This will be a thin update, with maybe a few observations here and there.
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 6 | 3 | .695 | — | 49.7 | 32.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 6 | 3 | .621 | 0.7 | 33.2 | 26.0 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 6 | 3 | .621 | 0.7 | 44.1 | 34.5 |
| Cottage Cheese | 5 | 3 | .599 | 1 | 37.9 | 31.0 |
| Kaline Drive | 5 | 5 | .512 | 1.6 | 34.2 | 33.4 |
| Haviland Dragons | 5 | 5 | .466 | 2.1 | 50.8 | 54.4 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 4 | 5 | .440 | 2.3 | 37.3 | 42.0 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 3 | 6 | .386 | 2.8 | 31.9 | 40.2 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 3 | 6 | .280 | 3.7 | 29.7 | 47.7 |
Old Detroit: L, 7 – 9. .326, .366, .649. 15.7 ip, 10 er, 5.74 ERA. Wade Miley (2.1 ip, 7 er) took a neat triple chulk Wednesday. Fortunately Liriano and Bauer did better (12 ip, 3 er) and Paco Rodriguez had helpless Mariners to mow down for 1.1 innings, to preserve the Wolverines’ place atop the league (and the AL East). Pay no attention to those hitting numbers. They include Adeiny Hechavarria’s 3 for 3 with a rare homer, which he earned while playing 100% of his time at AAA.
Peshastin: W 2, L (-1); 6 – 2. .400, .475, .629; 4 ip, 1 er, 2.25 ERA. Devon Travis: 3 for 4 with a double and a homer. He’s now running a cool .963 OPS! One of the early leaders for GM Coup of the Year.
Portland: W, 6 – 4. .324, .361, .529; 2 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA. At least Danny Farquhar stayed clear of the carnage in LA for the Mariners (and the Rosebuds). That and Cody Asche’s perfect day (3 for 3 with a double and a walk) got the Rosebuds the win.
Cottage: DNP, 1 – 1. .306, .405, .611; 17 ip, 8 er, 4.24 ERA . The top EFL teams slapped the ball around a little bit last night. Look at those team OPSes: 1.015, 1.104, .890, 1.016.
Kaline: W, 1 – (-1). .174, .194, .286; 9 ip, 1 er. I wonder how much the Drive has been limited by their owners’ firm rectitude. Take today for instance. Tyler Matzek, Alex Torres and Craig Kimbrel combined for an outstanding 9 innings. Having inflicted such humiliation on the league, the Drive felt obligated to be humble themselves on offense. They were unwilling to lay burdens on others that they themselves refused to carry. It’s so admirable, but also pretty much puts a .500 ceiling on Drive competitive accomplishments. On the other hand, Misters Matzek, Torres, and Kimbrel are getting a chance to learn how to be wonderful human beings at the feet of a master, which puts them in a good position to enjoy long and fruitful retirements after their playing days are over.
Haviland: L, 8 – 12. .382, .382, .676; 1 ip, 3 er, 27.00 ERA. So it turns out there’s more than one way to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Dragons have principles, too! So if it takes the immolation of a couple of Dragon relievers to balance the scales, then so be it. Dragons are all about scales, and flying Dragons know the importance of having balanced scales.
Canberra: L, 3 – 8. .238, .304, .357; 8.3 ip, 12 er, 12.96 ERA . Erasmo Ramirez had his second straight chulk to begin the year (3.3 ip, 7 er ). Immediately Kangaroo management notified the league it was prepared to trade Ramirez. This is understandable, but awfully harsh. And unwarranted, maybe, too, considering Ramirez had just cut his 2015 ERA by almost 8 runs per game (from 31.5 ERA all the way down to 23.63). Ramirez shouldn’t have to take too much grief, considering his pal Taijuan Walker didn’t pitch that much better (4 ip, 5 er), also for the second time, and cut his ERA by only 7 runs (24.3 to 17.18), but he wasn’t left out there twisting in the wind. If Wade Miley could slash 7 or 8 runs off his 10.57 ERA, I’d be ecstatic, and you’d never be able to pry him away from me.
Flint Hill: L, 4 – 5. .268, .333, .390; 11 ip 9 er. Anthony Ranaudo completed 1.7 ip but surrendered 6 er for a nifty triple chulk last night. Joc Pederson tried to fix it with 1 for 1 hitting and 3 walks in four plate appearances. But he got caught stealing, too, and that doomed the Tornadoes to a loss.
Pittsburgh: W 2, L 0; 9 – 8. .323, .400, .484; 11 ip, 5 3 er. While Lance Lynn did a nice 5 innings (1 er), his teammate Jerome Williams was exploring the depths of replacement level pitching by surrendering 4 runs in 5 innings for a nice 7.20 ERA on the day. We like to see the horses pulling in opposite directions in Pittsburgh.