Yawn, mixed with a dash of choler

Utterly, incomprehensibly boring. I hate watching Yankees games because they all seem to last four hours, which is maddening, but then one actually does, and I want to hurl things against walls.

So if you weren't in front of a TV yesterday, here's what you missed:

-- A-Rod's 500th home run
-- Kyle Davies rocky debut
-- Royals valiant comeback in the middle innings
-- Shellacking

That's it. Meche vs. Mussina, noon.

POSTSCRIPT: With Bonds on the verge of breaking Aaron's record, now would be a good time to read this Slate article, "How the media abuse Hank Aaron."

The Mecca of and that is Yankee Stadium

This was where I took in last night's 7-1 defeat:


Nothing quite like sitting with the enemy in the right-field bleachers.

More narrative to come later this weekend, but just understand that a major motif for me through the first five innings was whether Odalis Perez would give up four in 5 or five in 4.

Perez's final line: 5 innings, 4 R (all earned), 8 H, 3 BB, 0 K, 1 HR

And to think, we could've had Kyle Davies if not for a collapsed bridge.

UPDATE, 8/5/07: So much for Kyle Davies. And the rest of the weekend.

Second straight Royal wins AL Rookie of the Month

Congratulations, Billy Butler, for joining Brian Bannister as an AL Rookie of the Month winner. Only one other Royal, according to Megan Stock, has ever won the Rookie of the Month award, and now we've got two in two months. Alex, it's not too late to join the party. And after that, perhaps you, Tony Pena Jr.? Or Craig Brazell? Who's gonna step up and keep the streak going? Cause Luke Hochevar's a long bet at the moment.

The NL Rookie of the Month was none other than Ryan Braun, who batted .345 (38-110) with 11 home runs, 18 runs, 3 doubles and 4 stolen bases. Butler hit .341 and slugged .527 with six doubles, one triple, three home runs and 24 RBI.

(Photo courtesy of Natural Turf, official blog of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the soon-to-be Royals' Double A affiliate when the Wranglers move out of Wichita after this season.)

POSTSCRIPT: A KC Star story about Kyle Davies, with a very interesting nugget:

“Kyle is the guy we wanted,” Moore said. “We took the guy we felt was the very best alternative for us as opposed to taking prospects from down low. There were a lot of names reported. Some were accurate. Some were not.”

One that wasn’t, the Royals insist, is Seattle outfield prospect Wladimir Balentien, who profiles as the sort of mid-lineup power hitter they continue to covet. It’s a moot point; it seems likely the Royals would have taken Davies anyway.

No word on the other big-name prospects, unfortunately.

Ryan Braun and Tony Pena Jr. in Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated features not one but two Royals in this week's Scorecard SI Players section. Full story:

MISTAKEN IDENTITY
Are You Talkin' to Me ?
True tales of the similarly named


RYAN BRAUN / RYAN BRAUN
BREWERS THIRD BASEMAN / ROYALS RELIEVER

BOTH ARE a shade over six feet, 200-plus pounds and Caucasian, but, explains the Brewers Ryan Braun, "I'm much better looking." That didn't stop the printing of a baseball card with the Royals' Braun on the front and the Brewers' Braun on the back. K.C.'s Braun says fans will interweave their pasts. "[Someone will think] I went to Miami [Brewer Braun], transferred to UNLV [Royal Braun], was drafted in the first round [Brewer Braun], then became a pitcher in the minors [Royal Braun]," he says. "It's pretty cool -- bordering on science fiction." The Brewers' Rookie of the Year candidate Braun is hitting .350 with 18 homers, while his Royals' counterpart has a 7.88 ERA. Still, Milwaukee's Braun won't trash-talk about a potential on-field showdown with K.C.'s Braun. All he knows, he says, "is that Ryan Braun will win."


TONY PEÑA / TONY PEÑA JR.
DIAMONDBACKS RELIEVER / ROYALS SHORTSTOP

FORGIVE THE pitcher for being hesitant to discuss his name -- he's the guy who got in trouble for signing his 2002 D-Backs contract with his nephew's name. Then, he was Adriano Rosario, 17. Now, after returning to his native Dominican Republic to straighten things out, he's 25 with a 1.95 ERA. The 6' 1'', 220-pound righty is also "bigger than me," says the slimmer (6' 2'', 180 pounds) Peña Jr., son of the ex-big-league catcher and current Yankees coach. Yet the Royal who had just two homers in 400 career at bats, "hit a home run off [Peña] in winter ball. He throws 97, 98. I got lucky." The pair haven't met, but they've often been confused by fans, and Arizona's Peña recalls an autograph-seeker presenting him with a card of Kansas City's Peña. Did he again sign something under false pretenses? Says Peña: "No."

Hey, publicity wherever you can get it, I guess.

POSTSCRIPT: If you do a Google Image search for "Ryan Braun Brewers," you'll find a mug shot of him above the green-texted website sports.espn.go.com. Click on it and it'll lead you here. The Brewers Braun is still pictured at the top. Click on the picture again, however, and... voila! Royals Braun! It's magic.

Meeting Joe Posnanski, the best sports columnist in America

A cool story to share (because it's not like we have a baseball game to watch this evening): as IDWT readers know, I've long used the phrase "best sports columnist in America" as an appositive for mentions of Joe Posnanski, the best sports columnist in America. Well last night, I met him. The occasion was a Gelf Magazine Varsity Letters event in which Poz gave a knockout speech about The Soul of Baseball and Buck O'Neil. He recalled the red dress story, the Hall of Fame saga ("stunned" was a word repeated a couple times, along with "baffled") and his last encounter with Buck. My conversation with him was brief -- he was popular at the bar -- and I didn't think it was appropriate to mention this blog, but I got a book signed and chatted briefly about his blog. Also, from across the room, I heard him shriek, "It's Octavio Dotel!" I really couldn't tell you more about that, sadly.

It was sort of my Duane Kuiper moment. I began reading his work when I was 10, then picked up his columns semi-religiously through middle and high school. His work only got better over this period, each column one-upping the former. I remember, fairly vividly, his profiles on Roy Williams and Jacque Vaughn and the team that broke my heart; his story about Jake Porter of McDermott High -- the Jason McElwain story before Jason McElwain became J-Mac -- which eventually got picked up by ESPN (I think Tom Rinaldi); the profiles of Steve Palmero, Tony Pena, Priest Holmes and, relatively recently, Bo Jackson. He's been the Rick Reilly of Kansas City, only better, and more prolific. Did we mention better?

One of the questions he fielded from the audience was what it's like to work in a smaller market like Kansas City, as opposed to New York. He laughed at first, deflecting the implication that Kansas Citians are "smaller" than New Yorkers. Then he pointed out, among other things, that in Kansas City, his columns carry more weight than in New York. For instance, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post -- who was in attendance -- could write that A-Rod's a jerk ("Not that he'd do that"), and half a dozen other people will say the same thing, or the exact opposite, and no one voice will stand out. In Kansas City, however, if Posnanski wrote Zack Greinke was a jerk, Poz would be the most hated man in the city. "Even throwaway lines in the seventh or eighth paragraph will trigger a reaction," he said.

And now we come to the perfect example: this comment was posted to Poz's recent Buddy Bell column in the KC Star:

With all due respect to your fabulous writing, it is incorrect to refer to a record as "won-loss". It should be "won-lost".

You wouldn't say Buddy Bell won X-number of games and "loss" X-number of games. He "lost" X-number of games.

I'm surprised an editor didn't catch that mistake. Other than that, I love reading your column.

Only in Kansas City? I hope you're all as amused by this as I.

In conclusion, I met the best sports columnist in America.

Royal redemption in Metrodome

Twins officials contemplated canceling Wednesday's game, but were concerned that an influx of traffic into the area could impede rescue vehicles.

With that as the backdrop, the Royals completed a come-from-behind victory in the 10th when Alex Gordon, capping a 2-for-5 night, blasted a two-run homer to right-center. He now has eight on the year and is batting .243. Not bad, considering his season average stayed below .200 until June 14.

Overall, the game was highly entertaining, about as nice a three-hour diversion as one could have asked for -- well-pitched on both ends (Brian Bannister's last three starts: 21 innings, four earned runs), rallies for both sides, executed hit-and-runs, infield singles, double plays, plays at the plate and extra innings... but not too many extras as to bore the 24,880 who made it out.

Not all was perfect, however: Joey Gathright, recently recalled (to my approval), lost two balls in the lights, in the 2nd and 4th. The error in the 4th cost the Royals a run. For that, we'd like to paraphrase Chip Diller: Thank you Hanky Dome! May I have another?

What a terrible place to play baseball. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new stadium can't happen fast enough (it was scheduled for today, but postponed). The days of artificial turf and ash-colored roofs are over, unless you're the franchise in Tampa Bay, in which case you have many other problems.

Gathright made a running snag of a line drive to end the game, securing the save for new closer Joakim Soria, so all's forgiven.

Game tonight cancelled due to collapsed bridge

MLB.com:

Thursday's Twins-Royals afternoon game has been postponed in light of the tragic I-35W bridge collapse that took place in Minneapolis on Wednesday night.

The team has also postponed Thursday evening's groundbreaking ceremony for the new ballpark.

At about 6:05 p.m. CT on Wednesday, the four-lane I-35W bridge near the Metrodome collapsed into the Mississippi River. The collapse sent an estimated 50 vehicles into the water and onto land below, in what became a sea of destruction that included fire, smoke, injured people and rescuers.

One of the survivors noted that Minneapolis is a large city with a small-town feel, which gives everyone a sense of community. No doubt all parts of the community will be rallying together to recover from this tragedy, including the baseball team, which will take the field Friday at home against Cleveland (Sabathia vs. Santana... national TV, anyone?). In the meantime, the Twins blog Twinkie Town is observing 24 hours of silence.

[AP video]

Buddy Bell announces resignation, will finish season

Official story here.

Bell made the surprising announcement Wednesday afternoon at the Metrodome, where the Royals are playing the Twins.

He will continue to manage the club for the last two months of the season and then remain with the Royals as a special assistant to general manager Dayton Moore.

Quotes here, including from Dayton Moore, courtesy of the KC Star:

"It started last year when I got sick," said Bell, who underwent surgery in September to remove a cancerous growth in his throat.

"My priorities changed real quickly. Not seeing my grandkids became important. When I grew up, my dad wasn’t there. When my kids grew up, I wasn’t there. Now my grandkids are growing up, and I haven’t seen them."

...

"It's been a hard decision," Bell said, "and I wanted to wait until things were better. They're still not as good as they're going to be, but I wanted to wait until things were progressing the way I think they should -- and then see how I felt.

"And I still feel the same way."

They're echoes of Mike Hargrove in that.

Bell's a family man who does things like visit hospitals and welcomes kids into the clubhouse. It's easy to make fun of his losing record as a player and manager, but he's been nothing but a class act for this organization. I think we all knew, however, that Bell wasn't the long-term solution as manager. Now the Royals have two full months to find a replacement and start the next phase of their winning plan, while Bell gets to move into the front office. A win-win all around.

The folks at Fire Buddy Bell haven't broken this news yet. Not that it matters, as I assume they'll be shutting down operations shortly.

The Doom Dome of Royal Doomolition

Yes, the Metrodome can get exceedingly loud and the fans freakishly rabid with their Mr. Hankies, and pop-flys can get lost in the roof and looping singles can bounce over outfielders' heads, but does any of that really explain the Royals' struggles in Minnesota? Since 2004 they're 9-22 in the Hankydome, 1-3 this season after last night's loss, and it's gotten to the point where every time they play there I get this sinking feeling that a win just isn't coming. Why is that?

A quick recap of last night: Jorge De La Rosa got battered around in the 4th when newly untraded Torii Hunter homered to left, followed by a combination of three hits, two walks and two errors that allowed three more runs to score. The Royals tried fighting back -- they hit three solo home runs, including one by Jason Smith, who I sometimes forget is on the team because his name sounds too generic to belong to a baseball player (he should take some cues from Jhonny Peralta, Coco Crisp, the Wily Pena, Nook Logan or Evan Longoria, to name a few) -- but in the end came up two solo home runs short. And to think, some teams hit eight homers for the hell of it, when four would do. (I've said this before, but I'll say it again: what a ridiculous team, those Yankees.)

There are two ways to look at these next two games in the Battle Dome: either two more games to grit one's teeth and bear the pain, or two opportunities for redemption. Given that these are the 2007 Royals and not the 100-loss teams from years past, I'd bet on the latter.

Brian Bannister the Stopper (7-6, 3.42 ERA) takes on Boof Bonser (5-7, 4.72) tonight at 7 p.m. CT.

Final thoughts on the Davies-Dotel trade

Winslow Townson/AP

HIRAM KYLE DAVIES, welcome to the heartland.

I try my best to make this blog interesting, worthwhile and occasionally informative, but I don't fool myself here: whatever I do, it pales in comparison with Royals Review, which is the hub of the Kansas City Royals online community. Case in point: RR's trade coverage. This post and its three links within -- be sure to scroll through the highly informed comments -- are all one needs to understand both the Royals fan base and what makes Royals Review like to the lark at break of day arising from sullen earth, as Shakespeare wrote.

Of course, they're not the only Royals blog producing fine content. Going around the horn on trade fallout, I'm going to take a page from RR and divvy the reactions into categories.

CATEGORY 1: Here's what happened, and here's why you should be optimistic

• Royals Authority: "The question: Is Dayton Moore right one more time?"
• RTC Talk: "'He's Mexican tough..... which is really tough.'"
  

CATEGORY 2: Eh?

• Doolittle Brothers: "If previous GMs had made this deal, there might be some ranting and raving. But with Moore, you have to assume it’s a solid pickup."
• Royal Reflections: "Let's just hope he sees something that we don't regarding Davies."
• H.G. Miller Sports Blog: "'A right-handed version of Jorge De la Rosa.'"
  

CATEGORY 3: Dayton Moore was returning a favor to John Schuerholz

• Breaking 100: "Could it be that Dayton took this trade as a quid pro quo type of deal? After all, the Braves got next to nothing for Tony Pena, Jr. earlier this season. So, this is the reciprication [sic]: the Royals get next to nothing for Dotel."
• Kansas Royals Blog: "It looks to me like GM Drayton [sic] Moore was doing his old team a favor by making this trade."
  
  

CATEGORY 4: Rubbish. As in, everything under this category is pure rubbish

• Pitch Weekly: "According to what he's done so far, he has the stats and history to join the burnout likes of Dan Reichert, Jeff Austin, Chris George, Kyle Snyder, Jimmy Gobble and, of course, Zach Greinke."

The best word to describe the general reaction would be unenthused. Or maybe "tepid" or "unimpressed," since unenthused isn't a real word.

My reaction to all this reaction is to question exactly who was available and who wasn't. Surely the fan outrage -- what of it exists -- would be more restrained if it turns out, for instance, that Wladimir Balentien was never available, nor was All-Star Futures Game MVP Chin-Lung Hu.

My reaction to the trade itself: it was a good one. About as fair a trade as you could expect, especially at a time when GMs are all reluctant to move their blue-chip prospects. If Brian Cashman had a dollar for every time he rejected a proposal involving Phil Hughes -- and before him, Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang -- well... he'd have like 25 dollars. Octavio Dotel is an old rent-a-player who really hasn't been dominant this year. That Dayton Moore was able to pry a young, cheap pitcher who isn't eligible for salary arbitration until after next year and won't be a free agent until after 2011, who has three good pitches and a plus changeup, who projected, not long ago, to be a front-line starter for the Braves, should be, honestly, considered somewhat a steal. We won't be able to get a 100 percent accurate assessment on Davies until next year, but we should be seeing him pitch for the Royals real soon, and maybe afterwards, again, Dayton's critics will shut up.

Of course, like Doolittle, I too am a little concerned that Dayton's expertise of the Braves' farm system -- a little depleted now that they've sent half of it to Texas for Mark Teixeira -- might cause him to overlook prospects from other organizations who may have higher upside. Then again, I trust Dayton. Completely. And he knows better than anyone that starting pitchers need to be the cornerstone of any franchise, which is why he fixed his eyes on a starting pitcher -- potentially a really good one at that, better than Brian Bannister and Jorge De La Rosa, possibly better than Tyler Lumsden and Leo Nunez -- and went and got him. Isn't that why we respect him for nabbing Gil Meche, because he saw what he wanted and wouldn't stop at any length to get him? At the end of the day, a man has to look himself in the mirror and question whether he regrets making or not making the move he made or didn't make. And if Dayton Moore doesn't regret this trade -- I'm guessing right now he doesn't -- then I don't either. And I won't, because while this was a calculated gamble, as all trades are, it was a good one, in my opinion. Now all Davies has to do is prove us right.

POSTSCRIPT: Raise your hand if you noticed Pitch Weekly misspelled Zack Greinke, despite hyperlinking his name to www.ZACKgreinke.com.