Wha!?!?!?! Royals undefeated?!?!?!?!

[tucker342]

5-0?!?!?!?!?!?! Is this the sign of the apocalypse, or just a fluke??
I'm thinking fluke but who knows...

[sterlingice]

Likely is a fluke, but didn't stop it from being fun when I was at the game last night. Then again, it being in the 30s didn't stop a couple of girls from flashing the rest of the crowd, either.

SI

[Tarkus]

Damn small market clubs! Stop your bitching already! This is one of the best hustles I've ever seen! :D

Tarkus

[kcchief19]

I'm not rushing out to buy playoff tickets yet, but this making baseball fun again in this town for a few minutes. They keep this up, we might even get a few people out to the ballpark.

This start is fueled in three equal parts by clutch starting pitching, timely hitting and bad opponents. The White Sox are horribly overrated and the Indians are going to just plain be horrible. Frankly, I think the Royals might actually be the second best team in this division.

The hot spring training and hot start to the season are almost entirely due to Tony Pena. Pena might not be the greatest manager in the world, but it he is incredibly optimistic and he's got this team feeling good about itself. Everybody on this team wanted to kill themselves playing for Tony Muser, who statistically and subjectively is the worst manager in the history of baseball.

Of course, if Runelvys Hernandez, Jeremy Affeldt and Chris George can turn into Bret Saberhagen, Danny Jackson and Mark Gubicza, then we may have something. All three of these kids can bring it -- Miguel Ascencio is still a little green and Darrel May is along for the ride. The question is going to be how long these guys can go. Hernandez was incredible last year until he hit the wall and Affeldt and George have also yet to show they can pitch 200 plus innings a year.

[sterlingice]

When I was at the game yesterday, I grabbd 4 of the Hy-Vee view level tickets for 4 future games. Total: $80 for 16 seats that are1-2 sections off of 1st or 3rd base and rows A-D (ie 1st 4 rows on the upper level). Great seats and great bargains- one was even for Monarchs cap night against St Losers.

SI

[the_meanstrosity]

I wasn't a big fan of the Pena hire. But he's slowly winning me over. I'll definitely take him over Muser and Boone any day.

[Ryan S]

If they can hold on today, they have a real chance of going 9-0, because the Tigers look like one of the worst teams I have ever seen.

5 Games, 4 runs, 16 hits. Ouch!

[oykib]

Originally posted by Ryan S
If they can hold on today, they have a real chance of going 9-0, because the Tigers look like one of the worst teams I have ever seen.

5 Games, 4 runs, 16 hits. Ouch!

I doubt that 9-0 is in the offing. You've got to remeber that in baseball, " You win a third of the games... You lose a third... It's what you do with the other third that makes the differnece..."

The most importent thing is actually the time right after the long or semi long winng streak. A team has to make sure that they don't let Vishnu, or whoever, balance the scales back on them. Just try not to lose seven--of-nine after you're big winning streak. That's the only way to make sure that the benefit to your team's record isn't squandered.

[QuikSand]

If the Tigers win a third of their games this year, I will be rather surprised. They could lose 120, and I wouldn't blink an eye.

[Easy Mac]

Originally posted by tucker342
5-0?!?!?!?!?!?! Is this the sign of the apocalypse, or just a fluke??
I'm thinking fluke but who knows...

Well, if the Braves were 1-4 I'd say its a sign... wait....

[MylesKnight]

Could it be.. THE CURSE OF TOM GLAVINE!! Should the Bravos have let a man that has been there since the very beginning of it all, go? TOM WILL HAVE HIS REVENGE!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

[lynchjm24]

Well I've been thinking that the Royals are the best of the 'bad' teams - it looks like they could push 80 wins now. Nothing helps better then a great start.

[kcchief19]

Originally posted by the_meanstrosity
I wasn't a big fan of the Pena hire. But he's slowly winning me over. I'll definitely take him over Muser and Boone any day.
I'll second all of that. I was horrified when Pena was hired -- it really felt like he was the cheapest guy available willing to take the job. And the team fared no better with him at the helm than it did under Muser. Perhaps it took that much time to de-Muser the team.

Granted, we're putting a lot of stock in the spring training numbers and the first five games of the year. But this team looks, sounds and "feels" different. It feels like 1984. And like '84, I think 84 wins might just win the division. Gotta believe! :)

[lynchjm24]

Originally posted by kcchief19
And like '84, I think 84 wins might just win the division. Gotta believe! :)

I don't think there is anyway under the sun that 84 games will be winning that divison.

[the_meanstrosity]

chief,

I don't know that the Royals will be winning the division anytime soon, but here's to hoping, lol. So long as they are competitive and lock up their young talent, I'll be happy.

As for the youth movement, I'm relieved to see them actually continue it through two seasons. Under Herk Robinson, they'd do a youth movement one year and then buy veterans the next until it just wore my patience thin. I've like Allard Baird since he came back to KC. Maybe I'm sentimental since he reminds me of the Schuerholz era, but I like the guy irregardless of trading the talent away. If he can just trade Beltran for some more prospects, I'll be VERY happy, lol.

[Superman=#54]

I really like the Royal's offense and it will only get better when Beltran comes back. If Randa can continue to have a good year then this might be the next Anaheim Angels.

If they still have an over .500 record in July maybe they can trade one of their talented hitters for a vetran pitcher to anchor the staff.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Royals can win 81-90 games this year. We will have to see if that young pitching can hold up a whole major league season.

[sterlingice]

The number I really care about is 82. If they win 82 games, Mike Sweeney's contract extends two years.

Too bad they got rained out today. Sucks when stuff like that happens and you're on a roll. Hopefully they'll throw Affeldt, Asencio, and George in Detroit and skip May until next time but I doubt it. They can't let May skip a full 2 weeks between games.

As for the 84 wins, it wouldn't suprise me that much. The Twins are the prohibitive favorite but more by default than anything. They have a pretty good hitting team which will beat up bad pitching but won't do much to good pitching. Speaking of which, they just had to sign Kenny Rogers as their number 4 in their rotation: Radke/Milton/Reed are pretty good but it's not Zito/Hudson/Mulder or hell, any of the three Yankees, or even Garcia/Moyer/Piniero. So let's dispense with this myth that the Twins are as good as the Yankees, A's, Red Sox, et al. They will win a lot of games because there are 2 1/2 bad teams (the Royals have been elevated to 1/2 a bad team until they start losing) in their division and have an unbalanced schedule. Put them in the East or West and they're a 3rd place team. I'm not saying the Royals will win the division but let's not pretend a mediocre team will not win this division.

SI

[tucker342]

The AL Central is probably the worst division in baseball. if it was football, and a team was 5-0 than that would be reason to be excited, but the baseball season is 162 games long, I just don't see the Royals playing well enough to win the division...

[lynchjm24]

Originally posted by sterlingice
The number I really care about is 82. If they win 82 games, Mike Sweeney's contract extends two years.

Too bad they got rained out today. Sucks when stuff like that happens and you're on a roll. Hopefully they'll throw Affeldt, Asencio, and George in Detroit and skip May until next time but I doubt it. They can't let May skip a full 2 weeks between games.

As for the 84 wins, it wouldn't suprise me that much. The Twins are the prohibitive favorite but more by default than anything. They have a pretty good hitting team which will beat up bad pitching but won't do much to good pitching. Speaking of which, they just had to sign Kenny Rogers as their number 4 in their rotation: Radke/Milton/Reed are pretty good but it's not Zito/Hudson/Mulder or hell, any of the three Yankees, or even Garcia/Moyer/Piniero. So let's dispense with this myth that the Twins are as good as the Yankees, A's, Red Sox, et al. They will win a lot of games because there are 2 1/2 bad teams (the Royals have been elevated to 1/2 a bad team until they start losing) in their division and have an unbalanced schedule. Put them in the East or West and they're a 3rd place team. I'm not saying the Royals will win the division but let's not pretend a mediocre team will not win this division.

SI

It won't be a great team that wins - but they will win more then 84 games whoever it is. Just having a 50-112 team in the division nearly guarantees it.

[Ragone]

And to think.. the royals drafted Mark Prior too.. imagine if we still had him as well.. eep :)

[tucker342]

9-0!?!?!?!?!?! Even though the Royals have had such an easy schedule, 9-0 is really impressive...

[B & B]

Game's first pitch in less than two hours. They will lose today to the 3-7 soon to be 4-7 Indians.

I'll use the money to pay my accountant for taxes.

[B & B]

Cle 6
KC 1

[korme]

B & B is an incredible genius.

[B & B]

Im sensing sarcasm from a man with 6x posts than me, next time call your man and pick up some dollars.