Showing posts with label New York Mets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Mets. Show all posts

11.02.2015

The Royals took the crown!

Tonight started out like almost every other night for the last seven months.

The Kansas City Royals were on the TV, and our family was gathered around to watch them play.

Like so many nights this past summer, I hustled Phoebe to get ready for bed during commercial breaks while Faye danced around the living room and sang loud enough that I had to strain to hear the commentators. It was my night to put Phoebe to bed and I got the privilege of lying in bed with her, like so many nights this season, listening to the game while she tried to fight off sleep.

But there was a glitch tonight, because I got called away from watching the game to deal with an issue on campus around 9 p.m. while the game was in the sixth inning, with the Mets leading 2-0. … I was already on edge, anxiously waiting to know whether I would be heading to Game 6 in Kansas City Tuesday night. Then to be called into a late night meeting during Game 5 of the World Series, on a night when the Royals were on the verge of clinching. Oh, I was a bit frustrated.

I kept the Fox video feed going on my phone during the meeting, with the volume turned down. I kept glancing at the TweetDeck on my laptop, too. That meet was the last place I wanted to be. … But I kept my mouth shut and engaged as best I could to help address the issue.

In the meantime, Matt Harvey, the Mets ace who had shut the Royals down all night long, was coming back out for the ninth inning to try for the complete game shutout.

Then, things started happening. Again.



















Seeing my hopes of seeing a World Series game in person this year slip away, and losing focus in my meeting quickly, the Royals held the Mets in the bottom of the ninth. I was back in my car in time to listen to the top of the 10th on my drive home. The score remained tied.

The feelings I was having tonight about my Game 6 ticket and the Royals trying to come back are exactly why I don’t play fantasy sports – because I would end up rooting against my favorite players and teams for selfish reasons. There is no fun in that.

In the 11th inning, with two outs, Eric Hosmer singled and then stole second. Moustakas then lifted a pitch to left field that looked like it might die – and it did just that in Conforto’s glove.

Oh, by the way, there was a Packers game on tonight. The Packers lost to the Broncos in a battle of undefeated teams. For six innings of tonight’s Royals game, I had forgotten the Packers were on. I didn’t watch a down of that game and couldn’t have cared less.

The top of the 12th arrived. Salvador Perez led off by dropping a single down the first base line. Jarrod Dyson came into pinch run. I knew then that the Royals were winning the World Series tonight.

Dyson took off on the 2-1 throw and stole second by a mile. Then, he moved to third on a Hosmer groundout to first.


Next up, Christian Colon scored Dyson with a clean line drive single to left.


Then …





At this point I asked Kates whether I could wake up Phoebe. She said no.


The Royals kept piling on. It would be a 7-2 lead when the inning ended. The crown would be their’s.


The bottom of the 12th inning belonged to Wade Davis. He struck out Wilmer Flores to win the World Series for the Kansas City Royals.

Fireworks could be heard across The 'Ville.

Kates and I watched the celebration, laughing and smiling with every shot that depicted the players we’ve grown to love hugging each other and bouncing around the field like boys. It was so fitting that Salvy dumped his final Gatorade bucket of the season on Ned Yost.

I'm already looking forward to next season, and getting pictures with two World Series trophies during our trips to Kauffman Stadium next summer. 

I couldn’t keep up with the tweets, they were coming in so fast. But here are some of my favorites …



















There are no words I can write now that haven’t been written already. There will be plenty more to write about in coming days.

Good night.
Posted by Horns! at 2:02 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

11.01.2015

World Series: Royals strike again in Game 4

It is a gorgeous, sunny Sunday morning to start the month of November. And the Royals could win the World Series tonight – thanks to another thrilling victory last night.

All of this, of course, is not a surprise to those of us who have been watching this team all year long. It was just another night of Royals baseball. Never giving up. Capitalizing on the opponent’s mistakes. And keeping the line moving.

Take it away Sam Mellinger …
When they fall behind, they do their best work. It would be repetitive if it wasn’t so enthralling. It would be unrealistic if we weren’t all watching in real time.

Their greatest moments have all come after mistakes by the other side. The Astros’ Carlos Correa missing that grounder that bounced off the mound in Houston. The Toronto Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista throwing to the wrong base in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. Now this.

That’s part of the story, of course. Baseball is a game of failure, it is often said, and the winners and losers are separated by how they manage. The Royals make these things count.
Finally. Finally – after the Royals struck in that eighth inning last night – the narrative – not the momentum, which I’ll defend the Royals have had since Game One – seems to be changing.
Remember, while the Mets were going through all the pain of the last 29 years, the troubled careers of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, the 2000 Series, the Adam Wainwright pitch, the collapses of 2007 and 2008, the Royals were losing too. The Royals were losing worse, and for longer. The Mets have been a wild epic soap opera tragedy with constant twists and turns that we can't stop watching, but the Royals have been far more depressing: They've just been quiet, modest, sullen failures, the sort of barren, depressing novel that never makes the bestseller list and ends up going out of print. They've been going through the same pain Mets fans have, maybe even worse pain. This is their story too. And this is looking like their breakthrough.
Funny how people were drawing connections to Bill Buckner after Eric Hosmer’s Game One error, and now the attention has turned to Daniel Murphy after his costly error last night.

For the first seven innings of last night’s game it was a mostly unexciting, tedious affair. Steven Matz went about his business on the mound for the Mets and Michael Conforto homered twice to provide New York with a lead.

It also didn’t help the Royals when Ben Zobrist was called out in the first for interfering with the catcher while Alcides Escobar stealing second – resulting in Escobar being called out, too. And Alex Rios forgot there were only two outs in the bottom of the third and missed a chance to throw out Wilmer Flores as he was tagging up.

But the Royals had hung around all night. In the fifth, Salvador Perez doubled and Alex Gordon batted him in with a single to put Kansas City on the board and make it 2-1. After Conforto’s second home run, Ben Zobrist doubled and Lorenzo Cain scored to make it 3-2.

I had seen a tweet early in the game that noted the team to score first in this series had not won either of the first three games. I figured all along the Royals were going to win Game Four. It was just a matter of when they were going to make their move.

Then the eighth inning happened.

After Alcides Escobar led off the inning with a ground out, Zobrist walked. Cain walked.
Hosmer hit a soft ground ball toward Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy, and the ball bounced under his glove. Zobrist scored and suddenly we had a tie game.

Mike Moustakas followed with a RBI single. And Salvador Perez matched it in the next at-bat. Royals led, 5-3.

They did it off Jeurys Familia, the Mets’ closer whom the Fox analysts had been praising for most of the night and calling for New York manager Terry Collins to put in the game. Again, their memories seemed to be so short that they didn’t recall Alex Gordon beat Familia in Game One. Every time they mentioned that Familia needed to enter the game, I thought, Yeah, go ahead, stick him in there.

Some of my favorite tweets from the inning …






The bottom of the eighth and ninth innings belonged to Wade Davis. Sure, the Mets offense made some noise in their half of the ninth, but I never doubted the Royals would hold.

Good reads … 
Posted by Horns! at 8:43 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

10.31.2015

The World Series: Game 3 goes to the Mets

The Royals didn’t get a win last night, and the World Series now stands at two games to one.

On the bright side, it means we’re one game closer to a Game 6 showdown in Kansas City.

The Royals looked like their usual selves early. After Noah Syndergaard knocked Royals leadoff hitter Alcides Escobar to the ground with a fastball up and in – a ploy to keep Alcides from swinging at the first pitch – the Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Ben Zobrist double, a Lorenzo Cain single to move Zobrist to third and an Eric Hosmer RBI on a muffed double play ball by the Mets. The Royals were capitalizing on mistakes again.

Then the Royals took a 3-2 lead in the second inning on singles by Salvador Perez, Alex Gordon and Alex Rios. After Gordon was called out sliding into third on Rios’ single, Ventura sacrificed Rios to third and he scored on a wild pitch. … At that point I turned to Kates’ and said, “This series is so over.”

Outside of Gordon being called out at third on a replay review, everything seemed to be going the Royals' way.

From Sports on Earth ...
For the first two innings of Friday night's Game 3 of the World Series, it looked like the Kansas City Royals were simply never going to be beaten. This had been a glorious Mets season, but the Royals were a buzzsaw that would vivisect and eviscerate anything unfortunate enough to cross their path. The Royals had outlasted the Mets in Game 1 -- while hitting Matt Harvey harder than he has been hit in a while -- and batted Jacob deGrom around in Game 2. But Friday was their greatest trick of all: They were murdering Thor.

Coming into this game, Mets fans were demoralized and shaken by the two losses in Kansas City, but they could tell themselves one thing: They still had Noah Syndergaard. Perhaps their best postseason pitcher, and definitely the one who threw the hardest, Syndergaard was the reason Mets fans weren't in total despair. Sure, the Royals hit a lot of fastballs, but they surely couldn't hit his, right?

And then seven of the first 10 Royals batters reached base. Every time Syndergaard got two strikes on a Royal, the batter would fight him off until he either walked or found a hole to hit the ball through. It was one thing to see this happen to Harvey and deGrom. But Syndergaard? Thor? It made you feel like it was hopeless. The whole reason Mets fans had any optimism in the first place was because they had all these power arms, and here, these relentless Royals, they were knocking them around three straight games. The Royals led 3-2, but it felt like a lot more, and that a lot more runs were coming. Sorry, Mets: You did what you could, but sometimes, you're the bug, and the windshield is wearing blue.

We were so wrong. It was all Mets the rest of the way. Raul Mondesi’s Major League debut was a dud. New York won the game 9-3.

I don’t even recall seeing the final outs. Phoebe and I dozed off on the couch sometime in the eighth while Kates was reading a book and Faye was playing “school.”



In other words …

I am as annoyed as ever with the national broadcast team. Maybe it’s my Royals bias and middle-age jadedness, but let’s all agree – as also noted above – Noah Syndergaard did not “announce his presence with authority.” I didn’t think that when the pitch was thrown at Escobar and don’t think it had any significant impact on the game now. Here's another take from The New York Times.

Here's a great read about why the Royals owe Hall of Famer Robin Yount for hitting coach Dale Sveum. It's another one that that will have my fellow Brewers fans rolling their eyes again at what Milwaukee gave up to Kansas City ... Robin Yount is arguably my all-time favorite baseball player, and I loved watching Dale Sveum play in Milwaukee when I was a boy, too. I've been behind Ned since day one in Kansas City, and I thought the day he hired Dale -- within hours of his firing by the Chicago Cubs -- that it was a genius move. ... I also vividly remember watching the night Sveum's Brewers career ended when he broke his leg in an outfield collision with Darryl Hamilton. Sveum's replacement at shortstop was a rookie named Gary Sheffield.

I caught this commercial during last night’s game. I really liked it.



Here's a remembrance of the World Series comebacks by the Royals and Mets.

Posted by Horns! at 10:49 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

10.29.2015

World Series off night trick-or-treating

We spent our off night of the World Series trick-or-treating tonight. Although, we almost didn’t get out the door.

Tonight was the night we’ve looked forward to for the last few Octobers. On the Thursday night before Halloween, The ‘Ville’s downtown businesses host a downtown trick-or-treat and the campus residence halls open their doors to let children knock on students’ hall doors for candy.

I arrived home from work ahead of 5 p.m., ready to meet the girls and head downtown. But they didn’t walk through the door until after 5:30 p.m. And saying they were a little crabby is an understatement.

Phoebe was in the most foul mood of all and wanted no part of putting on the fairy costume her Grandma S made for her. Many tears and kicking ensued, stoking memories of the infamous Homecoming Day meltdown years ago.

I tried to negotiate, pitching the idea of going to the Student Union for dinner. But Phoebe still refused to wear her costume.

Phoebe and I went for another round while Kates and Faye boarded the car in the garage. Finally I got her to go if I allowed her take one of her teddy bears. And I swiped her costume from the kitchen table on our way to the door, telling Phoebe I was bringing it in case she changed her mind.

So we skipped the downtown trick-or-treating and finally arrived at the Student Union to eat around 6:20. There, the girls continued to bicker and whine – which further frustrated Kates and I who barely ate anything. And we had gone to the all-you-care-to-eat dining area, so we hardly got our money’s worth.

And then, as we walked to the car, Phoebe had a change of heart. The clouds parted, a rainbow broke through, and suddenly she wanted to put on her costume to go trick-or-treating.

We got the picture of the girls together in their Fairy dresses. They filled their Halloween baskets with candy. Erase the hour or so between the time they arrived home from school and the time we exited the Student Union and we had a really great time.

*     *     *

In the meantime, us Royals fans are still feeling pretty good about our 2-0 lead and anxiously awaiting tomorrow night’s Game 3. We’re a fanbase caught between the impossible and entirely possible.
When the World Series comes to town, everyone talks about baseball. Everyone wears baseball on their shirts, baseball in their eyes. They sit next to you, waiting for you to bring up baseball, unless they snap and bring baseball up first. On the flight into the city, there are announcements about baseball. Driving into the city, there are baseball billboards, baseball banners, electronic traffic signs that end with messages about baseball. The walls of the city are festooned with baseball. The people are mad about baseball. Everything is baseball.

It's a living, delightfully suffocating experience. The deeper you dig, the more you realize there's nothing like it. It shows up unexpectedly where you live. It's about you. It's about the people around you. It's about where you live, happening right there. It's unambiguously good. It's all anyone can talk about, unless they're talking about the plans they're making around it.

There's nothing like it. When an entire section of the country can't stop talking about the same thing, it's always a tragedy or awful story. The happy, fun things are shared on social media until the next happy, fun things come along, but they're mostly disposable. There isn't a wellspring of this this this for everyone to enjoy at the same time, all around you, completely unavoidable.

When the World Series comes to town, everyone is sure thinking about the World Series.

The Kansas City Star’s Sam Mellinger notes that in six of the Royals' nine playoff wins, Kansas City has trailed in the fifth inning or later. “It's more than heart.”
This is not a fluke as much as it is the amplification of a season-long trend. The Royals had 41 comeback wins in the regular season. No American League team had more.
Comebacks are stacking on top of comebacks, enough that Royals manager Ned Yost comes up blank when asked his most memorable comeback before last year’s Wild Card Game.

And The Star’s Rustin Dodd writes about how the Royals’ frenzied hitting attack sank Mets ace Jacob deGrom last night.
As Kauffman Stadium pulsates and the cool breeze blows through this old stadium, the Royals’ offense can feel a little like a technically sound prize fighter, quietly dismantling an opponent. There is the consistent jab, the precise touch, the perfectly crafted right hook. Inside the Royals’ clubhouse, they call this display “frenzy hitting,” a never-ending line of hard contact and rattling bats and balls in play. …

If this World Series was supposed to be a referendum on the Mets’ power arms versus the Royals’ hum-drum attack, the early verdict suggests a precision knockout for Kansas City. In two games, the Royals have stared down deGrom and right-hander Matt Harvey, the Mets’ two front-line horses. In two games, the Royals have struck out just four times against Harvey and deGrom while nicking the starters for seven earned runs in 11 innings.
Meanwhile the national analysts are going crazy, overthinking the Royals. I find it funny and annoying. … Baseball is a game with millions of variables. The Royals are winning the game right now. Get over it.
The Kansas City Royals are the sort of team you find yourself trying to come up with excuses for why they just beat you, because you can't make sense of it otherwise. Everybody always thinks they're better than the Royals. Last year, the A's were more versatile, the Angels had more star power and front-line starting pitching, the Orioles had more home run thunder. Same thing this year: The Astros were younger and more new school (and came closer than anyone to beating Kansas City), the Blue Jays were too strong and too cool and too ready and the Mets, man, those Mets pitchers were just gonna blow them away.

The Royals' postseason record against those teams, after their 7-1 World Series Game 2 win on Wednesday night? 17-4. 17-4!
Game on.
Posted by Horns! at 10:43 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

10.28.2015

World Series: Royals take two

Kauffman Stadium may never feel better than this, not in 2015, not in a lifetime. For the inhabitants of this ballpark, stocked with a generation of Royals fans choked by 29 years without October and taunted by a silver medal in 2014, the pinnacle may have come in a 7-1 victory Wednesday over the Mets in Game 2 of the World Series, when the lineup bloodied an opposing ace and incited a slew of standing ovations.

Savor this if you stood among the rain-soaked mass of 40,410 inside the stadium. Savor it if you joined the millions watching on television or huddling near a radio. Savor it if you spent years waiting for a Royals renaissance, because baseball might not be played again in Kansas City this season.

Baseball may disappear for the sweetest of reasons, because the Royals flew to New York on Wednesday night with a chance to spill champagne inside Citi Field for their first championship since 1985.

A couple weeks ago, after the Royals mounted that unbelievable comeback against the Astros in the Division Series, my mom asked whether I thought Johnny Cueto could pitch well enough in that series’ Game 5 to clinch it for Kansas City. I shrugged off any doubt and noted Johnny seemed to pitch his best at home.

He pitched the game of his life in that Game 5. Then, he was awful last week in Game 3 in Toronto. And he was a Met killer tonight in Game 2 of the World Series in Kansas City. So good, he pitched a two-hit, one-run complete game.



There’s not much more to say. Cueto was good. The Royals defense was good. The offense just kept movin’ the line.

As we watched tonight and Phoebe cuddle up to me on the couch, it occurred to me that we’ve done the same thing nearly every night since opening day. As usual, Phoebe and I watched as much as we could together before we had to yield to her bedtime – which led to us just moving the game-watching to my phone in her bed until she was snoring soundly and I could return to watching the game on our TV in the living room. Watching the Royals play – and play hard until the very last out – is now a staple in our daily routines. So routine that the significance of the World Series is almost an afterthought.

Meanwhile, the national media continues to be clueless about this Kansas City Royals team. From the moment last night’s game ended they pretty much had a win chalked for the Mets – all because Jacob deGrom was on the mound for New York. 

The Royals don’t care who’s on the mound.
The Royals now have a 2-0 lead in the series, and with the way they’re playing – handing the Mets a deflating loss last night and the offense landing some big punches tonight – I would not be surprised if they win this thing in five or even sweep it.




A better scenario, though, would be that they win one of three in New York, come back to Kansas City and win it all in Game 6. Because I’ve got a ticket to that game. … I may have to avoid wearing my lucky Royals T-shirt for a couple of those game to make it happen.

As we sat down to watch last night’s game, Kates gave me her nod of approval to try for a Game 6 ticket. I checked StubHub obsessively today. This evening, the tickets prices for the remaining games started going – not down as I had anticipated – up (I blame the excitement of last night’s game, and now everyone wants in on the action). I continued monitoring the prices during tonight’s game. When the Royals won tonight’s game, I pounced. … If the Royals get to Game 6, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll get a full refund – and the Royals will be World Champions.

Good reads ...
Kansas City is the best baseball town in America right now

The bikers at the bar are talking about the Royals. The hipsters on the street are talking about the Royals. The cashiers at the supermarket in the middle of the night are chatting about Lorenzo Cain’s range in center field.
It’s everyone, and it’s everywhere. It feels like you can’t pass four people on any street in Kansas City without spying at least one Royals cap, if not more. 

This 88-year-old Royals fan, ‘Miss Frances,’ never misses a game at The K ... Quite a woman.

After decade of losing, Royals fans learning how to have fun ... This is a good read about KayCee, Moose Man and the cat guy at Kauffman Stadium.

Back to work for bleary baseball fans after epic (and late) World Series Game 1 ... A good one illustrating how we're all feeling after last night's classic.


Posted by Horns! at 11:02 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

World Series: Royals win Game 1

Holy moly, that Game One that just happened tonight -- or this morning.

The Royals won it in 14 innings in epic fashion. And we're only just beginning.
It was arguably one of the most pulsating, tense and unforgettable Game 1s in World Series history.

 From the moment of the first pitch, when Royals starter Edinson Volquez began hurling two-seam fastballs unaware of the tragic news that awaited him after the game, that his father had passed away earlier in the day, to the Bill Bucknerish boot by Royals Gold Glove first baseman Eric Hosmer that gave the Mets a one-run lead in the eighth, to the dramatic game-tying homer by Alex Gordon in the ninth, and finally to Hosmer's redemption, a game-winning sacrifice fly in the 14th, it was all there. A night packed with drama.

 And in the end, in what matched for the third time the longest game in World Series history, the Royals survived, 5-4, in a Tuesday game that lasted five hours and nine minutes, stretching into Wednesday morning.

Alcides Escobar kicked things off for the Royals by hitting an inside-the-park home run on the first pitch he saw. 










In the top of the fifth, I was tucking Faye into bed and watching the game on my phone when the Fox broadcast feed went out. Twitter rejoiced when Joe Buck and Harold Reynolds were canned for the MLB Network feed with Matt Vasgersian and John Smoltz doing the analysis.







The Fox feed came back for the bottom of the fifth.



Ben Zobrist scored on Eric Hosmer’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Lorenzo Cain stole second and scored on Mike Moustakas’ line drive up the middle.



When Hosmer made the error at first, I immediately thought of Bill Buckner. I wasn't the only one.



After that, I spent a large portion of the ensuing innings dozing to sleep and trying really hard to hold on for the ending no matter what team won.

Then Alex Gordon did something in the bottom of the ninth. I sat straight up on the couch. And my Twitter lit up.








The Royals had plenty more chances to win it in extras. Chris Young -- who nobody wanted last spring and has been huge in the clutch for the Royals -- held the Mets offense in check, striking out the side in the top of the 12th.





The game headed into the 14th inning as the clock struck midnight.



In the bottom of the 14th, Alcides Escobar singled on an error. Ben Zobrist singled. Lorenzo Cain was intentionally walked. Escobar scored the winning run on a sac fly by Eric Hosmer. The game lasted five hours, nine minutes.






The Royals showed their knack for comebacks again. How many more thrills can these guys produce?



And we have Game 2 in a matter of hours.

Speaking of stats. Tonight's game was so loaded with out-there stats ... it was a little silly. 

Kansas City is off the charts right now. School principals are telling their teachers and student to wear Royals blue on game days. Businesses are canceling meetings and scheduling employee watch parties instead. The electronic signs in front of schools, churches and businesses. Every conversation starts with Did you watch that game last night!? 

This is fun. 
Posted by Horns! at 12:40 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

10.27.2015

Back for the World Series

Here we are again. The Kansas City Royals play tonight in Game 1 of the World Series.

Last year seemed like a dream. And now they’re playing in the World Series for the second consecutive season. After last year, this is exactly what the Royals planned to do – and us fans, too (even as the national media didn’t have a clue) – at the beginning of the season. …
For nearly three decades, the Royals weren't just bad, they were irrelevant. They were ignored by everyone, their supposed rivals, their division foes, both coasts. From 1994 to 2012, the Royals had a winning season once. That's nearly 20 years where the home fans saw their team lose more than it won every year. That hasn't happened once to, say, Yankees fans since 1995. Until last season, the Royals had the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports. Kansas City fans know nothing but misery and frustration … until last year. And they didn't even win the World Series last year. In fact, they lost it in a particularly brutal way: In seven games, by one run, at home, with the tying run 90 feet away. ...  

The Royals not only are underdogs throughout their history: They're underdogs this year. Even though they'd been to the World Series last year, virtually no experts picked them to win the AL Central this season. The 2014 run was considered a fluke, a one-off. As SI.com's Jay Jaffe noted, no one, whether they were analytically minded or more traditionally oriented, thought the Royals would be good this year. A Kansas City Star reporter noted back in April that not a single one of 149 prognosticators had them back in the World Series. More people predicted the Cubs, Mets and Blue Jays to make it this far than ever predicted the Royals. 

From The New York Times …
Their loss to the Giants in Game 7, with the tying run at third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, became an instantly indelible moment in baseball history. If Salvador Perez had hit a home run against Madison Bumgarner, as he had done in the opener, the Royals would have won it all. Instead, he popped out to end the season.
“I got too excited,” Perez said this spring. “That’s why I swung at a lot of pitches up. But now I got experience. I know what happened. Maybe next time I’ll be more patient.”
The Royals were convinced there would, in fact, be a next time. They fought all season to make it happen, and did it in a way that exemplified their style of play. In Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against Toronto on Friday, Lorenzo Cain scored the winning run by running from first to home on a single. Then Wade Davis struck out two hitters with the tying run at third before winning the pennant by inducing a ground ball to third.
Speed, dominant relief pitching and defense — that was the formula that nearly produced a title the last time, and now the Royals try again.
In my dream world, I had hoped to be heading to tonight’s Game 1 at Kauffman Stadium. Throughout this postseason, I’ve had it in my head that I made it to the ALCS last year – and what a day that was – so, if the Royals got there, I was gunning for a World Series game this year.

Well, that didn’t go over well the first time I suggested it to Kates. She has parent-teacher conferences this week, which makes for a stressful few days for her. Then, Phoebe came down with a virus of some kind and I’ve stayed home with her the last two days. So that pretty much dashed any hope of going to tonight’s game.

Kates and I have come to a consensus now, though. I’m hoping for a Game 6 at Kauffman. Stay tuned.

Here’s some good reads and stuff as we get ready for tonight’s first pitch …



ESPN’s 30 for 30 Finally Reveals the Troubling True Story Behind Angels in the Outfield … In the great tradition of College Humor

Posted by Horns! at 4:46 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

8.01.2015

This week in baseball

I’m watching today’s Royals game and reading up on all the news that fit to print. I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer Saturday afternoon.

The Royals need to win today against these pesky Blue Jays – who are riding a high after their week in trading. Of course, the Royals scored in the first inning again today. … So that doesn’t bode well.


Watching the Royals lose the last couple nights – after taking early leads – has been brutal. Last night, the loss came on an 11th inning walkoff by Blue Jays big man Josh Donaldson. After a controversial balk called on Franklin Morales. On Johnny Cueto’s debut. And after Kendrys Morales’ incredible slide to beat a tag at home. … 

Sigh.

But what a week it was for trades.

Will Leitch offers a good take on all 30 teams here.
It feels like we say this every year, but this year we really mean it: This was the craziest Trade Deadline ever. We had massive trades, massive non-trades, buyers, sellers, challenge trades, salary dumps, tweetstorms and, in an interesting new touch, one player crying out on the field when he thought he had been traded, even though he had not been traded.
Some teams went big; some teams started over; some teams just watched everyone else. But every team (except one) is a little bit different today than they were a month ago. 
Here’s what Leitch writes about the Royals …
Saddle up, boys. That we have reached a point where the biggest buyers at the Trade Deadline are the Royals sure feels like progress to me. But it makes total sense: The Royals' window is probably only for the next year or two, and maybe even just this one. So floor it now. Every team in baseball would have loved to trade for Cueto or Zobrist. The Royals have them both, adding them to a team that has the best record in the AL. This is going to be fun.
It’s going to be fun or terribly heartbreaking. The Blue Jays and Astros scare me right now. And then there’s the poor Tigers who stood in the Royals’ way to a division crown the last two seasons. Gone from the Tigers are David Price, Yoenis Cespedes and Joakim Soria. ...
This is going to be ugly. We are sorry for what's coming over the next half decade, Detroit fans. You deserved that World Series win that never came. Just writing this paragraph is making me sad, so I need to stop.
What a week for Wilmer Flores and the New York Mets. ... Here's a good read about how the whole thing broke Twitter, which I happened to be following Wednesday night. Although, I think they’ll be just fine with Cespedes.

You go, Wilmer..



(Updated 4:02 p.m.)

The Royals win! It was another breath-taking, nail-biting game that came down to Greg Holland staring down Josh Donaldson with the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run on first with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. But the Royals won!

It snapped only a three-game losing streak, but those losses seemed like a week’s worth.

Just as nice, new guy Ben Zobrist went 3-for4 with two home runs and a double.
Posted by Horns! at 12:49 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

4.06.2009

Opening day!

I had the day off from work today. And it's baseball's opening day.

Does it get any better than this!?

I caught the Rangers beating up on the Indians. Then, I watched gleefully as CC Sabathia and Mark Texiera struggled and the Yankeees lost their opener. And now we're watching the Cubs opener in Houston before catching college basketball's national championship game a little later.

Last night I was all over the Philadelphia-Atlanta opener on ESPN. Seeing and hearing Jon Miller and Joe Morgan back in the Sunday Night Baseball booth was music to my ears. Not so happy to see Steve Phillips joining the team this year, though.

Here's some other good reads that caught my eyes as this season gets underway ...

a AP Poll: Ballpark figures are too high, fans say ... It's a travesty that ticket prices -- not to mention concessions, parking and souvenirs -- have risen so high. Then the Yankees go and build a monstrosity like this
a Red Sox Nation has been hit hard by the recession, and the team is feeling the pain as well
a Ace Zambrano Wants Cubs To Abandon Wrigley Field ... From the Are you kidding me!? file.
a Ken Griffey Jr. celebrated his second stint with Seattle by hitting an opening-night home run
a Healthy, Ortiz's drive is to resume status as a power broker
a Two New Baseball Palaces, One Stoic, One Scrappy
a Mets and Yankees Follow Well-Worn Path With New Old Parks
a Voice of Yankee Stadium May Be Done
a Ball-Strike Monitor May Reopen Wounds
a Curt Schilling's somewhat surprising statistical twin
a Answering Baseball’s What-Ifs
Posted by Horns! at 7:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , ,

2.22.2009

Sunday reading

It been a good, quiet weekend. How 'bout you?

The three of us spent this afternoon watching "A Series of Unfortunate Events." ... Good flick, but not nearly as good as I'd expected. I give it a three out of five stars.

Afterward, we sprawled out on the couches for naps. Good times.

Tonight, we'll watch the Oscars. Even though I don't have the slightest interest in the awards show and we haven't seen any of the movies ...

Here's some of the reads that grabbed my attention during the last week ...

Sports ...
a He really must change his tune
a A-Rod Takes Us Out for a Spin
a Rodriguez Bracing for Worst, but Hoping for the Best
a In the age of baseball parity, pitching health rules ... If this story doesn't get you excited for the prospects of a new season ...
a The Final Goodbye: Shea Rests in Pieces
a Soriano OK with moving out of leadoff spot
a Soto has tough act to follow, his own
a Closer adjusts to life with Crew

Politics ...
a The legend of FDR's first 100 days in office
a Paterson Had Staff Deny Kennedy Was Top Choice

Entertainment ...
a Chris Brown, Rihanna and the image problem
a Entertainment merger isn't music to consumers' ears ... Don't even get me started on how wrong Ticketmaster's "convenience" fees are.
a Tamer ‘Rent’ Is Too Wild for Some Schools
a The greater reality of minorities on TV

Media & the Internet ...
a Didn't you know? Facebook is forever ... A great read from my friend Raechel. I thought the hubbub last week over Facebook's user rights was way overblown for exactly the reasons outlined in this story.
a Facebook Won't Let You Remove Dead Relative's Page, Per "Policy" ... On the other hand, a family's request to have a deceased person's page removed is a request that should be honored.
a Facebook Made Me Do It ... Ok. No. 1: I'll admit I did the whole trying-to-get-more-friends-than-my-nemesis thing at first. Then I noticed how fast Nemesis was adding friends and knew for certain that Nemesis barely knew, if at all, the people Nemesis was adding. I realized how sad and pitiful that was and quickly put an end to the whole competing thing. If I haven't had/currently have a meaningful relationship with you, I'm not adding you as my friend on Facebook ... No. 4: Yeah, who hasn't done that? ... No. 5: I'm sooooo not over Facebook. I think it's a great tool and I'll promote its use to anyone willing to listen.
a You Can’t Friend Me, I Quit! ... Now this is amusing.
a The Facebooker Who Friended Obama ... In all the Facebook hoopla last week, I stumbled on this one in a "related links" section.
a How Low Will Newspapers' Ad Revenues Go?

The Onion ...
a Nation's Blacks Creeped Out By All The People Smiling At Them
a Turns Out Craig Counsell Was Actually Best Baseball Player Of Steroid Era ... This story, which came from my friend Matt, could actually be true.

Life & other stuff ...
a Who Says Stress Is Bad For You? ... Well, this is good news for me.
a GM, Chrysler don't get it ... Makes me want to scream.
a His wife died, his love didn't ... Great read, another one from my friend Matt.
a How Humans Lock Lips Holds the Key to Our Hearts ... Very interesting.
Posted by Horns! at 6:01 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

10.26.2008

Sunday reading

A collection of good reads that caught my eyes during the last week ...

Baseball ...
a Cubs against Rays: The Series to die for ... A fantasy of what could have been. Great stuff that had me laughing out loud.
a Building the Rays
a Moyer a pitcher for the ages
a An Energetic Presence on Hand for Every Phillies Pennant
a Demolition Takes Shea Stadium Piece by Piece
a If Brenly leaves Cubs' booth, intrigue will follow ... I'll really miss Bob if he leaves the Cubs' booth, but if the Brewers hire him I'll stand up and clap. After the reports that came out of New York, I'll take anyone over Willie Randolph to manage the Brewers.
a After his grating escape to Los Angeles, Ramirez will strike it rich again

TV ...
a Pamela Fryman is the set mom on 'How I Met Your Mother'
a How 'SNL' Got Sarah Palin
a After playin' Palin, Tina Fey returns in '30 Rock'
a Fall season fails to capture viewers so far ... Kates and I didn't have any interest in watching any of the new shows this season -- except for "Worst Week," which was getting high praise coming in. But after watching Sam fumble beyond belief each week, it got unbearable after a couple weeks.
a 'Heroes': Five Ways to Fix a Series In Crisis ... I don't think "Heroes" is as bad this season as some of the critics have been saying. But I could get on board with several of these suggestions ...

Music ...
a Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' experiment pays off with 3 million sales ... It's a great album.
a Music site to sell songs for a dime

Politics ...
a Barack Obama for President ... From The New York Times.
a Many reasons still for Obama to worry, and McCain to hope ... It's not over until it's over.
a It's Time to Retire the Shuttle
a Perfect role for Palin: Good sport ... A reaction that pretty well sums it up about Palin's appearance on last weekend's SNL.
a $150,000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image
a Look Is the Same; the Labels Have Changed
a Campaign curtains closing, and I don't want to leave
a The aura of Mr. Smooth
a Obama, McCain cried when...
a Confessions of a Phone Solicitor ... This is a great read on multiple levels. It's amusing -- and quite funny to me -- the lengths the McCain campaign and its supporters are going to try tarnishing Obama. ... And few things test my patience more than telemarketers.
a I needed to know: can Obama pick a fantasy team? So I asked him ... This is a fun read from my friend Tom.
a The vast left-wing fantasy ... An editorial setting the record straight on ACORN.

Media & the Internet ...
a Safety in Numbers? Poll-Driven Press Goes Out on a Limb
a How the board came to endorse Obama
a Popularity or Income? Two Sites Fight It Out
a Campbell Brown's CNN Role: A Matter Of Opinion
a YouTube tosses 10-minute limit to show full TV episodes
a Facebook in a Crowd ... An excellent perspective about the fake-ness lurking on Facebook.

Life & other stuff ...
a As Yard Sales Boom, Sentiment First Thing to Go
a The incredible, flexible, movable house
Posted by Horns! at 4:11 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)