The Royals open a hellishly long three-game series with the A's tonight (who ever heard of playing a team so many times consecutively?) in what promises to be a series for the ages.
(Random memory, I remember one day when I was a kid, probably 1989-91 range, when I was listening to the radio and they were running through all that night's games. I think it was around mid-season, because certain match-ups were getting some hype. I can still remember the speaker mentioning, probably near the end, that the A's and Angels were getting set to begin a three-game set, which was just perfect, because there's was no way after the series that they could still be tied. Or something to that effect. We now conclude this episode of Will's Memories.)
Making his fourth start for the Royals is Brian Bannister (3-0, 0.86), who is potentially the most talked about starting pitcher in the universe over the last month. What began as a trickle of internet based interest on sites at this level of the foodchain, has turned into a torrent, with just about everyone joining the chorus of praise. The question now is, are we properly utilizing Banny's intelligence? I say no. I want him working on climate change, on the Supreme Court, refereeing Suns-Spurs, serving as Commissioner and accepting a nomination to be both party's VP choice, while writing an epic poem about the whole experience, titled The Banniad. McCain/Bannister or Obamton/Bannister! We can't lose.
Taking the impossible challenge of facing Bannister is Chad Gaudin (Career ERA 4.54) who not only is not a legacy player in Major League Baseball, but is also from Louisiana, meaning Bannister's at least 5000 times smarter than him. Basically, Gaudin is somewhere between Pedro Guerrero and Cher by comparison, and if he had any dignity he would just shoot himself in the foot and avoid the whole mess.