July 30 marked the 2/3 point in the 2024 season: the end of Week 18 out of 27, the 108th game out of 162. Rather sad for some of us.
But it’s all a matter of perspective. July 30th was also my 68th birthday. I’d be thrilled yesterday was the end of the second third for me. It may be time to take stock and lay out plans for the final 2 months.
In fact, it IS such a time, since allocations are due before NOON on Thursday.
Standings
| Team | Wins | Losses | WPct | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland Rosebuds | 62.44 | 45.56 | .578 | 0.0 |
| Haviland Dragons | 60.92 | 47.08 | .564 | 1.5 |
| Peshastin Pears | 59.54 | 48.46 | .551 | 2.9 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 58.59 | 49.41 | .543 | 3.9 |
| Salem Seraphim | 55.28 | 52.72 | .512 | 7.2 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 54.55 | 53.45 | .505 | 7.9 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 52.83 | 55.17 | .489 | 9.6 |
| Cascadia Glaciers | 48.34 | 59.66 | .448 | 14.1 |
| D.C. Balk | 47.73 | 60.27 | .442 | 14.7 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 42.81 | 65.19 | .396 | 19.6 |
| Kaline Drive | 38.83 | 69.17 | .360 | 23.6 |
Portland: 1.20 [5.08 – 0.92]
The Rosebuds continued to slice up the Balk, taking away part of the one win the Balk had earned. Ryne Nelson (whom I once turned down as part of a Rosebud trade offer) pitched 7 two-hit scoreless innings to anchor the ‘Buds’ 14 ip, 6 er (3.86 ERA). Rosebud batters compounded Balkan misery: .349, .451, .767. Jazz Chisholm REALLY likes being a Yankee: for the second day in a row (out of the three he’s been a Yankee) he blasted two home runs. If the Rosebuds lose the pennant race after heroics like that it would be a real shame.
Haviland: 0.41 [2.81 – 3.19]
The Dragons eschewed pitching even though July 30 was so portentous, and they were left with with 4.5 innings of replacements and a mediocre 4.45 weekly ERA. They hit well enough to avoid disaster: .324, .368, .471, led (of course) by Aaron Judge who, in six plate appearances collected 3 singles and 2…
… walks. You thought I was going to say “home runs” didn’t you. Nah. Judge is no Jazz.
Peshastin: 0.34 [4.91 – 1.09]
The Pears let up just a bit on pummeling the poor Woeverines Tuesday. They pitched another ton — 17.3 ip — but didn’t pitch all that well. No one chulked, but Chris Bassitt surrendered 5 runs in 4 innings to establish the iffy tone, leading to 10 earned runs and a disappointing 5.20 ERA on the day.
Canberra: 0.08 [3.65 – 2.35]
The Kangaroos not only failed to keep pace with the Wolverine-Elevator-Riding Pears, they barely escaped going backward in the win column. K batters K’ed more times (10) than they hit (7) on the way to a .163, .294, .233 slash line. They pitched a little better — 4.74 ERA — but rather sparsely (5.7 ip), entirely due to a Tayler Saucedo quadruple chulk (2/3 of an inning for 3 earned runs).
Are the Pears and Kangaroos just conserving strength, perfectly ready to pounce sometime in the next few weeks and wreak havoc on the two teams atop the league? One kind of hopes so; it would be fun to watch.
Salem: 0.39 [2.95 – 3.05]
The Seraphim ran out of gas at the end of this short week, ceding a narrow weekly victory to the Tornados. A paltry .205, .295, .308 batting line did not go well with a 7 ip, 5 er day by Gavin Williams (5 scoreless innings) and Cody Bradford (a 2 ip, 5 er chulk).
Flint Hill: 0.61 [3.05 – 2.95]
Salem sluggishness made a rather breezy day by in Flint Hill seem at least whirl-windy. The T’s were ok at the plate, I guess: .265, .324, .412 — pretty standard stuff for a team in the middle of the standings. So was the pitching: 3.3 ip, 1 er. I guess we’ll see next week whether all those swirling Tornado transactions change things in Flint Hill.
Pittsburgh: 0.59 [3.19 – 2.81]
The Alleghenys secured a narrow win over the high-flying Dragons Tuesday mostly by pitching well (7 ip, 2 er). The hitting was less inspiring, but it got the job done (.224, .321, .388), at least in terms of winning the week. The A’s are on the very outer edge of the possibility of contention. This time of year being 10 games out seems to me to be the boundary of even the faintest hopes. The A’s sit at 9.6. To win they need to gain more than a game a week for the remaining 9 weeks.
Cascadia: 0.55 [3.73 – 2.27]
I didn’t really expect the Glaciers to overtake the Balk this week. Today it took me several minutes to solve a riddle about DC’s record before I realized I hadn’t noticed the Glaciers had sneaked into 8th place. Not noticing Glaciers is not a good sign. Especially when they spend 5 pitchers compiling 4.4 innings, allowing only 1 hit, 1 walk, and no earned runs. The hitting was less exciting — .289, .365, .333 — but there was PLUNTY of it (53 PA).
DC: (-0.20) [0.92 – 5.08 ]
The Balk decided to see if it could compete with the Wolverines for elevator traffic. They ruthlessly took a substantial loss, just to lure customers away from the traditional Wolverine Elevator. They batted a little better than replacement Tuesday (.244, .256, .390) thanks mostly to Santiago Espinal’s 2 for 4 with a homer. But they only got one scoreless inning from their only pitcher (Jose Cuas) who made things exciting by walking three batters. And I’m guessing it worked for those crafty Balks. The Rosebuds are going to give the Balky Elevator terrific reviews. Maybe the W’s will just have to give up on their elevator business.
Old Detroit: 0.66 [1.09 – 4.91]
But then again, maybe not. Sure, they put up some great offensive numbers Tuesday (.409, .458, .500), the kind of thing which has in the past convinced Woeverine management to harbor hope for some pennant race excitement in Old Detroit. But Wolverine pitchers, who were clearly the best in the league in Week 17 (allowing only 13.75 runs in 6 games , finished Week 18 as clearly the worst pitchers in the league, surrendering 56.59 runs in the same number of games (6). DC allowed only 2/3 as many — clearly not the kind of performance that can sustain a long run as the finest Elevator in the league.
Kaline: 0.45 [2.27 – 3.73]
In fact, it’s beginning to look like the Drive may escape the cellar at the Wolverines’ expense if the W’s don’t shape up. The Driven pitching was slim but effective: 2.7 ip, 0 er.. The hitting was effective (.318, .392, .545) and massive (51 PA).
