Not as advertised

So which players have defied expectations — good or bad?

 

 

Haviland: “W”, 2 – 3. .211,.250, .211; 2 ip 0 er.  Did someone tell us Andrew Susac was going to be the next Buster Posey? If so, I missed it. But there he is: even after 0 for 4 last night, Susac is hitting .294, .368, .529 this season.  And the same goes for the entire Dragons team!  They were supposed to finish well down in the standings — 5th? 6th? 7th? But doggone it they are in the lead, just barely, again today.  As they have been 5 of the last 6 days and 8 of 21 total days this season. If someone doesn’t straighten this out soon, I’m going to have a file a complaint somewhere.

Old Detroit:  “L”, 6 – 5. .257, .297 .457, 6.3 ip, 4 er.   Jose Iglesias was supposed to be this defensive whiz whose bat was suspect. Suspect? Nah!  Suspicious, maybe: how can such a little guy go 3 for 5 with a triple and a homer to raise his season batting line to .397, .449, .540? On the other hand, Corey Kluber became the first Cy Young winner to lose his first three decisions of the ensuing season. His ERA is now 4.24 on the season, although his FIP is still an optimistic 2.59.  Oh, and Homer Bailey needs MORE arm surgery.  We may have seen his last game as a Wolverine.  So sad. I’m used to students graduating and going away — another batch is doing so this week — but Bailey isn’t advancing to another level.

Cottage: W, 6 – 5.  .320, .370, .560;  1 ip, 0 er.  This is too easy.  I can’t always use  Astounding Arismendy Alcantara, the second-round wunderkind, as the butt of my jokes. His MLB OPS is .303, fourth lowest in the EFL and less than half the next-worst Cheese hitter.  On the positive side – did anyone see Andrew Miller’s 0.00 ERA coming?  True, it’s only 9.3 ip — but he’s struck out 17 hitters!

Peshastin:  W, 5 – 4. .231, .364, .538; 10.3, 5 er.  We can’t complain that Devon Travis isn’t as advertised.  There was no advertising.  No one had ever even heard of him, except somehow the Pears.  As far as I could see, the Pears conjured him out of thin air.  Good conjuring! Travis went two for four with another homer last night, so his season line is now .368, .419, .721.  Not bad for a player who didn’t even exist three months ago.

Flint Hill: W, 8 – 6. . 370, .433, .630; 6 ip, 3 er.  It’s not so much that anyone blatantly deceived us about Tornados.  No one is a total surprise. But there are several subtle cases where maybe the truth got shaded a little. For instance, Xander Bogaerts was supposed to be struggling, but he’s batting a nice .277, .347, .369 now, a solid sign that he’s steadily improving. Joc Pederson was expected to be good, but maybe not quite .296, .458, .556 good.  Everyone already knew that Desmond Jennings was in trouble, so his .437 OPS isn’t a shock. Jamie apologized while he was drafting Ross Detwiler, so the Tornadoes were aware he might turn in a 10.95 ERA.  Congratulations to Jamie Johnson — the EFL’s honest man.

Kaline:  W 2, L (-1); 8 – (-1). .364, .421, .636; 25.3 ip, 7 er.  Hey! You Drive! What are you doing surging like this? You lulled us to sleep with your slow, stately, but seemingly unstoppable slide into the cellar.  You aren’t suppose to be doing this!   Tommy Milone’s 4 ip, 5 er? Well, yeah, we could see that happening occasionally.  But Jarred Cosart AND Jason Hammel both going 8 shutout innings on the same day?  Impossible!

Portland:  W (-1), L 2;  2 – 18. .206, .270, .265; 14 ip, 16 er.  Three crummy starts, topped off by Jimmy Nelson’s triple-chulky 2.3 ip, 7 er.   The Rosebuds were the next new thing, hanging out with the league leaders, looking like they were capable of a run for the top — until now.  They almost fell all the way to the cellar in a single day!  Maybe this is just the cosmos balancing things with the Drive’s sudden drive.  Maybe the Rosebuds were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and took this random karmic hit.

Pittsburgh: W, 6 – 4.  .348, .423, .435; 14 ip, 5 er. Dellin Betances cannot go all season without allowing an earned run. He’s at 11.1 ip now, but it can’t go on much longer.  Who does he think he is? Andrew Miller?

Canberra:  W, 3 – 1.  .222, .290. .296; 7.7 ip, 0 er.  Here is someone highly touted who is just now beginning to act like it. Taijuan Walker turned in 7 innings without an earned run allowed.  It’s encouraging to see a young man start keeping his promise like this.  Not encouraging enough to get the ‘Roos out of the cellar, but I think everyone down there in that neighborhood of the standings was a little shellshocked by the Drive’s explosive lift-off.