To Edgar … and Beyond!

 

Old Detroit: “L”, 8 – 5.  (23 PA, .368, .478, .579 — second straight Happy Edgar Martinez Day!  1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA) One thing I keep learning, anew every season, is how inconsistent every team is.  MLB teams, whose players are all on the same plane and in the same bus and under the same showers, swing wildly from top to bottom performances. The 42-74 Pirates beat the 70-47 Brewers 14 – 4 Saturday afternoon.  Saturday evening, the Brewers won, 6 – 0. 

 

 

Which is why I am so happy about a second straight Edgar Martinez Day from Wolverine hitters.   For one day the boat didn’t heave on the waves.  Carlos Correa homered as part of a 2 for 4 day to lead the way.

 

 

FH: L, 8 – 8. (23 PA, .350, .435, .550 — also a Happy Edgar Martinez Day!  No pitching.) The Flinties almost copied the Wolverines’ day, lagging just the tiniest bit in all three slash line stats, and in innings pitched. The minor differences cost them 0.2 games in the standings. Joey Gallo homered and walked, and only one of the six Tornado batters failed to get a hit. 

 

An Edgar Martinez day should almost guarantee a win — and it does, as long as you have enough pitching and it is better than replacement.  Without pitching, however, you will need something beyond an EM Day.

 

 

DC: “W”, 4 – 8. (20 PA, .211, .250, .474; no pitching). None of the Balk’s six hitters came close to an Edgar Martinez Day, so the team couldn’t get close, either.   Matt Chapman homered and Pete Alonzo tripled but THAT Was about it for the 3rd place Balk.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

Peshastin: L, 6 – 10. (17 PA, .333, .412, .533 — Hey! Our third Happy Edgar Martinez Day of the day!  2 ip, 3 er, 13.50 ERA). MLB’s short schedule left EFL teams short of a days’ plate appearances and innings.  But this is survivable if the playing time we do get is good enough.  Peshastin got that good-enough hitting out of the four batters who appeared yesterday. Jo Adell went 0 for 3, but Ozzie Albies, Yoan Moncada and Jazz Chisholm each did better than a single single.  Albies singled three times and walked, Moncada singled once and walked, and Chisholm homered.

   Unfortunately, Pear pitching was left in the hands of two relievers who were not up to the task.  Chasen Shreve served up a home run in his one inning, while Yimi Garcia, newly-acquired by Houston, saw his Astro (and August)  ERA jump from 2.25 to 4.50 after his 1 inning, 2 earned run outing.  The Pears slid an ill-affordable 0.7 games in the standings.

 

 

Kaline: L, 6 – 8. (31 PA, .321, .387, .357;  0.3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  The apparently-ageless Jose Altuve went 3 for 4 with a double, leading the Kaline Drive at the plate. Wilmer Flores and Aaron Judge got into the spirit with 2 hits apiece.  But others were not in the swing of things, so the outcome was solid but not spectacular.  Spectacular was needed on a day when only one pitcher appeared, only facing 1 batter. Just think what an Edgar Martinez in the lineup could have done!  He most likely would have been enough to salvage a win.

 

 

Haviland: W, 13 – 4. (26 PA, .435, .500, .913;  5.3 ip, 1 er, 1.70 ERA). I don’t count this as our fourth Edgar Martinez Day, even though there’s an EMD buried in there.   I don’t mean to call Edgar the best hitter ever — just any day when a batter bats in the .300’s, gets on base in the .400’s, and slugs in the .500’s, to echo Edgar’s career (and most typical season) slash line.  Edgar batted .312, .418, .515 for his career. He put up a .300, .400, .500 line in 8 of his 18 seasons, including his debut season, and six seasons in a row from 1996 – 2001 (at ages 33 through 38).  He had one season better than an EM Season: 1995, when he slashed .356, .479, .628, leading the American League in games, doubles, runs, batting average, on-base percentage, OPS, and OPS+. 

 

Anyway, Haviland ‘s slash line is better across the board than an EM day: .400, .500, .600(+!) rather than .300, .400, .500.  The Dragons had the best day of any team in the EFL, gaining 0.6 games on the Wolverines. Brandon Lowe’s two home runs (plus a single and a HBP) led the way. Aristides Aquino add another homer and single, and four relievers got through 5.3 innings with only one run allowed. 

 

 

Cottage:  DNP, (-1) – (-2). (22 PA, .190, .227, .238;  2 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA) The Cheese had the weakest day at the plate of any EFL team yesterday.  Only 5 players showed up.  The Unlamented One, Trea Turner, had half the team’s 4 hits and all the teams 1 extra base. Everyone else went a combined 2 for 17.  Collin McHugh turned in two sharp innings, which actually shaved more runs off the runs allowed than they lost on their runs scored.  This improve the Cheese record — not enough to gain on Old Detroit, nor even on the suddenly fleeing Dragons. 

 

 

Pittsburgh:  “L”, 8 – 7. (23 PA, .300 .348, .600; 8 ip, 6 er, 6.75 ERA) Frankie Montas did a full-ion start, finishing 5 innings with a non-disastrous total of 3 earned runs.  Braxton Garrett followed with 3 er in  3 ip.  On the whole the Alleghenys might have been better off pitching erasable replacements.  

 

Fortunately there was good news at the plate.  It wasn’t an EM Day, but it wasn’t much off that pace. Luis Robert had his blossoming party: 1 homer, two singles and a stolen base to lead the charge.  Still – the database saddled the A’s with an L, and sank them 0.3 games deeper into the standings.

 

 

Canberra:  L, 6 – 7.  (22 PA, .333, .364, .476;  6.3 ip, 4 er, 5.71 ERA)  Another non-crushing but still disappointing loss, similar to Pittsburgh, Kaline, Peshastin and Flint Hill.  Jake Odorizzi, coming off a 5 ip, 0 er start, returned to his problematic recent ways: coughing up 4 runs in 5.3 innings.  Kangaroo hitters almost pulled out a win anyway.  Led by JD Davis’ 3 for 4 day, 5 of the 6 Canny hitters got hits.  Austin Meadows’ hit was a triple, paired with the ‘Roos only walk. Mitch Garver’s hit was a pinch-hit double.   Again — if the team could only have pulled off an EM Day at the plate, they’d probably have won despite disappointing pitching.

 

 

Bellingham: “W”, 4 – 4.  (31 PA, .310, .355, .552;  6.7 ip, 3 er, 4.03 ERA) Kevin Gausman did not have his best day — 3 er in 5 ip — but by the time Jake McGee and Brusdar Graterol had spiffed things up, the team ERA was a manageable 4.03.  

 

Just barely manageable.  It took a good, not-quite EM Day at the plate to salvage a near-win. Jonathan India continued to give the subcontinent a good name. He followed Saturday’s 3 for 5 with a homer, 1.800 OPS day with a 3 for  6 with a homer and a double, 1.667 OPS day. Three others contributed doubles, and only pinch hitter Ha-Seong Kim failed to reach base safely.  Once again, an EM Day would have secured a clear win.

 

 

 

Portland:  W, 13 – 8. (16 PA, .364, .563, 1.182. 4.7 ip, 5 er, 9.57 ERA)  We don’t see a team OPSing 1.744 very often — it’s almost twice the OPS of a minimum Edgar Martinez Day.  The Rosebuds created 29.7 runs per game with that line… except it was only 16 plate appearances, involving only 4 batters. Corey Seager went 0 for 1, but the other three all hit home runs. Max Kepler added three walks, CJ Cron added a walk and a single, and Ryan Jeffers got himself hit with a pitch.

 

  We need at least 28 plate appearances a day to avoid replacements.  The Rosebuds covered a few of their missing PA with surpluses in the outfield, but would have needed at least 3 replacements at 2b, SS, and OH. Using an old McPherson Elephantes spreadsheet I keep handy,  I did a rough simulation of what happens when you dilute those Bondsian numbers with 9 replacement AB.  It lowers the runs created per game to about 12.5.  The ‘Buds scored 12.9.  

 

Even with 9 or 10 replacement plate appearances, and bad pitching, the Rosebuds still had the second best day in the EFL, and for the second straight Old Detroit Edgar Martinez Day, the Rosebuds kept pace with the Wolverines in the standings.