Over and Août

EFL Standings for 2016

Note:  All the following stats are for the month of August, preserved before BP updated the Sept 1 games.

Haviland: 20 – 8;  185 – 119.  (.288, .360, .510;  314.7 ip, 141 er, 4.03 ERA).  So are we supposed to believe the Dragonmaster saw Gary Sanchez coming? He foresaw the catcher with the .389, .458, .832 August line, and the EFL-leading 11 homers? And the same Dragonmaster just knew the aging Neil Walker would transform his .273, .339, .436 career batting line into an August .389, .450, .667? He assembled the top three EFL hitters by batting average, four of the top six by OBP, and three of the top five by SLG.  If this continues,  the Commissioner had better go out and get a nice Second Place trophy so the rest of us can have something to compete for.

Old Detroit: 17 – 12; 140 – 116. (.254, .309, .438; 272 ip, 115 er, 3.81 era).  Wolverine pitching recovered reasonably well from their mid-month wreckage. Even Tyler Skaggs got his ERA under replacement (just barely: 7.23).  And Rich Hill came back, albeit for only 6 innings, albethat for only 0 runs.  But Wolverine hitting was too spotty to keep up with the Dragons.  OD’s leading August hitter, Mark Reynolds (.965 OPS) was sidelined most of the month with a broken hamate.

Portland: 15 – 13; 129 – 121. (264, .315, .427;  311.7 ip 152 er, 4.39 ERA).  The Rosebuds started August in first place, ceded that position briefly to the Wolverines, who couldn’t keep it intact long enough to give it back before the Dragons snatched it and flew off. Mediocre hitting and pitching drove the Rosebuds all the way down to third place with the Alleghenys breathing down their necks. It would be a good thing for the league if Portland could somehow keep the Alleghenys out of third place so we aren’t left with the same three bad old  teams squabbling among themselves over the spoils of the season again.

Pittsburgh:  20 – 10; 186 – 132. (.283, .365, .504; 252.3 ip,114 er,4.07 ERA).  It’s a good thing Mike Trout stepped up (.349, .486, .651) and got some help from the boy wonder Ryan Schimpf (.253, .359, .655) and all-glove Ender Inciarte (.371, .430, .526 — basically another Edgar Martinez except rated 4.6 in the outfield)  because Schimpf’s fellow second baseman, the thoroughly infuriating Jose Altuve, slumped all the way down to .333, .358, .564 this month. Did I mention how Pedro Alvarez and Tyler Flowers averaged a .999 OPS? Alvarez at .998 and Flowers at 1.000? No? Well, it was because you have to put them together to get a full-time player. We can all thank God for Stephen Strasburg (17.7 innings, 20 earned runs) keeping the Alleghenys from sweeping away everything in sight, or this would already be another Allegheny year.  But now that Strasburg is on the DL, who is going to keep the A’s at bay?  We can’t count on the A’s matching their 107 August replacement plate appearances next  month.

Canberra: 17 – 11;  162 – 129. (.263, .349, .463; 260 ip, 119 er, 4.12 era)  The ‘Roos faded late in the month after having the best August record in the EFL for a while.  You can see this in the Canberra numbers.  The first three pitchers (Armstrong, Biagini, Devensky) are obscure, but they combined for 42.3 innings and only 8 earned runs, for an ERA of 1.70. No other ‘Roo pitcher matched their individual or combined performance, which had to be frustrating as the Kangaroo management worked through their pitching staff in alphabetical order.  And here’s another frustrating thing:  the ‘Roos had only one truly terrible below replacement level hitter: catcher Christian Bethancourt, with his .498 OPS.  They didn’t NEED Christian Bethancourt, since they also have Jonathan Lucroy with his .990 OPS. Yet they somehow convinced San Diego management to keep Bethancourt (and his equally inept partner, Derek Norris) on the roster and ice Austin Hedges in El Paso where he is wasting a .946 OPS the Wolverines could really use. A travesty. How does the Captain Kangaroo sleep at night?

Peshastin:  15 – 13; 134 – 127.  (.268, .324, .449; 205.3 ip, 94 er, 4.12 ERA).  The Pears should be coming into their season about now, but their August was definitely a mixed bag.  Brandon Finnegan blossomed (37.3 innings, 2.65 ERA) but Danny Salazar spoiled on the tree (12.3 ip, 12.41 ERA). Trea Turner ripened in a hurry (.357, .366, .571) despite taking only 3 walks all month. But Zack Cozart  (bruised over not being a Mariner) collapsed to a .560 OPS, joined by Seth Smith (.521, bruised over being a Mariner), Javier Baez (.594, bruised despite having no connection to the Mariners), and rookies Brett Eibner (.569), Tyler Naquin (.589), and Brandon Nimmo (.500).

Kaline:  19 – 9;  150 – 107. (.269, .346, .465; 222 ip, 78 er, 3.16 ERA) That shiny ERA stands out, doesn’t it? The worst ERA on the staff was Hunter Cervenka’s 5.40 in only 6.7 innings — and poor Hunter paid for it by being traded for peanuts at the end of the month.  Ow! That is heartless, O Wizard of Whidbey! But I guess I shouldn’t snipe, since the Wizard’s ruthless management produced an ERA 20% better than the Wolverines’ in our best month of the year.  And got equally good results on the offensive side, where the woefully unproductive Johnny Giovatella got himself sent to the minors. Meanwhile Kris Bryant torched the league (.383, .472, .748) and the persistently disappointing Brad Miller finally came through with a .283, .367, .575 month, featuring 8 homers, and despite a whopping 35 strikeouts. Now that’s magic!

Flint Hill:  13 – 16;  107 – 118. (.249, .316, .388;  234.7 ip, 91 er, 3.49 ERA).  Tornado hitting stank.  There wasn’t much of it, only 798 PA, or 27.5 per game, when you would need at least 29.7 if you could get them spread out perfectly across the defensive positions. The Tornados didn’t get them spread out well — they led the EFL with 126 replacement plate appearances — more than 15% of their total.  Also, Byron Buxton hadn’t turned the corner on his career yet, going 0 for the month! (Albeit in only 6 plate appearances, half of them strikeouts.) On the other hand, Tornado pitching was plentiful (no replacements) and excellent.

Cottage: 8 – 20; 117 – 179. (.256, .311, .408;  191.7 ip, 108 er, 5.08 ERA). It was a rough month at the Cottage.  Their best hitter, Jorge Soler (.984 OPS) got only 62 at bats. Their best pitcher, Matt Wisler, who almost threw a n0-hitter, amassed only 14.0 innings all month.  The Cheese led the league in replacement innings (35.7), and were ninth in both offense (4.19 runs created per game) and ERA (5.78) — meaning they were the worst team in the EFL in August.

D.C.:  9 – 19; 128 – 185.  (.265, .331, .415;  203.3 ip,  125 er, 5.53 ERA).  The Balk offense could compete in MLB, but Balk pitching isn’t there yet.  And I have discovered why. Every home game, while the D.C. pitcher is looking in for his sign, fans all over the stadium are chanting “Let’s Go Balk!” The catcher is calling for a four-seamer on the inside corner, but the fans are demanding pretty much the opposite. This is probably why Josh Tomlin racked up an 11.48 ERA while throwing the third-most innings on the team (26.7). This is why Liam Hendriks ran up an ERA (3.77) four times his FIP (0.94). Corey Seager hit great (.330, .411, .532) matched, naturally, by Welington Castillo (.344 , .431, .492) — the Balk’s leading hitters play their most demanding defensive positions! — but they can’t make up for the continuous psycho-neurological trauma inflicted on Balk pitchers. I think this winter the DC Balk management should change the team’s name to something more pitcher-friendly.  Something like “D.C. Blank.”