The Wolverines managed for another day to keep their pasteboard pennant contender from blowing away in the gale of passing Dragons wings. But to a sharp-eyed observer, it’s becoming ever clearer that the Ws’ show of resistance to our Dragon destiny is about as genuine as a false-fronted saloon in an old frontier town.
| Team | Wins | Losses | Pct. | GB | RS | RA |
| Haviland Dragons | 95 | 52 | 0.645 | — | 770.3 | 569.1 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 92 | 54 | 0.632 | 1.8 | 751.7 | 573.2 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 88 | 58 | 0.605 | 5.7 | 797.3 | 645.1 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 88 | 58 | 0.602 | 6.4 | 722.3 | 578.6 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 83 | 63 | 0.568 | 11.3 | 727.5 | 621.1 |
| Peshastin Pears | 80 | 66 | 0.545 | 14.1 | 716.1 | 647.2 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 72 | 74 | 0.49 | 23 | 635.7 | 645.2 |
| Kaline Drive | 68 | 79 | 0.465 | 25.9 | 717.9 | 780.6 |
| Cottage Cheese | 62 | 84 | 0.427 | 31.1 | 661 | 765.3 |
| D.C. Balk | 52 | 94 | 0.354 | 42.2 | 616.8 | 840.7 |
Haviland: W, 3 – 2. (.255, .305, .400; 16 ip, 4 er). It’s been a while since we checked in with the trio of Haviland boys named Sue:
| Name | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | IBB | HBP | SO | SB | CS | SH | SF | DP | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | TB | ||||
| Steven Souza | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .444 | .444 | .556 | 1.000 | 5 | ||||
| Andrew Susac | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | ||||
| Kurt Suzuki | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | 1.000 | 1.250 | 4 |
Susac sucked, but two Sues sure succeeded. Still, Haviland had to thank gasman Kevin Gausman, I guess, for doing the bulk of the work on the bulwark against the Wolverines with his 8 shutout innings.
Old Detroit: W 1, L 1; 12 – 10. (.304, .363, .489; 14 ip, 8 er). Wolverine pitchers performed poorly, especially heralded but over-the-hill Rich Hill, who heaved 5.3 ip, 4 er to hike his ERA to 2.06. The W’s began the last two days having played two fewer games. Their entire gain comes from cashing in one of those extra games while running a .600+ winning percentage. It got them about 0.2 games in the standings. Old Detroit still has one extra game-to-be-played. Beware, Dragons! Objects in your mirror are about 0.2 games closer than they appear!
Pittsburgh: W 0, L 2; 7 – 14. (.280, .325, .480; 12.3 ip, 7 er). Despite prodigious production from surprising people (Ryon Healy: 5 for 9 , 1.600 OPS; Tommy Joseph, 3 for 8, 1.250 OPS; Domingo Santana: 4 for 8, 1.625 OPS), Pittsburgh plummeted over a precipice the last few days, bounced briefly, and then replummeted. After months of steady climbing, to fall so fast has to feel awful. And it could happen to anybody. (I wonder if they can hear us in Haviland, or wherever it is the Head Dragon is these days.)
Portland: W 1, L 1; 6 – 4. (.213, .253, .373; 22.7 ip, 5 er). With such solid pitching, Portland only needed equally impressive hitting to make a move in the standings, and maybe keep fading pennant hopes from dying out completely. Corey Dickerson, Justin Turner and Dee Gordon stepped up (a combined 9 for 21 with 3 doubles, a triple and a homer and a walk (.429, .455, .812). But everyone else went 7 for 54 with a double, a triple, and 3 walks (.130; .175, .185).
Canberra: W, 1 – (-2). (.235, .371, .333; 14.3 ip, 1 er) Rick Porcello, despite his 8 ip and 1 er, was the ball and chain around the Kangaroo pitching staff because six other pitchers combined for 6.3 scoreless innings. Jose Abreu, Yonder Alonso, and Logan Forsythe combined to go 10 for 24 with two doubles, a home and four walks. Everyone else went 2 for 27 with 7 walks.
Peshastin: W 1, L 1; 11- 18. (.284, .351, .433; 3.7 ip, 5 er). Severino Gonzalez septuple chulked (2/3 ip, 5 er) to torpedo the Pears. Pearly dreams of finishing in the top half of the league may be about to disapPear.
Flint Hill: W 1, L 1; 12 – 11. (.281, .359, .561; 14.3 ip, 7 er). Seven Tornados topped 1.000 OPS, lead by Scooter Gennett’s 2.100 (2 for 4 with a double, homer and walk). Yordano Ventura had a bad day (4.3 ip, 5 er), marring what was otherwise excellent pitching.
Kaline: W (-1), L 2; 1 – 9. (.172, .219, .293; 6.0 ip, 7 er). Kaline’s August Drive toward .500 has turned into a Dive, which got a big boost on Thursday. Dellin Betances Dropped a save with a triple chulk (1.3 ip, 4 er). Chris Owings tried to pull the Drive out of the Ditch all by himself (3 for 10 with a Double and a homer) but the rest of the team could only manage a Dribbler and a Dink or two (7 for 48, .420 OPS). After such a Dashing August, sad September will Disappoint the Wizard.
Cottage: W 1, L 1; 5 – 5. (.227, .250, .364; 31 ip, 10 er). Too bad such fine major-league professional pitching got so entangled with such dismal hitting. Nomar Mazara went 2 for 4 with a homer, and Jorge Soler went 2 for 5 with another homer. Everyone else went 11 for 57 with three doubles and two walks.
D.C.: “W”, (-2) – 0. (.224, .250, .245; 9 ip, 1 er). Never have so few done so much with so little. In two days the Balk score -2 runs and allow 0 and still get a “win.” They still trail the Twins by two games.