So I saw my first total eclipse of the sun today. It was outstanding, one of the most amazing and beautiful things I have ever seen in nature. The bright ring of the corona, with wisps of light spraying out into space, was spectacular. Mt. Hood, veiled behind haze in the full sunlight, came out clearly while it was in the sun and we in the shadow.
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Where we were the total eclipse only lasted a minute. I wasn’t done looking when it was over. My brother in law consoled me with an invitation to come to his house in Ontario in seven years when another eclipse is due to along Lake Erie. But I wished I didn’t have to wait so long or travel so far to see it again.
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Oh, well, I got to check a big item off my bucket list. I’ve given up on some things — all of the ones that involved space flight, for example. Humanity got bogged down on that project far more than I expected. Some common bucket list items — sky diving, going on a cruise, getting a tattoo — have never been on my list. But there are still a lot there — the aurora borealis, a postseason baseball game, a granddaughter, going to two more sons’ college graduations…
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I wonder what some other bucket lists look like?
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EFL Standings for 2017
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 83 | 39 | .681 | — | 699.6 | 475.7 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 79 | 44 | .641 | 4.7 | 642.0 | 478.5 |
| Haviland Dragons | 79 | 45 | .640 | 4.7 | 739.9 | 553.0 |
| Cottage Cheese | 78 | 45 | .632 | 5.8 | 665.0 | 502.8 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 72 | 50 | .592 | 10.9 | 699.9 | 569.9 |
| Kaline Drive | 70 | 54 | .565 | 14 | 616.6 | 538.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 67 | 55 | .550 | 15.9 | 600.0 | 549.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 65 | 58 | .531 | 18.3 | 613.0 | 562.2 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 58 | 64 | .477 | 24.8 | 585.9 | 613.7 |
| D.C. Balk | 47 | 75 | .384 | 36.2 | 602.5 | 765.9 |
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Pittsburgh: W, 6 – 3. (.231, .348, .462; 6.7 ip, 2 er). I’m not sure what worlds the A’s see left to conquer in the EFL. If they win this year, they’ll be back to having half the EFL championships — is that a big deal to them? They almost won by 20 games once, except a final weekend surge by the second place Wolverines narrowed the gap to 19.5 games. This year’s pursuers are lagging behind, but the gap is growing too gradually to get to 20 games in the next six weeks. That could change, I suppose, if Dansby Swanson keeps putting together 2.083-OPS games, like he did yesterday.
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Flint Hill: “W”, 5 – 6. (.289, .356, .368; 8 ip, 4 er). Mark Reynolds recaptured for a day his early-season magic (2 for 4 with a homer), but it wasn’t enough for the Tornadoes to keep pace with the Alleghenys. Will it be enough if the Tornados beat the Dragons? Or do they have to get an EFL championship to tick an item off the bucket list?.
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Haviland: “L”, 6 – 3. (.231, .375, .385; 2 ip, 0 er). We’re talking about bucket lists, not mere consolations. Seeing a total eclipse is bucket list material. Looking forward to maybe seeing one in seven years is mere consolation. The Dragons are in a dogfight this season, but not with the A’s and not for first place at this point. It might be consolation to squeeze ahead of the Tornados. But the D’s have beaten the T’s multiple times in the Tornadoes’ short history, so that can’t be bucket list material anymore, right?
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Cottage: “W”, 2- 5. (.271, .300, .292; 15.7 ip, 7 er.) The Cheese have been frank and forthright about their goal to snag an EFL championship. They revealed their long and devious plan to achieve that this season, back when it seemed almost inevitable. That plan is faltering: Harper is still injured, Trout went 0 for 5, and the rest of the team couldn’t pick them up.
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Portland: L, (-1) – 2. (.098, .178, .171; 5 ip, 0 er). Sean Newcomb pitched 5 scoreless innings, but the Rosebud offense was almost completely de-thorned. Cheslor Cuthbert went 2 for 4 with a homer. Everyone else went 2 for 37 with 4 walks (.057, .146, .057). Hopefully something else is going right for the top Rosebud.
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Kaline: L, 3 – 7. (.222, .300, .370; 7 ip, 9 er). Whatever the Wizard’s aspirations, they couldn’t have been advanced by TJ McFarland’s effort yesterday. TJ uncorked a Royal Chulk, the Royalest of the season: 7 earned runs in only 1/3 of an inning. McFarland was making his first start in three years. It went walk, ground out, single, single, passed ball, walk, coaching visit to the mound (ineffective), single, double, single. At that point TJ was pulled, down 0 to 5. The two runners he left on base scored on Eddie Rosario’s grand slam. Do we have an Imperial Chulk or something for a performance in which the pitcher allows more than 20 times as many runs as innings pitched? Neat. We can invent the Imperial Chulk, Tom can add it to his bucket list, and immediately cross it off.
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Peshastin: L, 9 – 9. (.270, .372, .649; 8.7 ip, 6 er). Nope. Not as big a deal as TJ McFarland: Danny Salazar only allowed 6 runs, and it took him 4.7 innings to do it. The Peshastin offense covered for Salazar, led by former Wolverines Brandon Drury (3 for 4 with two doubles and a homer) and Jackie Bradley, Jr (2 for 3 with a triple and a walk). Salazar, Bradley, Drury (along with Santana and Kiermaier): one wonders if the King Pear’s bucket list includes “rescuing players from the Old Detroit hellhole.” Because if so, he can check it off the list. Done.
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Old Detroit: W, 5 – 2. (.250, .300, .393; 6 ip, 1 er). I have been hoping for years to catch up with the Alleghenys in the number of EFL championships we’ve won. I got within 5 to 4 four years ago, but then the A’s won #6 and the upstart Dragons won their 2d and 3rd. I tossed away my miniscule chance to come from 17 back and win this year when I traded away Kluber at the beginning of July. I am beginning to despair that both Mark and I will live long enough for me to achieve this goal, although it was nice to see Madison Bumgarner get through 6 innings with only 1 earned run.
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Canberra: W, 7 – (-5). (.341, .364, .488; 13 ip, 1 er). The best day by far of any team in the EFL. The highlight has to be the pitching of Rick Porcell0 (6 ip, 1 er) and Blake Snell (7 ip, 0 er) — even though Snell’s came at the expense of the Mariners. I happen to know that one of Canberra’s bucket list items is beating the Wolverines in an EFL season . Yesterday improved the odds of this being the year. The ‘Roos gained 0.9 games on both the Alleghenys and the Wolverines.
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DC: L, (-3) – 8. (.333, .421, .485; 15 ip, 4 er) Yes, the results don’t fit the input. Due to my error the other day we had to delete some ghost player lines for this update. We are double checking to make sure we did it right.
One of my so far unattainable bucket list items: quit messing up daily udpates.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 79 | 44 | .641 | — |
| Boston Red Sox | 71 | 52 | .577 | 7.9 |
| New York Yankees | 66 | 57 | .537 | 12.9 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 65 | 58 | .531 | 13.6 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 60 | 64 | .484 | 19.4 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 61 | 65 | .484 | 19.4 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 59 | 65 | .476 | 20.4 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Washington Nationals | 74 | 48 | .607 | — |
| Miami Marlins | 60 | 62 | .492 | 14 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 58 | 64 | .477 | 15.8 |
| Atlanta Braves | 55 | 67 | .451 | 19 |
| D.C. Balk | 47 | 75 | .384 | 27.1 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 45 | 77 | .369 | 29 |
| New York Mets | 54 | 687 | .073 | 329.5 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 83 | 39 | .681 | — |
| Cleveland Indians | 68 | 54 | .557 | 15.1 |
| Minnesota Twins | 63 | 59 | .516 | 20.1 |
| Kansas City Royals | 62 | 61 | .504 | 21.6 |
| Detroit Tigers | 54 | 69 | .439 | 29.6 |
| Chicago White Sox | 47 | 74 | .388 | 35.6 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cottage Cheese | 78 | 45 | .632 | — |
| Chicago Cubs | 66 | 57 | .537 | 11.8 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 65 | 60 | .520 | 13.8 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 63 | 61 | .508 | 15.3 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 60 | 64 | .484 | 18.3 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 53 | 72 | .424 | 25.8 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Haviland Dragons | 79 | 45 | .640 | — |
| Houston Astros | 76 | 48 | .613 | 3.4 |
| Kaline Drive | 70 | 54 | .565 | 9.4 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 64 | 60 | .516 | 15.4 |
| Seattle Mariners | 63 | 62 | .504 | 16.9 |
| Texas Rangers | 61 | 62 | .496 | 17.9 |
| Oakland A’s | 54 | 70 | .435 | 25.4 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 87 | 35 | .713 | — |
| Portland Rosebuds | 72 | 50 | .592 | 14.8 |
| Peshastin Pears | 67 | 55 | .550 | 19.9 |
| Colorado Rockies | 68 | 56 | .548 | 20 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 67 | 57 | .540 | 21 |
| San Diego Padres | 55 | 69 | .444 | 33 |
| San Francisco Giants | 50 | 76 | .397 | 39 |