Friday, March 31, 2017

Our 2017 Schedule

Here's the set for this summer:

April 15 Saturday 6:15 Angels Reusable tote bag
April 30 Sunday 1:15 Twins Boy Scout Day
May 3 Wednesday 7:15 White Sox
May 5 Friday 7:15 Cleveland Zubazpalooza
May 16 Tuesday 7:15 Yankees T-shirt Tuesday
May 31 Wednesday 7:15 Tigers
June 3 Saturday 1:15 Cleveland Bobblehead (Alex Gordon)
June 5 Monday 7:15 Astros
June 25 Sunday 1:15 Blue Jays Girl Scout Day
July 16 Sunday 1:15 Rangers Oklahoma City Thunder Day
July 18 Tuesday 7:15 Tigers Game of Thrones Night
July 22 Saturday 6:15 White Sox Bobblehead (Eric Hosmer), Transplant Awareness
August 3 Thursday 7:15 Mariners Library Night
August 7 Monday 7:15 Cardinals
August 18 Friday 7:15 Cleveland KU Night
August 29 Tuesday 7:15 Rays
September 7 Thursday 7:15 Twins
September 11 Monday 7:15 White Sox Armed Forces Night
September 27 Wednesday 7:15 Tigers
September 29 Friday 7:15 Diamondbacks Futures Night

Monday, March 21, 2016

Our 2016 Games

Sorry I didn’t get this posted earlier.

Mets - Sunday, April 3, 7:37 - Opening Night - magnetic schedule

Mets - Tuesday, April 5, 3:15 - Ring ceremony

Orioles - Friday, April 22, 7:15

Atlanta - Friday, May 13, 7:15 - Colon Cancer Awareness Night (shudder!)

Red Sox - Tuesday, May 17, 7:15

White Sox - Thursday, May 26, 7:15 - Buck night

Rays - Monday, May 30, 7:15 - Armed Forces Night

Cleveland - Wednesday, June 15, 7:15

Tigers - Sunday, June 19, 1:15 - Spatula (no kidding)

Astros - Saturday, June 25, 6:15 - Escobar bobblehead - Viva Los Reales

Mariners - Saturday, July 9, 3:15 - Faith and Family Day

Rangers - Sunday, July 24, 1:15 - Wade Davis bobblehead

Angels - Tuesday, July 26, 7:15

Blue Jays - Friday, August 5, 7:15

White Sox - Wednesday, August 10, 7:15

Twins - Thursday, August 18, 7:15 - Buck Night

Evil Empire - Monday, August 29, 7:15

Athletics - Monday, September 12, 6:15

White Sox - Sunday, September 18, 1:15 - Star Wars Day

Twins - Tuesday, September 27, 6:15

Cleveland - Saturday, October 1, 3:15 - Mittens

Friday, October 23, 2015

ALCS Game Six

I guess I can’t start all of these with “Wow, what a game!” But wow, what a game!

There’s nothing like a narrow lead to keep the crowd in the game, and the Royals jumped off to one early. Solo shots from Ben Zobrist in the first and Mike Moustakas in the second put us on the board, and then the game settled in to a pitching duel.

The Blue Jays were having no luck against Yordano Ventura other than a one-run homer by Jose Bautista. Ah, but then it was Bautista again in the top of the eighth with a two-run blast that tied the game. Suddenly the insurance run we scored the previous inning loomed large. Fortunately at that point Ned Yost opted to stop ditzing around with the likes of Ryan Madsen and go directly to Wade Davis.

That of course put the game back in our hands in the bottom of the inning. Lorenzo Cain drew a lead-off walk, and Eric Hosmer came to the plate.

And here’s where things got good. Hosmer hit a looping single to right, and Cain was off running. Thanks to some careful observation, Mike Jirschle knew that in such situations Bautista tended to throw to the shortstop covering second rather than to the cut-off man. So when Cain came barreling around second and headed to third, the coach waved him on through.

The well-informed gamble paid off. The throw to the plate was late, and we were one run up. Of course with Davis back on the mound in the top of the ninth, the slim lead held up.

We were headed to the World Series.

For me at least this was the most overwhelming moment since the wild card win last year. I honestly didn’t think we’d ever make it this far. We seemed far more like the sort of team that would thrive in the regular season and then fail in a short series in October. Especially after our awful slump in September, we didn’t feel like the scrappy underdogs who’d best the big market teams and emerge victorious.

We do now.


BLUE JAYS (3) AT ROYALS (4)

BLUE JAYS            AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Ben Revere            5  1  2  0  Alcides Escobar       4  0  1  0  
Josh Donaldson        5  0  0  0  Ben Zobrist           3  1  1  1  
Jose Bautista         4  2  2  3  Lorenzo Cain          3  1  1  0  
Edwin Encarnacion     3  0  1  0  Eric Hosmer           4  0  1  1  
Chris Colabello       4  0  1  0  Kendrys Morales       4  0  1  0  
Troy Tulowitzki       4  0  0  0  Mike Moustakas        4  2  2  1  
Russell Martin        3  0  1  0  Salvador Perez        4  0  0  0  
Kevin Pillar          2  0  0  0  Alex Gordon           3  0  0  0  
Ryan Goins            3  0  0  0  Alex Rios             3  0  2  1  
 Dioner Navarro       1  0  0  0                                    
TOTALS               34  3  7  3  TOTALS               32  4  9  4

BLUE JAYS                     000 100 020 -- 3  
ROYALS                        110 000 11x -- 4  

LOB--BLUE JAYS 8, ROYALS 6. 2B--Edwin Encarnacion, Ben
Revere. HR--Jose Bautista (2), Ben Zobrist, Mike Moustakas.
SB--Kevin Pillar, Dalton Pompey (2), Alex Rios.

 BLUE JAYS                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
David Price                    6.67    5    3    3    1    8    2
Aaron Sanchez                  0.33    2    0    0    0    0    0
Roberto Osuna                  1.00    2    1    1    1    0    0
 ROYALS                     
Yordano Ventura                5.33    4    1    1    2    5    1
Kelvin Herrera                 1.67    0    0    0    0    2    0
Ryan Madson                    0.33    2    2    2    1    1    1
Wade Davis                     1.67    1    0    0    1    3    0

WP--Wade Davis. SO--Russell Martin, Chris Colabello, Dioner
Navarro, Troy Tulowitzki (2), Josh Donaldson (2), Ben Revere
(2), Ryan Goins (2), Kendrys Morales, Alex Gordon (2),
Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez
(2). BB--Russell Martin, Edwin Encarnacion, Kevin Pillar
(2), Ben Zobrist, Lorenzo Cain.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

ALCS Game Two

Going into the series with Toronto, it seemed not unlikely that we’d see some friction. The two teams butted heads in early August, and then the Blue Jays really got into it – including two bench-clearing altercations in one hour-long inning – while putting the Rangers away. The first game of the ALCS looked clean (at least from where we were sitting), but this one got a little noisy. Jose Bautista was especially bad, faking a toss into the stands and then later badmouthing a teammate for a bad play that was at least partially his own fault.

Still, his frustration – if not its expression – was understandable. Starter David Price threw six innings of excellent baseball. He gave up a first-pitch-of-the-game single to Alcides Escobar, but after that it was 18 straight outs. Behind him, the Jays scored one in the third and two in the sixth. It wasn’t a commanding lead, but it was starting to look like it might hold up.

It looked like our dismal luck would continue when Ben Zobrist led off the seventh with a pop-up to shallow right. But when Bautista and Ryan Goins both looked like they might come up short, the crowd noise picked up. Apparently it was enough to disrupt the “I got it” shouts they needed to complete the play. The ball dropped between them – one of Joe Morgan’s “team errors” – and Zobrist was safe at first.

Four singles and a double later, we’d scored five runs and taken a lead we’d hold until the end of the game. More station-to-station hitting tacked on another run in the bottom of the next inning, but it was just insurance. Our bullpen shut the Jays down, and we found ourselves headed to Toronto with a two-to-nothing lead in the series.

This afternoon the Royals did what they’ve been doing best. We’ve got the new trick of the late inning comeback combined with the old trick of ace relievers holding our leads. If I had any hair to raise, games like this would be a hair-raising experience. But if that’s how we win games, so be it.


BLUE JAYS (3) AT ROYALS (6)

BLUE JAYS            AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Ben Revere            5  0  0  0  Alcides Escobar       4  0  1  0  
Josh Donaldson        5  1  1  0  Ben Zobrist           4  1  1  0  
Jose Bautista         4  1  0  0  Lorenzo Cain          3  1  1  0  
Edwin Encarnacion     4  0  2  1  Eric Hosmer           3  2  1  1  
Chris Colabello       4  0  2  0  Kendrys Morales       3  0  0  1  
Troy Tulowitzki       4  0  2  1  Mike Moustakas        4  1  2  2  
Russell Martin        3  0  0  0  Salvador Perez        4  0  0  0  
Kevin Pillar          4  1  2  0  Alex Gordon           3  1  1  1  
Ryan Goins            3  0  1  1  Alex Rios             3  0  1  1  
 Cliff Pennington     0  0  0  0                                    
TOTALS               36  3 10  3  TOTALS               31  6  8  6

BLUE JAYS                     001 002 000 -- 3  
ROYALS                        000 000 51x -- 6  

LOB--BLUE JAYS 9, ROYALS 4. 2B--Chris Colabello, Troy
Tulowitzki, Ryan Goins, Kevin Pillar, Alex Gordon.

 BLUE JAYS                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
David Price                    6.67    6    5    5    0    8    0
Aaron Sanchez                  0.67    1    0    0    1    0    0
Aaron Loup                     0.33    1    1    1    2    0    0
Mark Lowe                      0.33    0    0    0    0    0    0
 ROYALS                     
Yordano Ventura                5.33    8    3    3    2    6    0
Luke Hochevar                  0.67    0    0    0    0    0    0
Danny Duffy                    1.00    0    0    0    0    1    0
Kelvin Herrera                 1.00    1    0    0    0    2    0
Wade Davis                     1.00    1    0    0    1    2    0

SO--Jose Bautista, Russell Martin, Chris Colabello, Troy
Tulowitzki, Edwin Encarnacion (2), Josh Donaldson (2), Ben
Revere (2), Ryan Goins, Kendrys Morales, Alex Rios, Ben
Zobrist, Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer (2),
Salvador Perez. BB--Jose Bautista, Russell Martin, Cliff
Pennington, Kendrys Morales, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer.

Friday, October 16, 2015

ALCS Game One

If you told me two years ago that I’d see the Royals end up on the winning side of a shut-out in the American League Championship Series, I would have looked at you like you had lobsters crawling out of your ears. For that matter, if you told me the same thing two weeks ago I still would have treated you to some serious side eye.

And yet here it was. The Blue Jays got some hits and walks here and there, but they never managed to string enough of them together to come around and score. For our part, doubles were the name of the game. Salvador Perez hit a single shot over the wall in the fourth, but otherwise the strategy was to get runners on and then double them in. It put five runs on the board, which proved to be enough.

It was a well-played game and we finished on top. What more could any fan ask from the playoffs?


BLUE JAYS (0) AT ROYALS (5)

BLUE JAYS            AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Ben Revere            4  0  0  0  Alcides Escobar       3  2  2  1  
Josh Donaldson        3  0  1  0  Ben Zobrist           4  1  1  0  
Jose Bautista         1  0  0  0  Lorenzo Cain          4  0  1  1  
Edwin Encarnacion     3  0  0  0  Eric Hosmer           4  0  1  1  
 Justin Smoak         1  0  0  0  Kendrys Morales       3  0  1  1  
Chris Colabello       4  0  1  0  Mike Moustakas        4  0  0  0  
Troy Tulowitzki       4  0  0  0  Salvador Perez        3  1  1  1  
Dioner Navarro        4  0  0  0  Alex Gordon           3  1  1  0  
Kevin Pillar          3  0  0  0  Alex Rios             3  0  0  0  
Ryan Goins            3  0  1  0                                    
TOTALS               30  0  3  0  TOTALS               31  5  8  5

BLUE JAYS                     000 000 000 -- 0  
ROYALS                        002 100 02x -- 5  

LOB--BLUE JAYS 9, ROYALS 4. ERR--Josh Donaldson, Mike
Moustakas. 2B--Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar (2), Eric
Hosmer. HR--Salvador Perez. HBP--Alcides Escobar.
SACF--Kendrys Morales. SACB--Ryan Goins. SB--Lorenzo Cain.

 BLUE JAYS                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Marco Estrada                  5.33    6    3    3    0    6    1
Aaron Loup                     0.67    0    0    0    0    0    0
Mark Lowe                      1.00    0    0    0    0    1    0
LaTroy Hawkins                 1.00    2    2    2    0    0    0
 ROYALS                     
Edinson Volquez                6.00    2    0    0    4    5    0
Kelvin Herrera                 1.00    0    0    0    0    2    0
Ryan Madson                    1.00    1    0    0    1    0    0
Luke Hochevar                  1.00    0    0    0    0    0    0

SO--Jose Bautista, Dioner Navarro, Troy Tulowitzki (2),
Edwin Encarnacion, Ben Revere, Ryan Goins, Kendrys Morales
(2), Alex Rios (2), Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas (2).
BB--Jose Bautista (3), Josh Donaldson, Kevin Pillar.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

ALDS Game Five

Ah, now that's a good deal more like it. This one felt like the wild card game felt last year, the same craziness on the field and in the stands.

The game got off to a mixed start. Johnny Cueto finally started doing the big-game pitching we hired him for. Other than a single and a home run (sadly back to back) in the second, he no-hit one of the best teams in baseball.

Eschewing our previous practice of getting off to an early lead, we held back until the middle innings and then put some offense together. In the bottom halves of the innings, the game played a lot like the Monday victory that got us back home to begin with.

The fifth inning was particularly sweet. We took the lead with station-to-station hitting. Then for the fans of the long ball, Kendrys Morales padded the lead with a three-run blast to center. Nobody wanted to repeat the mistake made by the Governor of Texas (who on Monday during the game tweeted that the Astros were headed to the ALCS), but at that point it looked like we had it in the bag.

Which we did. Pandemonium in the stands. Celebration on the field. Ned Yost got the ice bucket (though it could just as easily have been dumped on Cueto).

For the first time this postseason, things seemed more like 2014.


ASTROS (2) AT ROYALS (7)

ASTROS               AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Jose Altuve           4  0  0  0  Alcides Escobar       3  1  1  0  
George Springer       4  0  0  0  Ben Zobrist           2  0  0  1  
Carlos Correa         3  0  0  0  Lorenzo Cain          3  2  1  0  
Colby Rasmus          3  0  0  0  Eric Hosmer           4  0  1  1  
Carlos Gomez          3  0  0  0  Kendrys Morales       4  1  1  3  
Evan Gattis           3  1  1  0  Mike Moustakas        4  0  0  0  
Luis Valbuena         3  1  1  2  Salvador Perez        2  1  1  0  
Chris Carter          3  0  0  0  Alex Gordon           3  1  1  0  
Jason Castro          2  0  0  0  Alex Rios             3  1  2  2  
 Preston Tucker       1  0  0  0                                    
TOTALS               29  2  2  2  TOTALS               28  7  8  7

ASTROS                        020 000 000 -- 2  
ROYALS                        000 130 03x -- 7  

LOB--ASTROS 0, ROYALS 2. 2B--Alex Rios, Alex Gordon, Alcides
Escobar. HR--Luis Valbuena, Kendrys Morales. HBP--Salvador
Perez. SACF--Ben Zobrist. SACB--Alcides Escobar.

 ASTROS                          IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Collin McHugh                  4.00    5    3    3    1    1    0
Mike Fiers                     1.00    1    1    1    0    0    0
Tony Sipp                      1.67    0    0    0    0    1    0
Pat Neshek                     0.33    0    0    0    0    1    0
Dallas Keuchel                 1.00    2    3    3    1    0    1
 ROYALS                     
Johnny Cueto                   8.00    2    2    2    0    8    1
Wade Davis                     1.00    0    0    0    0    1    0

SO--Colby Rasmus (3), Carlos Gomez, Chris Carter, Evan
Gattis, George Springer (2), Preston Tucker, Alex Rios, Ben
Zobrist, Alex Gordon. BB--Ben Zobrist, Lorenzo Cain.

Friday, October 9, 2015

ALDS Game Two

This one picked up where the last one left off. The Astros took an early lead. We had a little more luck scoring against Scott Kazmir, but we still found ourselves trailing early and not managing to catch up.

Then in the bottom of the sixth things finally turned around. We quit gunning for the fences and put together a string of station-to-station plays that tied the game. It was especially satisfying to see Eric Hosmer (who represented the tying run) go first to third on a single by Kendrys Morales that probably wouldn’t have happened if the Astros hadn’t been playing yet another stupid shift.

Alcides Escobar led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple (always fun to see one of those regardless of the circumstances) and then became what proved to be the winning run. The best part about our two good innings is that they finally brought the crowd back into the game. The ballpark was as loud as it was last year, which seemed to help in no small measure.

The final nail for Houston was dramatic pick-off at first in the top of the ninth, Wade Davis’s first in years (literally). Such a play would have been exciting by itself, but here it was made more so by the success of an appeal of the first base umpire’s bad “safe” call.

That was actually the second appeal that went our way. The other was also at first, when Escobar bunted for what was clearly a single but was called out nonetheless. I’m still iffy on instant replay, but it was certainly handy this afternoon.

So that was much better than we’ve seen recently. I even liked the 2:45 start time, which allowed us to get out to the K without too much traffic trouble and got the game done in time for us to grab Touch of Asia for dinner. I hope we didn’t jinx the team by indulging in our usual last-game-of-the-season meal!


ASTROS (4) AT ROYALS (5)

ASTROS               AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Jose Altuve           5  0  0  0  Alcides Escobar       5  1  2  0  
George Springer       3  1  1  2  Ben Zobrist           4  0  2  1  
Carlos Correa         4  0  1  0  Lorenzo Cain          4  1  1  0  
Colby Rasmus          3  1  2  2  Eric Hosmer           4  1  1  1  
Evan Gattis           4  0  1  0  Kendrys Morales       4  0  1  0  
Luis Valbuena         4  0  1  0  Mike Moustakas        3  0  0  0  
Chris Carter          4  1  1  0  Salvador Perez        3  1  2  2  
Jason Castro          2  1  0  0  Alex Gordon           3  0  1  0  
 Jed Lowrie           1  0  0  0  Alex Rios             3  1  1  0  
Jake Marisnick        3  0  1  0   Paulo Orlando        1  0  0  0  
 Preston Tucker       0  0  0  0                                    
TOTALS               33  4  8  4  TOTALS               34  5 11  4

ASTROS                        121 000 000 -- 4  
ROYALS                        011 002 10x -- 5  

LOB--ASTROS 6, ROYALS 8. 2B--Colby Rasmus, Alex Rios,
Lorenzo Cain. 3B--Alcides Escobar. HR--Colby Rasmus,
Salvador Perez. SB--Jarrod Dyson.

 ASTROS                          IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Scott Kazmir                   5.33    5    3    3    1    4    1
Oliver Perez                   0.00    2    1    1    1    0    0
Josh Fields                    0.67    0    0    0    1    2    0
Will Harris                    0.67    2    1    1    0    0    0
Tony Sipp                      0.67    0    0    0    0    0    0
Pat Neshek                     0.67    2    0    0    0    1    0
 ROYALS                     
Johnny Cueto                   6.00    7    4    4    3    5    1
Kelvin Herrera                 1.00    1    0    0    0    1    0
Ryan Madson                    1.00    0    0    0    0    2    0
Wade Davis                     1.00    0    0    0    1    1    0

SO--Luis Valbuena (2), Jed Lowrie, Chris Carter (2), Jake
Marisnick, George Springer, Carlos Correa (2), Kendrys
Morales (2), Alex Rios, Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar,
Salvador Perez, Paulo Orlando. BB--Colby Rasmus, Jason
Castro, George Springer, Preston Tucker, Alex Gordon, Mike
Moustakas, Salvador Perez.