.2 |
| Haviland Dragons | 32 | 17 | .644 | 2.1 | 294.3 | 218.5 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 27 | 17 | .606 | 4.5 | 222.7 | 178.7 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 26 | 19 | .588 | 5.2 | 204.7 | 169.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 28 | 22 | .570 | 5.7 | 241.4 | 216.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 28 | 21 | .569 | 5.8 | 230.0 | 202.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 28 | 22 | .563 | 6 | 277.5 | 236.0 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 26 | 21 | .557 | 6.5 | 243.3 | 211.1 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 19 | 26 | .420 | 12.8 | 177.5 | 210.3 |
| D.C. Balk | 17 | 30 | .353 | 16.1 | 221.2 | 300.3 |
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Cottage: W, 2 – 2. (.176, .282, .412; 14.7 ip, 2 er). Sean Manaea came back from the dead to pitch 7 scoreless frames.
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Haviland: W 2, L 0; 16 – 7. (.269, .296, .769; 21.3 ip, 9 er). The Dragons hit four homers, two by Neil Walker. Steven Souza hit one, too, a perfect bookend to his fielding…ummm… gem.
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Pittsburgh: L, 3 – 3. (.114, .170, .182; 1 ip, 0 er). Stay away from the Alleghenys. They are wracked with wolveritis, which is highly contagious. This is no mild case — that’s 47 plate appearances of weenie hitting right there.
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Flint Hill: W, 3 – (-2). (.176, .263, .176; 14.3 ip, 4 er). I TOLD you to stay away from the Alleghenys! Yet you still go right up to them in the standings, less than a game away. And now you’ve got wolveritis, too — only 19 plate appearances worth, but once it starts it’s so hard to get rid of. On the other hand, Antonio Senzatela was senzational: 8 ip, 0 er.
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Peshastin: W 1, L 1; 14 – 4. (.333, .375, .711; 9.3 ip, 1 er). The best day for any EFL team. The Pears leapt from 8th place to 5th in one day. Kevin Kiermaier went 2 for 3 with a homer and a walk, and Max Scherzer went 8.7 innings, allowing a single earned run. The Pears do much better in the comforting, inspiring presence of their owner than they do when he’s off cavorting in Europe.
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Kaline: W 0, L 2; 8 – 14. (.255, .352, .362; 1 ip, 0 er). Infielders Ryan Schimpf (1.833 OPS) and Chris Owings (1.350), along with backup catcher Christian Vazquez (1.417) did their best imitations of slugger Aaron Judge (1.417), with Vazquez capturing the prize for an identical batting line to the Judge.
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Portland: W 1, L 1; 8 – 6. (.182, .308, .364; 6.7 ip, 1 er). The Rosebuds scraped by with only 1 game’s worth of hitting and pitching,, covering two games, sort of. Chris Iannetta’s solo blast with two out in the ninth inning to tie the game was a key blow.
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Canberra: W 1, L 1; 7 – 9. (.262, .354, .405; 4 ip, 3 er). A few days ago the Kangaroos made the same leap the Pears made yesterday. As impressive as it was, it didn’t stick: the ‘Roos are back in eighth place. If Jonathan Lucroy hadn’t gone 2 for 3 with 2 doubles and 2 walks, it could have been worse… well, no, that’s not true. It’s a looooong way down to ninth place. The eighth-place ‘Roos are essentially as close to the first-place Cheese as they are to the ninth-place Wolverines.
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Old Detroit: W, 6 – 2. (.286, .355, .571; 5.3 ip, o er). Christian Yelich went 3 for 3 with 3 doubles, a walk and a HBP. Alex Wood fired 5 scoreless innings. The Woeverines are waiting to make their instantaneous leap to 5th place until they can make it stick.
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DC: W 1, L 1; 8 – 8. (.207, .281, .379; 8.7 ip, 1 er). Joe Musgrove tossed 7 scoreless innings. Anthony Swarzak, newly liberated from Commissioner-induced oblivion, added another scoreless frame. That was enough to salvage a win despite unimpressive team offense.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| New York Yankees | 27 | 18 | .600 | — |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 26 | 19 | .588 | 0.5 |
| Boston Red Sox | 26 | 21 | .553 | 2 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 25 | 21 | .543 | 2.5 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 26 | 25 | .510 | 4 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 22 | 26 | .458 | 6.5 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 19 | 26 | .420 | 8.1 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Washington Nationals | 29 | 18 | .617 | — |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 26 | 21 | .557 | 2.8 |
| Atlanta Braves | 21 | 25 | .457 | 7.5 |
| New York Mets | 20 | 26 | .435 | 8.5 |
| Miami Marlins | 17 | 29 | .370 | 11.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 17 | 30 | .353 | 12.4 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 16 | 30 | .348 | 12.5 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 27 | 17 | .606 | — |
| Minnesota Twins | 25 | 19 | .568 | 1.7 |
| Cleveland Indians | 24 | 22 | .522 | 3.7 |
| Detroit Tigers | 22 | 25 | .468 | 6.2 |
| Chicago White Sox | 21 | 25 | .457 | 6.7 |
| Kansas City Royals | 20 | 27 | .426 | 8.2 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cottage Cheese | 33 | 14 | .695 | — |
| Chicago Cubs | 25 | 22 | .532 | 7.7 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 25 | 23 | .521 | 8.2 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 23 | 22 | .511 | 8.7 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 23 | 24 | .489 | 9.7 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 22 | 27 | .449 | 11.7 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Houston Astros | 33 | 16 | .673 | — |
| Haviland Dragons | 32 | 17 | .644 | 1.4 |
| Kaline Drive | 28 | 21 | .569 | 5.1 |
| Texas Rangers | 24 | 25 | .490 | 9 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 25 | 26 | .490 | 9 |
| Oakland A’s | 22 | 25 | .468 | 10 |
| Seattle Mariners | 21 | 28 | .429 | 12 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Colorado Rockies | 32 | 18 | .640 | — |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 31 | 19 | .620 | 1 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 29 | 20 | .592 | 2.5 |
| Peshastin Pears | 28 | 22 | .570 | 3.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 28 | 22 | .563 | 3.9 |
| San Francisco Giants | 20 | 30 | .400 | 12 |
| San Diego Padres | 18 | 32 | .360 | 14 |