Jackson was unhittable during that postseason. He later struck out the side on nine pitches in game 5 of the World Series.

Royals Arizona Fall League update

Mesa Solar Sox 11, Surprise Rafters 6
RHP Patrick Keating 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 HR

Royals Caribbean Update
Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional

Navegantes del Magallanes 6, Bravos de Margarita 0
C Manuel Pina 0-for-3

Tigres de Aragua 9, Caribes de Anzoategui 2
CF Reggie Taylor 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 SB, 2 K

Thanks for the updates Ivory, nice to know someone cares twice as much as I do.

25 years ago tonight.

Dick Howser sends 23 year old Mark Gubicza to the mound against Doyle Alexander. This was a game I felt extremely confident in as Howser had begun to set up Bobby Cox platoon strategy to be used against him.

Starting the RH pitcher brought Al Oliver into the starting lineup and Oliver had been killing the Royals in the late innings. Two Game winning hits in the first four games. By doing this and then going to a middle relief LHP, Cox removed Oliver from the lineup and this was crucial one day later in the game 7 finale.

Back to back walks to Wilson and Brett set up MCrae and he delivers a single to LF scoring Wilson.

Jays tie in the bottom half of the 1st as Damaso Garcia doubles to LF and Moseby singles to LF. Rance Mullinix (why the hell he was batting 3rd I'll never know) GIDP. Thank you Rance Mullinix to kill the inning.

Royals strike again in the 3rd as Wilson singles but is forced at second on Brett's FC. McRae smashes a double (what else from Mac?) to LF bringing Brett around.

The Jays tie it in the bottom half again as Tony Fernandez hits a one out double and moves to 3B on WP and scores on Moseby's ground out 4-3.

In the 5th the Royals again grab the lead. This time Brett mashes his 3rd HR of the series (all off Alexander) to RC. The Royals lead in game 6 and I'm now a frightened mess. Gubicza works through uneventful 5th Barfield, Fernandez and Damaso Garcia.

In the 6th, Sundberg gets a leadoff BB and White follows with a SB moving him to second base. Biancalana is now about to meet his destiny. Alexander is extremely pisses at Derryl Cousins because he felt he struck out Sundberg on the 2-2 pitch prior to the BB.

With Sunny on 2nd Biancalana get a pitch he can handle and rips into the RC field gap, scoring Sunny and and advances on Barfield's error. Cox comes out to get Alexander and he is livid with Cousins. So pissed that Cox has to escort him from the mound.

Me? I'm nursing a sore ankle because when Biancalana hit that ball, two things happened:

1) Bob Costas PbP call went something like this: "And the pitch from Alexander to Biancalana *whack!* "HELLO BUDDY BIANCALANA!! A line drive into RC field that scores Sundberg and Barfield has trouble picking it up!! and Biancalana will move to 3rd!! and gives Kansas City some breathing room... It's now 4-2 KC".

2)I ran out my front door in the dark screaming and missed a step, when I landed I had severely sprained my ankle (I drank a LOT in those days).

Cox removed Alexander and brought in Dennis Lamp who promptly gave up a 2b to Skates Smith and the Royals led 5-2.

This where Howser proved to be a better manager than Bobby Cox in this series. Gubicza in the 6th gave up a leadoff 1b to Moseby, a DEEP fly ball to CF by Mullinix and BB to Willie Upshaw. Goobz was replaced by LHP Buddy Black. Cox, true to his form, pulled Oliver in favor of the RH/LHP matchup of Cliff Johnson. But Oliver was done. He couldn't dagger us tonight.

Johnson singles to LF, scoring Moseby and moving Upshaw to 2nd. Black, scaring the living shit outta me throws a WP and everybody moves up, Upshaw to 3rd and Johnson to 2nd. Black gets out of trouble by inducing Bell to pop up to Balboni and Ernie Whitt to pop out to Sundberg. I breathe while my ankle throbs. 5-3 Royals.

Buddy Black was fantastic in this game. He was in all manner of trouble but wriggled off the hook until he turned it over to Quiz with 2 on and 2 out in the 9th. Quiz got Garth Iorg to ground out to end the game.

My ankle was throbbing, my liver was working overtime to dispel the juice and yet I could not sleep a wink. Buddy Biancalana. Imagine that. He had THE big hit in this game. And it was his springboard to Brian Doyle cult hero status and an appearance or two on Letterman.

It was 3-3 now with the AL Cy Young candidate on the mound for the Royals in Game 7, Brett Saberhagan. The Jays would counter with the smarmy bastard Dave Stieb. He'd made a good career of beating the Royals and had done it once in this series already.

Wasn't sure if maybe KC_Connection was aware of this but I found this when I was searching out news articles in recent weeks. I found this fascinating.

This: good read.

I know they're pathetic at times, well, a lot of the time, recently, but damn I love being a Royals fan.

The great thing about this was looking back through my old newspapers and seeing the photos and reading Joe McGuff. It really brought back some incredible memories.

Especially Costas' call on that hit by Biancalana. That was so damn funny. You could tell he was surprised that BB even made contact. Great call. Great game.

I have finally found some VHS tapes of the 1985 ALCS. I'm in the process of trying to get them onto DVD. Game 6 is very fuzzy. Don't know if I can get it repaired. It'll keep me busy through the winter months.

Interestingly enough, yesterday was the silver anniversary of Ozzie Smith hitting a 9th inning HR off Tom Niedefuhr of the Dodgers to give them a game 5 NLCS victory. Right before he hit it NBC showed a graphic that said:

Quote:

"Ozzie Smith has not homered in 385 consecutive at bats".

Wham! HR . Game over.

Actually it read

Quote:

Ozzie Smith has not homered as a LH hitter in his career.

Wham! HR! Game over.

Report: KC will listen to offers for Greinke


Greinke
ESPN's Buster Olney reports that the Royals will "listen to any and all offers" for Zack Greinke this offseason.
The Royals have a nice stable of prospects on the way, but Greinke will likely become a free agent before their impact is truly felt. The reigning AL Cy Young winner has two years and $27 million left on his contract. He's coming off a disappointing year, but Greinke would become easily the best available pitcher on the market other than looming free agent Cliff Lee. Oct. 16 - 10:57 am et
Source: ESPN.com

Greinke for Jason Hayward.

I really wonder what all we can get for him? His value slightly declined but i think he can still be close to dominant as he was his cy young year again. Obviously playing for a loser he checks out, but any team would want him and should pay heavily.

I've said all along that the two you don't trade from the bigs roster is Grienke and Soria, and I still stand by that. Anyone and everyone else is fair game, but not those two. It all starts and ends with pitching.

I agree, but does Zack want to be here?

For Grienke, you need the motherload, or you simply don't do it. Soria, however, cannot be placed in the same category. Bad teams don't need elite closers, but this doesn't mean you don't expect a damn good return. Otherwise, again, it would be stupid to move the player.

Royals Arizona Fall League update

From Friday

Mesa Solar Sox 8, Surprise Rafters 7
2B Johnny Giavotella 4-for-5, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 CS
C Santiago Perez 1-for-5, 1 RBI, 1-for-1 in gunning down base stealers
LF Derrick Robinson 1-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 R, 3 K
LHP Brandon Sisk 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HOLD (32 pitches - 20 strikes)

No, and I think he's made that pretty clear. That's why it is so critical to start winning NEXT year, not 2012 or beyond. Don't ask me how they plan to do it; all I know that if they want to keep Grienke for his money years, losing isn't an option from here on out.

And I'll agree with Deez on his Soria take, but begrudgingly. You better sell way high if you plan on trading a guy that can get 43 saves on a sub 70 win team.

The Yanks probably would give up a good ton for Soria...

Also Zack they better get that trade right, wouldn't surprise me if hes gone at the trade deadline cause we are going to suck

I hate to break it to you, but you ask the impossible. The Royals cant start winning next year, even with an unlimited budget. Their team mostly sucks, and the "#1 farm system in baseball" is not ready yet.

Can you imagine Zack in the National league? He'd be a lock for 20+ wins every year....

Too true, I'm afraid. Likely means they'll trade Zack at the deadline for some 30+ former power outfielder and a slew of AA or AAA guys. I will officially consider giving up on the team when that happens. Point being, you DO NOT lose a talent like Grienke on account of the team not being able to stop sucking through your superstar's six+ years with the team.

My contention is that you absolutely cannot lose a talent like Greinke because you're unwilling to pay him. This would be an inexcusable decision.

If we keep Greinke and Soria and a couple of these prospects turn into stars, while still others are ML players, we'll go from bad to good very quickly.

Or that. I'm not sure which would be worse - drive the superstar away for being cheap, or beng unable to put together any semblence of a winning team.

I wonder what team has enough to get greinke from us? if we traded him to the yanks id want phil hughes back to start

I think this will change. Really do. I'd have much more confidence if Moore would be a bit more competent in assembling a ML roster, but I'm hopeful that we've invested enough in the draft so that it would take an absolute will to **** things up at the ML level.

I think KC is putting that out there, just to see what kind of offers they can get. They would be very incrediously stupid to trade him already. Unless somebody really blows them away, I can't fathom KC really trading him away.

To brighten up Royals fans for the offseason I thought I'd share this email from Baseball America:

<TABLE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 267px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; EMPTY-CELLS: show; FONT-SIZE: 12px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=rightAlignTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 align=right><TBODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(61,57,196); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class=headerRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" align=middle>MIDWEST LEAGUE
TOP 20 PROSPECTS</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(232,232,232); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" class=altRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">1. Mike Trout, of, Cedar Rapids Kernels (Angels)
2. Shelby Miller, rhp, Quad Cities River Bandits (Cardinals)
3. Wil Myers, c, Burlington Bees (Royals)
4. Jacob Turner, rhp, West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers)
5. Aaron Hicks, of, Beloit Snappers (Twins)
6. Nick Franklin, ss/2b, Clinton LumberKings (Mariners)
7. Trey McNutt, rhp, Peoria Chiefs (Cubs)
8. Jake Odorizzi, rhp, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Brewers)
9. Matt Davidson, 3b, South Bend Silver Hawks (Diamondbacks)
10. Tyler Skaggs, lhp, Cedar Rapids (Angels)/South Bend (Diamondbacks)
11. Allen Webster, rhp, Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers)
12. Jean Segura, 2b, Cedar Rapids Kernels (Angels)
13. Hak-Ju Lee, ss, Peoria Chiefs (Cubs)
14. Fabio Martinez, rhp, Cedar Rapids Kernels (Angels)
15. Rubby de la Rosa, rhp, Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers)
16. Alex Colome, rhp, Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays)
17. Chris Owings, ss, South Bend Silver Hawks (Diamondbacks)
18. Jerry Sands, 1b/of, Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers)
19. Matt Lollis, rhp, Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres)
20. Chad Jenkins, rhp, Lansing Lugnuts (Blue Jays)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 267px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; EMPTY-CELLS: show; FONT-SIZE: 12px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=rightAlignTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 align=right><TBODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(61,57,196); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class=headerRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" align=middle>CAROLINA LEAGUE
TOP 20 PROSPECTS</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(232,232,232); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" class=altRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">1. Julio Teheran, rhp, Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Braves)
2. Eric Hosmer, 1b, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals)
3. John Lamb, lhp, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals)
4. Wil Myers, c, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals)
5. Devin Mesoraco, c, Lynchburg Hillcats (Reds)
6. Randall Delgado, rhp, Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Braves)
7. Chris Dwyer, lhp, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals)
8. Oscar Tejeda, 2b, Salem Red Sox
9. Christian Colon, ss, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals)
10. Jason Kipnis, 2b, Kinston Indians
11. Derek Norris, c, Potomac Nationals
12. Xavier Avery, of, Frederick Keys (Orioles)
13. Will Middlebrooks, 3b, Salem Red Sox
14. Michael Burgess, of, Potomac Nationals
15. Gregory Infante, rhp, Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox)
16. J.J. Hoover, rhp, Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Braves)
17. Ryan Lavarnway, c, Salem Red Sox
18. Tyler Moore, 1b, Potomac Nationals
19. Jordan Henry, 1b, Kinston Indians
20. Santos Rodriguez, lhp, Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 267px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; EMPTY-CELLS: show; FONT-SIZE: 12px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=rightAlignTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 align=right><TBODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(61,57,196); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class=headerRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" align=middle>TEXAS LEAGUE
TOP 20 PROSPECTS

</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(232,232,232); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" class=altRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">1. Mike Moustakas, 3b, Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals)
2. Eric Hosmer, 1b, Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals)
3. Mike Montgomery, lhp, Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals)
4. Wilin Rosario, c, Tulsa Drillers (Rockies)
5. Martin Perez, lhp, Frisco Roughriders (Rangers)
6. Aaron Crow, rhp, Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals)
7. Jordan Lyles, rhp, Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros)
8. Simon Castro, rhp, San Antonio Missions (Padres)
9. Blake Beaven, rhp, Frisco Roughriders (Rangers)
10. Christian Friedrich, lhp, Tulsa Drillers (Rockies)
11. Cory Luebke, lhp, San Antonio Missions (Padres)
12. Jordan Walden, rhp, Arkansas Travelers (Angels)
13. James Darnell, 3b, San Antonio Missions (Padres)
14. Eduardo Sanchez, rhp, Springfield Cardinals
15. Rex Brothers, lhp, Tulsa Drillers (Rockies)
16. Louis Coleman, rhp, Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals)
17. Charlie Blackmon, of, Tulsa Drillers (Rockies)
18. Engel Beltre, of, Frisco Roughriders (Rangers)
19. Wynn Pelzer, rhp, San Antonio Missions (Padres)
20. Trevor Reckling, lhp, Arkansas Travelers (Angels)



</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 267px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; EMPTY-CELLS: show; FONT-SIZE: 12px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=rightAlignTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 align=right><TBODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(61,57,196); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class=headerRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" align=middle>AZL TOP 20 PROSPECTS</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(232,232,232); FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" class=altRow><TD style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">1. Guillermo Pimentel, of, Mariners
2. Yordano Ventura, rhp, Royals
3. Robinson Yambati, rhp, Royals
4. Tyler Roberts, c, Brewers
5. Junior Arias, ss, Reds
6. Donavan Tate, of, Padres
7. Cheslor Cuthbert, 3b, Royals
8. Luis Sardinas, ss, Rangers
9. Ismael Guillon, lhp, Reds
10. James Baldwin, of, Dodgers
11. Austin Reed, rhp, Cubs
12. Jonathan Correa, rhp, Reds
13. Chuckie Jones, of, Giants
14. Christian Villanueva, 3b, Rangers
15. Carlos Melo, rhp, Rangers
16. Heath Hembree, rhp, Giants
17. Chevez Clarke, of, Angels
18. Ji-Man Choi, 1b/c, Mariners
19. Teodoro Martinez, of, Rangers
20. Ralston Cash, rhp, Dodgers



</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Sent


=

I obviously would prefer to pay Zack and keep him. However, if either 1) We are blown away by a ludicrous offer lopsided in our direction, or 2) We are convinced he will walk after his contract is up and we get a pretty good deal that is tilted our way (not an equal deal, but a deal tilted to us), then I trade Greinke. If I don't get that, I keep him, still try to re-sign when his contract is up (hopefully we'll be .500 and ready to start winning by then) and let him walk and pick up the compensation prospects if that is what he wants.

If money is not the issue, and a move would improve the team, then you do it and ignore the outrage from the fans. They will pack the stadium when you win, with Greinke becoming a faint memory. I am, first and foremost, a fan of the team, not of Soria and Greinke.

While you're correct, I do wonder what is the attendence difference when Greinke is starting and the other days when he isn't.

Just seems that people are willing to pay to see Greinke pitch than the other guys, but I'm just speculating.

I won't worry about attendance or backlash if zack is traded, it has to be a deal that is great and helps this youth movement. The future is almost here, its HAS to come through

Royals Arizona Fall League update

From Monday afternoon

Surprise Rafters 6, Scottsdale Scorpions 4
1B Eric Hosmer 0-for-2, 1 RBI, 2 BB (Arizona Fall League debut!)
DH Johnny Giavotella 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 sacrifice fly (.538 average so far)
LF Derrick Robinson 0-for-4, 1 R, 1 K
LHP Mike Montgomery (W, 1-0) 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 54 pitches - 33 strikes, 6 groundouts - 2 flyouts (Arizona Fall League debut!)
RHP Patrick Keating 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 26 pitches - 14 strikes, 0 groundouts - 2 flyouts

If they could get three top of the line prospects who will fit into the Hosmer/Moose Tacos group then I think it would behoove the Royals to swing a deal.

Royals Arizona Fall League update

From Tuesday night

Scottsdale Scorpions 5, Surprise Rafters 4
1B Eric Hosmer 2-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 K
LHP Brandon Sisk 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 16 pitches - 9 strikes, 1 groundout - 1 flyout

Royals Caribbean update

From Tuesday

Liga Mexicana del Pacifco
Algodoneros de Guasave 4, Tomateros de Culiacan 2
RHP Federico Castaneda (L, 0-1) 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Who cares?

Have they traded Greinke for prospects yet?

Ivory Hunter thanks for the updates. Hosmer is the man.

according to buster olney on the radio this morning, the royals have started listening to offers.

his reasoning was pretty solid - this it the best time to trade Zack - he still has 2 years left on his contract, and if he performs next season like he did last season, his value on the trade market is going to drop.

Lets just give him to the Yankees and get it over with.

Our role in MLB is to develop talent for contending teams.
And make David Glass richer.
That's about it.

:crybaby::crybaby::crybaby:

Unless the return is outstanding, and I mean out****ingstanding, the Royals shouldn't even begin to consider trading Greinke.

You simply do not let #1 pitchers get away.

Even though we only control him for 2 more years and he has indicated he does not want to resign?

I'd like to believe they're looking for the MLB equivalent of the Herschel Walker trade.

Yes.

We should have a promising, albeit maybe not a "competing," team in 2012. And I want to see Zack turn down a guaranteed pile of cash from the team.

Ideally, I'd like to explore trade options from now through 2011, and pull the trigger if floored by an offer. If not, start working on an extension next off-season, and the club will have to pony up *at least* market value. Yeah, that will be pricey, but that's the cost of doing business after years of not trying at the ML level.

Thank you.

The only way I'd be tempted to give him away if someone give us a Jason Hayward/Sarlin Castro caliber type of a player.

I'm cool with that route as well, but the pitchforks will come out from the masses if we pass on trading him and then he walks after 2012.

Honestly, I think Greinke is just pissed about being on a losing team, and who can really blame him. This isn't a Beltran situation where the guy is just going to go to the biggest contract and the biggest media market. There's a reason why Greinke has a no-trade clause in his current contract to New York, Boston, and Chicago. I think we stand a decent shot of resigning him if we can improve the MLB team with our minor league talent over the next 12-18 months.

Also, I don't think you can discount the positive effect it will have on our young pitchers to have Greinke in place as the team ace, so they can ease into an MLB career without huge immediate expectations (like Greinke had).

Royals Arizona Fall League update

From Wednesday afternoon

Surprise Rafters 9, Peoria Saguaros 2
2B Johnny Giavotella 2-for-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R
DH Eric Hosmer 1-for-4, 1 R
C Santiago Perez 0-for-4
CF Derrick Robinson 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB
LHP Danny Duffy 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 33 pitches - 20 strikes, 2 groundouts - 2 flyouts

Completely agree with both of these posts. Shit, if Atlanta wants to offer up Heyward, I might be tempted to help drive Greinke to the airport simply b/c a frontline position player is more valuable than even a #1.

And the bold is huge. Unbelievably huge. Let's say Montgomery can stay healthy...(please God), how much better to bring him up as a #2 or, ideally, #3.

Make a push to extend his contract. Worst-case scenario, we take the draft-pick compensation, which would have been better than the Beltran disaster.

we got an all star and tehean out of the beltran deal. Pretty good.

25 years ago tonight.

Game 6 1985 World Series.

The Royals, after dropping the first two games at home (in heartbreaking fashion), went to STL to find fans at the stadium with brooms fully expecting the sweep. But behind great pitching from Brett Saberhagan in Game 3 and a titanic HR by Frank White into the left center field bullpen, the Royals beat Jaoquin Andujar and the Cards 6-1.

Frank's HR went into an area that most fly balls died in the old Busch stadium. That ****ing ball went a mile. I wish I could post the .gif. Frank was the first 2B to bat cleanup in a WS game since Jackie Robinson. And he made Andujar pay with that home run.

The Cards responded in game 4 behind two HR's: One from Willie Magee and one from Tito Landrum. Tudor beat Bud Black. Tudor pitched a great game. So did Bud Black.

Game 5 fell to Danny Jackson. And like in the ALCS he responded again. the Royals scored early and often against Bob Forsch. The result was a 6-1 victory.

Looking back, the Cards were lucky to be alive. They hadn't hit at all. The pitching had been solid. But by game 5 it was obvious that the Royals bats were waking.

So it was on to game 6.

Butthurt Cards fans in 3 2 1...

My thought are in italics.


Charlie Liebrandt vs Danny Cox. Cox pitched well but had worked in and out of trouble the entire game. In 7 innings Cox surrendered 7 hits and 1 BB.

Liebrandt went 7 2/3 gave up 4 hits and 2 BB's. He was THE hard luck pitcher in that post season. He had pitched beautifully in his 4 starts and never got a win. Mainly due to zero run support. Since everything really happened in the 8th, we might as well fast forward to that inning. Score some f'ing runs for this guy FF'sS.

Tito Landrum hit a soft fly ball to CF. Pendleton singles to RF and immediately there are nothing but hangnails on every Royals fan. Caesar Cedeno draws a BB and Pendleton moves to 2nd. Two on 1 out. Porter strikes out looking. Two on two out. F me. This can't happen now. Not THIS time.

Brian Harper is sent in to PH for Danny Cox (P) Everybody on earth is waiting for Howser to bring in Quiz. But he doesn't. And I'm ready to kick Dick Howser in the teeth when Brian Harper hits a bloop single to CF to score Pendleton and move Cedeno to 3b. 1-0 Cards. The dream is dead.

"BRIAN HARPER? BRIAN ****ING HARPER"??? This journeyman utility **** is going to send me to my grave with a stake through my heart? Brian Harper? Give me a ****ing break. If the baseball gods hate me that much, at least let it be a guy has some kind of history. BRIAN F'ING HARPER? It was the same bloop that fell in front of AO off Paul Blair's bat that caused me 6 weeks of illness in the 1977 ALCS. And now, 8 years later it had happened again.

At this point, I'm dead. The stadium is dead. Howser is dead to me. FINALLY Dick Howser comes out to get Charlie. Quiz enters the game and retires a Magee on a 4-6 force.

The 8th is Ken Daley pitching for the Cards and other a BB to Wilson, Daley K's Smith and Brett and gets Frank on fly to CF.

Three outs left in the season and then I'll be forced to watch the Cards and The White Rat celebrate in our stadium. It makes me ill to this day just thinking about it.

Top of the 9th Quiz gives up a single to Landrum after a K and a groundout to 1st. Quiz gets out of it by coaxing Pendleton to fly out to Wilson in CF.

Only three outs stood between the Cardinals and another WS title. Three outs. Todd Worrell is called on to bring it home.

Jorge Orta, PH'ing for Darrell Motley, and down 0-2, hits a little tapper toward first. Worrell covers the bag and accepts the ball from Clark and Orta is out. 2 outs to go. But wait! It's a close play and Don Denkinger calls Orta safe. Whitey is livid. Rightfully so. But too bad you ****. You'll win anyway. Sit down you ****.

The stadium is now ALIVE. And Steve Balboni is now at the plate. Down 0-1, Balboni skies a pop up in front of the Royals dugout. Clark, a below average defensive 1B moves all over and when he eventually puts his glove out the ball falls to the ground 4 feet away. (I stood in that exact spot in early March of 86 when the 1986 team had a Grand Opening. I did my best Jack Clark. It's a polaroid in my closet somewhere.) The stadium is now as loud as I've ever heard it (Game 3 1980 ALCS) and it is also now officially a rally.

On the next pitch (0-2) Bones reached out and drove a single to LF. 2 on nobody out. Holy F!!! Can this be happening? It can't. We're the Royals, the long cousin of the A's. It can't really be happening. That kind of miracle only happens to other teams.

Worrell is rattled, Clark is in pieces, and the rest of the Cardinals are on the brink of collapse. Sundberg is up and he lays down a bunt, but Worrell makes a nice play and wheels to 3rd and gets Orta, leaving runners at 2nd and 1st.

Now it's Mcrae chance to shine. On the 1st pitch to Hal, Porter gives up a passed ball and the runners move up. HOLY SHIT!!! IT'S REALLY HAPPENING! THE CARDS ARE COMING APART AT THE SEAMS. Who's going to hit here? The pitcher spot is due up. Who do we have? Who is our LH hitter off the bench?

Whitey is now forced to intentionally walk Mac to load the bases and set up the force. Jack Leyton announces "Hitting in the pitcher's spot is Dane Iorge".

The stadium is now rocking as the chance to exorcise the ghosts of failures past is now upon the entire city. All those close losses to the Yankees. The HR by Chambliss. The 9th inning letdown in 77, the inability of Quiz to pick up the line drive by Manny Trillo in game 5 in 1980 allowing the wining to score for Philly.... all those failures can be put on hold, if Dane Iorge can get Onix home from 3rd. Just get him home and let Quiz pitch 4 more innings. We'll get those bastards in extra innings.

And then it happened: 10:17pm. On a 1-0 pitch from Todd Worrell. Dane Iorge swung and there was a brief total silence from 42,000 people until that ball touched the turf in RF. The call from the Royals radio booth:



There was still work to be done. But the Cardinals knew they were done. The Royals knew the Cardinals were done.

It's an incredible feeling to be a fan of a team that pulls a comeback like that. On the biggest stage. It was one of the greatest sporting moments of my life. What must it be like for a guy like Dane Iorge? He's in his 60's now. But if I saw him today I'd want to hug the guy.

That should read "Game 2 1980 ALCS". As the Royals clinched in NY in the 3rd game.

That should read "Game 2 1980 ALCS". As the Royals clinched in NY in the 3rd game.

At this time:

First pitch from Saberhagan. A strike to O. Smith.

Great post William. I was 8 at the time and don't remember it as well as you do, but I've watched the video many times. I actually got goosebumps reading your quote of the radio call.

I want so badly for the Royals to bring that kind of excitement. It sucks being in baseball purgatory.

NEW YORK -- The New York Times is reporting on its website that San Francisco Giants outfielder Jose Guillen, who was left off the team's postseason roster, is linked to a federal investigation into shipments of human growth hormone.

The story, posted Thursday night and citing several unidentified lawyers, says federal authorities told Major League Baseball they were looking into shipments of HGH sent to Guillen's wife in the Bay Area.

The Times says that was just before the postseason began. Guillen was left off the Giants' roster for all three rounds because of a neck injury, according to the team.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2007 that Guillen allegedly purchased more than $19,000 worth of HGH and other drugs between May 2002 and June 2005.

Glad that POS is not here anymore...

Buster Olney just called Greinke "the number one trade piece on the market this winter" on Sportscenter. Shit, piss, damn. I would hate to see him go but hell, maybe with the ultimate trade bait Dayton could finally execute a decent trade.

DeJesus traded to A's for Mazzaro and Marks.

Source: Internet

****ing figures. Trade away our best player for ?????

no one on this crap-pile of a team aside from Soria, Butler, or Greinke should be overly protected, provided we get the right players in return.

Looking up stats now to figure out my opinion on this, I literally learned of this moments ago.

rotoworld's flash opinion, they didn't seem to immediately declare a winner or loser, for what its worth.

From everything I'm reading, seems like a decent trade. Mazzaro is still young and developing, and has had some success. Profiles to be a solid #3 starter at best, but I'll take that. I haven't read anything on Marks, but while his ERA and WHIP are marginal, he's striking out more than a batter an inning as a lefty and is also still young.

In addition, they outrighted Banny to AAA, and he chose to become a free agent. We all liked Banny, but he just doesn't quite have the talent to be a MLB pitcher I'm afraid.

On the surface, it seems like a promising trade, but winning a horse trade with Beane is a tall order.

Vin Mazarro, RHP, 3rd round 2005

2006 - A - who cares
2007 - A+ - 5.33 ERA, 1.497 WHIP, 6.7 K/9, 1.62 K/BB, 0.8 HR/9
2008 - AA and AAA - 2.74 ERA, 1.222 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 2.91 K/BB, 0.3 HR/9
2009 - AAA - 2.38 ERA, 1.041 WHIP, 7 K/9, 2.59 K/BB, 0.3 HR/9

minors: started out crappy, improved to a decent minor league pitcher. Didn't give up many home runs, strikeout ratios are pretty good.

2009 - OAK - 5.32 ERA, 1.741 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 1.51 K/BB, 1.2 HR/9
2010 - OAK - 4.27 ERA, 1.447 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 1.58 K/BB, 1.4 HR/9

uhhh.... wow. Not good. He's young and may have talent, but he certainly hasn't made the last adjustment from AAA at all. Not yet, anyway. If he figures it out in KC with a change of scenery that would be wonderful. Hopefully this guy was a throw-in and the 2nd pitcher was the guy we coveted. That 2nd guy is...

Justin Marks, LHP (another one? Holy christ, don't we already have enough lefties?), 3rd round 2009

2009 - Rookie - who cares, one game in rookie ball
2010 - A and A+ - 4.87 ERA, 1.353 WHIP, 9.5 K/9, 2.78 K/BB, 1 HR/9

Struck out a ton of batters in his first year as a pro, gave up an average number of homers, doesn't walk many people, but he got hit a bit. Only 19 games worth of stats, so these are of limited use. They certainly don't say "A-class prospect" to me. Guy like this, you need a scouting report. OK, I read a few, Marks was not on anyone's top-10 list of oakland prospects, seemed more in the 20-range. Keith Law was not high on him earlier this year.

Overall, dude seems like a C-grade prospect.

We traded one season of David DeJesus (free agent next year) for a B-grade pitching prospect who might or might not help us starting this year, and a C-grade prospect who aside from being yet ANOTHER lefty, may or may not ever reach KC.

I mean yeah, its only one year and on paper you'd think maybe it was a fair deal, but I'm not thrilled with this deal. Maybe we could have signed him for one or two more years, and if we cant, I'd hope we'd get more than this on a deadline trade for a team trying to make the playoffs.

We have the potential to win this trade, perhaps, but unless we know something about his health that no one else doesn't, or unless we think he's going to turn into a pile of crap in 2011 and ruin his trade value, I'm not happy. I'm not enraged either, but I'm not happy.

Seems like a promising move, but winning a horse trade with Beane is a tall order.

I may be one of the few DDJ fans, but I thought we could have locked him up fairly cheap.

I like DDJ too. I do like the royals more and will trade anybody to improve the team, but I think I would have said no to this deal and held out for more, unless I really believed he was going to get hurt or tank in 2011.

Royals Corner is underwhelmed. Even the glass-half-full guys (like me) who believe DM has done some good things with the minors is scratching their heads on this one. Yes, I expect the casual fan on the street to scream just because DDJ is gone, but screw them, they will buy tickets and forget about DDJ if its a good deal and we win, but is it a good deal? I'm having a hard time saying yes or finding many people who think we should have done this.

Would have liked to have known what the return would have been mid-season of this year, before the injury.

Is the return greater than the two draft picks the organization would have received from a Type A DDJ leaving in free agency in 2011? I have my doubts.

Also, you just know that this trade is a precursor to Dayton signing his anus-crush, Jeff Francouer.

I keep hearing that, but I refuse to believe it until it happens. Francouer is a replacement-level outfielder. His only role on this team would be as a warm body to keep RF occupied at the ML minimum until 2012. If we did sign him for multiple years and a lot of money, I will hurl myself out of my den window onto the hard driveway 15 feet below in an effort to dull the pain.

You must wear Tardigan sweaters.

Don't know that I'm that crazy about it ... although I'm glad we didn't trade DDJ to somewhere like Cincy or NYY where he'd probably hit 20 HR's next year and everyone would go nuts. Sucks that his injury probably hammered his trade value. And I guess there's no guarantee he'd make it through next year healthy. I also wonder how much it hurts his value that he doesn't hit for as much power as a lot of corner OF's.

I'm not overwhelmed with who we got but it's not that bad either I don't think. I certainly wouldn't get caught up in Royals Corners' usual hysteria. Mazzaro apparently throws low-90's, apparently has a good sinker. Sounds like our kinda guy. Everybody looks at the stats at face value, not that you shouldn't... but he actually pitched pretty well for most of last season and ran out of gas at the end. He had 3.61 ERA/72 K/107.1 IP as of August 26th, and then got destroyed by the Yankees and that was all she wrote.

12 of his 18 starts were 6 IP/3 ER or less, including 11 of his last 12 before that Yankee game. Who knows if he can repeat all that, and he walks too many guys. But at the same time he just turned 24. He's really not much older than Marks.

DM's thoughts

Reading between the lines, it almost seems like Moore is trying to be nice about it while hinting that he doesn't think DDJ is going to do well next year coming off the injury and he wants to get what he can now from a team desperate for hitting help.

Mazzaro is not a stud, but he wanted him so that we wouldn't be forced to rush one of our AA studs before they were ready, and Marks is a throw-in.

I don't know, if DDJ stumbles out of the gate with a sub-700 OPS then he'll look smart, and I can understand not wanting to play Aaron Crow, but you can always sign some other dude as your 5th starter. I would have kept DDJ, take the gamble that he'll give me what he's given his whole career, and try to sign him.

Problem is, his fastball fooled no one the last couple years. It went over 100 the opposite direction way too often for Oakland. Hopefully we see something we can fix that Oakland didn't.

Please YouTube, after securing a helmet so you don't die. We need your game threads.