No More Mr. Nice Geography

EFL Standings for 2016

Haviland:  W 2, L 1; 20 – 9. (. 284, .354, .517;  45 ip, 16 er).  I knew it! Gary Sanchez has only batted .125, .364, .125 this month. So he isn’t going to be Babe Ruth in catchers’ gear.  And as soon as Kurt Suzuki realizes the same thing (.500, .500, .700 in 10 plate appearances so far), maybe the Dragons’ grip on first place will loosen a little.

Old Detroit:  W 3, L 0; 15 – 7.  (.270, .362, .408;  33 ip, 13 er) Lucky for the W’s, Jeremy Hellickson and Francisco Liriano revealed their true colors already (6 ip, 6 er) so Old Detroit could allocate them at 0 and turn their 3.55 ERA into a 2.33 ERA.  This means the Wolverines could be the ones to benefit if the Dragons’ loosen their grip on the lead.

Pittsburgh: W 3, L 0; 16 – 6. (.239, .305, .434;  37 ip, 9 er. )  Whether the W’s ever get to taste first again depends as much on the Alleghenys as it does on the Dragons.  Mike Trout has decided his little    vacation is over. He’s 4 for 10 with a triple, two homers, and 4 walks — that’s a 1.771 OPS over 1/8th of the month. And Kendall Graveman celebrated his distance from his Cottage Street nightmares with 6.3 scoreless innings.  So the question is — can the W’s pass the D’s before the A’s pass them both?

Portland: W 2, L 1; 12 – 12. (.250 .335, .381;  34.7 ip, 10 er).  The Rosebuds carry the hopes of all the teams who’ve never won an EFL pennant… but they’re slipping right now.  the ERA is plenty good, but the hitting needs more Nick Hundleys (1.867 OPS in 6 PA) and fewer Dee Gordons (.077 OPS in 12 PA). At least no one is likely to pass the Rosebuds, so 4th place is about as low as they can get.  Maybe they can take confidence from that and use it as a springboard to vault back into the pennant race.

Canberra:  W 3, L 0;  36 – 18. (.365, .439, .617;  31 ip, 19 er).  Monster offense trumps merely generous opponents runs allowed for the Kangaroos thus far this month.  Bryce Harper’s .972 OPS is pretty good — better than Lucroy’s .875, for example — but still is only 9th best on the team!  Yes, you read that right: Harper should be hitting in the #9 hole for the Pears, and Lucroy coming off the bench. Logan Forsyth might be the lead off hitter, with his .733 OBP.  Maybe Chris Carter can bat third, with his .545 OPS and 1.182 SLG.  Maybe you’d let Billy Hamilton go 9th, since his .990 is only a little better than Harper’s, and Hamilton’s .545 OPS, and his 4 stolen bases in 3 games, might play well as table-setting for the top of the order.

Peshastin:  W 1, L 2; 15 – 21. (.254, .320, .438; 10 ip, 7 er.) Enny Romero sextuple chulked (0.7 ip. 4 er) and the Pears are carrying lots of replacement innings.  But surely this will all iron itself out once the Pears’ rotation completes a rotation.  Right?

Sorry, friends, but I am out of time today to work on this. Next time I will lead with these four teams.

Flint Hill:  W 2, L 1;  26 – 15.

Kaline:  W 0, L 3; 11 – 17.

Cottage:  W 3, L 1; 17 – 9.

DC:  W 1, L 2 ; 16 – 21.