Baseball and other things

ANNOUNCEMENT: I have moved!

2009-01-08T00:58:00.004-06:00

The other day I hinted at some possible news, and well...here it is.

I have moved to MVN (Most Valuable Network) to be one of the featured Royals bloggers alongside Clark and Craig at Royals Authority.

I've shed my awkward name - the new site is called Royal Blues, and it can be found HERE. Please update your bookmarks/RSS feeds accordingly.

This site's archives were also moved, but I will keep them here as well, for posterity and for the sake of the good people who have linked here in the past.

A few links and a plea to Dick Kaegel

2009-01-06T20:42:00.004-06:00

I'm feeling linky today, so let's share some cool stuff from around the sports Interwebz.
1. Fascinating 2-part series from Roto Authority. You know how, every spring, MLB players swear they've lost weight, gained muscle, or improved their body through some radical new workout system? These articles put those claims to the test.
Part I - Players who claim to have lost weight, gained muscle, or lost body fat percentage.
Part II: Vision improvement, new exercise routine, finally healthy, working on a new pitch, expected to run more

2. A horribly fascinating list of pro athletes who have illegitimate kids. Yikes.

3. Jonah Keri brings us this hilarious video of Pat Burrell showing off his condo. The video's old, apparently, but it's a hoot.

4. Royals Review's own devil_fingers makes his debut at Driveline Mechanics by awarding Gold Gloves...to designated hitters. He works in a Justin Huber reference, so you know it's good.

5. This wouldn't be a true Baseball and Other Things link post without a link to some of my own work offsite, so here are 7 little things I miss about baseball season.

6. Dick Kaegel is again unrealistically optimistic at Royals.com. The money quote is the very last paragraph, which I will post here in case you don't want to read the whole article:

Everyone seems ready to surge into '09 after a super September lifted the Royals into fourth place, ending a four-year stay in the American League Central cellar. If there's to be a new version of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, fans in Kansas City have a candidate in mind.

Sigh. Oh, Dick Kaegel. You honestly think that the '09 Royals and the '08 Rays are similar things? That's...cute, but horribly misguided. I'm amazed there are still so many baseball journalists - people whose job it is to know about baseball - who still refer to the Tampa Bay '08 season as "a total surprise" and things like that.

I'm no professional sportswriter, but I wasn't totally shocked by the Rays. You know why? I spent 20 bucks on a Baseball Prospectus book, and then read it. It's not that hard to be somewhat educated, and if mainstream writers continue to insist on staying in dark caves where only grit and RBIs matter, they are cheating their readers. It's not noble to hang on to antiquated sports ideals at the expense of actual expertise. Not when your entire job is to inform fans about a sport.

The Royals can not, and will not, have the kind of season that the Rays just did. The Rays spent years acquiring talent and building up a young core, and made a small number of moves last offseason that, in the words of the '08 Baseball Prospectus book, "[made] the Rays more of a real baseball team rather than a random assemblage of talented youngsters."

The Royals do not have an assemblage, random or not, of talented youngsters. They have a few elite pitchers, and a few sundry parts on offense who are either "solid," "unproven," or "horrible." Kansas City can't just make one trade, like the Delmon Young-for-Matt Garza deal, that will allow everything to fall into place for a playoff run. The Mike Jacobs acquisition isn't going to boost this team from the depths of hell to a 97-win season. Ditto for Coco Crisp. And signing Kyle Farnsworth for such a huge salary might actually damn us all to more hellfire.

So no, Dick Kaegel, don't try to say that the Royals are a candidate to do what the Rays did last year. That's an uninformed, hacky, stupidly optimistic proposition that does no good for anyone. False hope isn't enough to float a fan base that's been this far from goodness for this long. Please...just stop. You're hurting me.

...Wow, that got a lot more bitter than I thought it would. One more link for you:
7. Keith has supplied us with the latest profile of a Royals prospect: 2008 third round draftee Tyler Sample.

K, I think that's all. Happy Tuesday!

Why? (and some possible news...)

2009-01-05T14:48:00.003-06:00

Why didn't I see this utterly brilliant video BEFORE the Winter Meetings?

Oh, also...I might have some big news coming. Maybe. More details later.

Bottom 10: The Royals and OBP

2009-01-04T00:26:00.003-06:00

Leaderboards are fun...I could look at Top 10s all day. (Related side note: Top 10 of Everything is a book I'd buy every year if I could afford it. It's fascinating stuff, and always random, which suits me well.)

But I am a Royals fan, and Royals fans have no business hanging around Top 10s. Royals fans are better suited to Bottom 10s, because our GM insists on signing players who rack up all the wrong numbers.

The Bottom 10 in OBP among all regular MLB nonpitchers (2008 salary)

#10: Jose Guillen - .300 ($12 million)
#9: Corey Hart - .300 ($0.4 million)
#8: Yuniesky Betancourt - .300 ($1.6 million)
#7: Kevin Kouzmanoff - .299 ($0.4 million)
#6: Mike Jacobs - .299 ($0.4 million)
#5: Freddy Sanchez - .298 ($4.2 million)
#4: Carlos Gomez - .296 ($0.4 million)
#3: Bobby Crosby - .296 ($3.6 million)
#2: Jeff Francoeur - .294 ($0.5 million)
#1: Michael Bourn - .288 ($0.5 million)

Drink up, Royals fans. We own two of the 10 worst on-base players in all of the Majors, and Moore has been publicly salivating over another of them (Francouer) since he became our GM.

Nothing more to add; just know that I am heaving a deep sigh as I type this. 2009 is not going to be very fun.

7 Random Athletes who should give their paychecks back

2009-01-02T23:37:00.001-06:00

Andruw Jones has truly inspired me...let's see if he also inspired these 7 athletes - among many others - who should really give their teams some money back!

Looking back and looking forward

2009-01-01T00:34:00.003-06:00

Long story short (for once), I didn't go out for New Year's. That puts me here, in my computer chair, at less than two hours into 2009, and somehow I don't feel any different than I did before 12:00 struck. Also, all the cool kids are doing years-in-review, so I have to too!

This blog and its author had some fun times in 2008.
Like...January, when we went to Texas and caught up with Mike Sweeney again. Fun times, right?
We also hit up the Royals Caravan in that month, got a snazzy pic taken with Ryan LeFebvre, and made John Mayberry chuckle.

In February, we had some trouble with an old laptop (may it rest in peace), and openly mocked KSU superfrosh Michael Beasley to his face. One of those things was more fun than the other.

In March, we fretted about Spring Training performances, made some pointless tables, and also got "discovered" by a couple of Royals message boards and other Royals blogs. Finally, someone who doesn't share my last name or bloodlines started reading this! Then Opening Day finally arrived, and we babbled like idiots.

Then came April, which meant the Royals home opener. We ogled Crown Vision's enormous glory and watched A-Rod strike out FOUR times. Then we became one of the Ladies..., which was pretty exciting, and reflected on the origins of our Royals fandom.

May...was mostly stupid. We stewed about the Buzz Bissinger affair, had our hearts broken by a 12-game losing streak, and finally had something to celebrate when Mike Aviles got called up.

June was all about branching out, like a piece for Yahoo! about Aviles, and a new sports blog elsewhere where I pondered the human drama of minor league ball, and shared a tale of a game the ORoyals played with no electricity after a horrible storm beat our fine city to a pulp. (That game ended up being my favorite sports moment of 2008 in this Ladies... post.) Oh, I also saw my first no-hitter in person, and was not amused. Oh, and I went to Kansas City for a few days!

The beginning of July contains my birthday, so we figured out how the Royals have done on birthdays past. We later wrote our first-ever FanPost at Royals Review, which was a trade rumor involving Tony Pena Jr. And then TPJ pitched. Then, we were giddy to learn that the Hawaiian Punch himself, Kila Ka'aihue, had been promoted to Omaha.

Remember the time the Royals won seven f*^*^&*^*ing games in an entire month? Yeah, that was August. But we had Kila to keep us sane. His plate approach was a sensational break from people who we won't specifically name, but whose name might rhyme with...Mason Pith. Oh, and here's a tale from the dugout.

September was SO. MUCH. BETTER! The Shealy finally got his much-deserved callup when rosters expanded - and was still misused - and hit a bunch of homers. But we also got to see Kila (now!) in KC. We enjoyed all the winning and pondered why we're still Royals fans. Then we got to see The Shealy at an awesome win over the Stupid PoopySox.

In October, we DID NOT WANT Mike Jacobs, but it happened anyway. How miserable.

November came, and the Royals did a bunch of stuff with catchers, which prompted us to examine the catching market. Then Coco Crisp happened, and we reacted. We then ate our words for your enjoyment, and hopefully more of those posts are coming soon.

December was a month of farewells, like Greg Maddux. And the Royals said farewell to Mark Grudzielanek but helllooooo to a sandwich pick. The Baseball Writers Association of America said some hellos, inviting two Baseball Prospectus writers to join their ranks. And we tried but failed to make any sense of the Kyle Farnsworth signing.

Going into 2009, I hope to post more often, use shorter sentences, and use more statistics. I hope more people find this blog to be worth reading and sharing. I hope the Royals give me happy things to say. I hope I don't suffer any awkward injuries at an ORoyals game in front of 6,000 people, because Joey Gathright is no longer around to save my life. I hope Brian Bannister bounces back to his 2007 form. I hope Zack Greinke signs a long-term extension already. I hope there's at least one person who has read this far, and I hope anyone who is reading has a happy new year!

If the Royals did MySpace surveys...

2008-12-30T17:03:00.003-06:00

Where did you begin 2008?
We had a fanfest thing in January in KC. Tons of people came out to see our new powder blues and our expensive new outfielder Jose. He took advantage of the spotlight to complain about the plan to use him as a left fielder. what a baby lol. Some of us went around the midwest on the Royals Caravan.

What was your status by Valentines Day?
all checked in at Surprise and in the best shape of our lives! or at least that's what we always say.

Were you in school anytime this year?
Only the School of Hillman, where we learned how to make idiot baserunning mistakes, cut down on walks, and say inflammatory things to the media.

Did you have to go to the hospital?
some of us had some pretty crazy injuries, like hives in the middle of a game, punching doors, and having Ross Gload cut us down at the ankles.

Did you have any encounters with the police?
Yeah Callie got picked up for driving drunk. we also had an encounter with the mitchell report. Oh, and some suspensions for punching pierzynski and Co. too. We have no regrets for that.

Where did you go on vacation?
Well all of us were free to go wherever we wanted after the regular season ended, just like every year. Then some of us went to Venezuela, Hawaii, the Dominican, and other places for winter ball.

What did you purchase that was over 100?
We bought an outfielder before the season started, but it turned out that may have been a stupid idea. We got a raise in our allowance after the season, and got all excited and spent it foolishly on junk we didn't need and won't like by the time we actually use it.

Did you know anybody who got married?
Yeah, a couple of our guys get married every year. As long as their wives are nice and they keep playin decent ball, we don't mind much.

Did you move anywhere?
Our AA players moved from wichita to nw arkansas, but other than that we mostly stayed put.

What sporting events did you attend?
Do our own games count as sporting events? lol I guess we went to about 162 of those, even though we were told during ST to prepare for about 185. Some of us - OK just Jack - also attended the all-star game and stuff.

What is the one thing you thought you would not do, but did, in 2008?
we did better than some ppl - ok just the baseball prospectus ppl - said we would. it was only one game's difference, but we'll take what we can get. We also gave in and gave some major league ABs to a few first basemen whose initials are not RG. That's something we never saw coming, and might regret someday.

What has been your favorite moments?
We had a lot of great moments from our pitching staff, and we're really happy with those guys. We signed Joakim to a pretty cool long-term deal, and felt great about that every time we watched him pitch. Filthy, isn't he? We also had some exciting moments from DeJesus, like that walkoff he hit in July against the Mariners, and one he hit off of Mariano Rivera in June. Grudzy got his 2,000th career hit - he's the 6th guy to do that as a Royal. And we as a team played a big part in making the battle for the division as tight as it was. Those games felt a little like the playoffs, and we liked that! Oh, and we didn't finish in last place. That was sorta cool too.

Any new additions to your family?
Well John Buck's wife had twin boys, and we made a lot of changes to the "family" of the team - like Hillman and everyone else.

What was your best month?
September was a blast. We won a ton of games and people quit making fun of us so much.

Who has been your best drinking buddy?
Alberto Callaspo...well, he used to be. j/k but seriously i dunno.

Made new friends?
We always make new friends but the thing that never changes is how much aj pierzynski is NOT our friend.

Favorite Night out?
Prolly the night of that DDJ walkoff. Is there anything that feels sweeter than a win like that? Well prolly the playoffs but we don't relaly know how those feel.

Change your hairstyle?
Well this one time Gil shaved Bucky's head and then he pitched really well, so he kept doing it. Whatever works for the team, right? And a bunch of us grew all different beards, but none were as awesome as the Soria Abe Lincoln look lol.

Do you have a New Years resolution?
We gotta play at least .500 all season, and try not to let the Star pick up on so many things we don't like in the clubhous. And maybe don't make Trey wanna yell at us out on the field again!!1!

Do anything embarrassing?
Lots of things - see above - getting yelled at right there on the field made us feel like total losers. Then in August we got no-hit, which was cool for Lester but that doesn't mean we liked it! Then we lost 11 more games in a row after that. Oh and then there was August - we only won 7 games that ENTIRE month. wtf? What kind of major league team does that? seriously it was stupid.

Buy anything new from eBay?
idk maybe like some ash for new bats!

Get arrested?
Yeah one of us did but Callie's turnin it around

Been snowboarding?
That's prolly not a great idea, we might get hurt. That doesn't mean none of us went though!

Did you get sick this year?
Lots of us had the flu in arizona, that was really gross. Puke everywhere ewww. Then there were some problems with hives for SOME of our guys - DDJ i'm lookin at you lol - but otherwise no huge illnesses i don't think

Are you happy to see 2008 go?
YES!!!!! we can only get better from here, right? ...right??????

Been naughty or nice?
lol we all try to be nice buuuut it's hard to be that way in baseball. plus we lost a lot of games which isn't very nice.

What have I done for you lately?

2008-12-26T11:54:00.003-06:00

After examining Mark Teixeira's worth as a player, I broke down the week in Hot Stove action on Monday. Then Tex became a Yankee, and I was too disgusted to write anything about that.

On Thursday, I used attractive athletes to wish a Merry Christmas/whatever to Ladies... readers. That took more man-hours than I'm ready to admit.

And about 5 minutes ago, I realized I was repressing some of the horribleness of the 2008 Royals season.

Happy Boxing Day!

On Mark Teixeira

2008-12-18T21:23:00.001-06:00

I wrote a thing here. Go forth and read!

Farnsworth, after the smoke clears: Still a thumbs-down

2008-12-17T01:04:00.004-06:00

I have given myself a few days to digest the Kyle Farnsworth signing. I thought that perhaps my initial rage would subside into something more palatable, which I could then turn into a blog post that was actually worth something (very unlike my first attempt at analysis of the deal).
All I had to say that day was this:

$9.25 million? Really, Dayton?

That's a lot of money, for not a lot of pitcher.

...And really, that's all I can think of now. It still makes absolutely no sense to sign a "pitcher" (I'm using that word generously) like Farnsworth for THAT MUCH MONEY. In last year's Baseball Prospectus book, he was described as "an overpaid trash-time pitcher, albeit one with unusually good velocity for that role."

Once again, it seems that the Yankees' abundance of money is at the root of this problem. After 2005, by far Farnsy's best season, the Yanks snagged him for about $5.5 million, when he had previously never made more than $1.9 million. This year, when New York traded him back to Detroit for Ivan Rodriguez, his salary was up to $5.9 million.

That's quite a trick he's playing; being a guy who throws pretty hard but can't actually pitch, and getting ridiculous millions to do it. But if the Yanks had never been so jumpy to sign him at whatever cost, we wouldn't be here today. (Sorry, apparently part of my grief over this signing includes finding someone to blame. I don't really mean anything by it.)

Was there a purpose in paying him that much in the first place? I know his 2005 season was awesome, but did it warrant a pay raise of $3.5 million? Were the Yanks that desperate for a right arm in their pen?

In 2005, New York had these right-handed non-closers throwing significant innings in their bullpen: Tom Gordon, Tanyon Sturtze, Felix Rodriguez, Scott Proctor, and Paul Quantrill.

Sturtze and Proctor stayed with New York for 2006, and the team added righties Farnsworth, Brian Bruney, and rookie T.J. Beam. (Again, those are just the guys with more than a handful of appearances.) That pitching staff was already pretty darn good in '05, and improved in the standings in pretty much every category in '06. So I'm not trying to say that the addition of Farnsworth was an inherently bad thing for the Yankees from the start, but did it have to be such a high-dollar signing?

I can understand New York grabbing him off of his hot season; it's easy to see why he was a tempting free agent target for them. But I'm having a harder time understanding why Dayton Moore was so jumpy for him this year. Does Moore really believe that no one as good as Farnsworth (but preferably better) would be available at all this winter? Oh hey look, I found one! And I'm not even a GM.

Farnsworth in 2008 was NOT Farnsworth from 2005. So why be so quick to throw craploads of money at him? Like I said, I can understand why a team would want to bite on a reliever after a really good year, like Boston going for RamRam or the Yanks and our boy Farnsy. But this line, and all the scouting reports on Farnsworth do not inspire confidence, and certainly not $9.2 million worth of confidence.

IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP IBB BK ERA *lgERA *ERA+ WHIP
60.3 70 32 30 15 22 61 1 1 261 4 1 4.48 4.44 99 1.525

(Sorry if the spacing is all weird; you can just look at his baseball-reference page)

I'm trying my hardest to find a silver lining. We all are. But the best anyone can come up with is that the Royals are well-equipped with players who can lead the team to victory in bench-clearing brawls. Oh, goody.

I have officially spent too much time thinking about this waste of money and roster space. I'm going to bed.

Some links

2008-12-13T17:19:00.003-06:00

Some other stuff I've done in the last few days, because I sure as heck haven't done anything notable here.
At Just Other Things: Googling for dummies. (with a new update!)
At Getting to First Base: Athletes being people and people being athletes
At Ladies...: Ladies... Gift Lists

So there's that. I really, really, really, REALLY miss baseball season.
Oh, and here are two threads at Royals Review that win my award for Bestest Unintentional Comedy of the Winter:
Guillen is our best hitter - I dare you to question this
and
Can you all just shut up!! Farnsworth will be better in KC than Ramirez in Boston

I have no idea what I'd do without Royals Review.

Yipee! (Oh, and Kyle Farnsworth)

2008-12-11T18:57:00.003-06:00

Short personal note:
My computer works again! A friendly Dell tech fixed it and now it's all better. Huzzah!

Now, on to this Farnsworth business.
$9.25 million? Really, Dayton?

That's a lot of money, for not a lot of pitcher.

BBWAA and BP, Plus some other things (naturally)

2008-12-10T19:07:00.002-06:00

Every time I think I'll have lots of extra time to post more here, my computer dies. Well, OK, my laptop didn't DIE, per se, but it only runs in Safe Mode and the laptop display doesn't work so I have to hook up an external monitor. But being in Safe Mode means suuuuuper-low resolution, which makes my head hurt. YUCK. Oh, and the sound doesn't work (by default) in Safe Mode. Thank God (or your own deity of choice) for warranties. Tomorrow, a tech will come and all will be well again.

ANYWAY, the Baseball Writers' Association of America is continuing to eschew its fear of the Internet and all the nerds therein by adding Will Carroll, Christina Kahrl, Rob Neyer, and Keith Law.

Law and Neyer were the only two 'Net writers excluded last year, a year in which 16 Internet writers were added.

All four are deserving of inclusion in the BBWAA, and I'm especially pleased for Carroll and Kahrl, the first writers from Baseball Prospectus to be recognized this way. I have a particular fondness for Carroll, ever since he friended me on Facebook and took me under his wing. Both he and Kahrl answer every question I've ever had about baseball and life as a baseball writer, and I am grateful that they are so accessible. They, obviously, are also very talented and I think will set a good precedent for other BP writers to be added to the BBWAA.

And certainly, many other BP folks deserve inclusion. I'm honestly a little surprised that Joe Sheehan, Nate Silver, Rany Jazayerli, etc. were not included. Perhaps next year. But in the meantime, a hearty congrats to Carroll, Kahrl, Law and Neyer.

In the comments on Kahrl's Unfiltered post on the topic, Carroll left this response:

First, let me say thank you. In large part, this is a validation of you, the readers, who have shown that there's an appetite for this type of content.

Second, let me say thank you to everyone who helped with this process, especially the BBWAA board and the members who supported us through this, like John Perrotto.

Finally, I'll say that I wouldn't expect anything to change because of this. If anything, we'll get better due to additional access. CK and I will be asking questions, attending games, and continuing the growth of BP from niche to slightly larger niche.

As I was walking through the hallways of the Bellagio, I ran into Peter Gammons. He smiled and said "welcome to the club." Yeah, it's been a good day.

Awww.

Shoot, this post is getting longer than I anticipated. I still owe you all some thoughts on clubhouse leadership, and in fact am thinking of starting a whole series called "How Much Does ______ Matter?" There are so many factors that fans and media see as important, but might not actually be too big a deal to players. Maybe some things are the other way around. ("Veteran Presence," Jose Guillen's attitude, whatever.) I would like to explore lots of these issues, so if you have any ideas, please let me know in the comments or by e-mail (mhaas33 at gmail dot com), facebook, whatever.

A Will Carroll post about what statistical evaluation MLB front offices use sparked this great discussion at Royals Review. It's worth a read, and could also turn into a post at some point.

OK, now I must go back up all my stuff in preparation for the Dell tech tomorrow. He is going to replace my hard drive, so it will be like starting all over, again. Umm...yay? (For the record, I do absolutely love my laptop. My family surprised me with it when my old computer died, and it is fabulous when it's working. But my understanding is that bad sectors can happen to any hard drive at any time, regardless of brand or age or anything. Hard drives are fickle by nature, and I'm just lucky this one decided to fail while still under all kinds of warranty protection, and that it didn't happen last week when I was scrambling to finish all kinds of final projects, job applications, etc.)

Mad Dog makes his exit, everyone is sad.

2008-12-08T01:17:00.004-06:00

I've spent the last two or three hours reading dozens of tributes to Greg Maddux. There's really no way to sum up in words what he has meant to the game of baseball. Many players have had a huge impact in my lifetime: The bats of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa carried bats that brought all kinds of fans back to baseball after they'd been turned off by the strike. Pedro, Clemens, Johnson were scary good (emphasis on scary). Pujols is simply the best hitter I'll ever see, a dominating force at the plate. A-Rod is A-Rod, and on and on.

And then there's Maddux. Mad Dog. The Professor. Whatever you want to call him. Every time I think I'm finished reflecting on his quietly amazing career, I feel the need to pour out more words, and read more that others have written. I collected some of those words at Ladies... but it's not enough. This is a really sad day for baseball, because I can't imagine anyone else being so cerebral but thrilling, someone who made thousands of little pitchers fall in love with pitching as beautiful craft rather than a contest to see who can throw the hardest fastball.

We will be hearing from Maddux again, at the very least to shoo him into the Hall as soon as we possibly can. Hall of Fame voters get things wrong sometimes, but they'll get this one right in 5 years. You just can't deny a guy like Maddux.

Anyway, I've got some thoughts coming soon about clubhouse leadership, because Mark Grudzielanek has declined arbitration, as expected. Mike and Kevin, I swear I'm not ignoring your comments from my last post; you both bring up great points about clubhouse leadership, and I've been wanting to post about that but I have been ridiculously busy with school. Hopefully we'll get to that today or tomorrow.

Arb offer to Grudz was easy choice

2008-12-02T12:51:00.004-06:00

If some silly person made me the Royals GM for one day, and that day happened to be yesterday, I'd also offer arbitration to 2nd baseman Mark Grudzielanek. Naturally, some commenters at Royals Review are seeing this as a negative thing, but I don't see it as a problem at all. (RR fellas, I love you dearly, but y'all are a lot more negative than I am.)

If he accepts:
The Royals have a 2nd baseman whose production is predictable, in a good way. OR, if Dayton Moore doesn't actually want him on the team any longer*, the Royals can release him and only pay 1/6 of whatever the offered amount was. From Bob Dutton:

The Royals retain some financial wiggle room if Grudzielanek accepts arbitration because arbitration-determined salaries are not guaranteed. Teams must pay only one-sixth of a salary if they release a player with 45 or more days remaining before Opening Day.

*most likely scenario

When, errr...if he declines
We get a sandwich pick in next year's draft. Mmmmmm, sandwiches...

Grudz will almost certainly decline the Royals' offer so he can try and get on board with a winning team. He all but said that in this Royals.com article.

Don't get me wrong, I love Mark Grudzielanek. He's, as stated many times, a fabulously professional player who keeps his mouth shut when it's not necessary to talk, who produces consistently on the field, and by all accounts works hard. I realize his numbers aren't the greatest, but to me there's value in knowing what you're getting from a player, especially if your team is otherwise chock-full of question marks.

Grudzielanek was a valuable addition to a club that needed stability somewhere. If he declines yesterday's offer, which I'm almost certain (I'd say about 95-98% sure) he will, I hope he can find what he's looking for, which is the chance to win. What player doesn't want that?

Farewell, Mark. I'll miss you, but I'm also looking forward to that sandwich...pick.

Royals sign JR House

2008-11-29T22:11:00.003-06:00

Via MLB Trade Rumors - Royals sign J.R. House, a 29-year-old catcher who was drafted by the Pirates, but has spent the last 4 season with in the Astros and Orioles organizations.

In AAA Round Rock last year, House hit .306/.378/.480 with 53 walks and 52 strikeouts in regular duty. House has only seen a handful of Major League games over the last 5 seasons, so there's not much known about his readiness.

Tim Dierkes mentions that House was highly touted in his early career, to the point where Pittsburgh would make a drastic move to get him behind the plate:

Back in the day, House was considered the Pirates' top prospect before he was derailed by injuries. There was a time when Jason Kendall was expected to move to the outfield to accomodate him.

Does this mean Matt Tupman will not end up back with the Royals after all? Or is this signing just an insurance policy for the Omaha lineup in case Brayan Pena gets lost to the waiver wire in the spring? Either way, not a bad pickup for the Royals.

Things for which I'm thankful

2008-11-27T17:28:00.003-06:00

Not a complete list, not in a particular order, and all completely sincere:

My God / my parents / my brothers / my sister-in-law / my brothers and sisters in Jesus / my puppies / Joakim Soria / Dr Pepper / Sudoku puzzles / Google reader / getting paid to blog / the Ladies... / my car / goodish health / choirs / blogger / Joe Posnanski / the Internet and all it has allowed me to accomplish without ever leaving my mother's basement / large piles of pillows / Journey / my hearing / Denny Matthews and Fred White / that my family hasn't dispersed as we all "grow up" / life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness / higher education / Child's Play / cellos / cows / two shoulders that (mostly) work / Christmas decorations / the way the last note my choir sings echoes off the church ceiling / the women of my Bible study / a fresh start with a new bank / my summer job / my new computer (!) / 4-inch heels / free speech / warm blankets / Dayton Moore / Photoshop / "Old City Bar" by TSO / wearing pearls with jeans / Opening Day / the people who read and comment here / random acts of kindness / fountains / Puppy Cam / tiny adorable children / Ryan Shealy / the two previous items standing next to each other / Molly / a roof over my head / plenty of food / chiropractic care / Latin / the simple, honest sound of a single acoustic guitar accompanied by a djembe / that my brothers have let me crash at their houses the last two summers / facebook / the Red Zone / always knowing I'm loved / seat belts / firefighters and EMTs / Michael John Sweeney / Beethoven / the History Channel / honest mechanics / the city of Omaha / the two strangers who helped me move in last year when I was too proud to ask for help / January 6, 1978 / Brian Bannister / The Office / packing / car washes / some wood and three nails / Baseball Prospectus / The United States of America / YouTube / the way my dog just woke up from a nap and came to sit at my feet / the men and women around me at the Newman Center in Lincoln who constantly teach me what it means to be excellent / Zack Greinke (and moreso if he signs a long-term deal in KC) / you, again, for reading this far.

Happy Thanksgiving!
129 days...

Expectation vs. Reality: 2008 Royals (Part I)

2008-11-25T12:44:00.007-06:00

As we head into the depths of the offseason, I thought I'd look back at some of the predictions I made last winter. What did I want from the 2008 Royals? What did I think was realistic? I'll go over one or two at a time periodically, whether I was wrong or right.

I'll start with an easy one: Joakim Soria, from March 2008.
Expectation: Soria would be Soria.
Quote: "He’ll continue to do his thing, and people will continue to suggest moving him into the rotation."

Reality: Um, yeah. This is like expecting the sky to keep being blue. His numbers are here, and some fun videos are here.

The 2nd part of the "prediction" is also true. Just today, JoePo mentioned in passing that he thinks that Soria should be moved to the rotation.

I mean, look at this Royals team: They have a couple of very good starting pitchers in Zack Greinke and Gil Meche. That’s as good or better than the Yankees 1-2 starters — better, I think. The Royals have Joakim Soria, who appears to be a 24-year-old version of Mariano Rivera — unless they decide to try him a starter, which I believe more and more they should.

Joe's not the only one to write this; it's been discussed from top to bottom, side to side, and underneath the paws at places like Royals Review. Making Soria a starter vs. Leaving him in the pen is one of those issues that could be frighteningly polarizing until it either happens or Soria retires.

From the same post back in March, I listed some numbers I hoped to see from David DeJesus.
Expectation: David DeJesus would increase his productivity
Quote: "He ought to deliver; I’m hoping to see his OBP in the .360s and his batting average much closer to .300. Steals will be another thing I’ll be watching for from DeJesus, and I really want him to far exceed his career best of 10 (from last year). I’d love to see him swipe 20, actually."

Reality: I wanted a .300 BA and an OBP in the .360s; DeJesus actually put up a .307 average and a .366 OBP. Man, I'm good. The thing he didn't do was steal a ton of bases - he swiped 11. I think at the time I wrote that post, the stories had been coming in from Spring Training about how DDJ and Joey Gathright were figuring out how to watch the pitcher's shoulder instead of his leg movement, and I thought that would lead to more steals than it actually did.

It's now time to pack up the computer and head West to see my parents, little brother, and dogs(oh, and chiropractor! My back is killing me!). I'll be back at some point with more of these posts, but first, a few thoughts:
1) I hope you all have a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. Whether you have a big family dinner or a pizza in front of the football games, I hope it's an enjoyable day.
2) This blog got a 90% Manliness rating according to genderanalyzer.com, meaning their AI examined the text of the site and figured with 90% certainty that I am a man. Heh. More amusing analyses of Royals sites here.
3) If you somehow missed these, here are Part I and Part II of an interview I did with Sam Mellinger.
4) I also wrapped up the week's Hot Stove activities at Ladies... .

Crisp to the Royals: My immediate reaction

2008-11-19T10:28:00.006-06:00

First, here's the story if you haven't read it yet.

Sports Radio 810 said the Royals had acquired the 29-year-old Crisp, who hit .283 with seven homers, 41 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 361 at-bats in 2008. Crisp, who will earn $5.7 million in 2009 with a 2010 club option worth $8 million or a $500,000 buyout, started 98 games in center field for Boston but had to share playing time because of the emergence of Jacoby Ellsbury.

(SI.com has confirmed the report - it's official)

My immediate reactions:
1. Yay!! David DeJesus can now play left field full time! As a CF,DeJesus is good enough, but when he plays left he's one of the best in the game. I've been hoping KC could find someone to play center every day who is not Joey Gathright, but didn't think it was possible given the market and budget constraints.

With DeJesus in left and Crisp in center, that's the start of a pretty good (and rangey!) defensive outfield. Yeah, then there's Jose Guillen in right, but that's another concern for another offseason, I think.

2. This lends credence to the Mark Teahen to the Cubs rumors, but now suggests it will be for one of the infielders (SS Ronny Cedeno or 2B Mike Fontenot) instead of Felix Pie.

Crisp will play as an ever-so-slight offensive upgrade to Teahen except with a little less power. In 2008, Crisp walked more and struck out less, so he fits in with Dayton Moore's OBP plan a little bit better than certain other acquisitions thus far.

Mark Teahen stats: Baseball-reference and FanGraphs (which includes Bill James and Marcel projections)

Coco Crisp stats: Baseball-reference and FanGraphs

3. I rather liked RamRam, and wonder who will take his spot in the bullpen. This move definitely dashes the hopes of people who were hoping that Ramirez would emerge as the new closer as Joakim Soria is eased into a starter's role.

That said, I think trading Ramirez for Crisp straight-up is fabulous, and offer some form of applause to Moore for pulling it off.

4. I have to think at this point, after trading away two relievers, that Ron Mahay will stick around, and John Bale will find himself in the bullpen to start 2009 (which is as it should be).

More thoughts later...I have homework now. :(

ORoyals roster projection: Pre-free agent edition

2008-11-11T19:34:00.002-06:00

This will of course be shaken up if/when the Royals pick up random free agents when the FA market opens up on Friday. Before I begin, here are some highly bookmarkable links for you: the list of MLB free agents, and Minor League free agents.

Now, here's who I think we'll be seeing in Omaha next year, at least to start. The usual caveat applies: I'm not an expert, and I'm preemptively labeling this post with "eating my words" for when this roster is totally wrong.

Starting rotation:
Carlos Rosa
Brandon Duckworth (gets placed above Cortes solely b/c of seniority)
Dan Cortes
Jose Capellan
Matt Wright

Duckworth, Wright and Capellan are ultimately roster filler. I'd love to try Wright as a long reliever but there's currently not enough starting pitching depth to test that theory. Cap is a decent pitcher but has never quite been able to crack it in the Majors because of a lack of movement in his fastball. However, no AAA team would suffer from having them on the roster, and of course Duckworth is good for a handful of spot starts in the event of an injury.

**Note: Roman Colon can be used effectively as a starter if any of the 5 on this list are not retained or if Cortes starts the season at AA again (not entirely sure why that would happen, but it could). Colon showed the ability to throw a lot of innings when he had to start games last year, often going deeper into games than some of the regular starters. However, I’ll also list him as a possible reliever, because he can be either according to the team’s needs.

BULLPEN:
Devon Lowery should start the year at Omaha; his September performance showed he has the ability to strike batters out, but he still gave up too many hits in limited appearances. He’s not quite ready for the Majors and will spend part of next season dominating AAA batters.

Greg Atencio, who was promoted from AA NWArk late in the 2008 season, will start the season at Omaha this time around. He’ll again serve as a durable middle reliever, and maybe even see a little time in the Majors later in the season.

Brad Salmon had a rough 2nd half of ’08 after being thrown into a starter’s role for which he wasn’t fit. If he gets to go back to the pen full-time he’ll be OK but probably won’t be first in line for a callup if KC has a need in their bullpen.

MIDDLE INFIELD
Because the Blue Jays claimed SS Angel Sanchez in November, the Omaha middle infield will be even more full of holes than before – and I didn’t think that was possible. Unless Dayton Moore makes some moves here, Omahans may be stuck watching Josh Labandeira and Gookie Dawkins butcher everything that comes their way again. Throw Dave Matranga into that mix as well, although Matranga is the most talented of this trio of filler.

CORNER INFIELD:
Kila Ka’aihue will likely anchor 1st base for at least the start of the year. On days he needs to take off, Mike Stodolka can come in from the outfield to fill in. This could change depending on how Dayton Moore handles Billy Butler, who is not out of options.

Third base is more up in the air, as stud Mike Moustakas isn’t going to be ready for AAA for a while yet. Expect to see 3b manned by a revolving door of fill-ins like the middle IF trio mentioned above, and even catcher-cum-utility man Brayan Pena as needed.

OUTFIELD:
The Royals will stick with Chris Lubanski in the outfield, but only because they have to. As soon as a different option comes along, the team should cut ties with Lubanski, who has been a pretty big disappointment after being the team’s #1 draft pick in 2003. I think Shane Costa will return, because his late-season injury problems will chase away any teams that might have otherwise wanted him. Mike Stodolka and Damon Hollins will probably return, but again it’s just out of necessity and a lack of OFs in the lower minors who are ready to move up to Triple-A.

CATCHER:
Brayan Pena has been added to the 40-man roster, and Matt Tupman was removed from it, a sensible move given Tupman’s lack of power, failure to develop throughout his 20s, and recent injury history. Pena will likely see more of the starts in ’09, but the two will continue to share duties. If one is hurt, the club can bring up someone like Demaso Espino from AA.

Links 'n' notes

2008-11-10T19:48:00.003-06:00

The Royals are quiet, so here are some other things I've been up to...
-Some speculation on the Matt Holliday trade before details came out.
-I really really hated that the Chiefs went for two at the end of their game yesterday.
-Some ideas for International Make Someone Feel Uncomfortable Day*.
-Last week's Hot Stove roundup, featuring hotties. Starting next week, I'll be writing on Mondays instead of Thursdays at Ladies..., so update your Minda-stalking schedule accordingly.

*by the way, I started a new blog as a spinoff of this one. No more non-sports here.

Back to Monday Night Football and studying. Toodles!

Grammar, the Royals, and YOU

2008-11-09T17:15:00.002-06:00

Since Dayton Moore appears to be finished for the season*, I would like to explore the fascinating community of commenters on the Kansas City Star Royals section. I don't understand where any of these people come from; the commenting community in most of the Royals' online community seems to be made up of intelligent, thoughtful people who understand what stats are and how they work. But reading the comments on Star stories is a far more negative and, um...not very well-researched.

*So much for the massive shake-up Moore promised. I was sort of excited to see what he'd do. What a disappointment, like paying 8 bucks to go to a movie, and then realizing it was Saw V.

I don't even know why I read these comments, ever. It only serves to frustrate me and make me cry a little for humanity. But since I have been reading these oh-so-enlightening comments, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites nuggets of Royals wisdom from this column I think was JoePo's but isn't labeled as such. All [sics] are implied.

1. "...I'm guessing there won't be any "I was wrong." ever put in here after Jacobs gets 600 AB and draws 50-60 walks and a few more hits fall to bring his OBP up to around .338..."
There was about 4x more to this sentence, but I snipped it for you because...if Mike Jacobs gets SIX HUNDRED at-bats, I will quit being a Royals fan. There are simply not that many ABs available against righties, and if anyone has any sense Jacobs won't be seeing more than a dozen ABs against lefties.

Jacobs has never appeared in more than 141 games in a season and never had more than 477 AB. And that's the way it should remain, no?

2. "Oh, I forgot most royal's fans aren't to bright."
One of the best things I've ever read. If you're going to insult a group's collective intelligence, you might want to use the right "too." And don't put a random apostrophe in "Royals."

3. "Who cares! Glass won't spend any money so I'm going to spend my money somewhere else."
OLD. Also irrelevant, because Glass has been spending money. Someone hasn't been paying attention.

4. "Maybe Joe the intent is to trade him somewhere else for what he really wants ...."
I wish. Except that Moore has already said that he's finished for this offseason. But good try. Also, punctuation and nouns to accompany pronouns are good things.

5. "Please remember triple A and the majors are a lot different, let KK develope, look at Gordon & Butler they are realy playing like they did at triple A, right? wrong not even close."
Yeah, man, you actually do have a point. Except the part where Gordon ever played at AAA.

6. "You are right Joe, the Royals should just stand pat, they are doing awesome. Kila will probably be the next great power hitter in the MLB.

Signed,
Craig Braizel"
I give 1 point for cleverness, but deduct about 50 for spelling "Brazell" wrong. Kinda ruins it. Also, I'm pretty sure Joe wasn't suggesting that Moore stand pat this winter, but that signing another 1B/DH who can't on base is asinine.

7. "What do you know? Again, we traded a middle reliever for a guy who hit 32 homeruns last year. I'm glad you are not the GM and Dayton is!!"
Yep, and homeruns [sic] are the only thing that matters!!!1!1!one! Never mind what Jacobs did in his other 445 ABs last year...

8. "I don't know much about Tilman, but the way he seems to manage best is when he has runners on base. Hit and run, pressure on defense."
I have...no words.

9. "Remember that home runs count for OBP too! You win by reaching home plate more times than the other team, not by reaching 1st or 2nd. A TEAM needs to have a good OBP to win, but not every batter on the team needs to have a high OBP..."
How can a team's already-low OBP go up if it signs a player whose OBP is significantly lower than the team average? I guess I'm not cut out to understand this kind of math. Curse my decision to only take three years of math in high school!

OK, I'm done. I have no idea what made me do that. I must really like pain.

Royals make lots of catcher-related announcements

2008-11-03T18:21:00.005-06:00

The big story today is that the Royals and Miguel Olivo both exercised his $2.7MM option for next year, so Olivo will still be a Royal.

I'm a little surprised by this, mostly because I thought Olivo was pretty darn sure ("hell no!") he wouldn't remain in Kansas City after this season. But more than that, I'm relieved that the team won't have to go shopping for a backstop this winter. Here's a complete list of free agent catchers this offseason from MLB Trade Rumors:

Brad Ausmus (40)
Paul Bako (37)
Josh Bard (31)
Michael Barrett (32)
Gary Bennett (37) - $900K club option for '09 with a $50K buyout
Henry Blanco (37)
Johnny Estrada (33)
Sal Fasano (37)
Toby Hall (33)
Paul Lo Duca (37) - Type B
Adam Melhuse (37)
Chad Moeller (34)
Ivan Rodriguez (37) - Type B
David Ross (32)
Javier Valentin (33)
Jason Varitek (37) - Type A
Vance Wilson (36)
Gregg Zaun (38) - Type B

Of those names,none really stand out to me as someone I'd want. Many, like Pudge Rodriguez, are in decline. Others, like Gregg Zaun, Paul Bako and Sal Fasano*, have been with the Royals before and are well past their prime compared to the catchers KC has now.

*Side note about Fasano. In the summer of 2007, I found someone on Facebook who was allegedly David DeJesus. It obviously wasn't DDJ, just someone pretending to be him, but one thing I remember about the fake profile was that one of the only groups "DeJesus" was in was "Put Sal Fasano on the Ballot for the 2007 MLB All-Star Game." Random!

Moving along in the list, I feel that Varitek would be too expensive. Lo Duca was booted to the minors far part of this year and wouldn't be an improvement. Michael Barrett seems to have a fallen off a statistical cliff after his very good 2006 season.

So yeah. It's a pretty uninspiring free agent market for catchers. To let Olivo part ways with the Royals would create a difficult task.

MID-POST UPDATE: Since starting this post, the Kansas City Star has expanded its story about Olivo's retention to include the news that Olivo will be the Royals' #1 catcher for 2009. Interesting.

Elsewhere in the Royals roster:
Matt Tupman and Yasuhiko Yabuta outrighted to Omaha. I'm glad the team has ended - at least temporarily - the Yabuta-as-a-Major-Leaguer experiement. Dutton referred to him as an "expensive whiff" at this point, and I agreed with that assessment a long time before he wrote it.

As for Tupman being moved, I'm not surprised. He didn't show enough improvement through his mid- to later 20s to warrant staying on the 40-man. His shoulder problems didn't help, and at this point Brayan Pena deserves the roster spot instead. I had hoped that Pena would be given a shot in September, but I can wait until Spring Training to see what he can do.

And farewell to Angel Sanchez. He certainly had - and still has - potential to be a nice middle infielder at some point, but is injury-prone so I don't blame the Royals for not pushing to hold on to him. The way to build organizational depth in the middle infield is not to fill roster spaces with guys who get hurt often and carry a light bat when they do play. I wish him the best with the Blue Jays.

Adios, Leo. Hola, Mike.

2008-10-30T14:43:00.002-06:00

Well...it's a done deal.

The Royals wasted no time Thursday in pulling the trigger on their first major off-season move by acquiring slugging first baseman Mike Jacobs from the Florida Marlins for reliever Leo Nuñez.

Sigh. I can expect the club to let Shealy go now, right? And will they shop Billy Butler this winter? To me...it's a little too soon to deal Butler. It's probably selling low.

Anyway. I'm not thrilled with this deal, but I'll just wait and see what happens. As for Nunez, I love him dearly and he sure is fun to watch, but I don't generally get attached to relievers because they're bought and sold so frequently.

Mike Jacobs: DO NOT WANT

2008-10-29T17:40:00.004-06:00

This stupid Mike Jacobs trade keeps popping up. I thought it fell through a few days ago, but this morning it's back. If you've missed it, this rumor has the Royals sending outstanding pitching prospect Carlos Rosa to the Marlins for first baseman Jacobs.

I'm unhappy about this, almost livid. It doesn't make any sense at all to add ANOTHER 1B to the mix in Kansas City. I think the team has more urgent needs (like an OF who can hit) than that for now. Acquiring Jacobs would spell the end of things for Ryan Shealy in KC because he's out of options and I don't think they'd retain him and Jacobs and Billy Butler and Ross Gload.

And I don't understand trading Rosa, who is the club's only starting prospect who is close to Major League-ready. Who does the club acquire to replace him? Why not just leave first base alone? The ONLY good thing I see about the team discussing signing a new 1B is that they clearly aren't looking at Gload to be the everyday 1B for 2009. But as a Shealy fan, and a Rosa fan, and a fan of taking care of priorities before adding to a position where we have 934571495784 choices already, I hate this trade idea.

(And personal side-note: I'm still computerless. I came back from a break from school over a week ago, and my computer would not start up. Turns out the motherboard's toast, and as my mom said, "When motherboard ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." In the meantime I've been using my dorm's computer lab and my roommate's computer, but it's not even close to ideal. The longer I go without having my own computer with my own stuff on it, the closer to insane I get. I have like 30 Royals-related posts started on that machine, and I can't get to them until at least Saturday. AUGH!)

Me interviewed at RoRetc

2008-10-12T15:51:00.003-06:00

Ray at Royals on Radio Etc. interviewed me this week about the Omaha Royals' struggles, occasional non-struggles, and future. You can read it here.

Random football thoughts

2008-10-12T14:23:00.004-06:00

I think the phrase "nearly intercepted" is used way too often in football broadcasts, both on TV and the radio. I don't care if the pass truly was "nearly intercepted;" the phrase is still grossly overused. A good way to die is to drink every time you hear it, no matter who is announcing.

________________________________________________________

My heart is totally broken after the Husker loss yesterday. It would have hurt less if we had lost to Texas Tech by 50, because that's what Vegas said we were supposed to do. Instead, Joe Ganz (or MANz, as I like to call him) and his receivers shredded the Tech defensive scheme and scored a VERY late TD to force overtime. You know what, I don't even want to describe that game right now. It hurts too much. Ganz should not have thrown that ball. It hurts. So hard.

Here's what happened, and a bunch of other stuff from Huskers.com.

He was SO GOOD. Until he wasn't. :(

_______________________________________________________

Turns out the Jerry Jones' strategy for dealing with Adam "not Pacman" Jones' latest scuffle is to not deal with it. Pacman is in the lineup today against Arizona. Also, Arizona ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown, which makes me laugh because I hate the Cowboys.

Terribly sorry for my absence lately

2008-09-30T15:21:00.004-06:00

Sigh. How has it been so long since I've posted here? If only I didn't have to be a student anymore; I'd blog all the time...or at least more of the time.

And Tuesday is homework day (yep, I have one day a week for that), so I don't have anything new at the moment. But here's what I've been up to elsewhere sine my last post here, in case you've missed it.

At Ladies... :
How NOT to win at Fantasy Baseball - I have a lot of expertise in this field; trust my advice here.

At Getting to First Base:
In the Stands vs. On the Couch
What's a Fan? - an examination of fandom vs. bandwagonism thanks to an anonymous comment at Rany's blog.
A Playoff Rundown - for anyone who doesn't follow baseball too closely but still reads my stuff for some odd reason.

And I think I promised some pictures from my Kansas City day last time, so...here.

A couple hours at Worlds of Fun is a great prelude to a Royals game!
Shealy doing his Shealy thing, and signing like a billion autographs while chatting with me and my good friend (and ORoyals coworker) Becky.
Then he took a "cheesy tourist picture" with us. That's Becky in the pink hat. These are all her pictures.

I went pretty nuts when this happened. That game had a lot of crazy, unfettered-joy type of moments: the DeJesus inside-the-park home run, the Ka'aihu homer, and...

One last Mexicution for the year. Can't wait for more next season!

I have tons of end-of-the-season thoughts coming up soon, including something I saw in Cosmo that I'd like to try: answering pressing questions in 20 words or fewer.

Thoughts from the 8-20 Royals win, because I was there.

2008-09-21T11:56:00.004-06:00

What a fun win for the Royals last night! It would have been sweeter if the Twins had also pulled out a win to help stomp on the Stupid PoopySox™’s playoff hopes, but I really can’t complain about a game that included a first ML home run, an inside-the-parker, Kyle Davies in Cy Young form (or, at least, pretty darn good), and a Mexicution.
First off, congratulations to Kila Ka’aihue for his first Major League home run. In an earlier at-bat, he had sent an absolute bomb to right field, but it was just foul. So when he hit one later that stayed fair – and MAN, there was no question that it was long gone – it was quite a thrill. He got one heck of an ovation from the 23k at The K, and was mobbed in the dugout by his teammates. It was a thrill for sure, but I still feel like he’s not quite ready for the Majors. He still looks good, but like he could benefit from a little more time at Omaha next April. Still no doubt that he belongs on the 40-man before the Rule V deadline.
And how about that David DeJesus inside-the-park homer? That was the first one I’ve ever seen in person, and in fact I’ve only seen them “live” on TV two times. What happened to Jermaine Dye out there? I couldn't quite see the whole right-field corner when people were standing up, so I saw Dye rush into the corner, then I saw the ball bounce out back into the field (while Griffey didn't move an inch), then I saw Dye kind of stagger back out of the corner. Meanwhile, I was ready to be thrilled if DeJesus had come away with a triple, so my elation when he slid into home was beyond words. I was also severely dehydrated and overtired at the time (long day at Worlds of Fun), so I’m amazed I didn’t black out and tumble into the row in front of me. But if I have to expire at a ballgame, it may as well happen after something like that. Note to self: Drink more water next time. ANYWAY, it was awesome. Times a billion.
Kyle Davies continued to show more velocity, and that curveball that seemed to come out of nowhere last week is back at well. He has abandoned the concept of “nibbling” and embraced manly, straightforward pitching. So far, so good. Can he keep this up into next season? Have these last two starts been a fluke, or has this flash of awesomeness been some kind of indication that the still-young Davies has figured himself out?

Side note: The worst part of my game experience was waiting in line for TWO INNINGS for some nachos. If I hadn't been in dire medical need of food, I would have given up. It's not that the line was long at all; it just Did. Not. Move. I didn't miss a whole lot on the field, but I did miss the condiment race. (Go Mustard!)

While John Bale was pitching in the 8th, I did see that Joakim Soria was warming up. I knew he was there; I knew he’d be come in for the 9th, and yet…when the opening strains of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ blasted through The K, and Jack’s face flashed up 100 feet tall on Crown Vision...I lost it, like I do every time. It’s fun to have a player about whom to get THAT excited. I really wanted to trash-talk my friend Ben, a White Sox fan who came along for the game. I wanted to tell him that the game was over before Soria threw a pitch. Given the walk and hit he gave up, I’m glad I didn’t trash talk.

Then when Dye hit that deeeeeeeeeeep fly ball that could have tied the game, I was on the verge of breaking down into sobs, while Ben was ready to go crazy with joy a few seats away. If someone had taken a series of photos from the moment the ball hit the bat until it finally dropped into Teahen’s glove at the fence, they would have seen the most heart-pounding shift in emotions as I went from crestfallen to elated and Ben went from suddenly hopeful to heartbroken. And when Soria got Thome to strike out, oh man! I had been so afraid Thome would do what Dye almost did, so when he got Mexicutioned, it only heightened my elation.
Then I noticed how sad Ben was. I’ve gone to games and watched my Royals lose, so I know how it feels to go all those miles for naught. But he looked genuinely heartbroken, and that is the difference between a “lowly” team like KC and one that’s trying to cling to a division lead in late September. Someday, I will know what it’s like to be totally crushed by a September loss rather than feel like it’s more of the same.

Pics to come later (hopefully), but for now I shall return to my quest for re-hydration. One quick, unrelated note: the ORoyals' Ty Cobb Night will be featured in ESPN the Magazine.

Letting myself feel good

2008-09-15T20:31:00.004-06:00

A couple of thoughts from the last few days...
1) Ahhh, it feels good to win. We have spent SO much time this season feeling let down and in despair. Neither game on Saturday was a squeaker, and Sunday was a blowout, and I had sort of forgotten how those games feel. Like...the Royals can play but I can still be in a good mood? Sweet! Sure, we may have been eliminated, but we won't lose 100 games this year. With a dozen games left, we need four more wins in order to improve over last year's final record. Would I like more of an improvement? Oh yes. But after the way parts of this season have gone, I'm glad to even have a shot at any improvement.

2) Hiram Kyle Davies was just spectacular tonight. I know it was "just the Mariners," but he showed a lot of stuff tonight, like a sweet curve that was snapping around everywhere but on the M's bats. I hate to admit it, but my reaction when I saw Joakim Soria coming out of the bullpen was "Nooooo!" I really wanted Davies to get a shot at a complete game, especially given the 3-run cushion, the Mariners' mostly minor-league lineup, and Davies' 9-pitch 8th inning. He only used 98 pitches to get through his 8 innings, struck out 8, and didn't walk anyone. I hate to complain when Trey finally puts Soria in a game, but this was NOT the situation in which I would call for a Mexicution.

3) Good thing Davies was in career form, because the Royals looked awful on the bases again. First there was that snafu with Shealy maybe-not touching 3rd in the 1st inning. The replay made it looked like his foot caught the inside edge of the base, closest to the home plate- and mound-facing edges of the bag. It's easy to see why 3rd base umpire Brian Knight would make the call he did, and to say that Shealy should have done better. There was Jose Guillen getting thrown out at 3rd in the 6th when Shealy reached base on an error. I don't think Guillen has the speed - nor was the KC lead "safe" enough - to gamble like that. Then there was Alex Gordon getting cut down at the plate. Again, even I wouldn't gamble there - not on Gordon's fresh-off-the-DL legs.

4) If you missed this...Dick Kaegel addressed the issues of "chemistry" and "Jose Guillen as a clubhouse cancer" in the most recent Royals Mailbag. I'm glad someone has finally presented a grown-up response to a question that is usually handled with such glossy, fake PR language on the Royals site and elsewhere. Among other things, Kaegel writes:

I'll go along with owner David Glass who, when asked about Guillen's demeanor, said he's never heard of a good team "where everybody loved everybody and nothing bad ever happened." Winning chemistry can involve some explosions from time to time.

5) Lastly, Ball Star readers have let Sam know why they still care about the Royals. This excerpt from the winning submission, though written by someone significantly older than I and about a Royals team from 4 decades ago, sums it up exactly. This is some good stuff (emphasis mine):

We didn't care that they weren't exactly the Big Red Machine - they were our guys, and I just knew they were going to rip off a huge winning streak any day now, and take the pennant by storm. And if not this season, there was absolutely no doubt it would happen next year.

That's exactly it. I mentioned in item #1 that I really expected more of an improvement from this year's Royals team, and I will do a post when the season is over that shows how those expectations were and were not fulfilled. This team has crushed me in the last 6 months, but I still tune in excitedly every night, even if it means missing my beloved Monday Night Football. I'm as insistent about watching every game in September as I was in April. There was hope then, and there isn't now, but I'm still here.

I'm still here because sometimes my irrational favorite will have three straight multi-hit games, or a AAA-quality starter will shine for 8 glorious innings. I'm still here, still rooting, still blogging because "next year" is all I have, and it's all I've ever had, but whenever "next year" gets here it will be the best time of my entire life.

That's why I still care. And I will always still care.

Dear Trey Hillman: the Shealy edition

2008-09-10T18:13:00.003-06:00

I wrote this a few days ago, when a lineup published prior to a game didn't include Shealy. That reported lineup turned out to be wrong - Shealy was in that game - so I figured I didn't need to use this. Lo and behold, I was wrong. I'm starting to think Trey Hillman is just a really terrible manager. Anywho, on with it:

Dear Trey Hillman,
I know you've got a big job - it can't be easy running a team full of egos, babies, underperformers, and glorified AAA players. You're expected to do a lot with a very small amount of talent.I understand you're not in an enviable position, and no matter what you do, some people are going to be upset. That's what happens when you take the helm of a team like this.

HOWEVER, one basic thing that Royals fans should never have to endure from their manager again is the abuse of September callups. We had plenty of that with Buddy Bell, and many of us are in utter, horrified disbelief that you're doing the same thing.

Ross Gload is not an everyday first baseman; let's just get that out of the way right now. That should make it SO much easier to juggle your crowd of bodies at that position. I'll even take it a few steps further for you: Billy Butler isn't exactly a natural at that position either, but he can hit, and Jose Guillen has spent all but 6 weeks of the season hitting like Tony Pena Jr., so he shouldn't be your first choice at DH.

Do you see what I've done for you? You now have just two men for the 1B job. One of them might not fare as well against lefties as the other, so there's another big clue as to how your lineup card should be filled out each night.

Trey, please. You're not stupid (I think), so why are you not seeing how desperately we need to see both Ryan Shealy and Kila Ka'aihue get swings against ML pitchers? Shealy's not exactly young, and he's been "fighting for his life" (his words, not mine) in Omaha for way too long. I could argue that he should have been called up in July, but that's in the past so I'll let it go. But it's September now, and plate appearances are few.

Someone a little closer to the situation has said that you're losing it, Trey. People aren't giving you respect in the clubhouse, a dire managerial situation. Is assembling a lineup which contains neither Shealy nor Ka'aihue the way to get anyone to respect you as a manager? You're keeping Guillen in the lineup at a position for which he's not fit because he'd tear you a new one if you ever dared to bench him. That's no way to pick your DH; it's cowardly. Man up, Trey, and do what's good for your team.

Shealy's not going to be a godlike force with MVP numbers - even I know that. But he's out of time; he has this month to show where he belongs, whether that is in the majors or minors; with the Royals or with a team who won't screw him over and play Ross Gload over him all year.

And if you're not going to give Shealy the PAs he desperately needs to prove himself for next year's roster, why not give Ka'aihue a look? You don't need to platoon the two in a traditional sense; Ka'aihue's evaluation doesn't need to be as urgent. But to leave them both him and Shealy out so you can play Gload at first again? What a waste.

At this point, you're lucky we still care at all. Don't push your luck.
Still a fan (despite your best efforts),
Minda

[Ed. note: PS, I'm not dead. But the Royals suck, and I'm in school again, so...homework and crap. Boo!]

Ka'aihue up, apparently

2008-09-01T13:04:00.002-06:00

SOURCE

So much for all my speculating and caution earlier today. First base is gonna be crowded.

Hat tip to Royals Retro: Devon Lowery up. Not a huge surprise, and he definitely deserves it.

Roster expansion musings

2008-09-01T10:54:00.005-06:00

It is now September, the time of year when the Royals call up players from the Minors and then have them sit on the bench for a month! (OK, hopefully that practice is no longer in place, and was just a Buddy Bell thing. As much as I love to see guys rot in the dugout instead of being evaluated meaningfully at the ML level, I hope Hillman has a different plan for his callups this month.) As far as I know, the only roster moves the Royals have made so far are to activate Jimmy Gobble and John Bale from their rehab assignments with Omaha. According to the KC Star, those two and Ron Mahay could be ready to go in time for tomorrow's game against Oakland.

The only other move that seems certain is that Ryan Shealy will be called up, and it's likely that Neal Musser will get his obligatory turn, since he's already on the 40-man; ditto for Josh Newman and Matt Tupman.

Then what?

A lot of people desperately want to give Kila Ka'aihue a roster spot for the month, but it's uncertain whether the club will do that. I don't think they can, not at all. Shealy is out of options; they need to see if he can (still*) hit Major League pitching.

*there's certainly some debate as to whether he could really hit in the Majors in the first place. His 2006 second-half was very nice, but not astounding. A line of .280/.338/.451 in his 51 games with KC was good for an OPS+ of 102. So what has been described as a "great" 2nd half with the team was really just "a little bit above ML average." Then again, the Royals are historically bad at finding 1st basemen who can hit, so maybe those numbers appear greater compared to the team's historical hitting disappointments at that position.

Yes, we'll eventually need to know the same thing about Ka'aihue: is he for real? Can he hit big league pitching? We do need to figure that out at some point, but not right now; September doesn't have enough ABs to solve both Shealy and Ka'aihue. Shealy will need as many chances as possible for the club to decide if his "nightmare" 2007 was actually a product of all the injuries*, or if his bat just can't catch up with big league pitches. In the 2.5 seasons since he became a Royal, Shealy has improved as a hitter in some ways. In 2006, he only walked 13 times in 172 AB. In 396 AB this season, he was walked 55 times, which is 25 more than his 2006 numbers would suggest. Would that apparent improvement in plate discipline translate from Omaha to KC? I guess we'll find out.

*I've long thought that Shealy is a heck of a role model for kids because of how hard he works and how friendly he is to fans and teammates. Talking to him about last season only serves to confirm that theory; I'll dig up the exact quotes at some point, but basically he talked about how he can't become bitter about the things that happen to him, and he just has to keep working his hardest no matter what things - good or bad - happen to him. Hearing that made me feel better about steering a lot of young Omaha fans toward choosing Shealy as their favorite ORoyal.

If Shealy does well this month, that solves a lot for next season. Maybe he could start the year as the everyday 1B while Kila proves he is pretty much the man in AAA. If Kila keeps hitting for power while sustaining his fabulous BB:K ratio, then he gets the job at midseason and Shealy gets traded or something. That's a long time from now, and a lot will happen between now and then. But even if I wouldn't call up Ka'aihue right now, if someone let me be GM for a day I absolutely would add him to my 40-man by November 20 so he's protected from the Rule 5 Draft.

As for other moves...who knows? I'd love to see Omaha Pitcher of the Year Devon Lowery get a shot. If Jose Capellan and Carlos Rosa were not hurt, I'd want to call them up too, but they're both on the DL. I know Tupman is already on the 40-man, but in a lot of ways I'd much rather see the surprisingly-versatile Brayan Pena. While his teammates have been dropping like flies, Pena has played all over the field, including both corners of the outfield and of the infield.

One last move I want to see more than anything: Josh Labandeira. Yeah, I think he should be moved to a different roster...a Little League one.

***********************************************************************************
One last note: I know that Mike Aviles' X-rays were negative yesterday, but I can't get too excited yet, not until I see him actually back out on the field. Recall that Mike Stodolka also didn't have any fractures in his hand, but he also hasn't played since August 5 and has since been placed on the DL.

The ORoyals start their final game in 20 minutes, and I still have not eaten lunch. I should probably get on that.

Silver linings galore...?

2008-08-31T14:16:00.002-06:00

Brett Bigler's Mustache* just his first-ever professional home run to give Omaha a lead, right after I thought, "He has no power, hopefully he can just get on base here."

*the team is still using his old Wilmington picture on the website, but he is currently sporting a ratty 'stache that looks like two caterpillars died on his face. My brother enjoys rooting for him by the name "Brett Bigler's Mustache." So there's that.

Anyway, I am celebrating a mustache's hitting because Kansas City gave us another frustrating day. Lifeless hitting, poor bullpen management (Kip Wells was probably left in there for a batter too long - it was pretty obvious to me that he wasn't going to start finding the strike zone at all), another possible injury... the usual crap.

HOWEVER, three of the Royals' farm teams are in the playoffs: Northwest Arkansas, Burlington (IA), and Wilmington. It's nice to have a little bit of hope for the future, and to have some postseason games to follow.

Currently, KOTK's Mark Nassar is laughing his ass off about Brayan Pena making a circus-like, floppy catch out in left field. Good times. If Omaha holds their lead today, they will guarantee a non-last place finish. Nashville is a game behind the ORoyals, and their last games in New Orleans were canceled on account of Gustav. The worst Omaha can do is lose today and tomorrow to finish in a tie for last (or 3rd, if you're a glass-half-full type) with the Sounds.

More later...just wanted to check in so y'all know I'm not dead.

The coolest thing happened to me tonight

2008-08-28T22:58:00.003-06:00

Boy it's been a long time since I've posted, hasn't it? Long story short, I did not have Internet in my dorm room (horror of horrors!), and then both of my computers conspired against me and gave me hard drive failure scares.

Tonight was the last Omaha Royals home game until April 17, 2009. I'm not counting down or anything, but that's 232 days away. I have a lot of thoughts from the last homestand, but I'll have to get to those tomorrow when I have no classes to attend and a whole day to spend with my Baseball Prospectus and my laptop (now featuring an Internet connection).

For now, just one quick story:
I ran dangerously low on fuel on my way to the stadium this afternoon, but decided to wait until after work to get more. So I pull into the gas station closest to Rosenblatt, put in my debit card and pin number, and untwist my Taurus' gas cap. Before I could get any further, a white pickup pulls up behind me, and the driver, a 40-something man, says "Hey! You're from Western Nebraska?"

Turns out this man and his wife were from a town near my hometown. And also that they had $35 left on a gas card to that station that they couldn't use, so they gave it to me, based only on my familiar license plate prefix.

After the bummer of a game that Omaha played, on top of the fact that it was the last home game of the season, I was feeling pretty blue. I can't think of anything else a stranger could have randomly done for me that would have been better, or more timely. So now I'm in a good mood, reflecting on the positives of my day, rather than being completely bummed out that my season is over, and I no longer get to see the Shealy and the Colon and the Wright and the many, many other smiling faces that made my summer days so much fun. Man I'm getting all mushy and cheesy here, so I'll stop and go do something manly, like chop down a tree or watch last night's Project Runway. Back with actual baseball stuff tomorrow!

A new low, in NSFW-rant form.

2008-08-23T00:56:00.004-06:00

From Sam Mellinger's blog today:

Maybe my memory's just short, and the 12-game losing streak is fading, but to me, because of the way they've lost these games, the stranglehold they now have on last place (again), the injury to Hochevar, the anemia of the offense, the struggles of Banny, this is about as bad as it's been all season.

It was admirable of Sam to try to see the other side of the shitty way it feels to be a Royals fan right now. But he does go on to concede that the last two weeks have felt a lot more miserable than that 12-gamer back in May, and he's correct. Sometimes I joke that "I hate being a Royals fan." Tonight when I expressed this feeling to a friend... I meant it.

<---Yeah, David, I feel the exact same way.

It sucks to lose on all days that end in 'Y'. It sucks to be described everywhere as 'hapless.' It sucks to have people suggest that the Royals be relegated to a less-than-major league, EPL style. It sucks to have to deal with a disabled list a mile long.

What sucks the most for me right now is knowing that Omaha has no one to offer the hurting parent club. Normally I'd offer a Carlos Rosa or even a Dusty Hughes, but they're both nursing injuries and far from normal form. I'd love to propose a Shane Costa to ease the burden of David DeJesus and Mitch Maier being DL'ed, but he's done for the season and has been for quite a while. We've been limping through the last week or so with Single-A mediocrity Brett Bigler in the outfield, so we have nothing to spare. And I'd be beyond thrilled if I could give KC a middle infielder to fill the Mark Grudzielanek-shaped void and a 3rd baseman to take Alex Gordon's place, but we've got this guy playing most days, so no help there either. (An Omaha season-ticket holder who is brutally honest about everything described Labandeira as someone who should be playing in Little League right now. Ouch. But true. Ouchtrue. Trouch?)

The kind of losing in which the Royals have entrenched themselves is impossible to escape: Injured starters and no rested relievers to take over their innings, along with the losses of bats like DeJesus and Gordon, and the epic depletion of the AAA team... it's the recipe for the most miserable August and September on record. I'll still watch, but I have zero expectations. Having those for this year has only hurt, and I've given this shitty team enough of my heart. I think that, for my own emotional health, I should check out for the season. I can't keep up this level of investment, because I don't want my roommate to come home from classes and find me curled in the fetal position on the floor, draped in a rumpled powder blue jersey and frantically muttering something about new blue tradition. If I'm going to lead a normal life, I have to try to detach myself somehow from this team. But I'll probably fail at that, because failing is what the Royals do.

/rant

A real hero

2008-08-20T13:30:00.000-06:00

I wrote about a real sports hero...here.

Kip Wells....yep. Back to baseball!

2008-08-18T23:30:00.003-06:00

I do love the Kansas City Star, and I am eternally grateful that it is available online for free. But two things bother me about it:
1) The comment section

There's not much the Star can do about the comment sections, but they are often filled with unrivaled idiocy and misguided vitrol by people who are sure they are geniuses. I am always amazed at some of the things people say, opinions and "solutions" for the Royals which are obviously not researched in the slightest nor given any practical thought before the words are committed to the comment box.

The smart thing to do would be to stop reading, but I can't. Anyway, I found this comment in the Kip Wells story to be particularly...something:
"He should be a "free" agent, because he's not worth a nickel!"

Um. Yeah. Thanks for that, YAWN, if that is your real name. I'll get to Wells' value in a second, but first the other thing that bugs me about the online edition of the Star.

2) Awkwardly large and often pixelly pictures.
I'm pretty sure that player mugs are meant to be displayed in a small size, like the ones on everyone's player page. (Take David DeJesus, for example, because that's what my whims dictate.)

So when I open a story on kansascity.com, it's alarming to find things like this staring back at me:

The face of Kip Wells, enlarged to show texture
-or-
Kip Wells just ate a bad burrito
-or-
Kip Wells believes that the cameras are stealing his soul
-or-
Someone just told Kip Wells that his dog died
-or-
Kip Wells was just informed that the Rockies had DFA'd him

...oh wait. That last one really did happen. Anyway, there's not a whole lot to criticize or praise about this pickup for the Royals. Some of our starters aren't pitching deep into games, we just traded away one reliever, our stud veteran setup guy isn't healthy, and Trey Hillman made a vow to only use his best pitcher once a week, and even then only for the 9th. They had to get somebody, and Wells was suddenly available. Dutton writes that Wells will be used to bolster the bullpen, but it's not unrealistic to think he could be used as a spot starter if anything happens to the rotation.

Meanwhile, Kansas City had yet another off day, and Omaha was rained out in Oklahoma, so it feels like it's been forever since I've seen the Royals play. (Yeah, there was a Kansas City game yesterday, but that doesn't mean any of them actually played any baseball. Yikes.) Alberto Callaspo and Joey Gathright were both 0fer in their respective rehab appearances Sunday night in Oklahoma. Then again, the majority of the lineup went 0fer in that game, so whatever.

I'll be moving back to Lincoln (while still working in Omaha) later this week, so posts might be sparse for the next week or so. Again, I extend my traditional invitation to anyone in the Omaha area to come catch an ORoyals game before the season ends! Here's what's on tap for the last homestand, from oroyals.com. See you at Rosenblatt?

The most non-baseball post I can muster

2008-08-16T19:41:00.004-06:00

Yep, another one of those "Other Things." I'll come back with some baseball stuff later.

This weekend at my neighborhood theatre is one of my favorite events to experience, and something I think everyone should do at some point or another: the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I went last night amidst a huge crowd, and as usual the showgoers ranged from regular jeans-and-tees folks to hardcore RHPS devotees in elaborate costume and makeup. (Admittedly, I do not have the confidence or the right type of wardrobe to be the latter, so I show up as the former.)

But something was very different about last night's showing...they had rules! It seems so contrary to enforce strict rules for RHPS, but sure enough the Dundee did not allow the usual props like rice, squirt guns, toast, toilet paper, etc. I understand that it's the biggest pain in the ass of the year (or a lifetime) to clean up after a raucous Rocky crowd, but anyone who went last night for the first time totally missed the full RHPS experience, and we all know it's not just something to watch, but rather an event in which every spectator is also a part. What fun is it to raise a toast if nobody has actual pieces of toast to throw around, and how are we supposed to feel the rain of that fateful night without squirt guns (and newspapers just like Janet's under which to cower)? If I'm not picking rice out of my hair the day after the show, something is very wrong.

Still, I'm glad I went. It was a good time, and there was some quality yelling from all corners of the theatre. My friends and I had feared that the line was too long and we wouldn't get in. But I made it all the way to the ticket counter, handed over my cash, and when the guy had given me my ticket he slammed his hands authoritatively on the counter: "That's it! We're sold out!"

I felt like the biggest douchebag in the world, and with everyone behind me staring daggers through me, I slipped into the dark theater about 10 minutes after the show started. Because we were the last in, there were no seats together, and we each had to sit by random strangers. Partway through, I got the triumphant news that the Royals had signed Eric Hosmer. It was sad to not have anyone around with whom to share the happy news, but at a showing of Rocky Horror, one is never too likely to find many diehard baseball fans. There were three baseball fans there of whom I know, and they were all in my group, and one of them was me.

If you've never been, and if the picture at the top of the post doesn't scare you, I highly recommend going to experience RHPS. Every city has some cool, quirky theatre that shows it at least one weekend per year. The cool thing about my particular theatre is that my mother used to go see new movies there when she was in high school (which was approximately when Rocky Horror was a new release). So every time I go to a movie there, I feel like I'm sharing an experience with Mom, because not a whole lot has changed in the building.

And I might even go again tonight, because the Royals already have done their best to suck the very lifeblood out of me today. But I won't post about it again, because this post is as long as I can possibly stray from baseball.

Let's do the Time Warp again!

ETA: If you're not familiar, check out some of the stuff from the RHPS Cult Following wikipedia page. It explains what I mean about toast, rice, etc.

A tale from the dugout

2008-08-14T13:50:00.003-06:00

The Omaha Royals are mired in kind of a rough patch these days. That'll happen when two of your hot pitching prospects (Carlos Rosa and Dusty Hughes) are hurting and held to pitch counts, your outfield is depleted by injuries and callups, and Josh Labandeira plays every day. Yeah, losses will happen when the bullpen has to work that much and the lineup doesn't have replacement bats for the likes of Mitch Maier, Shane Costa (who is likely done for the season), and even Mike Stodolka (whose hand is apparently still bothering him). I think we just have to grit our teeth and bear this rough patch until Rosa and Hughes are healthy enough to pitch more than an inning or two at a time. At least we have Kila Kaaihue to cheer us up.

Since there's not much more I can say about the ORoyals' current struggles, I'll just share a story from the dugout yesterday, featuring that day's birthday boy, Roman Colon:

One of our daily between-innings promotions is the water-balloon toss, where one child tosses water balloons and another tries, often with limited success, to catch them in a batting helmet with a pasta strainer on top. After yesterday's contest, we had two unpopped balloons, which I mindlessly tossed to one of our mascots.

In the next half-inning, I heard a "Hey Minda!" from the dugout, so I turned to see a frightening sight: a grinning Roman Colon holding one of the balloons. Oh no, how did he get that? I made a mental note to slap whichever mascot had put a water balloon in such dangerous hands.

Luckily I had an errand to run in the other part of the stadium, so I quickly spirited myself out of Colon's launching range, and the crisis was averted until the next inning. I was sitting on the stairs next to the dugout preparing for the next promotion. In front of me and a few feet to my left was Bob, the guy who films the Omaha players for Kansas City. He has a camera and a laptop set up in the camera well, and normally we're able to stay out of each other's way. So when a little yellow water balloon came sailing out of the dugout towards me, I had to weigh the possibility of ruining Bob's equipment against the possibility of getting soaked. I didn't have much time to decide, but I was able to swat the balloon away and it popped harmlessly in an empty corner of the camera well.

But then....Colon had another balloon. I made another mental note re: punishing the appropriate mascot, because Colon is a mischievous fellow, and for him to have anything to throw at me is always a terrifying prospect. He tossed the second balloon much higher than the first, and this time I was standing, and much closer to that laptop and camera. OK here comes the balloon ah crap I don't want to get soaked oh but Bob would kill me if I wrecked his stuff and holy crap this is bad bad BAD.

Then I caught the balloon in my bare hand. It did not pop.
ME: 1
Colon: 0

BAM! With hands that soft, I should play middle infield. Sign me up!

A lot of a lot. Mostly bad news.

2008-08-12T22:43:00.003-06:00

Good news: Dusty Hughes is back(ish)
The lefty pitcher made his first appearance since July 29 (an ugly game, for sure) after some shoulder soreness has kept him on the bench. His pitch count for tonight was 40-45, which lasted him two innings. I suppose it's not surprising for a guy who hasn't thrown in a while to be uneconomical with his pitches, but he fared pretty well anyway, racking up 5 Sonic Strikeouts (sorry, I had to) and allowing zero hits. He did walk two batters, but again I think that was just him shaking off a little rust from his time on the bench.

Bad news: The Omaha bullpen

When Hughes left the game, the ORoyals enjoyed a 3-0 lead. Then Tyler Lumsden came in, and got through 1.2 innings perfectly. But with two out and nobody on in the 4th, things got really stupid. Two 'Topes singled to bring up Michael Ryan, who also singled. Paul Lo Duca was coming around to score, but right fielder Brett Bigler* almost got the out at home, as Matt Tupman did everything he could to swipe Lo Duca but apparently missed the tag.

After Lo Duca reached home safely, Tupman tried to cut down Ryan advancing to 2nd, but nobody was there to cover, the ball sailed in to center field, another run scored, and Ryan ended up at third. Lumsden struck out the next batter, and the stupid inning was over.

*If you've ever wondered what happens when a team is desperately in need of some outfield help when all of their OFs are injured, look no further than Bigler. He was batting just .197 at SINGLE-A, but was added to Omaha's roster to help get through these dark, Costa-less days. In addition to Costa's injury, we're also playing without Mike Stodolka, whose hurt hand has kept him out of the lineup for a week now. And we're really feeling Mitch Maier's absence here; since his callup on July 24, the ORoyals are just 5-15.

But if the 4th was a stupid inning, the 5th could only be described as excruciating. Or maybe as child abuse. Lumsden and Brad Salmon tag-teamed to give up 8 runs that inning, and I was ready to tear out my eyeballs. I'm glad that inning eventually ended, but I'm concerned about the Omaha bullpen.

With Hughes and Carlos Rosa hurting, the bullpen has had to act as a starting rotation lately, and it's pretty apparent that they are stretched too thin.

Good news: Hawaiian Punch
Sam Mellinger wrote about him a few days ago, and Rany has more thoughts tonight. I'm a wee bit concerned about Kila's 13 strikeouts in 14 games, because the book on him was that he walked way more than he struck out. I'll be looking for him to cut down on his K/9 rate as the rest of the season plays out. It's weird to say anything about him having trouble adjusting to a higher level of pitching, because he is still hitting incredibly well. But I do think it is a weakness, and something he'll have to fix soon in order to justify a promotion to the Majors later this season.

Two sightings tonight:
Joey Gathright showed up in plainclothes partway through the game, and was properly chastised by the Village (the fans who sit by the 3rd base and who are AWESOME) for his tardiness. Obviously everyone who was around last year was glad to see him, and he took the time to talk to everyone who wanted him, and signed a crap-ton of autographs after the game. He has been a fan's man for as long as I've known him, and that hasn't changed in the slightest. He'll be in tomorrow night's lineup.

Alberto Callaspo showed up in the Omaha dugout (in that same gray hoodie he's always wearing). He's not on the roster at the moment, but he's around.

One last note:
I was in the middle of an epic solo in Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" on Guitar Hero this morning. Then I felt something tickling the top of my bare foot. It was a spider. This is not a good way to get five stars on any song.

Off-day thoughts

2008-08-11T18:25:00.003-06:00

I'm still numb from the notion that Tony Pena Jr.'s batting average as a designated hitter is 1.000.

**********
Mark Nassar just reported on 1420 KOTK that the Omaha Royals are no longer last in the PCL in drawing walks; that honor now belongs to Round Rock. Sounds revolutionary.

Meanwhile, Omaha is ahead of Nashville 2-1. Do you want to guess where Omaha's runs came from? Go on, guess. You're probably right.

Yep. Another Kaaihue home run. I really hope he's for real.

**********
Speaking of the ORoyals game experience (watching Kaaihue hit is an experience, but don't take my word for it - if you have the chance, come out to a game!), the team has put a fan survey on their website. Those who take it can get some free tickets or $5 to the Royal Treasures Gift Shop. You can take the survey here, but be warned that it doesn't seem to work in Firefox. Maybe try it in Internet Explorer?

**********
My honest-to-God first reaction when I read this headline is that this is good news for the "Aviles for Rookie of the Year" dream. It seems that Evan Longoria is headed to the DL with a broken wrist.

A few thoughts:
1) I am clearly a bad person for reacting that way.
2) It really doesn't matter whether Aviles wins the RoY award. It would be really cool, but the fact that he's even in the discussion is a good enough story. He's one of the good guys, and seeing him mentioned on SportsCenter and figuring out the league's pitchers (who thought they had already figured him out) makes me very happy.
3) Obviously, bad news for Tampa Bay. A lot of folks have predicted that the Rays would collapse because that's what young teams do. That may have been the case, but right now they're missing the chance to prove those people wrong. If they are indeed going to falter, I'd like it to happen with everyone in the lineup. That would seem to be more conclusive than all the what-ifs that crop up when a team suffers key injuries late in the season.

********
Joey Gathright has yet to collect a hit in his rehab assignment with Omaha, nor get on base any other way. (Through 6 innings tonight)
I don't think that means much of anything, but it's hard to see how healthy a guy looks in a game situations if he doesn't give himself any opportunities to run any bases.

OK this is getting ridiculous...

2008-08-09T19:14:00.004-06:00

...but I LOVE it.
Kila Kaaihue hit a homer last night, and has yet another one tonight. (But Omaha still trails the Sounds, 5-3, at this writing.)

KILA NOW!

I have nothing to say about the Kansas City game, because I was outdoors and came inside just in time to hear things get really ugly in the 6th. Yes, I missed part of a Royals game, but I could not justify sitting at my computer listening to baseball when it's 80 degrees and slightly breezy outside. So I went outside with a picnic blanket and wrote in a journal for two hours. Yay for fresh air! And not getting stung by wasps!

But anyways, back to Omaha. The roster is already all kinds of messed up, with Shane Costa and Dave Matranga each rehabbing injuries in Arizona. Mike Stodolka had an injury scare the other night, but should be good to go. But still, it says something when Brayan Pena has been playing the outfield for a few games and Brian Buchanan has taken over the backup catcher's duties (not in games yet, but I have seen Buch catching out in the bullpen). Things seem to have gotten even hairier, as Angel Sanchez came out of tonight's game after his groundout ended the top of the 3rd. I can only assume this was because of an injury, but Sanchez's removal from the game necessitated a bunch of defensive moves. Gookie Dawkins switched from 3B to SS, Pena moved from RF to 3B (?), and Buchanan came off the bench to play RF and bat in Sanchez's spot in the lineup.

As I typed all of that, the 5-3 Nashville score became final (in 7 innings - tonight is a DH to make up for a rainout in April). More significant than the potential loss of Sanchez (and the inevitable increase in playing time for Josh Labendeira, ugh) was the fact that tonight was Carlos Rosa's first outing since July 13. He's had some tightness and pain in his pitching arm. When I asked him a few days ago how the arm was feeling, he did say it was feeling good, but I hadn't heard that he'd be pitching tonight.

In 1 inning (plus 3 batters) Rosa allowed 4 hits, 3 earned runs, and a walk. He did strike out two batters in the 1st, which is the kind of thing I have come to expect from him. I imagine he was on a tight pitch-count; the organization is being understandably careful with this potentially golden prospect, so I'm not too discouraged by tonight even though it didn't produce a pretty line. If his arm really was feeling "good" (that's a word he uses a lot), he'll be back to his regular studly self soon, and a bit of order might be restored to Omaha's chaotic pitching rotation.

___________________________________________________________________________________
Other stuff I've done this weekend:
- Thoughts about the murder in Beijing, over at Getting to First Base
- My predictions for last-place finishers at Ladies...

Brief update

2008-08-06T15:14:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I wrote:

- It seems like Shealy has been walking a lot more lately. I don't know if he has changed his approach or if pitchers are being more careful in the wake of his torrid late-June and July, but I will ask him when I get the chance.

I did get the chance to ask Ryan why he's been walking more. He said increased patience has been something he's been working on overall, not just in recent games. Also, he sometimes feels like he's being too patient but, as he says, "that's baseball."

So now you know.

1B/DH drama continues in Omaha!

2008-08-05T22:35:00.005-06:00

Kila Kaaihue hit yet another home run in Omaha tonight, but so did Ryan Shealy. What to do? I say they do an American Gladiator-style duel to decide who is the First Baseman of The Future, because I can't keep rooting for them both to dominate here and get (back) to the Majors, can I?

Shealy was back in the game at first after DHing every game since Kila's promotion (except last night, when Shealy had the night off). I wonder if it's a coincidence that Shealy had been in a minislump in those games, or if he hits better when he plays at first. I will look that up in a bit, but I really need some supper first.

But first, some quick thingies:
- Mike Stodolka left tonight's game with some sort of hand injury. Later reports from someone who accompanied him to the hospital said nothing was broken. More updates as they come, but hopefully it's nothing major because the roster is already pretty depleted these days.
- Tonight's winning pitcher for Colorado Springs was none other than Mark Redman. Yeah, that one.
- ORoyals president Alan Stein has been in town the last two days. The team has lost both games. I'm not saying these two items are related, but if this continues I will become a little bit frightened. (In all seriousness, Stein always amazes me with how much time he gives to fans of the team. In the wake of all the news that the ORoyals probably won't call the NoDo stadium home, Stein could have spent tonight's game up in a suite and avoided any potential for negative backlash about what has been a very touchy subject around town. Instead, he spent the entire game in the stands, conversing with fans and hearing their ideas about the team's future. He's a cool president, and I'm not just saying that because he might be reading this; I mean it!)
- I can't overstate how much I enjoy watching Kila Kaaihue bat; he took another walk tonight in addition to the homer. I observed to my friend Becky last night that he's the antithesis of Jason Smith's swing-happy approach, to which she replied, "You mean, he's the antitheSmith?" Yeah, exactly.
- It seems like Shealy has been walking a lot more lately. I don't know if he has changed his approach or if pitchers are being more careful in the wake of his torrid late-June and July, but I will ask him when I get the chance.
- Yes, I realize I've been focusing a lot on Kaaihue/Shealy. It's a dramatic battle to see whose career trajectory can be stifled the most by Ross Gload, a tragicomic dance, with all the grit, determination, dirty uniforms, veteran presence, and other excuses for Gload's playing every day.
- A random cool blog I found tonight: PhotoshopDisasters.

Suspended!

2008-08-05T13:45:00.004-06:00

Before I begin, I need to share that I love Dragonforce, and I don't care who knows it. Their forthcoming album, Ultra Beatdown, is just ridiculous; my Guilty Pleasure #1.

All right, with that out of the way, let's take a peek at some of the suspensions handed down after the fracas the other day.

Miguel Olivo, who had three pitches thrown at his head: 5 games
DJ Carrasco, who threw at Olivo's head three straight times AND bitchslapped Olivo in the skull: Zero games
Zack Greinke: 5 games
Trey Hillman: 1 game
Ozzie Guillen, who promised after the game that his pitchers will be throwing at the Royals in future matchups: 2 games
AJ Pierzynski: zero games (OK, he shouldn't have been suspended for his involvement Sunday, but I just can't stand him and his stupid bleached head. If anything, he should already have been suspended for THAT.)

I get suspending a guy who charges the mound. Five games is normal for that, as we've seen with Olivo already this season. But what about the guy who threw at Olivo three times in a row? I know Carrasco isn't the world's greatest pitcher, but I don't believe that all of them happened to accidentally slip into the exact same area near Miguel Olivo's head. All in a row.

But I guess Carrasco doesn't matter; it was pretty obvious that it was Pierzynski that Olivo wanted to beat. And who among us hasn't wanted to punch AJ Pierzynski in the head at least once...every day? Olivo's grandmother could have thrown those pitches, and he still would have charged the mound, because he didn't appear to have any intention of actually landing a hit on the pitcher.

Hillman's one-gamer is fair enough; that's just what happens. But five games for Greinke? Shoot, that's harsh. Depriving the Royals - who, by the way, have a realistic shot at 3rd place right now - of one Greinke start is pretty harsh.

What I'm wondering about is whether Ozzie Guillen deserves more than two games, based on his postgame comments. I suppose it would set a dangerous precedent to suspend a manager for something he hasn't done yet, but if MLB is cracking down as hard on beanball wars as they say they are, shouldn't Ozzie get like 5 games? If I make a comment anywhere that I'm planning on causing someone bodily harm next time I see them, I'm gonna be in a heap of trouble, and lose my job. But Ozzie promises he's going to have his pitchers intentionally hit Royals batters throughout the rest of his 5-year contract as Chicago's manager, and he doesn't get in any significant trouble? Weird.

I'm glad all of this happened against the White Sox, because they are my least favorite team in the AL. Yes, I even hate them more than the Yankees. So if this is the start of a heated rivalry...I can't wait.

Here are some thoughts about the suspensions at Royals Review. They, as usual, raise some good points: Why would Greinke wait until two innings later to retaliate? And why do it with a runner on and a 1-1 count? And why Swisher; why not someone who actually had some kind of involvement and who is a douchebag?

Jeff Passan weighs in at Yahoo!, addressing the questions about Carrasco's intent, Ozzie's promise to retaliate, and the idea that the Sox should have plunked Mark Teahen when he bunted earlier in that inning. I'm sure they'll get him next time.

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Elsewhere (by which I mean Omaha), there is a rumor afoot that Mark Grudzielanek is in town for some rehab, but only one team employee has seen him, and he certainly wasn't in the dugout (I looked), so until I get confirmation or denial, I will keep up this ghost-hunt. I've never met him, but I'd love to hear him say "y'know" 19 times per minute, in person.

During last night's loss, Kila Kaaihue didn't homer (for a change), but showed a pretty decent indication of who he is as a hitter. His one hit was a single he reached waaaay over the plate to slap through the right side. He was down 0-2 and obviously didn't want to get caught looking at another strike 3, which he had done earlier in the game. I know there's a chance that his success so far in AAA is not for real; I know he took a long time to develop in AA, but I'm willing to stay excited about Kila. He appears to have an understanding of the strike zone, as exhibited by pretty much all of his numbers at two levels this year - lots of walks, not a lot of strikeouts, and of course the home runs.

Speaking of Omaha first basemen, Ryan Shealy sat out last night. He's in a bit of a slump these days, going 3 for his last 22 before last night. He also got ejected on Sunday for arguing a called third strike at the end of the 6th inning. Shealy only has three hits (in five games played) since Kaaihue's arrival. I hope that is a coincidence. He should be back in the lineup tonight, likely as a DH again while Kaaihue mans first base. Sigh.

Fracas fracas fracas fracas

2008-08-03T16:16:00.003-06:00

Word of the day: Fracas. It was used in two headlines on the Royals.com front page...FRACAS!
(AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Sad thing is, I missed the KC game entirely, but heard score updates (and news of the...fracas) via some fans* at the Omaha game. Today was a damn good day to be a hater of the White Sox. Minnesota beat Cleveland, and Kansas City beat Chicago, which gave took the Sox out of first place and restored a caboodle of the pieces of my soul which had been destroyed while the Sox held their place atop the division.

*some of my favorite people in the entire world, I should add. This one particular family is as much a part of my ORoyals gameday experience as the team itself. I feel lost whenever they have to miss a game! Today, one of my coworkers brought a bucket of ice/water, and this family brought a bunch of microfiber towels to dunk in the ice water to combat the triple-digit temperatures. It was beyond amazing.

I'm going to go watch the game now...ahh, the magic of DVR. Go Royals!

Hacking.

2008-08-01T13:17:00.002-06:00

So, Kila Kaaihue hit another home run last night. That makes two of those in his long-awaited first two games at AAA.

But for some reason, I was more pleased to see that at-bat in which Kaaihue walked. I've heard all about how he hits for power, but this season he also had about twice as many walks (80) as he did strikeouts (41) with Northwest Arkansas. I like that kind of discipline, because I've watched Kila's extreme statistical opposite play infield for Omaha for too long.

Jason Smith is battling with Albuquerque's Dallas McPherson for most strikeouts in the PCL. At this writing, both have 127. The important differences: McPherson has 19 more homers than Smith, and has walked 44 more times, for a difference of .341 between the two players' OPS. My friend Becky and I have long since decided that death and taxes are not the only sure things in life; Jason Smith swinging at the first and/or second pitch is just as certain.

I'm not picking on Smith just to be mean. He's just a textbook example of my least favorite kind of hitter. Hacking is annoying, unless you hit a record-breaking number of home runs (and even then, I'll roll my eyes at all the first pitches you chase). He's not the only ORoyal who can't walk. No one on the team is withing screaming distance of the league lead in walks, and Ryan Shealy's 38 leads the team.

A similar thing can be said about Kansas City - nobody there knows how to walk either, except of course Alex Gordon (who has 51 - good for 15th in the AL). The inability to get on base is generally the same as an inability to win a lot of games; it's no surprise that it's the Royals and hapless* Mariners who are tied for last in OBP.

*Ha! Did you see what I did there? I, a Royals fan/writer, got to call someone else's team "hapless!" And it felt GREAT. Most sites, Deadspin for example, continue to be unable to type "Royals" without preceding it with "hapless," even though the Royals are not in last place. Should we just officially change the team name? "Now taking the field are your 2008 Kansas City Hapless Royals!"

I hope the Royals' apparently official commitment to hacking doesn't rub off on Kila. I hope he continues to walk twice as much as he strikes out, and that his OBP can stay somewhere near the sexily high .463 he put up in NWArk. So far, so good...ahh, small sample sizes:

Kila Kaaihue in AAA:
.444/.500/1.111/1.611

Yes, please!

So much to ponder at first base

2008-07-30T23:31:00.003-06:00

So, Kila Kaaihue made his AAA debut, going 1-4 with a homerun, 3 fly ball outs, and a strikeout looking to end the game.

(Also, a note about my links...lately I've been linking to the fanshots at Royals Review instead of directly to the stories at their source. I do this because I <3 the commenters at RR. Hope that's OK!)

I was really looking forward to seeing this patient hitter about whom I've read so much, but he looked very jumpy at the plate tonight.
1st AB: Took first pitch, swung at 2nd (popout)
2nd AB: Fouled off first pitch, popped out on 2nd
3rd AB: This one was much better, and is what I figure is more indicative of what we'll see from Kila - 6 pitches, flied out deeeeep on a 3-2 count
4th AB: his home run. 5 pitches
5th AB: his strikeout looking. 5 pitches.

I don't think I can say too much about him as a player from tonight. I'm guessing his first few at-bats were shortened by nerves. I will keep an extra eye on him (good thing I have three?) during this last month of the season.

Kaaihue's arrival meant Ryan Shealy was bumped to DH. I mentioned yesterday that I thought the time might be right for Shealy to get a chance in KC again, rather than competing with Kila for playing time. Jeffery Flanagan has some more thoughts about that in the KC Star today. I hope tomorrow's trade deadline creates a roster space for Shealy; I really do think he deserves it. He has handled the indignities brought forth by injuries and slumps with an admirable amount of patience and grace. Plus, he has been beating the shit out of the ball. He may not have Ross Gload's GRITTINESS factor that GMDM and Trey Hillman are so in love with, but he's someone I'd happily include on my 40-man* if anyone ever made me GM for a day.

*not an innuendo

Kila!

2008-07-30T12:38:00.003-06:00

Kila Kaaihue has been promoted to Omaha, and I can barely contain my giddiness. I'm not sure what this means for B&OT favorite Ryan Shealy...will he and Kaaihue have to split time at 1B/DH, or is the front office going to be impressed enough with his performance lately (.367/.454/.578 in July) to give him another look in the Bigs?

Either way, I love it when big-name prospects get promoted to Omaha. It's exciting to think about the possibilities a guy like Kaaihue brings. I'm pumped about his plate discipline, having watched Jason Smith hack his way into 125 strikeouts has made me long for someone who can take a work the count AND hit for power.

I've promised the good folks at Royals Review (linked to at the beginning of this post) that I'll report anything worth sharing about Kila's performance at AAA. Hopefully I get to start tonight, but I haven't seen lineups yet for tonight's matchup against Salt Lake.

Dear Bob Dutton, you're breaking my heart

2008-07-27T22:06:00.003-06:00

Oh, trade rumors. It's the time of year when I'm simultaneously giddy with anticipation of juicy trades, but nervous that someone I like might get traded away. Behold: Yankees taking a hard look at Bannister as trade deadline nears

By now, y'all have figured out how I feel about Banny. I mean, it says right there in my blog description that he is my favorite Royal. I love the extent to which he's a student of baseball...all pitchers review films and study opposing hitters, but Banny lives, breathes, eats and shits baseball studies. And he still loves baseball. He's the reason I spend more time learning about the game than I ever took the time to learn before; I have always found the game to be interesting, but had never devoted time/money/energy to knowing it until Banny so riveted me last season.

Furthermore, JoePo has the same love affair with the magnificent brain of Brian, so the joys I reap from a Banny day do not end when his start ends - I also get treated to the Banny Log. (Also check out Poz's piece about Bannister in the Star - it's like the B-Log in newspaper form! Heck yeah!)

Anyway, I'm pulling hard for the Yanks to work out some deal with Seattle. Let Jarrod Washburn be a Yankee; I don't want to see Bannister in pinstripes, and besides...what would I do with my Bannister powder blue?

I am intrigued by this trade rumor though. Kind of flattered, even. It's not easy being a fan of someone like Banny sometimes, because not everyone is willing to be patient while he tweaks one thing or re-thinks another, and his ERA hangs out in the neighborhood of five. So people rip him all the time on message boards, other Royals blogs (as I am only one of thousands), and pretty much everywhere. Once he started slumping after that amazing 3-0 start, the negativity about him was everywhere, and while I understand where these people were coming from, I defended him every time because it's Bannister, and that means something to me. So for the Yankees to be courting him makes me feel like JoePo and I are not alone in this; someone else thinks having a Bannister is better than not having one. Like this latest round of adjustments will be the right one, and he'll be able to have more (and not flukey) success for a team scratching its way towards the top of its division.

So if the Yankees see that in him...does that mean the Royals do too? Will they hang on to Banny even if it means losing out on Melky Cabrera, whom they've actively courted before? I'm just selfishly going to sit here and hope the Yanks are successful in their quest to land Jarrod Washburn so I don't have to see my favorite pitcher join the Empire. And I'll probably be wearing that #19 powder blue, just in case.

Despair

2008-07-23T13:36:00.003-06:00

Six innings gone, and the Royals haven't had a single freaking baserunner.

Has a team ever been the victim of a no-hitter AND a perfect game in the same season? The Royals are the perfect candidate: They've already been no-hit, so we know that can happen, and they're dead last in the league in walks drawn. All Armando Galarraga has to do is avoid plunking anyone, and he should be able to finish what he's started.

This team = yuck. Ergo, my life = yuck.

Mind-blowing pitching.

2008-07-21T22:18:00.003-06:00

I had a post all conjured up in my brain about how nice it was to have some balance in my day - one of the best games I've seen all year was being balanced beautifully by one of the worst.

Then Ryan LeFebvre started describing the lineup changes that had been made to prepare for the top of the 9th inning. Mike Aviles had already moved from SS to 2B to accommodate Tony Pena coming in at short, but then moved back to SS. Esteban German then came in to play 2B, and German looked wildly amused because...then I think LeFebvre stopped talking. He didn't need to say anything out loud; the camera slowly panning over to the pitcher's mound said more than an announcer ever could.

Tony Pena Jr.

...

Pitching.

This solves two major problems with the Royals roster.
1) TPJ no longer has to bat, and
2) Jimmy Gobble never has to come in to face more than one batter at once.

TPJ FOR CY YOUNG!

****UPDATE**** Oh looky! I found a video!

The best AAA game I've seen all year

2008-07-21T15:29:00.007-06:00

A heck of a ballgame happened in Omaha today. John Bale made his second relief appearance at the AAA level; he threw an inning yesterday and an inning today. He needed exactly 20 pitches, which I believe was his limit anyway, to get through his inning.

After Bale came out, the recently acquired Jose Capellan took the mound to relieve him. I hadn't seen Capellan pitch before today, but I am impressed. I was told that his fastball used to touch 100 mph, but he has dialed it down in order to gain some control. Today he absolutely had control, throwing only 95 pitches through 8 innings and fanning 7 Round Rock players along the way. He walked only one batter.

Capellan's best pitch has always been his fastball, but I saw him throw some pretty nasty sliders in the 8th and 9th innings*. He kept up a quick tempo throughout the whole game, and I'm certain that if Bale had not been in the picture today, Cap would have thrown a beauty of a complete game. But I can settle for a mere eight innings of shutout ball, an outing in which only one Round Rock baserunner even got to 2nd base.

*Those were the only innings I got to watch closely; before that I had been running all over the stadium trying to catch up on things I had missed because I managed to oversleep this morning. But my duties ended after the stretch today, so I relished the opportunity to watch like a regular fan in a great seat directly behind the plate.

On the other side of the ball, Round Rock starter Chad Reineke only allowed four Royals to get to scoring position in his 8 innings. He struck out 8 and walked 3. Can you tell this was a short game? Dang - 2 hours and 17 minutes. Anyway, this definitely qualified as a pitcher's duel and I decided it was the best game I had watched all season.

And that was before the bottom of the 9th.

Reineke had given way to reliever Fernando Nieve, who got Gookie Dawkins to strike out looking, which then brought up Mike Stodolka. Stodolka has finally been getting regular playing time this month and has been on base pretty steadily in his last 10 games. However, none of his hits in that span have been for extra bases - until today when he connected with Nieve's first pitch and blasted it into the right field bleachers for a 1-0 Omaha win.

1st half in review, because I'm BORED already

2008-07-14T13:33:00.002-06:00

Ugh, I really hate the All-Star Break. A lot. I hate it even knowing that the guys not involved in stuff in New York have the chance to go home (wherever that may be) for a few days. I suppose that much is cool, but it doesn't change the fact that this is the least interesting three days in the entire sports year. I don't buy into the hype that ESPN has been building around the Derby, or the ASG itself. The Futures Game is a useful tool to see who's who around baseball, but it's over, and the rest of the break has begun.

Yesterday's Royals game put me in a deep funk, and I am having trouble remembering that there have been some great things so far this Royals season. All I can see is John Buck having a weak, inaccurate arm, Mike Aviles making the wrong throw, and Joakim Soria helplessly waving his arms at home, completely undeserving of the 'L' that was assigned to his record.

But I only have to look at the previous night's game to know that good things can happen to Royals fans. I've watched that DeJesus home run and listened to Denny's radio call of it over and over and over and over, and it doesn't get any less awesome. Couldn't have happened to a better guy, y'know?

DeJesus is having such a great season, and I'm not sure if it will serve to cement himself as a cornerstone for the beginning of contention, or if it will just bolster his trade value. Either way, I'm enjoying his '08 production so far. It's only halftime and he's already set a new career high for homers in a season; he's only 7 shy of his career high for RBI, and he's on pace to set new career highs in hits and steals. He's slugging better than he ever has (.474) and is getting on base as well as he usually does. And his OPS+ of 121 leads the team, and is head-and-shoulders above the All-Star That Wasn't, Jose Guillen (who is at 98).

With all that in mind, I invite you to take a moment and treat yourself to that walkoff home run again. Really. Here it is.

For one night, the Royals got to be the heartbreakers instead of having their hearts broken. And it happened in the same night that Mark Grudzielanek collected his 2000th hit. An honorable career milestone and a sweet walkoff victory in the same night? Awesome! Plus, Horacio Ramirez (or Ho-Ram, if you prefer, and I certainly do) picked up a win against the team that cut him. So many stories...this was the kind of game that left me so high on baseball I didn't think I'd ever come down.

And then Sunday happened. What a stupid game. If you didn't see how Seattle scored the winning run, you're lucky. I do not believe I've ever been this blindly pissed off about the Royals finding creative ways to blow a game, certainly not this season. It didn't help that Joakim Soria was on the mound and had to pay for the mistakes of his teammates by taking a loss.

So now I need to breathe, to stop being angry and to enjoy some of the cool things that have happened this season. I need to do something to keep me warm through this long, cold break from meaningful baseball.

Opening Series: Remember how cool it was to sweep Detroit? At that time, Detroit was the team that was supposed to score 1000. OK, I know nobody intelligent was actually predicting it. ESPN just kept building and building on the hype around the Tigers, and eventually the number just sort of ballooned into 1000. Anyway, it was exciting, to the point where I was an illiterate, blubbering mess. But once I collected my wits about me, I came up with some sweet math to commemorate the sweep.

Two aces: Zack Greinke and Brian Bannister both got off to those incredible starts, where their ERAs were both under 1.00 and each was 3-0. Greinke has kept it up to some extent, which is exactly what I expected of him. I had hoped that this was his 20-win season, but at this point it would take a near-miracle to get there form his current mark of 7-5. I suppose that's a symptom of playing for a team like Kansas City - lots of no-decisions. But I've got my fingers crossed as tight as they can be crossed that the Royals lock down Greinke to a long-term deal, and soon.

Anyway, the hot start for those two pitchers also included the home opener, in which Bannister struck A-Rod out three times. And I was there. Oh, and there were the back-to-back CG shutouts. Awesome!

Fast forward a little ways, and there was the night Jon Lester no-hit the Royals. I should look at that game as a low for the Royals, but I'm too enamored with no-hitters to have been that upset at the time. The rest of the games in that losing streak. hurt a lot worse.

Yeah, those days were dark. But this roster move was made, and the spark that Michael Anthony Aviles provided to the Royals lineup was undeniable. His hot streak made us all very, very excited, and paved the way for a winning June.

Lots of other cool things have happened to the Royals. Jose Guillen was the world's greatest hitter for about 6 weeks. Joakim Soria's legend has grown and grown, and justifiably so. Did you guys see this video wherein Soria was given a "Mexicutioner" t-shirt? Hat tip to Brad for the video, and there's just so much to love: 1) Jack is so adorably humble about being one of the best closers in the game. 2) I love the way the name "Mexicutioner" has caught on. Dutton uses it regularly in stories in the Star, and it has now been used in FNSKC broadcasts as well.

Do you have a favorite KC moment from the season so far? Which are the moments you can watch and relive and discuss, without loss of their awesomeness?

Some Random ORoyals things

2008-07-11T16:33:00.003-06:00

1. Last night in the first inning, Dusty Hughes struck out the side in ELEVEN pitches. Wow. The rest of his outing wasn't as awe-inspiring, but still...just WOW. (Here's the box)The game was a 10-inning thriller with a heck of a crowd. I couldn't ask for more!

2. The Royals have acquired lefty reliever Josh Newman from the Colorado waiver wire.

3. ORoyals players who have facebook groups dedicated to them:
Neal Musser
Brayan Pena
Ryan Shealy has three.
Shane Costa
Chris Lubanski
Mitch Maier

I don't know what made me do this, other than when I realized I'm not in any fan clubs of our own AAA players, but I've joined one for someone from another team. Anyway, totally meaningless, but it helped me pass the time before the Royals play tonight.

4. Here's a pro/con thingie I wrote at Ladies... about day baseball games.

5. This item is not ORoyals related at all, but I wrote a thing about Brett Favre's latest comeback-related shenanigans.

Fascinating trade rumour

2008-07-08T21:59:00.001-06:00

Here.

Well that sucks: Volume 984753

2008-07-06T21:21:00.005-06:00

- Having four hits but still being That Guy who grounds into a game-ending DP for a loss: Not a good Sunday
Ryan N. Shealy had four hits today, extending his hit streak to seven games. In his last 10 games, Shealy is batting .412 in spite of three hitless games before his hit streak. He's had four multi-hit games in the last week. Yep, Ryan Shealy is hot right now. So there was no reason to feel anything but optimistic when he came up to bat with one on and one out in the bottom of the 9th today.

But then time slowed down. I swear it was a horror movie slow motion thing. In my mind, I was screaming "Ryan NO! Don't swing at that pit--" but it happened anyway. Shealy swung at the first pitch and grounded weakly into a double play. His four hits suddenly didn't seem to matter; instead he became the rally killer. Such is the fickle nature of baseball - she is a cruel mistress, no?

On a completely unrelated note, Leo Nunez was at Rosenblatt today, presumably gearing up for some rehab work. It was good to see him again, and I'll of course report anything I notice about his progress I get to see him pitch.

Oh, one more Shealy thing I've been dying to share:
Yesterday I was at the dugout wall, asking Shealy a question for an upcoming story. My friend Becky was standing next to me, and Shealy was idly swinging a bat around as he talked. Becky said something about how he had better not hit her with it. He said, "Relax, I know what I'm doing with this thing."
[awkward pause and sheepish smile]
"...some of the time."

Gotta love that kind of humility and self-awareness.

Putting the 'perstit' in superstition

2008-07-05T22:06:00.005-06:00

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.

Birthday cake, Royals style

2008-07-02T22:13:00.003-06:00

So, it is my birthday.

Last year on my birthday, I was at Rosenblatt to watch Scott Elarton give up 3 2-run homers in the first inning, and a solo shot in the 2nd. I don't think I need to say this, but the O-Royals went on to lose that one. Pretty miserable present, right? But that was also the day that Kansas City exploded for 17 runs and Billy Butler had 6 RBI in the first two innings.

I have always had the thought in my head that Kansas City loses on my birthday, but I'm never actually around to watch the games because my family is really big into fireworks so maybe they've won more July 3 games than I've perceived. Maybe I just remember the losses more, but the wins are actually there. RetroSheet to the rescue*!!

*What in the hell did sportswriters do without RetroSheet, Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, etc.? Seriously. I can't go an hour without rushing to one or more of these sites to chase down verification on some thought or statistical inquiry. I know a lot of people don't use these amazing resources, because I still hear incredibly unfounded complaints, inane comparisons, and flatout falsehoods about every team and player under the sun.

As I started to go through the boxes from my birthdays each year, I wondered to myself where I got the idea that the team always lost on my birthday. They were right around .500 for a few years, but then went on an incredible stretch from 1995 to 2002 (inclusive) where they lost every birthday game, then won in '03, then lost three straight years. That brings us back to last year's tea party, which sounded like an awesome game but I was too busy watching Omaha get slaughtered. Yikes.

Overall, the Royals are 6-13 on July 3 in my life, with one off day. (Yes, I'm only 20. I don't want to hear it.)

Some random highlights:
1988 and 1990: Bo Jackson homered
1995: Household favorite Matt Stairs homered to contribute to Boston's win
1997: Royals did not play, which was probably for the better
1999: Mike Sweeney and Jermaine Dye both homered, but KC lost anyway
2005: Game called after 5 innings due to rain
2006: My brother Ryan was there, and called me after a few beers to tell how KC was beating up on Johan Santana. Royals lost 6-5.

So basically, uh...The Royals hate me. The end.

Lumsden in relief: a step in the right direction

2008-07-01T21:06:00.003-06:00

I was a little surprised to see Tyler Lumsden's name beneath starter Matt Wright's name in tonight's O-Royals box score. The lefty Lumsden was used in relief only once last year, and all his appearances this year (before tonight) have been starts. However, they've pretty much been bad starts.

I'd love to tell you that I'm a saintly, ever-optimistic superfan, but there have been days where I see that Lumsden is the starter and my first thought is "automatic loss." That's horrible, but his numbers this year bear it out:
>12 hits/9 innings
5.83 BB/9 innings
WHIP of nearly TWO (1.95 before tonight)
and of course, the 7.33 ERA.

So to say the very least, it has been a bad season for Tyler Lumsden. I've always wondered where the cutoff is between "just a bad start" and "horrible season, release this guy immediately." I believe the midway point is a pretty good starting point; I have to assume that if Tyler was going to right the ship he would have started doing it by now. Instead, he was tossed in to mop up a mess that Wright made.

I was suprised for a few reasons:
1) I didn't know a move to the 'pen was coming for Lumsden (if tonight's game is an indication of his role for the 2nd half)

2) The Omaha rotation has been very shaken up lately, with Carlos Rosa and sometimes-starter Jeff Fulchino up and back down, and other roster moves, I figured the guys who have always been starters would continue to start until the rotation settled back down a bit. Roman Colon and Brad Salmon, generally relievers, have been making starts lately, but I don't know if that's permanent or just filling holes. But then that creates holes in the bullpen, especially after the release of Roberto Giron (about which I am still scratching my head).

Anyway, I don't like giving up on players but is it maybe time to do something with Lumsden? I guess moving him to the bullpen is OK - he was pretty decent tonight, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings. Ironically, those 5 innings were greater than his average IP for all his starts this season; he averages just 4.88 IP per start.

I continually feel grateful that the Royals got Dan Cortes in addition to Lumsden for MacDougal, so that trade stays on the positive side. (By the way, I really liked Sam Mellinger's evaluation of Dayton Moore's trades and signings. If you missed them, here are Part I and Part II.)

Anyway, I don't know if any of this even means anything. After all, it was only one relief appearance. But I am curious to see how Tyler will be treated for the rest of the season - will he be Starter Tyler Lumsden who sometimes relieves (as many minor league starters are), or Reliever Tyler Lumsden who used to start? And whichever title he gets...will he still be a Royal when he gets it? It is July now.

Moving on:
I have said before that when I get particularly upset, I bake cookies. Tonight's KC game...that's a cookie-baking situation. The bottom of the third was enough to drive a woman to drink, and drink heavily. I don't know whose fault it was that Mike Aviles didn't throw home on the cutoff from Jose Guillen. I don't think it was Aviles' fault, because his back was to the infield while he waited for the throw, and although he has many great qualities, he does not possess eyes in the back of his head. So whose job should it have been to tell him to throw home? Gordon? Olivo? Hochevar? I don't know.

And what was the deal with Guillen pretending to be a statue on that fly ball in the 2nd? Gathright had to run a looooong way over to that ball, and when the camera finally panned that far over, Guillen hadn't moved at all. LeFebvre and Splitt laid into Guillen pretty hard for that, and rightfully so. It was just bewildering. They brought up the point that if he's hurting so badly that he can't even cover his share of the outfield, he should suck it up and DH even though he hates DHing. I agree completely. Or if it wasn't the injuries that made him stand so still, what was it? Good thing Gathright made the play; that play would have made the SportsCenter stupid reel if it had plopped down so near Guillen and resulted in an inside-the-park homer.

Ugh. Such a stupid game, but before I go off to bake my anger-cookies, I have to ask:
Was Mark Teahen's homer hit with his grandmother's ash?

I wrote this song about Emil Brown...

2008-06-30T22:13:00.004-06:00

Once upon a time (2007), I had this passionate, burning hatred for Emil Brown. I don't know how it started, or why it ran so deep. I know that a skilled wordsmith could point out how irrational it was for me to hate Brown, but I hated him all the same. One of my most joyous moments of the offseason was the Day of the Non-Tender. I was thrilled that KC was moving beyond Brown and his 62 RBI. (Seriously, I hated the argument that the team needed to retain Emil because he led them in RBI. That's just pathetic. No team should be led by a guy who only knocks in 62. Besides, RBI is flawed; go find a new argumentative stat.)

I don't think I was exactly jumping for joy (or, in the infamous words of my dad, "doing handsprings down the hallway") when the Royals signed Jose Guillen, but the more the season goes on, the more I'm finding myself liking Guillen. I bring this up now because Guillen's game-winning RBI was his 61st of the season, so he's pretty much done what Brown did in a whole season, but he got it done before the All-Boring Break. Oh, and since RBI is a stupid basis for an argument, have a host of other stats:

Guillen
Brown

Guillen has the upper hand in pretty much everything, except walks. (Although Brown only has 14 of those; it's not like he's a BB machine. Well, not that kind of BB. Someone at Royals Review asked tonight if Guillen should receive Brown's pellet gun as a "passing the torch" symbol. I voted YES.)

I don't care that Guillen has been running his mouth. Not at all. I was pretty peeved about his casual jog up the first base line on Wednesday night. I thought someone who is so quick to call out his teammates for not playing The Right Way should be busting his ass so his words have some meaning. I also think he made too many excuses for his horrid April.

But I still like him. I like that the Royals have someone who gets fired up about something. (I love Miguel Olivo for the same reason.)Like Craig said at Royals Authority, if the offensive production is there, I will take the tirades, the name-calling, even the occasional jog on a ground ball. That last part goes against everything I've always held dear and tried to teach the little ones about baseball; I've always been a "run hard on everything" kind of person. But if Guillen was being truthful about having groin and hip problems...well shoot, I'm willing to forgive. I like the kind of intensity that makes a man play through injuries, and I'm willing to cut him slack for that.

And for the record, I don't care what he says about the fans. Not all ballplayers love fans. I get that. I appreciate the players who are great with fans, but I no longer expect it because I know that Guillen isn't the only one who doesn't give a rat's ass about fans. Guillen might be one of the only ones to come out and say it, but he's not the only one who feels that way.

The All-Boring Break next week should provide a nice rest for those injuries (since it lasts approximately 8 years), and Jose can spend the 2nd half of the season talking all he wants, as long as his bat talks as loudly as his mouth, and as long as both of those are louder than Emil.

I have now seen a no-hitter...

2008-06-29T18:55:00.006-06:00

...and it wasn't nearly as cool as I hoped it would be. I suppose that will happen when it is thrown against my team.

Well, also, I didn't feel like the ORoyals lineup failed to get a hit. The game was 7 innings, like all minor league games that are part of twin bills. I don't want to take anything away from Dustin Nippert; obviously it's something significant to retire that many batters of any team, at any level. I'm just saying that I would have scored Ryan Shealy's ground ball through the left side in the 7th as a hit, that's all.

When that ball got through the infield to lead off the inning, I celebrated as if Shealy had broken up the no-no. Yes, finally! ...and then it was called an error on third baseman Travis Metcalf, and I had a really hard time repressing my vocal displeasure. In the linked story, Nippert says that Metcalf would have made that play "9 out of 10 times," but I thought it would have been an awfully tough play, and was a pretty rough error to have called.

I should clarify that I'm not bashing on the official scorers. I know that keeping score is a delicate job in a normal game, and in a situation like today's that delicacy is heightened and a lot of balls in play could be scored either way. Maybe I'd change my mind if I saw a video of the play; maybe it was an easier play than I thought. I suppose I should be glad I've seen a no-no in person, because it was on my List. And at least it was a likable team - I always enjoy the RedHawk visits to Omaha. (Bobby Jones, their manager, absolutely cracks me up. I spent a fair amount of time talking to him between games yesterday, and his biggest concerns had nothing to do with his team. He always has to make sure he can find a place to smoke discreetly, and he was also extremely bummed out that the storm-canceled fireworks from Friday night were not going to be made up on Saturday.)

Anyway, so...yeah. I've seen a no-hitter.

EDIT: This was only part of a very eventful weekend, including a game played in a stadium with no electricity, which I blogged about at WOW Women's World.

In anticipation of this I-70 Series

2008-06-27T15:55:00.000-06:00

Alberto Callaspo does his very best Tony La Russa impression.

Royals utility player arrested for DUI

A Kansas City Royals infielder spent more than seven hours in jail today after he was arrested for driving under the influence.

Campus police for the University of Missouri-Kansas City stopped Alberto J. Callaspo, 25, about 3 a.m. after he allegedly ran a red light near E. 48th and Oak streets, just north of the campus. The officer booked Callaspo into the jail at Kansas City police headquarters downtown about 4:30 a.m.

Callaspo appeared before a municipal judge via video camera about 10:10 a.m., and the judge granted him a signature bond. He was released just before noon.

Additional details about the arrest were not available because the UMKC police report was not completed.

The Royals obtained Callaspo last winter from the Diamondbacks in exchange for pitcher Billy Buckner. The Royals website said he has filled in at second base and shortstop and has a batting average of .290.

Meanwhile, there are 90-mph winds outside. Better shut down the computer and hide for a bit! Wish me luck!

Being away from my computer: Not recommended

2008-06-27T12:49:00.003-06:00

So, I went to Kansas City for a couple days, and was not near a computer.

While I was there, Ramon Ramirez did not start a brawl with the Rockies, but I have fighting on the brain anyway.

The Royals have won five straight and 10 of their last 11, and the Omaha Royals are back home so I get to go back to work. Life is officially good.

It's about sports, but really not

2008-06-20T12:53:00.004-06:00

For some reason I paused from loading my new Sansa with music to catch up on Deadspin from the last day and a half. I'm glad I did, for the latest installment of Balls Deep.

It's about Tiger Woods, but it's not about Tiger Woods at all (and it's some damn fine writing. For all his vulgarity - and for all Buzz Bissinger's resentment towards his work - Drew is a talented, thought-provoking writer). That's something I love abundantly about sports: the U.S. Open doesn't really matter at all, but we can make it matter, we can make it a moment to share with our neighbors or our grandkids or a reading audience or Facebook friends. It doesn't matter how good or bad the Royals are, but by sharing in the misery (and the occasional triumph), we make it matter, if for no other reason than to have something to share.

Is it healthy to obsess over sports? Maybe not. I probably devote too much time to baseball and not enough time to other things (exercise, drawing, reading the news), but I think it's better to be passionate about sports than to be passionate about nothing. And maybe in a way, bonding with neighbors and strangers about ballgames helps to prepare us to bond over tragedy.

People often complain, legitimately, that this world is way too impersonal, that people are too obsessed with their own activities to greet a passing neighbor on the sidewalk. (Heck, I am guilty of this sometimes - I started this post acknowledging that I have yet another headphoned gadget to buffer myself from the world around me.) How much worse would that be if we didn't have sports? Whenever I see a stranger wearing Royals stuff on, I feel like I can relate. Even though that person and I have never spoken, I can see that we have shared in a lot of the same things: frustration, false hope, just enough victory to keep us both hanging on and proclaiming our fandom.

With what else can you do that? I can't look at a stranger in the grocery store and say, "Oh, that girl is Catholic. We have so many things in common, such a connection." I can't look at someone and see things like that, but I can see what their sports affiliation is - I do have a way to relate to my neighbor and appreciate his frustrations and victories. That is, in the words of Sara Evans, a real fine place to start.

Minda on Aviles (not like that) on Yahoo!

2008-06-19T13:02:00.001-06:00

Witness the beginning of my extreme Internet fame here.

Ahh, the power of superstition

2008-06-19T01:47:00.003-06:00

If it weren't for baseball, I wouldn't be superstitious in the slightest. In real life, I don't really believe in coincidences, everything happens for a reason, all that good stuff. But in baseball (clearly more important than real life), I believe that what I wear will have an impact on my team playing hundreds of miles away; my smallest actions could be the difference-maker for the Royals.

Every time Brian Bannister makes a start, I wear my beautiful powder blue Banny jersey. That's just how it is, and I'm afraid to deviate. But today, I was not at home during the game, and opted not to wear the jersey out to the ballpark to watch Stanford send Miami home.

So I created a surrogate Minda to wear the jersey for me. Behold:
A Dr Pepper pillow serves as the head, on which is perched a powder blue Royals hat. The body is...another Dr Pepper pillow actually, and the fake-Minda's "lap" (some other pillows) is covered by a Royals stadium blanket.

And good golly, it worked. Go Royals.
(PS, I wrote a thing about Mike Aviles for Yahoo! that should be online later. I'll put up a link then. Also, I'm doing a brief CWS overview for Ladies... after I get some sleep, and I suppose I'll post a link to that here too. For now...Good night.)

New stuff

2008-06-17T20:15:00.002-06:00

I like to think about the mental struggles that inevitably accompany life in the minor leagues. Some of my thoughts about that are here, at Getting to First Base.

Meanwhile, Mike Aviles, Rookie of the Millennium, just hit a home run against the Cards. Woo!

Potential can of worms

2008-06-16T12:30:00.004-06:00

Sexism in sports blogging has been kind of a touchy subject recently. We've approached the subject a few times over at Ladies..., like here with the Rick Sutcliffe/Erin Andrews' dress comments, and today because Fanhouse decided to trim an interview with Lady Andrea which seemed to change her argument pretty significantly.

The full interview in which Andie actually gets to make her point: Here.
The truncated interview which changes the tone of her argument: Here.

Boys will be boys

2008-06-15T20:57:00.002-06:00

Hat tip to Baseball Time in Arlington, where I saw a video of some Rangers players doing one thing I have always wanted to do: Slip 'n' Sliding on the tarp during a rain delay. I've never been so jealous of anything, ever:

That is all.

If only I had better words for this...Dad.

2008-06-14T23:24:00.004-06:00

Many times,I find myself relating to someone else's experiences "as the daughter of a ________." Someone's facing a drug screening? "My dad was a probation officer, so I've heard so many stories about those." Someone's talking about incarceration? "My dad was a warden, so I can discuss these theories about corrections." Someone's telling about when they needed an ambulance at 4 in the morning? "Oh, my dad's a paramedic; that pager going off in the night was a big part of our household routine."

He was and is more things, too: a teacher, a firefighter, a coach in almost every sport I played. Most of all, he's a hell of a daddy. I have four brothers, so I'm kind of the princess, I guess. Dad likes to say I've got him wrapped around my little finger, that he'd do anything for me if I just bat my eyes at him. But I hope he knows the reverse is true - I'd give anything, do anything, go anywhere for him.

And how could I not? I can't think of any man between Jesus' time and today that I admire more than my father. Daddy is selfless - those 4 a.m. ambulance calls weren't fun for him, but he wanted to help people, and he never ever complained about being tired when it was time to go to work a couple hours later. He never complains about anything, except maybe the Royals, and he has more things he could complain about than many people.

Like I said before, my Daddy is a million things. He has always found time to cheerfully and skillfully be everything for everyone, whether it was coaching my Little League teams, volunteer firefighting, teaching EMS classes at the local college, serving on our parish council, working full-time, sharing in the cooking and cleaning with Mom...or all of the above.

When I screw up, he never yells, and if he ever completely loses patience with my idiocy he never shows it. I never have to question whether he loves me, my brothers, and my mom, and I thank God every day for that. If more daddies everywhere could be at all like my daddy, my hero, the world would be a totally different place.

As usual, the Fathers' Day contributions at PostSecret have broken my heart, but made me weep a little (OK, a lot) with appreciation for the dad I have. So...hi Daddy, sorry I can't be at home to bake you a Royals cake this year, but I hope this will do. Happy Father's Day.

Love,
Minda

Piling it on

2008-06-14T20:26:00.004-06:00

"It hasn't been a breeze for Hochevar, but the Royals have given him great run support." -Ryan LeFebvre, after Luke Hochevar finished his start tonight

By the time Luke Hochevar exited the field tonight, the Royals had already scored as many runs in tonight's game as they had in Hochevar's last seven starts combined. How is it even possible to score fewer than 11 runs in any selection of 7 games? Gads.

I loved everything about this game, with the minor exception of Hoch giving up double-digit hits, but since he struck out 6 and walked none, that's quite a nitpick. Especially when Mike Aviles heaps on four hits, scores four, and the whole offense explodes for a game like this. The D'Back "defense" helped a little bit with it, but the Royals finally did a good job of capitalizing on the opportunities created by both their own bats and opponents' defensive ineptitude.

Really, this night was a fabulous showing for all types who were at Omaha to start the season: Hochevar with the win, Aviles with a near-cycle, Jeff Fulchino with a good 1-2-3 inning, and of course the debut of Carlos Rosa.

Rosa looked really good - I wish Ryan, Splitt, and Joel had not been chit-chatting (entertaining as that was) instead of calling the action. I know it wasn't a leveragey situation at all, but Rosa's performance was encouraging. He looked as comfortable against big leaguers as he did against AAA hitters. I think his mental readiness was the biggest question surrounding his callup; Dayton Moore has been saying since he watched Rosa in Omaha weeks ago that his stuff was ready for the Bigs and they were just concerned about whether he was ready mentally. Glad to see him steamroll his opponents and, for at least tonight, justify the roster move.

Back home in Omaha...the CWS is here!

2008-06-14T15:10:00.006-06:00

I did not have the opportunity to watch any Florida State baseball this season until I saw them in their super regional against Wichita State. I only had a little time to watch one of those games one day before work, but I caught the part where FSU shortstop Tony Delmonico had a runner slide into him really hard. Delmonico went to the ground, writhing in pain. He was helped off the field and I assumed he was done at least for the day, but he emerged 11 minutes later with a hurt ankle and a bunch of stitches in his leg - and played the rest of the game.

Of course, the Seminoles went on to advance to the CWS and are trying to hang in there against Stanford in the very first game of this year's series. Delmonico is playing, despite swelling in the ankle he hurt in the super regional game.

I don't want to say that this kind of determination to play baseball wouldn't happen anywhere else, but it's unsurprising that it happens as part of the College World Series storyline. During this tournament we have the privilege of finding the players whose hearts are most full of fire for baseball, who will ignore great amounts of pain to stay on the field and help their teams, and who do all of that while managing lives as students and trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up (because, as the NCAA commercials keep reminding me, most of them will go pro in something other than sports).

Last year at this time, I also had a baseball-related ankle sprain, so maybe that's why I've taken such an interest in the resilient Delmonico's story. Whatever the reason, I've decided Delmonico is my pet favorite, so I kind of hope Florida State can pull out a win tonight against The Cardinal and stay in my town for a little while. For reasons I don't want to get into*, I'm watching today's action (and, likely, most of the rest of the games) from my futon instead of from inside Rosenblatt Stadium. But I'll do my best to give you some kind of bloggy coverage from the hallowed home of the Greatest Show on Dirt.

*OK, I kind of do want to share the reasons, but now isn't the time. Maybe if I get reeeeeeally grumpy while the CWS is still going on, I'll spill. But otherwise, no.

I absolutely love just being in Omaha right now. It's a great place to live in general, but I get this sense of pride and a little giddiness every time people on ESPN talk about how cool it is to make it to Omaha. I'm pleased the city was able to lock up the Series for another 25 years, because I can't think of another city where this tournament would work the way it does here. Once we move things into the new stadium, there will be some new logistical challenges but overall the city knows how to coordinate traffic and the temporary swell in population. Local businesses already know how to accommodate everyone and make visitors feel welcome and at home. (Side note: I grew up in a teeeeeeny-tiny town, so I always thought of Omaha as a scary big city. Now I think it is as friendly as a town of any size could be, and I giggle a little at the perception I once had of this "giant small town.") The bars all make extra room for beer garden crowds, where fans of rival teams can drink together and be friends for a while, enjoying the common destination each one's team worked so hard to reach. The city is centrally located and...well, it's just a darn great place to be a baseball fan.

Just wow

2008-06-13T16:15:00.002-06:00

WOW Women's World is a women's website that has blogs, podcasts, videos and all kinds of other content for women, by women. They also have this cute little sports blogger named Minda, who wrote her first post (of many) for the site today. It's here.

Quick and random musings

2008-06-09T00:05:00.004-06:00

I'm hitting the wide open road tomorrow so I can go see some friends and then go see my parents/little brother/dogs for a couple of days before the College World Series takes over my every minute. But here are a few things, in my beloved numbered list form:

1. So, how about that Mike Aviles? Well, except for today*. I loved the other night as he was standing on second after his first big-league hit. You could tell he was trying SO hard not to smile, as if it was just another hit, business as usual. After a few seconds of that charade, the glorious face-splitting grin couldn't stay inside much longer, and it was just...cute. I love those grown-men-being-reduced-to-little-boy moments that baseball gives us so abundantly.

Seeing Aviles get intentionally walked to set up the Guillen grand slam yesterday was one of the most delightful things I think I've ever seen. Not only is it more fuel to the flame of people who are annoyed by IBBs, but the mere thought of Andy Pettite, a likely HoFer, pitching around Mikey in his 7th big-league at-bat is hilarious. Then Guillen did the most un-babylike thing possible with the situation.

*not that I could see how he did today, because Cox doesn't care about Royals fans enough to televise all the games they're supposed to. It's a problem for them to institute a tiny surcharge to accommodate those extra broadcasts that a lot of people would like to watch, but it is not a problem for them to institute HUGE rate increases so two people can watch HGTV in HD while seeing caller ID on their TV screens. We love paying for useless garbage that no one will use, instead of getting something useful and entertaining.

2. I came halfway to having a lifelong dream fulfilled yesterday. Carlos Rosa pitched four perfect innings and was not really showing any signs of letting down, but then a bunch of stupid rain came, and there was an hour and seven minute-long delay, and of course by that time they didn't send Rosa back out, so the dream of seeing a PG were shattered. Not only that, but Omaha went on to lose the game anyway. On that note...

3. I couldn't be happier to be done with the Iowa Cubs for a while. The O-Royals are just 2-6 against the Cubbies so far, and many of the losses were of the heartbreaking variety. (However, I will miss the crowds that the Cubs series always bring. Those crowds have some great energy!)

4. I will have my first actual professional baseball writing gig for this year's College World Series. During that time, I probably won't write here much (if at all) but I will post links to whatever I write for Baseball Prospectus. (Yes, them. Woo!)

5. Glad to see Jeff Fulchino called up to the bigs (the first-ever ex-Natural to make it there), and to see that he was effective in today's game. I wonder how Joel Peralta will react to being demoted; he really didn't like it the first time this year but responded by not allowing a run in his time with Omaha. I hope he does the same thing; some more scoreless relief would be dandy.

6. I would love to have written more, but I need sleep. Earlier when I sat down on my living room floor to fire up my laptop, I noticed that the carpet was soaking wet. After some severe weather last night and a bunch on other recent nights, it seems that maybe my house's foundation has a leak, because the water was definitely coming up from under the carpet, rather than having been spilled on to it. This is disturbing because I have a specific fear of water-related accidents that stems from the time a toilet* in my childhood home literally split apart and flooded a big chunk of the house.

*No, a pipe didn't burst; the toilet tank itself just inexplicably split open, so as the tank kept trying and trying to re-fill itself, hundreds of gallons of water spilled down into the TV room below that bathroom, and then the room below that. I still freak out at the possibility of more flooding in the 4 places I've lived since then.

7. From the Heartwarming Stories Department: Lady Andrea at Ladies... writes about how the NFL has pitched in to help a tornado-ravaged town in her area.

8. Two of my brothers and I have recently started joining in the in-game open threads at Royals Review. For me, it feels like a support group. I can never have enough bitter-yet-optimistic, snarky, clever Royals fans around. I don't know why we didn't start doing those things much sooner.

Thanks for sticking around while I haven't been writing much. I love you all dearly. On that note, if you find yourself at an O-Royals game, feel free to come say hello! A while back, reader 'mike in omaha' introduced himself, and it was delightful to meet someone outside of my family who reads this here site.

When relievers are no relief

2008-06-02T15:03:00.004-06:00

How not to preserve a win for your team and your starting pitcher:

* Pitcher Change: John Foster replaces Matt Wright.
* Ryan Roberts singles on a ground ball to center fielder Mitch Maier.
* Nelson Cruz walks. Ryan Roberts to 2nd.
* Coaching visit to mound.
* Jason Botts walks. Ryan Roberts to 3rd. Nelson Cruz to 2nd.
* Chris Davis hits a grand slam (2) to left field. Ryan Roberts scores. Nelson Cruz scores. Jason Botts scores.
* John Mayberry doubles (8) on a line drive to left fielder Chris Lubanski.
* German Duran strikes out swinging.
* Taylor Teagarden flies out to left fielder Chris Lubanski.
* Drew Meyer called out on strikes.

Notice that all those things in bold text happened with no outs. Also take note that this is not some scary work of fiction; it actually happened this afternoon as the Omaha Royals visited the Oklahoma RedHawks. Matt Wright had pitched seven pretty good innings, including a dominating showing in the bottom of the 7th, where he threw 7 pitches to get his first three batters out. At that point, Omaha led 5-3, and Mike Jerschele called for John Foster to take care of the Hawks in the 8th.

It didn't work. Foster never found the strike zone, throwing something like four strikes in four at-bats leading up to the Chris Davis grand slam. Mark Nassar sounded like he needed a hug as he made the call. I sounded like I needed anger management classes. But now that I look at the workload the bullpen has taken on lately, I guess Foster had to get through that inning come hell or high water (or a grand slam that erases a W for Wright).

Neal Musser worked three innings last night (and got the odd combination of a blown save and the win), and Roberto Giron worked three innings the day before that, which pretty much leaves Brad Salmon and Devon Lowery. Roman Colon is making the spot start for Omaha tomorrow, which probably means the bullpen had to be used sparingly today so they're ready for a couple extra innings of work in relief of Colon. Colon, by the way, looked really good in long relief in the game that was suspended by the acid spill last week. That 3.2 inning stint was his last outing, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see him go 4+ innings tomorrow. The Omaha bullpen will need to be prepared for a few more innings than usual tomorrow, which meant a frustrating day for John Foster today, and a loss that may have been (sadly) necessary.
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Meanwhile, in the Big Leagues, Kansas City is on a winning streak. Praise the Lord!

A good day?, and a proposal for ASG voting

2008-06-01T11:04:00.002-06:00

The three teams that matter most to me will all be playing this afternoon. The KC Royals will try to mount a winning streak of two games at 1:05, which is the same time the Huskers will try to stay alive in their Regional after yesterday's loss to UC-Irvine. Then at 2:00, Carlos Rosa pitches for the O-Royals, which is obviously kind of a big deal. This could be a very good baseball day for me, or an exceptionally bad one.

Anyway, that's not the point at all. The point is, I got an e-mail from Nicole, a fellow bloggerette who has this proposal about voting for this year's All-Stars:

Hi, I'm a blogger in Wisconsin who covers the Brewers (cutesports.blogspot.com and here) and I had a thought on All Star voting that I think might be mutually beneficial and I thought I'd run it by you.

I'm not sure about your ballclub, but the Brewers go all out trying to push the All-Star voting by their fans. I've literally seen kids walk out of the stadium carrying boxes of unpunched ballots (3000 or so to a box). They offer incentives for every 10 ballots turned in with raffles of autographed merchandise.

I realized that I punch in all my Brewers and then arbitrarily vote for members of the AL. If I feel like reading over it, I try not to punch any Yankees or Red Sox, but for the most part, I just go right down the line. I don't care who's on the AL team.

If my theory is correct, AL voters feel the same way and I do about voting for the NL team, especially if they're voting in mass quantity.

So I propose we two fan bases tie together and agree to vote together. All your NL votes go to Brewers, all our AL votes go to Royals.

We're both small market teams with limited coastal media exposure and a long shot at getting more than one guy on the All-Star roster. As all our "opposite league" votes are just throw aways, why don't we start a campaign of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

We involve other team blogs, spread the word, and make a difference.

I've thought about possible detractors, and I don't see any. I can only speak from this side, but since they're handing out ballots 3000 at a time, I don't think the Brewers have any problem with stuffing the ballot boxes. If we're doing it anyway for our guys, why don't we help each other out.

What do you think? I know it's a bit late for the idea, but we do have 6 weeks til the game and I really think that it we can get this going, we could make it a yearly tie-together and get some midwestern love for our little teams that could.

Nicole

Customer satisfaction guaranteed...eventually

2008-05-31T16:10:00.002-06:00

A long, long, LONG time ago, I wandered into a sporting good store and ordered a Brian Bannister powder blue jersey. Lots and lots of things went wrong with the customer service at this store, which I have detailed at Ladies..., but the jersey was finally shipped to a store in the correct city, so I went to pick it up today.

Turns out the store in which I placed the original order had made yet another mistake: Instead of ordering the $80ish "replica" jersey with crappy iron-on lettering (which is what I actually ordered because it's all I could afford), they ordered the $125 "authentic" model with beautifully stitched lettering. I was pretty crestfallen when I saw this, because I would either have to pay way more than I could afford and then feel buyer's remorse later, or wait another five weeks to get a different one, and have to keep dealing with this particular sporting goods store.

Luckily, the customer service here is much more competent than the other store, in that they actually did something to serve their customer (a novel idea, no?). So I now possess, and am currently wearing, a much nicer jersey than I ordered, at only the cost of the crappy-looking one and a few customer service-induced headaches.

Meanwhile, the Royals lost again. I was fortunate enough to miss this round of heartbreak (although seeing my O-Royals drop both games of a doubleheader wasn't exactly a picnic either), but my brother forced me to watch the bottom of the 9th. What a meanie. I really can not do this anymore, this losing thing. So I will turn to Kyle Davies for hope... :(

Breaking news: Aviles gets the callup

2008-05-29T14:14:00.005-06:00

Mike Aviles is now a Kansas City Royal, and it's about damn time. His bat is way too good for AAA, and I (along with many others, like Clark Fosler) can't wait to see what happens with it in the Show. This is awesome.

I'm not expecting batting titles or for Aviles to be crowned MVP or RoY or anything spectacular. I'm just curious and excited to see someone who has been a joy to watch and to be around in the Minors get his turn. Mike's a smart hitter, a great guy, and admittedly I'll miss him while he's not in Omaha. But I mean it wholeheartedly when I say I wish him the best.

UPDATE: Sweet, now Billy Butler has been optioned to Omaha. I like this a lot; many people have been criticizing GMDM for being too stubbornly locked in to guys he likes, regardless of their struggles, but both the Aviles callup and the Butler option prove he is willing to budge if Plan A doesn't work smoothly. I really, really love these moves.

UPDATE II: I forgot this one earlier, too. Kyle Davies was called up and Brett Tomko was sent to the bullpen, so either Peralta or Yabuta will be sent down on Saturday when Davies is added to the active roster on Saturday. I give this one a nod of approval as well, as long as Davies isn't seen as a long-term fix in the rotation, because he isn't. Tomko really does have some nice pitches, so he can be quite useful in middle- to long relief. After last night, I'd be more than happy to see Peralta sent down, but that really isn't fair. Yabuta hasn't done anything to prove he belongs in a major league bullpen, so I'd guess he's the one who will be demoted.

All of these roster moves are crazy, but it's exactly what I was hoping would happen. We'll see, starting tonight with Aviles' inclusion in the lineup, how much of an effect they'll have on the stagnant Royals.

Excruciating.

2008-05-28T23:41:00.002-06:00

I can't take this. It's got to be bad for the heart.

I have nothing to say about tonight's disaster that hasn't been said already by better writers (to start: here's Joe, here's Rany).

I'm not quitting the Royals; I'm not selling my fandom on eBay. I'll still be watching, criticizing the bad things, celebrating the good things (wait, there's enough good to warrant an 's' on the end of 'thing'? Hrm.), and hoping like hell that this thing ends. In 2005, during the 19-gamer, I liked to share with my radio listeners all the different ways my team was inventing to lose games. I didn't think that this year of all years would be the one in which they decided to invent more.

Enough of this. I'd rather think about stadium evacuations due to hydrochloric acid spills. That's a lot easier to stomach than anything the big league club is doing. After a sloppy beginning to the top of the 4th, Matt Wright seemed to be working his way toward salvaging the start, and had at that point only given up 2 hits and 2 runs. I was really curious to see what he would do in the 5th after that adventurous 4th, so when the O-Royals went away pretty quietly in the bottom of the 4th I got all ready to pay extra attention to pitching.

Instead, I got pulled aside and warned that we were about to evacuate the stadium because of a chemical spill nearby. This was officially the weirdest postponement I've heard of since the days when games had to be called on account of darkness. The official box score on the front page at oroyals.com says "Postponed: Other." The game will be resumed tomorrow afternoon, and the regularly scheduled game will be shortened to 7 innings, like a normal rainout situation. I wonder how both managers will handle their pitching staffs: Do the starters stay in, since they had each only thrown 4 innings and neither was doing too poorly? Surely that's what they'll do, right? I can't imagine putting that many innings on the bullpens' shoulders, given that they have to get through Game 2 as well.

Lastly, here is a post to which I contributed at Ladies... . I think I'll expand on the ideas in a little more detail here soon, because the balancing act of being a girl and being a sportswriter is something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

KC snatches defeat from the jaws of sweet victory, but at least Omaha won

2008-05-27T21:54:00.003-06:00

Clouds, helium balloons, ecstasy, unicorns, Nintendo 64...these are words that come close to describing how high I felt seeing Mark Teahen fly around the bases on what was a few inches away from being a harmless foul ball, but instead was a three-run inside-the-park home run. I screamed with glee, not caring that my entire block may have heard. Did that really just happen?

The words to describe how losing in spite of that hit...those words are not publishable here. How in hell can a team lose after getting THAT to tie things up? Especially when the next pitcher they face is Dennys "The Sphere" Reyes? Come on, Royals. Seriously. Now it's official: Kansas City really is never going to win another game.

On a lighter note, Carlos Rosa picked up win #2 here in Omaha tonight.

PROS: He struck out seven batters in his five innings, walked only* two, kept the ball in the park, and worked his way out of a heck of a jam in the 5th inning. The two hits he gave up in the first four innings were barely hits - a couple of inches lower, and one might have been caught, etc. - and one of those batters was wiped out on a double play.

*Two might be high for a guy like Rosa, but would be a decent number for anyone else. I'm keeping it as a pro, especially given the 7 Ks. The fact that both came in one inning almost put them under the cons list.

CONS: That fifth inning. When Rosa is doing well, he exudes control. Every move he makes, every pitch he throws, everything about him on the mound screams "I own this game." He did not look like that in part of the fifth tonight. After allowing a single to John Mayberry, he struck out the next two batters. Up to this point in the game, Rosa had only had to throw more than 5 pitches to any Oklahoma batter one time. But when RedHawk Travis Metcalf came up to bat, something happened with Rosa's control. He threw a wild pitch that allowed Mayberry to advance to 2nd, and never quite recovered.

Metcalf worked a full count, then singled. Casey Benjamin singled on the 2nd pitch he saw. Jason Ellison worked a full count, then walked. The bases were now loaded, which brought up Ryan Roberts. He, too, worked a full count and then walked to score a run and bring Nelson Cruz to the plate. He worked a full count as well, then struck out.

So Rosa really had to work for his outs when he got to about the third time through the Oklahoma lineup - 39 of his 91 pitches came in that inning. Did the Hawks figure him out? Did he get tired? Did he tweak a muscle when he threw the wild pitch? I don't know. He was good enough to get a win, but I'll be interested to see how he handles the third time through other batting orders the rest of the season.

On the offensive side of things, Mike Aviles pretty much screamed "CALL ME UP ALREADY" by bashing another two home runs, which coordinated nicely with taters from Angel Berroa and Brian Buchanan. It was cold out and a little rainy, but the few who stayed long enough for the victory pigs were a heck of a crowd. Matt Wright will take the mound tomorrow in pursuit of his 2nd win on the season. If last season was any indication, this will be about the time Wright really gets into a groove and starts making everyone look silly. I hope that's how it goes; that was really fun to watch.

Speaking of this time last year, Sunday marked one year since I fell/jumped/awkwarded (yes, "awkward" can be used as a verb, especially by me) off the dugout and sprained my ankle. Good times.

Venting

2008-05-26T23:36:00.006-06:00

Question: If you are Dayton Moore, what do you do with this Royals team that has lost, what is it, 358 straight games? These are the three choices that Clark Fosler presents in the linked article:

1. Stay the Course

2. Get Better Now

3. Get Better Later
Obviously none of these three is the right answer on its own. If running a baseball team were that easy, they could have hired me or you as GM instead of having to hire one of the more brilliant baseball minds out there. (Actually, it occurs to me that one or two of you ARE among the most brilliant baseball minds out there, so re-read that sentence but pretend you're me.)

Part of me wishes there were an easy answer, because after today's game I feel certain that this team will never win another game. It's a crappy feeling, one that I was hoping to avoid this season, and one that I want to go away immediately now that it's here. Those hopes, it seems, were for naught, and I must once again retreat into my bunker of bad baseball and start repeating the old "next year" mantra.

I was playing Mario Kart Wii with my brother a few minutes ago, and I was nearing the end of one of those races in which nothing went right. There's a bridge over a high gorge at the very end of this particular track, and right as I was about to pass the end of the bridge and cross the finish line, I was disqualified because more than 30 seconds had passed since the 1st place racer finished. As this message appeared on the screen, my motor bike careened off the bridge and into the gorge, as if to say "You suck hopelessly, so we'll throw you into the abyss. Don't even think about finishing a race, much less winning it."

That's how it felt today when Alex Gordon was thrown out at home. And yesterday, when Guillen, Pena, and Gload were thrown out at home, third, and caught stealing at second, respectively. Not only will the Royals never win, it seems, but another Royal will never cross home plate safely*.

*Disclaimer: I know we'll win again; it may even happen tomorrow. But I have not felt this badly about my Royals yet this year. Sometimes I play the "last year at this time" game to make myself feel better, but when I peeked back at the standings for this date last year, the Royals were only 2 games behind their current record, and in the very same last place as they are right now. So I have to play the "2 years ago at this time" game, and I see that on this date in '06, the team had only won 11 games, and was already a horrifying 23 games out of first. Looking back on that, I wonder how the team has any fans left. Seriously. 23 games out, before June? Yuck.

Point is, I hate losing. I wanted more this year. No, the Royals won't contend; I get that. But I can't be a laughingstock anymore. I am no longer equipped to handle losing streaks of epic proportions. I've moved beyond those meek days of accepted loserdom, because I thought my team had too. So how about it, Royals? Why don't you catch up to me?

Extra frames in Omaha

2008-05-21T22:47:00.006-06:00

I know I shouldn't base my expectations for the O-Royals 2008 season on what happened last year, but it's hard not to look forward to on-field fireworks every time I head to work. It has been a quiet season so far, with nobody - not even Mike Jerschele - being ejected or exchanging more than a word or two with the umpires.

But ohhh tonight. Tonight was a weird one from the beginning. Maybe it's just because I was sleep-deprived, or maybe it was something else entirely, but there was a weird feeling in the air. I felt like tonight's game would either be a blowout in Iowa's favor, or it would be a wild, contested, frustrating, bullshitty, scrapping and clawing sort of game that could go to either team.

It was the latter, in every possible way.

Things got a tiny bit hairy for Kyle Davies in the first, when Iowa loaded the bases, but Bobby Scales popped out to end that. In the bottom of the first, a pitch that hit Brian Buchanan also hit home plate umpire Dan Bellino in the ear. Bellino inexplicably decided to hold that against Omaha, and made some incredibly...interesting calls against the Royals later in the game.

The game moved along without a lot of incident for a lot of innings, and aside from a couple of runs, Davies wasn't too bad. (His line: 6.2 IP, 8 hits, 2 runs, 2 ER, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts) Still, there was something stifling and oppressive about the way the Royals couldn't get any offense going. The mood in the dugout was unusually tense. Then came the fireworks.

Here's the game recap for the top of the 9th:

# Casey McGehee advances to 2nd, on interference error by catcher Matt Tupman.
# Omaha Royals catcher Matt Tupman ejected by HP umpire Dan Bellino.
# Omaha Royals Manager Mike Jirschele ejected by HP umpire Dan Bellino.

That "catcher interference" was not, by any account that I heard, a fair call. The umpire alleged that the ball kind of rolled up Tuppy's arm and in behind his chest pads, which would have been interference. Problem was, the ball was in Tup's glove. But Bellino was in an ejecty mood, so he tossed Tupman. Then, Bellino was so impressed with his own "you're outta here" hand signal that he used it a moment later on Jersch. Fine, whatever. Tup should not have been ejected, but what can ya do?

Damaso Espino came in to catch, inappropriate things were said to and about the umpiring crew, and we all moved on. Everyone was antsy with the bottom of the 9th approaching and Omaha still down 2-0. Omaha hadn't been able to get much of anything working in any inning prior to #9, had gone down in order four times, and had batted only a four guys in a few other innings. I don't want to say that I didn't believe we could plate a few runs, but I would not have been surprised to lose again, the way things have been going for the team lately.

Sure enough, first batter strikes out. That brought up the catcher's spot, Damaso Espino's first AB of the game after being brought in for the ejected Tupman. Espino got down in the count 1-2 before fighting back for a walk. The first pitches to Jason Smith, the next batter, were the things that made me know something was going to happen. Smith didn't swing at either of the first two pitches, which he almost always does. Nor did he swing at the third or fourth, ball three and strike one. And then he swung. No way, no way is this ball going to make it out of the yard. Not the way things have been going all night. An Iowa outfielder - and I honestly can't remember if it was Andres Torres or Felix Pie, because I was not breathing - leapt, extending an arm over the wall. Oh no, did he really make that catch? I can't see; please tell me his glove is empty.

The umpire raised an arm and signaled "home run."

That was the most breathlessly, speechlessly, ohmygosh-did-that-just-happen excited I've been all season. I mean...wow. Finally. High fives all around; every fan I could reach got a hearty five. Tie game.

But it would not be a true matchup between the O-Royals and I-Cubs if it ended in only nine innings, so the next two batters struck out to send us to the tenth. The home plate umpire still wasn't done showing off his cool "outta here" move. Neal Musser allegedly balked, and was ejected after muttering something or another. It was kind of garbagey, and got some fans to wonder if the officiating crew was being sponsored by the Iowa Cubs. Brad Salmon came in and got out of the inning unscathed, thanks to a hell of a throw by Mike Aviles to cut a runner off at home.

In the 10th, Aviles came up to bat with two down. I figured if anyone could make the magic happen at that time, Aviles was the guy. Sure enough, he doubled. Then Shane Costa was intentionally walked, brining up Buchanan, who absolutely smoked a low liner down the third base line. I thought for sure it was a hit, but somehow - some-freaking-how, third baseman Casey McGehee got his glove down between his knees and snagged the ball on the fly.

Iowa managed a run in the 12th after being shut down by Salmon in the 11th. Dave Matranga led off the inning, and hit a high, deep drive out to right-center. For a moment, it looked for all the world like it would go out, but that was again probably just the way my tired brain perceived the situation. Mitch Maier and Mike Aviles both singled, and a wild pitch moved them to 2nd and 3rd. After that, Iowa decided to intentionally walk Costa again to load 'em up for Buchanan with one out.

I can't even pretend to be able to describe how the rest happened. Here's the account from the game log:

# Brian Buchanan grounds into a force out, second baseman Eric Patterson to shortstop Andres Blanco. Mitch Maier scores. Mike Aviles scores. Shane Costa out at 2nd. Brian Buchanan advances to 1st, on throwing error by shortstop Andres Blanco.

At that point I realized I was still barely breathing from the Smith home run. Did that really happen? No way, no way, that didn't just happen. Really? We won? Something went our way? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I was told later that I looked completely ecstatic as I hopped up on the dugout to celebrate and throw out Victory Pigs. I don't remember any of it, and I'm still trying to breathe.

Not that I saw the game at all, but...

2008-05-20T09:43:00.004-06:00

I didn't hear a thing about Jon Lester's no-hitter against the Royals last night until it was almost over (I was at work, a loss for the Omaha Royals). In the 7th, I heard it was 7-0 Boston, and that Alex Gordon was on deck. In the 9th, one of my superiors, Adam, warned me he was going to tell me something that I wasn't going to like. "Looks like Lester is an out away from no-hitting your Royals."

Dang, he was right. I didn't like it. But the weird thing is, I don't hate it either. There's something about no-hitters that I love more deeply than most things in baseball. It's one of those rare things that makes the Baseball Tonight crew shut up about home runs for once and celebrate pitching. It's the way a defense bands together to make impossible plays for their pitcher when they realize there's a shot at history on the line. It's the way there's always a cool story behind the guy throwing it, a story that's a little bigger than sportswriters searching for an angle.

Look back at last year, at Clay Buchholz's second big league start. I'm not a Red Sox fan by any means, but that video gives me chills every time, makes me root for the defense to not mess it up, makes my jaw hit the floor every time Dustin Pedroia makes the diving stop and rolls to fire it to first in time. It's beyond baseball, I think. It has to be a little bit of magic.

That magic is why I can't be too pissed off that the Royals were no-hit last night. Sure, I'd rather have had KC win, but it's kind of cool to see a young guy say "F*** you" to cancer and do something like this. It's cool to see any kind of guy do something like this.

As usual, JoePo and Brian Bannister said it best, so I'll let them finish this out:

There’s no manual telling a player what to say after getting no-hit. There’s no model for how to feel. Mostly, there’s silence. Pitcher Brian Bannister dresses in front of his locker. He watched the whole thing from the dugout, of course, and he heard the excitement of the crowd, and he understood the magic of the moment, and he felt the agony with his teammates. Brian is never at a loss for words. Now, though, he says he doesn’t really know what to say.

“If someone had to throw a no-hitter against us, I’m glad it was Jon,” he finally says. “That’s just an amazing story after what he has gone through. As a fellow pitcher, I can see just how amazing this is. It hurts to get no-hit, but you think about what he did. You know, that’s why I love this game.”

Clutter and closers

2008-05-14T19:05:00.005-06:00

I'm not sure how much more I can take of O-Royals non-success at home. After the team did so well (45-27) at Rosenblatt Stadium last year, it's odd to see them lose there. It's odd to see the bullpen give up runs at all, much less Neal Musser giving up gobs of them all the time. Heck, he gave up as many runs in the 9th inning yesterday afternoon than he gave up all of last season at AAA.

Let's look at the 4-game series against Tacoma, which the Raniers swept.
Game 1: This was Tacoma's all the way. Omaha scored one in the first, and none after that. Fine, whatver; not the bullpen's fault. But then...

Game 2: The Royals led 2-0 going into the 7th (which was the final inning because this was a double-header). Matt Wright finally had an outing in which he looked like himself - 6 innings of solid shutout baseball. It was fabulous. Then Musser came in, which is generally not cause for concern, especially with a 2-run cushion. The on-field staff all prepared for our post-victory duties: Buckets of Victory Pigs had been prepared, I was ready to sing a song (because it ain't over until the Fat Lady sings). Yes, things looked good... until Muss started pitching. He walked the first two batters on eight pitches - ouch! - and then surrendered a 3-run home run. To Musser's credit, he did get three strikeouts in the inning, but the Omaha offense (and baserunning) didn't cut it in the bottom of the inning.

Game 3: Tacoma jumped out to an early lead from which Omaha couldn't recover. Not the bullpen's fault either.

Game 4: This game was a damn good one, until it wasn't. Brandon Duckworth cruised through 7.2 innings, giving up just 5 hits. Both teams pitched and defended well, and the game moved along quickly through the first 8 innings. It was tied at one-all going into the 9th. Again it was Musser on the mound, and again Tacoma busted out a three-run home run from which the Omaha offense couldn't recover. (Fun fact: Left fielder Shawn Garrett was the one who hit both of the game-clinching homers for Tacoma. They are his only two taters of the season.)

So what has happened to Mr. Dependable/Unstoppable/Don't Even Think About Getting On Base? For pity's sake, this is Neal Musser and it is Triple-A ball. Giving up runs...that's not supposed to happen. Not at home, not anywhere or anytime.

The front office and on-field staff have taken steps to cut down on the number of last-inning shenanigans by opponents. The "Fat Lady" suit in which we dress up to sing after victories is no longer called by that name. General Manager Martie Cordaro figures that referring to the Fat Lady while a game is in progress is a huge jinx. So in a meeting with the entire front office staff, Cordaro mandated that she is to be referred to as "The Closer."

It's just unfortunate that our closer has to be Eric Gagne.

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Meanwhile, in real life, I'm finishing moving in to the apartment my brother is graciously sharing with me this summer. It's been less than fun trying to carve into the mountain of my clutter, but it's almost to the point where I could have a guest or two (more than that might not fit) over without having my stuff make the apartment a socially unacceptable mess.

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One more O-Royals note, in case you hadn't heard: Carlos Rosa has been called up! No corresponding roster move has been made, so it's not all the way official yet, but he's been here in the city for a couple of days already. I can't wait to see him pitch, whenever it may happen.

On doors and RENT

2008-05-04T12:35:00.004-06:00

Right as I read the story about John Bale breaking his hand by punching a door, a commercial for Duranautic Doors was on. It made me giggle. What didn't make me giggle is having to add a Royal to the list of really stupid baseball injuries for the year. As dumb as Hunter Pence walking through a glass door? Nah...but still pretty dumb.

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This is completely unrelated to everything -- one of the "Other Things" promised in the blog title. I saw RENT last night at Omaha's Orpheum Theatre. The cool thing about a great performance is that, no matter how well you already know the story and regardless of the fact that you know every word to every song, you can still become lost in the story, moved by it like it was the first time you've seen it.

...unfortunately, this wasn't a great performance.

Our Mimi Marquez (I think it was Jennifer Colby Talton, but I could be wrong)was terrible, which ruins a great deal of the show. She sounded really meek, like it was her first performance and she was too nervous to sing out. She had a nice voice, but never let it rip the way I feel like a Mimi should. "Out Tonight" should be a loud, confident, forceful demand, not a mere suggestion that just in case you didn't already have plans, maybe we could hang out or something. To her credit, she was decent in "Goodbye Love," but for everything before that I wanted to go shake her and yell at her to just sing out, dammit.

Luckily, both Roger and Mark were really good (played by Heinz Winckler and Jed Resnick, respectively), especially together in "What You Own." Fun fact: Winckler was the winner of the first South African Idol.

The best in the show was Anwar F Robinson as Collins, which says a lot because Collins isn't normally my favorite character. The reprise of "I'll Cover You" was heart-wrenching.

I had to take a theater class last semester to fulfill some arts requirements, and my teacher (who is awesome) preached a 10 Commandments of Theatergoing. I wish more people would adhere to these things -- simple, common-courtesy things like not leaving your seat three freaking times during the show (my seat was directly atop an aisle). More disturbing was the fact that the Orpheum's ushers were actually seating latecomers in the middle of numbers! I can understand not wanting to wait all the way until intermission to seat them (even though that is technically the proper way to go about it), but for pity's sake don't seat them in the middle of songs! "One Song Glory" is such a powerful, intimate glimpse into Roger's musical aspirations as he struggles with the reality that he has AIDS, but all I saw was the back of a Simple Plan* hoodie, worn by a girl who was standing with an usher who had no business seating anybody at that time. Shame on the Orpheum for doing that.

*I wasn't aware they had any fans. Guess I was wrong -- they have one, and she is an offensive audience member.

Overall, I'm glad I went, at the very least so I can say I've seen RENT. But it wasn't up to the standards I've been able to expect from shows brought in by Omaha Performing Arts. Sigh.

On Buzz Bissinger

2008-05-01T18:41:00.002-06:00

It amazes me what fear of change will make a man say. Out of nowhere, a man who has spent 40 years showing he knows how to craft words in a pleasing, meaningful way could not think of anything more to spout than “I really think you’re full of shit.”

The crafter of these fine words, of course, was Buzz Bissinger, whose bizarre and pathetic attack on Will Leitch you’ve probably already seen (but is here if you haven’t). Before Bissinger interjected, the conversation had been lighthearted and sensible even where viewpoints differed. Bob Costas brought up the point that some blogs take on a mean-spirited tone, and then Leitch (blogger) responded in a level-headed, mild-mannered way before Bissinger (classically trained legitimate sportswriter!) interjected with the completely random assertion that Leitch is full of shit. Which side is mean-spirited, again?

I remember reading once how threatened maestros were by the advent of radio back in the day. They were certain that if people could listen to orchestras on the radio, they’d cease to attend live performances, and the musicians and the maestros themselves would be out of business. Replace “radio” with “blogs,” and “maestros” with “newspaper writers” and this is exactly the fear Bissinger faces. Have people stopped attending symphony performances? Heck no; if an orchestra is good, people will travel many miles and shell out all kinds of money to see them – or any of a thousand other types of musicians that came into existence only because new forms of listening to music were introduced. The difference is that advances in technology have given music fans – or in this case, sports fans – a choice.

Something that really insulted me as a young person who loves reading is that he seems sure that my generation (or even Leitch’s) wouldn’t know good writing if we saw it, because our internet is so full of bad writers. That’s offensive; is he not aware that a lot of people his age – people with journalism degrees, press passes, and decades of experience -- can also suck? Working for a newspaper does not make a man a good writer; writing for a blog does not make a man a bad writer, and shame on Bissinger for refusing to acknowledge that. He did nothing to help his case; his own fear of change will only contribute to the death of newspapers. If “traditional” journalists don’t start to embrace or at least acknowledge the new avenues by which information is available, they will cease to have a place in sports fans’ daily lineup of reading, and will have no one but themselves to blame.

UPDATE: I could have saved myself the trouble of stewing over this matter all night (and accidentally oversleeping a final exam by 45 minutes) by just referring to this post of JoePo's from last fall. A lot has been said in the last few days about the Bissinger tirade specifically, but it all boils down to a stupid Us v. Them debate that doesn't need to be brought up another time. OK, I promise this is the last I will say about Buzz Bissinger.

It's all my fault

2008-04-30T21:27:00.004-06:00

More about my unmentionables than you ever wanted to know
Brian Bannister tonight...did anything go right? 30 pitches every inning for three excruciating innings. Three home runs, including a grand slam. It was painful to watch, especially since Bannister is my favorite Royal. If I had to watch a KC pitcher throw that kind of game, I'd give a great deal for it to be anyone besides him.

But it was Bannister, and this outing was entirely my fault.

Last summer during the middle of the season, I noticed that, by coincidence of laundry, I ended up wearing the same pair of drawers every time Banny started. It was an accident for a while, but I starting doing it on purpose after that because it seemed to be working well for all involved (except Royal opponents). I held over that routine into this season...until today.

I realized partway through the day that I had made the underwear mistake, and considered changing. I thought about it, but figured Banny would not need the help of my lucky drawers since it's "just the Rangers." (Sorry, Micah.)

I haven't finished watching the game yet -- Joel Peralta just gave up a 2-bagger, making it 9-1 Texas -- and I almost don't want to finish. I know how it ends (remind me again why Pena is allowed to bat in such a situation, ever?). I just want this night to be over so the Royals can start starting over again.

How did I become a Royals fan?

2008-04-28T09:21:00.001-06:00

Lee Warren at Royal Reflections was kind enough to interview me to discover why I am a Royals fan. Enjoy!

Still here, thawing out

2008-04-27T20:31:00.003-06:00

Last night was yet another cold, rainy night for the Omaha Royals and their faithful fans. Five Royals players homered, but...Omaha still lost. It sucked.

Overheard in the Omaha dugout: "Why are there still people here? Don't they know it's cold and raining out here?"

Before that game, I tagged along to help with this event. We got to feed some fish, using handfuls of other, smaller fishes. (Note to self: If I am ever famous, I should be as nice to my fans as Matt Wright is.)

And today, the sun came out, and Jorge de la Rosa was awesome, and Omaha pulled out a sweet 3-2 victory.

But I haven't been around here to write about any of these things for two reasons:
1) I have not been near a reliable Internet connection, and more recently
2) This came out.

I haven't died, abandoned this blog, or given up hope that the Royals can win again. And once I get through this week (dead week), things will be back to a more normal pace here. Thanks for your patience!

O-Royals tidbits

2008-04-21T09:40:00.005-06:00

We are already sixteen games into the season, and the Omaha Royals have a sweet 10-6 record that puts them atop the PCL North. Three of the losses have been at home, and three have been on the road, so it's too early to tell if the team will repeat its drastic home/road split from last year. (In 2007, they were 45-27 at home, and just 28-44 on the road.)

A long, long time ago, I heard that Jorge de la Rosa would be the Player to be Named Later in exchange for Ramon Ramirez. Instead, he has stayed with Omaha, and has done his usual April routine of command and poise in his last couple of starts. He looked great against New Orleans yesterday, going 6 innings, and giving up just three hits and zero runs. He also struck out six and walked only two.

DLR's BB/9: 2.94
DLR's K/9: 8.82

Now, if he is to be the PTBNL, I hope that happens before Colorado sees him hit the Wall of Doom in mid-May.

This wouldn't be a true O-Royals post here without some mention of Matt Wright. I'm getting a little worried that his slow start is something worse than just a slow start. Wright pitched on Saturday to start the new homestand, and was less than sharp. He has also been less than sharp in his previous outiings -- here are his stats for the year. I still believe he can right the ship (or...Wright the ship? Thank you, I'll be here all week), so I will still refer to him as my favorite O-Royal starter. But he has looked like a completely different pitcher than the dominant one I saw last year in Omaha and in November in the World Cup. In his good and even just decent starts, Wright controlled the game by locating well and giving away a smallish number of free bases on balls.

Right now, his fastball has very little bite, and even less late movement than usual. He doesn't seem to be locating well, and has already walked six in just 14 innings. That's good for a BB/9 of 3.86, compared his 2007 BB/9 of 2.63. I realize I'm working with a small sample size, but those numbers accurately tell the story of how he looks when one watches his starts in person.

One question that I've heard floating around at Rosenblatt Stadium...could Wright be joining John Bale in the Dead arm Club?

That's it for now; I need to get ready for two more games in Omaha before an off day Wednesday. Mike Maroth will start for Omaha tonight against New Orleans Zephyr Joselo Diaz.

BIG news for B&OT

2008-04-17T22:19:00.002-06:00

After the departure of a few of their fine blogstresses, the Ladies... were looking for new contributors. After a rigorous screening process that included a background check, urinalysis, submission to random drug testing, an IQ test, and a strange ritual involving paddles, two kittens, and KY Jelly, I am one of them.

Why would I want to write for such a website? Fame, glory, and the big bucks. Duh. Also because I've always loved the balance the Ladies... provide for me as a sports fan. The Ladies... all legitimate sports fans with intelligent* thoughts, ideas, statistical knowledge, etc. about our favorite teams and sports. And we all have our regular blogs and other websites for those ideas. But from time to time, I find myself wanting to extol the virtues of high socks and eyeblack, or criticize MLB's dumbest goatees, but this blog isn't really the place; that wouldn't be fair to people who are here for actual baseball (...and, uh, Other Things?). I can do those posts there, comfortably assured that Ladies... readers understand that it is a balance, not merely a girly obsession with athlete asses in tight pants.

*Them, not me.

This is by no means the end of Baseball and Other Things. It's more like B&OT now has a baby sister. And that I'm this much closer to being Internet-famous.

Fantasy conundrum

2008-04-16T21:15:00.003-06:00

I resisted the urge to try fantasy baseball for years. I know myself well enough to know that once I started a fantasy team, I'd get hooked and spend way too much time on it. I was pretty much right.

And tonight, I am faced with a heck of a quandary with my fantasy team: I forgot to move Jared Weaver off my roster before he faced the Royals tonight! Now, the Royals are knocking him around a bit, which is great for me as a fan, but is doing horrible things for my staff's ERA and WHIP (which had been at an astounding 0.00 and 0.40, respectively, for the last day and a half).

I have been thinking all season that I don't always like the way my fantasy involvement makes me look at games. It works beautifully when Brian Bannister throws a complete game so I get a whole bunch of points, but what when a Royal opponent is a member of my team, like tonight? It's just kind of disconcerting to be watching any game for a reason other than enjoying watching baseball.

On the plus side, I have paid closer attention to some teams because their players are on my team. It's making it easier for me to work on paying better attention to the NL. But it still weird. What if I'm watching the Yankees and Red Sox? I always root for Boston over New York, but I have Mariano Rivera, so it helps my (fantastic) staff if he dominates. But I also have two Boston outfielders, so maybe it would help me if those guys got their offense going, at Rivera's expense. I don't like the relativity of it all; I'd rather just enjoy watching and root for whomever I wish.

I could just convert to an all-Royals team via some heavy trading, or go with a silly theme (bad facial hair?), to cut down on how much I am actually bothered by this discontinuity.

Meanwhile, in real baseball, Gil Meche has thrown first-pitch strikes to 13 of his first 16 batters faced. That's a good sign. He has also gotten rid of that silly triangular beard. Do you think those factoids are related? I tend to think so...

Also, I have some fairly large news that I will share in more detail later this week. It's pretty exciting for me though. Feel free to speculate, but I'll eliminate some possibilities: I'm not getting married, I'm not pregnant. The rest is fair game.

Go Royals!

Double your awesome, double your fun

2008-04-14T23:20:00.001-06:00

Learning is an incredible thing. Here's what I have been learning from the Royals lately:
- One complete game is really fun to see as a fan.
Predictably, I was thrilled yesterday as Bannister neared the end of his smart, efficient, mostly flawless complete game. I didn't get to behold the entire triumph but Bannister's late inning pitches all looked deliberate, graceful, and most importantly, baffling to all the hitters he faced. After the start he's had this season, he darn well deserves his AL Player of the Week honor. (Well, co-honor.)

- Two is a whole lot better.
I wondered how Greinke would follow up his brilliant 8-inning performance from the other night. I hoped for a good start, but had no idea it would be that good.

During his postgame interview with Joel Goldberg (who I think I dislike, but I'm not sure yet), I IMed my brother that Greinke sounds a whole lot more comfortable with being interviewed than he used to. I know he used to have a terrible fear of being on camera because he thought people would think he was dumb. He has done so much lately that make me want to send a fruit basket of thanksgiving to his doctors; obviously his pitching mentality has improved exponentially from his 2005 season, he looks much more comfortable with the media, and he was even out among a throng of fans handing out Butler powder blues on Saturday.

To me, it's that last one that is most telling about his psychological progress. Even to people who don't suffer from social anxieties, being inside a cluster of freebie-seeking fans can induce a bit of an internal panic. It happened to me, and I'm deeply impressed that he put himself in that situation (and was apparently fine).

- Good defense is sexy.
Mark Teahen's leaping catch on the track, Grudzielanek's 10 assists, all the double plays. Pena's feed to Grud in the 2nd double play was really, really pretty. Please, sir, I want some more.

-Quote of the night:
"I'm gonna struggle off a guy one of these days." -Billy Butler, on the Royals Live postgame. I call BS; there's no way he will ever struggle.
(Did anyone else notice the careless lcoker room camera work that led to a shower being televised? WTF, Fox Sports Net??? How do you not forsee that one happening??)

- Meanwhile, down on the farm(ish)
It appears that Jorge de la Rosa is acting like his April 2007 self. In his start tonight at Memphis, DLR threw 53 of his 72 pitches for strikes on his way to 4 Ks, no walks, and 4 hits over 5 innings. If Jorge is indeed the PTBNL for Ramon Ramirez, I still like that deal a lot, because I can be fairly certain that DLR will return to his later-in-2007 form of wildness all over the walls.

Joel Peralta held the Redbirds off in two solid innings, and Neal Musser worked the 8th and 9th for his 3rd save of the year.

For those keeping score at home, Angel Berroa had three hits in that game, a 4-1 Omaha win.

Harlan Chamberlain collapses in his home

2008-04-14T16:38:00.005-06:00

Many of you may have already seen this linked from Ball Star or elsewhere, but it is pretty sad:

Harlan Chamberlain in critical condition

According to sources, Harlan Chamberlain collapsed at his home in Lincoln, Neb. He was listed in critical condition at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, a nursing supervisor there told the Daily News on Sunday night. Chamberlain learned the news after the Yankees' loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Chamberlain's sister called a Yankees official during the eighth inning in an attempt to reach Chamberlain, who was in the bullpen at the time.

After the game, a source said, Chamberlain returned the call, only to learn of his father's collapse.

Sources said Chamberlain broke down in tears inside the clubhouse, as manager Joe Girardi consoled him.

I am a Yankee-hater; that is my job. But I love Joba Chamberlain and how close -- inextricably linked, really -- he and his father. And I cheer hard for all Huskers, no matter where they go on to play. I fear what would happen to Joba's trademark celebrations, not to mention his astounding pitching, if he was without that important piece of his life.

Prayers for Harlan, if you are the praying sort.

The baseball gods HATE GI Johnny

2008-04-11T19:37:00.003-06:00

Non-Husker fans, you may leave this post alone if you wish. But I really feel the need to vent (The kind with words, not the Coors kind).

Nine innings. One run. That's a damn good pitching outing, right?

...not good enough for Johnny Dorn tonight, as the Huskers scored no runs against Oklahoma State.

Boo. BOOOO.

Guillen can play

2008-04-11T15:47:00.005-06:00

Not only can Jose Guillen play baseball, he's being allowed to as well.. Thank you, I'll be here all week.

I, like others before me, am pleased that he isn't required to serve his suspension. Had he been accused of purchasing HGH by any means that could be held up in court, I would have no problem if Selig made Guillen and others serve suspensions. But since courts aren't too fond of he said/she said "evidence" of malfeasance, it would set a dangerous precedence if those suspensions were upheld.

It is safe to say that Bud Selig has made some unwise decisions as commissioner, but to commute suspensions related to the Mitchell Report is the right call, all the way. If something more substantial appears later that implicates Guillen or anyone else in the use/purchase of illegal PEDs, suspend them at that time. In the meantime we have bigger things to worry about, like whether Guillen will start to hit $36 million worth of baseballs.

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In case you missed it, the KC Star wrote about my cousin Chris* this week, and the large, shiny, high-definition toy he now operates. I thought it was cool of Mellinger to give people an idea of what it takes to make something as ambitious as Crown Vision work (here's the video that accompanied the story).

*Chris, by the way, gives Mike Sweeney a run for his money in the quest for the "Nicest Man in the World" title. True story.

The team's start, which has been described as "red-hot" by the Baseball Tonight folks (yes, them. Let me mention some East Coast baseball to make up for their mentioning someone further inland: Yankees! Red Sox! Tonight!), combined with the splendor of Crown Vision, are exactly what needed to happen in the first part of this season. It's unfortunate that the opening home series was shat upon by Mother Nature, but I imagine that this weekend's series against Minnesota -- particularly with the giveaway of those incredible Butler powder blues -- will bring a lot of first-time or long-absent Kansas Citians into the stadium, and the team's continued rise from despair to mediocrity to success will bring them back.

By the way, in case you wondered, Crown Vision apparently isn't too much of a distraction to the players. And is anyone else unsurprised that Joey Gathright enjoys watching replays of himself on it?

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Play has started for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, and despite their terrifying mascot, people in the area seem to be excited about the team. That's good.

...but I'm still scared of that mascot.

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David DeJesus is still out with that ankle injury, which is great news for Joey Gathright, but might be better news for whoever has to figure out where to put Gathright after DDJ gets back. I'm not sure if that's tonight* against the Twins or later still, but I don't blame DeJesus for being cautious.

I can not believe all the attention Joey's base stealing has gotten on ESPN since the season started. It's especially startling considering how poor of a thief he has been until this spring.

*On that note, tonight's game time can not come soon enough. I woke up from a nap at 4:00, and the overcast skies outside made my internal clock certain that it was later than that. Therefore, game time is taking even more excruciatingly long to get here than usual.

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Something to ponder -- Craig Brown makes a case for Tony Pena, Jr. being taken out of the lineup in favor of Alberto Callaspo, comparing Pena's current situation to the one KC faced with Angel Berroa last spring.

Think about the Pena trade last spring. Berroa had to go. He was a disaster offensively and defensively. Enter Pena. At the time, I said it wasn’t a big upgrade because with the bat, Pena and Berroa are essentially the same player. But Pena is better defensively. So the move is a net benefit for the team.

But now the Royals are continuing to improve and it’s time for GMDM to find a solution. Is it Callaspo? While all signs point to him at second base, from what I’ve seen of him he’s good enough defensively at short. I’m thinking the offensive edge that Callaspo would bring to the lineup is greater than the defensive edge the Royals would have from Pena. In other words, Callaspo’s bat is more valuable than Pena’s glove.

But Sam Mellinger disagrees somewhat:

Pena can't continue to hit .037, obviously. And he won't. He was actually better than expected at the plate last year, and I can't believe he just forgot how to hit over an offseason.

He's in a bad slump, it just looks worse because it's at the beginning of the season. It's also easier to deal with when the Royals are winning.

That being said, he does need to produce offensively, and I think that's obvious. You can look at it as another sign of the Royals' progress. Pena was terrific last year in part because he wasn't Angel Berroa. That's no longer good enough.

Shiny metallic hats, wins for Bannister, piles of meat

2008-04-08T22:53:00.005-06:00

Rain and cold aren't the most ideal conditions for a baseball road trip, but my brothers, friends, and I are either really good fans or really stupid so we forged southward anyway for the Royals' Home Opener. We also forgot how exactly to get to Gates BBQ ("HIMAYIHELPYOU"), but luckily we found it right before having the discussion about where to eat instead. (Wendy's is OK on its own, but is not a suitable substitute for piles of meat at Gates.) I almost finished off a mixed plate on my own, which is a whole lot of food, and I am simultaneously proud and ashamed. Now you know. Last time my brothers (etc.) and I ate there, it was Opening Day last year and we got to watch Alex Rodriguez strike out on TV as we prepared to watch the Royals take on Boston that afternoon. Today we made some comment about hopefully getting to see him do that in person this time around.

So then, we tried to park in our usual area, by entering Gate 2, but were waved around to approximately the middle of Utah instead and had to miss a bunch of pregame festivities and CrownVision ogling before the game.

Brian Bannister, not a strikeout guy, got Alex Rodriguez, also not a strikeout guy, to go down looking three different times. And Ramon Ramirez got him a fourth time, giving him the distinct honor of what I think is his second Golden Sombrero at Kauffman Stadium (Update: No, it isn't his 2nd. My brothers and I misremembered a 3-strikeout performance as a Sombrero de Oro. My bad.) . That alone was worth the trip, the shivering, sniffles, parking (NIGHTMARE), the 6-mile hike to the stadium, and putting up with not-so-baseball-savvy fans everywhere. (They were non-savvy in many different ways. Some were just generally clueless of the MLB: "Johnny Damon is with the Yankees now? How long has that been happening? I wonder if his hair is still all long." Some were clueless of specific Royals: "Come on Bannister, just rock and fire! Rock and fire!" Yep, guy, that's all that goes into Bannister's pitching...just rock and fire. He said this every 2.4 pitches; I counted. Still other fans were simply confused as to what sport they were watching: "Rock chalk Jayhawk!") (Some Bannister goodness for you -- thanks Seidman!)

We also got to see a Royal finally take another base on balls, and it was the improbably Tony Pena, Jr. My Call of the Day goes to my brother Ryan, who texted me this after the Pena walk: "I don't get it. He just ran to first without swinging?" But four other Royals ended up walking, which is the most the team has drawn in a game so far. Hopefully that's something the team can continue to do better.

Now I must go retire, but first some linkage:
- Bill James Daily Matchups are free throughout all of April. They show past data for every pitcher/batter matchup in every MLB game every day. Get this while it's free, because it's always good to know these things. You could use them to help you become an analyst for watching games with your friends (and mute Morgan).

- The O-Royals won without me there, and it looks like Mike Aviles was the hero.

- The KC Star's Royals page has a new look, same great taste.

- I love Joakim Soria. (That's not news, but a general excuse to behold his greatness.)

- Rany is Randomly on the Royals today.

- The Tigers lost again; they are 0-7.

First O-Royals musings of 2008

2008-04-06T22:31:00.005-06:00

The people above me are playing Rock Band again, so what follows is likely to be less than sane. It's hard to keep it together with that hollow, constant, inescapable a-rhythmic thudding going on. Also, I got a new keyboard ($1 from woot!) that is very tiny, which I guess means I'm obligated as a woman to think is cute, despite the lack of functionality its small size brings (see: poodle).

Thursday would have been Opening Day for the Omaha Royals, were it not for rain showers that day. So the team had O-Day on Friday, and a double-header yesterday. Those of you who have been around here a while probably remember that the O-Royals played what seemed like an ungodly number of rainout-caused doubleheaders last year, especially at the end of the season. It's good to be right back into that habit as we start the 40th Anniversary season.

I am trying to see if Trey Hillman's style will seep down into AAA at all. Thus far, we really haven't had the opportunity to even try any of the aggressive baserunning Trey has employed at the big league level, because everything Omaha has done is pretty non-strategic, as far as baserunning goes: doubles, triples, a couple of homers. I've noticed a bit of impatience at the plate -- in the first game, O-Royals swung at 7 1st pitches and 14 2nd pitches. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but I'd love to see my boys take more pitches and drive every starter to higher pitch counts than they've forced so far (89, 89, 65 and 83 in four games).

While the offseason was happening, it felt like time was dragging, but once the season finally got here it feels like we haven't left. My favorite season ticket holders are back in their usual spots, the cotton candy guy still has his massive sideburns (yay!), the steps by the 3rd base dugout are still the best seats in the house, everyone cracks inappropriate jokes, and Angel Berroa still screams in our ears when we least expect it. It feels great to be back in action, and as soon as things settle down in terms of my actual work*, I hope to be able to give all of you non-Omahans some sort of feel of how the Royals' AAA prospects (and lifers) are doing.

*I still can't believe they actually pay us for this stuff. My job is the coolest! I get to sit right by the dugout, be as vocal of a fan as I can, be friendly to all the fans, and lead fans on to the field for various embarras--promotions. Seriously. How is that a job? I love every minute of it.

In the meantime, I have only a few things to offer:
-Former Royal Bobby Keppel has apparently shortened it to just "Bob." I don't like it.

- The O-Royals are averaging 3.31 pitches per plate appearance. I'd like to see a little bit more patience, so I'll be keeping an eye on that as time goes on. My unofficial count has Jason Smith with the most 1- and 2-pitch at-bats, but it's kind of working for him, as he's already collected 6 hits including a homer and a triple.

- Also, is it just me or does outfielder Brian Buchanan bear a striking resemblance to Dave Coulier, aka Uncle Joey from the show Full House? Oh crap I hope he doesn't read this...but surely he's been told that, right?

- Neal Musser has already given up more earned runs this young season than he did through part of July last year, because he surrendered a 2-run home run this afternoon (only one of the runs was earned).

- Roberto Giron is a heck of a reliever. I'm glad he survived Saturday's bitter cold (well, he thought it was cold and marveled at my choice in shorts and a tank top; apparently growing up in Nebraska gives one a far different idea of temperature tolerance than growing up in the Dominican Republic...) so I can continue to enjoy his work.

- I saw Shane Costa fall up some stairs on Friday night, and I wanted to share that, because I wasn't aware he had flaws.

Elsewhere in the world:
- The Ladies... want YOU to also be a Lady. If you happen to meet their standards.

- I don't mean to revel in someone else's misfortunes, but the Tigers are 0-6. However, I must take this time to blast Joe Morgan for yet another boneheaded thing he said on national television. As Detroit gave up the 8th and 9th runs to Chicago today, the boos from the Tiger home crowd were becoming very loud, and Morgan said "They should be booing."

You know, I don't care what the situation is; you DO NOT BOO the home team. What the hell, Joe Morgan? Every time I hear him call a game, I wish he had never gotten that TV work, because then people would remember him for his awesome playing career and not the fact that he is a mean, stubborn, awful announcer.

- I'm terribly disappointed in North Carolina for not being their usual UNC-ish selves, because I had picked them in multiple versions of my bracket in several pools that are for more than just the heck of it. But...go Big XII! Represent!

- Trey Hillman must love me, because the KC pitching rotation works out so I get to see Brian Bannister pitch in Kansas City on Tuesday! Of course, the forecast calls for a high of Garbage with a chance of Cancellation.

If you find yourself in Omaha today (Monday), be sure to come to Rosenblatt and enjoy some O-Royals action and some $1 hot dogs! (First pitch at 6:35)