NOTICES:
- Roster Deadline: Wednesday, Aug 5 at 5:00 PM. Get your trades and roster moves done by then!
- Week 20 Allocation Deadline: Thursday, Aug 6 at 5:00 PM. KEEP IN MIND: week 20 will only be six days long, the first of three such weeks in a row, as we migrate backward toward starting our weeks on Monday again. At 25 days, August will be the shortest month in the history of the EFL by at least one day.
Salem 1.0, Kaline 0.0. Kaline leads the series, 2.6 – 2.4.
What is happening??? Salem had a fairly good day on a lightly-scheduled Monday: 22 PA, .250, .318, .550, with home runs by Tommy Edmand and Michael Busch. Aaron Ashby tossed two scoreless innings (but has fallen ominously behind for the league lead in wins, stuck at 12 while Christopher Sanchez has 14). A good day.
But hardly a day to completely shoot down a league’s leader! Or so you would think. Except Kaline’s 37 PA only went for .176, .216, .294. And Cy-Young-candidate Cam Schlittler coughed up 4 earned runs in only 3 innings. So Salem continues to ride the Kangaroo slingshot back toward the top half of the league.
MLB 0.8. Cascadia 0.2. MLB leads the series, 2.6 – 2.4.
The Glaciers girded for battle with the MLB Mediocrities yesterday, and somehow grabbed two slices of a win despite
- having no pitching, and
- batting a putrid .071, ..235, .071 — one hit in 17 PA!
Step it up, Glaciers! Time s running out for us to get back to .500 as a league.
Canberra 0.7, Flint Hill 0.3. Canberra leads the series, 3.9 – 1.1.
The Kangaroos had a solid day — which may feel worse than that to a team getting used to dominating. On Monday their four batters combined for 18 PA, which they executed at a .250 .333, .438 level. Austin Wells hit the sole home run for the Kangaroos. Kangaroo pitching wasn’t any better (or worse): 9 2/3 ip, 4 er., 3.71 ERA.
But the force is strong with young Skyhopper: Flint Hill, lately so pesky, outplayed the K’s (30 PA, .321, .367, .429; 6 ip 2 er) in every category and STILL LOST GROUND — 0.4 games of ground, apparently because the Kangaroo Slingshot slings the slinger as much as the slung.
Portland 0.9, Peshastin 0.1. Peshastin leads the series, 2.8 – 2.2
The Rosebuds haven’t ridden the Canberra Slingshot, but the resemblance was uncanny yesterday. Portland put up no pitching. They sent 4 batters to the plate for a mere 18 PAs — and an astonishing .500, .444, .1.375 line!
- All four OPSed at least 1.000.
- Three of the four homered.
- Jung Hoo Lee went 3 for 4 with TWO homers for a .750, .750, 2.250 slash line.
- Two sacrifice flies left them with an OBP 0.056 points below their batting average.
“Peshastin Pears” presages a penchant for passivity — but that’s not what happened here. They matched the Rosebuds with just four players on the field, which seems more chivalrous than passive. They allocated one of that quartet to the mound, albeit for only 1 scoreless inning. The other three strode to the plate and did very well, in the abstract: 11 PA, .333, .455, 1.000. Junior Caminero went 2 for 5 with two homers of his own. But his mere .500, .500, 1.600 slash line could only snatch a sliver of a win against the thin-but-still-devastating Rosebud assault.
When the last place team can crush the fourth place team with only 4 players on the field, something hugely important is afoot. If only I knew what that is!! Maybe one of you can help spell out the implication.
Old Detroit 0.9, Pittsburgh 0.1. Old Detroit leads the series, 4.8 – 0.2.
I feared Monday might the day the Canberra Slingshot ride was coming to an end for Old Detroit. Casey Legumina’s luck ran out: 2/3 ip, 4 er. Brandyn Garcia put a bandaid on it with his scoreless inning, but Wolverine hearts were still heavy. The six Wolverines sent out to bat made an admirable effort to salvage the day: 28 PA, .318, .429, .773. This included homers from such legends as Nathan Church, Richie Palacios, and the truly legendary Jose Caballero.
Would it be enough to avoid a loss?
Hopes in Old Detroit rose when Pittsburgh sent no one out to pitch. They rose further when only three Alleghenies appeared for only 13 PA — and batted a mesmerizing .231, .231, .231, giving the A’s 1/10 of a win, but leaving the rest of the win for the W’s.
Haviland 1.1, DC (-0.1. Haviland leads the series, 4.9 – 0.1
Notice what happened Monday: the four bottom teams in the league each dominated with at least 0.9 wins against teams above in the standings — including the team in FIRST place. Haviland dominated the most (by a nose). Their pitching was good (6 2/3 ip, 2 er) but not devastatingly so. The hitting was even better: 29 PA, 481, .517, .963. All seven hitters reached base safely at least once. Ezequiel Tovar went 4 fo 4 with a home run (that’s a 1.000, 1.000, 2.000 slash line). And Alec Burleson went 3 for 5 with THREE hime runs (.600, .600, 2.400). Any time you have two batters OPSing 3.000 in the same game you should have a chance to win.
The Balk saw what Tovar and Burleson were doing, and dropped their bats and walked away. Literally, in every case: three batters, 11 PA, 0 hits 1 walk, one stolen base, one caught stealing, 3 strikouts. And one mysterious sacrifice fly. (Who scored? The “caught stealing” was equal to the “reached base safely.” )
The Balk did send out two pitchers. The competent Brandon Sproat went 3 innings, allowing 4 earned runs. The surprisingly (to me) brilliant Justin Wrobleski went 4 1/3 innings, allowing 7 earned runs. That 13.56 daily era probably worked against the DC team.
By the way: there’s nothing particularly novel about slingshots slinging slingers as much as the slung. It’s just basic physics. We don’t often notice because the slinger is usually standing on a solid surface, slinging the Earth, too, as much as the slung. The Earth is so massive, the increment by which it is slung is so small we can’t perceive it.
Canberra’s mighty slingshot is slinging the entire league. Palpably.
And the entire Earth. Inpalpably.
The Glaciers will have more opportunity for improvement today, with several starting pitchers leading the way. Also the opportunity for peril, but fingers crossed.