Yesterday wasn't a good sports day for Kansas City, was it?
The United States Men's National team was booted out of a World Cup for the second straight time in an excruciating overtime loss, this time by Belgium. Sporting Kansas City had two representatives--Graham Zusi, who was ineffective in the first half and subbed for the second, and Matt Besler, who was very good but was beat twice on what would end up as the winning goal by Belgium. Then, the Kansas City Royals laid an excrement of a game, losing in a blowout 10-2 to the Twins. James Shield claims that he "didn't make too many mistakes," which is true in the same way that Bigfoot's recent entrance into a UFC tournament is.
Today, the Royals continue their streak of playing day games on Wednesday (3 out of their last 4) and face off against Minnesota in the rubber match. A win puts the Royals 4 games above .500, and a loss puts them 2 games above .500. If this sounds familiar, it's because the Royals have been treading water recently and I said the same thing a week ago.
Kansas City hopes to prevent the wound from growing by sending the mystifyingly fantastic Jason Vargas to the mound. He picked a great time to have a career year; his ERA is a career low 3.53 and his xFIP is a career low 4.12. He may not be worth his contract in two years, but he's sure trying to make his signing worthwhile at the moment. Actually, he's been the staff ace considering Shields' struggles; he has consistently pitched deep into games and allowed few runs in each start, and has been the most consistently reliable out of anybody. If you pegged this particular occurrence to happen this year, you are a witch, and I kindly direct you to the nearest witch center. Which is totally a thing.
Come on, Royals. Let's party like it's 2003.