Despite the highly entertaining nature of this UNC-Miami game on television right now*, I'm feeling like another brief look into the way-back machine to check out this date in Royals history. This is actually the second installment of TDiRH, with my first peek back into the past coming back in July Link Here.  I honestly have no idea how September 27th has treated the Royals in the past, but I'm ready to find out! I'm always somewhat-enthralled by these late season lineups, so maybe Sept. 27th will have some doozies.  (Remember when Eric Milton threw a no-hitter in mid-September against the Angels' AAA lineup?)   If you don't, check out this lineup for the Angels: Box Score Here.

* My only interest in this UNC/'Da U game is tied to that maddening addicting ESPN.com game "Streak for the Cash."  For those that are unaware, all you have to do is pick 25 consecutive matchups/games/prop bets they provide. If you get your streak to 25, you win ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!! If you miss,  you start back at zero. (Sadly, my highest streak is five. My current one is two).

via zerotosixty.files.wordpress.com

Five Years Ago:  September 27, 2003
Our magical season had finally crashed back to reality (Curses to you...Dr. Regression!!), and the Royals were resigned to simply playing out the string from third place, 7.0 games back. Our boys in blue were still six games over .500 at this point, and September 27th had them at Kauffman, toiled in a heated battle with the Pale Hose from the South Side of Chicago (home of baseball's greatest fans....as well as the annual "Mullet Night" promotion....which of course, are totally unrelated)

via profile.ak.facebook.com

Anyway, after splitting the first two games of the series, September 27th brought us the pitching duel of Big Fat Bartolo Colon vs. The Man Baird Refused to Call Up from AAA, Jamey Wright. 

Needless to say, this day did not turn out in the Royals' favor. In fact, it wasn't even close. Try 19-3 Chicago.  It was 13-1 by the 5th inning. Ouch, babe.  Before we view the damage, let me warn you that it may not be safe for young, impressionable eyes.  Sept. 27, 2005 was not a good day for KC. As a great man once said, "The sea was angry that day, my friends."

Chicago White Sox  AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS 

W Harris 2B                   6   3   3   1    1   0  .205  .503  
C Lee LF                        4   2   0   2    1   0  .289  .827  
F Thomas DH               2   2   2   1    1   0  .267  .952   
  A Miles PH                  2   1   1   0    0   0  .375 1.000   
M Ordonez RF             6   1   1   1    0   1  .319  .932     
  A Rios RF                   0   0   0   0    0   0  .212  .543         
C Everett CF                  5   2   4   4    0   0  .287  .878    
  A Rowand CF             1   0   1   1    0   0  .287  .779     
B Daubach 1B              6   1   2   1    0   4  .223  .729     
J Valentin SS                 5   3   2   1    1   2  .236  .776    
J Crede 3B                    6   3   3   4    0   1  .263  .746  
M Olivo C                      5   1   2   1    1   0  .238  .646  

*Yes, that's Aaron Miles. I didn't remember him being on the White Sox.  No, it's not Alex Rios. Try Armando Rios. And of course, there's our buddy Miguel Olivo.  And the infamous Brian Daubach. If I remember correctly, Daubach wasn't a member of the players' union since he was a replacement player (like Ron Mahay), so he wouldn't have his real name in MLB video games like MVP Baseball or High Heat.  So Daubach would always have a made-up name for his player, and I'd have to go in and manually edit his name to its correct form.

Kansas City Royals   AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS 
A Berroa SS                   2   0   0   0    0   0  .288  .792       
  M Lopez PH-SS          2   1   2   2    0   0  .283  .770      2   HR
C Beltran CF                  1   0   0   0    0   0  .308  .911     
  D DeJesus CF            3   0   1   0    0   0  .167  .786  
M Sweeney DH             4   1   1   1    0   1  .294  .860      HR
R Ibanez 1B                   3   0   0   0    0   1  .295  .800       
  J Patterson 1B            1   0   1   0    0   0  .211  .529   
J Randa 3B                    2   0   0   0    0   0  .291  .802    
  J Matos 3B                   1   0   0   0    0   0  .255  .632   
  M Tucker PH                1   0   0   0    0   0  .264  .773   
A Guiel RF                     3   0   0   0    0   0  .280  .843  
R White LF                     2   0   0   0    0   1  .289  .829   
  D Brown LF                  1   0   0   0    0   0  .231  .610    
D Relaford 2B                2   1   0   0    1   0  .255  .693    
M Difelice C                   2   0   0   0    0   0  .254  .696      
  T Prince C                   1   0   0   0    0   0  .196  .672    

I love the 2-2 with 2 HR performance off the bench for Mendy Lopez. Of course he would build that momentum into 2004, becoming an Opening Day hero with a pinch-hit 3-run homer off of the Sox and Damaso Marte, cementing himself as a permanent member of Royals' history in the process.

And who is J. Patterson?  I sure didn't know. It's Jarrod Patterson, but he had his final major league hit in this game.  Congrats, Jarrod.  Somewhat coincidentally, Tom Prince would get a hit the next day for the Royals in the final game of his major league career as well. 

Oh...and the pitching performance?  Bartolo Colon threw a complete game to finish off a 15-13 season.  What about the Royals?  Here's a multiple choice question:

The Royals used five pitchers on Sept. 27, 2003. Which one of them did NOT give up a run?
A.  Jamey Wright
B.  Brad Voyles
C. Kris Wilson
D. Graeme Lloyd
E. Nate Field
F. None of the Above

Ten Years Ago: September 27, 1998
KC finished eight games better than their Pythag this season, good enough for a third place finish. It was Muser's best finish ever as Royals' manager. The Royals were at home (again) against the White Sox (again), but this time Sept. 27 was the final game of the season. Sadly, the good guys would fall 7-6, with one of the originators of the Academy of Grit, Tim Belcher, taking the loss at the expense of James Baldwin.  Here are the gloomy details:

Chicago White Sox      AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details
M Caruso SS                  5   2   2   0    0   0  .306  .721   13    1   1  
C Wilson 2B                   3   0   1   1    0   1  .468 1.256   12    1   4   SF
F Thomas DH               2   1   0   0    1   0  .265  .861   13    0   0  
  J Abbott PH                  1   0   0   0    0   0  .279  .790    5    0   0   SB
A Belle LF                       4   2   3   3    0   1  .328 1.054   16    1   0   HR
R Ventura 3B                 4   1   3   3    0   1  .263  .785   14    0   1   HR,2B
M Ordonez RF                4   0   0   0    0   1  .282  .741   14    4   0  
G Norton 1B                   4   0   0   0    0   2  .237  .699   10    7   1  
B Simmons CF             4   0   0   0    0   1  .368 1.052    9    4   0  
M Johnson C                 3   1   0   0    1   1  .087  .386   18    9   0  

--If you're like me, you saw "J Abbott" and immediately wondered if those crazy Chicagoans let Jim Abbott pinch hit since it was the season finale.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Kansas City Royals       AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details
J Damon RF                    5   1   1   1    0   2  .277  .778   18    2   1   HR
C Beltran CF                   4   1   1   2    0   1  .276  .783   13    3   0   2B,SF
J Offerman DH                4   1   2   2    1   1  .315  .841   22    0   0   HR
D Palmer 3B                   3   0   0   0    2   3  .278  .843   26    1   1  
J Giambi LF                    3   0   0   0    2   1  .224  .740   28    2   0  
H Morris 1B                    3   0   0   0    0   0  .309  .731    7    7   0  
  J Conine PH-1B           2   0   0   0    0   0  .256  .729    5    2   0  
T Spehr C                        3   1   0   0    1   1  .171  .587   12    8   0  
  M Sweeney PH             1   0   0   0    0   0  .259  .728    7    0   0  
M Lopez SS                    4   1   0   0    0   0  .243  .611   21    1   3  
C Febles 2B                   2   1   2   1    2   0  .400 1.083   20    1   4  

T Belcher P                                                              0   0
  R Bones P                                                              0   0
  M Whisenant P                                                          0   0
  J Montgomery P                                                         0   0
Totals                       34   6   6   6    8   9              179   27   9

--Look at that great production from the bottom two-thirds of the order!!! 2-21.  Great work guys. 
--Ohh and remember the Dean Palmer days? He won the Silver Slugger at was an All-Star at third base this year for the Royals with his 34 HR and 119 RBI.
--Sadly, this was Ricky Bones' final game as a Kansas City Royal.  Without looking it up, take a guess at how much money he made in salary in his MLB career.

How much $$$$ did Ricky Bones make in his career?
A.  Less than 500,000
B.  500,000-1.5 Million
C. 1.5 Million-3 Million
D. 3 Million-5 Million
E. 5 Million-7 Million

Glory Days: September 27, 1985
Winding the time machine way back to 1985, September 27th found the Royals tied for first place with 10 games remaining in the season. KC was pitted against Minnesota  (Bud Black vs. Frank Viola). Once again, Sept 27th was not kind to the Royals as Minnesota scored four runs off of Black in five innings.  That was more than enough for Viola, whose only blemish was a solo homer to Frank White, as he went the distance to improve to 17-14 on the season.

Kansas City Royals     AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details
W Wilson CF                4   0   1   0    0   0  .274  .712    0    4   0   2B
L Smith LF                    4   0   0   0    0   1  .265  .714    0    2   0  
G Brett 3B                     4   0   0   0    0   0  .331  .995    0    0   6  
F White 2B                    2   1   1   1    1   0  .252  .708    0    3   3   HR
S Balboni 1B                3   0   0   0    0   1  .239  .783    0    9   1  
D Motley DH                 3   0   0   0    0   2  .228  .686    0    0   0  
J Sundberg C              3   0   1   0    0   0  .239  .674    0    3   1  
L Jones RF                  3   0   0   0    0   1  .218  .520    0    2   1   GDP
O Concepcion SS       2   0   0   0    0   0  .206  .505    0    0   1  
  G Pryor PH-SS           1   0   0   0    0   0  .217  .536    0    0   0  

B Black P                                                                1   0
  M Huismann P                                                           0   0
  J Beckwith P                                                           0   0
Totals                       29   1   3   1    1   5                    24  13

Minnesota Twins         AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details
K Puckett CF                  4   1   1   2    0   0  .280  .693    0    1   0   HR
M Hatcher LF                 4   0   1   0    0   0  .277  .665    0    2   0  
K Hrbek 1B                    3   0   1   0    1   1  .275  .791    0   11   0  
T Brunansky RF           4   0   0   0    0   0  .243  .770    0    3   0  
M Funderburk DH        3   0   1   0    0   0  .370 1.030    0    0   0  
D Engle C                     3   1   0   0    0   0  .253  .748    0    5   0   SB
G Gaetti 3B                   3   1   1   1    0   1  .246  .710    0    1   2   HR
G Gagne SS                 3   0   1   1    0   0  .228  .604    0    3   4  
S Lombardozzi 2B       3   1   1   0    0   0  .324  .819    0    1   1   2B

F Viola P                                                                0   0
Totals                       30   4   7   4    1   2                    27   7

--Time of game:  2:01  

--Hmmm....maybe I should've chosen three different years to examine, since Sept 27th wasn't too kind to the Royals in these three seasons. I am glad to report that the Royals have, in fact, won on September 27th. They just didn't happen to do it in these years. Hopefully we can pick up another today against those Twinkies!!

TRIVIA ANSWERS
1.   If you said E., Nate Field,  you are correct!  He was the final (and only) pitcher to not give up a run that day, throwing a scoreless top of the 9th.

2.  Once again, it's answer choice E. (5 Million-7 Million).  He made approx. 5.4 Million according to baseball reference. I didn't remember him being that good, but he did make an All-Star team, and he had a career ERA+ of 95 over the course of ten major league seasons.  Good for you Ricky!

via www.baseball-almanac.com