The Day In Royals Camp - February 14

Odds and ends as the full team arrives.

-- In yet another bit of nifty Royals PR fail, the club sent out an email on Thursday with the subject line of "Your Royals Opening Day Ticket Opportunity." Excellent! A chance to get tickets to Opening Day. It's probably a lottery of some sort, with some long odds, but still... an "opportunity."

Then you open the message.

"You are receiving an exclusive opportunity..."

Exclusive! They email subject didn't say anything about exclusive. I must be on some select list of super fan.

"to purchase tickets to every 2013 game..."

Whoooo-hoooooo! Where do I sign up? Opening Day, here I come.

"excluding Opening Day."

What?

But you said...

Nevermind.

The Royals continue to be a masterclass in how not to conduct public relations. I'll get right on those tickets to the Marlins series in August.

-- As Retro noted, Bob Davis announced he would step down from the broadcasts. I like Davis, but not as a baseball announcer. He never developed the nuances necessary to call play by play. It was as if the pace and rhythm of the game were lost on him. Also, how many times have we heard a home run type call on a popup to shallow center?

Although I will miss his mastery of the obvious: "Boy, the Royals really need a run here."

He will continue to call KU football and basketball games. That's good. It's where he belongs.

-- In other broadcast news, Robert Ford who did the pre and post game shows for the Kansas City affiliate is leaving his post and will move to Houston where he will call the Astros inaugural AL season. Ford always struck me as a more "traditional" baseball thinker. That's fine. Just not what I'm looking for in a host of a baseball show.

Having said that, he has a great radio voice and is clearly a fan of the game. He will do well for the Astros. I heard he got the gig after he sent Houston tapes he recorded while watching games last summer. Lesson to young broadcasters: Work your ass off if you want to climb the ladder. Good luck to him.

And if 610 Sports called me about the job, I would listen.

-- Anyone seen the new billboards? The photos look like a pretty solid campaign. It also appears they boards are devoid of any kind of slogan or call to action. I like that kind of marketing from the team. It's a subtle reminder that baseball is around the corner and the team is going to be improved over last season. It works.

Of course, they've been telling us that for 27 years.

-- Dick Kaegel confirms: Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen are battling for the fifth spot in the rotation.

-- Bob Dutton reports the Royals are counting on Eric Hosmer to bounce back from his horrendous 2012. Once he recovered from the slight tear in his rotator cuff that ended his season he was in a hitting cage, working on putting the past in the rearview mirror.

Included in the article is this beauty:

So what went wrong last year?

"I just think," he said, "I started leaking out in front with my back side a lot."

That can't possibly as bad as it sounds but, for a hitter, its plenty bad enough.

Gold. Spring gold.