Where I am staying at has horrible cable. In the last month the Royals have been on National TV quite a few times. Before today, I have got to see them play 0 times. The last time I saw them live, was when I was at the K on July 27th. So today I was excited that I was finally able to see them play. I can't watch them on regional TV because the Cardinals are clogging the airwaves (seriously, I live 98 miles from the KC metro, and 165 or so from St. Louis, you would think I would be able to see the Royals, but whatever).
I am happy hearing the games on the radio, but today I got to see "Big Game James" James Shields pitch against former Mizzou alum Max Scherzer. I was excited. I was cheering and live tweeting the game and booing Ned Yost's decision to putting Josh Willingham third in the batting lineup.
Everything was great, the game was tied at 1 in the bottom of the 6th. All of a sudden.... WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS? The website Royals Review (not to be confused with this blog you're reading) describes it better than I could-
The game really hinged on the sixth inning when things just went nuts. With one out, Salvador Perez singled and Eric Hosmer doubled to put runners at second and third. Omar Infante lined out to second baseman Ian Kinsler who threw to second base to attempt to double-off Hosmer, only to find Tigers shortstop Eugenio Suarez not paying attention, leading to an errant throw. Salvador Perez, in his giddiness to score on the wild throw, forgot to ever tag back up at third base (since it was a line out), instead dashing home for the apparent lead run.
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| Ned Yost still making appearances, hopefully he won't for too much longer. |
Now.... this is why my passion for my team kicked in. Having read that and showing the replay, it was obvious Salvador was out. There is no question about this. I just can't find a picture yet, sorry. Anyways, since I was live-tweeting this, I wondered "did Detroit throw to third before Brad Ausmas came out to argue the ruling". Fox wondered the same. The officials huddled up and decided to review the play. Before I continue, it was later said and shown Detroit DID throw to third. So once again, I'm not mad if they saw it and called it out. However, nobody saw it happen, so they went to New York for a replay.
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| sorry for the bad quality, its a screen print from a video. No where near the base. |
They huddled again, and they called him out. Ned Yost came out to talk to the ump, and since it was the third out, the inning was over and we went to commercial. FOX at this point still never showed the throw to third.
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| Salvador stumbling back to third a couple minutes before all the madness ensued. |
When they came back from the commercial, Ken Rosenthal reported that Yost talked it over and made no argument and went back to the dugout. They finally showed the clip of them throwing to third.
OK, so all is well, justice is served, and I am calming down..... OR MAYBE NOT!
Ken Rosenthal told the FOX audience, and later twitter this nugget of information- From MLB: Play was not reviewable. The on-field umpire was told that the play was not reviewable. He was given no additional information.
So, they went to check the replay, and New York told them the play was not reviewable. So the officials got together and then they called him out, because as one official said "I HAD NO CHOICE"!!!!!!!!
So, let me try to understand this. Nobody saw this happen... they can't review it.... and they have no choice but to call him out!!!!!
It was later determined that it was the Royals own Crown Vision jumbo board that showed the replay that they must have noticed and then they called him out.
I am still steamed at this. I would have still played this game under protest if I was Ned Yost.
Anyways, the air was let out of the Stadium, Detroit scored twice in the top of the 7th, and didn't come alive again until the bottom of the ninth when down by one, the Royals had a chance to tie it.
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| This happened in the seventh inning. They ran into each other, but luckily one of them caught the ball. |
As I am writing this, I wondered the whole game, why is Willingham still in the game (he finished 0-3 stranding runners a couple times), and why wouldn't Yost not put Billy Butler in?
With two outs and Willingham up, Ned decides to sit him and brings in.... RAUL IBANEZ! THE GUY IS HITTING .168 this year. Raul grounded to second and the Royals lost. After the game, Ned explained why he chose Raul- "he needed a professional at bat". WHAT?
If this is how the year ends, and management is happy with this, I hope they let Billy Butler go, because they obviously have no confidence in him. I just hope Ned Yost is gone first.
There is some hope at a playoff spot, but to be honest, I'm so upset that I don't really care. If they make it, Yost will get more credit than he deserves and he will stick around. I hope we tank just for the chance to get a new manager.
Usually, at least in the last four or five years, I have been able to just laugh things like this off. As I am writing this, my Missouri Tigers are tied with the Indiana Hoosiers, and if Mizzou loses, I will easily laugh it off. Though I just can't let this go. Not only am I upset at the officials in this game, I am mad at the horrible lineup Yost presented just one night after the Detroit Tigers trounced Kansas City 10-1. I am mad at the terrible base awareness from Salvador Perez. I am mystified at why Yost would not put in Butler and choose Raul in the bottom of the 9th with two out. I'm just stunned so much could happen in one game. I will have to find a way to get this out of my head.
I guess I will have to post later tonight about some more cards I got. That should make me feel better. If I don't I will tomorrow. Thanks for letting me vent, and I hope everyone has a great night and a great weekend.
Joe Posnanski wrote a very interesting blog post on his blog about this which said, in effect, that New York was wrong and should have reviewed the play. This is because the play was not a judgment call on whether Perez left too early from the base but rather related to whether a runner "touched" a base related to an appeal.
ReplyDeletehttp://joeposnanski.com/joeblogs/replaying-the-replay/
I read that, I'm not sure if I agree with it though. I do understand that argument though. After a good nights sleep, I have cooled down considerably though and have let it go. I used to like Joe when he wrote for the Kansas City Star, but not a huge fan of his these days. I do agree though that the Royals fans knew it was an out but wanted him to be safe basically on a technicality.
DeleteI am not a fan of replay too much, but I think if they are going to do it, then they should at least make all calls review-able. It's something that should be looked at next year.
Beyond everything that happened, the worst part was our momentum just bottomed out after that. I think if the run counted (i.e. Salvy touching the bag in the first place), Shields wouldn't have gave up two runs in the seventh and we would have won.
As I said, its a new day and we still have a wildcard spot. I just hope we can start a winning streak and make it in. I would say at worst we have to win at least 5 or 6 more games, and am counting that Monday night whatever it is (a half inning makeup game) a loss already, but hope they prove me wrong.