Standings: End of Week 12 (June 16, 2024)
Normally my sympathy is for the victims of natural (and supernatural) catastrophes like tornados and dragons. But today I find myself sympathizing with the catastrophes themselves.
Don’t Hesitate! Allocate Week 13 (by noon)!
| Team | Wins | Losses | WPct | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haviland Dragons | 42.99 | 29.01 | .597 | 0.0 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 41.16 | 30.84 | .572 | 1.8 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 38.77 | 33.23 | .538 | 4.2 |
| D.C. Balk | 37.94 | 34.06 | .527 | 5.1 |
| Peshastin Pears | 37.44 | 34.56 | .520 | 5.6 |
| Cascadia Glaciers | 35.67 | 36.33 | .495 | 7.3 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 35.00 | 37.00 | .486 | 8.0 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 34.91 | 37.09 | .485 | 8.1 |
| Salem Seraphim | 31.57 | 40.43 | .438 | 11.4 |
| Kaline Drive | 28.24 | 43.76 | .392 | 14.8 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 22.11 | 49.89 | .307 | 20.9 |
Peshastin 0.14 v. Haviland (-0.14)
As we approach the midway point in the season — just 1 1/2 weeks away! — each team has to assess whether it has the stuff to make a run at the championship. Presumably the first place team can be confident it does… or at least, could have had that confidence if this hadn’t been Mookie Betts’ line: 4 PA, 0 H, 1 HBP.
Does that little, inconspicuous HBP spell doom for the Dragons? It’s a grievous blow, a black arrow to a vulnerable spot in the Dragons’ armor. With what might be his career-defining pitch, Dan Altavilla broke Betts’ hand, and shot down the high-flying Dragons. Their fine .276 .324, .483 batting line and their outstanding 9.7 ip, 1 er pitching look like winning numbers, but when they come at the cost of a Mookie Betts, it’s not a win.
The Pears officially made it be not a win on the standings. Their numbers weren’t quite as showy (.250, .368, .375; 6.3 ip, 2 er) but they were enough to reset the ratio of HD/PP adjusted weekly winning percentages in the Pears’ favor.
Canberra 1.17 v. Portland (-1.17)
The ‘Roos collected 12 singles, 2 doubles, and 4 walks to harry the Rosebuds with a ..350, .409, .400 batting line. Then they recovered from Dane Dunning’s mediocre 4.7 ip, 2 er performance with 3.7 scoreless innings of relief. The bebothered Rosebuds fell apart under the pressure. They sent a TON of batters to the plate — 14 of them, for a total of 63 PA’s — but only got a .210, .222, .371 performance out of them. They balanced all that fruitless effort with similarly massive fruitless pitching: 13.3 ip, 12 earned runs. Joey Estes’ chulky start was the main culprit (2.7, 6 er), but he had help from Ben Lively (4 ip, 4 er).
DC 0.40 v. Salem (-0.40)
The Balk’s hitting (.300, .317, .400) and pitching (5 ip, 2 er) wasn’t shiny, but it was good enough to take almost half a win away from the Seraphim. Salem was saddled with Ryan Pepiot’s 4.7 ip,, 5 er albatross, ending up with 11.7 ip and 8 earned runs allowed for the day. Corbin Carroll had another good day at the plate (2 doubles in 5 PA) but that was the highlight in an unexciting offense: .250, .323, .393.
Cascadia 1.18 v. Old Detroit (-1.18)
The Glaciers gestured toward their glacierness by walking 9 times yesterday, and they also hit one single. But their other five hits were loud and explosive: a double, a triple, and three homers. How Elly De La Cruz can be a Glacier is beyond me. Sure, he walked twice, but then he stole a base… and tripled…. and hit a home run. Five Glacial pitchers cobbled together 4.7 scoreless innings, and Cascadia kicked the Wolverine Elevator back into action for at least one day.
Despite a great day offensively (.378, .378, .622 in 37 PA, including two homers by Carlos Correa. as part of his 5 for 10 day), the Wolverines gave Cascade an extra boost. Chris Paddack put up a stinky chulk (2.3 ip, 5 er), leaving the W’s with 2.3 replacement innings. And do you remember the Wolverine angst for not having activated Drew Thorpe? Well, Mr. T chulked, too: 3.3 ip, 7 er, meaning the W’s came out ahead on the week leaving Thorpe on Toledo Mud Weasel roster. So that’s a consolation, I guess.
Flint Hill 0.90 v. MLB (-0.90)
The Tornados had a huge day at the plate: .366, .458, .659. Ty Soderstrom had a big day: 4 for 8 with a homer and a HBP. They also did very nicely from the mound (9.3 ip, 3 er), with starter Jameson Taillon leading the way with his 6 ip, 2 er. This enabled the T’s to even their record on the week against the MLB middle, ending up with a .507 raw (and adjusted) winning percentage. This is the good news.
The bad news may loom bigger among the hills of Kansas: Yoshinobu Yamamoto is going on the MLB IL for a pitching-related injury. This on the same day as the Betts injury. At least we here in the EFL spread the pain over two teams. For once I feel sorry for the Dodgers — a little bit sorry. Not a whole lot sorry. I feel much sorrier for our Dragons and Tornados, even though they are both miles above the W’s in the standings..
Kaline 0.74 v. Pittsburgh (-0.74)
Pittsburgh got a lot of good pitching (16.7 ip, 7 er, 3.77 ERA) but also a LOT of crummy hitting (60 PA, .173, .283, .288). This left the door open for the Drive to steal some wins. Kaline pitchers almost tossed the opportunity away: 10.3 ip, 9 earned runs. But they hit just well enough (.242, .343, .455) to readjust their adjusted winning percentage upward a bit.
Carlos Santana was the hitting stalwart for the Drive: 3 for 6 with a double, a homer, two walks… and a stolen base — his second of the season and the 56th in his 15-year career. The 38-year-old Santana, who was a rookie for the Wolverines, has not been caught stealing since 2018. He is 20 for his last 20 stolen base attempts.
