With a chance to make something magical happen, the Royals came up short. Entering the 9th down 5-2, our boys responded (after a Berroa fly out of course) with a single-walk-walk-walk rally, leaving the bases loaded for Reggie Sanders with one out in a 5-3 game.
Against Kirk/Kurt/whatever the #%^# Saarloos.
Sanders struck out.
Against Whomever Saarloos.
But have no fear, heroic FA signee Dougie Mientkiewicz was still coming up, with a good chance that one of his patented singles would tie the game.
It was not to be.
But hey, when Minky's your 5 hitter by choice, you sorta renege the right to complain about not scoring runs.
All in all, just a weird game last night. Essentially at no point did it look like the Royals were gonna win, save for perhaps Sanders at bat in the 9th. Here's an idea Buddisimo, how about batting Matt Stairs 5th, and saving Minky for the pinch-hitting for John Buck role??
Nea... how the hell could Minky make 350 outs if we did that?? And hey, a .262 average with no power and no patience is OK for an AL firstbaseman in 2006, so its not like theres even an issue here.
Sigh.
Still, it was nice to see the Royals battle back. It was doubly nice to see the newly married Jimma Gobble throw 3+ strong, keeping the Royals in the game. It was like he was Mike Wood or something. They made my life vaguely interesting for about 10 minutes, which in other contexts can usually only be achieved with a couple hundred dollars.
Its a great time to be alive.
Its the Royal Way: have your high-priced starter implode for 3 innings, then let the AAAA guys you don't trust keep you in the game, then fall just short at the end. Then stay tuned for Buddy Bell's awe-shucks anti-intellectualism post-game. Rinse, repeat.
Tonight, should the weather hold, its an inspriational matchup between Esteban Loaiza (0-3, 8.35 ERA), who's been putting up Royal-worthy numbers and Jeremy Affeldt (1-2, 6.27 ERA), who should be immediately traded should he ever get his ERA below 5.00.
I have complete certainty that it will be a magical night, one filled with the thrills and chills of Royal baseball. You'll remember where you were for years to come. Please post you comments below.