Interregnum, sort of

Interregnums — interregna, I suppose, in the plural — happen when a regime is overthrown and then comes back. That part in the middle between the throw and the back is the interregnum. So you can’t have an interregnum when the regime hasn’t even started.  But still, it sort of feels like an interregnum in the EFL.

 

Haviland: W, 4 – 2.  .190, .227, . 381; 5 ip, 0 er.  Alex Colome will someday have a statue in the EFL square. We might even make May 21 Colome Day.  He singlehandedly staved off (stove off?) the start of the Seventh Allegheny Reich for another day.   If you doubt that one young pitcher can, in only 5 innings, achieve such things, then I defy you to tell me who helped.  No other Dragon pitchers performed.  There were some Dragon hitters, I suppose, but they might as well have been replacements. Face it: Alex Colome was the man with the shopping bags standing in front of the column of tanks.

Pittsburgh:  DNP, 1 -0.  .278, .350, .556;  6 ip, 5 er.  The man in front of the tanks doesn’t win in the end, you know. He only delays them in getting where they were going. Still, one could draw a glimmer of hope, not only from Colome, but perhaps from within the Allegheny regime where there are still some bumblers like Jerome Williams (5 ip, 5 er).  Who knows how people like Williams can keep their positions in the ruthless Allegheny machine.  But  on such people  the resistance must pin its hopes.

Old Detroit: L, 0 – 1.  .205, .250, .205; 7 ip, 0 er.  The Wolverines are collapsing, but it could be so much worse.  Madison Bumgarner gave us 6.3 scoreless innings and Paco Rodriguez finished the seventh without mishap. May is the tale of two months: the first 8 or 10 days when the W’s hit very well but had the worst ERA in the EFL; and the last 10 days or so. Here, look at this:

Wolverine OPS over the last 10 days:  .644.   9 days: .597;  8 days: .586; 7 days: .591; 6 days: .528;  5 days: .538; 4 days: .483; 3 days: .512;  2 days: .477;  1 day:  .455.

That is uuuuuugly.  Meanwhile over the last 10 days the ERA has been only 3.07.

But there is hope! Yan Gomes will be back Sunday.  Carlos Santana may still OPS .354 (like he has the last 10 days) and Welington Castillo may still OPS his recent.226, but Gomes will be in the saddle.  Our interregnum at catcher will be over.  Watch out, Alleghenys!

Cottage: L, 0 – 4. .083, .083, .208;  7.3 ip, 2 er.  The Cheese “top” a three-way tie in the middle of our standings. Now, I know, we never really have true ties in the EFL — it’s one of the glories of our league! — but when you have three straight teams whose games behind rounds off to exactly 5.0, and whose winning percentages range from .499 to .498, and who straddle the pivot point in our 9-member league: that’s remarkable. It’s like a gang or a cartel, the tough kids who can’t run the school but can extort littler kids’ milk money.

Kaline:  W, 9 – 5.  .333, .422, .487.  “Look, Michele, no pitching!”  I doubt they are even noticing in Pittsburgh, but there’s another great story brewing down in the .499 cartel: the central member, the team in the EFL pivot, is the Drive! Back from the grave, up from the cellar, here they come. Who needs Trout or Harper when you have Cespedes (6 for 6 with 2 doubles, 3 walks, and 2 stolen bases over the last two games)?  Remind me how they got Mitch Moreland (3 for 4 with a homer)? Did the Drive have to give up a young star?  What’s that? Someone gave away Moreland for free?  Who would do such a thing?

Canberra: DNP, 0 – 0. .318, .375, .455.  “Look, Mom, no pitching!”   And, actually, not quite enough hitting, either, with only 24 plate appearances.  Nevertheless, clearly Canberra has joined the central cartel.  So here’s the question: will the cartel be content to dominate the middle of the standings?  Or will it try to advance on the Allegheny citadel, once the Alleghenys have settled in?

Peshastin: W, 4 – 4. .174, .208, .304; 6.7 ip, 3 er.  Every gang of bullies has one wannabe, a hanger-on desperate to belong.  Here are the Pears, just .006 outside the cartel, just o.2 games behind it. (“Hey, guys, wait up!” they’re constantly pleading.  “Wait up for us!” Ususally in vain.)  It pains me to think of the gentle Pears joining a gang. On the other hand, it’s kind of fun to watch how the Pears are being led this month by a quartet of big-name hitters:  Grandal (1.158 OPS in May), Logan Morrison (.929),  Zack Cozart (.871), and Yasmany Tomas (.843).

Flint Hill: W, 5 – 3. .310, .341, .524;  7.7 ip, 1 er.  Finally!  A classic good day for an EFL team. We ALL should be capable of such days, and teams at the top of the standings should have them most of the time.  This just confirms my impression — which I got based on the Tornados’ foray recently into the middle of the standings — that Flint Hill doesn’t have to be in 8th place if it doesn’t want to be.  But as long as their brothers, the Rosebuds, are struggling and in pain, the Tornados will stay close by to take care of them.

Portland:  L,  4 – 6.  .172, .314, .310.  “Look, Jamie, no pitching!”  See?  The Rosebuds  do need someone to take tender care of them.  Already in the cellar, they seem to think they can emulate better teams and try to win games with no pitching. But before finish for the day, we should give a shout out to Rosebud catcher Michael McKenry, who went 1 for 2 with  a homer and three walks yesterday, a lot of that coming at the expense of Allegheny Jerome Williams.  So even the meekest team amongst us can help us defend against Dragon misery.