That was fun. Strange and fun. But mostly fun last night and then more strange this morning when I looked up the following information:
1) At 8-1, the seven run margin of victory was the third largest of the year.
2) That eight run total was only the tenth time this year they’ve scored eight or more runs.
3) At 68-61, their current seven game bulge over .500 is the high water mark of the year.
Back to the fun bits. Michael Pineda, who defines for me the scouting term “big frame”, was excellent. Apart from the Red Sox incident (and you know, barely taking the mound in almost three full seasons) he’s been great every time out there. I was guilty of only seeing him pitch once or twice in Seattle and attributing much of his pre-trade success to Safeco. But his stuff will play in every park, if you know, he actually pitches in that park. And while I’m impressed with how few people he’s walked thus far, I think it we’d have to invent the three-pitch walk to give a free a pass to a Royal. They play only hack-a-thons.
The Yankees tagged James Shields, who has been good-not-great this year. I think Shields is a fine pitcher and I’m not too concerned about this most recent ass-kicking, but I can envision a Yankee press conference introducing him this winter and I fear that would be… sub-optimal. The imagined justification: we like Lester way better, but we only had to commit four or five years to Shields. The sooner the Yankees stop this penny-pinching crap and get back to trying to win every year, including the year we’re actually living in, the better. And if they’re going to pinch pennies in the rotation, just pinch the shit out them and re-sign McCarthy.
Speaking of Brandon McCarthy, he’s battling Martin Prado for my favorite acquisition of the trade deadline. McCarthy has the stellar performance and the fun internet presence. Prado has had big hits and weirdly, looks like he’s always worn a Yankee uniform. His power outage in Arizona made him a buy-low and, if it returns, he’s a borderline All-Star.
In closing, the Royals are in a position to end years of futility by making the Postseason. They might even win the division, thus skipping the Wild Card peril and ensuring themselves a home game in front of delirious fans. Among those fans will no doubt be some of the vile lot that abused Robinson Cano in the All-Star Game in 2012. There was a time when I would have liked the Yankees (or even the Mariners, new home of the abused) and the Tigers to give them a big shit-burger to eat. But I’m letting this go because a path of tallying offenses doesn’t lead anywhere I’d like to go.
The season looked lost when they showed their stink side to the Astros last week. But a winning streak cures all and that’s what’s underway. Keeping up the winning ways this road trip will be a challenge, so at least they are starting off laughing.
(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
Great call on Prado looking like he's always worn a Yankee uniform. I'm with you on that. And McCarthy, what an interesting-looking guy. As if he could have played around the turn of the century. Those sunken cheeks, his face looks as if he fought in the Civil War.
[1] There is also the "Ichiro Syndrome" (or the "Reverse Berkman" or the "Screw Javy") where I put a lot of weight on what these guys do for brief stints as Yankees.
After all, shouldn't fans become attached to those who have success here? And if you're brought in to "save" a season and then actually do well in that regard, that's huge. But then the GM has to step in and not hand out contracts that don't line up with reality.
I know Ichiro is not loved around here but I have never thought he was a big problem or anyway 2012 still outweighs 2013 and 2014 for me.
So McCarthy and his Civil War re-enactment society for two more years seems like a no-brainer to me now, but that's when it's good for all of us that I don't hand out any contracts. Not that it would be good or bad deal, just I'm in a bad position to judge after the great job he's done so far.
Thanks for the writeup, Jon -- I pretty much agree with all your points, especially the one about Prado. Most of the new guys take a while to get used to. It's not that I don't like them, it's almost like they surprise me every time I see them. Like, "Oh, yeah, we've got Chase Headley on this team." Prado seems to fit, somehow.
One other thing, off topic. That picture of A-Rod somehow sums up his entire persona. I mean, c'mon. No one laughs like that, do they? Every time I saw him do that in the dugout, it just seemed so incredibly phony, like everything else about him. I'm not anti-A-Rod at all -- except for his ridiculous contract and his suspension -- but I've always imagined him to be some type of divine experiment: "What would happen if we gave someone more baseball talent than anyone in history, but took away all social skills and self-awareness?"
[1] That, Sir, is an amazing insight! I would say that he reminds me of the prototypical Irish potato farmer who came to America in the 1840's and prospered.
3) Didn't the dude from the 7 Up commercials laugh like that?
Arod's not laughing in that pic. He's winnying like a centaur.
[0] This is a petty thing for me to insert into a much more worthy conversation, but let's not capitalize "postseason."
If the marketing cranks won't let us call it the playoffs anymore, we can at least refuse to subscribe to their branding edicts.
Anytime I see that word capitalized, I hear Joe Buck's voice. Not a good thing.
:)
I've long been a Prado fan and was super psyched when we got him!
[7] I think you are correct, should be 'p'
[3] That was among the handful of results from "laughing Yankee" and I thought maybe I'd actually find a picture that fit into the window for once. But now that you mention it, it's really weird.