A Lincolnian Update

I just spent a pleasant two hours in the first of what will be many policy review meetings this year for the Newberg School District.  Today we looked at the first 25 of maybe 439 policies we have to review over the next 18 months. I say “maybe” because I lost count at one point.  It might be 440.

 

Maybe the word you didn’t expect in that paragraph was “pleasant.”  But it’s the key to the entire passage.  I enjoyed the Policy Committee meeting.  I am looking forward to it. It’s the happy intersection of art, politics, and genuine opportunity to improve the lives of students, staff, and community.

 

The art is in the wordsmithing. We have a LOT to do, and five people in these committee meetings, and later four more people in the full board meetings (and who knows how many others in the community with opinions on the thousand topics we’ll cover). So I can’t indulge in every bit of beautification possible with all these words, sometimes tossed together with no apparent editorial attention. For example, I decided not ask the committee to devote time to the opening phrase of policy BBFB:

 

“In order to avoid both potential and actual conflicts of interest…”

 

to polish thusly:

 

“To avoid both potential and actual conflicts of interest…”

 

Obviously “In order” adds nothing to the sentence, and pretty much never does to any sentence.  But the 20 seconds it might have taken to sink that truth into the minds of my colleagues looked to be 20 seconds too many.

 

Lucky you!  I just spent much longer sharing it with you!

 

I’m not just being cruel.  I also wanted to contrast the 439 policies covering probably 500 pages governing the Newberg Schools with the mere 13 pages of EFL rules.  I wanted to help you be proud of our fundamental document.  If the NSD Policies are Edward Everett’s keynote at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery – no three adjacent words of which anyone can recite — the EFL rules are President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Kinda. Assuming you can recite a few passages.

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Portland Rosebuds	83	44	.650	—	787.0	577.2
Flint Hill Tornadoes	78	49	.614	4.6	785.8	620.1
Old Detroit Wolverines	75	52	.591	7.4	755.6	619.0
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	71	55	.563	11	670.6	576.9
Peshastin Pears	67	60	.531	15.1	676.5	632.1
Haviland Dragons	66	61	.523	16.1	719.8	678.2
Kaline Drive	63	64	.498	19.2	609.2	613.2
Canberra Kangaroos	63	64	.495	19.7	698.7	710.3
Bellingham Cascades	58	68	.458	24.3	607.7	664.4
Cottage Cheese	55	69	.445	25.8	702.5	768.6
Brookland Outs	53	71	.430	27.7	623.5	719.4
D.C. Balk	51	77	.398	32	577.8	713.0

 

Portland: W, 5 – 5. (45 PA, .237, .356, .395;  1.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).

Four score and three wins ago, the Rosebuds were brought forth into the new season favored to win.  They’ve been  in first place for months, now, but haven’t put any extra distance between themselves and their two closest pursuers.

Those clever Tornados. They diversified their methods Tuesday.  As pitchers, they focused on pitching well. Their meticulous approach netted them 3 scoreless innings.  But for the hitters they went the opposite direction, trying to make up in volume for what they lacked in quality. Neither one worked all that well, and the world will little note nor long remember what we said here in this update, but it can never forget what the Tornados tried to do here in pursuit of scientific knowledge.

Last night after the school board’s regular meeting I got home and checked my team.  Starting with the games already over, my players recorded a lot of 0 for the day (Devers, Hedges, Jimenez, Reynolds, Urias…) Very discouraging. But then I saw Andrew Heaney’s line: 8 ip, 1 er.  I sat up straighter. Then I saw Kyle Schwarber — Kyle Schwarber of all people! — go 1 for 2 with a double and two walks (1.750 OPS).  Then I saw Nick Ahmed: 1 for 2 with  homer and a walk (2.500). Even better.  Finally I saw Max Muncy’s line:  1 for 1 with a homer and three walks! Yay for successive approximation!  Standing on the shoulders of Giants — well, Angels, Cubs, and D-backs, Muncy reached the 5.000 OPS promised land!  So maybe today the team won’t wait until it’s gone 3 singles for 28 AB to implement this new methodology, so that those who gave their last full measure  (Devers, Hedges, Jimenez, Reynolds, Urias…) will not have died at the plate in vain.

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Dante Bichette’s two homers led a potent offense, and all those innings drained the Allegheny swamp of 10 runs allowed.  I don’t suspect the Alleghenys of being dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.  A team with 7/15ths of the championships in a 12-team league has other ideas.  And who can blame him?  His team, in a pitching-starved season, had 4 starters pitch effectively, each for at least 6 innings. Still elitist after all these years.

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The Pears roughly tied for the second best day in the EFL Tuesday, led by Marcus Semien’s two doubles in three AB plus a walk. I read the other day someone’s argument that Semien deserves consideration for MVP this year. He’s OPSing .972 in August, .841 overall — so I don’t think an MVP would be altogether fitting and proper for Semien.  But it is nice to have those numbers in your middle infield.

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 With his two sons, conceived in… Kansas?, now engaged in a great civil war, testing whether either of them so conceived can long endure, Haviland could be forgiven for hanging back and staying a little bit out of the way. I don’t suspect the Dragons wanted to hang this far back, behind even the mild Pears, and Harrison Bader in particular almost pulled off a Muncy: one for 2 with a triple and three walks, making a stellar 4.000 OPS. But Domingo German stumbled and left the Dragons with a load of runs allowed.

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A .741 OPS used to be average in MLB, back in the old days. You know, 2018 or earlier.  But times have changed, as the Drive must have noticed when Tommy Milone and Spencer Turnbull combined to allow 9 er in 8 ip. The rest of the team found the task of recovering from that deficit far beyond their poor power to add or detract.

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Tim Anderson has manned short for the Kangaroos this year. It’s always nice to have a middle infielder who can handle the bat, like Anderson did yesterday (2 for 4 with a daouble and a homer), and has done all month (1.021 OPS in August).  He got backup from three other Kangaroos OPSing 0ver 1.00, and a pitching staff which (on the whole) was markedly stingy about giving up runs.  Is it too late for the Kangaroos to have a new birth of EFL success?

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The Cascades played like Lincoln wrote: quick, to the point, spare.  Maybe too spare.  I suppose 15 plate appearances would last longer than a 272-word speech. And I don’t suppose a 1 – (-3) loss will ring in the annals of human history quite the same, either — not likely to be etched into the south wall of a memorial on the Washington Mall.  But it might be etched in Homer Bailey’s memory, his fine 5.7 ip, 1 er outing, with 8 strikeouts, after so many years of frustration and pain — but the rest of his team was insufficiently dedicated the unfinished work which he thus far so nobly advanced.  I mean, only 15 plate appearances?

Corey Seager noticed his brother tearing it up in Seattle (2 for 3, double, homer, 2 walks, 2.800 OPS) and decided to match it (3 for 4 with two doubles, 2.000 OPS). He came pretty close! Three other Cheeses pitched in with OPSes of 1.000 or better, and Cottage came away with a win. Yay for sibling rivalry!

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Another sad case of outstanding but painfully thin hitting meeting a painfully bloated ERA. Sean Reid-Foley managed a triple chulk with his 1.7 ip, 5 er day.  But Vlad Guerrero went 2 for 2 with 2 walks to lead the way (2.000 OPS), with Cody Bellinger, CJ Cron, and Manny Machado all going 1.000 or better.

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Finally we come to the Balk. They dominated from the mound, especially Dylan Bundy whose start lasted 7 innings with one earned run allowed. But their hitters were as meek as the ones their pitchers faced.  Or meeker, actually — so meek they gave back a run scored earlier in the season.

AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
New York Yankees	83	44	.654	—
Flint Hill Tornadoes	78	49	.614	5.1
Old Detroit Wolverines	75	52	.591	7.9
Tampa Bay Rays	74	54	.578	9.5
Boston Red Sox	67	60	.528	16
Toronto Blue Jays	52	76	.406	31.5
Baltimore Orioles	40	86	.317	42.5

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Atlanta Braves	75	52	.591	—
Washington Nationals	68	57	.544	6
Philadelphia Phillies	65	60	.520	9
New York Mets	65	60	.520	9
Canberra Kangaroos	63	64	.495	12.2
D.C. Balk	51	77	.398	24.5
Miami Marlins	45	79	.363	28.5

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Minnesota Twins	77	49	.611	—
Cleveland Indians	74	52	.587	3
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	71	55	.563	6
Bellingham Cascades	58	68	.458	19.3
Chicago White Sox	56	69	.448	20.5
Kansas City Royals	45	81	.357	32
Detroit Tigers	37	86	.301	38.5

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
St. Louis Cardinals	67	57	.540	—
Chicago Cubs	67	58	.536	0.5
Milwaukee Brewers	64	62	.508	4
Cincinnati Reds	60	66	.476	8
Cottage Cheese	55	69	.445	11.8
Brookland Outs	53	71	.430	13.7
Pittsburgh Pirates	52	73	.416	15.5

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Houston Astros	81	46	.638	—
Oakland A’s	72	53	.576	8
Haviland Dragons	66	61	.523	14.6
Kaline Drive	63	64	.498	17.7
Texas Rangers	62	65	.488	19
Los Angeles Angels	63	66	.488	19
Seattle Mariners	54	74	.422	27.5

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Los Angeles Dodgers	83	44	.654	—
Portland Rosebuds	83	44	.650	0.5
Peshastin Pears	67	60	.531	15.6
Arizona Diamondbacks	64	63	.504	19
San Francisco Giants	63	63	.500	19.5
San Diego Padres	59	67	.468	23.5
Colorado Rockies	57	69	.452	25.5