The season's early. They played only six games. But they've won them all. The last undefeated team in Major League Baseball is: the Kansas City Royals?

This is an upset of Chaminade proportions.

I picked them to finish last. They still may end up there, although I'm now doubting it because Detroit is so awful that they won't be able to close that six-and-a-half game gap with a mere 155 or so to play. Still: a round of applause to Carlos, Sweeney and the Gang, whoever else they may be.

Woohoo! I haven't watched any of the games yet or really even followed the stats, but apparently KC has several good young pitchers who've been performing. And of course, as the local media had been saying in anticipation of a dismal season, "this team has a lot of heart." Maybe there's something to that. It's a foregone conclusion around here that Beltran or Sweeney will be traded away by season's end.

I read something interesting the other day... Following the trend, the Royals moved in their outfield walls a few years ago in an attempt to get a piece of the homerun derby pie, but it backfired... the records have shown that the opposing team's homeruns went way up, while the Royal's homeruns stayed about the same, partially contributing to their poor showing these past few years. Next year, the wall will be moved back out.

[ April 10, 2003, 06:55 AM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

Why should we be surprised???? Their pitching staff made up of...of...of...wait a minute, their names will come to me are the Glavine/Smoltz/Maddux or Johnson/Schilling of our times!

~Adam

Where's Knoblauch this season? Did he retire?

I guess retired is the word for it. Sexy man Chuck Knoblauch kind of faded away after missing most of last year from various injuries, mainly a strained forearm that just wouldn't get better. I believe he declared free agency and didn't get picked up. Even when he was healthy last year he was less than impressive.

Update: Royals go to 7-0 with 4-2 win over winless Detroit!

[ April 10, 2003, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

Poor Detroit! Didn't they get off to a slow start last year also? But look at how they ended up finishing the season.....Oh...my mistake, they lost over a hundred games.

[ April 10, 2003, 03:47 PM: Message edited by: Mike T. ]

Detroit is now 0-8. And they've still lost fewer games than they did before they won their first last year. In fact, even if they only win ONE of their next three games, they will have gotten off to a better start than last year, with an 0-11 start.

That's Marty Mornhinweg bad.

But didn't he also turn into a mental basketcase with throwing problems, à la Wohlers and Ankiel? The poor guy lost it and with the arm problem was expendable.

I'm glad KC is doing well. Maybe they can lend the Cardinals a pitcher...or manager. That little Tony Peña would look good in Cardinal red or the home white.

[ April 10, 2003, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

Knoblauch had that problem when playing second base. That's why he moved to the outfield.

So should we take bets ... does Detroit win one first or does K.C. lose first.

The difference is that K.C. is doing the unexpcted, while the Tigers are doing the wholly expected.

News update: Good God. KC won again, 1-0 over Cleveland, to go 8-0.* Detroit lost, again, this time to the ChiSox, 5-0, to bring their record to 0-9.
_____________
* The Great Bill James once opined that a 7-0 start is statistically significant. Bad teams might run off six wins in a row at some random point in the season (which is just two good series), but almost never do they win seven in a row. So, the Royals' seven (now eight) in a row at the start is statistically significant.

This is an amazing start for the Royals. And I'm tired of hearing pundits say stuff like "Well they're doing it against the Tigers, Indians, blah, blah, blah". The Twins won this division last year playing the same schedule, beat the A's in the divisional playoffs and came within a game of the World Series. You play the hand you're dealt.

I stil think the Twins are the class of the AL Central. But it'll be much more competitive than most thought.

And in other record news, the Detroit Tigers are the first team in baseball history to start consecutive seasons 0-9. They're in the record books!!!!

What do you think is harder: going 9-0 or going 0-9?

Edited to add: well, our long national nightmare is over. Detroit won a game.

~Adam

[ April 12, 2003, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]

If it had been the White Sox off to the 9-0 start, you'd have more reason to be concerned about the Twinks. I still think it'll be a two-team race between Minnesota and Chicago, with the Twins pulling away at the end. In the meantime, the Royals are nice story that could re-ignite interest in one of the better baseball towns in America.

So K.C. beat the White Sox, that was somethin' but the other wins were all Detroit and Cleveland. Yawn. Cleveland ended the 9 game super streak today also. Yawn. Still the weakest division in Baseball.

Somehow I think you had a slightly different take when the Indians were winning all those division titles during the '90s.

The winner of the "weakest division in baseball" (Twins) last year beat the winner of what most people thought was the strongest division (A's) in the playoffs. And then they almost went to the World Series.

I'm not saying "Break Up the Royals". And I agree, on the whole the AL Central is probably the weakest division. But the Yanks get to play Balt and TB. Every divison has its weak little sister. 9-0 is a great start no matter what division.

way to go, royals!

i'm nonplussed big time!

LOL osufan!

poor poor detroit.

KC will fall out of first by Mothers' Day, and be fortunate to win about 75 games.

Carlos Beltran will be ready to join the Royal's lineup soon.

But, eh... who needs a star center fielder? 11-1.

I can't wait until the Royals face the Mariners and the rest of the AL West/East. They will go from Red Hot to Ice Cold very fast!!!

I just had to resurrect this thread on behalf of my Boys in Blue, the Royals, who are a Perfect: 10-0 at home! 16-3 overall! They go to Toronto for their first non-division game tomorrow. Watch out for SARS, honey pie Joe! (That's my new hubby, Joe Randa).

This one comes from SportsPickle.com:

I post this all in good fun, Royals fans. I'm rooting for your boys, especially Mike Sweeney, Brent Mayne and Carlos Beltran, who're all on my Fantasy team. And besides, I'm a (the) fan of those lovable first place (for now) Expos!

Being a Twins fan, I can relate to the frustration of being a Royals or Expos fan. And the way things are going so far this year, I may become refamiliarized with the feeling. Hopefully we'll right the ship soon. Thankfully we don't have to play the Yankees anymore! eek!

But if the Twinks can't fulfill the promise of the season, I'll be pulling for the Royals as well. A great story!

The Royals had an 8-1 lead, then a 9-4 lead going to the bottom of the ninth, when the Blue Jays scored 6 to win yesterday. Perhaps this isn't a fictional article? wink

Oh, my boys and my husband Joe Randa had a game reminiscent of last season with yesterday's 9th inning loss. The same type of fall-from-ahead loss was typical of the first half of the season last year. Hopefully they'll come roaring back after a day off today. On to Boston!!!

Yeah, well, uhh... Sorry about the 7-2 welcome last night, maxallen. A friend and I were at the game, a beautiful spring evening at Fenway -- maybe spring fever explains the Royals lackluster showing. They sure had some kind of bad mojo going on.

Only one error was officially recorded, but KC managed a bunch of bobbles and pratfalls, including a popup mishandled and dropped by a whole committee of infielders. The Sox were in good form (including Tim Wakefield and the Boys), and it was pretty much a cakewalk over the Keystone Kops.

After the Yankees loss, the Royals have held onto second place in the AL. Not for long, if yesterday was any indication.

Box

[ April 30, 2003, 02:53 PM: Message edited by: redsoxbreath ]

What, we lost? Oh, I was too busy basking in the beautious glow of Johnny Damon (don't tell Joe), and reminiscing about his days in KC, to notice.

Really, I caught only the 5th inning on TV, and saw way too many of those bobbles and falls and drops that you mentioned.

Gonna keep this thread alive as long as we're tops in the Central and second only to the Yanks in the AL (Thanks, possibly, to the three rainouts we've had so far)!

Well then Maxallen, this is one dead thread. The Sox finished a three-game sweep of the Royals tonight, putting Boston at .690 and dropping KC to .654 -- still leading Detroit, though, at .111 It's early yet.

Wild game tonight. Red Sox starting pitcher Casey Fossum and manager Grady Little were ejected in the first, when Fossum threw a pitch behind KC batter Raul Ibanez. Apparently home umpire Phil Cuzzi figured Fossum was retaliating for the three Boston batters hit by pitches in the bottom of the ninth last night.

Reliever Steve Woodard stepped in, and he and three other Committee members did a great job with the remaining 8 1/3 innings. RHP Brandon Lyon closed, a role he's been performing well, and more frequently. Yo Theo, we like having a reliable closer...

Not so fast there, redsoxbreath! Check your math: Royals are at .680, Sox at .679.

You know that "Uuuuuuuuuuuh" sound that Lurch used to make, while rolling his eyes, on The Addams Family? That's exactly how I felt watching Wednesday night's ninth inning. Uuuuuuuuuuh. At least my boys didn't get pummeled in the scores.

Well, hopefully we'll welcome the Sox to KC with a three game sweep next week! Hubby and I might go to Monday night's game (Tuesday's my birthday, so he HAS to take me if I wanna!)

Rounding error


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What a sad loss for the Royals today after the Red Sox rallied and eventually won the game. The weather in KC looked picture-perfect after the bad stuff you had there last week. Btw, what happened to Sweeney after that bases clearing double? :confused:

Anyone notice that the Minnesota Twins are about ready to finally knock the K.C. Royals out of first place ... much much much later than anyone would've predicted. The Royals seemed to have themselves a good young pitching staff. I hope they keep them together for a few years, at least. Regardless of how this shakes out, it already has been a great baseball season in one of America's better baseball towns.

Meanwhile, despite playing rather mediocre baseball, the Twins are about ready to ascend into first. There's no telling how good they'll get once they start playing up to their capabilities. For those of us convinced that the Twinks will win it all this year ... this is already shaping up just as it should.

Well the Twins finally took over first place after sweeping the White Sox along with the Royals losing to the Blue Jays. So long as the Twins don't have to play the Yanks again (and they don't), they'll be fine.

On a side note, the White Sox manager Jerry Manuel has to be in trouble at this point. The Sox were predicted to win the division by many, so they must be perceived as a huge disappointment thus far.

We'll see how the Royals fare at The Safe as they play the Mariners for the next 3 days. The Royals have definitely cooled since opening the season on fire (and all those wins against the Tigers). As much as I enjoy the success of the Royals so far, I am really pleased at how well the M's are playing. My biggest concern is The Chief. What the hell is wrong with Freddy?

The Boys in Blue face a tough 24 games ahead, with two series each against Seattle and Oakland, followed by 12 NL games. We don't play Cleveland again until June 24, or Detroit until July 3. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

BTW, has anyone else noticed how the MLB.com site features a cover story on the Yankees, like every day? Hmmmm...

Thank you Freddy, for finally getting your sh*t together last night...too bad it was at the expense of the Royals. Yes, Freddy got revenge over last weeks 14-5 drubbing at the hands of the Royals. Damn, took you long enough! Now let's see if he can keep it up..pitching well, that is.

Any of you in the area going to today's business man's special?

Made it to this afternoon's game.

Okay, yeah, yeah, so the Royals aren't so hot now and they lost today. But you know who was hot? The umpires. Extremely hot umpires at today's Royals vs. Mariners game, particularly the 3rd base ump. After a bit of trolling through the mlb.com site, I found that ump #68 is Chris Guccione from the AAA roster. Everytime I'm at a game, I wonder if one of the umps is our very own Outsports ump.

And - being as I was on the third base side, whereas I'm usually on the first base side - I had a great view of the very nice ass of Royals 3rd base coach John Mizerock. I don't know how old he is now, but the boy has kept himself in great shape - narrow waist, broad shoulders, great ass.

Hey, the R's weren't winning, so I had to keep myself occupied with the eye candy.

Hey - my Indians are about to take over 3rd place when they start a four game series against the White Sox WOO HOO !

Indians now only 2-1/2 games behind Chgo and 5 games behind K.C. ! ! Watch out Twins whoo hoo !

[ June 01, 2003, 03:37 PM: Message edited by: osufan ]

Okay, the title of this thread has been moot for some time now, and it's time to let the thread die. But I just had to say one more thing: DAMN, how the hell many games can the Royals lose in the 9th inning? It seems to me, as a beleaguered Royals fan, that they must lose more games in the 9th inning than other teams. Last night against LA it was on a bases-loaded walk. How 'bout them Royals closers? Hmmmm...

With a vigorous does of CPR, this thread is trying to come back to life!

Who'd a thunk it? The Royals, losers of over 100 games last year, are back on top of their division as the All-Star break comes into view. And 9 of the next 12 games are against Cleveland and Detroit.

KC is in first place in percentage points at 39-34 (Twins are 40-35), thanks to a couple of rainouts not yet made up. 6th in percentage points in the AL. Is Kansas City a contender?

The Royals Rock! their improvement this year is amazing!

The current leader of the Central has the SIXTH best record in the league.

Or are they Marlon Brando's character in the great On The Waterfront: I say we check back on them around August 1. If they haven't woken up and realized that they're a small market team that should suck, I'll be ready to book a ticket on their bandwagon. Who's driving that bandwagon around here anyway?

[ July 01, 2003, 02:25 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Driver here! However I've been taking a break because, well, I thought no one was riding along until Kona chimed in! We've had 5 losses in a row, two of them to Cleveland, eek! and I was too mesmerized by Cleveland's hot pitcher Brian Anderson last night to be the Royals' bandwagon driver. Fortunately we had 5 wins in a row before that, which makes our 5 losses not a total disaster, and the Twins 2-week slide at the end of June didn't hurt.

Anyway, never fear Jim Allen, as long as the Royals deserve a bandwagon, I'll be here in this thread periodically. Not to come off as a fair-weather fan or anything, but I didn't see the point in keeping the thread alive when we were 5 games down.

With my Boys in Blue back on top by 1.5 games, and 4 home games against Detroit coming up, I think it's safe for me to put the bandwagon on autopilot while hubby and I head to San Diego for a 4-day weekend! Neither one of us has been there before, so looking forward to it.

With the summer re-runs and awful reality shows upon us, hubby and I have been spending more time at our neighborhood gay bar after we have dinner a few times a week. They have several TV's, and now we've got the bartenders trained to turn to the Royals game when we walk in. There are always other people there interested in the game, but no one else willing to speak up and ask them to turn the channel! Even the non-sports fans are starting to watch, especially when I point out how hot some of the players are.

You're obviously not talking about The Amazing Race.

Nice to see at least one gay bar that isn't sports-hostile.

Have fun in SD, Maxallen, but remember, you have a bandwagon to drive, so don't get all tanned and relaxed. The Royals'll need you in the next 3 months.

Indians take 3 out of 4 from the Twins - whoo hoo ! Your welcome K.C. fans !

Hey kids,

I'm back from a great extended weekend in San Diego. Now my Boys are in Anaheim with a 3.5 game lead, two All-Stars including rookie closer Mike MacDougal, and new 4-0 pitcher Jose Lima.

San Diego was fab. We had a great time staying in Hillcrest, and doing the toursity things like the bay cruises, the zoo, Hotel Del Coronado, etc. I can vouch for someone who posted in the "best hamburgers" thread that Hamburger Mary's is awesome, both as a restaurant and as Kickers bar. We walked around the convention center and gaslamp areas where the new Petco stadium is being built. It looks like it's going to be a really good ballpark.

***

So anyway, I was looking back at some predictions made at Outsports about the Royals' season. Here are some choice quotes:

Baseball Preview 2003 column: "This year, they should be kicked not only into the basement, but into deserving status of being the worst team in baseball."

Who's on Third column: "The Hopeless: Kansas City Royals..."

This thread: "KC will fall out of first by Mothers' Day, and be fortunate to win about 75 games."

I'm jus' sayin'...

***

Oh, and no I was not talking about TAR, Jim! I'm talking about all of the Love and Marriage "reality" shows. We suffered through a few episodes of For Love or Money and watched the finale last night, only to see that it was a lead-in to For Love or Money 2. Nooooooo!!!

[ July 08, 2003, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: maxallen ]