A thousand tiny hands clapping

Friday evening Ben and I went to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes game on the spur of the moment.  Since there were only two of us I splurged for front row seats. The Volcanoes played terribly on defense, handing the Boise Hawks a 5 – 0 win.

So — even though it’s a travesty to say so — the fireworks show after the game was the highlight of the evening.  It was long, exciting, beautiful, and in a light drizzle of rain.

This is notable for two reasons.  First, as Ben pointed out, I can now cross “watching a fireworks show in the rain” off my bucket list. (I had to quickly add it before I could cross it off, but still.)  And second: the fact that it was finally “raining” after a terrible, hot, long drought in Oregon added a new level of celebration to the fireworks.

Yes, I know, Oregon is world famous for rain, so it should have been no big deal.  But we greeted the scattered drops Friday night as parched desert travelers crawling through the sand.

I put quote marks around “raining” because the drops were falling at the rate of one about every 5 seconds.  Even “drizzle” is a huge exaggeration.  The “storm” that brought Friday night’s rain extended into Saturday, marked by enough wind to launch the umbrella in our back-deck table like a rocket, but only the occasional violent rain shower.  It was like Oregon had forgotten how to rain.

Last night it remembered. Judging by the occasional soundings I took from bed, and by what I’m hearing outside right now, we are finally having a true Oregon rain: steady, soft, going on for hours, making a beautiful sound like applause from a thousand tiny hands.

Haviland:  L, 0 – 4.  .154, .233, .231;  14.0 ip,  12 er.  The drenching we’re getting will, we hope, put out the forest fires in the Cascades. Judging by local EFL results, it should work great!  Only the barest wisps of steam escaped from Dragon hitters, and the day went even worse for Dragon pitchers who got no flame on their fastballs and no sizzle on their sliders.

Old Detroit: W, 4 – 3.  .217, .213, .413; 7.3 ip, 2 er.  Poor Kevin Kiermaier has to do everything. The defensive specialist stood around waiting for some of the Wolverines’ vaunted sluggers to step forward.  When no one did, Kiermaier heaved a sigh and launched a homer to kick-start the Wolverine “offense”.  Meanwhile, Corey Kluber managed to shove a run or two under the “unearned run” rug to keep the team daily ERA down to 2.45 and squeeze out a win.

Pittsburgh:  W, 6 – 0. .313, .414, .396; 14.7 ip, 3 er. Lance Lynn completed 7 shutout innings, and Dellin Betances, in what might be his last appearance as an Allegheny, turned in 1.3 more.  That man Stephen Piscotty went 4 for 4 with a homer and a walk, while Mike Trout swapped rightful roles with the debutant, going 0 for 3.

Cottage  W, 1 – 1.  .235, .297, .294; 11.3 ip, 1 er. The Cheese had no offense to speak of, so they found another way to win: overpowering pitching, starting with Drew Hutchison’s 7 innings and 1 earned run tossed immediately after stepping off the bus bringing him up from the Corvallis Curds.  Four Cheesy relievers tacked on 4.3 scoreless innings to seal the win.

Flint Hill:  “W”, 3 – 4.  .250, .300, .250.  0 ip, 0 er.  Cool temperatures not expected to get out of the 60’s with gentle rain are not good conditions for  Tornados, who need heat to generate energy.  Weakened, none of the seven Tornado hits went for extra bases. No pitchers could rouse themselves to take the mound.

Peshastin: “W”, 4 – 4.  .267, .300, .422; 21.7 ip, 10 er.  The Pears got thoroughly mixed results from hitters and pitchers Saturday.  Jay Bruce homered, for once, and doubled as well, for a nice (and discouragingly rare) 2.000 daily OPS. (I say “discouraging” about Bruce because he’s in the middle of a 5-year, $9,000,000 contract and his season batting line is only .233, .307, .443.)  But the team as a whole batted like Bruce as a whole this year.  And the pitchers? None of the three starters were great, ranging  from acceptable  (Matt Wisler’s 6 ip, 2 er) through adequate (Garrett Richards’ 7 ip, 3 er) to atrocious (Jake Odorizzi’s 4.7 ip, 4 er).

Canberra: L, 1 – 3.  .216,  .237, .270;  10.3 ip, 4 er.  The Kangaroos spent most of the season showing admirable resistance to marineritis in their offense, but last night they came down with a bout of the disease. All three of the ‘Roos studs — Harper, Kipnis, and Forsythe — went 0 for the day (0 for 12 overall) along with stalwarts Drew and Semien.  As a result, solid pitching wasn’t good enough for a win.

Kaline:  L, 0 – 7.  .162, .262, .189;  7 ip, 5 er. For most of the season, Justin Turner has been an unforetold hero for the Drive.   Turner entered the season never having had more than 435 AB in a year — and only 200 last year.  While he turned in OPSes of .897 and .872 the last two years, he was squeezed on a Dodger roster this spring that had five or six strong candidates for playing time at Justin’s infield positions.  Since Turner turns 30 this fall, it was hard to expect him to be more than a very useful utility player.

Turner started slow the first week in April.  But by May 10 his batting line for the season was .327, .386, .692 for a slugging-heavy 1.078 OPS.   His power numbers dropped some after that, but he was still a steady on-base machine, becoming Edgar Martinez for a Day on June 21 when his season line reached .333, .401, .579. He slipped from that pinnacle, but not far.  As recently as August 15 his season line was .326, .386, .568.

But in the last two weeks, Turner has gone 4 for 41 with a homer and 4 walks.  That’s a .098, .174, .171 line.  I’d call that line Zuninian, except it would be unfair to Drive teammate Mike Zunino who batted .200, .231, .200 in that same period, leading to his humiliating demotion to the Coupeville Chip. Will Turner’s season implode here, in the late going, after 300 excellent ABs? Will he take over the Zunino mantle as patron saint of those helpless at the plate?

Portland: W, 9 – 2.  .410, .410, .744; 8.7 ip, 1 er.  Here’s the ONE team in the league that got premium results from both the plate and the mound.  Joe Kelly did 7.3 ip, 1 er, and Chris Young the Taller got in 1.3 scoreless innings. Middle infield sluggers Scooter Gennett (4 for 5 with a homer) and that man Jean Segura (3 for 5 with a double) led a bed of six Rosebuds with OPSes of 1.000 or more.  This cool, refreshing rain didn’t take long to dramatically perk up our Rosebuds.  But beware, O Portland! The Phillies are only a game away from your first round pick!