On This Date In EFL (Pre-)History… – The Official EFL Web Site

According to Baseball Reference, September 19, 1997 featured the following highlights:

Matt Williams got Jed Hanson to step off of third base so he could brush the dirt off — and then tagged Hansen with the hidden ball.
The White Sox beat the Red Sox 5 – 4 in 1o innings after Albert Belle’s 9th-inning grand slam set the stage for extra innings. Nomar Garciaparra died Ted Williams’ rookie Red Sox record for total bases in that game.
Charles Johnson tied the all time catchers’ record for consecutive games without an error.

I didn’t notice any of those things happening at the time, even though Charles Johnson was on my old Garden City KingBees. I was distracted that day.

Twenty years ago today Melanie did a foolish thing and married me. Even though I was careful to leave out the comma after “thing”, let me be clear: the foolish thing was marrying me. She didn’t marry me and then on the same day do some other foolish thing, too. One giant goof up was enough for September 19, 1997.

She’s made the best of it ever since. She has poured herself out for her family — for me and the kids I brought to our marriage, the boys we brought into our family together, and the grandkids Melissa and Rahul added more recently — and to an impressive constellation of friends who have gathered around her (and us) since that fateful day.

For almost 70% of our marriage, she has put up with the EFL. There would be no EFL without Melanie. Our trophy should be topped with a little statue of Melanie except then I’d always be stealing it so I could be the one who got to look at it every day. I would try to earn the trophy fair and square, but since that no longer seems to be in my power I think I’d end up doing whatever it takes. So maybe we’re better off with the plain old trophy we have.

I’v got a lunch date with Melanie today and a weekend date in a couple of weeks. I have a little errand to run before lunch, so this is going to have to be quick.

EFL Standings for 2017

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	107	43	.712	—	875.7	543.5
Flint Hill Tornadoes	98	52	.657	8.3	767.7	555.2
Haviland Dragons	96	53	.643	10.4	869.3	645.6
Cottage Cheese	90	59	.607	15.9	779.6	618.0
Portland Rosebuds	89	61	.591	18.2	842.1	687.3
Kaline Drive	82	67	.551	24.2	749.4	678.3
Peshastin Pears	83	67	.551	24.2	755.4	692.7
Old Detroit Wolverines	78	72	.521	28.7	746.6	703.0
Canberra Kangaroos	72	77	.486	33.9	714.8	736.3
D.C. Balk	59	90	.394	47.5	722.8	899.3

Pittsburgh: DNP, 1 – 3. (.438, .471, 500; 0.7 ip, 2 er). It’s not a loss — they’re still 17 – 1 in September. It’s just a small subsidence, probably a prelude to an eruption. Those impressive hitting numbers represent only 17 AB, which is why they only register as 1 run on an off day. They’ll pour some of their value into today’s game.

Flint Hill: “L”, 4 – 3. (.217, .310, .261; 8 ip, 1 er). Dan Straily and three relievers put 8 strong innings, but the Tornado offense was more zephyric than cyclonic. The Tornadoes gained 0.4 games Monday. Not enough, not fast enough, it doesn’t change anything.

Haviland: DNP, (-4 )- (-1). (.136, .208, .136; 8.3 ip, 2 er) The Dragons slipped 0.1 games further. Also insignificant, so there’s still some hope of finishing within 10 games of first. Unlikely, but we’re grasping at any consolation at this point.

Cottage: W (-1), L 1; (-1) – 0. (.227, .261, .455; 8.3 ip, 2 er). Still the same distance out of first place, the Cheese slipped imperceptibly — same winning percentage, same number of games behind. They matched the Dragons’ pitch for pitch, and outdid them at the plate, but at 5.5 games behind with 13 to play, catching the Dragons is looking very unlikely.

Portland: “W”, 3 – 5. (.190, .228, .286; no pitching) . The win looks nice. The score less so, along with that extra 0.1 games behind.

Kaline: DNP, 0 – (-4). (.227, .261, .455; 8.3 ip. 2 er). Without playing, nor scoring a run, the Drive gained 0.4 games in the standings and ran over the Pears. They did match the Dragons’ and the Cheese’s pitching lines exactly.

Peshastin: “W”, 4 – 5. (.280, .335, .400; 5 ip 2 er). Only in the EFL can you win and at the same time fall behind a team that didn’t play a game. Jameson Taillon had a reasonably successful start, a nice little consolation given his up-and-down year.

Old Detroit: L, 3 – 7. (.111, .200, .278; no pitching). The Wolverines lost straight up, fair and square, no fuss. They suffered from the same lack of offense besetting most EFL teams these days — except the OD version was worse than most. Eighth place… that’s just what it’s going to be this year.

Canberra: DNP, 2 – (-2). (.400, .500, 800; 2.3 ip, 0 er). That super Edgar Martinez Plus Day batting line only covers 8 plate total plate appearances – but still, it was enough to gain a little (albeit little) on the Wolverines.

DC: DNP, 0 – 2. (.259, .276, .407; 4.3 ip. 6 er). Dylan Bundy did all the Balk pitching — and he stumbled pretty badly. Aaron Altherr’s grand slam won a game in MLB, but in the EFL it will have to wait to reverberate tomorrow.

Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017

AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Flint Hill Tornadoes	98	52	.657	—
Boston Red Sox	86	64	.573	12.5
New York Yankees	83	67	.553	15.5
Old Detroit Wolverines	78	72	.521	20.4
Tampa Bay Rays	73	77	.487	25.5
Baltimore Orioles	73	78	.483	26
Toronto Blue Jays	70	80	.467	28.5

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Washington Nationals	90	59	.604	—
Canberra Kangaroos	72	77	.486	17.6
Miami Marlins	70	80	.467	20.5
Atlanta Braves	67	81	.453	22.5
New York Mets	65	85	.433	25.5
D.C. Balk	59	90	.394	31.2
Philadelphia Phillies	59	91	.393	31.5

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	107	43	.712	—
Cleveland Indians	93	57	.620	13.8
Minnesota Twins	78	72	.520	28.8
Kansas City Royals	73	76	.490	33.3
Detroit Tigers	62	88	.413	44.8
Chicago White Sox	60	89	.403	46.3

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Cottage Cheese	90	59	.607	—
Chicago Cubs	83	66	.557	7.4
Milwaukee Brewers	80	70	.533	10.9
St. Louis Cardinals	77	72	.517	13.4
Pittsburgh Pirates	68	83	.450	23.4
Cincinnati Reds	66	84	.440	24.9

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Haviland Dragons	96	53	.643	—
Houston Astros	91	58	.611	4.9
Kaline Drive	82	67	.551	13.8
Los Angeles Angels	76	73	.510	19.9
Seattle Mariners	74	76	.493	22.4
Texas Rangers	73	76	.490	22.9
Oakland A’s	67	83	.447	29.4

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Los Angeles Dodgers	96	54	.640	—
Portland Rosebuds	89	61	.591	7.4
Arizona Diamondbacks	87	64	.576	9.5
Peshastin Pears	83	67	.551	13.4
Colorado Rockies	82	68	.547	14
San Diego Padres	67	83	.447	29
San Francisco Giants	58	93	.384	38.5

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