Putting the 'perstit' in superstition

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

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

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

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

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

Ahh, the power of superstition

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.)

Clutter and closers

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.

It's all my fault

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.