R’s: Some Week
Some week for Your Kansas City Royals! Let’s review. Last Sunday they acquired Johnny Cueto from Cincinnati then went out and beat Houston ace Dallas Keuchel to get a series win against a possible playoff opponent. Monday they flew to Cleveland and pounded the Indians in game one. Tuesday they made another trade, grabbing Ben Zobrist from the A’s. That…
Johnny Friggin’ Cueto!
Holy shit! Normally this time of year, Royals fans are begging general manager Dayton Moore to sell off the team’s most valuable free-agent-to-be to bring in more prospects for the future. Two years ago, it was Ervin Santana. The Royals kept him and went on a tear through August and September that saw them fall just short of making the…
R’s: Oh No
Each of the past two Augusts, I’ve written about a Royals series against contending teams that came in front of big, loud crowds and wondered if that would be the high point of the season. It likely was in 2013. Last year, though, things got about a kazillion times better over the next two months. I mention that because I…
R’s: Patience Is A Virtue
I’ve been thinking about my next Royals post for a couple weeks. In the interim, they had a slow and steady descent into their first extended cold spell of the season. It began with concerns about pitching, as each member of the starting rotation had at least one terrible start and both Jason Vargas and Danny Duffy landed on the…
R’s: Stuff And Nonsense
In the bad old days, I would think the Royals were cursed. How else to explain getting off to a hot start – they’re currently tied for the second-best record in the bigs – yet still looking up at Detroit? The baseball gods hate the Royals, right? But these aren’t the bad old days. This is the brave new world…
Hot Sports Takes
Back again to fill in a couple hot sports takes between favorite songs entries. Bill Self Issues a Fatwa Against Mock Drafts Last Saturday KU coach Bill Self, after responding to a question about how well Kelly Oubre had played against Utah, railed against the numerous mock NBA drafts that dot the Internet. He said they hurt more people than…
R’s: Wrapping It All Up
I’m glad I was not alone. I heard from many of my friends who are Royals fans last Thursday. The common theme was we all felt like garbage following game seven of the World Series. I was able to shake off the funk by late in the day, as I began to see the big picture again. It sucks that…
R’s: The End
I was nine years old when the Royals made their first World Series. We had moved to Kansas City less than three months earlier. Just three weeks earlier my parents interrupted me listening to a Royals-Mariners game to tell me that they were getting a divorce. I was dealing with a lot of shit, as Kevin Costner might say. When…
R’s: Game Seven
I don’t think I’m getting much done today. It’s not yet 9:00 am as I write this and my hands are already jittery, my stomach an unsettled mess, and overall anxiety level is too high for this early. Game Seven is supposed to be one of the best phrases in sports. But it’s doing a number on me today. I…
R’s: How Quickly The Tide Can Turn
The ebbs and flows of the baseball postseason can be tough. Between the long series, travel days, the breaks between innings, and the gaps between pitches and at-bats, there is so much time for the emotion of the situation to ferment, turning into something more potent than reality. For example, after Friday night’s Royals win, I think most Royals fans…