My oldest daughter Elizabeth hates shots. All kids hate shots, as far as I know, but Elizabeth is the kind of girl who will talk about shots for DAYS and WEEKS and MONTHS before she gets one. Just today, we took her to the doctor for a simple follow up, and the word “flu shot” came up, and even though Elizabeth knows that flu shots happen around Halloween she already started worrying about it.
“How many days is that?” she asked
I understand. She gets it from me. I’ve always been frightened all out of proportion of needles. I’m not a necessarily complete wimp about pain, but I’ve long hated shots, and I could remember as a child feeling exactly the same way Elizabeth felt. I also remember that the worst part of the shot was never the shot itself, it was those horrible moments before, when they were rubbing that stuff on your arm, and the doctor was unwrapping all those fun little paper packages, and the needle looked to be the size of a pool cue. I remember my mother and father used to just say to me, “Go ahead, get it over with, it won’t hurt as bad as you think,” and now I find myself doing exactly the same thing with my daughter, and it’s strange.
I thought about all of this Wednesday night, ninth inning, when the Kansas City Royals had their stunning collapse. I’ll tell you what, there’s something special about this team, something I haven’t seen since the amazing 2005 Royals who lost those 19 games in a row. I decided to stay home and work on my book Wednesday night because I just had a feeling the Royals would win pretty easily and, at that point, I really wouldn’t have anything to write. I had that feeling because:
1. The Royals were pitching Zack Greinke, who I thought would overpower the Twins.
2. The Twins were pitching Livan Hernandez, who is 283 years old.
3. My baseball instincts just told me the Royals were due for a night when they finally scored a few runs and put away a relatively easy victory. When you’ve seen as many bad baseball teams as I’ve had the good fortune to watch over the last 12 years, you begin to get a pretty good feeling about these things.
Anyway, it all played out more or less like I expected. The Royals smacked a few hits, the Twins looked completely uninterested in the game, Delmon Young decided to leave his baseball instincts in the pawn shop for one more day, and Zack Greinke really was quite good. The Royals took an 8-3 lead, and I rather smugly thought, “Yep, I called that one,” and got myself a nice-sized bowl of chocolate-marshmallow ice cream to eat while I watched the ninth inning.*
*OK, someone out there will know — how much would it cost to buy, like, a real soft-serve ice cream machine? Is that something that, like, a regular person can buy? I’m not someone who likes to talk about (or really eat) press box food, but the Boston Red Sox have this incredible soft-serve ice cream machine in the cafeteria, and man … I would even be willing to give up my rider mower dreams for one of those.
The Royals decided to send Ramon Ramirez to pitch the ninth. It seemed a good move. Ramirez had been good this year, his ball really sinks, and anyway the Royals didn’t have many options. Royals manager Trey Hillman had abused his pen in the 12-inning loss on Tuesday*, and so before the game he apparently put closer Joakim Soria, lefties Jimmy Gobble and Ron Mahay, and power righty Leo Nunez off limits.
*Interestingly enough, the Twins ALSO played 12 innings on Tuesday and yet pretty much their entire bullpen was available. Interesting how that works. I have received many emails — including a good one from the aforementioned blogger extraordinaire Aaron Gleeman — about how I have to BS insane to think that Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is the best in the game. As I said before, in the immortal Harry Met Sally words, “You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right.” I’m sure he’s not nearly as good as I imagine. I’m sure he’s got all kinds of terrible, horrible flaws. I’m sure I misplace a lot of the credit that I give him. But I also have to say … you people have not been forced to watch and care about the team I’ve been watching and caring about the last 12 years. In my world, Gardy might as well be Casey Mack Alston.
Anyway, Ramirez struck out Michael Cuddyer. Jason Kubel singled. Delmon Young struck out feebly — wow, when is someone going to scare that guy straight? So two out, man on first, Mike Lamb and Brendan Harris coming up, five run lead, I mean seriously, what kind of odds could you get in Vegas on Minnesota at this point? 100-to-1? 500-to-1?
So, Ramirez threw a wild pitch. Whatever. Lamb banged a single to right that scored Kubel. OK, still, not a big deal. Brendan Harris is up. Get the out, get the easy win, there’s your ball game. And then Brendan Harris loops a fly ball to right field that looks like it very well could be the third out. David DeJesus should run that down and … wait a minute. David DeJesus is not in right field. No, that’s, um. Ross Gload in right field. Why is Ross Gload in right field? Oh, right, Hillman pinch-hit for DeJesus the previous inning. So, no, wait … why did Ross Gload pinch-hit for DeJesus? I’m very confused.*
*OK, I just got a call from Royals TV voice extraordinaire and good friend Ryan Lefebvre … apparently, in the seventh inning, DeJesus broke out in hives. Yeah. Hives. Now, this team has biblical plagues descending upon them. Hives. I mean, seriously. I still couldn’t tell you why Gload didn’t go to first, where he’s actually pretty good, and Teahen go to right field, where he’s played all year. Trey Hillman’s explanation is that he didn’t want to switch TWO positions. Whatever that means.
So, back to our sad tale. Gload looked like he would catch the ball and then, at the last second, he pulled up and the ball dropped. Maybe he was gun shy after watching Delmon Young the night before dive for a ball that turned into an inside the park homer. Maybe he was confused because he has played exactly one game of right field since 2006. Maybe … I don’t know. The ball dropped. Now there were runners on first and second. Royals up by four runs.
Next batter, Carlos Gomez, got a 2-0 count, hit a pretty soft single to center, a run scored, and the Twins would send the tying run to the plate. And representing that tying run: Pinch hitter Craig Monroe. The Twins would go for the tie with a guy who has a lifetime .302 on-base percentage but has cracked 108 homers in his career. The one swing approach. This was the equivalent of a boxing manager telling his guy: “OK kid, we need a knockout here.”
Here’s where we get to the shot image. Because at this point, the Royals decided to take Ramirez out of the game. Part of me understood — Ramirez had given up four hits in the inning. But part of me cringed because they were pretty soft singles, one probably should have been caught, and Ramirez had struck out two in the inning, and he was quite unlikely to give up a home run to Monroe because of his sinker (Ramirez has not yet given up a home run this year).
And then — I realized what Hillman was doing. And then it was much more than simple cringing. He was bringing in Joel Peralta. And at that very instant, I absolutely knew without any doubt that Monroe was going to hit the home run. I mean, I had NO doubt. Part of this was just what I like to call Royal Vision — when you watch the Royals, you come to expect the worst because you will almost always get the worst. But another part of this was pure and simple baseball logic — Peralta is a fly ball pitcher who had given up three home runs in 16 innings. He has been used in a mop-up role all year, so there was no doubt in my mind that he would be too pumped up and would elevate his pitches even more. Plus Monroe (who already had one homer against Peralta) would be up there to take three full-bodied hacks at the ball.
And there was also some very bad managing karma going on. I had absolutely no idea what Trey Hillman was hoping to accomplish. Why would you send a gopher-ball pitcher who has not been in a meaningful situation in a long, long time into this game with a nine-game losing streak on your back and a swing-for-the-fences slugger at the plate? Maybe Trey just missed me and wants to see me at the park Thursday night.
Peralta naturally fell behind Monroe 3-0. I knew the shot was coming — and I found myself, in my father’s voice, thinking: “OK, go ahead and get it over with. It won’t hurt as much as you think.” I instant messaged a couple of my Kansas City Star colleagues with stuff like, “OK, so who do the Royals have coming up in the bottom of the ninth because this ball is about to get hit out.” Monroe fouled off a pitch and swung through another to lengthen the agony.
And then, of course, Peralta elevated a 92-mph fastball on the inside half, and Monroe turned on it, pulled it over the left-field fence, and, well, at least it was over with. Tie score. Shock. Pain. All that. Then, to prove a point, Gardy used three pitchers in the bottom of the ninth to get the Royals out — the point being, “See, my bullpen is fine!”
Of course, the Royals had no chance at that point. In the top of the 10th, Hillman stuck with Peralta — apparently because he felt like the guy had earned the right to blow the game all by himself — and first pitch he threw was an 89 mph fastball over the heart of the plate, and Justin Morneau drilled it over the right field wall for a home run. “I was looking for one pitch in one spot,” Morneau said afterward. Yeah. He got it. And, what do you know, the Twins had THEIR closer Joe Nathan available, and he got the Royals 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 10th to secure Kansas City’s 10th straight loss.
And now … yeah, the Royals are in a bad place. Now I’ll have to put the book away for another day (did I mention … Big Red Machine … next March … oh, I did?) and go to the ballpark tomorrow night. It reminds me of the classic Buddy Bell line: Things can always get worse.
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70 Comments, Comment or Ping
Matt
Why? Why us?
Do you know, Joe? Why was I cursed to be a baseball fan in Kansas City?
And why is it, no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop paying attention to how the Royals are doing? I want to stop, I really do, but inevitably I get sucked back in.
May 28th, 2008
Ryan
I saw the score earlier in the night.
Was at a bar, and thought I saw that game was tied and was sure that my eyesight was a little blurry with the TV on the other side of the room.
I came home and looked at the box score. I was in shock.
An hour later, I read your blog and am in more(?) shock. Can you be in more shock? I am in more shock. I am beyond shocked.
I don’t have a good feeling about the upcoming MLB draft all of sudden.
I feel like a Bulls fan, who is sure John Paxson is not going to draft Beasley or Derrick Rose. (I mean, you have to pick Rose, right?)
I’m going to Comiskey next week to see the Royals play. Surely, they will have won by then. Right?
A telling stat for the night. The Royals had 16 hits. Only 2 were for extra base hits, and they were both doubles.
May 28th, 2008
Anthony
Big fan, the Royals remind me of the Phillies teams that I had to watch growing up in the late 80’s and 90’s(save for 1993), check out the ice cream maker:
http://www.kitchenkapers.com/cuisinart-mix-it-in-soft-serve-ice-cream-maker-ice45.html
May 28th, 2008
antoniomo
The Royals’ announcers early in the ninth were talking as though the game was won. I was thinking, why so confident?
And why, oh why, didn’t we bring in Soria to replace Ramirez? I mean, how can you fool around about ending a nine game losing streak?
How must Greinke feel?
Sigh……
May 28th, 2008
Mike
Losses like this make me question why I love this team so much. They don’t love me back. Atleast Jose Guillen did what he does best after the game, having an impulsive meltdown and berating the team.
May 28th, 2008
Will
Watching from LA on Extra Innings and I foolishly thought Peralta would walk him and give up the homer to the next batter to let the fans get home an inning early.
May 28th, 2008
Mark LaFlamme
Ross Gload in right? Peralta to face Monroe AND MORNEAU? I get it. I think I really get it now. This is like the plot of “Major League,” where the owners secretly want to move the team out of the city, or possibly to the National League. Hillman was put in place to make sure the Royals sink as far as they can and then to stomp on their heads. It’s sadistic and sly, but there is hope. Any day now, Tom Berenger and that nice Sheen fellow will rally to the rescue and save the team.
I’m delirious. Seriously, could it get more morally defeating than this? I’m with you, Matt. Let me know if you find a support group.
May 28th, 2008
Trieu
The vivid post inspired me to go watch the highlight of Monroe’s home run on MLB.com. The wail of the crowd builds and crescendos with the arc of the ball. It’s the sound of people screeching in pain, and it’s terrifying.
May 28th, 2008
RickMcKc
Even more shocking than the three-run shot in the 9th was hearing from Ryan Lefevebre that Morneua was now SIX of SEVEN against Peralta.
May 28th, 2008
CM
What are the odds?
Well, after that strikeout of Young, 99.9% of all 8-3 games with two outs and a runner on first end up a win for the leading team. . .that one in one-thousand now belongs to the Royals.
http://www.fangraphs.com/liveplays.aspx?gameid=280528107
May 28th, 2008
Andy Sonnanstine's Scruffy Beard
I just listened to the 9th and 10th innings over MLB.com audio. Wow. I wanted to punch a wall after Soriano dropped the 27th out in Pittsburgh on Sunday; I can’t even describe how bad I feel for you guys right now.
Just try to stay positive. Keep thinking of your GM’s words: “and when we win the pennant, this is where we’re going to have the celebration….”
May 29th, 2008
Aaron M.
Heh… If you were listening to the radio you saw this coming. Denny Matthews was tempting fate by saying the Royals had this one wrapped up and the losing streak was over, that made me queasy. I went to the kitchen with 1 out in the inning expecting to come back to it being over, and instead I’m “treated” to more of the game. So I decide I want to watch the Royals blow this on TV and go out to the living room to watch with my wife. Then they brought Peralta in and I knew the way Joe knew, he was giving up that home run.
To make matters worse, when they announced the top of the 10th lineup as the ninth ended, I told my wife that Morneau would hit a homer for the win, and by god he didn’t even wait til the second pitch to make me right.
And I think Hillman had a hot date after the game. There is NO WAY IN HELL you leave Peralta in to pitch to a guy that is 5 for freakin 6 lifetime against him with a homer.
I’m starting to think Hillman was a horrible choice and we’ll be back on the market next year after our patented April start of 8-21.
May 29th, 2008
Aaron M.
In the market for a manager I mean.
May 29th, 2008
NateDog
So your use of “gopherball” intrigued me… it seemed to me while reading that the sinkerball pitcher should be the gopherballer, since his pitches are more likely to travel along the ground (you know, where gophers live). Yet I know full well that gopherballs are invariably fly balls. Anyone for a little baseball etymology? My quick Google showed “etymology unknown” at the American Heritage Dictionary, and two VERY unsatisfying answers at the Urban Dictionary…
May 29th, 2008
Ron
I said the day Hillman was hired he was a terrible choice. I’m glad other people are figuring it out.
How much of this do we have to endure? It is okay to fire a first-year manager who can’t actually manage in the major leagues.
For all of those people who are going to say ‘give him a chance’, he’s had it and proven he can’t do it. Why would you keep a guy through a contract just because he’s signed to it? Players get released all of the time. It should happen to Hillman also.
And what about Moore? What hasn’t he said anything? Like I made a mistake and I need to actually find someone who can manage. His decison making skills aren’t so hot either.
May 29th, 2008
ChuckO
Great piece. I’m not a Royals fan, but I could really feel your pain in reading this piece.
May 29th, 2008
Mauichuck
Well Joe you can always do what you did back in the 70s. You remember when your favorite team, the Indians, were even worse than the current Royals and breaking your heart on a daily basis. You remember? Just move on across the state to a winner, but instead of becoming a Red’s fan you can join the ranks of Card’s fans. Cuz, you know, front runners never change their stripes - never.
May 29th, 2008
Mauichuck
Oh yeah, NateDog they’re “gopherballs” cuz they “go fer” a home run. Get it?
May 29th, 2008
SBG
The bullpen freshness was a function of what the starting pitchers did last night. Bannister threw 110 pitches and was out in the fifth. So, Hillman “abused” his bullpen to the tune of seven innings. On the other hand, the Twins got 8 2/3 out of their starter last night, so their bullpen pitched 3 1/3 innings. So, if anyone is to blame for the bullpen being used up, it was Brian Bannister.
May 29th, 2008
Steve
So, if anyone is to blame for the bullpen being used up, it was Brian Bannister.
…and the Royals’ Tuesday offense.
May 29th, 2008
Oddibe Kerfeld
Maybe Hillman should have done like Whitey Herzog in the ‘85 WS and brought Joaquin Andujar in. That was perhaps the worst call to the bullpen of all-time.
May 29th, 2008
Byron
So, with all of these odd moves … does Hillman get the boot at the end of the year?
I’m a Boston guy, a Sox fan, so I don’t get to see KC that much — but this guy seems terrible. I was under the impression that he did a decent job in Japan and was a star in the Yankee system.
What happened to his fabled baseball acumen?
May 29th, 2008
skott
i have to say i was pretty excited for KC and their choice of Hillman, but it sounds like his managing decisions aren’t very strong.
at least you can take solace in the fact that the Royals have some of the best uni’s in sports.
smaller, easier soft serve ice cream maker: there are tons on ebay - cuisinart makes a good one, from what i can tell…
May 29th, 2008
KCJoe
Oh the agony…oh the pain.
My 5 year old and I left the stadium after the 7th. Got to our car in the middle of the 8th after hearing the crowd confirm the 1-2-3 top of the 8th. Drove home during the bottom of the 8th and as Denny kept talking about the win I too cringed. Gload in right, Peralta on the mound. My 5 year old didn’t see it coming. He hasn’t learned the signs of a team about to self destruct*. He was crushed. I was just pissed.
* the alcohol swab, paper wrappers and little viles, he is familiar with.
May 29th, 2008
Paul White
I haven’t played fantasy baseball in years. Too time consuming, etc. But this season, my brother in California convinced me and my other brother to join his league. “It will be fun”, he said. So, what the hell, I joined. And on the day of our draft, in the late, late rounds, feeling all good about the Royals, I took both Zack Greinke and Joakim Soria. Some people chuckled, but I’m looking like a big honkin’ genius so far, right?
So last night, with Greinke on the mound and easily cruising to a win, I’m in line to get 10 points. As the 9th inning developed, I was actually in line to double-dip, as it looked like a save situation for Soria, and that would be another 10 points for me. Plus, since they guy I’m playing this week has Joe Nathan, there’s 10 points he wouldn’t be getting, right? The poor guy had been the victim of Delmon Young’s bed-crapping of the night before, and now wouldn’t be able to redeem himself a night later, partly due to further Delmon Young bed-crapping. Beautiful. I love it when a plan comes together.
Then the events described by Joe happened. I lose 10 certain points from Greinke’s win, a potential 10 points from a Soria save, and my opponent gets 10 points from a Nathan save. A 30 point swing.
My conclusions from all of this?
1.) I shouldn’t have played fantasy baseball this year.
2.) Delmon Young is now on my Christmas card list.
3.) Trey Hillman is on a different list.
May 29th, 2008
Erik
Joe, Gleeman constantly harps on “why won’t Gardy use Nathan for more than 1 inning”. Well, so he can be available when he is really needed, like last night. Not a Gleeman fan. Who died and made him Yoda to our collective Luke Skywalker when it comes to the Twins?
May 29th, 2008
Mike
Gopherballs
Go Far
That’s the best explanation I’ve heard.
May 29th, 2008
Todd
Great post Joe, as usual.
I might be alone, but I am sick of hearing people say that Hillman is to blame and that he needs to go. There is not a manager alive who could win with this group of players, not even Gardenhire. There is no quick fix for this franchise. Hillman and Moore are trying to change the culture of the organization (which will take some time). Firing Hillman and bringing in someone new to complain about will only prolong the transition from losing to winning.
May 29th, 2008
Mike Williams
Soria was rightly unavailable, period. Two days in a row, with 31 pitches the 2nd day? NO WAY you risk the future for this one game.
Joe, Hillman had a 3 man bullpen, and one of those was Yabuta, so he essentially had 2 choices to close it out.
Pick one, and LET THAT GUY FINISH REGARDLESS.
Does anybody think the sinkerballer would yield 7 walks/singles before getting 3 outs?
Does anybody think the flyball pitcher would yield 5 baserunners ending in a HR?
Instead, Hillman managed to highlight the weaknesses of each pitcher, while minimizing each’s strengths.
The manager’s job is to put his players in position to succeed; Hillman failed at this last night. Does that make him a bad manager? Only if he learns nothing from this.
May 29th, 2008
Jackie Ballgame
Here’s a comment regarding the Polls on Joe’s Sidebar. It’s a comment about democracy, more than anything. Take the Best-Angel-Ever poll; I looked at it briefly and had a 30 second conversation with myself: “Well Rod Carew obviously. Wait a minute, Vlad could be as good or better, I have to look at the numbers. Oh wait, there’s Nolan Ryan. That’s a no-brainer, except how long did he pitch for the Angels again? Then there’s Tim Salmon, who may be the best player never to make an All Star game…I can’t vote until I do more research.”
I still haven’t done the research of course, and as a result I still haven’t voted. But it’s a good thing that I haven’t voted without doing the research–it’s better not to vote at all than to offer an ill-informed vote. Right? Hence the reason maybe it’s not such a bad thing that voter turn-out for elections is so low. The bad thing is that we’re too lazy/busy (your call) to do the research.
*Researching the Angels right now with a sudden moral motivation*
May 29th, 2008
Seattle Matt
It looks like the SaniServ 407 is a good small restaurant-level soft serve ice cream machine. There’s a used one on ebay for $1000, and a few on craigslist for under $1000. A new unit looks to go for about $4500. I wonder how much energy these things suck up?
http://www.saniserv.com/products.jsp?c=1&u=1&p=6
May 29th, 2008
Josh in DC
Is there some way we can all chip in on paypal and get Joe that soft-serve ice cream maker? I’m good for five bucks, and there’s got to be 19 more people like me who’d like to get Joe a gift as a thank you for this blog.
May 29th, 2008
John from north of Cincinnati
OK, so Hillman was to managing last night as Delmon Young was to defense. It was a bad night packed with decisions he’d love to do over. But it’s in the books, and now we’ll see where he goes from here. When he was hired, everyone heard a lot more good than bad about his ability to manage, so let’s hope he got a bad night out of his system and learned something from it all. Two steps forward and one step back is still progress.
May 29th, 2008
HmblDog
Hillman isn’t to blame. Hillman has stressed the importance of basic skills like catch and throw. Once we’ve shown a little proficiency at that then we can move on to the next.
Hate to be the one to tell you this Joe but you probably should be setting some boundaries on the ice cream thing rather than having a machine that makes it as easy as reaching out and pulling a lever. I recommend the individually wrapped Dove miniatures variety package. Taste great; less filling.
May 29th, 2008
Justyo
Trey Hillman’s crimes against baseball logic have now started bringing biblical plagues upon the franchise. Before we know it a swarm of locusts will descend on the stadium, frogs will rain from the sky during a day game and a tear will escape Demi Moore’s eye as her baby is born on the 7th day looking just like Dick Howser.
Without caveat I say… Trey Hillman must go.
May 29th, 2008
twayn
Joe,
As a Twins fan I come to commiserate, not to gloat. As sure as you were that Monroe was going to hit one out, I was equally sure he wouldn’t, especially after watching the Twins’ sloppy play all night. The Twins hate losing streaks so much they not only go all out to avoid their own, they quite often help other teams end theirs as well (we did it for the Royals as recently as September 2006). I must have reached for the remote half a dozen times throughout the game to turn off the TV. Delmon Young and the merry pranksters will do that to you. So when Monroe whiffed on the 3-1 pitch, I was sure he had missed his best chance to get a ball he could turn on and drive. I cursed under my breath, and told my wife that the game was over. She just smiled wisely, shook her head and said, “It’s the Royals.” And I obviously overestimated Peralta. I was absolutely stunned when he hurled a full-count fastball into Monroe’s wheelhouse, even more stunned when Monroe drove it over the fence. But in a good way, of course, like when the dentist tells you he didn’t find any cavities and you know you’ve eluded the Novocaine needle for at least six more months. Then again, you’re seldom out of the chair more than ten minutes before you’re worrying about the next check-up.
May 29th, 2008
Eric J
Jackie, everyone else seems to have voted without doing the research. Or at least 299 people have…
May 29th, 2008
Mark H
Mike, a few posts earlier, was great with “Instead, Hillman managed to highlight the weaknesses of each pitcher, while minimizing each’s strengths. ” Hadn’t thought of that before… Let the fly ball guy give up 4 solo shots FIRST, then bring in the ground ball pitcher.
Guillen refused to call out Hillman in his post-game melt-down. I’ve never been in the Royals lockerroom, so I’ll defer to Jose on that one. My opinion of BOTH just went up. Heck, I threw f-bombs at my gametracker last night. I don’ t think I could have handled that if I had a uniform on. I would have smashed something to peices afterwards. A bench, a chair, SOMETHING. Why is the “hired-hand/free agent” the only guy having a meltdown over this.
One last thought.. Maybe Dayton has it all wrong. Maybe the Phillies model is the way to go? Forget pitching and defense, go all hit, all the time, and completely ignore the need for pitching. You won’t win a WS, but you don’t get 10+game losing streaks either.
May 29th, 2008
Chris
$100 for a personal soft serve ice cream machine from cuisinart
http://www.cuisinart.com/catalog/product.php?product_id=434&item_id=529&cat_id=10
May 29th, 2008
Creston
This kind of horrible, horrible managing needs to get a manager fired. Playing two guys out of position because you don’t want to make “two position changes????”
What does that even mean? Does Trey Hillman understand that if you want to completely change the alignment of your entire field after every PITCH, this is allowed under baseball rules?
Sure, the umpire will kill you the third time you come out, and not the type of evil-eye-get-out-of-here-glare kill you, but genuinely grab-your-throat-and-choke-the-life-out-of-you kill you.
But it IS allowed!
Seriously. Fire the guy. I don’t know how they manage in Japan (I mean, Bobby Valentine is almost considered a demi-God up there, so there has to be something crazy in the water), but if you pull these kinds of stunts in the good old MLB, you need to get canned. Without remorse. That’s the dumbest bit of managing I’ve heard of in…. I dunno, 30 years?
The pitcher switch was foolish, but that’s one of those “if he gets a flyball to center, it’s a great move!” things that can go either way. It’s not smart, but okay. But the not wanting to change two positions thing… My God. Does the guy even know what game he’s managing? This isn’t …. (I’m trying to come up with a sport where there’d be some taboo against switching two guys’ positions, and I can’t even think of anything.)
http://www.firetreyhillman.com
May 29th, 2008
Oddibe Kerfeld
This blog is growing. I’ve noticed a higher number of comments over the last few months. Joe, how many hits does this page get now? It’s a great blog and I think the word is getting out.
May 29th, 2008
G Young
I’m just going to point out, in Hillman’s defense, that Morneau was not the next batter Peralta faced.
I mean, he did get the 3rd out in the top of the 9th.
That being said, after Greinke finished off the 8th, I switched over to the Celtics/Pistons. You can imagine my disgust when that score popped up on the ESPN bottom line.
May 29th, 2008
Creston
I believe Gopherball came as a bastardization of “Go Far Ball,” which is a kind of silly way of describing a homerun.
But it’d be cool to know what the true origin of that is. We need Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Etymologies.
May 29th, 2008
Josh in DC
We do not need that book.
May 29th, 2008
Steve
All Soria needed to get was one out. ONE! There’s no excuse for not putting him in. And if he doesn’t get Monroe, then Mauer is up next and you put in Gobble or Mahay to try and get one of the next two lefties. You do WHATEVER YOU CAN to stop a nine-game losing streak. Our relievers aren’t 12-year-old boys, they’re men. Their arms will be fine.
May 29th, 2008
Chris
Dayton will save us. The Glass’ aren’t sticking their noses in things anymore. We’re finally spending money in the free agent market. Teahen will turn the corner this year. Buck is solid behind the plate. Billy Butler is God. We have the resources in our scouting department. We are finally rid of the spectre of Mike Sweeney’s contract. This bullpen is unhitable. We have 3 good young starters. Joey Gathright is blazing fast. Buddy Bell is the one who messed up Buck’s swing. Allard Baird was handcuffed by management. Billy Butler is God. In Dayton We Trust. Trey’s hard-nosed philosophy will rub off on the players. Jose Guillen is going to bring some much needed pop into the middle of the order. Alex Gordon is the chosen one. Billy Butler is God. Have you seen the new jumbo-tron? Joakim Soria looks amish, but he is lights out.
Last night is NOT supposed to happen. Not to this team. Not this time. Not while Dayton is here…
I guess Bill Simmons was right when he said:
“The sports fans in Kansas City really only have Joe Posnanski going for them, and his new book is entitled, ‘Kill Me Now…Seriously, Bludgeon Me in the Head: Fifteen Years Covering the Kansas City Royals.’”
May 29th, 2008
Chris
On the Yankees telecast last night Michael Kay commented that he was unsure of the availability of the Yankees pen because Joe Girardi does not disclose availability before a game. For a Yankee fan this is a far cry from the Torre era, where he would beat guys (see: proctor, karsay, gordon, etc…) into the ground for a week and then declare they were unavailable for one measley game in an attempt to assuage those who hated his bullpen use. Of course, this also indicated to the opposing manager and team that the yankees pen was depleted and that always struck me as a disadvantage. Bad enough that you dealt yourself a losing hand, now you go ahead and show your cards? Maybe managers should start declaring guys falsely unavailable and then whoops! enter sandman when the opposing team spent 8 innings waiting for their chance at farnsy in the 9th.
May 29th, 2008
Devon
Late yesterday afternoon, I thought the same thing you did… “the Royals have to win tonight, because they’re due.”. Losing streaks of this length just don’t normally keep going at this point (even for awful teams). They’re due to score. Then my cable went out, which also took out my internet. So it wasn’t until today that I could see the boxscore. That boxscore. They did score a lot…a whole 8 runs. With their pitching, they can win that game. But they didn’t. 5 in the ninth. Ugh. Thanks for detailing how it happened. I was curious how they blew that.
May 29th, 2008
Mikey
You can tell just by looking at the picture that the ice cream from that cuisinart machine will suck. You have to pony up for the real deal.
I will kick in for a collection on the following conditions:
1. This site stays free for one year
2. The collected dough must go toward a Mister Softee truck quality soft-serve ice cream machine
3. Joe must commit to eating at least 100 cones in the first year of ownership. It’s not cool if we kick in for this machine and you lose interest after two weeks
May 29th, 2008
Chris
This from Jayson Stark’s Rumbilings & Grumblings this week:
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
From Charles Barkley, of all people, on Jon Lester’s no-hitter:
“If it was against the Royals, it should only count as half a no-hitter.”
May 29th, 2008
Andrew H
I think the Buddy Bell quote actually was:
“I never said things couldn’t get worse”
May 29th, 2008
First Matt
At Mark:
I think this is the support group.
May 29th, 2008
Ken
Part of the problem is that the team insists on carrying 12 pitchers. The 12th pitcher doesn’t serve the purpose of reducing innings for his teammates as much as tempting managers to over manage.
How about throwing starters every 5th day instead of every 5th game. Since the season is 182 days long, this would take 10-15 starts away from a 5th starter. This would also allow the 5th starter to return to the bullpen when his start is skipped, which would give you an extra arm in the bullpen. I know it sounds like treating a 5th starter like the starter you least want to put on the mound wouldn’t have helped last night, but it actually would have. Since Peralta is our 12th pitcher, Hillman almost certainly would have stuck with Ramirez if he didn’t have 12 pitchers on his menu.
Skipping your 5th starter whenever possible also buys 3-4 more starts per year for your top 4 starters without putting a material burden on their arms.
It particularly doesn’t make sense for a team that struggles to score runs to have 12 players to cover one position and 13 to cover the other 8.
May 29th, 2008
Anthony
I always thought that the “gopher ball” phrase was a reference to the pitcher wanting to dig a hole and hide in the ground like a gopher after giving it up. Not sure if it’s been mentioned
May 29th, 2008
Dusty
I always assumed the term gopherball came from a hitter swinging at a crazy low pitch in the dirt, as if it were a gopher coming out of the ground.
May 29th, 2008
Tucker
About that ice cream machine, it may or may not have been stolen from the Red Sox clubhouse, according to the blog of the best Red Sox beat writer, Rob Bradford. He had a couple of highly amusing posts about it back in April:
http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/rob_bradford/index.php/2008/04/page/2/
Summery- Josh Beckett shares your taste in ice cream.
May 29th, 2008
Max
I’ll put down a fiver for Joe’s soft-serve machine. If he only uses it for a couple of weeks, I hope he enjoys those two weeks very much.
Perhaps, he can then donate the said soft-serve machine to the Royals clubhouse to soften the blows of those long stretches of tough losses.
May 29th, 2008
Max
Oh, Joe, you can also blame Geoff Young from Ducksnorts for keeping the losing streak alive. He recently adopted the Royals to be his AL team on the account of how horribly the Padres have been ‘performing’.
http://blog.baseballdigestdaily.com/blog/GeoffYoung/
May 29th, 2008
Ryan
God got sent to Omaha.
May 29th, 2008
Justyo
As much as I loathe to double dip in any comment stream I must jump in again to say - I wholeheartedly agree with Ken’s post above.
May 29th, 2008
Guinevere
Hey Joe, do you think the Star and the Globe could work out a trade — you for Shanks Shaughnessey? Even for a couple of weeks? We really enjoyed having you in Boston!
May 30th, 2008
Paul White
“Hey Joe, do you think the Star and the Globe could work out a trade — you for Shanks Shaughnessey? Even for a couple of weeks? We really enjoyed having you in Boston!”
No thanks. We really don’t want the CHB coming to town, inventing fake curses for his personal financial gain in complete disregard for the pain and suffering said fake curse would inflict upon the team and the fans. Royals fans have suffered enough.
May 30th, 2008
Mauichuck
Don’t worry boyz, your losing streak is about to end. The Tribe - or what’s left of them anyway - is comin’ to town. I see a winning streak in your future.
May 30th, 2008
Adi Rosenblum
You know whats funny? I had those exact same thoughts. I KNEW when Peralta came in that the HR was coming. It wasn’t like I was afraid it was going to happen, I KNEW. I even thought the same thing… “I wonder who we have coming up in the 9th. Oh, it won’t matter, they have Nathan coming in.”
I don’t care how tired Soria is. I don’t care how many games are left in the season. We needed 1 out. What is that…7 pitches? 8 pitches? Put Soria in. End the streak. Go home.
Period.
Joe, you are my new long-lost brother.
May 30th, 2008
greg
Try being a pirate fan, we’ve even been worse than the royals the last 15 years, its really mind numbing, is there a mercy rule someone can enact to switch lineups between teams?
May 30th, 2008
Justyo
Ok. More 300 guys…
Pujols
Holliday
Berkman
Ichiro
????
May 30th, 2008
Bob
[i]“Trey Hillman’s explanation is that he didn’t want to switch TWO positions. “[/i]
I just like to make sure that SOMEBODY tells Hillman that he is plain wrong in his “explanation”.
By inserting Gload at 1b and then switching Teahen to RF, Hillman would be making ONE switch, not TWO.
Not to mention, this foolish decision cost the game.
May 31st, 2008
Bob
After reading my own post above, some people might think that Hillman said something about switching two POSITIONS.
That’s not what I was talking about. Every “switch” involves two positions. So, there is not such a thing as “one position switch”, to begin with.
Hillman sounded like he hesitated to make switches that would involve two players switching positions, such as 2B and SS swapping positions. This sort of thinking might be somewhat defensible. However, this was not what was happening in the bottom of 9th. Gload hadn’t been in the field. If he had been inserted at 1B, Teahen would have been the only one who was making a “switch”.
May 31st, 2008
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