NEITHER HERE NOR THERE

 

I always liked the Royals. No, not Thee Royals, although you have to admire the Queen Mum and her recently deceased husband, Prince Phillip. As young folks they both did their bit in World War II, the Queen serving in the Motor Pool and Phillip in the British Navy.

No, I’m talking about the KC Royals. I actually followed them quite heavily back in the late 70’s - early 80's, mostly because Tom Poquette’s brother was a frequent visitor to my Eau Claire office. I knew if Tom had a good day at the plate his brother was going to pop in to talk baseball and ogle my secretary. Not sure which drew most of his attention but my secretary might have had the edge. But even now as well as back then you can’t talk about the Royals without mentioning George Brett.

Brett is one of four players in MLB history to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, and a career .300 batting average (the others are Stan Musial, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron). Says something about how great a player he was. Brett was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999, with what was then the fourth-highest voting percentage in baseball history (98.2%), trailing only Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, and Ty Cobb and he was AL MVP in 1980 batting .390, the highest batting average over a full season since Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941.

Here’s a Twins connection: Brett won his first batting title in 1976 with a .333 average but the title wasn’t decided until the final game of the season. There were four contenders for the title that year, all with a shot at taking the title in the last game of the season. And they met on the same field that last day. Brett and Royals teammate Hal McRae as well as Minnesota Twins teammates Rod Carew and Lyman Bostock were the contenders. Brett went 2-4 including an inside-the-park home run. McRae, batting just behind Brett in the line up, grounded out thus giving Brett his first batting title by something like .001.

And we can't forget the infamous “pine tar” incident. Brett hit a 9th inning homerun against the Yankees and as soon as he crossed the plate the Yankee Manager, the peripatetic Billy Martin, challenged the play saying the pine tar on Brett’s bat exceeded the 18” maximum. It did, by about 6”. The umpire disallowed the homerun, sending Brett into a tizzy that got him ejected. The ruling was eventually overturned by the Commissioner who said the bat should have been disallowed from further use but the homerun should’ve counted. The two teams were then ordered to replay the game at a later date beginning at that 9th inning point of the game. The Royals won. You gotta like it anytime anyone beats the Evil Empire even if takes the Commissioner to step in.

On the lighter side, Brett’s also credited by many sources to be the originator of the “Mendoza Line”; ie, batting .200. The Mendoza line has since become the de facto measurement for separating “good” hitters from poor hitters. If you're at or under .200, you're under the Mendoza line.

I don't expect to see four players contending for the batting title on the field today.  Nelson Cruz is in 6th place in the American League with a .305 average and KC’s Whit Merrifield comes in 16th sporting a .289 batting average. No .390 hitter on either side.

Gotta apologize for not listing pitchers and lineups as my internet provider keeps going down this morning. Gotta post this now just in case it goes out completely. Again. Sometimes it doesn't pay to live in the country.

 

Oh< for the Game Threaders: Is there a way to edit your posting before final posting like there was in the old days?

What is this editing you speak of?

 

(I jest of course... probably you can edit it? If you see a three dots button in the upper right corner of your post, it is a drop down menu (so named because a menu drops down when you click/tap or otherwise select it, and editing is an option that appears there if they trust you to do so) does that help)

 

Oh wait, do you mean preview your post before you post it?

 

Good Question!

I don't know. But someone must, and maybe i can figure it out....

Edited July 3, 20215 yr by sampleSizeOfOne
understanding dawns...

Twins:

0. Griffin Jax (R) P

1. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B

2. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

3. Nelson Cruz (R) DH

4. Alex Kirilloff (L) RF

5. Ryan Jeffers (R) C

6. Miguel Sano (R) 1B

7. Gilberto Celestino (R) CF

8. Luis Arraez (L) LF

 

Royals 

0. Danny Duffy (L) P

9. A. Simmons (R) SS

1. W. Merrifield (R) RF

2. Jorge Soler (R) DH

3. Carlos Santana (S) 1B

4. Salvador Perez (R) C

5. Hanser Alberto (R) 2B

6. Hunter Dozier (R) 3B

7. M. Taylor (R) CF

8. E. Olivares (R) LF

9. Nicky Lopez (L) SS

Wait. We are playing with no shortspot. No wonder we were losing so much.?

40 minutes ago, adjacent said:

Wait. We are playing with no shortspot.

The Twins are short much more than one spot.

By the way, the site is going to be slow for the next couple of hours. It's spending a lot of resources rebuilding *every* post ever posted to the site for the new achievements system.

Well, the one positive thing I can say is that Kauffman is a beautiful stadium and everyone should visit the Negro League Museum in Kansas City

Would be pretty neat if the Twins could get a win today

So umm, Cruz is pretty good 

13 minutes ago, shortround81 said:

Well, the one positive thing I can say is that Kauffman is a beautiful stadium and everyone should visit the Negro League Museum in Kansas City

Never been to musuem. ..any specific recommendations to check out? Scheduled trip to KC just b4 Labor Day would like to check it out.

This guy is not gonna strike anybody out with that fastball 

Wow, just let him have second

2 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

This guy is not gonna strike anybody out with that fastball 

He may be successful putting everyone to sleep.  Another typical Twins pitcher.  The Twins system manufactures these guys like they were using a template.

Jax is navigating the royals lineup as if they’re the ‘61 Yankees 

Just now, RickOShea said:

He may be successful putting everyone to sleep.  Another typical Twins pitcher.  The Twins system manufactures these guys like they were using a template.

Yeah, going with that same failed Rick Anderson strategy

21 pitches, 1 out. Recipe for success.

"A little fuzz" says Kaat about Jax' fastball.  Ya gotta love it. Or, at least it's different.

Miguel didn’t strike out. It’s sad when hitting a lazy pop up to right is actually an improvement 

20 minutes ago, Game7-91 said:

Never been to musuem. ..any specific recommendations to check out? Scheduled trip to KC just b4 Labor Day would like to check it out.

Oh man! Buckle up!

-Not necessarily one of the best bbq joints, but one of the more well known ones that's relatively close in the Jazz District is Arthur Bryant's

-Torn Label Brewing and Lifted Spirits Distillery are also in the Jazz District

-Take a free tour of Boulevard Brewing which of is close to The Roasterie Café (an awesome coffee shop that also gives tours)

Donaldson coming up limping rounding first… You can’t make it up. 

And now Donaldson is hurt. Trade value, ugh 

Is it just me or is the 15 ft space before and after first base the Josh Donaldson Bermuda Triangle. 

31 minutes ago, Game7-91 said:

Never been to musuem. ..any specific recommendations to check out? Scheduled trip to KC just b4 Labor Day would like to check it out.

Negro Leagues Museum is great. It's in the same building as the Jazz museum maybe 10 minutes from the ballpark.

 

World War I Museum is also great.

 

If you like drinking beer Boulevard Brewing is KC's answer to Surly (or vice versa). There's a bunch of interesting breweries in the Crossroads district just west of Arthur Bryants.

 

BBQ- Joe's KC BBQ, Arthur Bryants, Gates, Jack Stack. and Q39 are the big names.

 

Sigh. 

Just now, notoriousgod71 said:

Negro Leagues Museum is great. It's in the same building as the Jazz museum maybe 10 minutes from the ballpark.

 

World War I Museum is also great.

 

If you like drinking beer Boulevard Brewing is KC's answer to Surly (or vice versa). There's a bunch of interesting breweries in the Crossroads district just west of Arthur Bryants.

 

BBQ- Joe's KC BBQ, Arthur Bryants, Gates, Jack Stack. and Q39 are the big names.

 

If you're driving down and have time, I hear the Omaha Zoo is really good. (If you're okay with the concepts of zoos)

I love listening to old players rip on the game today. 

1 minute ago, Aggies7 said:

I love listening to old players rib on the game today. 

It’s just a life size video game

2 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

I love listening to old players rip on the game today. 

Inversely, there are few old players who wouldn’t get torched in today’s game.

Organized crime has a big following in KC!

So what now, Gordon to left and Arraez to third?