Compassion wasted

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Old Detroit Wolverines	101	45	.695	—	841.0	557.3
Flint Hill Tornadoes	97	49	.663	4.7	810.9	568.2
D.C. Balk	89	55	.619	11.3	823.7	649.0
Peshastin Pears	90	56	.614	11.9	744.4	595.6
Kaline Drive	88	57	.610	12.5	773.1	617.7
Cottage Cheese	81	65	.553	20.8	811.6	746.8
Canberra Kangaroos	78	66	.544	22.2	760.6	711.8
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	78	67	.538	23	724.4	670.4
Haviland Dragons	78	67	.535	23.4	748.9	722.9
Bellingham Cascades	75	70	.514	26.4	618.6	603.0
Portland Rosebuds	71	75	.485	30.7	768.2	802.1

 

OLD DETROIT: “L”,  8 – 4. (61 PA, .291, .361, .491;  0.3 ip, 1 er, 27.00 ERA)  The Old Detroit Wolverines might be the most compassionate wolverines in the world.  Yesterday the Tornado’s owner pled with the W’s “Now stop winning.”   Moved by the T’s horrendous suffering — they were spending their second straight day 4.7 games out of first place — the Wolverines had a team meeting and decided to do as requested. 

 

FLINT HILL: W, 11 – 4. (55 PA, .360, .400, .620;  15 IP, 7 ER, 4.20 ERA). It’s not my fault!  I didn’t do it!  The Tornados scored a ton, won their game while the Wolverines were “losing” theirs — and even with all that, the T’s are doomed to spend their third straight day 4.7 games out of first place. Bo Bichette and Paul Goldschmidt cranked homers and more.  Adam Frazier went 4 for 5. Frank Schwindel hit another homer and a double. Tornadic pitching was decent and plentiful. All these heroic efforts wasted.     

 

 

DC: L, 7 – 7.  (32 PA, .310, .375, .483;  2.3 ip, 2 er, 7.83 ERA). Meanwhile teams even further from first also suffer. Like the Balk: a fine offensive day ruined by crummy and scant pitching. Myles Straw can go 3 for 5 with a double; Bryce Harper can go 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base; Pete Alonso can pop another dinger. But then crummy pitching — specifically, Jose Alvarado’s sextuple chulk (1/3 ip, 2 earned runs) can undo everything, denying the Balkans a needed win.  Maybe someone should remind the Tornados, the next time they are refusing to eat their wins, that there are people suffering in DC who would be happy to have that win.

PESHASTIN:  W, 9 – 4. (40 PA, .378, .400, .595 — Happy Edgar Martinez Day!   10 ip, 5 er, 4.50 ERA).  And you don’t hear the Pears whining even though they a) won yesterday and b) are still the same 11.9 games out they were yesterday morning.  Mike Zunino blasted another home run, and Yoan Moncada joined him. No one walked Juan Soto so he went 2 for 4 instead. Someone walked Ozzie Albies, but he went 2 for 4 in his other plate appearances anyway. Willie Calhoun went 2 for 4 also, including a double. Jazz Chisholm was going to go 2 for 4, but he petered out at 2 for 2 and took the rest of the day off. 

KALINE: “L”, 3 – 1.  (49 PA, .186, .286, .256;  20 ip, 5 er, 2.25 ERA).  There’s the pitching we all wanted, but only the Wizard got. Three starters pitched effectively, a luxury some of us who are down to three healthy starters TOTAL can only dream of. But the effort did not produce an official win because the hitting was spread so thinly on the toast. Hunter Renfroe homered, and Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve got two hits each, but seven others went 0 for the day. 

C0TTAGE: L, 0 – 3.  (41 PA, .175, .195, .275;  26 ip, 10 er, 3.46 ERA). The same song as Kaline’s, second verse, a little bit louder (in terms of pitching), and a little bit worse (in terms of hitting). Mitch Keller had a good day by his lights (5 ip, 2 er)! And so did Matt Manning, by his lights (6 ip, 1 er).  And so did Robbie Ray, by anyone’s lights (7 ip, 1 er).  But the Cheese wasted these gems, too, by not winning just because Sean Manaea struggled for once 5 ip, 5 er). 

 

CANBERRA: “L”, 8 – 6.  (33 PA, .323, .364, .581;  3.3 ip, 1 er, 2.73 ERA).  Vladdy Guerrero couldn’t manage a home run yesterday, so he settled for two doubles instead. Kyle Tucker did manage a homer, plus two singles.  These two stalwart Kangaroos led their team to a victory, but the database didn’t notice. And the standings demons sent the K’s 0.2 more games behind just out of spite.   

 

 

PITTSBURGH: L, 4 – 8.  (34 PA, .233, .324, .400;  9.0 IP, 11 ER, 11.00 ERA)  That has to be the tidiest 11.00 ERA ever, or at least tied for it:  four pitchers coordinated their efforts to complete precisely 9.00 innings and allow 11.00 earned runs.  It was all going awry when Tylor Megill took the mound with 3 innings left. But he came through with the 6 earned runs the project needed, no more and no less.  Also like clockwork:  Max Muncy hit another home run.  He carelessly tacked on a single, then repented by getting caught stealing.  

 

HAVILAND: W, 12 – 9.  (35 PA, .438, .486, .719;  5.3 ip, 5 er, 8.49 ERA).  The Dragons indulged in some Ruthian hitting yesterday, but then pitched like they were pitching to Babe Ruth.  The Dragonmaster salvaged a win by refusing to send out any more pitchers after 5.3 innings.   JT Realmuto and Brett Gardner (!) each had three hits (Realmuto’s including a home run), and reclamation projects Yoshi Tsutsugo and Jose Iglesias each added two more (including doubles).   What an entertaining spectacle that would have been!

 

 

BELLINGHAM:  “W”, 5 – 8. (57 PA, .255, .316, .431;  8.3 ip, 7 er, 7.59 ERA).  As I remember it, when Andre drafted Alcides Escobar, he mentioned how well he was hitting.  I was skeptical. But I was wrong, at least yesterday:  Escobar led the  Cascade offense going 4 for 6.  Jake Meyers added a homer and a single, and Kyle Farmer contributed a home run.  Alas — too few other Belles followed suit.  Meanwhile Michael Wacha was getting pummeled: 6 ip, 6 er .