OK. I think I know what I did wrong this morning. It’s all fixed, and brought up to date to today and here’s what the standings looked like before today’s action.
There is some good news for Allegheny fans here: the A’s are indeed in second, and by a visible margin. And then there is some bad news… but mostly for the Dragons, who may have thought this morning that the race was over.
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Haviland Dragons | 102 | 52 | .659 | — | 786.3 | 564.8 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 97 | 57 | .632 | 4.2 | 790.5 | 597.3 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 97 | 57 | .629 | 4.7 | 740.5 | 566.2 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 88 | 66 | .572 | 13.5 | 779.5 | 666.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 81 | 73 | .527 | 20.4 | 661.2 | 627.7 |
| Cottage Cheese | 81 | 74 | .520 | 21.4 | 672.8 | 650.6 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 72 | 83 | .462 | 30.4 | 778.7 | 845.7 |
| Kaline Drive | 68 | 86 | .439 | 33.9 | 636.5 | 722.1 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 63 | 91 | .410 | 38.4 | 643.0 | 775.0 |
Note: I am ignoring my twisted, deformed standings from this morning. So these results are for the last two days combined.
Haviland: W 1, L 1; 8 – 11; .239, .341, .394; 24.7 ip, 15 er. Perhaps the Dragons figured they had put the season to bed, it turned out the only one dozing off were the Dragons. Carlos Correa was awake (4 for 9 with two homers and a walk), but Chris Archer (9 er in 3.7 ip) and Kevin Gausman (5 ip, 5 er) were entirely unconscious. And not in a good way.
Pittsburgh: W 2, L 0; 17 – 5. .375, .458, .639; 32.7 ip 9 er. As I write this I’m in our TV room “watching” Sam play his new FIFA ’16 video game (the first to feature women’s teams). He has it set on “beginner” which is way too easy for him, so he spends most of his time time trying to dribble the length of the field with the goalie and scoring — which he’s done so far 9 times in this one game.
I suspect the Alleghenys can relate. After six championships, our game must seem rather easy. So, to spice things up, they’ve arranged to trail all season, lolling back for 150 games, all so they can see if they can close a 6-game gap in the last 12. Can they? Why not? Jose Altuve trumped Carlos Correa, going 3 for 8 with a double, two homers, and a walk. Stephen Strasburg has awakened: 8 ip, 1 er.
Old Detroit: W 1, L 1; 6 -5. .171, .267, .382; 21.7 ip, 7 er. At the key moment in the season, the Wolverines’ offense shut down again. But the pitchers! They dragged the Wolverines back under 5 games behind, to keep up the semblance of a pennant race with 8 games left. The W’s will have to see if they can draft behind the Mountains and sneak in at the last minute while the big boys are distracted.
Flint Hill: W 1, L 1; 8 – 11. .319, .359, .479; 16.3 ip. 10 er. Josh Collmenter and Tony Cingrani combined to surrender 4 runs in a single inning, taking some of the wind out of the Tornados’ sails. Johnny Giavotella went 3 for 6 with two triples — a prelude to his heroics today against the Mariners.
Peshastin: W 0, L 2; 4 – 12. .181, .267, .277; 14.3 ip, 10 er. This is pear season, so you’d think the Peshastin kind of Pears would thrive, surging toward championships at this time of year. But instead they sag, going soft, lying around on the ground and getting worms… at least, the ones in my back yard do. Ten Pear hitters went 0 for Friday and Saturday, including the legendary Welington Castillo. Five of those 10 worked walks — Yunel Escobar went 0 for 9 with a walk, a thoroughly bad two days. Pitchers only did a little better, laden as they were with Burke Badenhop’s triple chulk in his one inning of relief.
Cottage: W 1, L 1; 3 – 4. .197, .246, .311; 19.7 ip 8 er. Another team getting uninspired play at the end of the season. Only rookies Kris Bryant ( 4 for 7 with a double) and Matt Duffy (3 for 10 with a double and a homer) seem to be immune to the late season doldrums. (The rest of the offense with 5 for 44 with 2 doubles and 2 walks, or .114, .152, .159.).
Canberra: W 1, L 1; 7 – 9. .227, .300, .295; 10.3 ip 0 er. Wow! A nice extra-inning shutout by a posse of 7 pitchers. Robbie Erlin led the way with 7 scoreless innings. Harper, Kipnis, and Pierzynski all hit well (.900 OPS or better) but the rest of the team went 2 for 32.
Kaline: W 1 , L 1; 11 – 17. .279, .333, .443; 14.7 ip, 13 er. Solid hitting as a team, but the hurlers mostly hurled. The Kangaroos are right there, almost within reach, but the Drive can’t seem to reel them in. Shawm O’Malley’s pan is cool to the touch now, the flash he had in it long gone. Starters Bolsinger, Hammel and Kendrick turned in a consistent 9.00 era over 13 innings. Carson Smith and Will Harris picked up the pieces competently, but couldn’t put the Drive’s games back to together again.
Portland: W o, L 2; 7 – 15. .230 .293, .378; 1.7 ip, 2 er. Jean Segura didn’t pull an Altuve this time, going only 1 for 7 with a double and a walk (and a GIDP to undo some of his own work) , leaving the Rosebuds about 0.003 percentage points out of the the third pick in next spring’s draft.