Happy Edgar Martinez’ Mother’s Day!

I know I haven’t thanked Edgar Martinez’ mother nearly enough.

Canberra:  W, 12 – 8. (.362, .483, .596 — Happy Edgar Martinez’ Mother’s Day!; 4.7 ip, 4 er.)  The entire Kangaroo team had a size-large Edgar Martinez Day (EMD — a batting line of at least .300, at least .400, and at least .500). Individual EMD’s go to Abreu, Alonso, Hechavarria, and Kipnis.  Add Hechavarria  to the list of middle infielders with Ex-Wolverine Syndrome (turning into a monster-hitting middle infielder after leaving the W’s).  The Kangaroos’ tenacity in holding onto first place is truly inspiring.  They passed the Dragons on May 3, and have never been more than 1.0 games ahead.  Their lead was 0.2 games yesterday, 0.1 games the day before.

Old Detroit: W 2, L 0; 14 – 5. (.295, .311, .472;  7.7 ip, 1 er)  So far Rich Hill’s three-year tenure at Old Detroit is going fine (5.7 ip, 1 er). Only 3 EMD’s today in OD: Drury, Rizzo, Yelich. Drury, a rookie, hasn’t quite caught on that EWS shouldn’t manifest itself until you are an EX-Wolverine. He’s going to be embarrassed when he finds out – that and the bubblegum on top of his cap.

Haviland: L, 2-4.  (.222, .271, .333; 4.3 ip, 2 er)  Five Haviland EMD’s:  Uribe, Souza, Lamb, Escobar and the much-maligned Hank Conger.  But they were negated by 5 players pulling 0-fers, and that’s not counting Paul Goldschmidt’s 0 for 2 with 3 walks.

Pittsburgh: W, 9 – 7.  (.275, .383, .425; 11.7 ip, 8 er).  Four EMD’s: Castellanos, Diaz, Piscotty, and Trout.  Trout (Hall of Fame)  and Diaz (EWS) were givens, of course, even though Diaz was a Wolverine only in my head, plus tentatively at various points in the bidding. Piscotty is just general Allegheny magic with draft picks.  But Castellanos — this is a case of Allegheny patience paying off.  Finally. His season-long stat line is ..378, .389, .604.  He’s taken only 4 walks all season.

Portland: W, 0 – (-1). (.222, .255, .467;  32.3 ip, 10 er). Four EMD’s: Betts, Hill, Marte, Polanco.  Betts and Starling Marte are not surprises.  Aaron Hill shouldn’t be, either — he was a Wolverine for two or three years a long time ago, so sure, a three homer day with 7 RBI’s was bound to happen for this quiet EWS patient. But how did Jorge Polanco pull off his EMD?  He’s never been connected with the W’s, other than through Gregory Polanco, assuming there’s a connection there.

Flint Hill: W 2, L 0; 9 – 7.  (.313, .405, .531 — Happy EMMD!; 6 ip, 4 er). Four EMDs: Barney, Jackson, Jaso and Semien.  The Oakland announcers call Semien “simian” which always strikes me as egregiously insulting.  But in my head I call him “seemian” or “semmyan”, which seem semi-respectful, at least.

Cottage: W 1, L (-1); 1 – (-4). (.260, .304, .480; 10 ip, 2 er.)  Four more EMD’s: Duffy, Frazier, Mazara, and Russell.  None of them ever even faintly associated with the Wolverines, although three of them are infielders.

Peshastin: W (-1), L 2; 1 -5. (.205, .222, .205;  5.7 ip, 3 er).  Only one EMD, and it was a cheapie:  JT Realmuto’s one plate appearance, resulting in a home run.  Apparently, a 1 EMD day is a very bad day for a team’s offense.

Kaline: “L”, 3 – 2.  (.238, .319, .524; 3 ip, 1 er.)  Four different Drives had EMD’s: Cespedes, that Fowler man, Villar (in 1 AB), and Tyler White. Not a whiff of Wolverine about any of them, except for the pieces of Kyle Schwarber still sticking to Fowler.

D.C.: W 10 – 10.  (.446, .515, .586 – Happy EMMD!; 2.7 ip, 6 er).  Wow. The whole team has the biggest team EMMD of the league, with a whopping FIVE EMD’s out of only 9 players! Those five: Flores, Gosselin, Moreland, Schebler, and Seager.  The non- EMDs:  Castillo (who had an OBP of .400), Gutierrez (who batted .333), Parra (also .333 BA);  and Wallace (who batted .333 and had an OBP of .500 — but had no extra base hits). Stunning. So of course the Balk would win with all that offense, right?  Well, they did win, but it was a squeaker because the team’s pitcher’s chulked. Only Barraclough (always pronounced “bearclaw” by the announcers, instantly making me hungry) had an individual chulk — a nice little sextuple version (0.3 ip, 2 er). But Hendriks and Wilson danced along the chulk  line (1.7 ip, 3 er and .7 ip, 1 er, respectively).