Blind Quarterback Plays Baseball - Week 7

Royals Round Up

I sat in my cave last Wednesday night, listening to the Astros blank the Royals with a final score of 9 to NOTHING, I had the following text message exchange with the Old Dog.

Old Dog: “Astros pitcher Peacock throwing some nasty stuff at the Royals. We are making Astros pitchers look like Cy Young winners as many times as we have struck out.”

BQB: “How can an offense look so explosive one night and then the very next night they hit nothing but air?”

Old Dog: “That’s baseball.”

Now let’s focus on that night where the offense exploded.

On Tuesday night, in the second of a 3 game series in Minute Made Park against the Houston Astros, Astros' pitcher Collin McHugh hurled a slider at Royals first baseman, Ryan O’Hearn that hung just a second to long above O’hearn’s knee, giving him just enough time to blast that baby with the head of his bat. With the bases loaded, O’Hearn hit a grand slam.

Listening during my ride home, I was unable to suppress an exalted “YEAH” from the back of my cab, earning me a quizzical look from my driver. A few innings later, Whit Merrifield added his own grand slam, the first of his career and the first time the Royals have had a game with multiple grand slams since 2004. At the time of the second grand slam, I was safely in my cave, where I was free to whoop and holler (as long as I didn’t wake my wife and daughter).

With bats a blaze, the Royals continued to trash the Astros. With Jose Soler’s one-run homer, Merrifield’s triple and a score off a double by Adalberto Mondesi and Hunter Dozier’s RBI triple gave the boys in blue a 12-2 routing of the current AL champs.

To compliment the flaming bats of the Royals, Danny Duffy only allowed 6 hits and 2 runs in six innings of work, logging his first win sense returning from injury.

Sadly, these firework displays seem to be few and far between for the Royals, for they would drop 2-3 of the Houston series, just to return home to drop 2-3 against Bryce Harper and the Phillies, meaning the Royals are still chasing their first series win since mid-April.

Up Next:

The Royals have the day off today, after which they will play host to the Texas Rangers, then fly to the west coast to meet up with Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels in LA.

The upcoming series is more than crucial. The Royals are last in their division. They are, in fact, the second worst team in baseball with a 14-27 record at the end of 41 games, only above the Miami Marlins at 10-29. Royals’ management states they are happy with their offense and the bullpen is improving, but these “improvements” have got to start making themselves evident, for the season is officially 1 quarter over.

King of tthe Hill:

Mike Fiers

On Tuesday, May 7, the Oakland A’s game that was delayed an hour and a half due to “lighting issues”. Starting pitcher, Mike Fiers threw a no hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. With a little help from his stellar defense stepping in every now and again to catch a ball that was about to land for a hit or to rob the Reds of a homer, Fiers accomplished 131 pitches and logged the first no hitter of this season and the second of Fiers career.

Take Me Out to the Ball Park:

Angels’ Stadium.

In 1996, Old Anaheim Stadium was renovated and reverted back to a “Baseball Only Facility” one of the few still left in the Major Leagues. Out in front of the stadium is the legendary “Big A” with the halo above it. Once inside the stadium, fans can look out over the fence and see the San Gabriel, Santa Anna Mountains and more. In the outfield is the “California Spectacular” in which geysers erupt and stream cascades of water down a mountain side covered in real trees and artificial rock behind left center field. With the arrival of Mike Trout, there is a special seating section dubbed “The Trout Farm” that is the official left field cheering section for Mike Trout.

Angels’ Stadium’s exterior has also been the filming location for several films including 1996’s thriller  “The Fan”  and the 1988 comedy and one of my personal favorites “The Naked Gun” where the stadium was used for exterior shots, while Dodgers’ Stadium was used for interior. Disney’s 1994 classic “Angels in the Outfield” was filmed partly in the stadium with some shots at Oakland’s stadium given that it was not a “Baseball Only Facility” during filming.

Angels’ Stadium ranks in the top 10 of “pitchers’ parks” as well as in the top 10 of fewest homers allowed. Nolan Ryan threw 2 of his 7 no hitters in the stadium. The Royals’ bats may have a hard time hitting the homers against the Angels in this ball park.

Ask the Old Dog:

With the season a fourth over and the Royals’ record being one of the worst in baseball, I asked the Old Dog what has to be done if we are to see a turnaround for the remainder of the season and how likely he thinks we shall see it.

“After 40 games the same problems seem to follow them - inconsistent starters and bullpen giving up too many late runs. Pitch counts are high. They have faced some tough pitching. In Saturday’s game Eflin completed nine innings for the Phillies with four hits and seven strike outs and no runs. He had one nasty slider. Offense has been scoring in some games only to have bullpen let another go. Let’s hope they can pull a string of victories together soon.”