Tag: baseball (Page 5 of 22)

Weekend in KC

June 6, 2017 / DB

Another great weekend in Kansas City. Then again, aren’t all weekends in Kansas City great? At least when you’re visiting there. This trip was made more fun by it being the first full-family trip to KC in over three years. For my readers who weren’t involved in the weekend festivities, here’s a little run-down of what we did.

We drove over Friday. Had great weather and easy traffic the whole way. We marveled at how quiet our girls were when everyone has their own screen in front of them. The girls were basically silent for the first half of the trip, until we stopped in St. Louis for lunch. Then they remained quiet until we reached Concordia. Then they started getting a little antsy and ready to get out of the car.

We cruised into our hotel on the Plaza, relaxed for a bit, then headed straight to the original Joe’s barbecue location.[1] The girls had Joe’s three years ago, and were excited to have it again. But this was their first trip to the 47th and Mission gas station location. Luckily, since we rolled in at about 4:45 local time, there was a minimal line and we were able to snag a table big enough for us all to sit comfortably. Both S and M had pulled pork sandwiches, but C and L decided to split a half slab of ribs! Which actually meant they split half of a half slab and I knocked out the rest after finishing off my Z-Man. All-in-all, it was a fine meal enjoyed by all.

We walked around on the Plaza a little after, the girls got some dessert, and we made a stop at Rally House so the girls could get some gear for the Royals game Sunday. L really wanted a jersey. I was pushing a shirsey, pointing out if she got a t-shirt she’d likely get something else over the weekend. Nope, she wanted a real jersey. Then we had to pick a player. The kid options in light blue were Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, and Alex Gordon. She was leaning toward Hosmer until I told her he wouldn’t be a Royal after this season. She debated between Salvy and Alex before picking Alex. I didn’t have the heart to tell her he’s having a terrible year. She loved the jersey and that’s all that really mattered. Then we headed back to the hotel so they could swim for a bit.

Saturday the girls wanted to go to the Nelson Atkins museum. Kind of an odd request, no? Well C and L follow some YouTube family that lives near KC and had visited the glass maze at some point. The girls just made the connection a couple weeks ago, when I was explaining the shuttlecock statues to them, and suddenly they wanted to go to the museum. They thought the maze was pretty cool, didn’t really get the shuttlecocks,[2] and weren’t nearly as impressed by the Asian temple exhibit inside as I was when I was their age and visited on school field trips. Oh well, I was just excited they wanted to go to an art museum. And I think it’s awesome the Nelson is still free. It would be about $50 for me to take them to our local art museum if we don’t go during the four hour free entry window each Thursday.

After the Nelson we met an aunt, uncle, and cousin for lunch at Ponak’s on the Boulevard. We drove them by the Roasterie and Boulevard plants on the way. They thought the plane outside the Roasterie was pretty cool, but didn’t seem as interested in the location where a significant percentage of the beer I drink comes from. They loved Ponak’s, though! “THAT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!” Back in the day I would have put Ponak’s 4th or 5th on my list of favorite spots on the Boulevard. When I told them that, it just confused them.

After that, off to our first big group gathering at our friends the B’s, who moved out to Lake Quivira six months ago. Good times in and around the water well into the evening.

Sunday, we had brunch with a couple of S’s friends from residency and their families. More good food and catching up.

From there it was out to the K for the girls first Major League Baseball game with a group of 20 or so. Thank goodness we picked seats just under the overhang, because we got stuck in a two hour rain delay and only got a little water blown our way. That delay challenged all the kids that were there, especially since they kept the tarp on a good 30 minutes after the rain stopped. But today L told me she liked the delay, because we got to walk around and do some other things during, and it made our stay at the K last longer. But the game kind of sucked. 8–0 losses are tough to sit through regardless of your age and the weather. The girls had fun, though, and no doubt will be telling all their friends here about going to an MLB game.

On our way back to the hotel I stopped and got Planet Sub for dinner. Which meant I had to bore the girls with the story of how I had Yello Sub for the first time in August 1989, ordered a Yello Sub with no Dijon, and other than a brief stretch in the early 00s when I dined there frequently and varied what I ordered, the Yello/Planet sub minus Dijon has been my go-to meal there for nearly 30 years now. Hey, just because they don’t enjoy hearing the story doesn’t mean I’m going to stop telling it! A little more swimming topped off the night.

Our drive home Monday was uneventful. Thankfully all the big slowdowns on I–70 were westbound and we made it home before the evening rush hit in Indy.

As always, it was too quick of a trip. It was great seeing so many people, but the conversations never feel as deep or long as they would be if we didn’t have 150 kids running around and yelling the entire time. The girls had a really good time. M seemed to pick right up with the her two seventh-grade-to-be friends she hadn’t seen in several years. Some of the younger friends followed C around and thought she was the coolest. And L slid right in with the older boys, playing basketball with them[3] and sitting with them at the game Sunday.

For those of you we got to see, thanks for making time to hang out with us. I wish our conversations could have been longer and with fewer interruptions. For those we missed, hopefully it won’t be too long before we make a return visit and we can try again then.

Always Oklahoma Joe’s to me. ↩
Meaning they’d fit right in with a signification portion of the KC population. I’m a big shuttlecocks guy. ↩
And “dominating” according to her. ↩

More Kid Sports and Weekend Notes

May 15, 2017 / DB

A pretty busy few days, anchored by kid sports. So we’ll start with those and add in the other fun things that were a part of our weekend.

First off, C’s kickball season came to an end Thursday night. You may recall her team was in a three-way tie for first place going into the final game of the season. All three teams were scheduled to play teams with worse records, so we were stressing about how the league would break the tie. Turns out that wasn’t an issue as two of the teams, including C’s, lost their last game. C’s team was terrible through the first three innings. They kept kicking the ball in the air, in the infield, and their opponents had two girls who could catch. So they were down something like 15–2. They made a furious run late, cut it to four runs, and had the bases loaded with two outs in the 6th. But the wrong part of the order was up and the season ended with the top of the lineup two spots away. C, who kicks second, kicked her team-high 7th home run of the season earlier in the game. Would have been really nice to get her up for one more kick…

Onto soccer. L’s team has been struggling this season. They’re a fairly small, young team and it seems like the bigger kids they played against last fall all hit growth spurts while her team all stayed the same size. They’ve been getting manhandled at times, and have a few really ugly results. But, when they play a team that is more their size, they do well.

L started the season slow, with only one goal through the first three games. But she was also figuring out how to adapt. She saw that against the bigger kids, she was struggling to get close enough to the goal to shoot. So she started taking the ball wide and then sending crosses through the box. Sadly often her teammates didn’t know to be there for the pass. Every now and then she’d pick the right moment and right teammate and would get an assist on those crosses.

They played a makeup game Thursday night and got trounced 10–1. L scored the only goal. Saturday they finally faced a team that appeared to be mostly second graders like them. L’s team was up 3–2 at halftime – she scored one of those goals and assisted on another – before things got nutty in the second half. L scored two goals in about 45 seconds, made a sweet assist on another about two minutes later, and knocked in two more before the game was over. They ended up winning 10–2 in what was “The funnest game I’ve ever played in!” according to L. She scored from right in front of the goal, twice from outside the penalty area, once on a follow of a miss, and a third time when she slalomed through the defense and poked it in as she was falling down.

Once she lost her shoe and was sitting on the ground trying to put it back on when the ball came to her. She hopped up, with her shoe in her hand, and began cutting through the defense. She held the ball for about 10 seconds, lost it, got it back, and controlled it for another 10 seconds. All while holding her shoe. It was very funny.

OK, onto the other weekend activities. Saturday night we went to an Indianapolis Indians game. It was a gorgeous night for baseball. The trip was made even better as we were sitting in S’s company’s suite. So free food and drinks, and great seats above home plate. The girls got to take a picture with the Indians’ mascot. M was all proud because she got his autograph earlier in the week when she went to a game for a school field trip. She’s, like, totally an expert on getting mascot autographs now. I got to meet the president of the team. He saw my Royals jersey and started telling me about his one year in the Royals organization back in the early 1970s. It’s a pretty solid way to watch a game.

And yesterday one of the girls’ new cousins got baptized. L had to wear a dress for the third time in a month, which is some kind of post pre-school record for her. There were four babies getting baptized and one of them was related to a family who used to live near us. They had a son in L’s preschool class and their daughter went to St. P’s for two years with M. They were pretty tight back then, but hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since they moved. Before the ceremony began I asked M if she noticed A standing over there. Her eyes got big and she said, “Is that really her? She’s so tall now!” And then she refused to go over and say hello to her. Kids are weird, man. I was going to drag her over after the ceremony but the families all split into different parts of the church to do photos and I lost track of them before I had a chance to force the issue.

Although there are two weeks left in the school year, this was kind of our last weekend of the spring. Next weekend we put the boat in the water and officially open up the lake house for the season. Time freaking flies.

Words With Kids

April 18, 2017 / DB

We’ve reached the point in our parenting lives where the annoying moments begin to pretty closely balance the delightful moments. Our girls are all good, but they’re also getting older and hitting natural stages where they become more challenging, whether they’re good kids or not.

We had a couple truly delightful moments over the past few days, though.

Saturday night we were watching the Royals-Angels game and Albert Pujols came to bat at an important moment in the game. He battled Joakim Soria to a full count with the bases loaded, two outs, tie game, top of the seventh. Soria completely fooled Pujols, who looked at a fastball right down the middle to end the inning. As is my custom on called third strikes, I yelled out, “SIT DOWN, PUJOLS!” There was a moment of profound silence followed by all three girls saying, “PUJOLS?!?!” at the same time and bursting into hysterics. They laughed for like 10 minutes, delighting in “Pujols” over-and-over.

Sunday at our family Easter gathering, after their cousin added “Micah sauce” to our hosts’ whiteboard grocery list,[1] the girls added “Pujols sauce,” which I thought was pretty great.

Even Monday one of them would mutter, “Sit down, Pujols!” and send her sisters into more fits of laughter.

Next, kickball season began last week. Our family is off to a very good start, but more about that another time. When we discuss practices and games at home, S and I have a habit of using the phrase “kicked the crap out of the ball.” As in, “Peggy Sue was really kicking the crap out of the ball at practice today.”

For some reason the girls have started calling us on that. There are gasps and cries of mock outrage that we’ve uttered the word crap in front of them.[2] Granted, we would prefer they not use that word at school for sure, and limit it otherwise. But, still, it’s not like it’s a terrible word.

The best part, though, was when M had to pull the Know It All card and explain to her sisters why it’s a bad word. “It means the same thing as S-H-I-T, guys.”

C and L howled at her audacity. I actually thought it was pretty funny, too. But I also thought there was more than a little jackassery in her thinking her sisters don’t know what a synonym for crap is that they are not allowed to use yet.

I could write a lot more words on the things they’ve done – especially the two older ones – over the past week that have made me question my sanity. But I enjoyed those two moments more.

His name is Micah. ↩
Seriously, they’ve heard way worse, mostly from their Old Man. ↩

Baseball 2017, Ya’ll!

April 3, 2017 / DB

Yes! Baseball is here! As I type this, I’m sitting in front of the TV watching the Royals take on the Twins. There’s humidity in the air, we mowed the grass for the first time yesterday, there are mulch piles all around the neighborhood. Spring is here!

Wait, what’s that in the forecast for Thursday? Snow with wind chills in the 20s? Yikes.

Anyway, I’m happy baseball season has arrived. I might be a total fool, but I don’t believe the pessimistic forecasts so many experts have predicted for the Royals of Kansas City. I think they made some smart and good moves over the off season. I think players all up-and-down their lineup are going to have better years than last year. I think the rotation is as strong as it has been in a long time. And while there are concerns about the bullpen, I don’t share them. I think that will once again be an area of strength.

(Note: I wrote this entire post through the first five innings of the game, when it was a tight affair. Shortly after wrapping up the draft, I departed to the kitchen to start making dinner. While we were eating the bottom of the 7th occurred. Fear not, my confidence is still strong after that meltdown! One game does not make a season! Also, as Mr. Superstitious, I will not be eating during any more Royals games this year.)

Still, they are stuck in the same division as Cleveland, one of the 3–4 best teams in the game. A team, like the Royals two years ago, who will play with a laser focus after making it all the way to game seven of the World Series last season.

I think the Royals will stay within shouting distance of the Indians all summer. I think they’ll be right in the Wild Card race until the end. If they can stay healthy and perform the way I think they can, I see no reason why they can’t nab a third playoff spot in four years. And once you get to October, anything can happen.

No one else seems to agree with me. I keep seeing the Royals picked third and fourth in the AL Central, often in the 70s for total wins. The advanced stats projection systems hate the Royals. And I think some of the “experts” are keeping the win total low because they expect the Royals to be sellers at the trade deadline.

All them fools is wrong, I tells ya! It’s going to be another great summer for Kansas City baseball fans! Or at least I hope it still is through early June, when we go back for a weekend series at the K.

Prediction time!

AL East: Boston

AL Central: Cleveland

AL West: Houston

Wild Cards: Kansas City, Texas

NL East: Washington

NL Central: Chicago

NL West: Los Angeles

Wild Cards: St. Louis, San Francisco

I’m skipping the playoff predictions and just going with a World Series pick: Cleveland over Washington. Because the last time Theo Epstein broke a curse, a team from the AL Central broke their own curse the following year.

Sports, Man

February 8, 2017 / DB

Sometimes sports are the worst. Sometimes they’re the best. There’s been a lot of both lately.

Super Bowl

Had I been fully neutral, that would have been an awesome Super Bowl. The league heavies get blasted early and look thoroughly overmatched by their young, brash, high-powered opponents. Then an epic comeback, featuring an all-time play, and the first overtime game in Super Bowl history that ends with the Patriots staking claim to greatest franchise in league history and Tom Brady officially passing Joe Montana as the greatest quarterback ever.

That’s pretty great, right?

However, I was not neutral. I reveled in Atlanta’s early dominance. I was giddy when Brady threw a pick-six. I laughed as Atlanta’s defense punished Brady every time he dropped back. It was going to be a really fantastic day!

And then, just like I secretly feared they would do, New England completely flipped the script. They took Atlanta’s offense out of their game. They started finishing their drives on offense. They converted one two-point attempt. They survived a massive throw by Matt Ryan and catch by Julio Jones that really should have ended the game.[1] Then they turned into the Pats we all know and hate. Edelman, Hogan, Amendola, and Bennett started carving up the Atlanta secondary. Edelman’s fingertip catch still looks utterly impossible. And then another score, another two-point conversion, tie game.

Man, Matt Ryan had a great season and was great in the first half. But you knew there was no way he was going Aaron Rodgers and getting he Falcons 60 yards in 40-some seconds for a winning field goal attempt. If it’s fair to say there was a less-than-zero chance, that’s what I’d call it.

I don’t know why they even bothered playing overtime. Even if Atlanta had won the toss and received the ball first, I don’t think anyone but the biggest Falcons fan believed they had any chance to win at that point. Not for the first time that weekend, I snapped off the TV before the final play ended to avoid the post-game celebrations.

Just an awful outcome. The worst, Jerry, the worst.

KU Basketball

Yep, I turned the game off before the final buzzer on Saturday, too. Coming off fantastic wins at #4 Kentucky and at home against #2 Baylor, KU looked awesome in the first half against Iowa State. They shot 71% from the field. They out-rebounded the Cyclones 19–3. They had a 14-point lead at halftime. Life was great!

Except the Jayhawks must have thought, “OK, we’ve had a rough ten-day stretch. We can just cruise to the finish from here.” No flow on offense. No commitment on defense. Terrible turnovers. Missed free throws. Failing to cover shooters. It all added up to an overtime loss and the end of the 54/51 game home winning streak.[2] Thank goodness for Frank Mason, otherwise the game never would have made it to overtime. I wish he would have drained the potential game-winner, though, which was the same shot, opposite side, that he hit to beat Duke back in November.

Sports are awful.

Until they’re not. About an hour later, Baylor lost at home. Two hours after that, West Virginia also lost at home. While the home court winning streak was over, the Big 12 title race stood exactly where it was at the beginning of the day. Weird.

KU had to get their shit together quickly and go play at Kansas State Monday night. A K-State team that felt they should have won in Lawrence last month and had zero fear about playing the Jayhawks. Especially at home. When it was 20–8 K-State early and Bill Self asked a player “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” as he called a timeout, I was saying the exact same thing. What the fuck are you guys doing?

A 14–4 KU run turned the tide. KU controlled most of the rest of the game, although that grasp was pretty tenuous in the last 6:00. K-State got the lead once – and caused me to throw my remote, two pillows, and pound our leather ottoman while shouting a string of expletives – but KU quickly answered and weathered the storm to pull out a game most KU fans had chalked up as a loss.

Sports are fun!

Except for all the nonsense going on off-the-court around the KU basketball program right now. Which makes sports terrible. I’m keeping my head in the sand and hoping the people I know who are close to the program and keep saying this will blow over are right.

So…just over halfway through the Big 12 schedule, KU has a one-game lead. They’ve played in Morgantown, but not Waco. They’re done with Iowa State and K-State. They have tricky trips to Stillwater, Lubbock, and Austin left. I’d love it if they finished 14–4, which is what I picked at the beginning of the year. I think that’s optimistic, given their depth, how many minutes #BIFM is playing, and how tough the league is. The good thing is I expect Baylor and West Virginia to pick up a stupid loss or two in addition to the expected losses. It ain’t over, but I’d rather be a game ahead than a game behind at this point.

Royals

The Royals signed Brandon Moss and Jason Hammel over the past two weeks. I think they’re both good moves. Both players come with risks, but if they deliver, they could go a long way to keeping the Royals in the playoff race. If not, I guess we’ll see a fire sale in July.

The wife mentioned to me over the weekend that she thought we should take the girls back to KC for a game this summer. I’m thinking we schedule that trip early in the summer, lest we arrive when the big names have all been traded if the team is 10 games back at the All Star break.

Sports are ok, I guess. For now.

What is it with coaches against New England in the Super Bowl who refuse to run the ball when there is absolutely no reason to throw it? Seattle should have won two years ago and now Atlanta goes from chippy field goal to clinch the game to punting the ball with all kinds of time for Brady to get the tying score. Terrible. ↩
The whole counting games in Kansas City thing was dumb. KU played a number of games in Kansas City during this stretch that weren’t officially home games, and thus were not counted. Same court, different rules. They even lost a couple of those. I don’t care if it’s KU playing in KC, Indiana playing in Indy, Duke playing at MSG: if you’re not playing on your home court, it doesn’t count as a home court win. Even if you sell it as part of your season ticket package. ↩

Yordano

January 23, 2017 / DB

Sunday sucked.

Not because of the weather. For the second-straight day it was in the 60s here, although it was a more dreary day than Saturday. No complaints there.

Not because anyone in the family was sick. We are all reasonably healthy.

Not because of L’s basketball game. Although we lost by 2, it was a good game and the girls played really well.

Sunday sucked because of a text I got late in the morning from a friend back in KC with the news about Yordano Ventura.

Ventura wasn’t the first athlete to lose his life too early. Hell, he wasn’t even the only one to die on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

But he was the first who played for a team that I loved. I wasn’t Prince-died sad Sunday, but I was bummed for the rest of the day, the sadness rising a little each time I read another tribute to him from a baseball writer, by a fan, or news that his teammates were gathering with fans at Kaufman Stadium to celebrate his life.

My thoughts about Yordano? I’ll argue he was the most frustrating Royals prospect ever. There were plenty of guys who were high draft picks or minor league studs who never panned out if and when they made it the big leagues. But none of them ever had the ceiling that Yordano had while also showing the flashes of brilliance he showed.

From his earliest days with the Royals, he displayed the physical skills to be one of the best pitchers in the game. His first full year in the rotation, 2014, he had an amazing stretch of starts early in the season. He capped that year by throwing seven shutout innings in game six of the World Series.

But he always countered those brilliant stretches with the maddening ones. The innings where he would get two quick outs, walk a guy on a close 3–2 count, then lose focus and give up a single followed by a 3-run home run. There were the games where he appeared to be cruising and suddenly had a 35-pitch inning that prevented him from getting through the fifth.

And then there were the blowups. The yelling at opponents for no clear reason. The yapping with first base coaches as he walked off the mound. The three-straight starts in 2015 when benches cleared because of his antics.

With Yordano every start was a thrill ride of not knowing if he would be un-hittable or a head case. Would he be solid through six-plus, or meltdown in the third and tax the bullpen.

There was always something.

The 2016 season was disappointing in a lot of ways for the Royals. To me the biggest disappointment was that Yordano seemed stuck in mediocrity. Sure, he threw the most innings of his career. But he also gave up the most hits and had the highest ERA and WHIP of his career. And he was a mess in July. Then again, the whole team was. But the Royals seemed fed up with him and publicly acknowledged they were entertaining offers for him. Was he going to be another one of those guys with a million dollar arm that could never figure it out?

In the end, the Royals stuck with him, and he improved in the final quarter of the season. He was only 25, signed to a team-friendly contract for five more seasons, and still oozed with potential. You don’t give up on guys like that.

Looking ahead to 2017, there was the hope that maybe Yordano was a year behind Danny Duffy, a guy that also took awhile to figure it out. But once Duffy did, he became one of the better pitchers in the league for a stretch of the 2016 season. With guys like Yordano, you always hoped.

Many of the tributes to Yordano have mentioned his kid-like nature. He loved to goof off. His teammates, while weary of his on-the-field blowups, seemed to still love him in the locker room, where he was everyone’s little brother. Royals fans will never forget his epic celebration in the locker room after the Royals clinched the 2016 AL pennant. “OOOOOH BABY!” was a meme on Royals Twitter for some time.

There were also mentions of how hard he worked as a player, always diligent in his workouts, his dedication to watching video, his attention to his coaches. He made great efforts to master English, and proudly began giving interviews in his second language two years ago.

I first heard Yordano’s name when he was 18 or 19, back when the Royals still sucked but their minor league system was bubbling with young talent. I kept reading about this kid in A-ball in Illinois who had an electric arm. The scouts said if he could ever harness its power, he could be a gem. They also always mentioned his size, and feared his slight build would limit him to pitching out of the bullpen in the majors.

Yordano was too big to contain. He scoffed at people who said he was too small. He just kept throwing fire.

Wade, KU, & The Spirit

December 8, 2016 / DB

A few notes as I wrap up a short week in our home.

Wade Davis Trade

Wow, it was almost exactly four years ago that the Royals traded Wil Myers and others to Tampa for James Shields and Wade Davis, a trade I HATED. I guess everything worked out ok, didn’t it?

It hurt a little when the Royals couldn’t re-sign Ben Zobrist or Johnny Cueto last year. But those were expected losses. Same with Kendrys Morales this year. But trading Wade Davis to the Cubs yesterday, and willingly parting with one of the most important elements of the 2014–15 teams? It seemed like a sure thing to happen, but it still hurts a lot more, both because Wade will be pitching for another team next year, and because the official dismantling of the current Royals roster has begun.

That said, Wade was on the DL twice last year, and would be a free agent after this season. This was probably the best time to move him. I think the combination of those DL stints, and the Royals desire to get MLB-ready talent back, cut into his value a lot. Just look at what the Cubs sent to New York last July for three months of Aroldis Chapman. Shouldn’t the Royals have gotten at least as much talent back for a full year of Wader? Well, only if they were willing to accept prospects. And they weren’t.

Jorge Soler is widely viewed as a disappointment so far in his young career. But he’s still awfully young. Maybe the simple change of scenery will unlock his immense potential. Maybe Dale Sveum and Rusty Kuntz can do their magic and tap into all that was projected that he has yet to show. I think he arrives in Kansas City with a ton of pressure, though.

Four years of control of Soler – a power hitting outfielder/DH – for one year of Davis makes sense in a lot of ways. I’m not convinced it was the best trade Dayton Moore could have made. But I don’t think it’s a disaster, either. More than anything, it hurts the heart.

Of course, the other factor in the Royals favor is that Kelvin Herrera is ready to be the next great Royals closer. And the Royals have enough bullpen depth to fill in as they slide everyone back an inning. Joaquim Soria to figure his shit out, though.

Tons of Wade Davis memories. Obviously pitching the bottom of the 12th of game five of the 2015 World Series is at the top. The picture of him with both arms raised in the air will hang in the Royals Hall of Fame forever.

But I think my most vivid memory of Wade will be his role in the epic 120 minutes or so that ended the 2015 ALCS. With bad weather approaching, the Royals leading 3–1, and the heart of the Toronto lineup due to bat in the top of the 8th, Ned Yost chose to go to Ryan Madson instead of Wade Davis. An infield hit and home run tied the game. Davis came into the game three batters too late, just as the rain began coming down. A 45-minute delay allowed Royals fans to stew[1] before the bottom of the 8th brought one of the greatest moments in franchise history. But the game wasn’t over. Davis put two on with one out and the top of the Jays order coming up in the 9th. I remember hoping the Royals could get out of the inning just giving up one run, but fearful a base hit would score two. A friendly strike zone helped Davis strike out Ben Revere, and then after a masterful setup pitch, Davis got Josh Donaldson to hit a sharp grounder to Mike Moustakas at third that ended the game and the series.

The Wade Davis Experience was the Twitter description for the typical Davis outing. He always found a way to make it interesting, but he also almost always got those final outs. He will be greatly missed, and another reason for Royals fans to pull for the Cubs.

KU Hoops

OK, so I’m really enjoying this KU team. They’re blowing the doors off people, which just isn’t something Bill Self teams always do in December. I’m enjoying it because I know, as good as their guards have been playing, there are going to be nights when the shots don’t fall. And with KU’s anemic inside game, things will get dicey. The game against Davidson next week and then a trip to UNLV before Christmas should tell a lot about this team.

West Virginia and Baylor both appear to be legit. So the run to Big 12 title #13 in a row may not be as easy as a lot of experts thought a month ago.

When KU beat the crap out of UMKC Tuesday night, it was the 600th win of Bill Self’s career. Which is pretty cool. Especially given how consistently excellent he’s been at KU. You can almost expect 30 wins from the Jayhawks each year, which is crazy. Yeah, the March results could be better. But there’s, arguably, no better regular season coach in the game than Self.

I’ll write more about the Jayhawks down the road.

Holiday Spirit

Still not feeling it as much as in the past. I’ve spent more time listening to my large playlist of favorite songs of the year, hoping to get it whittled down to a round number soon, than Christmas music. Don’t get me wrong, I still probably listen to more holiday tunes than the average person. I’m just not listening to them constantly as I have in the past.

No real changes in the girls. M acts like everything Christmas-related is a chore. C keeps updating her wish list, looks for Elfie mostly as competition to L, but doesn’t watch many Christmas shows. And L is still trying to make up for her sisters’ lack of enthusiasm. It was her week to pick a dessert to make together, so we made our first ever gingerbread men. They turned out pretty good for a first effort. I think we just missed on getting the flavor perfect, but the consistency was just fine. Even M has enjoyed decorating them each night after dinner.

I’m hoping my spirit level gets a little boost this weekend. S and I are driving up to Chicago for a conference. We’ll drop the kids and school tomorrow and head straight up. Hopefully she won’t miss too much of the morning session. We’re staying right in the heart of downtown, so I’ll have plenty of cool things that are a short walk away. The forecast looks bleak for the entire weekend, so I’ll have to pop in and out of stores and attractions to stay warm rather than take long, uninterrupted walks. I’m hoping it’s not too cold so my camera doesn’t have any issues operating.[2] And we’re hoping the weather isn’t too nasty on Sunday when we drive back. But I figure downtown Chicago is going to be super Christmasy, so that might just be the little shove I need to get fully into the spirit of the season.

I called for Ned to be fired on Facebook. ↩
Another reason to upgrade – for the second time in a year – to a weather-resistant model. ↩

Epic

November 3, 2016 / DB

Now that’s what people are talking about when they get all giddy about a game seven finale for a championship series! It wasn’t the prettiest game ever played in the World Series. It wasn’t without its head-scratching moments. But, man, was it entertaining. Especially if you weren’t committed to either team. I can’t imagine what that game was like for Cubs and Indians fans.

First off, props to MLB for starting the game on time. How many major sporting events list an 8:00 start time actually begin closer to 8:20? I flipped over to the game at 8:03 and had already missed the first two pitches of the game. Fortunately, I was just in time to see Dexter Fowler’s home run. The first of many crazy moments in this game.

Second, and this may get lost in history, I think the overall mood of the game was greatly enhanced by all the Cubs fans in attendance. It gave the game more the feel of an event between high school rivals than a traditional World Series game. There were several thousand Royals fans in New York last year for game five. Same with Giants fans in Kansas City for game seven the year before. But in each case they were the distinct minority, and the final outs of each game were played to mostly silence. But last night had a wonderful ebb-and-flow between the delirious Cubs and Indians fans. I’m guessing it was 60/40 Indians fans. Whatever the true ratio, it made for a great viewing experience.

Third, the swings in this game! Fowler’s home run. Cleveland ties it and ignites/settles the home crowd. Cubs stretch out a lead. The pitching changes. Cleveland scores two on a wild-freaking-pitch. David Ross and Javy Baez’s home runs. Indians score three in the 8th – all with two outs – including Rajai Davis’ home run that sent the crowd into a frenzy and will go down as one of the great home runs that, ultimately, didn’t matter. Extra innings! A MOTHERFUCKING RAIN DELAY!!!!! Cubs score two in the tenth. Indians answer with one but can’t get the tying run home. Cubs win, Cubs win, Cubs win.

It was exhausting and totally fantastic.

After Davis’ home run, I was 90% sure the Cubs would lose. It was clear Joe Maddon didn’t trust anyone in his bullpen, so the advantage swung to the Indians, who still had fresh arms. And I kept thinking, what an epic, cruel, crushing way to lose. Four outs away, up three runs, and they piss it away. Again. Curses are dumb media fabrications, but maybe they do exist.

I wasn’t going out on any great limbs when I said Terry Francona and Maddon were two of my favorite, and best, managers in the game. Most experts would agree. But I thought both guys had rough nights last night. Francona pulled a Ned Yost and left Cory Kluber in too long. Granted, it was Kluber, and I think it’s always tough to pull your ace, even in an all-hands game. But for a manager who has been extremely aggressive with his bullpen use in the postseason, Francona blinked at the wrong time.

That shouldn’t distract from what Francona did over the past month. The Indians grabbed home field from the Red Sox on the last day of the regular season, went 7–1 in the AL playoffs, and had a 3–1 lead in the World Series. All with a team that was in terrible shape because of injuries and really didn’t hit much for most of the postseason. He just gets guys to play well.

Maddon was kind of a mess this series. Getting Kyle Schwarber into the lineup, and putting him in the 2-hole, was a fantastic move. Schwarber’s hit to start the 10th last night turned into the go-ahead run, and I think his presence helped everyone around him in the games he played.

But Maddon’s handling of his pitchers was baffling. I thought he pulled Jake Arrieta too early in game six. And used Aroldis Chapman far too long in that game. Same last night. He pulled both Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester too early. His overuse of Chapman left the closer a shell of himself, and it nearly cost the Cubs the series. It’s one thing to be aggressive. But Maddon’s moves often felt more like panic than unorthodox thinking.

The Cubs won, though, so I guess Maddon knew what he was doing.

Ben Zobrist hitting doubles in October/November. I approve. Funny how a guy who spent three months with the Royals is absolutely beloved by us KC fans, and probably always will be. If he had knocked the Royals out of the playoffs instead of Cleveland, I bet a lot of us would say, “Well hell. At least it was Ben who did it.”

The thing I kept thinking over the past three games, as the Cubs have sat on the verge of elimination, is how empty you would have to feel if you were a Cubs player and came all that way only to fall short. Getting to the NLCS last year and getting swept. Then starting this year with an improved roster, the pressure (both externally and internally) squarely on you to break the 108-year drought this year, and then delivering in every way…except reaching that final goal. Spring training, a long, grueling regular season where you won 103 games, winning two rounds of the playoffs, and then stumbling at the last step. I know the Cubs are loaded to be good for several years, but that would really suck to have to start over again next spring. That’s the beauty and the bitch of sports.

That was a great game. One for the ages. If my team can’t be winning the World Series, that’s the kind of game I want to watch. Thanks to the Cubs and Indians, and baseball itself, for giving us that gift to end the season.

And now we move on to the cold, bleak off season. A time when basketball can provide some comfort, but in which we are always looking forward to the day pitchers and catchers report, and to the next Opening Day.

Curse Breaking Season

October 25, 2016 / DB

Welp, here we go. In about a week, either the Chicago Cubs or the Cleveland Indians will be World Series champions. A week after that, Donald Trump could be the president-elect of the United States of America. Y’all know I’m not a religious man, but if you believe in signs, I think those could be the first two of the three that signal the world is coming to an end! Hopefully since #2 is looking increasingly unlikely, the World Series will stand on its own rather than a portent of doom.

I’m struggling with the plot lines for this Series. I have, over the years, generally dislikes both franchises. I’ve also, somewhat grudgingly, come to admire each team and have enjoyed their runs to this point.

Cleveland didn’t really matter to me when I was a kid. They were always terrible and played in the American League East. When they moved to the AL Central in 1995, the Royals were becoming awful and the Indians were kicking off their era of awesomeness. To the extent that I watched baseball in those first few years after the stoppage of 1994, I rooted against Cleveland. I’m not sure why. I ended up liking a lot of guys on those late–90s teams. Over the years, the Indians just became another team the Royals would have to get past if they were ever to be good again. I had no strong feelings about them, but hoped they would always be one game behind the Royals in the standings.

My dislike of the Cubs had clearer roots. As I’ve said before, when I first became baseball-crazy in the late 1970s, the only daily baseball on our TVs in southeast Missouri were the Cubs and Braves. Both teams were perennial losers. So I rooted for whoever they were playing when I watched games on WGN and WTBS.[1] Years later, when I got to college, it seemed like half of my dorm floor was from Chicago. Add in the year I lived in the Bay Area in high school, and when the Cubs played the Giants in the 1989 NLCS, I became a big Cubs hater.[2] Over the following years, I hated the Cubs for their fans’ lovable losers mentality, the franchise acting poor when they were rich, and because of their endless terrible off-season decisions. Here was a franchise that had every reason to be as consistently good as the Yankees and Red Sox, but could never get out of their own way. And many of their fans seemed to celebrate that fact.

But Cleveland hired Terry Francona a few years back, and the Cubs brought in Theo Epstein, who hired Joe Madden. That changed my thinking a little.

Francona is awesome. If I had to pick a current manager to run my favorite team, he would be one of the three or four I would try to get. He does a great job balancing traditional baseball thinking with newer ideas. He seems like a guy I would love to play for. He’s good with the media. He’s not afraid to take risks in games, but also makes smart decisions rather than rash ones. And his teams generally win.

I thoroughly buy into the Epstein mythology. And Madden is one of the other managers on my short list of best in the game. I still can’t get over how calm Madden was Saturday night, as the Cubs were on the verge of clinching their first pennant in 753 years. There was a close-up shot of him taking a drink of a beverage after the Cubs recorded the first out in the ninth inning. His hands were as steady as could be. My hands get jittery keeping score at youth kickball games. I think I might pass out if I was in his situation!

It’s hard to root against teams that are run by people you admire.

And this Cubs team…man do they have some talented and fun guys on their roster. I would have been just fine with the Dodgers winning the NLCS, but as the series progressed, I found myself wanting the Cubs to win more-and-more.

Dogs and cats living together, I guess.

As for the whole “haven’t won in X years” narrative, after what the Royals went through the past two years, I buy into that more than I used to. I know how much fun those Royals runs were for me and so many of my friends. I can’t begrudge anyone from another fanbase that is unloading demons the way we did in 2014 and 2015. I won’t differentiate between how much suffering Cubs fans have experienced versus Indians fans. I just know when this series is over, there are going to be a lot of very happy people supporting the winners. And that’s pretty cool.

Down to the series itself.

This feels like a relatively easy Cubs win at first glance. Cleveland is all beat up. I still don’t understand how they got by Toronto in just five games. Oh, that’s right, they did what you have to do in modern, postseason baseball: get generally excellent starting pitching, then run out relievers who never, ever allow their opponents any breathing room. You don’t have to have the best starting pitchers in the game. You just need your top three/four starters to all be locked in at that moment.[3] The whole key to the series to me is if the Indians’ starters can keep getting the game to the 5th or 6th inning with a lead so they can turn loose Andrew Miller and his pals in the pen. They must do that to have a shot. If they can’t, the Cubs are going to close this thing out quick.

Then again, the Cubs offense has been a little sputtery lately. Even on the nights they scored runs, there have been notable holes in their lineup. They can’t afford to keep doing that against Cleveland, because being down 3–1 in the 5th could mean game over.

The Cubs seem like a team of destiny because of how Epstein has slowly built this team toward this result. They’ve drafted and developed well. They’ve spent money smartly. They’ve put one of the best managers in the game in charge of things. This is just the next step in the process.

The Indians seem like a team of destiny because they keep overcoming obstacles. They lose most of their starting rotation? They plug in guys, stretch out their bullpen, and keep winning. They lose one of their best hitters? Other guys step up and fill in for his loss. They run into the Big Papi Retirement Tour? They sweep the Red Sox. They have to face a red-hot Toronto team smarting from coming close last year? They shut them down and win in five. This team won’t give a damn about momentum or history or anything else that the Cubs bring to the series.

Still, Cubs in 6.

I later came to realize that, living in St. Louis Cardinals country, an adult probably told me I should hate the Cubs. I have no memory of that happening, but odds are high it did. ↩
I may or may not have run through the halls yelling “CUBS LOSE!” in my best Harry Caray voice after the Giants cliched. ↩
See Kansas City Royals, 2014, 2015. ↩

Tuesday Notes

October 18, 2016 / DB

A few assorted tidbits for Tuesday.

Here’s the thing about Indian Summer: you never fully appreciate it. Sure, you can talk in wonder about it being in the mid–80s in the back-half of October. You can take a long lunch, leave work early, or just take the day off to get outside. But as good as these days feel, we are also craving those cool, autumn breezes. It looks like the weather here is going to shift dramatically in the next 36 hours. I’ll miss these warm, muggy, breezy days.

Sunday afternoon was kind of crappy around here. It rained pretty hard for about 90 minutes, which just happened to coincide with the time of L’s soccer game. I think the kids mostly enjoyed running around in the rain and mud. I was a little surprised there wasn’t more sliding around. L played probably her best game of the season, scoring two goals, and just missing three other chances. I think it helped being little, as the bigger kids were having more trouble cutting on the wet grass. Four times she brought the ball up the sideline, cut hard back into the penalty box, and then fired away. One went in. Another hit the post, the goalie, and then bounced away. And two others the goalie knocked away.

We took advantage of yesterday’s delightful weather by heading down to the lake after we dropped the girls off at school in the morning. S and I did some yard work, met with some contractors to talk about some winter projects, and then pulled the boat out of the water for the year. Our contractors showed up a little late, and our conversation took the better part of an hour, so I missed the chance to haul ass one, last time. I did get to take a quick spin as S was getting the trailer into the water at the marina. I think the boat knew this was her last chance to show off, because she jumped up and went fast quickly. Or maybe it was just having one person inside and not towing anything behind that made her go so fast. Regardless, I enjoyed the five minutes of racing around the dam-end of the lake while waiting for the trailer to be ready.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather that the Royals were playing in this year’s MLB playoffs. But I have really enjoyed this year’s games so far. I think it helps having no strong feelings about any series, other than wanting Toronto to lose.[1] It’s way less stressful to watch the games that have been close deep into the contest when I can be reading an article on Instapaper, or scrolling through Twitter as I watch. And I’m free to go to bed at 11:15 even if the game isn’t over yet.

That said, I’ve missed a couple excellent finishes by calling it a night before the final out has been recorded.

Such a shame that team is on the verge of losing to a team from the AL Central for the second-straight October. ↩