Washington Nationals Update: Week 21 or So, Regular Season Over

Now it is time for the playoffs. Baseball 2014 holds out hope for the Nats and others, for the Fall Classic. It. Could. Happen. I have been a fan of the organization since 1981, when they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers. I was 10. I am getting old waiting for this franchise to do it!

So the long awaited playoffs are finally to begin...

Starting...today! The last day of September. The American League has its play-in game between the long suffering Kansas City Royals and last half of the season folding Oakland Athletics. I would like to see the Royals win... A one game playoff.

Tomorrow the Nationals will eventually take on the winner of the San Francisco Giants and the long suffering Pittsburgh Pirates play-in game. I like the Pirates, aka the Bucs, for a few reasons: they have not won for a long time, while San Fran has won the World Series twice (argh!) in the last 4 years.

And hopefully the Bucs will be easier to be beat for the Nats.

The Nats collapsed in a series with the Cardinals two years ago; they are better and more experienced now, but we want them to advance to either play the Dodgers or Cards on the other side.

In the American League there are the Los Angeles Angels, the Detroit Tigers, and the close to home Baltimore Orioles.

It should be interesting.

The Nationals went out with some spectacularness (spell check alert) by first clinching National League supremecy with the most wins (spelling) and then Jordan Zimmerman getting a no-hitter against their last opponent, the last day of the season. (Sunday).

Wow. Fister, Strasburg, Zimmerman. And others, including an all-star middle reliever (Tyler Clippard) and hot new (former) closer Drew Storen. Plus a hard throwing cagey vet Matt Thornton.

Not to mention scrappy starters Geo Gonzalez and Tanner Roark.

If the bats show up at all, I will say the Nats have a chance.

Go Nats! Fall is here. Time to make memories.

Blog it, EMC.

Writing Introspection (Assisted by my Daughter)

[Originally written Tuesday 08 April, 2014]    

It's past 9:00 in the morning, and even though my body is fighting a cold or virus, my brain has a moment to reflect. That is what writers do. Right? Well, they craft together stories, compose  them in many ways, ultimately being read by audiences, small or great. It helps to sit down, to have some peace or quiet moments, or whatever is required for writers to do.  I like to write; usually the things that I produce I would like to think have a significant or intrinsic value. Possibly intelligent, possibly profound. Adding to human  knowledge. This is possible. Every person has their own perspective, and mine is but one more of millions. But the US Army teaches every soldier is a sensor. This is true. I am another sensor.
 
    I an not sure that I am the most gifted when it comes to pure writing, observation, understanding, style, or a dozen other attributes that make some writers noble or noteworthy. But when it comes to interest, that could be where my forte lies. I am interested. About many things: so that is where I must draw up lines and discover where the stories must flow.

    With me, certain sports are prime topics for writing. Perhaps these are low hanging fruits to scoop up and squeeze some juice from. Sports show us a lot, and perhaps at times, more of nothing. Like some wars. We analyze, we evaluate, we reflect, we question and  pontificate, what it all means. Sports, wars, and other fields of study where there are multiple factors, such as economics, physics, international affairs, geographical sciences, etc. Perhaps all fields are similar in this way of complexity. Whatever the case, very often we learn what we know about subjects is that we do not know much.

     Writing, for me, is a way to take stock of a few things that I do know, and recognize other unknowns. Identifying unknowns maybe where we fill in the knowledge gaps. Writing, documenting, fills in things. But how far to publish it? How much to share?

     But some of those things are very personal, very private, very tender or even painful. And yet there is a huge market, and therefore perhaps human necessity for explicating these things. For some of us, anyway.

      Perhaps such as in many, scientific fields, it adds up to nothing. But at least it's on paper. Documented. It exists in one fashion.

      Writing down personal things about real people is tricky, especially those who are still alive. There are warts in our lives, and those things that are ugly or painful can affect the living, potentially in a painful way, which is not good. However, some of the discoveries and realizations that we make in this life are good to arrive at while we are living. Therefore, the trickiness of writing what we think of as the"truth" is at times a very relative proposition, when related to more personal people and matters. Then again, when we are writing about more distant subject-matter of a less personal nature, it is possible to have less of the truth based on the fact that we know less about the matter at hand, since there is less personal connection to it.

"Write about what you know."

Good luck with that!

If you know about false stories with elements of real life coherence, then write fiction!

Well, I should qualify that: write very interesting stories that are verisimilar to the truth. These stories still reach our psyches, whether based on real facts or not.

However, the more I discover the world, the more I am convinced that truth is stranger than fiction. Therefore, write the truth!

And the truth will make you free. And that does come with pain, and doses of remorse. Regret. Anguish. Uncomfortable realities. Which in the end, may not even be true.

So: was that worthwhile?

Blog on. EMC.

Nats Clinch Division! Week 19-20 Update!

Wow.

They have done it! The Nationals beat the Braves in Atlanta to win their National League East Division. The Washington team has done it for the the second time in three years, and I was able to hear and see it more than 2012.

There is a feeling that this 2014 is more for real, ready, mature and competitive than two years ago.

Bryce is no longer a teenager, but more importantly, the pitching staff and the regular lineup seems to be better and more poised than ever. People are healthy except Ryan Zimmerman, but Anthony Rendon is doing fine at third, and all systems are go.

The starting pitching is great. Really. Only the relievers have shown some weakness, but overall they are decent, too. Soriano has been replaced with an ample Drew Storen. And bench players are doing fine.

Now it is only a question of sealing home turf for the NL by beating out LA and St Louis. It can be done.

Fun to watch.

Go Nats!

Blog on, EMC.

Fiction Orders the Non-Fiction

I enjoy reading some fiction, be it historical, science or quasi-fantasy, or realistic. Like action or crime story types. Certain ones, not the really sensational ones. Well, I guess that is subjective. Like everything.

Some people consider religious literature as fiction as well.

So be it.

All of it, especially the more orderly and compelling stuff, helps order our stories, narratives, and understanding of the real world. Fiction can help us understand or see into the real, reality. Obviously historical fiction has its place, because it intertwines the known parts of history, big and small, to give us more nuanced or intrinsic conceptions of how things either really or possibly took place.

Back in 2007 I became friends with a guy who loved Kurt Vonnegut. So I went to the local library and read him some more. I had already read "Cat's Cradle" around 1998, and very much enjoyed it. I went on to read about 4 or 5 more, including the well known "Slaughterhouse 5", of high school fame.

Vonnegut did put some order into the universe, as does Joseph Heller also with World War II and MASH of the Korean conflict, or to some degree any war, like Vietnam.

Absurdity and humor have their place in making sense of our world, us humans. We are absurd and funny, much of the time.

And fiction can have that effect on our rational minds: order the mayhem, or the apparent chaos.

Is this how so-called rational minded humans explain the religious and faithful people of the world?

I guess so. That makes sense.

But rationally, it seems to me that there is more than meets the eye and the empirical senses when we explain our existence. To understand our own psychologies, or pathologies, as perhaps a more cynical view would perceive it, we use "play" as a way to order our world, to form real comprehension.

Sometimes non-native languages even come across this way, or artistic wording or poetry. It all may enhance our way of "getting" things. It may seem farcical or fanciful or wasted extra breath or silly nuance, or simply fake and therefore unimportant knowledge and trivia, but it actually sharpens our saws in order to further understand the whole picture, which touches on ALL knowledge.

Gives a good slant on "art", right? Rationalists or Ayn Rand objectivists may have to concede this or even celebrate and advocate this concept. Right?

N'est pas?

Blog on, EMC,

Added 8 July 2023

Jesus Himself

     Recently I have posted about Chile and how so many people were willing or desirous and consequently followed through with becoming members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by being baptized; although many never followed up in commitment and attendance. This has been a problem across the world for the LDS faith, but particularly in Chile, where the numbers of baptized have been at times spectacular.

I wrote a couple of posts regarding that, Chile 3 Times, 3 Things about Chile...Tres y tres son Seis, Chileans Themselves ; but I forgot, or somewhat omitted  an important factor. That would be Jesus Himself.

But as many do when discussing LDS Church matters, or things "Mormon", I left one person or thing out of the equation: Jesus Christ.

Is that particularly relevant? I think so, and let me explain...

Some, or reasonably a lot, of the Christian faith resides in the power, faith, belief, hope and leadership or example of what we Christians consider the Savior of the World, the Promised Messiah and Son of God of John 3:16 fame, Jesus of Nazareth, the Lamb of God.

Despite, or perhaps along with, the friendly encounters between Latter-day Saint missionaries and their respective investigators and newly converted membership in the Republic of Chile (although some go back decades to the 1950s, 60s, and 70s), the very notion of Jesus Himself and possibly being part of His Cause is not to be ignored or slighted. This is a powerful prospect.

It has been perhaps the primary reason why millions of people over the years have become Christian. Whether Catholic or Orthodox, Baptist or Presbyterian, Armenian or Syrian, millions have taken the plunge over the past almost 2,000 years since Jesus was crucified and maybe more significantly, resurrected. He left many scriptures by the hands of his apostles and disciples, and these followers carried on to many others, including the amazingly successful Paul. And all the others over the millenia. Many have been Catholics and made saints, others were reformers like Martin Luther et al, and more recently we have the likes of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. And Evangelicals and other denominations can point to their great missionaries/evangelists, even the well known American Billy Graham and a slew of others.

Christianity rolls on in the 21st century.

And there are quite a few Mormons dedicated to it, many of them full time set apart elders and sisters, more than at any time, around 87,000 at present (Sept '14).

But the thousands who passed through Chile since the late 1950s have left a legacy of many Chileans who were baptized by immersion and confirmed as official members; some have clung on in continued attendance, while others go their ways, like one I knew of who died not long after his conversion, Carlos Villalobos, in the small town of Mulchen.  Bio-Bio Province, Region VIII. He and his wife, who may survive him to this day, were once baptized my first fall down south.

As my mother of 73 has moved on this past March, I pray and hope that Carlos is above in the destined heavens with the Son of God, on His side.

At the end of our last breathes and beyond, that is what most of us Christians hope for: the Heavens with the Master Himself.

We are part of the cause and flock of the Master, the Great Shepherd: Jesus Himself.

Sometimes a key reason to be baptized and receive His sacraments.

Not just because of human or social pressures, but for Him. The Hope and Promise of Eternal Life.


Blog on. EMC.

BYU Football: Surviving September 11, Looking at Future SOS

SOS. Strength of Schedule.

It matters a lot in college football. Especially for a team like the Brigham Young University Cougars in 2014.

They beat the Houston Cougars last night, but only by 8. Final score 33-25.Will that hurt the country's perception of how good BYU is? Possibly. Houston opened with a terrible looking loss to lowly UTSA, the Roadrunners of San Antonio, who at least put a scare in a PAC-12 Arizona team the following weak. But the real strength or legitimacy of these teams remain to be seen. And the other opponents as well. It is only midway through September going into the 3rd week, so much is to be proven as to how good BYU's opponents are or will be.

As of now, BYU's whole schedule is rated at 75, which is not that high compared to other teams projecting as high to having a perfect season, as BYU. Obviously one loss for BYU at that SOS schedule would end any championship (final four playoff) or even January big bowl hopes, games that it has never achieved in its noted history, despite a national championship in 1984, a number 4 or 6 finish in 1996, and a few other great years in the Lavell Edwards era (1972-2000).

UConn, the team BYU opened with a 34-10 shellacking in the northeast, barely beat an FCS Stony Brook squad, 19-16 the second game. Not looking good. The Huskies must do better for that SOS ranking to rise.

Eegh.

As does Texas. If the Longhorns can upset ranked UCLA or other Big-12 powers, then this could do wonders for the perception of how legit the Cougars of Provo are.

And then the Cougars of Houston who showed some pluck on the Thursday night ESPN game as mentioned, not going quietly after trailing 23-0 early, but rallying with some opportunistic and at times fantastic scores, making the BYU team look rather human, less than stellar, less than what BYU looked like in Austin, which was invincible.

Going for a controlled and convincing win in the first half, a couple of turnovers, one a tipped pass and another foolish inbounds lingering by feisty receiver Mitchell Juergens which lead to an unnecessary fumble with time running out, made BYU look less than January bowl worthy. The second half maintained the status quo of the 8 point lead, and while relieved to win period, the BYU Cougars know that they deserved some more "style points", i.e. a final score that indicates that they are better than only 25th in the land.

I hope Houston goes on and does great things this year. Like the close win BYU had with them last year (it was a shootout, and BYU was lucky to escape). They, the Cougars of Houston,  have some really good talent on both sides of the ball.

It remains to be seen how healthy and stealthy and powerful the BYU team will be. Now comes the payback game against Virginia, a completely avoidable loss to start off last season (2013), but BYU has 9 days to rest and prepare. Maybe super stud Linebacker Bronson Kaufusi will be back from his high ankle injury.

Maybe Juergens will not allow 2 turnovers, one in each half, leading to 9 points to the opponent, making BYU look less than they should.

Winning, but not only the W or L, but the scores and their consequent perceptions matter in college football.

Here's hoping things start to look better this weekend and onward for BYU.

Go Cougars. Go opponents! Just not against the Y.

Blog it, EMC

Washington Nationals Update: Week 19 or So

Raphael Soriano, we've got problems.

The National reliever has been good this season, but consistently inconsistent. That means he consistently does not get out of games to close cleanly.

Last night was one of the worst. The Nats had the Phillies down 5-1, then 7-2. Strasburg had done his job but then he was taken out relatively early, and call ups Xavier Cedeno and others started letting the Phillies score. Soriano gave up 3 runs up 7-4 in the 9th, and then the Nats lost 9-8 in extra innings.

4 losses in a row to the lowly 2014 Phils.

But the road trip to Seattle and Los Angeles was surprisingly good, and the last week in general was not too bad. The Braves have lost their share, and the Nats look secure in their division.

Wednesday in LA was a spectacular win in extra innings, they hit a bunch of homers in Seattle, Safeco Field, so the bats seem okay, as does the regular pitching.

But Soriano? Too much drama, I do not feel like he has had the confidence to really nail things down as a starter should. He makes things way too crazy in the final inning, typically. The confidence is lacking this year.

But the team is overall strong.

Lots of good relievers, but the primary has issues.

Blog on. EMC.

Chileans Themselves

    I began this post at the beginning of June of this year, 2014, contemplating the number of baptisms that the LDS Chilean missions (like where I served in the 1990s) were able to undertake from the 1960s to the 1990s. Things seemed to slow down considerably after 2000. Adding commentaries to an interesting blog site called LDS Church Growth (http://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/), I reflected more and more about the incredible number of chilenos that were baptized. It has taken a lot of my thought and conceptualization over the years. So many would enter the waters of baptism with us elders and sisters! And many never stuck around... Sometimes I compare it to a romantic fling, not meant to last but poignantly sweet while it transpired. And it happened time and again. Perhaps it was contagious, or infectious. Chileans would see neighbors or cousins join the faith and wonder: what is the allure?

    In my Concepcion Mission in the 1990s, we had a significant number of native Chilean Elders and Sisters. Elders from Chile made up approximately 40 % of the men, while chilenas possibly made up about 70 percent of the females, who composed 10-20 % of the overall missionary force (which ranged from a high of 240 missionaries to 180, during a lot of my time there). We had a few elderly married couples who tended to be US persons, but their overall numbers were quite small.

I found it more successful to be with a Chilean natives while teaching new investigators of the faith, rather than being with other North American ones. Maybe that is how I was with a fellow countryman in this foreign environment, or that is how it worked out with me in my time there by coincidence when I happened to be joined up with American companions. I remember feeling more confident baptizing people that I knew would be within a day's bus ride or so from those that taught and baptized them, as opposed to me and another US guy who may never make our way back down there...

It is tricky. I commented on the Growth Blog about a young man named Claudio Orlate who requested being baptized in a short period of time, which my missionary trainer Elder Cabrera and I facilitated and undertook based on the fact that he qualified to be baptized and wanted to do so. What he did after officially joining was up to him. He confessed to a Catholic priest that he had done our baptism and confirmation, and he seemed to change his mind, or "repent" of his decision, thus reverting to his original faith although listed on our rolls. Others that we taught and baptized eventually stopped coming or were going to other churches, too.

But in my previous post, just recently written (Chile 3 Times, 3 Things about Chile...Tres y tres son Seis), my observations indicated that Chileans were culturally or sociologically ready to do this.

Go figure.

So do we blame the elders and sisters, the mission presidents and the LDS church at large for the huge number of convert baptisms and the consequent loss of those attending? Or do we attribute it to  the Chileans themselves?

Ultimately, there is no cut and dry answer for us to understand for sure, but each individual will account to God or others what caused them to make decisions and either stick to or not keep with those commitments. Peer pressure? Opportunity? An emotional crush or flirtation, as such? Real feelings turned sour or bitter, or apathetic? Other socio-economic factors?

We shall see.

Blog it, EMC.