MLB at the Unofficial Halfway Point

It’s hard to believe it has been a year since my good friend Sean Thornton and I took in the All-Star Game at Kauffman Stadium, a time that is among the best baseball experiences of my life. Well, the All-Star Game is back…neither of us are going…and if it wasn’t for some work-related stuff, I’d be catching snippets of the game in between Dog With a Blog or Sam and Cat or something kid-related.

Anyways, the season is officially past the halfway point, but this is always a time to look at the first half of the season and see who may have a good chance of making — and missing — the upcoming playoffs.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

In the playoff mix: Boston, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland, Oakland, Texas.

Boston is making it verrrry difficult to not be the AL favorite for the second half of the year. Oh, sure, Detroit looks good at times and Oakland continues to surprise (maybe it shouldn’t anymore), but the BoSox are just rolling now. Tampa Bay shot up the AL East charts with a huge run leading up to the break, and as much as I hate to say it…right now I’d pick the Rays over Baltimore if it comes down to those teams fighting for a wild card. I don’t see Chris Davis getting all the mistakes he’s seen so far, and the Oriole rotation/bullpen still has some holes. I have no idea how to call the Oakland-Texas race, so I won’t.

On the outside looking in: New York Yankees, California (excuse me, LA) Angels.

I’m sorry, but I just see the Yankees riding a geriatric roller-coaster the rest of the year (translation: more injuries, a lower winning percentage in August and September). The Angels? Well, what do you do with Hamilton and Pujols? And is this Scioscia’s last year at the helm? Angels brass would be stupid to push him out, but that’s possible.

Better start looking at winter resorts: Toronto, Kansas City, Minnesota, Chicago White Sox, Seattle, Houston.

A couple of these teams (Minnesota, Houston, Seattle), you knew this wasn’t their season. On the other side, so much was expected in Toronto with that big infusion of free agents. Look at how well that went. The wheels are coming off the Robin Ventura experiment in Chicago (he’d have a better chance if the White Sox weren’t so fundamentally bad). Which leaves Kansas City, tantalizing with its talent, deluded in its thinking if Royals management decides to make a playoff push. The first two series (Detroit and Baltimore back-to-back) after the break decide whether the Royals sink or tread water.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Fighting for alpha dog status: Atlanta, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati

A three-team race for the East Beast title. Pirates fans are hoping another summer swoon isn’t just around the corner like what happened last year. I like the Reds, but my guess is Atlanta and St. Louis will take their respective divisions pretty handily. If the Pirates can stay afloat, pardon the pun, it’s bye-bye Reds for this year.

Scrambling: Washington, Philadelphia, Arizona, Los Angeles, Colorado

I did not expect the Nationals or the Dodgers on this list when the season began. Like the Royals, I think both the Nats and Dodgers have to come out of the break on fire to have a chance. Philly needs that too, but they remind me of the National League’s version of the Yankees. Really, when it comes to the West, put the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Rockies logos under a hat, shake it up and pull out a name. That’s who wins. The others stay home.

Done: New York Mets, Miami, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, San Francisco, San Diego

You knew Miami would be embarrassingly bad, but they are pushing that benchmark lower as the season progresses. And, honestly, I could say I expected most of these teams on this list at this time of the season. I was not expecting the Giants, though. After last year, I had anticipated they would be well ahead of the NL West. Lincecum’s no-hitter was a nice bump of momentum, but don’t expect it to last long. The team with the biggest headache (aside from the record) is obviously the Brewers as they await MLB’s ruling on Ryan Braun. What a hangover that could be. Maybe that’s not the term I should use. Sorry.

There you have it. Go O’s. Go Royals. Go home Yankees. And go enjoy the second half of the season.

Bearers of Stupidity

 

Being a Royals fan and seeing a pair of related (and unfortunate) incidents/trends this week, and being Catholic and remembering Lucifer means “light bearer” in Latin, I did some quick research to see what “bearer of stupidity” translated to in the venerable language.

“Aquilifero stultitiae” doesn’t really lend to any nicknames. It doesn’t even lend to an easy pronunciation.

I was hoping it would at least be fodder for a good nickname.

OK. Here’s the setup. The Royals have sucked for the better part of a generation. Twenty-five years of baseball misery. Every effort made to compete with the Yankees and Braves and Red Sox of the MLB world has faltered badly, if not blown up in their faces like a 1920s gag cigar. Royals fans have been subjected to old-fart free agents and fresh-faced, overmatched youngsters. We’ve had stars like Mike Sweeney and Jermaine Dye and Carlos Beltran alongside malcontents such as Neifi Perez and Mike Aviles and Jose Guillen. We’ve had pitchers ranging in age and skill levels from Tim Belcher to Jose Lima to Jose Rosado to Dan Reichert to Mike MacDougald to to Hiram “Kyle” Davies to Eduardo Villacis. Don’t remember Villacis? He’s the guy who was called up for one start against the Yankees when other arms were available from Omaha, gave up like a billion runs in two innings and went deep into the International Witness Protection Program (more like the Witless Protection Program with this franchise). Managing magicians like Tony Muser (no prior MLB managing experience), Buddy Bell (losing record before KC enhanced markedly upon his exit) and Trey Hillman (no prior MLB managing experience and it showed) have patrolled the benches as well.

We’ve had excuses after excuses fungoed towards us. We don’t have enough money. These guys aren’t that old. Yes, they have been problems elsewhere, but they will work here. Believe in what we’re telling you. We don’t have enough money. This is the right direction for the franchise. It’s somebody else’s fault who has more money.

The latest incarnation of a plan has been Dayton Moore’s “Process” of building from within and sprinkling the developing lineup with seasoned character-laden veterans. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Especially considering the Royals payroll, at one point among the highest in the game, has for years been scraping at the bottom of the barrel along with the Rays and (occasionally) Marlins. Especially considering the total scatter-shot direction so expertly planned by prior GM Allard Baird.

The Process hasn’t done squat at the KC level, mainly because the kids weren’t ready yet, but for several years it was doing swimmingly in the minor leagues. Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and others flat-out tore up lower-level pitching. More to the point, a pitching staff which has been woefully short on talent and promise developed a lot of both, with Danny Duffy, Mike Montgomery and Jake Odorizzi leading the way.

Praise was heaped upon the Royals. At long last, Kansas City was moving from their shack on the wrong side of the baseball tracks to the working middle-class neighborhood of Relevance.

Well, a funny thing started happening last year. Montgomery couldn’t find the strike zone, either at Triple-A Omaha or AA Northwest Arkansas. Hosmer was completely lost at the plate. Moustakas roared to life during the middle of the season, but a late knee injury totally took the starch out of his finish. Duffy blew out his elbow. Suddenly, the greatest minor league compilation of talent Major League Baseball had allegedly seen in years started to resemble a lot of Royals teams from the past 25 years — occasionally long on promise, abysmally short on wins.

It was like somebody overcharged the credit cards and took away the 26-foot U-Haul (and a whole bunch of full boxes) in mid-move.

Which leads to this past offseason. Moore parked the lumbering The Process to hitchhike with Win Now, By Gum. Wil Myers and Odorizzi exited stage left to make room for Rays pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis. Good move by most accounts, but with Shields’ track record and with the disparity in contract control between Shields and Myers, there was no mistaking the Royals direction. Win Now. Summary of early news conferences from Manager Ned Yost: We’re taking off the training wheels because we can Win Now. Spring training results, when it didn’t count, mind you: the Royals won.

Which leads to the past two weeks. The Royals, after a great start, are no longer Winning Now. They are Losing Now. They have lost something like eight of 10 and done so in mainly pitiful fashion. In fact, they resemble the Royals of the past 20-plus years. Can’t hit. Can’t field. Can pitch — some — but with meltdowns at key times.

Which leads to earlier this week, when Yost said Royals fans are upset because they want “instant gratification” — and, apparently, they shouldn’t be. For whatever reason, we fans should back off our long-festering desire to Win Now. We should return to the perpetual sunrise days of The Process until the team actually Wins Now.

Excuse me?

All indications from you, Mr. Yost, and Mr. Moore were the Royals were geared to push for the first playoff berth the franchise has seen in nearly 30 years. That was supposed to be this year. Supposed to be. Suddenly, this team looks like it could just as easily have a hard time pushing the 70-win plateau which has been the company standard for oh, let’s see, the last 20 years. No progress from the supposed stars of the future (regressions by SS Alcides Escobar and Moustakas plus the suddenly powerless Hosmer). An abhorrent backup in defensive acumen and execution (Escobar, Moustakas, Jeff Francouer). A lineup that has, aside from Alex Gordon, seen its collective batting approach get worse instead of better with new hitting coaches on staff.

New expectations, fostered by none other than yourself.

Same old Royals. Fostered by misfortune, missed opportunities and misplanning. By none other than yourself.

So, instead of holding you accountable for the expectations you laid down on this season, instead of holding you accountable for the absolute chasm between said expectations and visible on-field results (again), we’re supposed to ignore that. Just push that aside. We’re supposed to suffer through another year which would be substandard for just about every other franchise in Major League Baseball. We’re supposed to let The Win Now Process revert to The Win At Some Undetermined Point Down The Road When We Catch Lightning In A Bottle Twice Process. And we’re supposed to sit there in our $20 to $75 seats, pay our $30 for T-shirts, buy our $8 beers and hot dogs, watch a brutal, increasingly clueless product (again, for the roughly 25th straight year) and take it.

Seventy wins. 70-92. Good enough to continue The Process.

Not in my world. Not after seven years of this regime, and not after a generation of unfulfilled hype and hope.

Ned Yost et Dayton Moore. Aquilifero stultitiae.

Time to Chop Some Names

Posted May 12, 2013, on http://www.IndySportsLegends.com.

Recently, Jason Collins became the first current player in America’s major sports to come out as gay. With that cultural marker now past, a lot of attention is turning to racially sensitive sports nicknames as the next hurdle to clear.

Daniel Snyder’s comments saying the Washington Redskins would never change their nickname may be popular and based in team history, but the statement is a dumb one when you look at the bigger cultural picture.

Let’s start by stating one absolute, obvious fact. The nickname is racist.

Let’s follow that by stating an absolute, obvious observation. Americans don’t do the racist thing anymore, at least not in public. Unless you’re the Redskins and a handful of other college, high school or youth-level athletic programs who haven’t gotten with the program.

Over the past 20 years, names with Native American ties — some honorable, some questionable, some blatantly derogatory — have disappeared. In the cases of the derogatory, congratulations were deserved for leaders recognizing the negative impact of those names and working to remove them.

In some cases, the logos were just as offensive as the names. Witness the dopey caricature fostered by the St. John’s Redmen as Exhibit A:

While the Redskins catch the most flak for their stubbornness on this matter, other teams still aren’t immune for legitimate criticism. Not so much for the nickname as for the logo or team’s visual identity.

This was borne out during Major League Baseball’s spring training, when the Atlanta Braves broke out the Way Back Machine and returned with hats emblazoned with Chief Nokahoma.

I have always been ambivalent about Nokahoma. It’s a much more accurate picture of a Native American than, say, the Redmen logo or Cleveland’s Chief Wahoo…

…but there’s something unnervingly wrong about the logo that I have never been able to place.

And don’t get me started on Chief Wahoo. That branding campaign should never have been launched.

Being part Choctaw, I really don’t have a problem with certain Native-related nicknames. Maybe I should have a problem with tribal names being used (even those like Fighting Sioux indicating a warlike mentality), but I don’t. Nicknames like Braves and Chiefs and Warriors? I don’t have a problem with those.

I do have a problem when nicknames are blatantly offensive but still widely supported.

When Americans look back at the 1800s and think of Native Americans, they think cowboys and Indians, Custer’s crew wiped out at Little Bighorn and (possibly) reservations. We give lip service reverence to the individual giants like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse of Chief Joseph. As a culture, though, we totally have blocked out the treaty upon treaty broken to gain land. And aside from Wounded Knee, S.D., we turn a blind eye to massacre after massacre.

Case in point: the Choctaws were moved from Mississippi and Alabama to Oklahoma thanks to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. Choctaws were given a choice of submitting to U.S. laws or keeping their legal structure and moving — and giving up some 11 million acres of land in the process. The treaty was the sixth one involving both parties in some capacity, each meaning huge chunks of territory were handed over as settlers demanded more and more land (this started well before the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786, which among other things said Americans could never live on Indian land and Indians could punish violators as they saw fit. We see how well that went over.).  The Treaty of Doak’s Stand in 1820 said boundaries wouldn’t change until the Choctaw were “civilized and enlightened” to become U.S. citizens…only to see the boundaries change with the Treaty of Washington City in 1825 and complete removal in 1831.

Back when I was a kid and John Riggins became a household name against the Dolphins, I wouldn’t have cared. Now, when I hear Daniel Snyder’s comments, Snyder’s in-your-face defiance, this litany of disrespect is what comes to mind. Not fourth-and-six from the other team’s 18 with under two minutes to go and trailing by a field goal.

No gathering of 50,000 to 80,000 people chanting and waving the Tomahawk Chop will ever honor the deaths incurred at Wounded Knee or Sand Creek or the displacement of thousands of people thanks to Dancing Rabbit Creek and other similar threads of broken treaties woven into a quilt of nationwide marginalization. Snyder’s dismissive comments continue that marginalization, whether he sees it or not.

So many things are considered offensive these days, and when those concerns are voiced, we take steps to make amends. Except, inexplicably, in this case and with this segment of humankind.

The Redskins name is racist and has to go. People adjusted to talking about the St. John’s Red Storm instead of the Redmen. We can think of another suitable nickname for the Washington Redskins.

Looking deeper, though, what a lot of us need to consider is whether the push towards tolerance includes Native Americans as well as most of the rest of humanity. The fact we’re having this discussion indicts us. It says we’re not where we should be as a culture even though other landmarks are now past.