Odie's season is over

First off, we would never celebrate the end of any player's season due to injury. And in case you haven't heard, Odalis Perez's season is over, officially, due to a knee injury that's had him on the DL since August 19.

But imagine a parallel universe in which one has to pay $1.5 to Odalis Perez to be rid of his 5.57 ERA. Then imagine that it's not a parallel universe at all, but this one.

Yup, Perez has a $1.5 million buyout option on a contract that would pay him $9 mil next year. I think this might be the easiest decision Dayton has had in two years.

We don't feel too bad for the guy.

Look at how youthful Perez looks in that picture, a career's worth of cheers and happiness still fully ahead of him. Then, somewhere along the way, he lowered his standards so that a five-inning, four-run outing was considered good in his book, started bitching about lack of recognition for his charity, and lost all his fans, fame and fortune. We all lose our charms in the end, I suppose. Ahem.

"I'm very happy with the way I was treated here by everybody. They're great people," Perez said as he packed for the Dominican Republic.

It was nice knowing you, OP.

The best answer to anger is silence

In the same vein as the Ten Great Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, I'm taking a vow of silence until the Royals win again.

You'll hear from me soon, I bet. Until then, Royals Review has something to occupy your time, and of course, Royals Authority.

Kindly, that's quite enough

To this man:

Dick Whipple/AP

At the risk of sounding like a sad, stammering supplicant, we'll say it anyway: stop it-it-it. Please. We liked you a lot better when you were being called a Yankee Doodle Randy.

The story of Joba Chamberlain

If it's your policy to tune out everything Yankee, you've been missing the intriguing Saga of Joba, one of the best prospects in baseball. Never mind the Joba Rules, or the "relaxing" of them, which may result in the Royals getting a second helping of the kid on Sunday: in 11 appearances -- 14 1/3 innings -- Chamberlain has absolutely dominated, treating seasoned Major Leaguers like string puppets, baffling them with an electric fastball, a nasty breaking ball and control beyond his years. He's struck out 18 while allowing just seven hits and four walks. Billy Butler last night came about as close as anyone to driving in a run off Joba when he jerked a pitch to the left-center warning track. That's right, Joba's yet to allow a run.

If that's not enough, there's the story of his father, Harlan, who grew up on an Indian reservation but spent a good part of his childhood -- six years, five months and 11 days -- in the hospital battling polio. He and Joba, in Lincoln, Nebraska -- before Joba went off to college at Nebraska and teamed with Alex Gordon to lead the Cornhuskers to the College World Series -- often played catch, one while confined to a scooter, the other throwing as hard as he could until the the receiver could stand it no longer, his hand stung so much. "If it wasn't blowin' or a million degrees below zero, we were out there," Harlan Chamberlain says in this nicely done NY Daily News feature.

Harlan drove up from Lincoln with family and friends to watch his son's team last night, and when Joba entered the game, tears streamed freely down his face. He didn't wipe them. We can only imagine what the son was thinking on the mound, what anxieties. Did he know there was anyone else in the stadium? Did he hear any of the 27,000-plus when the most important person was the one who was silent, quietly weeping somewhere on the edge of the lower concourse?

Gary Smith of Sports Illustrated is writing a feature about the Chamberlains, this I found out one day when Michael Kay of the YES Network said off-handedly that Smith has been hanging around the Yankees dugout a lot recently. Writes Aaron McFarling of the Roanoke Times blog: "If Smith -- one of the most talented feature writers in the business -- profiles you, you've either killed yourself, killed someone else or killed your competition. With Joba, I'm guessing it's the latter."

I can't wait to read it. And when the story does come out -- I imagine among people in the know in New York, this is one of Smith's more anticipated pieces -- if you don't already, you will know.

POSTSCRIPT: From MLB.com:

"Everyone knows that he is a special kid and he is going to do a lot of things here in the future," Chamberlain said of Gordon. "Hopefully in the seventh or eighth, it gets close and I get to face [him]."

"I called him last night and told him that if he faces me, he has to throw me a first-pitch fastball," Gordon said with a smile. "I was the older guy at Nebraska, so he has to follow my rules."

Alex Gordon did face Joba in the bottom of the 8th. He singled cleanly to left.

POSTSCRIPT 2: On a lighter note, Harlan Chamberlain kind of looks like a cross between two Office Space characters: Tom Smykowski, the guy who tries committing suicide in his garage, and Milton Waddems, who was infatuated with a red stapler. Check the Daily News feature for a photo. Am I right?

Ankiel, Glaus, HGH, coin flips and two Idaho Falls rookies

These days, you don't appear out of corn in the middle of August, belt nine home runs in 81 at-bats, hit .358, slug .765 and spark an improbable resurgence out of a team left for dead just a month earlier without raising suspicion. It was baseball's version of the public secret for weeks before the New York Daily News brought it into the open yesterday, reporting that Ankiel apparently received shipments of HGH. Troy Glaus was also implicated.

I'll reserve my comments for a later time, except to say that I wonder how Tony La Russa's enjoyed this season.

***

Is this really necessary?

***

Mike Moustakas finished his brief season at Idaho Falls with a .314 batting average and nine RBIs in 35 at-bats. KC's No. 5 pick, Adrian Ortiz, batted .324. With so many failed prospects in the past, maybe the Royals scored (at least) two winners in this year's draft. We can always hope.

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Royals-Yankees... NOW.

UPDATE, 9/8: Ankiel: "I've been through a lot emotionally and physically. There are doctor-patient privileges, and I hope you guys respect those privileges."

Wow. "Doctor-patient privileges," therefore I will not answer your question (paraphrased from Pedro Gomez), "So, just to be clear, you took HGH, right?"

Doctor-patient privileges. I can't believe athletes haven't used this defense sooner.

Why can't the Kansas City Royals own A-Rod?

It's a rhetorical question. If I were a Yankees blogger, here's what I would write:

Sometimes we wonder how the other half lives. Imagine you're a Kansan, settling in on Granma Ruth's bequeathed rocking chair in front of your dustless RCA CTC-5 after an honest day's work, rubbing the burn out of your wheat-stained hands and feeling conspicuously aware of a life passing by, when the man on the tube snaps you into a different reality -- his reality, which he creates with singularities so heavy they pull the whole of people in alternate realites into it, sucking first their breaths and then their senses, leaving them as Derek Jeter was on the top dugout step, staring aghast at the man for whom this world's reality holds no dominion, rendering else null and void. And then you, citizen of the Earth, Kansan by birth, would look upon your hands and not see the passing of your humble life but the potential contained within every hand and possibly wonder, Are these the hands of God? Are these the hands that lift New York upon empyreal shoulders? Why can't the Kansas City Royals own A-Rod? Can any entity, any earth?

He hit two home runs in the 7th inning yesterday. He and the Yankees come to town tomorrow for a three-game set.

POSTSCRIPT: Absolutely ridiculous comeback -- six runs in two innings, including three in the 9th after two were out -- that featured three bloop singles to the outfield, what can only be described as a "bloop hit" in the infield, a chopper high off home plate with two outs in the 9th, then a Sid Beam-like moment for the win. Find the highlights on ESPN.com if you can. There's a Philadelphia Inquirer column titled, "This one never should have gotten away." Personally, I think, "WHAT THE &$%#???" would have worked better. Maybe this is why I'm not an editor.

Three notable stories from MLB.com

BANNISTER WINS ROOKIE OF MONTH HONOR, by Leslie Parker

Lead: For the third month in a row, the Royals continued their dominance of the American League Rookie of the Month award with Brian Bannister picking up the award for the second time this season.

Quotable: "He's somewhat of a rookie," manager Buddy Bell said, "but since I've been managing, he's the best pitcher I've been around."

Notable: The 26-year-old compiled a 2.90 ERA over 40 1/3 innings. He struck out 16 and walked nine.

On Aug. 17 against the A's, Bannister pitched a two-run, four-hit complete game, fueling the talk of a possible AL Rookie of the Year Award.

TALE OF TWO CALLUPS, by Conor Nicholl

Lead: Luke Hochevar's and Craig Brazell's lockers stood on one side of the visitors' clubhouse at Rangers Ballpark, near a big-screen TV. The two players, each with different expectations entering the season, were both smiling.

Quotable: "There wasn't that much I could do except get that [40th] home run. I guess throw a couple more walks in there and maybe a few more RBIs," [Brazell] said. "I think it's just the matter of me getting the opportunity for me getting a chance to play every day again. In '05, I didn't get to play every day and in '06, I didn't get a chance to play the first month and a half every day. Throughout the season, it was off and on.

Notable: For Hochevar, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft and one of the best prospects in baseball, Tuesday marked his first time in the Major Leagues after a season of constant changes.

"I have been dreaming about this ever since I was a little kid," he said.

For Brazell, the call up was the culmination of the greatest season "by far" in his career. For the first time in several years, Brazell saw consistent playing time.

He responded with a .308/.339/.612 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) line at Triple-A Omaha and hit a Minor League-leading 39 homers at two levels.

SWEENEY HAS IMPACT ON LIFE IN KC, by Conor Nicholl

Lead: Royals captain Mike Sweeney and his wife, Shara, have helped thousands of people throughout the past 10 years. This year, they presented a new award and most importantly, helped save a life.

Quotable: "[The award] has a heartbeat." --Sweeney, Royals' nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award

POSTSCRIPT: Our hero's chat.

A developing game situation...

Rangers manager Ron Washington is racked by indecision. Racked. It's literally making his face muscles twitch and skin creep.

The situation: His starter, Kevin Millwood, handed a 6-1 lead, gave up five unanswered runs in the 4th and 5th and was pulled. Then his team regained the lead, 8-6, but reliever Frank Francisco has allowed two runners on in the 8th while recording just one out (David DeJesus earned his Major League-leading 18th HBP).

Washington is currenly squirming over whether to bring in lefty Bill White, who has never made a Major League appearance after eight years in the minors. He's 28 and has waited eight years for this...

What's Washington going to do?
White, who the FSN Southwest announcers have compared to Jimmy Morris, Dennis Quaid's character in The Rookie, is loose in the pen and ready, but Washington just handed the ball to Joakim Benoit. This is a mistake. I know the game's close, but White has waited eight years for his debut, and his parents drove up to Arlington to see this game -- God forbid any of you have to drive to Arlington to watch the Rangers, especially on a rainy day with about a 900-person crowd dwindling to three dozen throughout the night -- and you think he's, what, nervous? I think he's ready...
Ross Gload: holy crap!

Lunging for first, his foot slipped off the bag and you can probably guessed what happened next. Scary stuff.Hoping for extra innings. We want Bill White!
11:42 p.m.: Well, no Bill White, but the Royals made another rally in the 9th, coming one run short when Tony Pena Jr. grounded into a fielder's choice to second with the tying run in scoring position.

Now, about why Tony Pena Jr. was at the plate and not, say, 39-HR-man Craig Brazell...

The Zack Greinke Scoreless Innings Streak Watch

The FSN Southwest announcer dropped Brandon Webb's name when discussing Zack Greinke yesterday, as did Rangers Fan a few hours later. And why not? Greinke hasn't given up a run since July 24 against the Yankees and has tossed 19 straight scoreless innings. He was very good in Texas last night, and if you need proof, Royals Authority's got you covered.

23 more innings to match Webb's streak! It's not like Webb's still working on it, so Greinke's really only competing against himself. And his opponent. (Next up: the Yankees.)

Things Brian Bannister is really good at (pt. 2): photography

Brian Bannister took those photos, we think/are pretty sure, because they can be found on his website, Beauty and Sport, in which the bio states matter-of-factly: "Photographer Brian Bannister was born in Scottsdale, Arizona and introduced to the world of professional sports at an early age. Traveling with his father Floyd, a Major League Baseball player for 15 years, Brian experienced the world through the life of a professional athlete." It makes no mention that "Brian" is now immersed in the world of professional athletes, that he is, in no uncertain terms, somewhat of a skilled professional athlete himself.

The website, rather mundanely, feeds into the site of a photography studio Bannister opened called Loft 19. A New York Times article from February 2006, when Bannister was still a Met, explains how the Royals pitcher came to his second vocation:

At 24, Bannister, one of the Mets' top pitching prospects, owns more cameras (six) than pitches (four). He invested his $100,000 signing bonus in opening a 9,000-square-foot studio in Phoenix called Loft 19 and said he spent most of his free time during the season retouching photographs or scouring Internet forums about photography.

He grew up in Phoenix and chose to attend the University of Southern California because of its fine-arts program, then walked on to the baseball team. He has taught himself Web-site coding and a cut fastball, Adobe Photoshop and a changeup, and in 2003 assisted the Mets' team photographer, Marc Levine, in the Shea Stadium photo pit. After Friday's workouts here, Bannister spotted Carlos Serrao, a prominent photographer he knows from shoots at Loft 19, and they chatted for a few hours.

On Bannister's Web site, beautyandsport.com, there is no mention of his day job in his 366-word biography. The closest he gets to revealing any association with baseball is in the second sentence, when he allows that he is the son of Floyd Bannister, a former All-Star pitcher who won 134 games over 15 major league seasons.

"I don't want to have an edge because of anything I've done in baseball," Bannister said. "I want to be compared with any other photographer out there on the merit of my work."

We wish we could say something here about the similarities between baseball and photography, perhaps drop a lesson on electromagnetic energy and particle physics as it relates to the finer points of ERA-plus, but as the man said so himself, the two worlds are best kept separate. So instead, we'll leave you with Bannister's profile words, with highlighted descriptors that apply to his budding baseball career:

Constantly evolving, Brian's work is a combination of his background in art and sports. His clean, vibrant style, trademarked by a cinematic use of light and a dynamic energy, strives to reveal the two themes that are his passion: classic beauty and pure sport. His perspective and technique remain perpetually fresh through the influence of the many great photographers that make Loft 19 Studios their temporary home.