In honor of The Police reuniting let us configure this latest trip down the Royals Link Road to the tracks of their classic album, Synchronicity. Some of these song/link connections actually made sense in my mind, while others were a little bit more obscure. Hey, its March 1st.
Sychronicity I: Just as loyal2sdad was raising the possibility of the Royals fielding a "Legitimate Power Lineup", "joel42" was offering his opinion Gload should bat cleanup over Shealy. Meanwhile, also in the diaries, "FlinthillsRoyal" pointed out the incredible changeability of Buddy Bell's lineup card and batting order last season. I feel like I'm going to be watching the Royals one afternoon and the men due up in the third inning will be Joe Nunnally, Joe McEwing and Scott Pose and I won't even notice it.
Oh My God: Sam Mellinger reports that the Royals don't like their new hats.
Miss Gradenko: "Your uniform don't seem to fit, you're much to alive in it". Meanwhile, Bob Dutton got the opportunity to write a classic Spring Training Story this week. Would you believe that Odalis Perez is in good shape and has a new attitude? I'd love to go through old Spring Training stories like this one and see what the return on investment is. I'm sure Knoblauch felt great in 2002, just like Gonzalez did in 2004 and Runelyvs did in 2005 and 2006.
Every Breath You Take: Like Helen of Troy or a surprisingly cute waitress at Denny's, Royals fans just can't keep their minds off of Angel Berroa. Clark at Royals Authority weighs in on the eternal issue of Berroa's horribleness. Meanwhile Craig shares his thoughts on some key positional battles. Of course, for the really hardcore super-depth analysis, there's our own NHZ on the infield and outfield battles.
Murder by Numbers: The Daily Lancer takes an early look at the Draft. As in the comments for the "RoyalsRetro" diary on the subject, the pool of love for Wieters is expanding, or deepening or whatever pools of love do.
Tea in the Sahara: Breaking 100 offers his thoughts on Denny Matthews. Ditto for Royals Retro, complete with an awesome early seventies photo of Denny.
King of Pain: The perfect song for a Royals fan, making essentially any link work. Still, theres the pain of the past, like, say, the 1985 team eventually fading into history by 1988 or Posnanski's description of a fanbase thats never recovered from the 1994 strike.
Wrapped Around Your Finger: Buddisimo is ready to see the kids play but can that overpower his love for Ross Gload?
Synchronicity II: A song about the "acausal connecting principles" (Jung's definition) which link together entities across time, space and even causality itself. So here's a team preview of the 2007 Diamondbacks (a seriously exciting team), a traditionalist Catholic blog, a wonderful recap of Texas Tech's defeat of Baylor and a wonderful midwestern invention which aids all in their quest to top 300 pounds.