Czech novelist Milan Kundera wrote about The Unbearable Lightness of Being, but it would be quicker to ask the Wolverines how it feels. (Eerie. Creepy, Alarming.) Or maybe, if you want a different perspective, ask the Pear relief pitching crew what it’s like to start your very name with Nothing. (Answer: not bad at all! At least on Thursday.) Or if you want an possible rebuttal, you could ask the Kangaroos about how how bearable heavy being is. (Hey — they won the day anyway!)
DC 1.0, Salem 0.0. DC leads the series 3.2 – 0.8.
Seven Balks batted, and batted well: 30 PA, .259, .333, .556, with home runs from Tyler Soderstrom and Adolis Garcia home runs. Four Balks pitched, combining for 19 ip and 5 er, for a snazzy 2.37 daily ERA — despite Kai-Wei Tang’s. troubles (4 er in 5 ip). None of this was good news for the suddenly stalled Seraphim, whose pitching staff took a break yesterday (0 ip, 0 er) — another bit of bad news. The Seraphic offense did its best to overcome all this negative news: 31 PA, 385, .484, .615, highlit by that man Corbin Carroll (3 for 4 with a double and a home run). So it could have been worse.
Pittsburgh 0.5, Kaline 0.4. Pittsburgh leads the series, 2.9 – 1.1.
Pittsburgh hit well enough to maybe get the entire win: 38 PA, .361, .395, .556, with a Ryan O’Hearn home run. But only Daniel Lynch showed up to pitch. He did his job well (1 ip, 0 er) but he didn’t do enough, leaving the Alleghenys vulnerable to a good day in Kaline. Which the Drive got from their hitters: 37 PA, .250 . 351, .563. It wouldn’t take a lot of good pitching for the Drive to win the day.
They didn’t pitch badly, those Drive hurlers. But they also didn’t pitch. So the slightly better hitting won the day for the A’s.
MLB 0.8, Cascadia 0.2. MLB leads the series 2.9 – 1.1.
Seemingly unnerved by the implacable competence of our MLB foes, the Glaciers melted a bit yesterday. They managed only 30 PA from 7 hitters, who did fine (.286, .333, .500) with Jackson Chourio clouting 2 homers, a single, and a walk. They did NOT pitch well, with Coleman Crowe doing the most damage (2 2/3 ip, 6 er) toward a daily 9.86 era (7 1/3 ip, 8 er).
Flint Hill 0.9, Old Detroit 0.1. Flint Hill leads the series, 3.8 – 0.2.
The Incredible Disappearing Wolverines had 3 players on the field yesterday, all three of whom dealt out nothing but zeroes: Jose Caballero and Freddy Fermin in the form of Zeroes for 3, and Brandyn Garcia in the form of Zero hits, Zero walks, and Zero runs in one inning. The Wolverines barely existed as of Thursday. It’s an eerie and most unpleasant feeling.
Not that the Tornadoes minded. It wasn’t a great day for them: 32 PA, .250, .313, .286 at the plate, and Luis Varland’s 1 1/3 scoreless innings from the mound. Doing that against a team that barely exists launched the T’s almost a game closer to first place.
Peshastin 0.9, Haviland 0.1. Peshastin leads the series 3.1 – 0.9
Haviland had some trouble getting players on the field, too, although NOTHING like the Wolverines. Six batters made 23 plate appearances, albeit without doing much harm (.211, .348, .263). Two pitchers compiled 2 1/3 scoreless innings — pretty, but not enough. That left the Pears with a relative easy path to dominating the day: 26 PA, .211, .285, .211 NOT being the key. No, that was the Peshastin pitching: 11 ip, just 2 earned runs, both allowed by Ryne Nelson in his 7 inning start. All three of the Pear relievers have prominent Zeroes in their names: Eric Orze, Orion Kerkering, and Steven Okert. And they lived up to their billings Thursday.
Canberra 0.6, Portland 0.4. The series is tied at 2.0 – 2.0.
The Rosebuds might argue that sometimes it’s better to be lighter in being. They had a small but potent offense yesterday: seven hitters putting together 23 plate appearances and making a .333 .391, .429 day of it. All they needed to have a good day was to not melt down on the pitching side. But Taylor Rogers, whose appearances was not that far from being nothing (2/3 of an inning) surrendered 2 earned runs for a small but damaging triple chulk. He should have stayed home instead.
Canberra learned the exact same thing. They had an even better day — a true Edgar Martinez Day — from a slender seven-man lineup: 28 PA, .375..444, .542. But they also had a ton of pitching — or at least, it felt that way. To the ‘Rues: 11 1/3 ip, 14 earned runs. Shota Imanaga stank: 6 ip, 6 er. Brayan Bello blew up: 5 ip, 8 er. That’s a heavy dose of being right there.
Conclusion: If I had to choose with almost not being, Wolverine-style, or an almost unbearable weightiness of being, Imanaga and Bello style, I’d take the weight. You can come back from too much weightiness, but if your team evaporates completely.,,
