Daniel’s Big Day

There are things in these standings I do not want to dwell on.  So I don’t. Much. Sorry if you wanted to dance on the Wolverines’ grave.

 

Haviland:  W 1, L 1; 16 – 11.   .299, .389, .584;  19 ip, 7 er.  These are the numbers marking a  competently-managed front-running EFL team.  Not the Wolverines, obviously.

Old Detroit:  W 0, L 2; 6 – 17. .258, .298, .393;  15 ip, 16 er.  Three disastrous starts, the disastrousest being Trevor Bauer’s 1.7 ip, 5 er triple chulk. The W’s are now closer to 3rd than to 1st, and accelerating.

Pittsburgh:  W 3, L (-1); 21 – 5.  .344, .417, .667;  30.3 ip, 8 er. The Alleghenys smell blood in the water — well, that’s an awfully difficult image to conjure up.  And yet, it perfectly describes their predatory frenzy all of a sudden, now that the Wolverines are bleeding so profusely.

Cottage:  W 1, L 1; 9 – 7. .250, .304, .472;  20.7 ip, 8 er. Solid performances make the Cheese the envy of the W’s. Jim Johnson’s rough start for the Cheese continued, a small triple chulk (0.7 ip, 2 er) leaving him at 6 ip, 14 er for August.

Peshastin : W 1, L 1; 10 – 5.  .263, .367, .434;  27 ip,  8 er.  It seems like everyone knows how to run a solid EFL franchise, except those poor specimens in the Old Detroit front office. Yunel Escobar seems to be thriving in Peshastin, going 5 for 7 with a homer and four walks over the last two days.

Flint Hill:  W 1, L 1; 3 – 3.  .176, .274, .243;  24 ip. 6 er.  Not a good performance at the plate — no one’s OPS exceeded .778 — but at least the pitching was very good. So it was nowhere near the double-barreled disaster of the Wolverines toxic dump into the river.

Canberra: W 1, L 1; 6 – 7.  .224,  .297,  .284;  20.3 ip,, 7 er.  I should be more sensitive — what I’m moaning about for the W’s is not that far from what the Kangaroos, Drive and Rosebuds have endured most of the season. Still, the ‘Roos had excellent pitching to go with their wolverinical crummy hitting.  And even those poor hitting numbers don’t really give you an accurate picture, if you take into account what Kangaroo first-round pick pitcher Daniel Norris did yesterday.

First, take a look at the Cubs’ new video board. Cubs fans waited a century to get something like this; it’s brand new this year.  See the blanked out part in the lower left?  That’s where a  Daniel Norris batting practice blast hit the board, breaking it, and sending the Cubs right back into the Stone Age.

This is Norris in his first professional at bat ever.  He’s taken a ball and a strike.  John Lester is about to serve up his third straight 94-mile-per-hour four seam fastball. Clearly he’s unaware of the danger.

This is Norris’ first swing at a pitch in a professional ballgame. Lester and catcher Kyle Schwarber come to a sudden realization.

Google insists this is a “related image.”   You can’t see the ball, but there is plenty of evidence it’s Norris’.  You know it’s Lake Michigan because the Sears Tower is in the background. People are pointing at the spot where it splashed down.  The spray is dramatic, as it clearly would be for a ball hit this far.

Norris circles the bases in a calm, professional manner. Somehow he knows he’d better not showboat even in the slightest.  This photo captures him at the peak of his post-blast celebration.

Later, Norris had to leave the game with an oblique strain, further evidence of the magnitude of his blast.  Also, he surrendered 3 runs in 4.3 innings, including two homers. Which, fittingly for the frustrating season they’ve had,  is all the Kangaroos get for his prodigious day.

Kaline:  W 0, L 2;  1 – 19. .125,  .188, .266;  12.3 ip, 13 er.  Almost a carbon copy of the Wolverine line. Both starting pitchers stank, although at least they avoided chulking.  I’m so sorry, O Wizard. Perhaps the lone consolation is that Rajai Davis got in on the home run festival at Tiger Stadium yesterday.  Besides Norris and Davis, the main beneficiaries of the seven balls hit out of Wrigley were the Dragons (J Martinez and Kyle Schwarber) and the  Alleghenys (Castellanos for 2, and Fowler).

Portland:  W 2, L 0;  14 – 7. .342, .395, .595;  14.7 ip, 4 er.  This line looks just like everyone’s from Haviland through Peshastin (except, of course, Old Detroit).  Six hitters OPSing over 1.000 for the two days, no total clunkers amongst the pitchers.  What are the Rosebuds doing down here?