Happy Father’s Day!

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Old Detroit Wolverines	42	25	.627	—	372.2	286.9
Portland Rosebuds	42	27	.609	1	354.1	277.1
Haviland Dragons	41	28	.590	2.3	336.7	284.5
Canberra Kangaroos	39	30	.566	4	337.3	292.7
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	36	31	.534	6.3	326.2	303.2
Peshastin Pears	36	33	.517	7.4	290.4	282.9
Flint Hill Tornadoes	34	33	.511	7.8	296.5	290.1
Cottage Cheese	31	35	.470	10.5	315.5	330.7
Kaline Drive	27	42	.397	15.7	315.3	389.6
D.C. Balk	21	48	.302	22.2	263.4	404.2

Old Detroit: W, 10 – 4. (.366, .422, .585 — Happy EMD!;  13 ip, 5 er).   Three Wolverine big boppers (Rizzo: 2 for 3, 2b, hr, w; Machado: 3 for 4, 2b; and Jackie Bradley Jr : 1 for 3, hr, w) led the way and were joined in the 1.000 OPS club by upstart Jurisckson Profar and returning hero JJ Hardy.  So that’s where the 10 runs came from.  Matt Moore pitched his first good game in a while (6 ip, 2 er) to help keep the barn door mostly shut.  Any of that, if it’s a trend — the fixed Matt Moore; the fixed and suddenly slugging JJ Hardy; etc. — would all by itself make a great Fathers’ Day.

Portland: L,  3 – 4. (.208, .278, .313; 0 ip, 0 er). We shouldn’t assume that all good things that might happen on Father’s Day happen on the diamond. Sure, a really good day might have put the Rosebuds in first, a perfect Father’s Day present.  But there are other ways to have a great Dad’s Day, and I’m sure the Rosebuds did a great job of making their owner feel special.  New tie tacks maybe, or possibly a pear of woolen socks.  (I did get a tie this year.  A bow tie. On a dog. On a Father’s Day card. Which can’t be taken off the card.  But it’s still a tie.)

Haviland: W 2, L (-1); 12 – 4. (.406, .457, .813 — wow!  Happy Supper EMD!;  7.7 ip, 3 er).  Kurt Suzuki had the 5.000 OPS marking a pinch hit homer, but the real team leaders this time were Jake Lamb (2 for 4 with a homer and a HBP) and Juan Uribe (3 for 5 with a homer.)  Uribe added a stolen base to make his OPS (1.800) almost match Lamb’s (1.850)

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Canberra: L, 1 – 2. (.170, .216, 426;  12 ip, 4 er).  The Kangaroos worked hard to get their pitching in order — and succeeded! Steven Matz and Rick Porcello produced identical 6 ip, 2 er lines to limit the damage from the entirely somnolent Kangaroo offense. Jose Abreu managed to hit well (3 for 4, 2b, hr) and so did Bung-ho Park (1 homer in three trips).  But getting the offense and the pitching going well at the same time is very hard to do.

Pittsburgh: L,  7 – 13. (.295, 367, .581;  11.3 ip, 12 er).  Eddie Butler narrowly missed a chulk (3.3 ip, 6 er), but fellow project Aaron Blair cut his era considerably with his 6 ip, 3 er outing. The fine Allegheny offense featured… Jose Altuve (3 for 4 with  a homer).  Four others also OPsed better then 1.000:  Flowers (2.000), Castellanos (1.750), Trout (1.600), and Inciarte (1.167).

Peshastin:  W 3, L (-2)!!! 11 – (-5). (.395, .469, .651; 16.7 ip 4 er. ) A very rare triple win / double negative loss!  The Pears leapt from 2 games under to 3 games over .500 in a single bound!   Great hitting, sure, led by Realmuto (4 for 5, 2b, hr) and Seth Smith (3 for 3, 2b). But the key here was a surge of good starting pitching which cut about 7.7 innings of replacements.  This is only a glimpse of what could have been this month if Peshastin had enough pitching — and who knows?  There are 17.7 more replacement innings to be cut this month if somehow some pitching can come back into play.

Flint Hill: “L”, 6 – 5.  (.281, .343, .563;  2.7 ip, 2 er). The other amazing thing about the Pears’ surge is how they left the Tornados’ heads spinning.  Flint Hill hit very well, but pitched only a little, so they got to see for themselves what happens when something suddenly comes and blows them over.

Kaline: W (-1), L 2; 9 – 17. (.333, .389, .758;  5.3 ip, 12 er).  The universe bends toward justice, they say, so if someone has a  freakish 3 win, (-2) loss day, someone somewhere has to pay for it.  But this isn’t harsh justice — the costs can be spread to make them more bearable.  In this instance the Drive were chosen to carry 2/3 of the bill due for Peshastin’s good fortune.  Which might be a shock to the Drive offense, considering the outstanding day they had in which every single non-Cub got a hit. But the problem was, every single Drive starter (Chase Anderson and Mike Bolsinger) stank, Anderson for a tidy triple chulk (2.3 ip, 7 er) and Bolsinger for a near chulk (2.7 ip, 4 er).

DC: L, 7 – 9. (.440, .481, .520;  2 ip, 2 er).  Balkans everywhere can cheer their expansion team’s Happy Edgar Martinez Day! Father’s Day present. If only there had been some pitching to go with it… well, that’s ok, your players will learn.  And a 1.001 team OPS is pretty spiffy (and artistic) all by itself.

AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Old Detroit Wolverines	42	25	.627	—
Baltimore Orioles	39	28	.582	3
Boston Red Sox	38	29	.567	4
Toronto Blue Jays	39	32	.549	5
Flint Hill Tornadoes	34	33	.511	7.8
New York Yankees	33	34	.493	9
Tampa Bay Rays	31	35	.470	10.5

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Washington Nationals	43	26	.623	—
Canberra Kangaroos	39	30	.566	4
New York Mets	36	31	.537	6
Miami Marlins	36	32	.529	6.5
Philadelphia Phillies	30	39	.435	13
Atlanta Braves	22	46	.324	20.5
D.C. Balk	21	48	.302	22.1

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Cleveland Indians	37	30	.552	—
Kansas City Royals	37	31	.544	0.5
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	36	31	.534	1.2
Detroit Tigers	34	34	.500	3.5
Chicago White Sox	33	35	.485	4.5
Minnesota Twins	20	48	.294	17.5

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Chicago Cubs	46	20	.697	—
St. Louis Cardinals	35	32	.522	11.5
Pittsburgh Pirates	33	35	.485	14
Cottage Cheese	31	35	.470	15
Milwaukee Brewers	31	38	.449	16.5
Cincinnati Reds	27	42	.391	20.5

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Texas Rangers	44	25	.638	—
Haviland Dragons	41	28	.590	3.3
Seattle Mariners	36	32	.529	7.5
Houston Astros	33	36	.478	11
Los Angeles Angels	30	38	.441	13.5
Oakland A’s	28	40	.412	15.5
Kaline Drive	27	42	.397	16.6

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
San Francisco Giants	43	26	.623	—
Portland Rosebuds	42	27	.609	1
Los Angeles Dodgers	37	33	.529	6.5
Peshastin Pears	36	33	.517	7.4
Colorado Rockies	32	35	.478	10
Arizona Diamondbacks	31	39	.443	12.5
San Diego Padres	28	42	.400	15.5