Vent Thread for FOFC's Three KC Royals Fans

[kcchief19]

Buddy Bell ??!!??

I've never really understood the free pass Allard Baird gets around here. His greatest acclaim has really been taking steaming piles of crap and turning them into service major league players (Paul Byrd, Jeff Suppan, Jose Lima), but aside from Zack Greinke most of his draft picks have flamed out and his trades have done the same. The jury is still out on the Beltran deal, but Teahen and Buck are both less polished than advertisted.

Bell is the last straw. Baird has got to be on a short leash now. I don't hink he'll get much of a honeymoon from the fans. Bell has flamed out twice as a manager with a horrible record each time. Art Howe had his flaws, but he seemed to be the fan favorite thanks to his experiences with the Oakland pitching staff and his seemingly genuine interest in the job. I'd even have taken Terry Collins or Jerry Manuel because at least they won with their teams.

Worst. Hire. Ever.

[Toddiec]

I agree with you on Bell not being the number one pick in my mind, but the pickings were pretty slim. Howe would have been my choice but he is still making a bunch of money from the Mets and that (along with the team being a complete mess right now) may have made him reconsider. Not much can be done now. Hopefully he will crack some heads because the boys need to get out of the Camp Pena grab-ass fest they have got going on down there. Am I excited about Bell..no. Is he the new manager that I have to hope does well because I am a Royals fan...yep.

I personally like Baird and what he has done. He did pull off that Grimsley deal and didn't even have to take the Orioles out for dinner before he screwed them. I don't know if he could have done any better than he did with Beltran. Beltran was good, but he wasn't going to cause some team to clean out their minors system to get him (well, until he went nuclear in the playoffs and his stock went through the roof). The Royals were over a barrel and most teams knew it. Heck, he even managed to make signings that he was being praised for when ownership opened up the wallet a little at the beginning of last year. In fact, he was pretty smart for not locking those guys (Santiago, Juan Gone) up for more than a year or two and running the chance of killing our team for the next five years instead of (hopefully) only the next couple.

I don't know, call me a crazy optimist. They are my team so I am going to keep cheering them on. I certainly see some truths to what you say, though.

[Ksyrup]

Buddy Bell is the MLB equivalent to hiring Don Nelson or Dick Motta.

[Ksyrup]

Or Kevin Loughery. That was the other name I was thinking of.

[kcchief19]

Buddy Bell is the MLB equivalent to hiring Don Nelson or Dick Motta. That's an insult against Don Nelson! :) At least he has a career winning record and has taken teams to the playoffs.

Bell has had one winning season as a skipper (82-80) and has a winning percentage of .428. Tony Muser had a winning percentage of .424. <shudder>

Toddiec, good point on Bautista. I started to mention that in my original post as a positive for Baird, but it's still too early to say for sure -- at this point Bautista is all potential. To me, though, it doesn't quite offset Jermaine Dye for Neifi Perez.

[hoosierdude]

I tend to agree that Baird has to get the negative side of the David "I will keep my cash thank you" Glass me first thinking that the Royals have to live with... but I am not sold on his tenure either.

Buddy Bell... well it isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. He isn't my first choice, but then who would want to go to KC to manage? That is a hard sell no matter who you are. And yes I am a longtime Royals fan.

[JasonC23]

As a White Sox fan, I wholeheartedly endorse this hiring. Well done, KC!

[judicial clerk]

I am a lifelong Royals fan, but I stopped caring about five or six years ago. Now, I rarely follow baseball and just check the standings to make sure the Royals are in last. *Sigh*

[Ksyrup]

That's an insult against Don Nelson! :) At least he has a career winning record and has taken teams to the playoffs.
Yeah, but give Buddy Bell 20 years to manage with 5 or 6 teams, and I bet he ends up in the playoffs, too. Motta and Loughery are probably better examples, but you get my point.

[kcchief19]

Yeah, but give Buddy Bell 20 years to manage with 5 or 6 teams, and I bet he ends up in the playoffs, too. Motta and Loughery are probably better examples, but you get my point. No, I do get your point ... I just think Bell is more like the MLB version of Tim Floyd. God, help us ...

[Schmidty]

To be fair, Bell wasn't exactly given much to work with when he was in Detroit.

I actually liked him when he was the Tigers manager.

[Ksyrup]

I would love to have one job, let alone three, where I was taking over in an awful situation and got 3 guaranteed years with great pay to "try" to turn it around. And if it didn't happen, people would say, "Well, what did you expect? Look at what they gave him to work with." And then I'd get an assistant job with a friend, get paid decent money, and in 3 years or so, get another guaranteed 3 years of great pay to deal with a no-win situation. And on the off-chance something miraculous happened, I might hit the motherload. What a life.

[John Galt]

Vent Thread for the World's Three KC Royals Fans

Fixed that for you.

Sorry, though - this is truly a pathetic hire. Hopefully for you all, it will just be interim. You have to be happy that Baird is finally turning into an ok/sometimes decent GM. You can't expect both parts of management to be acceptable at the same time. :D

[Swaggs]

http://bigpimpinmba.diaryland.com/images/nelson.jpg

[WSUCougar]

Look on the bright side...Larry Bowa was available.

[sterlingice]

I'm really not sure about the hire at all. I don't mean "I'm not sure" in the "I'm not sure, but I think it sucks" - it's literally "I'm not sure at all what to make of this".

SI

[sterlingice]

Look on the bright side...Larry Bowa was available.
The scary thing is that the drive time guy (Kietzman) on the station that has the rights to the Royals was really pushing for Bowa. That would have been a nightmare.

I was kindof pulling for Art Howe- he was the only candidate that I think brings real positives, looking at his track record as he oversaw the rise of Bags and Big in Houston and the mess of talent in Oakland. Then again, I don't know how much I really feel a manager can do. Was he just the beneficiary of the front office in both of those cities. Or was he the manager who either fostered or, at the very least, didn't hinder the progress of those players.

SI

[the_meanstrosity]

I'm baffled by the Buddy Bell hiring. A local sports writer in KC suggested Bobby Valentine. During the last hiring, I was really hoping KC would hire either Buck Showalter or Bobby Valentine. So imagine my surprise when Baird went with Tony Pena which absolutely blew my mind considering he was another players' coach with no MLB managerial experience ala Tony Muser. At least Bell has some MLB experience although it certainly isn't "winning" experience.

I can't fault Baird's personnel moves because I honestly believe he's done a decent job with what he's been given. But his hiring decisions really show his inexperience as a baseball GM. I would have liked to see him consult a more experienced and successful GM when hiring a manager.

This Buddy Bell hiring will either make or break Allard Baird in KC.

[Toddiec]

Darn. I was hoping that KCChief wouldn't pull out the Dye-Perez deal. Actually, I have selectively erased that memory from my mind. What were we talking about?

[Scarecrow]

http://66.246.101.57/forums/images/smilies/nono.gif http://66.246.101.57/forums/images/smilies/censored.gifhttp://66.246.101.57/forums/images/smilies/banghead.gif

[TRO]

I think I need to change my name. TheRoyalOne no longer fits. This is extremely sad.

[kcchief19]

http://66.246.101.57/forums/images/smilies/nono.gif http://66.246.101.57/forums/images/smilies/censored.gifhttp://66.246.101.57/forums/images/smilies/banghead.gif That summarizes my thoughts eloquently.

My main problem with this is that the Royals have two types of players right now: young impressionable rookies who can still be molded and veterans who no longer care about winning and losing as much as making money and "having fun."

That was one reason why I wasn't terribly unhappy to see Joe Randa go. Randa was a nice player and better than anyone else they had, but Randa was a malcontent -- if he didn't hit fifth or sixth in the lineup in an "RBI position" he moaned and complained in his passive-aggressive way even though he wasn't an "RBI-type" hitter. He's a No. 2 or bottom of the order guy, but he wouldn't play well if you hit him there. Mike Sweeney is another moaner. He likes to play GM, suggesting to the media who the team should go after. He has also publicly lobbied for his own personal choice for manager during the last two searches, which undermines both the GM and new manager. Mike Sweeney is the kind of guy that makes me believe in the OOPT clutch rating -- he's a great player for a team hopelessly out it, but put him in a pennant race like he was in in 2003 or any other tight position and he folds like a card table.

The reason I like Howe was that he had won in two different places. He could have come in here and said, "I know how to win, it's my way or the highway." If Bell comes in here and tries to kick the vets in the pants and set an example for the rookies, the vets will just say, "Nice 109 loss season in Detroit, dumbass."

My *guess* unfortunately is that this came down to money. I'd be anything that of the four legitimate finalists, Bell was the one will to work for the least money.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope he turns this thing around. But this seems like a risky gamble.

[MrBug708]

Hey Matt, I wouldnt mind being the Royals manager...;)

[st.cronin]

The Royals? Are they still in the league?

[st.cronin]

Larry Dierker is another guy who I think is available who might be able to succeed here.

[sterlingice]

Larry Dierker is another guy who I think is available who might be able to succeed here.
That was kindof my runner up choice- former pitcher, won all but one season in Houston. Might have been too much of a student of the game to work with young guys, tho. There's no Bagwell and Biggio to police the clubhouse here.

SI

[WSUCougar]

I think I need to change my name. TheRoyalOne no longer fits. This is extremely sad.
How about "AAA" ?




j/k

[devaneyfan]

The Glass, Baird, Pena trio had to be broken up.

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~spl/Academic/Robots/Lenny/robot/three_stooges.jpg

I thought Pena's management of the pitching staff was horrible. I'm surprised Greinke didn't go off last year after getting pulled from so many games early only to see the bullpen lose it for him. Anderson, Lima - please euthanize them. Bell can not possibly do any worse than Pena. Now Baird can focus on brining in the next Eli Marrero or Jose Lima.

[Scarecrow]

Larry Dierker is another guy who I think is available who might be able to succeed here.
My list of managers was:


Tom Kelley
Art Howe
Cito Gastin
anyone else
Bob Schaffer
Frank White
Buddy Bell
Larry Bowa

[kcchief19]

My list of managers was:



Tom Kelley
Again, I'm in the minority that doesn't think the Glass family is necessarily cheap, I just think they don't want to lose money -- they want to break even. OK, fine.


But for the direction they are going, they could slash $3 million in payroll and BEG Tom Kelley to take this job and be a better team immediately. I'd buy tickets just to watch that guy manage. Maybe he got too burned out in Minnesota and he's enjoying fishing, but I'd throw some money at him and see what happens.


Devaney, I'm with you on Pena's management of the pitching staff. I just wasn't certain whether to blame him or Baird. Case in point -- in the opening week of the season, they let Runelvys Hernandez enter the eight inning with more than 100 pitches in the tank in his second game after reconstructive surgery, then two days later pulled Greinke when he had cruised through six innings in 70 pitches and was mowing them down. Hernandez got torched and hasn't been right since, the bullpen got torched and Greinke is still winless. Pena's play-for-one-run offense didn't do Zach any favors - in this first seven starts the Royals scored FOUR runs while he was in the game and he had like a 3.18 ERA.



There is one glimmer of optimism in my gloom and doom reaction to the Bell hiring. Despite his similar winning percentage to Muser and Pena, it's entirely possible that Muser and Pena would have done even worse at Bell's stops than he did. Bell's Detroit team that lost 109 games might have lost 130 with Muser or Pena running the show. :)

[sterlingice]

Again, I'm in the minority that doesn't think the Glass family is necessarily cheap, I just think they don't want to lose money -- they want to break even. OK, fine.
This is where I am, too. I understand the "let's now spend money just to spend money", particularly this year when they were going to suck. If they skimp on the draft pick next week (Boras clients excepted), trade Sweeney just to trade him, or start making noise about dealing the David DeJesus's and Zack Greinke's of the world in a couple of years before they start to cost a lot then it's another story. But it doesn't seem that way right now- last year when it looked like they could contend, they spent money in what seemed like some good bargains and well placed gambles (Anderson and Leskanic were lights out for them down the stretch in 2003, Randa had been a fixture here, Juan Gonzalez and Benito Santiago seemed like reasonable veteran gambles)- they weren't going to snag a Roger Clemens or Vlad Guerrero or Miguel Tejada tho I suppose an injury plagued Pudge or Javy Lopez was possible if they hadn't gone for Santiago.

SI

[st.cronin]

I'm pretty sure the Tom Kelley who used to manage the Twins (and I assume is the one you fellows are talking about) is retired and unavailable. Dierker *has* said he would like to manage again, although he is not young and has had health issues. I hope he gets a chance.

[kcchief19]

SI, I agree. It's a fine line. I can take the plan they are on right now if they stick with it. But I'll pull my hair out if the say Gotay or Donnie Murphy is our second baseman and then go out next offseason and spend $4 million on the 2006 version of the 2002 version of Chuck Knoblauch. Gonazalez and Santiago were pretty cheap gambles on a team that we thought might be good. I was actually glad they didn't go out and sign somebody like Magglio Ordonez and set back the youth movement again.

I will track down Allard Baird and defecate on his car if they pass on Alex Gordon in the draft and go for "signability." With the No. 2 pick, they need to get the best player available, not the cheapest player they can sign.

[kcchief19]

I'm pretty sure the Tom Kelley who used to manage the Twins (and I assume is the one you fellows are talking about) is retired and unavailable. Dierker *has* said he would like to manage again, although he is not young and has had health issues. I hope he gets a chance. Yes, he retired from the Twins, but a lot of that was due to personal reasons. Funny thing is, he is only one year older than Buddy Bell. He's still a pup as managers go. He's been rumored for jobs the last couple of years.

I don't know if he'd be interested or not, but I say if you're trying to rebuild a ball club and you don't call Kelly and say, "Tom, if you want to make a comeback here's $3 million a season," then you're just not doing your job. What's it hurt to make a pitch?

[sterlingice]

I will track down Allard Baird and defecate on his car if they pass on Alex Gordon in the draft and go for "signability." With the No. 2 pick, they need to get the best player available, not the cheapest player they can sign. If the Royals don't go with Gordon with the #2, I think that says who is really calling the shots here. Baird knows if the team doesn't turn around in about 2 years, he's gone and he needs to get the guy who has the best chance to save his neck. Even if whoever he picks won't arrive in KC for 3-4 seasons, if they're tearing up High Desert or even Wichita this time next year like Butler probably will be this year, that's another argument for Glass to keep him around.

Now, in the MLB draft, I'm always for "best player available" since it's such a crapshoot- there's no telling who will pan out and who won't. But Gordon would be yet another 3B/1B hitter who is a minus in the field just like Sweeney, Teahen (decent fielder but still holding down 3B), Harvey (if he doesn't produce this year they'll probably cut bait and run), Huber, and Butler. Then again, you just can't go wrong with developing a guy listed as "having gap power and doesn't strike out much"- they seem as much a sure thing as anything to develop.

SI

[Chief Rum]

So sorry, Royals fans. I was actually in attendance at Friday night's debacle in Anaheim. That was just shockingly inept. Maybe Berroa thought since his name is Angel, he is supposed to help us?

Wow, as much as my team benefits from the current economic system in baseball, I would give it up to have a fair system where all 30 teams have a legit chance to get to and win a World Series.

[sterlingice]

So sorry, Royals fans. I was actually in attendance at Friday night's debacle in Anaheim. That was just shockingly inept. Maybe Berroa thought since his name is Angel, he is supposed to help us?

Wow, as much as my team benefits from the current economic system in baseball, I would give it up to have a fair system where all 30 teams have a legit chance to get to and win a World Series.
Of course the crusher in that is that it looked like he had shaken some of his fielding woes with 24 straight games without an error until that implosion. It's really reminiscent of his choke a couple of years ago in a game I was at against Oakland. Earlier in the game, he had an error that cost the Royals a run. Then, in the 9th, he coughed up a sure double play ball and Mac gave up a homer a batter or two later to give away the game. Angel got a horrible earful from the crowd after the second error but seemed to shape up for the rest of the season en route to the ROY. Who knows what will happen this time, tho...

SI

[Chief Rum]

I'm not going to go hunting through the box scores, but I think Berroa picked up another E6 on Sunday. Ouch. :(

I have nothing against the Royals, and I like Berroa, so this is painful.

[Ksyrup]

Wow, as much as my team benefits from the current economic system in baseball, I would give it up to have a fair system where all 30 teams have a legit chance to get to and win a World Series.
Not this argument again. This entire thread is about how inept the organization is and has been, yet it's economics keeping the Royals from competing, huh?

[kcchief19]

Not this argument again. This entire thread is about how inept the organization is and has been, yet it's economics keeping the Royals from competing, huh? As much as I'm hammering away at the team for poor decisions, I think a large part of the "ineptness" is caused by the financial situation. If the Royals had the money to keep the Beltran, Damon and Dye outfield along with Sweeney, we wouldn't be talking about how bad the team blows. But Baird was forced by economics to trade those guys, and not all trades work out.

Last night was one of those nights that tease you -- solid outing from a young arm in Greinke, dominating middle relief from Sisco, a lights-out ninth from MacDougal, two highlight reel catches by DeJesus and a sparkling 4-6-3 putout from Gotay and Berroa. Almost enough to make you believe. :)

[sterlingice]

As much as I'm hammering away at the team for poor decisions, I think a large part of the "ineptness" is caused by the financial situation. If the Royals had the money to keep the Beltran, Damon and Dye outfield along with Sweeney, we wouldn't be talking about how bad the team blows. But Baird was forced by economics to trade those guys, and not all trades work out. Anyone looks like an idiot when you have to decide between "last year's ace Paul Byrd" or "possible impact bat but oft-injured and oft-malcontent Juan Gonzalez" as to how to spend your $4M for your "major signing". Sometimes all of those options will turn out to be crap.

Contrarily, I could look like a genius if I were to GM with a $200M payroll- just sign All-Stars to each post and who cares if you miss and grossly overpay Bernie Williams (or Giambi) or overrate Javy Vasquez (or Weaver or Contreras) and have to trade him and eat his salary or pay a ton of money to Kevin Brown and watch him barely pitch for you. Every once in a while one of those All Stars I would sign would be ok like the best player in baseball or Gary Sheffield or Mike Mussina (and even he has underperformed) and you only have to cobble together a couple of those guys surrounded by overpaid talent across the rest of the diamond to win.

SI

[Ksyrup]

BUDDY BELL IS GOD!!!

:D

[sterlingice]

BUDDY BELL IS GOD!!!

:D
Such is baseball. You get pitching and defense like these two games any night and any manager looks like a god.

Problem is, no matter what, the pundits will be able to say they were right. It's like rooting for the house in blackjack. The Royals just don't have that much talent right now and they will have a bad record at season's end. Even if Buddy Bell goes .500 the rest of the way, they still end the season at a crappy 69-93 and they're probably not going .500 the rest of the way.

SI

[kcchief19]

I take full credit for this two-game winning streak. If I hadn't complained so loudly about how badly Buddy Bell sucked, no way they break out the brooms on the Yankees.

Mike MacDougal has had two suberb outings back to back. Williams hit a good pitch for the homer, and Mac struck out Jeter to end the last two games. I'll take that.

[Ksyrup]

No, I don't think they'll go .500 for the rest of the season, considering that 2 games ago, they had the same record after 50 games as the 62 Mets and 03 Tigers. I just like the fact that they've beaten the Yankees 2 straight.

[sterlingice]

I take full credit for this two-game winning streak. If I hadn't complained so loudly about how badly Buddy Bell sucked, no way they break out the brooms on the Yankees.

Mike MacDougal has had two suberb outings back to back. Williams hit a good pitch for the homer, and Mac struck out Jeter to end the last two games. I'll take that.
Well, Mac's been showing flashes of good the past month- he's always had the physical tools: nice fastball, even better slider. All of his problems are between the ears. My fiance was happy watching the games the last two nights- the jersey she wears to games is a MacDougal that she got autographed by him.

SI

[st.cronin]

I take full credit for this two-game winning streak. If I hadn't complained so loudly about how badly Buddy Bell sucked, no way they break out the brooms on the Yankees.

Mike MacDougal has had two suberb outings back to back. Williams hit a good pitch for the homer, and Mac struck out Jeter to end the last two games. I'll take that.

Any team looks good playing the Yankees. Let's see how they do against the better clubs in the league, like the Orioles or the Rangers.

[Scarecrow]

This from ESPN (insider edition):

Yanks lose on Royal flush


The papers are full of the Yankees' failure today (http://www.nypost.com/), after the Royals swept the Bombers (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is just the third time in history the Yankees have been swept by the team with the worst record in baseball. The first time was in August of 1937, when the Philadelphia Athletics swept New York, and the second was in May of 2000, when Detroit pulled that off. The Yankees have no business getting whipped by the Royals, undoubtedly; Bernie Williams made the signature mistake of this series in Thursday's loss, getting thrown out at second base after tagging up at first on a fly ball to deep center. The Yankees were down a couple of runs at the time, and with the whole play in front of him, Williams could have tagged up, sprinted halfway and then retreated, once he realized that the throw from center fielder David DeJesus was on line. But Williams kept going, and the ball beat him to second base easily; if not for an artful slide (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/315577p-269983c.html), he would have been out by five feet.

What will be obscured in the Yankee fallout is that Kansas City played well, in pivotal moments. The Royals have played terribly at times this year, as they mimicked the '62 Mets for the first two months, but they did some nice things against the Yankees.

The score was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Royals had runners at second and third, one out. The Yankees played the infield back, preparing to concede a run. All Mark Teahen needed to do for an RBI was to hit a ground ball some place.

Teahen got ahead in the count two balls and no strikes against Carl Pavano, and then he swung and missed badly at a Pavano splitter, the count running to 2-2 – and it was evident that Teahan was really overmatched by the splitter, and that Pavano would try to finish him off with the pitch.

Teahan seemed to spread out in his stance, moving into full defensive mode, protecting the strike zone. He wasn't concerned about driving the ball, only with putting the ball in play and driving home the lead run. Pavano threw the splitter, Teahan took a short swing, and chopped a ground ball past the mound; Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano stopped it, but threw late to first base. Infield single, RBI, the Royals had a 2-1 lead.

The next hitter was Shane Costa, playing his first big-league game, still hitless in his career. Like Teahan, he reached a two-strike count, 2-2, with Pavano needing either a strikeout or a doubleplay. The Yankees' infield played back again.

Pavano is not a strikeout pitcher, averaging 5.3 per nine innings. This is his major vulnerability as he pitches in the AL for the first time, as opposed to Boston's Matt Clement, who has always had the ability to get hitters to swing and miss because of his pure stuff, averaging 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings in his career.

But with Costa playing his first game, possibly nervous, Pavano was in position to go for the strikeout, to try to throw a diving splitter and shut down the Royals' rally. Costa, like Teahen, chopped at the ball, put it in play, pulling a grounder into the second base hole. Cano reached the ball with a dive and couldn't do more than a force play, as Terrence Long crossed home with K.C.'s third run. If Teahen or Costa had been too aggressive, they might have rescued Pavano from the inning. Instead, with two strikes, they made sure they got the minimum requirement from that situation – moving the runners along.

Ambiorix Burgos would serve as the Royals' closer, coming into the game with less than 15 innings in his career, three losses, and only one save. He was throwing 98 mph, and struck out Alex Rodriguez and Tino Martinez, swinging. And, as you expected, the Yankees threatened. With Hideki Matsui on first, Burgos hit Jorge Posada on the foot with a pitch before walking Williams.

Burgos, born in the summer that Roger Clemens broke into the major leagues, appeared to be losing his composure, missing the strike zone badly, missing high and away against pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra, a sign that he either was rushing or he was tiring. New manager Buddy Bell watched nervously, and John Buck, the 24-year-old catcher, jogged out to the mound to settle Burgos.

And Burgos got it back together. He threw strikes on the next four pitches, until Sierra grounded to shortstop Angel Berroa to end the game. Teahen, Costa, Burgos all demonstrated nice composure and focus in what might turn out to be the height of pressure in Kansas City's lost season. After managing 13 victories in eight weeks, the Royals got three in three days, and earned them.

Not that George Steinbrenner is going to want to hear that. His $208 million collection of All-Stars is 27-26 and have the eighth-best record in the AL, with 73 of their remaining 109 games against teams with records of .500 or better.

[Ksyrup]

"...with 73 of their remaining 109 games against teams with records of .500 or better."


Wow. I knew May was an easy month for them, and they largely took advantage of that. I just hope they continue to perform as they did for the first 50+ games...<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Toddiec]

Sweep! I know it won't make a bit of difference in the long run, but it is always nice when the Royals throw us fans a bone. It is like a famous philosopher once said (with minor alterations) "Maybe the problems of a bunch of Royals fans don't amount to a hill of beans. But this is our hill. And these are our beans!"

[sterlingice]

It really was electric to watch the last 3 games- I wish I had been out there but just couldn't since it's a good hour and a half drive on weeknights to get out to the K (that said, we do have tickets to 6 other games this year still). People were really excited out at the games. It's one of those flashes like 2003 that makes you know that if the team were actually competing, not even winning, just competing- there would be butts in the seat and an electric atmosphere.

SI

[hoosierdude]

I ALWAYS enjoy watching the Yankees lose to the Royals. And a sweep? Well that just made my season.

I will get a lot of mileage out of this one. :)

[Scarecrow]

It really was electric to watch the last 3 games- I wish I had been out there but just couldn't since it's a good hour and a half drive on weeknights to get out to the K (that said, we do have tickets to 6 other games this year still)...
You're 1 S..L..O...W driver if it takes you an hour and a half to get to the K from Lawrence. We made it on Sunday (from Topeka no less) in 1:05 :D.

[Scarecrow]

DOLA,

I better refrain my last post and say that we went to Worlds of Fun, not the K (no game there on Sunday)

[sterlingice]

You're 1 S..L..O...W driver if it takes you an hour and a half to get to the K from Lawrence. We made it on Sunday (from Topeka no less) in 1:05 :D.
That's Sunday. No traffic on Sundays. Try a weeknight and cutting through downtown on 70 or, even worse, going on 435 around the triangle- it's a giant snarled stop-and-go mess.

As for making it in 1:05 from Topeka, I try to stay under 10 above the speed limit since the cops could care less on the turnpike. That makes it a little under an hour drive on Saturday or Sunday.

SI

[sterlingice]

DOLA,

I better refrain my last post and say that we went to Worlds of Fun, not the K (no game there on Sunday) Heck, WoF is even further. I doubt you were going anywhere near the posted speed limit ;)

SI

[Scarecrow]

Heck, WoF is even further. I doubt you were going anywhere near the posted speed limit ;)

SI It's only about 2-3 mi north of 435 and 70.

I70: Topeka -> 435 (Kansas side) = 80 mph (plus ya gotta love the K-Tag)
I70: 435 -> 435 (Missouri side) = 85 mph
I435: 435 -> WoF = 80 mph