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Royals Rumblings - News for September 29, 2014
Andy McCullough has a long piece about Dayton Moore and the long process he asked all of us to trust. And he has a message for you critical spirits.
The Royals won 86 games, not enough to reach October but sufficient to inspire Moore to remark, "In a small way, it feels like we won the World Series." He absorbed another torrent of invective. By now, eight years into this role, he insists he does not require shelter from unrest.
"There’s no question that will surprise me," Moore said. "There’s no mistake that will catch me off-guard. There is no criticism that I’m not aware of. Because I’m a pretty good self-evaluator when it comes to this stuff. I’m an honest evaluator. I know where we make our mistakes.
"I’ve learned to decipher the difference between your critics looking at you with a critical eye or a critical spirit. A critical eye? We can have a discussion, and a lot of times we can have a very healthy discussion.
"If somebody looks at you and evaluates you with a critical spirit? I can’t help that person. Those issues are much deeper than I have the ability to fix, to influence."
Rany Jazayerli reflects upon the night he witnessed the Royals clinch a post-season spot. have been in the business of waiting for the Royals to make the playoffs for so long that, like Inigo Montoya, I need a little time to process the news that the quest is over, and it’s time to find a new quest.
But only a little time. Because clinching a playoff spot isn’t the end of a quest; it’s simply the beginning of one. The Royals disguised this for decades, but making the playoffs is the easy part. Ten out of thirty teams (33.3%) make the playoffs, but just one of those ten (10%) wins a championship.Tonight, the Royals took the first step towards winning a championship. They’ve still got four steps to go. I don’t need to think about what I’m going to do now that the six-fingered man is dead: I’m just going to keep rooting for the Royals to take the next step. And I’m going to enjoy this ride as long as it lasts, all the more so because I get to enjoy it with all of you.
Sam Mellinger celebrates, but notes the challenges in getting to this point.
Moore came to Kansas City anyway, and if he’s honest, getting to the playoffs has taken longer than he expected. Some of that is in mistakes and some of it is that the Royals were in even worse shape than he thought. White was right when he said there was no pride. Moore was shocked when he heard that the year before he took the job, the Royals lost 106 games and didn’t even take a team picture.
"Who would want a picture of that team?" he was told.
Clark Fosler at Royals Authority reflects on his time blogging about the Royals during their dark days.
There were debates over whether David DeJesus smiled too much and Billy Butler didn’t smile enough. Alex Gordon wouldn’t adapt and listen to coaching. Ryan Shealy and Luke Hochevar listened too much. We were told that Tony Pena Jr. would someday hit and we had to watch Emil Brown run the bases. Zack Greinke burst on the scene, quit, went to the bullpen, won a Cy Young and then went all jerkstore on us. Hey, we all endured a lot: even you young whippersnappers.
We can debate the playoff roster Sunday night and maybe, just maybe, argue over whether James Shields should be brought back on short rest for a one game playoff with Detroit to decide the Central Champion on Monday. There will be much to debate, discuss and agonize over very soon.
For now, though, the Kansas City Royals are going to play in the post-season no matter what happens today and tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend, folks, we have all earned it.
Joe Posnanski also reflects on the dark days and how the Royals came through it.
In the afterglow, I find myself trying to remember the low moment, the moment that summed up all of what it meant being a Kansas City Royals fan the last 20 years or so. I think of the time Tim Belcher was named the Kansas City Royals pitcher of the year despite the somewhat limiting fact that he had a 5.02 ERA and had pitched no better than the numbers. He sat on stage glumly, accepted the award with a sheepish speech about how he didn’t deserve this award (in this case, he really didn’t) and sat down no doubt thinking he couldn’t wait to get out of Kansas City (which he did a year later).
The Royals, those Royals, are going to the playoffs.
The Royals say they aren't nursing a hangover from their celebration on Friday.
"We had a good time. We hung out together, but we didn’t get crazy," Mike Moustakas said. "We knew there were more games to play."
In case you missed it, Christian Colon was activated from the disabled list, and should be on the post-season roster for Tuesday's game.
There is a pep rally today at 11:30 at Kauffman Stadium with a Q&A session with Dayton Moore, Ned Yost, and the players as they take batting practice, so make it out there if you want your only chance to see the Royals hit a home run.
There are still a few Wild Card tickets available if you act fast.
She's never looked prettier.
PlayBall!! #Postseason pic.twitter.com/bYf3QZMF9q
— Trevor Vance (@kcgrassman) September 28, 2014
Comedian Rob Riggle is ready.
Well done, Rally House.
How are you feeling today, Kansas City? Who's driving the bus tonight? #royals #beroyalkc pic.twitter.com/enu8HRfURk
— Rally House (@GoRallyHouse) September 26, 2014
The Blue Jays now own the longest playoff drought in North American sports, so the Toronto Star called upon some Royals fans to learn how to handle the misery.
Rieper, who edits the Royals Review SBNation blog, said Royals fans have been reluctant to get their hopes up until the team officially clinched.
"With 29 years of losing baseball, we’ve all got some battle scars, so I think there’s been an apprehensiveness to buy in to the team’s success because we all feel that it could all just fall apart at any moment."
That guy sounds like a smart fellow.
These are the guys that stand between the Royals and the American League Divisional Series (NSFW).
Natonals pitcher Jordan Zimmerman throws a no-hitter on the last day of the season, so it practically doesn't count.
Derek Jeter retired, as well as Paul Konerko and Bobby Abreu. But WHERE WAS CHRIS GETZ'S FAREWELL TOUR?
Well of course Cardinals fans made an obnoxious and hilariously bad playoff music video.
Was the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" with Chris Pratt the best episode they've had in years? Did they do the Richmeister guy? Heh, "Steve-o, Steve-arino, Steve-a-ling-a-ding-dong". I love that guy.
Here is the Star Wars "Turn Down for Hutt" mashup you have been missing your whole life.
Radiohead's Thom Yorke released an album on BitTorrent. So now I have to figure out what BitTorrent is.
Did "The Simpsons"/"Family Guy" cross-over episode really happen?
Your song of the day is Steppenwolf with "Born to be Wild."