The Kolkata Cobras are still talking bullpen.
Manager Rupi Kaur and pitching coach V.S. Naipal, with spiritual advice from Sri Ramakrishna, were seriously thinking of using Mahatma Gandhi in relief.
But Kaur stayed with Gandhi as a starter, and together with Cobra pitchers Rabindranith Tagore and Rumi, Mahatma Gandhi has won 7 games, helping Kolkata to a 29 and 19 record and first place in the Peoples Division.
Dick Wolf’s Laws and Chairman Mao’s Waves have identical records, in second place, 4 games behind the Cobras at 25 and 23.
Herman Hesse (3-5) the fourth starter for the Cobras, has pitched well enough to win seven games, as well.
This is a very impressive starting four:
Rabindranith Tagore 7-3, 2.51 ERA
Rumi 7-1, 4.14 ERA
Gandhi 7-3, 3.21 ERA
Hesse 3-5, 3.49 ERA
The bullpen is still a mess. The Cobras have won some wild games, including a 20-18 contest, in which Faiz A. Faiz (1-0) was the last man standing on the mound and got the win, and a 10-9 victory in which they trailed 9-4 going into the final frame, Krishnamurti (1-1) pitching badly but earning the win in that one. Raja Rao (1-0) has been signed. Nissim Ezekiel (2-1) and Kabir Das (1-5) have not been giving away too many victories recently. The Cobras are looking to sign more relief pitchers: E.M. Forster, Acharya Shivapujan Sahay, just to name two.
The Cobras offense is led by Vikram Seth and Javed Akhtar, with 12 homers apiece. George Harrison has added 10 and Anand Thakore has pounded 7.
After about a third of the season, the Cobras are the team to beat in the Peoples Division, with the three top starters and the two top home run hitters.
“This is a very spiritual team. We don’t care if we win, so we win,” George Harrison said. The rest of the Cobras would not comment.
The Tokyo Mist need more consistency from their first two starters—Basho (3-3) has not won in his last 5 starts; Issa (4-7) has won once in his last 7 starts. Kobe Abe and D.T. Suzuki have been shaky in relief. John Lennon leads the Mist with 8 homers.
The Beijing Waves are in striking distance of the Cobras and have been lifted with the addition of Confucius to their bullpen, but they need better starting pitching from their Western imports, Voltaire (4-4) and Rousseau (1-5). “We are the team to beat,” Waves’ manager Jack Dorsey insisted, “gosh, look at our mix: Confucius, Lao Tzu, Karl Marx, Voltaire, Rousseau, Brecht, Li Po!”
The Santa Barbara Laws, tied with the Waves, need more from their top 3 starters: Aristotle (4-5), Francis Bacon (5-6), and Horace (3-6), but Donne, Hardy, and Martial are hitting pretty well, and Aristotle, Bacon, and Horace have good stuff, so don’t count the Laws out. Yvor Winters went to the bullpen to make way for Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, who is 4-1 in his last 6 starts, including a shutout. Quintilian has been added to the relief staff, with mixed results.
Merv Griffin’s LA Gamers must be worried about starting pitchers E.E.Cummings (2-3) and Derrida (1-7), though Cummings has pitched better than his record. Derrida is capable of frustrating hitters; right now he’s frustrating himself with control problems. Ionesco has been crushing the ball lately, Joe Green has belted five homers from the 8th spot in the lineup and is playing a mean third base, but Billy Collins, Noel Coward, John Betjeman, and Thomas Hood need to hit more, and their fielding has been sloppy. “We need to enjoy ourselves. We’re watching the score too much,” manager Bob Hope said, in a rare somber mood, “it has to be more about feelings and less about numbers.”
Here’s the Peoples Division standings:
The Cobras, Satyajit Ray 29-19
The Waves, Chairman Mao 25-23
The Laws, Dick Wolf 25-23
The Mist, Kurosawa 20-28
The Gamers, Merv Griffin 19-29
WINS
J. Rumi, Cobras 7-1
R. Tagore, Cobras 7-3
M. Gandhi, Cobras 7-3
Lao Tzu, Waves 6-2
Yukio Mishima, Mist 6-4
Lucretius, Waves 6-4
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, Laws 5-2
Yone Noguchi, Mist 5-3
Lewis Carroll, Gamers 5-5
James Tate, Gamers 5-5
Francis Bacon, Laws 5-6
Relief wins
Confucius, Waves 6-2
Mark Van Doren, Laws 4-1
Menander, Gamers 3-2
HOMERS
Vikram Seth, Cobras 12
Javed Akhtar, Cobras 12
Ionesco, Gamers 11
Li Po, Waves 11
George Harrison, Cobras 10
John Donne, Laws 10
Thomas Hardy, Laws 9
Karl Marx, Waves 9
Tu Fu, Waves 8
John Lennon, Mist 8
Billy Collins, Gamers 7
Thomas Hood, Gamers 7
Anand Thakore, Cobras 7
Hilda Doolitte, Mist 7
Martial, Laws 7