Here's the George Blowfish Wally World Royals Schedule for 2002.
Here's how we track the Royals progress, or lack thereof:
A Big
Ol' Smiley Face: Stands for a big victory where hopefully something
really good happens.
Smiley Face: Nothing
fancy. A win is a win, baby.
Frowny Face: Royals
played OK but lost. We'll see this one a lot.
Putrid: Ass kickings,
blown saves, awful offense/defense or stupid managing. We'll see
this a lot too.
Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains. Think about that.
George will attempt to update on a weekly basis. If it's not updated, hey, sorry. I have a life beyond baseball. Sheesh!
Final Royals 2002 Record: 62-100, .386 pct.
Games Back in AL Central: 32.5 (4th place)
Depressing Royals Seasonal Tidbits:
8/1/02: The season trade deadline came and went yesterday. The Royals made no trades. Fans were happy the team kept Paul Byrd -the only decent starter in the rotation- but with no trade Byrd will be a free agent at the end of the season, and could leave KC with nothing but a "sandwich pick" in next year's baseball draft. Despite a nine game winning streak, the team still managed a losing July record of 13 - 16, dropping 9 of their last 12 games from July 20th through August 1st. Most likely, none of this season will matter as another baseball strike looms for late August or September.
8/10/02: This week was especially sad for Royals fans as former All-Star Catcher Darrell Porter died in a local park under bizarre circumstances. Porter apparently suffered a heart attack while trying to dislodge the front wheel of his car -stuck on a tree stump- in 100-degree mid-afternoon heat. The Royals continue to limp along with an anemic .400 winning percentage. Only Detroit, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have fewer wins. On the "What Were They Thinking?" front: Friday night Royals marketing weasels unleashed "Dukes of Hazzard Night," and gave all fans a miniature version of the "General Lee" Dodge Charger. Additionally, Duke's TV character "Cooter" threw out the first pitch; plus it was "buck night" with one dollar hot dogs, peanuts and sodas. Of course to top it all off; it was Wal-Mart Fireworks Friday, so after the game they blew up stuff real good. Hoooo... doggies! Who says KC is a cowtown? 23,000 rednecks attended the festivities.
8/18/02: On this weekend, the Royals slip to 23 games under .500. Only Detroit has a worse road record this season; only Detroit, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee have a worse seasonal record. It all probably won't matter, as the player's union announced a strike deadline date this week of August 30th. If the players strike, it will be the ninth work stoppage since 1973. A great place to read up on the history of baseball's current financial mess is at Baseball Prospectus.com; one of the best baseball sites on the web. Check it out here:
8/23/02: With a player's strike looming a week from now, it's time for a look at why some of the players are clueless and genuinely suck pond water. Here's an abbreviated take from the Royals' own website on loafing, worthless, weak hitting, whiny, crappy Royals Shortstop Neifi Perez. Before you read this next paragraph, consider some stats: Neifi has played in 126 games, among the leaders for AL shortstops. This season he's had only 24 hits for extra bases, only 18 walks (compared to 45 K's), culminating in an inexcusable .255 on base percentage, by far the worst for any starting AL shortstop:
With a .233 batting average and 17 errors through his 125 games played in 2002, Perez has become the subject of fan and media criticism. Prize prospect Angel Berroa is a shortstop-in-waiting at Triple-A Omaha and Perez, who makes $4.1 million and is again arbitration eligible, could therefore be nearing the end of his Kansas City tenure. Perez's average has suffered because of his penchant for hitting fungo-like fly balls to infielders and outfielders. The Royals have tried to get him to develop a line drive-down approach, but the results haven't been there with any consistency. Perez discounts his error total, saying subjective scoring doesn't always provide a true reflection of a player's defensive value. Perez points to a play last week against the Yankees when he said he intentionally threw the ball to first on a bounce. The first baseman didn't come up with it and Perez was charged with an error. "Sometimes the fans just see 'E6', but they don't know how difficult a play was," Perez said. "They're just fans. Sometimes, they don't know about baseball. It doesn't bother me. When I make a nice play, the same guy who has been yelling at me will cheer me." If Perez has become the lightning rod for criticism largely because he was traded for Dye, that's puzzling to the Royals' shortstop. "Why?" Perez said. "We're two completely different players. He's an outfielder, I'm a shortstop. They know I'm not going to hit for power like Jermaine Dye." If the Royals choose not to tender him a contract in the off-season, Perez would become a free agent. "I know there are a couple of National League teams that want me," he said. (KC G.M.) Allard Baird was non-committal when asked about Perez's future with the Royals."We'll have to wait and see," Baird said. "I don't make any of those decisions until the end of the season."
9/6/02: Boy, so much has happened in the last week its hard to adequately cover it all. So here's the highlights (or lowlights in KC's case): Local KC Radio Station Wanks get the right field GA fans all worked up into a baseball jihad and totally abuse the Royals bullpen and players -especially Right Fielder Michael Tucker and Bullpen Guy & Player's Union Rep Jason Grimsley -the last game before the threatened strike. Its not the first time our fans have organized with signs and T-shirts, but IS the first time they've done so to mercilessly boo and berate their own home team. The players were equally clueless, as Tucker and Grimsley taunt the fans back. Even more bizarre, KC's best starting pitcher, Paul Byrd, who wasn't even in the bullpen or anywhere close to right field the entire evening, called those fans "thugs," even though there was no reports of violence, jumping on the field, or objects thrown at players. Byrd said he'll have to seriously reconsider signing with KC for next season, as he will be a free agent. As is par for the course in this whole labor-management-fans-jello-wrestle-fest, all parties were equally selfish and culpable. The players and owners finally broker an eleventh-hour agreement that is essentially a four year baseball band-aid. It doesn't balance the competition, but it's a baby step in the right direction. Small market teams should have 2003 payrolls in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 million dollars a year; while the Yankees and other rich teams still spend over 100 million dollars a year. The owners vote 29 to 1 to ratify the agreement; with the one dissenting vote being (guess who) that RICH BASTARD OF BASEBALL GEORGE STEINBRENNER. In the meantime, the Royals are mathematically eliminated on September 1st, and on that date have the worst record in Royals history. If the trend holds during September, the boys in blue will turn in a 98 to 100 loss season; and I've been here all spring, summer and fall documenting the whole damn fiasco. Thank you, sir, may I have another?
Here's another jolly tidbit: The Oakland A's set the AL record for consecutive wins in a row -20- including beating the Royals five times during that streak. So should that record really count? The game that secures the record is a perfect synopsis of the Royals' season. Oakland jumps out to an 11-0 lead in the third. Royals fight back to tie it 11-11 in the ninth. A unknown A's bench jockey smacks a pinch hit homer for a walk off win in the bottom of the ninth, final score: 12-11. The homer comes off of Royals Reliever and Union Player's Rep Jason Grimsley. The Royals profoundly stink as they have never stunk before. Thank God the Chiefs start on Sunday!
9/11/02: I really, really, really hate Neifi Perez. In Monday night's game, the Royals are getting their puds pounded by the Chisox. The September call ups are in the game, including Royals shortstop of the future Angel Berroa. Berroa gets pulled in the eighth for a pinch hitter. To start the ninth, Royals Manager Tony "Chico Esquela" Peña, goes to Neifi and says, "Go play short in the Ninth." Neifi says "No." Yep. He tells the manager "No." Before you read the next paragraph, read some stats:
Niefi's had 530 at bats, 125 hits, only 26 of those for extra bases. He's walked 20 times, struck out 50 times. He has an anemic batting average of .236, a pathetic on-base percentage of .261, and has made 19 errors this year. He's being paid $4.1 million for this dog crap season, and the Royals traded All Star Gold Glove Outfielder Jermaine Dye (.250, 18 HRs) for his miserable, lazy ass. Here's excerpts from the Royals own website on the incident:
"Perez's joke doesn't
play, Refusal to enter Monday's game not serious, he claims. By
Robert Falkoff / MLB.com, 9/10/02.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Just joking? That's Neifi Perez's take on what
happened in the ninth inning Monday night when Carlos Febles,
a natural second baseman, went in for the Royals as a defensive
replacement at shortstop rather than Perez. In the wake of speculation
that he refused to enter the game, Perez said Tuesday it was all
just a joke that got out of hand. "I'm ready every single
inning, 100 percent," Perez said. After Royals manager Tony
Peña decided to pinch-hit for shortstop Angel Berroa in
the bottom of the eighth, Peña instructed Perez to get
ready to go in. Perez said he jokingly refused at first, but later
assured Peña that he was ready and willing. But Peña
ultimately sent Febles into the game. Perez said he made the same
sort of joke when he played for Peña in winter ball."When
you've known your manager for a long time and you've done that
before ... with Tony in the Dominican, I said 'why are you putting
me at second base?' But he knew I was going to play." Perez
acknowledged Tuesday that Peña may not have been in a joking
mood with the Royals one inning away from a seventh consecutive
loss. Perez said. "That was my mistake. I'm a human being."
Peña refused to directly comment on the matter either before
or after Perez's assertion that he was joking when he initially
said he wouldn't go in."
What a worthless, overpaid, self-centered, malodorous, clubhouse cancerous piece of gold plated dog crap this Neifi guy is. Why his locker wasn't heaved into the parking lot (with Neifi and all his belongings stuffed in it) right after the game is beyond me. Why he's still on the Royals roster the next day is equally beyond me. What's a guy got to do to get fired around here? For 2003, good riddance and don't let the clubhouse door hit you in your useless, lazy ass on the way out. The Royals are on pace to lose 100 games this season, their worst year ever. They haven't won a game in September, losers of eight straight; and have had five losing streaks of five or more games this season. The manager and the front office apparently tolerates players deciding if and when they feel like playing. If this isn't evidence of why the Royals are pathetic losers, and why good players want to get the hell out of KC as soon as humanly possible, I honestly don't know what is. What self respecting baseball player would want to associate with this lousy bunch of bums? I am truly in Baseball Hell. Poor Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman...and George Brett, where are you???
9/21/02: THANK GOD this miserable season is almost over. The Royals guaranteed their 14th straight losing month by dropping three of four to the Chisox on the road. The Royals have amassed their all time worst road record this year, currently standing at 25-53. Today the Royals announced they have waived another first round draft choice, 1997's RHP Dan Reichert, who was claimed on waivers by Tampa Bay. The only Royals first round draft choice since 1991 remaining as a starter is Michael Tucker, who was eventually traded away to Atlanta for Jermaine Dye, then came back to KC as a free agent.
More sadness this week with the passing of Right Field GA's most famous fan, "Santa Claus" Joe Hess. Joe was 82 years old, and spent the last 22 years sitting in Sec 144, Row J, Seat 1. The Royals are going to honor his memory by placing a plaque on the seat. I think that's a class thing to do. So long, Joe. We'll miss seeing you around the ol' ballpark.
One of the most bizarre incidents in baseball history occurred in Chicago's Comiskey Park Thursday night as a liquored up, tattoo laden father and son duo attacked Royals First Base Coach Tom Gamboa during the 9th inning of a totally meaningless game. What the?.....WHY???? The Royals bench emptied and pummeled the trailer trash twins. Surprisingly, Neifi Perez was first on the scene to help Gamboa by punching the two assailants (which, by the way, was only his sixth multiple hit game of the season.) The father, identified by police as 34-year-old William Ligue Jr., and his 15-year-old son were led off the field in handcuffs. Friday morning they were charged with aggravated battery. Why on earth would you attack the Royals mild mannered, anonymous first base coach? This incident is inexplicable. It makes my brain hurt just thinking about it, but considering the armpit that IS Chicago's south side, it doesn't surprise me. You might have missed this ad promoting father and son night!
See Depressing Royals Tidbits for April & May 2002:
