It’s back, back, back — it’s Vogelbach!

Yesterday I pre-wrote today’s post.  It was about how hard it is in the EFL for your team to turn around when it has been going in one direction for a while. (It’s because the quality of the opposition doesn’t change in the EFL as much as in MLB because we’re always playing against practically the entire MLB whereas all the players on MLB teams get to feast simultaneously on weak teams, and then later ger simultaneously fed to strong teams.)  The draft post starts out erudite and ends up a little petulant.

When I saw how well my team did yesterday, I thought such a whiny post would be inappropriate.

Well…

Portland:  W 1, L 1; 16 – 12. (38 PA, .342, .435, .579; 14 ip, 11 er, 7.07 ERA).  I suppose when Rosebud management saw these wonderful offensive stats (with Nick Castellanos leading the way with a 3 for 3 day, with a double and a walk) and that they were going to play two games to catch up with the Wolverines in games played, they probably thought they’d finished burying the W’s .  The poor pitching numbers might have given them pause,  but cashing in the extra game they’d been saving up would make up for it.  So when they look up and see they only gained 0.1 game…

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Old Detroit: DNP, 4 – 2. (49 PA, .364, .429, .659; 0.7 ip, 2 er, 27.00 ERA).  Alex Wood came in in relief.  He got two outs but then things fell apart as I watched. It was a triple chulk before he and his own reliever were done — but that was a tiny disappointment, considering the tremendous offensive day the W’s had.  The W’s didn’t gain in the surface standings, but they didn’t record a game played, and now they have an extra game in the bank which will be worth about 0.6 games when it’s played.  So, Rosebuds: objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.

There have been murmurs of discontent with Scott Servais as manager of the Mariners lately, I suppose because the M’s stopped being so wonderfully lucky two months ago and their performance has fallen closer to their true talent level.  Those murmurs are unfair and unwise.

But my murmurs aren’t unfair or unwise — I’ve been grumbling about Servais’ unsightly prejudice against unsightly sluggers.  He likes Nelson Cruz plenty, but get slightly bigger and slightly less graceful than Cruz, and Servais (who is kind of average in size) just can’t stand the sight of you. So he buries you in Tacoma where you bat .290, .434, .545 — the best line in the entire Mariners’ organization. When they reluctantly bring you up to the big league team in September, he buries you on the bench, whence you get one plate appearance in the first 12 days.  You would have had two but Servais pinch hit for your other pinch hit appearance when the other team changed pitchers.

Finally, harangued by fans and apparently discovering some spark of humanity in his soul, Servais gives Vogelbach a start on his 13th day on the roster.  Vogelbach hits a key home run. But he’s back on the bench the next day.  Then, in the 8th inning, down 1-0 to the Astros, the M’s load the bases.  Servais chokes back his soul-eroding hatred for big hulking players, and sends Vogey to the plate. He hits the first grand slam homer surrendered by the Astros this season.

Two years ago I stupidly burned my rights to Vogelbach’s 2021 season when I activated him in September of his debutant year (I acquired him in an MLB/EFL trade) to try to catch the Dragons.  Vogey struggled and hurt me rather than helped me. But I do not hold Vogelbach’s size and limited gracefulness against him.  I’ve had him active all summer, plugged in, ready to use the instant the Mariners gave him a chance. We’ve saved him a seat at the Wolverines’ table, but he was imprisoned in AAA. Take 100 points off his AAA OPS if you want: if we’d have had Vogelbach all summer, the Rosebuds wouldn’t be sitting so pretty today.

(Whew!  I almost got through a post without whining.  Dodged that bullet!)

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Canberra: W, 4 – 0. (38 PA, .222, .263, .389; 15 ip, 3 er , 1.80 ERA).  The Kangaroos continued their great month with just enough offense (Conforto: 3 for 5 with a home and a double) and excellent pitching, led by the amazing Wade LeBlanc (5.3 ip, 1 er). They sneaked past the Outs, although that 0.2 game lead is not robust.  This is still an exciting race!

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Brookland: L, 3 – 4. (35 PA, .200, .282, .229; 6 ip, 4 er, 6.00 ERA).  The Outs sagged surprisingly again yesterday.  Their two best individual OPSes for the day, both 1.000, game on pinch-hit walks. Jake Arrieta stumbled on the mound: 5 ip, 4 er.  No one should count them out for third place, but suddenly 5th place is possible…

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Pittsburgh: DNP, (-2) – (-4)  (21 PA, .143, .296, .143, 13 ip, 4 er, 2.77 ERA).  Ryan Borucki, whose path has indeed been a little rucki, turned in a sparkling 8 ip, 0 er game yesterday to bouy the Alleghenys despite lackluster offense and Trevor Richards’ poor 5 ip, 4 er outing (just like Jake Arrieta’s).  And these are the Alleghenys we’re talking about.  The Outs had better look Out!

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Flint Hill: W 1, L (-1), (-1) – (-3). (19 PA, .188, .316, .188; 5 ip, 2 er, 3.60 ERA).  The Tornados were lucky not to play a net game yesterday since they got so little effort from their players. 8 batters batted, but 4 of them were confined to one pinch-hitting experience.  Those four went 0 for 4: not a Vogelbach among them.  The other four went 3 for 12 with no extra base bits, but they did add 3 walks.

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Haviland: L, 4 – 10.  (47 PA, .256, .298, .395; 8 ip, 3 er, 3.38 ERA). Ten runs scored with a 3.38 ERA?  Well, yes: 6 of those innings, all scoreless, were pitched by Tyler Glasnow, who is 100% in the minors.  Even after that outing, Glasnow’s September ERA is still 5.93, so he may not help much even if he is activated.

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Cottage: W, 7 – 5. (26 PA, .273, .385, .727; 5.3 ip, 2 er, 3.37 ERA).  A light day, but a pretty good one. Joc Pederson cranked two homers and a double in 4 at bats. The Cheese won some breathing room in their race against the Drive.

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Kaline: L, 5 – 8.  (45 PA, .225, .311, .450; no pitching). Kris Bryant has had a slightly disappointing season, so it had to feel good to homer, walk and single in 4 AB.  That was the main highlight in Kaline’s day, as far as I know.

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Peshastin: W 1, L 1; 13 – 10. (34 PA, .300, .382, .633; 7.7 ip, 2 er, 2.35 ERA). Aledmys Diaz hit a pinch hit homer, but as far as I know he isn’t hulking, ungainly, or handicapped by unreasoning prejudice against his body type. So he only gets two sentences in this update.

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DC: L, 2 – 7. (15 PA, .143, .200, .143; 8.3 ip, 6 er, 6.48 ERA).  The batters were worse than replacement. The pitchers were a little better than replacement. 2 – 7 is a typical replacement-level score in the EFL.  The Balk are usually much better than this.

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