Old people beat up on young people yesterday, all across the board. Including the Alleghenys.
Old Detroit: W 1.1, (6.0 – (-3.7)) v. Canberra: W (-.1), (2.8 – 4.3) . The Wolverines got another pitching surge, like last week’s series-flipper, except better. Against the Seraphim it was an 18 ip, 2 er bolt from the blue that (combined with a wimpy Seraphic day at the plate) toppled Salem from first all the way to third place, a nearly 3 – game swing in the standings. This week it’s a 19.3 ip, 1 er day for the Wolverines, PLUS decent hitting (.737 team OPS) led by Austin Riley’s 3 for 4 and Luis Garcia’s 4 for 9 with a double and a homer.
BUT – the Kangaroos only slid 1.2 games in the standings. Bad, but not catastrophic. How’d they escape the worst? Last week the Seraphim slid from a .703 to a .515 weekly raw winning percentage while the W’s shot up from .588 to .945 . OD’s adjusted winning percentage for the week thus rocketed from .376 to .941 , while SS’s collapsed from .624 to .059. Yesterday the W’s were already ahead of the K’s in raw winning percentage (.542 – .110). Today the W’s are further ahead in raw winning percentage (.976 – .223), but the ratio hasn’t flipped, giving the W’s a boost in adjusted winning percentage from .905 to .993 (and cutting the K’s from .095 to .007). You have less to lose when you are already under .100 for the week.
Of course, the Kangaroos now have almost nowhere to go but up this week… and tomorrow’s the weekaversary of the Wolverines big surge.
Salem: W 1.7 (11.6 – 4.2), DC: W 0.3 (7.8 – 7.4). These two titans both allowed runs to score and popped back into our universe. The Balk eked out a bare positive raw winning percentage because Dylan Cease and Zach Thompson combined to cover 10.3 innings with 8 earned runs yesterday. The Seraphim performed more like a championship-caliber team with 3 earned runs allowed in 5.6 innings yesterday (and more scoreless innings in the bank already). Both teams are still within range of the Wolverines. In fact, if they did things JUST right, they both could (in theory) still pass the W’s. But as long as they fight each other to something sort of resembling a standstill, the W’s can steal the pennant.
Haviland: W 0.9, L 0.1 (16.9 – 2.7), Flint Hill: W 0.1, L 0.9 (7.0 – 3.2). Even though the Tornados “won” the day, the ratio of their win was a fraction of the ratio of Haviland’s win, and the wily old man maintained his .900+ winning percentage. Kyle Schwarber was just too much: 4 for 7 on the day with two homers, a triple, and two walks (2.381 OPS) — and he had 6 sidekicks OPSing 1.000 or better. Plus Haviland pitchers covered 9.7 innings with only 2 earned runs. So even a very good day in Flint Hill (11 ip, 5 er, ; .382, .447, .471) couldn’t keep up with 1.86 ERA, .388, .516, .635.
Kaline: W 1, L 0 (8.4 – 4.2); Portland: W 0, L 1 (3.9 – 6.3). Portland replicated its play from the first game of the week (3.9 – 6.2), but Kaline stepped up its level of performance (from 5.7 – 4.1). You gotta make adjustments, Rosebuds! Eric Haase (3 for 4 with a homer) and Joey Meneses (4 for 7 with a homer, a double, and 2 walks) starred for Kaline. Dylan Carlson and Luis Urias both OPSed 2.000 for Portland… as pinch hitters going 1 for 1. Not enough.
Peshastin: W 0.7 (3.8 – 4.2 ); Bellingham: W 0.3 (3.2 – 1.4) The Cascades got better, but not better enough to make a big dent in the Peshastin ratio advantage. After Friday’s game, the Pears had scored 7.9 and allowed 4.1, but the Cascades had only scored 2.3 and allowed 8.4. After Saturday, their totals were 10.9 – 8.3 for the P’s and 5.5 – 9.8 for the C’s. Still a big Pear lead. The Pears are 1.7 – 0.3 overall for the week, while the Cascades are the inverse (0.3 – 1.7).
Good news for Bellingham: JP Sears pitched 6 scoreless innings yesterday. Also the C’s are now within 1 game of the Pears for first EFL pick, and 1.1 games of the Pirates for 3rd overall pick,
Good news for Peshastin: They still have the third overall pick by 0.0007 percentage points. And they have a commanding lead in the Mountain Cup competition (of teams nestled in the Cascades Mountain range).
Pittsburgh Alleghenys: W 1.3 (12.1 – 2.4); Pittsburgh Pirates: L 1.3 (3 – 13). The Pirates got crushed yesterday, 3 – 13, while the Alleghenys were winning BIG yesterday. Nobody starred for the Pirates. The Alleghenys could have been any of their 7 championship teams yesterday: they had six hitters at or over 1.000 OPS, including 2 at 2.000 (and one of those — Drew Waters — wasn’t a pinch hitter, so he had to go 2 for 4 with a homer and a double to get to 2.000). Plus the Alleghenys had two pitchers who each threw three shutout innings: Albert Alzolay and Edward Cabrera.
And yes, this is the 6th straight case in our league of an elder bashing a younger. The Alleghenys are 140 years old this year while the Pirates are a mere 130.