League Updates Uncategorized

Things I have noticed before never

I enjoy listening to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ announcers. Last Sunday — a day devoid of other Wolverine pleasures — I went out of my way to listen to parts of Josh Bell having a great day for Pittsburgh in Washington. When the last National batter popped out to center the ecstatic Pirates announcer said this:

“And by the skin of their teeth the Pirates win for the first time a series here in Washington in six years.”

I dunno. It doesn’t look as magical as it did when I first heard it now.

I suppose people, even baseball announcers, say stuff like that when their thoughts are racing and haven’t really formed a proper queue on their tongues fairly often.  I just have noticed it before never.

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EFL Standings for 2019
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Flint Hill Tornadoes 14 6 .696 140.0 92.6
Canberra Kangaroos 12 7 .631 1.4 111.3 85.1
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 11 7 .629 1.6 104.7 80.5
Kaline Drive 11 8 .603 2 69.1 56.1
Portland Rosebuds 13 9 .589 2 123.3 103.0
Cottage Cheese 9 8 .538 3.3 92.6 85.9
Peshastin Pears 10 12 .470 4.6 107.7 114.5
Brookland Outs 7 10 .432 5.1 70.6 81.0
Haviland Dragons 8 11 .421 5.4 91.1 107.0
Old Detroit Wolverines 8 12 .408 5.8 95.2 114.7
D.C. Balk 7 12 .387 6.1 77.4 97.4
Bellingham Cascades 6 12 .356 6.5 84.6 113.8
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Flint Hill: W, 3 – 2. (40 PA, .194, .275, .444; 3 ip, 0 er, 0.o0 ERA).  Here’s something I don’t think I’ve seen before ever: three relief pitchers on one team with identical lines: Matt Barnes, Jace Fry and Joe Jimenez all did 1.0 ip, 0 er, 2 so.  Also, the sense of inevitable doom you feel when your team is barely leading the Angels in the bottom of the 8th inning and Mike Trout is up, just before the pitch. So when he hits the game-tying home run, you can say “I knew that was going to happen” and be pretty much telling the truth. (Even though that was only Trout’s 6th home run in 71 plate appearances. I mean, he really only does it once in almost 12 plate appearances!)  (Keep that fact in mind for a bit here, it will come in handy later.)
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Canberra: W, 4 – 4.  (43 PA, .256, .326, .462; 1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). Here’s another thing I don’t think I’ve seen before, at least not since 2001 — and not even then, since Mike Trout turned 10 that year and none of us (except maybe Mark Weinert) had heard of him yet:  even after Trout’s homer, I didn’t think the M’s were toast, largely because Tim Beckham was due up in the top of the 9th.  Tim has slumped lately, so the homer he did hit (almost as expected) was only his 5th, and lifted his OPS only to .964.  (His twin Tim Anderson is OPSing 1.096, for context.)  .
(Actual text correspondence from the moment after Beckham’s homer:
The Captain Kangaroo, the eloquent former Voice of the Hagerstown Suns: “Timmmmmmmyyyy!”
Me:  “They’re doing it again. “
CK:  “How? How are they doing this?  Hahahahahahahahahaha”
Then CK came close to attributing the M’s success to better hitters meetings before games.  Which is another thing I had seen before never.  Two nother things I had seen before never actually: the WAR value of better team meetings, suddenly being discovered by the M’s in 2019; and CK ready to attribute value to such a thing.
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Pittsburgh: DNP, 1 – 0.  (29 PA, .296, .345, .444; 0 pitching). Let’s see… Jose Altuve leading the team with a 1.400 OPS on the day? Seen that already. It’s burned into my computer screen. How about Jurickson Profar going 0 for 4? Ditto. Look, the A’s didn’t even play yesterday.  What’s to see?
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Kaline: L, 3 – 3. (49 PA, 1.75, .327, .325; 13 ip, 4 er, 2.77 ERA).  The Drive steadily climbing the standings is a pleasant sight.  I don’t know when we saw it last. They moved into 4th yesterday with a little hitting and a lot of pitching.
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Portland: L, 4 – 5. (36 PA .267, .378, .500; 5 IP, 2 er, 3.60 ERA) That’s not many runs for an batting line like that.  I could not find any allocation or data collection errors. So this is a mystery.  But here’s something I have pretty much seen before never: Mark J unable to diagnose something like this.  So go at it Mark!
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Cottage: L, 4 – 10.  (39 PA, .286, .359, .571; 4.7 ip, 4 er, 7.71 ERA)  I got nothing here. It’s all familiar by now:  Yandy and Yoan combining to go 4 for 7 with a homer and two walks; three other Cheese also OPSing 1.000 or better.  And Drew Smyly being generous with the earned runs (4 of them in .7 ip).
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Peshastin: “L” , 6 – 5.  (44 PA, .275, .341, .500;  0.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  Not much new here, either. Sorry — I have to call them like I see them.
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Brookland: W, 6 – 3. (31 PA, .310, .344, .517; 7 ip, 1 er, 1.20 ERA).  Nor here.  I’ve even seen the Outs sailing off into the distance, far ahead of my W’s, before. They did it for a while about this time last year.  ‘Course, they were sailing toward first place then, whereas now they seem to be sailing for about 6th place. or a little higher, maybe.
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Haviland: L, 0 – 6. (26 PA, .120, .148, .240; 6.3 ip, 2 er , 284 ERA)  I was debating between Luis Urias and Brendan Lowe for my rookie 2b draft target.  Lowe homered yesterday, his 6th of the season, to bring his season OPS up to .923. Urias? 0 for 1 yesterday, season OPS .380.
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Old Detroit: L, 0 – 6.  (46 PA, .146, .239, .268;  7.7 ip. 4 er, 4.70 ERA)  The Dragons and the Wolverines both lost precisely 0.0 – 5.7.  I don’t think I’ve seen these two teams synchronized so closely before.  Nor the Wolverines sinking down through the standings like a Chernobyl reactor core, possibly unstoppable short of melting in the Earth’s mantle, 10th place today, 11th tomorrow, probably 12th early next week. Now that’ll be something I’ve seen before — never! — the W’s in 12th place!
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DC: L, 6 – 8.  (25 PA, .211, .400, .475;  0.3 ip, 0r , 0.00 ERA).  Did I mention Omar Narvaez’ homer, the one that came right after Tim Beckham’s?  I’ve seen the M’s lead the majors in homers before but I think (without looking) it was way back in 2001.  None of my current students remember it. It’s something they’ve seen before never.
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Bellingham: DNP, 0 – (-2). (19 PA, .444, .474, .556; 4.3 ip, 2 er, 4.15 ERA). Brad Boxberger’s had a tough go so far. The Mariners have hung come-from-ahead losses on him twice.  Last night he pitched one inning, getting three outs, but allowing 3 walks and 2 hits — and only 1 earned run.    This LOWERED his ERA on the season to 9.64.  That’s something you don’t see very often.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2019
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Tampa Bay Rays 14 6 .700
Flint Hill Tornadoes 14 6 .696 0.1
New York Yankees 9 10 .474 4.5
Toronto Blue Jays 9 12 .429 5.5
Old Detroit Wolverines 8 12 .408 5.8
Baltimore Orioles 8 12 .400 6
Boston Red Sox 7 13 .350 7
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Canberra Kangaroos 12 7 .631
Philadelphia Phillies 11 8 .579 1
New York Mets 11 8 .579 1
Washington Nationals 9 9 .500 2.5
Atlanta Braves 9 9 .500 2.5
D.C. Balk 7 12 .387 4.6
Miami Marlins 5 15 .250 7.5
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 11 7 .629
Cleveland Indians 11 7 .611 0.3
Minnesota Twins 9 7 .563 1.3
Detroit Tigers 9 10 .474 2.8
Chicago White Sox 8 11 .421 3.8
Bellingham Cascades 6 12 .356 4.9
Kansas City Royals 7 13 .350 5.3
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Pittsburgh Pirates 11 6 .647
Milwaukee Brewers 12 9 .571 1
Cottage Cheese 9 8 .538 1.9
St. Louis Cardinals 10 9 .526 2
Chicago Cubs 9 9 .500 2.5
Brookland Outs 7 10 .432 3.7
Cincinnati Reds 7 12 .368 5
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Houston Astros 13 6 .684
Seattle Mariners 15 8 .652
Kaline Drive 11 8 .603 1.5
Texas Rangers 10 8 .556 2.5
Oakland A’s 11 11 .500 3.5
Haviland Dragons 8 11 .421 5
Los Angeles Angels 8 12 .400 5.5
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Los Angeles Dodgers 14 8 .636
Portland Rosebuds 13 9 .589 1
San Diego Padres 11 10 .524 2.5
Arizona Diamondbacks 10 10 .500 3
Peshastin Pears 10 12 .470 3.7
Colorado Rockies 8 12 .400 5
San Francisco Giants 8 13 .381 5.5

 

 

1 Comment

  • The Drive’s move up the standings is clearly built on the worst hitting and best pitching (runs allowed) in the league. That’s very weird and won’t last, neither one, because we are destined to retreat to mediocrity. We have, and always have had, acrophobia.