Mojo Run Amok

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	69	35	.665	—	597.7	420.1
Cottage Cheese	68	36	.649	1.7	567.1	412.2
Flint Hill Tornadoes	67	37	.640	2.7	544.2	407.0
Haviland Dragons	67	38	.637	2.8	629.5	473.5
Portland Rosebuds	63	42	.604	6.3	616.1	488.6
Kaline Drive	61	44	.585	8.3	527.8	441.9
Peshastin Pears	58	47	.550	12	515.5	473.5
Old Detroit Wolverines	51	53	.492	18.1	495.2	493.2
Canberra Kangaroos	47	57	.457	21.7	479.2	526.1
D.C. Balk	36	68	.351	32.7	493.5	672.1

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Pittsburgh: W 3, L 1; 21 – 11.  (.280, .329, .515; 29.3 ip, 14 er). Wait a second! Corey Kluber was MY stud. I traded him to Peshastin for the Pears to use to take down the Old Guard. How did he end up pitching for the Oldest Guard of Them All starting August 1?  Yikes. The A’s, who started July in 6th place 3.7 games back, are already in first place by 1.7 games, and now they have the best pitcher in the EFL? See, Peshastin,  this is why we can’t let you have nice things.

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Cottage:  W 2, L 1; 18 – 15. (.270, .384, .437; 27.3 ip, 15 er).  The Cottage was a mess over the final July weekend. Bryce Harper cost the Cheese dearly in their pennant race, going 1 for 13 with a walk the last four days of July.  Cory Seager tried to make up for Harper’s indolence, going 8 for 12, 3 doubles, 2 homers, 2 walks.  Danny Duffy and Parker Bridwell pitched in with 14.3 ip, 2 er — but then, Alex Cobb chulked (3 ip, 8 er).  The Alleghenys are edging away, and now they have Kluber!  Come on, Cottage — be the Cheese, not the Chaos.

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Flint Hill: “W” 1, L 0; 1 – 2. (.250, .322, .431; 28.7 ip, 16 er).  Ouch.  With the Yankees back in front in the MLB’s AL East, the Tornadoes only got one game in over the weekend. Out of 160, probably 12o were wasted — but at least they weren’t exciting.  Out of 28.7 ip, probably 18 or 19 were wasted — but at least they weren’t very good (5.02 ERA). Watch out Alleghenys! The Tornados will answer your Kluber with their new Dinelson Lamet… I mean, their new  Manny Machado!

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Haviland: W 2, L 2; 11 – 16. (.188, .282, .313; 23 ip, 7 er).  How the mighty are struggling! Only two Dragons OPSed over .563 the last four days of July (Gary Sanchez .944, Steven Souza .872). And  their 109 plate appearances were at least 10 fewer than needed for four games, leaving Haviland with 11 replacement plate appearances for the month. Dragon pitchers did much better, especially Kevin Gausman’s 8.7 shutout innings, keeping the D’s in the race, but the trajectory isn’t great.  Ever since I accused Haviland way back in April of using voodoo to rise to the top in the EFL this year, some of you have probably been skeptical. But now that the Dragons are falling inexplicably, what’s your theory that explains the dramatic Haviland reversal of fortune?

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Portland: W 1 , L 2; 13  – 10. (.254, .321, .373; 25.7 ip, 6 er).  The Rosebuds outscored their foes in the last four days of July, but came out of it with only one more win.  That’s rough. But here’s consolation: Jose Pirela, hard-won over Wolverine opposition at the last draft, paid off with a fine July finale (.5 for 12 with a double and two triples for a .417, .417, .833 batting line). Will Portland make a major move between now and Sunday evening’s roster deadline to stay in the race?

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Kaline: W 3, L 1; 22 – 10. (.269, .333, .474; 40 ip, 11 er).  Leonys Martin suddenly reappeared in the majors Sunday, and smacked a no-doubter homer in his first at bat.  He also made a thrilling diving catch right in front of me (and 100 feet down).  His 1.375 OPS was good for second on the Drive over the last four days of July (Christian Vasquez led the way with a 1.500 OPS). Except for Michael Fulmer (6 ip, 6 er) Drive pitchers thrived, the rest of the squad posting a 1.32 ERA). The Drive traded away Lamet, but got James McCann and Brian Johnson — so who was buying and who was selling in that deal?  Can the Drive stun everyone and surge to the top?

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Peshastin: W 2, L 1; 14 – 17. (.233, .353,.403; 18.0 ip, 9 er). Have I been unfair to the King Pear, with all my spluttering about trading Kluber to the six-time EFL champion Alleghenys?  Kluber finished his brief Peshastin career with a mediocre 6.3 ip, 4 er outing.  “Mediocre” in result, although he struck out 12 and walked only 1. And consider this:  the Pears were just behind the Alleghenys at 49 – 32 when Kluber joined the team, 5.7 games out of first (and 10.2 games ahead of the Kangaroos, the 8th place team).

With Kluber on the team they went 11 – 12, falling to to 12 games out, a 6.3- game drop. And the team behind them — the 8th place Wolverines– are now only 6.1 games behind.

So maybe that Peerless Pear knows what he is doing.  Maybe Kluber will knock the Alleghenys for a 6.3- game loop now that the Kluber Curse has been cast upon them. May it be so… right? We are all agreed on this, aren’t we?

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Old Detroit: L, (-10) – 2. (179, .273, .308; 35.3 ip,  15  er).  After last Thursday’s game, climaxed with a sweet Steve Pearce walk off grand slam, the W’s had an amazing .900 team OPS for July. On Friday they went 1 for 34, and things never got back on track at the plate. Although Pearce won another game Sunday with an even better come-from-three-runs-behind walk off grand slam. But the damage was done, and my team  scored 10 negative runs with their offensive mistakes. After the Wolverines’ spiffy 8-game winning streak to start the month, the W’s only went 8 – 8 the rest of the way, ending up 1.1 games further out of first place than they started.

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AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Flint Hill Tornadoes	67	37	.640	—
New York Yankees	57	47	.548	9.5
Boston Red Sox	58	49	.542	10
Tampa Bay Rays	54	53	.505	14
Old Detroit Wolverines	51	53	.492	15.4
Baltimore Orioles	51	54	.486	16
Toronto Blue Jays	49	57	.462	18.5

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Washington Nationals	63	41	.606	—
Miami Marlins	49	55	.471	14
New York Mets	48	55	.466	14.5
Atlanta Braves	48	56	.462	15
Canberra Kangaroos	47	57	.457	15.5
Philadelphia Phillies	39	64	.379	23.5
D.C. Balk	36	68	.351	26.5

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	69	35	.665	—
Cleveland Indians	57	47	.548	12.2
Kansas City Royals	55	49	.529	14.2
Minnesota Twins	50	53	.485	18.7
Detroit Tigers	47	57	.452	22.2
Chicago White Sox	41	62	.398	27.7

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Cottage Cheese	68	36	.649	—
Chicago Cubs	56	48	.538	11.5
Milwaukee Brewers	55	52	.514	14
St. Louis Cardinals	52	53	.495	16
Pittsburgh Pirates	51	54	.486	17
Cincinnati Reds	42	63	.400	26

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Houston Astros	69	36	.657	—
Haviland Dragons	67	38	.637	2.1
Kaline Drive	61	44	.585	7.6
Seattle Mariners	54	53	.505	16
Los Angeles Angels	51	55	.481	18.5
Texas Rangers	50	55	.476	19
Oakland A’s	47	59	.443	22.5

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Los Angeles Dodgers	74	31	.705	—
Portland Rosebuds	63	42	.604	10.6
Arizona Diamondbacks	60	45	.571	14
Colorado Rockies	60	46	.566	14.5
Peshastin Pears	58	47	.550	16.3
San Diego Padres	47	58	.448	27
San Francisco Giants	40	67	.374	35