I think it’s time I witness this carnage for myself.
In a plan that was hatched late Thursday night, agreed to by exasperated wives on Friday afternoon, and finalized on Saturday morning, I am booked on a flight to Kansas City early Sunday morning with my friend Eiman and his ten-year-old son Yusuf. (Tragically, both father and son are White Sox fans. I can report that, at least judging from their complete lack of tattoos and avoidance of alcohol, they have no relation to the Ligue family – Rusty Kuntz has nothing to fear. In fact, judging from their overall pleasant demeanor and attention to grooming, it is entirely possible that they are not White Sox fans at all.)
The singular purpose of this trip is to see the Zack Greinke Experience up close and personal. Mind you, this trip does not come without risk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Greinke win a game when I’ve been present, and the last time I saw him pitch live was this game. This risk is mitigated by the fact that Yusuf is something like 0-for-9 in watching the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. We’ve never watched a Royals-White Sox tilt together, and now that the irresistible force and the immovable object meet, it’s quite possible that the outcome will turn out something like this, with the game not decided until after we’ve had to return back to the airport.
If Greinke puts up his first stinker of the season tomorrow, you’ll know who’s responsible for the smell. But the way things have gone the last three weeks, I’m thinking it’s time for an intervention. If not an exorcism.
In addition to the usual Greinke tidbits, please make sure to fill us in on your opinion of the revamped K now that you'll get to experience it in person.
ReplyDeleteI'll bring the Priest... and the Holy Water. Someone wakeup Linda Blair.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it is tough to succeed when you are missing two of your top five or so players. We had little margin for error, and that which we had was going quickly when Alex got hurt.
ReplyDeleteI think the team just has a swagger about them when we have Soria in the pen knowing that a lead equals a win. We have that swagger when Greinke is going, mainly because he is his own closer.
Ha, I was at that Texas game. Before I clicked I bet myself that would be the link. We wanted to see Ryan vs. Sabes and got a lot more than we bargained for. Stayed til the end with about 2500 other die-hards.
ReplyDeleteI seriously (well sort of seriously) considered doing this last weekend. And I might have done it if I could have made it back to Tucson by 9:00 AM local time. Gotta work, ya know.
ReplyDeleteThe most amazing part of this exhibition of putrid baseball the last several weeks is that there have been only one or two games that Soria would have been a factor. The Royals have demonstrated the irrelevance of the closer role: 1-- get behind due to mediocre starting pitching, don't hit, and then have a lousy bullpen finish the job; 2-- get a win once in a while by having a safe lead or come back in the ninth and pull it out at home. Except for a mediocre Meche and of course Greinke, the starting pitching is a joke; Ponson and his middle inning counterparts are beyond bad; and gee Cruz sure was impressive yesterday. Jose Guillen is quite an inspiration for the hitters as well. Except for Greinke, Butler and maybe Teahen, what a disaster.
ReplyDeleteWe have looked worse than every team we've played in the last 7 or so series.
ReplyDeleteNot just looked like we were playing worse, but we have actually looked like a poorer team. Our play has been ass-ugly.
We need some people to start stepping up (i'm looking at Butler, Guillen, Davies, Meche, Aviles) or this season will be over before June 15th.
In other words, I'm getting extremely scared. I've all but given up hope.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to what you think of the new K.
ReplyDeleteIt's about time for GMDM to blow it up and try something different. Not much at AAA, and a short list of tradable talent in KC, so his work is cut out for him. Maybe put Frank or Jamie in the dugout?
ReplyDeleteAt this writing Zack has given up 4 earned runs in 5 innings. PLEASE LEAVE THE 'K' IMMEDIATELY RANY! I am thinking about calling stadium security and having them find you for an emergency boil lancing back in Chicago!
ReplyDelete3 earned
ReplyDeleteI love you as much as anyone Rany but I hereby forbid you to be within 50 miles of a Greinke start from here on out. If you live within 50 miles of the Cell when he pitches there later in the year, you must spend the day at a location farther out of the city. I'm sorry, but I must demand this.
ReplyDeletetick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick...
ReplyDeleteI can't BELIEVE how much this team has regressed since the 6-game win streak ended (and the 6-game losing streak began). Especially the bullpen... what the HELL!?
ReplyDeleteI blame you, Rany.
ReplyDeleteAt this writing, we have Buck, Aviles, Gordon, Soria, Tejeda, and Wachter all on the DL. Crisp is injured and day to day. Really tough to win under those circumstances. Bloomquist and Maier as your 1 and 2 hitters? The sad part is that Hillman doesn't really have any better options. Although with those guys out and an off day tomorrow, I think it's pretty foolish to pick today to give Callaspo a day off.
ReplyDeleteIt's time for Rany to start rooting for the rest of the AL Central.
ReplyDeleteIf only the Royals problems were so simple.
Ahhh Rany, you had to go didnt you?
ReplyDeleteBut at least it would seem Zack goes down as the best pitcher in baseball history after 11 starts?
ReplyDelete... (sigh)
ReplyDeleteRany, you might be more powerful than the SI cover jinx. Poor Zack doesn't know what hit him. J/K.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could say this was your fault. But you weren't at last night's game. Or Friday night's game. Or the Detroit series...
ReplyDeleteUgh, Rany. We need to figure out how to snap this negative jinx you seem to have acquired this season. I feel bad for you. But, at least it should make for a humorous post in a time when Royals fans need a little something to smile about. Someone within this organization better figure out what to do, and do it quickly, because things could get much more ugly in a hurry.
ReplyDelete