Oh oh it's magic
-The Cars, "Magic"
Was Dougie's three-run homer the biggest hit of the season for the Royals? Its certainly possible. Thanks to, dare I say it, a resurgent Mientkiewicz, the Royals flipped a likely series loss into a series win. It almost felt like we we're watching a normal baseball team actually.
He Couldn't Believe It Either
After a dreadful start, Minky's slowly fought his way to respectability, one single at a time. He's hitting .294/.373/.392 in June, raising his season line to .267/.347/.378. This alongside solid defense (albiet in front of a flyball staff). Sure, Bell's still miscasting him as a 3-hitter, but we can't expect everything to work out well can we?
Lest we forget, Sanders and Buck also contributed massive homers against Pettitte. With the strange Sanders-to-Yankees rumors swirling, take the time to enjoy seeing Reggie Sanders in Royal blue. (Seriously though, why would the Yankees want Reggie?)
During the unending non-story announcing Roger's return to Houston, I heard numerous scribes, most clearly Richard Justice at the Houston Chronicle, describe the clear effects on the team's pysche that just having Roger around/Roger coming back will have on the team. So where was that palpable Roger-effect this weekend? Thats the problem with "analysis" like this, no one goes back and says anything after the Royals take two of three from the Astros, who spend the weekend generally looking very much like a .500 team.
As Chris Burke said postgame, "this was not what we expected this weekend". Hell no, they underestimated the mighty Royals, and paid the price for it. Paid it dearly. Ex-Astros Buddy Bell, Scott Elarton and Brandon Duckworth, along with ex-Astro farmhand John Buck went down to Texas and conquered.
Sure, Buddy tried to ruin the Royals first big-inning in the 6th with more little ball (an increasing habit), asking German to bunt. Here was Pettitte's 6th inning, ask yourself who did whom a favor?
-Homer for Buck
-Double Duckworth (yes, the pitcher)
-Sac bunt from German
-Double Grudz
-Sanders Homer
-Brown fly-out
-Graffy fly-out
Alright, I'm done worrying about it.
The Royals rest today back home, recharging before a gigantic series with Pittsburgh. At 19-49 the Royals have fallen behind the 26-44 Pirates and the 26-42 Cubs in the Worst Team Standings. The Pirates series is a good chance for the Royals to bank some wins, and hopefully build on the good baseball played this weekend in Harris county. If the Royals aren't going to be the worst team in the history of the game, they'll need to take advantage of chances like this.