Putting the 'perstit' in superstition

After a sweep at the hands of first-place Iowa and a loss to start a new home series with Memphis, it was safe to attach the label of "struggling" to the Omaha Royals. They had won only 3 of their last 10 games, the pitching staff had been giving up almost 6 runs per game in that time, and the offense had only offered 4.5 runs/game in return (an average artificially inflated by one ten-run effort).

I admit I'd been feeling a little defeated when it came to the home team. So when they were down 5-4 in the 7th inning tonight, I did not hold my usual amount of hope that Brian Buchanan would deliver, even with the bases full o' Royals. And then one of my co-workers asked who would sing as the Fat Lady (cuz it ain't over until SHE sings) if the team went on to win. At that point, I was furious at this gal - we do NOT talk openly about the Fat Lady duties, nor about the Victory Pigs we throw after wins. I was sure that was the end for the Royals, because dagnabbit we are a superstitious bunch.

But then, a pitch later, Buchanan smashed the ball, good for his 3rd career grand slam. Just like that, the Royals led. Cool. But we still had Yasuhiko Yabuta on the mound in relief of Dusty Hughes (who had struggled but stayed afloat) and two more innings to protect the newfound lead. I had very few reasons to feel secure in a victory, but Yabuta provided another surprise and only yielded one run in his four full innings of relief and now sports an ERA under five. Woo! Victory pigs and Fat Lady singing for all!

(For the record, I fulfilled the Fat Lady singing duties. With the Mentos jingle.)

On a completely unrelated note, I arranged an interview for what ought to be a cool little story. More details later.