Queen for a Day — or not

Today we feature the player on each team who had the best day yesterday.

Given Kate Middleton’s cameo role in yesterday’s post, I thought about making the theme “Queen for a Day” in honor of the old TV show which ran when I was a little kid. I remember it as being the kind of boring show you’d watch if you had absolutely nothing better to do.  But this morning I watched a snippet from one of the shows.  It was cringe-worthy.  I’d never subject a human being to that kind of thing — unless maybe he was a Yankee. Or an Allegheny.

No, not even an Allegheny.  So — these guys are not queens for the day.  They are the exemplars of excellence for their respective teams.

Old Detroit: W, 7 – 3.   .333, .462, .476.  0 ip, 0 er.  The Wolverine offense hummed nicely yesterday, which they haven’t been doing much lately.  One of the W’s who slipped into a black hole this year has been Carlos Santana, whose batting average had sunk into the .205 range. Yesterday he went 2 for 3 with a triple and a walk, giving him a .667, . 750, 1.333 line for the day.  Thus it is our pleasure to say “Welcome back, Carlos!  You are the Wolverine of the Day.”

Haviland:    W, 2 – (-1).   .150, .190, .347;   31.3 ip, 6 er.  So if we are going to name a Dragon of the Day, I’m guessing it won’t be a hitter.  There are several worthy candidates among the pitchers.  Cody Anderson went 6.7 innings allowing only 1 earned run.  Carlos Martinez went 7.3 innings while allowing 0 earned runs.  But Jeff Samardzija went 9 innings, allowing 0 earned runs — so he’s your Dragon of the Day.

Cottage:  “W”, 4 – 6.  .250, .250, .833;  2 ip, 0 er.  Only three Cheese pleased to appear yesterday, amassing only 12 plate appearances. Of the three Cheese on the plate, Yasiel Puig had the best day:  2 for 4 with a double and a homer, so Puig is Cheese of the Day.  (Now, Dave, really — wouldn’t that sentence sound better as “Of the three Cheeses on the plate, Puig displeased the least”?)

Peshastin:  L, 1 – 3.  .200, .222, .286;  2 ip, 0 er.   Another weak day for an EFL team at the bat.  However, this was over 36 plate appearances, so it’s going to matter.  Not every Pear was rotten, however. Devon Travis went 2 for 4, and Logan Morrison hit a homer in 5 AB, so they both assembled 1.000 OPSes.  We’ll name the pair Pears of the Day.

Pittsburgh:  L,  3 – 6.  .222, .263, .278;  3 ip, 0 er.  On a day of slim pickings, it’s tempting to give Allegheny of the Day recognition to Vance Worley for his three scoreless innings. But he’s only allocated at 50%, so for the Alleghenys that’s only 1.5 ip, 0 er.  Michael Brantley’s 2 for 4 with a double was also some fine work, and he’s gone under-recognized this year.  So let’s give Brantley the Fully-Allocated Allegheny of the Day award.

Flint Hill: L, 4 – 4.   .150, . 320, .350;  1 ip, 0 er.  Tornadoes went 3 for 20 at the plate, but at least they walked 5 times, and two of their three hits went for extra bases.  Francisco Lindor’s extra base hit was a home run.  Lindor also had a single, making him clearly the Tornado of the Day — or since he’s such a brand-new rookie, maybe he should only be the Whirlwind of the Day?

Kaline:  W, 8 – 4.  .571, .607, .714;  1.3 ip, 0 er.  Wow, a big big day for the Drive batters.  Five different players had 2 hits, but three of them stood out for not making any outs… well, none that counted as AB. Mike Zunino went 2 for 2 with a sacrifice fly and a sacrifice bunt, giving him a 1.000, .667, 1.000 batting line.  The newest Drive, Geovany Soto, went 1 for 1 with 2 walks, for a 1.000, .1000, 1.000 line.  But Mark Trumbo went 2 for 2 with a walk, giving him a 1.000, 1.000, 1.500 line, which gives him the right to call himself Drive of the Day.

Canberra:  DNP,  (-3) – 0.  .154, .185, .154;  0 ip, 0 er.  Somehow the pitchers did less harm to the Kangaroos by not showing up at all than the hitters did by making 27 plate appearances and going 4 for 26 with a walk and no extra bases. How does one pick a Kangaroo of the Day on such a dismal performance?  I guess it would have to be Jose Abreu for his 2 for 4.

Portland:  L,  4 – 6. .219, .265, .406;  5.0 ip, 3 er.  I’d love to crown Yordano Ventura the Rosebud of the day, since he’s back from whatever limbo he was in.  But a 5.40 ERA just doesn’t stand out as all that good.   So I think the Rosebud of the Day has to be Dee Gordon: 2 for 3 with a walk plus three stolen bases (and, alas, one caught stealing).