Toying With Us
I know it's been far too long since I last posted an entry. Hopefully I can finish the year strong.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the ballpark. The month of August began on a relatively high note for the rox. Through July the rox had a record of 37-67, fighting off the royals for the worst record in baseball. They started the month on the road playing in one city, San Francisco, where they have traditionally played downright awful, and another city, Phoenix, where they have played okay, given it's the rox we're talking about. The rox proceeded to take two of three games in each series, equaling the most road victories in any other month this season. Optimism was running high, again, relatively speaking. Talk on the radio and print in the papers was that this team had turned the corner. The youngsters had learned how to win and win often. The majority of the pitching woes had been eliminated. We were on the verge of seeing what DD and the gang believed this group of players could eventually do. They returned to CF to embark on the longest homestand in franchise history thanks to a makeup doubleheader with Florida. The rox started the homestand by sweeping the Marlins, 4-3 and 5-3. Quite impressive by CF standards. The team ERA was at a season low.
As it turns out, they were only toying with us. The rox have won only two of the last nine games, losing two to Pittsburgh, the only team the rox have any hopes of catching to avoid the worst record in the NL. They wrap up the homestand with three games this weekend against the Cubs. The rox need to sweep the series to finish the homestand with a .500 record. Given the Cubs' success in the past at CF, that is unlikely.
Unfortunately, the truth is that this team will be bad the rest of this season and part of next season. The best case scenario is that the rox will turn the corner, if they do, sometime the second half of the 2006 season. Players like Francis and Atkins will have a full year under their belt. Holliday will have two. The rox are noticeably better with Barmes and Hawpe in the lineup and hopefully will have them for more of the season next year. DD and Hurdle have observed the value of a veteran bullpen and the youngsters who have remained have made drastic strides in their development. I think we may have seen glimpses of what the future holds for rox' fans, but glimpses are all we will get for the time being.
On a separate baseball note, the royals' current losing streak of 18 games has brought back memories of 1988. During the pre-rox era I was an Orioles fan. In 1988 the Orioles started the season my losing their first 21 games. Talk about depressing. You know it's going to be a long season when after only a few weeks people are already saying things like "Will the lady who left her nine kids at Memorial Stadium please come pick them up. They're beating the Orioles."
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the ballpark. The month of August began on a relatively high note for the rox. Through July the rox had a record of 37-67, fighting off the royals for the worst record in baseball. They started the month on the road playing in one city, San Francisco, where they have traditionally played downright awful, and another city, Phoenix, where they have played okay, given it's the rox we're talking about. The rox proceeded to take two of three games in each series, equaling the most road victories in any other month this season. Optimism was running high, again, relatively speaking. Talk on the radio and print in the papers was that this team had turned the corner. The youngsters had learned how to win and win often. The majority of the pitching woes had been eliminated. We were on the verge of seeing what DD and the gang believed this group of players could eventually do. They returned to CF to embark on the longest homestand in franchise history thanks to a makeup doubleheader with Florida. The rox started the homestand by sweeping the Marlins, 4-3 and 5-3. Quite impressive by CF standards. The team ERA was at a season low.
As it turns out, they were only toying with us. The rox have won only two of the last nine games, losing two to Pittsburgh, the only team the rox have any hopes of catching to avoid the worst record in the NL. They wrap up the homestand with three games this weekend against the Cubs. The rox need to sweep the series to finish the homestand with a .500 record. Given the Cubs' success in the past at CF, that is unlikely.
Unfortunately, the truth is that this team will be bad the rest of this season and part of next season. The best case scenario is that the rox will turn the corner, if they do, sometime the second half of the 2006 season. Players like Francis and Atkins will have a full year under their belt. Holliday will have two. The rox are noticeably better with Barmes and Hawpe in the lineup and hopefully will have them for more of the season next year. DD and Hurdle have observed the value of a veteran bullpen and the youngsters who have remained have made drastic strides in their development. I think we may have seen glimpses of what the future holds for rox' fans, but glimpses are all we will get for the time being.
On a separate baseball note, the royals' current losing streak of 18 games has brought back memories of 1988. During the pre-rox era I was an Orioles fan. In 1988 the Orioles started the season my losing their first 21 games. Talk about depressing. You know it's going to be a long season when after only a few weeks people are already saying things like "Will the lady who left her nine kids at Memorial Stadium please come pick them up. They're beating the Orioles."
posted by Todd Nikkel | 7:30 AM
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