Today is the first day of classes at GFU. Out of respect for our GFU colleagues who are now back in the mines, we’ll keep things simple today, confining ourselves to miscellaneous observations, some of them about the inadequate powers of our indolent Commissioner.
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EFL Standings for 2017
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 87 | 42 | .678 | — | 730.0 | 500.4 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 84 | 46 | .650 | 3.5 | 676.4 | 495.4 |
| Haviland Dragons | 84 | 46 | .650 | 3.5 | 776.5 | 569.5 |
| Cottage Cheese | 82 | 47 | .638 | 5.1 | 696.1 | 519.2 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 76 | 53 | .592 | 11.1 | 739.5 | 602.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 72 | 58 | .558 | 15.5 | 647.9 | 576.1 |
| Peshastin Pears | 72 | 57 | .558 | 15.5 | 637.7 | 574.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 70 | 60 | .536 | 18.3 | 655.6 | 595.3 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 62 | 67 | .479 | 25.7 | 611.3 | 640.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 50 | 79 | .389 | 37.2 | 634.8 | 799.8 |
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Pittsburgh: “L”, 7 – 3. (.286, .318, .619; 7 ip 2 er). Skinny Martinez somehow poked two homers to lead the towering Allegheny offense (isolated power: .333 Sunday). Lance Lynn took care of the pitching. Richard Bleier tried to help but was sent to the showers after walking the only batter he faced.
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Flint Hill: W, 8 – 1. (.244, .358, .578; 14.7 ip, 7 er.) Byron Buxton clouted three homers on the way to a 4 for 5 game. Dan Straily and Charlie Morton weren’t lights out (11 ip, 5 er between them) but they erased several replacement innings. Thus the Tornados helped keep our pennant race alive.
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Haviland: L, 5 – 7. (.289, .373, .378; 7.7 ip, 3 er). Video of last week’s big Tiger/Yankee brawl shows Gary Sanchez watching until Miguel Cabrera was on the ground beset by foes and unable to defend himself. Sanchez chose that moment to sidle up and throw two or three punches at Cabrera’s midriff. He did this twice during the big dust-up that led to Cabrera being tossed from the game. The umps didn’t see Sanchez so he wasn’t ejected. MLB presumably saw it on video but still gave Sanchez a suspension half as long as Cabrera’s. But doesn’t Sanchez fall under EFL jurisdiction, too? The EFL Commissioner’s Office would suspend him for the same number of games as Cabrera… Sanchez went 2 for 4 with a walk to lead the Dragon offense Sunday.
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Cottage: “L”, 6 – 3. (.244, .346, .311; 7 ip, 1 er.) Greg Bird, who was prophesied to turn the tide for the Cheese, hit a pinch-hit, two-RBI single to lead the Cheese to a surreptitious win (disguised as a loss, as is only possible in the EFL!). Chris Archers seven sparkling innings helped.
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Portland: W, 7 – 1. (.244, .354, .488; 12.7 ip, 2 er.). A big win for the Rosebuds, albeit too late to salvage their place in the pennant race. Given the derision directed at Haviland management for benching Gausman in the morning Saturday, just hours before Gausman’s sterling start, I should point out that Brad Miller, playing in AAA, walked and homered yesterday for a 1.833 daily OPS which would have improved the ‘Buds’ line to .250, .365, .556.
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Kaline: “L”, 4 – 4. (.250, .351, .313; 6 ip. 2 er). Drive left fielder Ben Gamel let a ball get by him for an error in the first inning Sunday, setting off a nightmare chain of 5 Mariners errors in a single inning (three of them by Jean Segura). The M’s couldn’t recover from those 6 runs, five of them unearned. The Drive did much better, escaping with a de facto tie.
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Peshastin: W, 6 – 1. (.303, .368, .485; 13.7 ip 4 er). A great day in Peshastin Sunday.. Trey Mancini’s 3 for 4 with a double led the robust offense. Carlos Carrasco’s 7 scoreless innings spearheaded the fine Pear pitching performance.
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Old Detroit: L, 4 – 8. (.188, .316, .405; 8 ip, 7 er). Clayton Richard pitched 7 strong innings with only 2 earned runs allowed. He made up for those two earned runs by driving in two with his second career home run. Had San Diego manager Andy Green heeded my instructions, that would have been Richard’s day. But NOOO, Green sent him back out there in the 8th, even though getting good outcomes over 90 Richard pitches is already good enough luck for one day. Five pitches later Green took Richard out AFTER he’d allowed a single to Gordon, a homer to Stanton (Stanton’s 50th of the year) and a triple to Yelich (which turned into a homer when Rosebud Carlos Asuaje made an error, probably on purpose to sabotage the Wolverines). Green needs to pay for his insouciant insubordination, but I doubt our namby-pamby Commissioner will do anything about it. Green’s bull-headed bone-headedness cost the Wolverines first place! (For August, that is, although we are still in second at 18 – 8, just a half game or so behind the Alleghenys at 18 – 7, and a smidgeon ahead of the 18-7 Dragons and 18-8 Tornados.)
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Canberra: W 1, L 1; 7 – 12. (.219, .219, .281; 4.3 ip, 2 er). Sunday’s doubleheader wasn’t a good day for so many Kangaroos to take a vacation — nor a staycation, either, like some did who showed up but didn’t do much. Dan Altavilla bought another ticket to Tacoma with his lackluster 3 ip, 2 er effort against the Yankees.
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DC: W 0, L 2; 3 – 12. (.125, .241, .125; 10 ip, 4 er). DC’s hitters reverted to earlier-season form Sunday. Seven hitters went hitless, leaving the entire offense up to Gerardo Parra (2 for 4) and Andrew Benintendi (1 for 3 with 2 walks). The other hitters combined to go 0 for 17. Balk pitchers apparently didn’t get the memo: led by Jharel Cotton’s 6 strong innings (1 er), they continued the kind of performance that had the Balk among the league leaders for August. The Balk are still over .500 for the month (13 – 12), but that’s only 9th best in the EFL.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 84 | 46 | .650 | — |
| Boston Red Sox | 73 | 57 | .562 | 11.5 |
| New York Yankees | 70 | 59 | .543 | 14 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 70 | 60 | .536 | 14.8 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 65 | 65 | .500 | 19.5 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 65 | 67 | .492 | 20.5 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 61 | 69 | .469 | 23.5 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Washington Nationals | 78 | 51 | .605 | — |
| Miami Marlins | 66 | 63 | .512 | 12 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 62 | 67 | .479 | 16.2 |
| Atlanta Braves | 57 | 71 | .445 | 20.5 |
| New York Mets | 57 | 73 | .438 | 21.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 50 | 79 | .389 | 27.8 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 48 | 81 | .372 | 30 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 87 | 42 | .678 | — |
| Cleveland Indians | 73 | 56 | .566 | 14.5 |
| Minnesota Twins | 67 | 63 | .515 | 21 |
| Kansas City Royals | 64 | 65 | .496 | 23.5 |
| Detroit Tigers | 56 | 73 | .434 | 31.5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 52 | 77 | .403 | 35.5 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cottage Cheese | 82 | 47 | .638 | — |
| Chicago Cubs | 69 | 60 | .535 | 13.3 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 68 | 63 | .519 | 15.3 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 65 | 65 | .500 | 17.8 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 63 | 68 | .481 | 20.3 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 55 | 76 | .420 | 28.3 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Haviland Dragons | 84 | 46 | .650 | — |
| Houston Astros | 79 | 51 | .608 | 5.4 |
| Kaline Drive | 72 | 58 | .558 | 11.9 |
| Seattle Mariners | 66 | 65 | .504 | 18.9 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 66 | 65 | .504 | 18.9 |
| Texas Rangers | 64 | 66 | .492 | 20.4 |
| Oakland A’s | 58 | 72 | .446 | 26.4 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 91 | 38 | .705 | — |
| Portland Rosebuds | 76 | 53 | .592 | 14.6 |
| Peshastin Pears | 72 | 57 | .558 | 19 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 73 | 58 | .557 | 19 |
| Colorado Rockies | 71 | 59 | .546 | 20.5 |
| San Diego Padres | 57 | 73 | .438 | 34.5 |
| San Francisco Giants | 52 | 80 | .394 | |