Last night I was chosen with 7 other bloggers to partipate in the Blog Your Way to the K event. It was a great experience. We were given access to the team that few others get.

 

We got to the stadium at 4 p.m. and were given our field pass and suite tickets by Erin Sleddans. She was extremely helpful especially since I didn't receive my parking permit in the mail yet. She said wear I parked was fine (which was as close to the front gate as possible). We then were excorted to our suite and given a package of bling that included a T-Shirt, media guide, huge book of score cards and game related material. At that point Mike Swanson became our guide by setting up interviews and taking us down to the field for access. We got interviews with Dayton Moore, Ned Yost, Bruce Chen, Eric Hosmer, Jeff Montgomery, Lee Judge and Ryan Lefebvre.

Many questions were asked of each person, but here are some of the ones that I felt were the most important:

Dayton Moore

• The Royals are looking at 8 to 12 players for the #5 spot in the draft.
• Stated that many players have close to the same level of talent and will always take the one with the best makeup. In last year's draft, they had Tallion and Harper as the top 2 talents and a bunch of players at the same level after them.

Ned Yost

• Never reads blogs.
• Hates interviews, but it is part of the job of a MLB managers.
• Plans on using Collins in LRLR situations and Teaford in LLLL situations. --correction---
• The team has no one designated as a long relievers right now.
• The team is not trying to extend Crow out right now and he is staying in the pen for a while longer.

 

Bruce Chen

• Was told that the Cm'on Chen t-shirt would win the vote last year. He has heard that there is a good chance that it will one for 2011.
• He didn't hear Will Farrell yelling at him.
• Mention that his 3^rd language is B.S.

Eric Hosmer

• His family thinks his mom was getting more TV time than he was getting.
• Thought a T-Shirt that said "O my gosh" with her on it would be great.

Jeff Montgomery

• Mentioned that he always threw to the bottom of the plate so if he missed, it was be low and a would not put a pitch down the middle of the plate.
• Will be happy to see Soria break his saves record.

Lee Judge

• I am an idiot when asked about getting hit by the pitching machine fast ball last week.

• Only reads general baseball headlines, transaction reports, The Star and Kagel for information.

Mike Swanson

• Stated that the Royals are really working on the Latin American player's English so they can at least do the Bull Durham interview quotes.
• Team was generally pissed at The Dan Patrick show because they wanted Vin Mazzaro on their show after his record breaking performance Monday night.

It was great to have the access the players and team personnel.

 

I did feel out of place at the game though. Our suite was hooked up with plenty of food, but there was no beer provided since it was a working media area. It was just weird being at a game and not having a beer.

 

The other item I was surprised to see missing from the fridge they stocked with drinks for us was Pepsi Max. I just expected a whole fridge of Frank Whites.

 

I would loved to be ask to go again and if anyone else is given the chance to go, do it. They seemed to be open to several different types of bloggers. Heck, they let FakeNedYost in …. and out.