keg in kc
04-03-2003, 02:07 AM
Go ahead, get excited about these Royals (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/mlb/kansas_city_royals/5544521.htm)
By JOE POSNANSKI
Columnist
Posted on Thu, Apr. 03, 2003
OK, I say you start Jeremy Affeldt in game one of the World Series. He's tough, he's left-handed, he's my guy. Of course, you could start Runelvys Hernandez. Knowing Tony Pena, it will come down to a coin flip. I just hope they televise it.
Come on. Admit it. You're excited. Why not? The Royals are 2-0 for the first time since Jimmy Carter was in office. Are you kidding me? You have to be a little bit excited. Joe Randa hits a huge two-run homer. Mike MacDougal slams the door shut in the ninth again. Royals pitchers don't give up a home run in back-to-back games? Who knows when the last time that happened?
I'm not going to look it up, I can tell you that.
There's no time to look back. There's a pennant race going on.
Come on. You have to be energized. Because deep down, under the dirt and dust, the Miles Prentice caps and discarded Bob Boone lineup cards, the Bip Roberts complaints and all those coach's signals Neifi Perez missed, this is a real-live baseball town.
It always was. It was a baseball town when Phil Rizzuto and Jerry Priddy lived together off Armour Road and played together for the Blues. It was a baseball town when the guys in the grounds crew wore space suits at Athletics games. It was a baseball town when Dan Quisenberry threw low sinkers and batters hit rocket ground balls at Frank White and George Brett.
It was a baseball town the last time this team started 2-0. That was 1979.
And it's a baseball town now. Sure, it's been hard to tell lately. There was a strike and years without an owner and a couple of scary trades and a 100-loss season. There was Jay Bell not running out ground balls, and Ricky Bottalico blowing saves, and Tony Muser looking as if he just lost his dog, and Jerry Spradlin being Jerry Spradlin.
"You have to be mean to get people out!" Royals bullpen coach at the time Tom Burgmeier said to Spradlin. "Toughen up."
"I don't see why you have to be mean," Spradlin said, and even though he could throw as hard as just about anybody alive, he was out of baseball at the end of the year.
Yes, after a while, all of it just wears down a baseball town. Drains all the energy out of people. Suddenly, you hear lots of your friends saying they don't go to games anymore, as if baseball was something they left behind years ago, like eight-track tapes and parachute pants.
But winning gets the blood flowing again, doesn't it? And I mean just a little bit of winning. Of course it's ridiculous to get all fired up after two games. But what's wrong with being ridiculous? The Royals are undefeated, in first place, and they're doing it right, with a bunch of kids who don't know any better. They've got Angel Berroa diving for ground balls, and Ken Harvey swinging hard, and Affeldt throwing that big curveball and that wacky Mike MacDougal throwing cartoon fastballs.
Remember when Bugs Bunny threw a ball through a guy's bat?
MacDougal might do that before the year's out.
It's enough to get you dreaming. Goofy things happen in baseball. Sometimes a team starts winning, and suddenly everybody on the team starts thinking, "Hey, we're pretty good," and so they keep on winning, and everybody says, "Wow, we really must be good," and before you know it, there's a pennant race going on.
And that's what this city needs more than anything. A pennant race. There's nothing like the day-to-day thrill of a pennant race. Every morning, you run to the newspaper to see the standings. Every evening, you turn on Ryan and Denny to check in. Pop on the television. Seventh inning? Royals winning? How are the Twins doing? Losing? Really? Where does that put the Royals?
Nothing in the world like it.
It's been a long, long time. So get excited. It's not too early. It's like Royals captain Mike Sweeney says: "We're going to win all year. Everybody in this clubhouse believes. We want everybody to believe."
You can feel it. Wednesday, people were talking Royals. On the radio. At work. In the neighborhood. I saw a guy wearing a Royals cap at the hardware store. Sure, it was only one guy. But you have to start somewhere. There will be plenty of people wearing Royals caps in October when Jeremy Affeldt starts that World Series game. Or maybe it will be Runelvys Hernandez. It's too early to tell.
By JOE POSNANSKI
Columnist
Posted on Thu, Apr. 03, 2003
OK, I say you start Jeremy Affeldt in game one of the World Series. He's tough, he's left-handed, he's my guy. Of course, you could start Runelvys Hernandez. Knowing Tony Pena, it will come down to a coin flip. I just hope they televise it.
Come on. Admit it. You're excited. Why not? The Royals are 2-0 for the first time since Jimmy Carter was in office. Are you kidding me? You have to be a little bit excited. Joe Randa hits a huge two-run homer. Mike MacDougal slams the door shut in the ninth again. Royals pitchers don't give up a home run in back-to-back games? Who knows when the last time that happened?
I'm not going to look it up, I can tell you that.
There's no time to look back. There's a pennant race going on.
Come on. You have to be energized. Because deep down, under the dirt and dust, the Miles Prentice caps and discarded Bob Boone lineup cards, the Bip Roberts complaints and all those coach's signals Neifi Perez missed, this is a real-live baseball town.
It always was. It was a baseball town when Phil Rizzuto and Jerry Priddy lived together off Armour Road and played together for the Blues. It was a baseball town when the guys in the grounds crew wore space suits at Athletics games. It was a baseball town when Dan Quisenberry threw low sinkers and batters hit rocket ground balls at Frank White and George Brett.
It was a baseball town the last time this team started 2-0. That was 1979.
And it's a baseball town now. Sure, it's been hard to tell lately. There was a strike and years without an owner and a couple of scary trades and a 100-loss season. There was Jay Bell not running out ground balls, and Ricky Bottalico blowing saves, and Tony Muser looking as if he just lost his dog, and Jerry Spradlin being Jerry Spradlin.
"You have to be mean to get people out!" Royals bullpen coach at the time Tom Burgmeier said to Spradlin. "Toughen up."
"I don't see why you have to be mean," Spradlin said, and even though he could throw as hard as just about anybody alive, he was out of baseball at the end of the year.
Yes, after a while, all of it just wears down a baseball town. Drains all the energy out of people. Suddenly, you hear lots of your friends saying they don't go to games anymore, as if baseball was something they left behind years ago, like eight-track tapes and parachute pants.
But winning gets the blood flowing again, doesn't it? And I mean just a little bit of winning. Of course it's ridiculous to get all fired up after two games. But what's wrong with being ridiculous? The Royals are undefeated, in first place, and they're doing it right, with a bunch of kids who don't know any better. They've got Angel Berroa diving for ground balls, and Ken Harvey swinging hard, and Affeldt throwing that big curveball and that wacky Mike MacDougal throwing cartoon fastballs.
Remember when Bugs Bunny threw a ball through a guy's bat?
MacDougal might do that before the year's out.
It's enough to get you dreaming. Goofy things happen in baseball. Sometimes a team starts winning, and suddenly everybody on the team starts thinking, "Hey, we're pretty good," and so they keep on winning, and everybody says, "Wow, we really must be good," and before you know it, there's a pennant race going on.
And that's what this city needs more than anything. A pennant race. There's nothing like the day-to-day thrill of a pennant race. Every morning, you run to the newspaper to see the standings. Every evening, you turn on Ryan and Denny to check in. Pop on the television. Seventh inning? Royals winning? How are the Twins doing? Losing? Really? Where does that put the Royals?
Nothing in the world like it.
It's been a long, long time. So get excited. It's not too early. It's like Royals captain Mike Sweeney says: "We're going to win all year. Everybody in this clubhouse believes. We want everybody to believe."
You can feel it. Wednesday, people were talking Royals. On the radio. At work. In the neighborhood. I saw a guy wearing a Royals cap at the hardware store. Sure, it was only one guy. But you have to start somewhere. There will be plenty of people wearing Royals caps in October when Jeremy Affeldt starts that World Series game. Or maybe it will be Runelvys Hernandez. It's too early to tell.