League Updates

Good-bye July

July lasted about one day too long, if you ask me.

EFL Standings for 2019
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Portland Rosebuds 71 39 .645 661.5 491.7
Flint Hill Tornadoes 67 40 .627 2.3 670.0 513.8
Old Detroit Wolverines 60 47 .564 9.1 603.5 528.5
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 57 50 .529 12.8 525.5 494.3
Haviland Dragons 56 53 .513 14.5 591.4 569.7
Canberra Kangaroos 55 54 .502 15.7 604.2 606.1
Peshastin Pears 55 55 .497 16.3 563.0 567.4
Kaline Drive 53 56 .482 17.8 510.5 531.5
Cottage Cheese 48 59 .447 21.6 601.5 652.6
Bellingham Cascades 48 59 .447 21.6 511.2 571.7
Brookland Outs 46 61 .426 23.8 539.5 627.2
D.C. Balk 42 67 .387 28.2 485.2 612.6
Which team’s outcome on the last day of July was not like the others?
Portland: W, 4 – (-1).  (44 PA, .238, .273, .333; 20.3 ip,  3 er, 1.33 ERA.)
Flint Hill: W, 7 – 1.  (42 PA, .257, .357, .571;  13.7 ip, 6 er, 3.95 ERA.)
Old Detroit: W (-1), L 2; (-2) – 6.  (53 PA, .122, .170, .143; 6 ip, 4 er, 6.00 ERA.)
Pittsburgh: W, 10 – 7.  (49 PA, .364, .429, .614; 0.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA.)
Haviland: W, 6 – 3.  (32 PA, .214, .281, .464; 7 ip, 2 er, 2.57 ERA)
Canberra: “W”, 6 – 8. (40 PA, .257, .350, .429; no pitching)
Peshastin: “W”, 4 – 5. (46 PA, .214, .283, .405; 10 ip, 6 er, 5.40 ERA)
Kaline: W, 8 – 7.  (50 PA, .404 , 440, .596;  no pitching)
Cottage:  W, 3 – 3.  (33 PA, .219, .242, .250; no pitching)
Bellingham: “W”, 6 – 7.  (24 PA, .364, .417, .500; no pitching)
Brookland: W, 3 – 1.  (24 PA, .143, .250, .286; 7.7 ip, 1 er, 1.17 ERA)
DC: L, 4 – 5. (24 PA, .182, .208, .409; 2 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA)
So which of the following is the correct answer?
a.  Portland, because they had such super pitching.
b.  Flint Hill, because they outscored their opponents by such a lopsided margin.
c.   Old Detroit, because their owner regularly laments when his team stinks as bad as it did Wednesday.
d.  Pittsburgh, because they had such super pitching. Or maybe because they had so little of it.
e.  Haviland,  because it’s the only one with nothing obviously exceptional about it. (Of course, Old Detroit wants to whine about how it was a million times better than their day, but they’ll say that about anyone who’s had a better day then them.) 
f.  Canberra, because they had no pitching.
g.  Peshastin, because they had a fake win.
h.  Kaline, because they had no pitching.
i.  Cottage, because they had no pitching. (Come on, you’re not even trying now.)  Ok, because they are apparently tied with another team for the second day in a row..
j.  Bellingham, because they had no p… (Stop it!)  Because they are apparently tied with ano… (Come up with something else!). Ok, umm, because they had a fake win.
k.  Brookland, because they had such super pitching.
l.   DC, because they had such super pitching. Or maybe because they had so little of it.
Ok, I admit, this was sort of a trick quiz. None of the listed answers is right. For example “c” can’t be right because the Cheese just published their NINTH annual lament.
But there is a  right answer.  How many teams lost two games Wednesday on the day after their birthday? How many teams lost MORE than a game in the standings? How many teams have seen their standings slip so  sharply after they traded away two-plus years of fan favorite (name) Mallex Smith for two months of the much more prosaic (name) Marcus Stroman.
Speaking of laments (or, less elegantly, whines):  The Wolverines traded for Stroman so they would be in a position to accept an MLB trade of either Madison Bumgarner or Robbie Ray, both of whom were supposedly on the brink of being traded.  But neither of them got traded. Nor did any other Wolverine. Stroman had better be VERY good for the next two months if he doesn’t want us muttering spitefully every time his name comes up over the next two years.
One final note: this is the first time Stroman has been acquired by an EFL team since his rookie draft. And all of us who were there remember what happened between the draft and Stroman’s first regular season start.  Surely it can’t happen again…
FINAL NOTE:  I’m “watching” the Dodgers play the Padres.  Clayton Kershaw just struck out Hunter Renfroe for his 2,396th career strikeout, tying Sandy Koufax on the all-time Dodger list.  Ryan and I saw Sandy Koufax more than once during our weekend at the Hall of Fame.  Among living Hall of Famers, Koufax has been a member the longest.  Henry Aaron is older, but Koufax retired so early he got inducted before Aaron.

 

 

2 Comments

  • July ended on a good note. It was the kind of note that when a chord is played each note separately it sounds weird. But played together? Haunting and beautiful. It’s called dissonance, and some people really like while other detest it. But the tornadoes kept up with the Rosebuds, agile the wolverines dropped behind even more. Dissonant beauty. Should be a fun race to the end! Will it come down to an unexpected surge by a couple of players? Or a poorly timed slump by a couple others? Or an unfortunate injury? We will see…go Tornadoes!

    • Also, there’s some kind of dissonant beauty in a Tornado dancing with a Rosebud as the last 6 weeks of the season are played. Nature dictates that the Tornado should prevail, but Rosebuds do seem to perennially survive…