... and its still raining hard here in Iowa.
As I'm sure you know, Alex Gordon has been named the Topps Minor League Player of the Year. His reaction was one of pure joy, the kind of elation that only a few of life's moments can provide:
Gordon, the Royals' hottest prospect and a cool customer, took the news that he was named Topps Minor League Player of the Year in stride -- or at least with his foot on the gas and cell phone in his ear.
"Oh, really?" he said when told of the award. "I didn't know Topps had one."
The Patron Saint of the Royals Webpage, Dick Kaegel, took questions in a recent mailbag that featured heavily answers from Dayton Moore. From this we can conclude:
1) There is no Arod to KC plan in the works.
2) Luke Hudson won't be moving into the 'pen.
3) Moore is still obsessed with pitching.
And then there's this:
What is Teahen's walk-up song? It sounded kind of hip hop/island/reggae. -- Jeffrey N., Lawrence, Kan.
I don't even know if the Royals are sure of the name, but it's a tune left behind by famed musician/pitcher Jose Lima.
If I was a baseball player I think my walkup music would be Chris de Burgh's "Lady in Red", Christopher Cross's "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" or maybe Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years".
It would be a hard decision though, and I'd probably want to change it all the time.
Was anyone else puzzled by the appearance of our Neifi near the conclusion of Game 3/III/Three in St. Louis? Joe Sheehan was.
Leyland made a strange decision late in last night?s game, a double-switch in which he removed Brandon Inge, who made the last out in the top of the eighth, and inserted Neifi Perez into the #9 spot to play third base. There are two reasons to make a double-switch. One, you want to have a better hitter than the pitcher bat in the next inning. Two, you want to avoid having to pinch-hit for the pitcher, so that he can go multiple innings. Neither of these things were in play. With the Tigers down four runs, any hope of seeing the bottom of the ninth inning was almost certainly going to involve batting around. No matter where the pitchers' spot was, it was probably going to have to come up again before the Tigers took the field in the ninth, which would mean the new reliever, in this case Fernando Rodney, was not going to pitch more than an inning. By using Perez in the double switch, Leyland also put his worst hitter in the game leading off the final inning. As bad as this decision was, Leyland compounded it by then hitting for Perez to start the ninth. Leyland cost himself Brandon Inge and gained absolutely nothing. His pitcher wasn?t going to go more than an inning, and he was going to need a pinch-hitter to start the ninth. Using Omar Infante, who pinch-hit for Perez, at third base for an inning wouldn't have justified the move, but it would have at least saved a player. It was a very strange set of decisions for a manager who has thousands of games? worth of experience playing under National League rules.
Lastly, for the 2% of
Royals Review readers who aren't men, might I suggest you take a look at
The Football Monologues, the newest SB Nation site, this time dedicated to female fans. I won't hold it against them that the site name is based on one of the most overrated "plays" of all time.
FIRE MARK MANGINO
