Try to be as kind as a Dragon

Yesterday the W’s (standing for “Whiners” this time) pled with the Dragons to let Old Detroit be in first place for just one day, so we could take a picture.   

The Chiefest of Calamities is a kindly old Dragon.   

Old Detroit: W, 6 – 1.  (48 PA, .273, .333, .364;  6.3 ip, 2 er, 2.86 ERA)  A sneaky good day.  The key pitching performance was Oliver Perez, who emerged from hiding to pitch 1/3 of an inning, providing what I said the other day would be a “nearly miraculous”  10th W’s pitcher of the month, erasing 2.3 innings and 2.3 earned runs from the Wolverine ledger.  The key batting performance was Luis Garcia and JP Crawford, and half of James McCann, lingering on the Old Detroit bench rather than saddling the Oldies with their 6.5 PA with only one hit.  Delete those from the record and the Old Detroit line looks like this: 37.5 PA, .293, .370, .400. 

And here’s a league warning: Rafael Devers may have awakened.   He homered and singled yesterday, for the second day in a row. After going 0 for 12 to start the season, he’s gone 6 for 19 with two walks and two homers.  That’s .316, .381, .631.  Not close to being sick, but still very healthy.  

Haviland: L, 6 – 7. (50 PA, 2.67, .320, .370;  8 ip, 6 er, 6.75 ERA.)  Ramon Laureano led the way with a homer, two singles, a walk and a stolen base.  Jake Cronenworth followed with three singles and a walk.  I suspect some strategic inactivations are boosting the Haviland batting line like they did for the Oldies. But the real difference maker, the way the Dragons opened the door for others to visit their penthouse home, was by getting eerily similar pitching from Tarik Skubal and Domingo German:  4 ip each, 3 earned runs each, and 5 homers surrendered between them.  Haviland is free of all pitching penalties. 

Flint Hill:  W, 8 – 6.  (39 PA, .306, .399, .639;  13.4 IP, 6 er, 4.03 ERA).  Hitting heroics abounded yesterday in those Flinty Hills. B. Bichette, E. Hernandez, K. Hiura and A. Rendon all got two hits. Hiura and Rendon added homers, and Bichette contributed two doubles while Hernandez had one. Julio Urias covered 5.7 innings with 3 earned runs, while Zach Eflin got all the way through 6 with 3 earned runs. The T’s still need one more pitcher to appear. 

DC: “W”, 4 – 4. (44 PA, .225, .295, .475;  6 ip, 3 er, 4.50 ERA.) Ryan McMahon went two for 4 with another homer, as did Bryce Harper, and Santiago Espinal went 3 for 5 with a double, to lead the Balky offense.  Ian Anderson surrendered 3 earned runs in 5.3 ip to set the tone for the Balky pitching.  DC is one pitcher short of penalty-free pitching. 

Pittsburgh: W,   5 – 2. (34 PA, .323, .382, .452; 12 ip, 4 er, 3.00 ERA). We are down to 5th place in the EFL standings, but the Alleghenys are in first place in the American League Central Division after a good day Saturday.  Veterans Mike Moustakas, Jose Altuve, and Max Muncy each had two hits (Altuve’s being doubles). Frankie Montas spun a shiny 6 innings with one earned run to lead the pitching side.  The Alleghenys are penalty- free in their pitching. 

Canberra:  “W”, 6 – 7. (36, .267, .371, .400; 1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  Tommy La Stella, Javier Baez, and Vlad Guerrero Jr all had two hits.  Nine Kangaroos have pitched this month, but the main problem is a lack of innings.  With 8 games in the books, actual Kangaroo pitchers have provided only 36.7 of the 56 innings required.   

Bellingham:  L 3 – 3.  (21 PA, .200, .238, .300; 1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  The Cascades have a mountain of pitching — 12 pitchers have appeared, completing 70.7 innings with a sweet 3.33 team ERA.  Unfortunately, they are lugging 33 replacement plate appearances! It’s too much. Even when Acuna goes a typical 2 for 4 with a double, the Bellingham offense is staggering under all that replacement weight. 

Kaline:  W 2, L (-1); 5 – (-4). (35 PA, .241, .371, .345; 17 ip, 5 er, 2.65 ERA)  Kaline sent 5 pitchers to the mound yesterday to amass all those sterling innings, a rather showy display considering they are still awaiting the appearance of their 10th pitcher.  Those 17 innings erased about 6 replacement innings, giving the Drive a surplus of 4 innings above the minimum needed to avoid replacements.  Aaron Civale led the way with 7.7 innings and only 1 earned run allowed.  The offense was enough to secure a two win day, their 7 hits supplemented nicely with 6 walks. Andres Giminez homered and walked 

Portland: W (-1), L (2); 1 – 6. (43 PA, .184, .279, .18    4; 1.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  Even though they’ve met the 10 pitcher requiement, the Rosebuds have suddenly collapsed.  Two days ago they were 5 – 2, with a .667 winning percentage, only 1.6 games out of first place.  Since then they’ve gone (-1) – 3, have dropped to 9th place 3.1 games out, and are under .500.  If it weren’t for Nick Senzel’s 3 for 4 day yesterday, things would be even worse.  You may not have heard where the Rosebuds got Senzel, but given that he’s gone from a .604 OPS last year to a 1.070 this year, including 8 for 15 since Tuesday for a sick .615, .667, .846 line… 

Look, if you need someone to stand tall amid your team’s sudden collapse, perhaps single-handedly keeping your team out of the cellar, just give me a call. I can, apparently, be counted on to give away the store. 

Peshastin:  W, 6 – 0. (36 PA, .235, .250, .618;  7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  The Pears are still only in 10th place, but they have been improving rapidly. Four homers (2 by Soto, 1 each by Haniger and… Jazz Chisholm!) rescued the offense yesterday, while Trevor Rogers twirled 6 scoreless innings, to get the Pears up to a .461 winning percentage.  Wednesday they were 1- 5, with a .191 winning percentage, in last place 4.3 games out.  Since then they’ve gone 3 – 0 and have gained 0.9 games on first place.  While they still have 13.3 replacement innings,  they have shed all the penalty innings.  They are the hottest team in the league right now.  

Cottage:  W, 4 – 1. (53 PA, .200, .321, .333;  7.3 ip, 1 er, 1.23 ERA).   The Cheese fight gamely, winning and gaining a little on first place even from the cellar.  But they are carrying a crushing burden.

Every other EFL team has had at least 9 pitchers pitch.  The Cheese have only used 7.  Also, they need 56 actual innings to avoid replacements over 8 games. They’ve gotten only 39. 

On the other hand, they have PLENTY of hitting — no replacements, and currently just pouring 54 plate appearances out on the ground!  That’s almost 2 entire games’ worth after playing only 8!  

When I saw the Cottage’s plight emerging during the off season, I was almost as kind as a Dragon. I traded them, over two deals, three pitchers for one (taking back three hitters for one). One of those pitchers, Mitch Keller, dominated yesterday:  5 ip, 1 er.  But I’ve done all I can… I just BARELY got my 10th pitcher yesterday.  Someone else is going to have to help the Head Cheese.