I would smile too if my team were losing 19-4

Well, if TPJ took the mound, anyway. Solid commentary by the booth guys, too. [HT: Royally Speaking]



Seriously, batting .154, can we please convert him, permanently? I hear John Bale's on the DL.

At the All-Star break

Sometimes, there's not much else you can say except "I wish I'd been there." Check out ESPN's highlights of the Home Run Derby, in which Josh Hamilton hit 28 home runs in the first round, 20 more than the next guy.

Setting aside for the moment the thrill of the spectacle -- 13 consecutive home runs, then eight consecutive, causing the throng at Yankee Stadium to shout out his name -- Hamilton may be a guy genuinely worth rooting for. It's all been said before, I know, to the point of becoming cliche, but let me relay this little anecdote:

In St. Louis, I was standing in rightfield when a fan yelled, "My name is Josh Hamilton, and I'm a drug addict!" I turned around and looked at him with my palms raised to the sky. "Tell me something I don't know, dude," I said. The whole section started laughing and cheering, and the heckler turned to them and said, "Did you hear that? He's my new favorite player." They cheered me from that point on.

How many players would do something like that?

As for the Royals, they keep chugging along: a good spell here, a bad spell there, resulting in a fourth place standing in the Central. I miss the rhythms of baseball, how we can track the days by it, how insanely thrilling and aberrational it seems when there's true movement in the standings, like some seismic geographic change which hitherto had run parallel with our timeline is now creeping towards a bisection. Three teams separate the Royals from the top, but that doesn't mean we can't keep looking up.

We'll leave off with the video of David DeJesus's recent walk-off home run -- because it's just that awesome -- and the celebration afterwards. Ask yourself: why is his belt unbuckled when he comes out of the mob?

At least nothing like this happened.

A note for the Tampa Bay Rays

We're sorry we said, last year, you were just the salve needed for the weekend, and we're sorry we hated on Tropicana Field. (We're sorry for the picture as well.)

Now, will you please lose?

Thanks.

Mike Aviles needs your vote

Evan Longoria put up some good numbers last week, but he doesn't play for the Royals. Our new everyday shortstop/second baseman, on the other hand...

Gillette and MLB invite you to cast your vote for the June Rookie of the Month Award presented by Gillette.

By entering you will automatically be entered for a chance to win a trip to the 2008 World Series. Fill out the form below and cast your vote now!

A Royal won was selected AL Rookie of the Month three times last season, which is amazing considering the season's only six months long. Let's keep the tradition going.

Vote now!

And while we're at it, it's worth mentioning that Jose Guillen, he of the recently apologized, is "one of six nominees for the Major League Baseball Clutch Performer of the Month for June, presented by Pepsi." So again, that's Mike Aviles, June Rookie of the Month presented by Gillette, and Jose Guillen, June Clutch Performer of the Month presented by Pepsi. Don't say baseball doesn't know how to go for the extra buck.

POSTSCRIPT: Happy Fourth of July.

POSTSCRIPT 2: The future?

UPDATE: Apparently the Fourth of July is celebrated on July 4. My bad.

Wait, the what calmly retired who?

"Once they had the lead, of course, the Royals handed the axe to Joakim Soria, and the Mexicutioner calmly lopped off the the heads of All Who Oppose the Righteous World and All That's Good."

Actual sentence: "Once they had the lead, of course, the Royals handed the game to Joakim Soria, and the Mexicutioner calmly retired three straight hitters for his 22nd save in 23 opportunities."

--Bob Dutton, KC Star

"Senor Smoke" isn't sticking. Is "Mexicutioner" new, or did I miss something?

Sort of like how "biweekly" has two meanings, the term Mexicutioner, it might interest you to know, also has dual -- and opposite -- definitions. From Urban Dictionary:

1. One who is Mexican, and executes.

2. A person, who willingly, destroys Mexicans at will.

Also, there's the photo to the right, which was the first result that popped up from a Flickr search for "Mexicutioner." I love the Internet.

And comeback wins -- down 5-1, then 5-3 in the top of the 9th, on an 0-2 count.... I love those, too.

Fallbeil!

Winning ways continue

Just realized the KC Star's Jeffrey Flanagan has a blog, and that recently he had the occasion to ask, "Dayton Moore a blogger?"

"Are you kidding?" Moore said, laughing. "You ever see me try to type? It'd take an hour to type one sentence."

Well, that settles that.

Speaking of Moore, though, Sam Mellinger of the better-established Ball Star blog analyzes our heroic GM's transactions. Part 1 here. And as long as we're talking transactions on this, the day the Royals go for win No. 11 out of 12, Rangers Fan had this to say about GMDM's recent acquisition of former Rangers pitcher Robinson Tejeda:

I'm a big fan of that pickup for you guys. I have strong opinions on Tejeda.

We can only guess those strong opinions involve peanut butter and hating Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Finally, shout it loud: NL is no match for Royals.

We knew this was coming

A winning stretch!

It's been so noteworthy that Yahoo Sports put the Royals on its main-page sidebar, calling them the "surging" Royals. Eight wins in nine games, 10-3 versus the NL, that'll get you a little bit of attention.

But just a question for Brian Bannister, who hasn't lost since May 22 -- what's up with this quote?

“I like walks about as much as I like high gas prices.”

Gas prices should be raised, and the sooner the better. In a nonrenewable-energy dependent society, the more incentives to guzzle less, the better. If you think America's gas prices are "bad," try taking a spin around Europe. Or, for that matter, China, which just decided to raise its gas prices to discourage driving/polluting. And if you need more reasons for raising the gas price, read this Freakonomics blog entry.

So in conclusion: Royals rule. Let's keep these good times rolling.

POSTSCRIPT: Cardinals suck.

Anyone like me ever get Milton Bradley and Jose Guillen confused sometimes?

Big Donkeys beat me to this, but since I'm not getting any actual baseball games, these are the only sort of stories that pique my interest (other than Eric Hosmer and using Tomko/Yabuta instead of Ramirez/Soria )... via ESPN:

Bradley never reached [Ryan] Lefebvre, although he was within about 20 feet of him in the TV booth before being led back down to the clubhouse.

"There was no incident," Daniels said.

Upon returning to the clubhouse, Bradley screamed at teammates and broke down in tears.

"I'm tired of people bringing me down," Bradley said. "It wears on you. I love you guys, all you guys. I'm strong, but I'm not that strong. All I want to do is play baseball and make a better life for my kid than I had."

What a weird incident. Can you imagine if you were the radio announcers in that small booth listening to the footsteps (and curses) of an angry, angry man bounding up the stairs? I'm not sure what Lefebvre said, but give him credit: he didn't back off.

"We weren't tearing up Milton Bradley. I told [Washington and Daniels] this wasn't a Milton Bradley rip session, but just based on the pictures we've seen in this series of him walking to the dugout all the way to right field, dropping his bat, making gestures to the fans in right field and above the dugout and taunting them. He's the only person in baseball I know that does that type of stuff."

Some say the White Sox and Mariners reacted well to their manager's respective blow-ups. Maybe the Royals can use this somehow? Is that too much to ask from a radio announcer?

POSTSCRIPT: In my desperate attempt to get Rangers Fan to guest post, I got him to say this: "We care now! We're decent. How about how your bullpen CHOKED. That's the storyline I take from that game." You know which game.

Guess who's a Royals fan?

American Idol winner David Cook, that's who.

From an interview posted on ESPN The Magazine's website:

You bartended in Oklahoma, were born in Texas, raised in Missouri and now you're in L.A. Who do you cheer for?
I spent a majority of my life in Kansas City, so I am a Chiefs and Royals guy. I used to work for the Royals for like five years in the suites department and in the stadium club restaurant. The Royals allowed me to make some money, which was nice. With the Chiefs, you can't live in Kansas City and not like the Chiefs. To go catch a game at Arrowhead is a pretty great experience. I haven't had the chance to go to games anywhere else, but, from what I'm told, I don't really need to.

You haven't been to a game anywhere but K.C.?
Well, I've been to a couple games out here in L.A. with the Dodgers. And actually, I think the Royals just traded Angel Berroa to the Dodgers.

Think it's a good trade?
You know it depends. At the end of the day I certainly enjoyed Berroa when he played for the Royals. He won the Rookie of the Year award in '04 or '03 [Ed.'s Note: He was ROY in 2003, beating out the likes of Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira.] I thought he was a great contributor to the Royals while he was there.

What's the craziest thing that ever happened at Royal's stadium when you were there?
Besides them having a winning record that one season? The craziest thing for me was getting to throw the first pitch. I was joking around all day saying, "I'm gonna shake 'em up and throw a curve ball." Then I get in the dugout and a couple of the players are like, "Aw man, you got to short-hop him." Brett Tomko was the guy who was catching. We're getting ready to go out on to the field and Tomko tells me, "Hey, just so you know, there was a celebrity that came through and he threw out the first pitch and he short-hopped it and they booed him off the field." And so then I started freaking out, I don't want to get booed of the field! So I just threw a four-seam fastball and barely made it there. I almost threw it in the dirt and then Brett Tomko comes up to me and goes, "Great slider." It wasn't a slider, but I didn't have the heart to tell him.

Knowing Berroa got traded... the winning season crack... Brett Tomko story... this guy's legit!

Watching the Royals from Beijing

Kro's Nest is one of the few decent pizza places in Beijing, nestled next to an Outback Steakhouse next to the Beijing Workers' Stadium.

It was there that I caught two Mike Aviles doubles and watched Kyle Davies and the Royals beat the Yankees 2-1.




No matter how far you get from home, it's nice to carry a part of home with you. Even on tape delay.