Monday

Royals lose 14th and 15th in a row, but it was Saberhagen's day...


Bret Saberhagen is RC's official all-time favorite pitcher

Well, there's not a whole lot to add. This weekend was further evidence of the Royals' curse this season. Not only did they enter their 20th anniversary weekend of the 1985 championship, but they did so having lost 13 straight games, a new club record. And of course, in a season in which nothing can go right, the first two games of the weekend were rained out due to a monsoon which RC witnessed firsthand. The weather, along with the 13 straight losses, sufficiently drove down today's attendance to a miserable 17,568, which is really quite embarrassing on a day when the franchise's best pitcher was set to be inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame. And to make matters worse, the Royals then proceeded to get swept in today's doubleheader with a pair of one-run losses.

The ceremony itself was quite nice. RC has been to nearly all of the Royals Hall of Fame inductions, and this one was without some of the glitches we have previously witnessed -- such as high winds blowing over the portrait stand. We were able to snap some wonderful photos of Sabes, so tonight we've decided to post those in lieu of the other excellent photos we took before and during the game. Call it RC's official gesture of appreciation to the finest pitcher to ever wear a Royals uniform:


Sabes goofing around as always


"My fondest memories are on this field. It was just an honor to put on a Kansas City Royals uniform with these guys and go out in the trenches and try to achieve a World Series championship."


"The two Bretts, sharing a delicious moment." Nice ring, by the way.


STRIKE! Sabes still has his form.


"Ha Ha! I am STILL better than all of you!"

Congratulations, Bret!

6 Comments:

At 8/15/2005 3:30 PM, Blogger Daniel said...

Really -- can Sabes still lace 'em up and spot start if needed?

 
At 8/15/2005 4:28 PM, Blogger Dave said...

Daniel, why not? Even though my dream of Sabes finishing his career with the Royals died about four years ago, perhaps a strong fantasy camp outing in February can convince him to give it one more shot, Jim Palmer-style.

Could he really be any worse than Shawn Camp?

 
At 8/15/2005 5:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

*How bleeping awesome would it be to see Sabes coming out of the pen to finish up one last season. I've heard former Royals say of all the players down at fantasy camp this Winter, Sabes is the one still w/ major league stuff.

*On another note. It was reported today on WHB that the offical amount the Royals received for profit sharing is $57 million this season. Giving them an extremely conservative 5 million for payroll outside of the roster, that means Glass pocketed $15m before a single ticket, parking pass, or concession was sold!

We Royals fans should DEMAND a higher payroll next year. It took the Royals 33 years to lose 100 games in a season. Now they're on pace to do it three times in the last four! Disgraceful!

*Did anyone else notice how freaking cheaply made the Saberhagen statues were? Looks like Glass and co. forced some 8 year old kids from China to paint them all by hand. I was extremely impressed with the Beltran Bobbleheads a couple years back. These aren't even in the same league!!

 
At 8/15/2005 6:59 PM, Blogger Dave said...

Hey Brian,

Before anyone takes me seriously about wishing for Saberhagen's return, please allow me to say that I was only kidding (well, sort of). While I maintain that he probably couldn't be any worse than Shawn Camp, I still don't think he has any place on the Royals roster. Unfortunately, that ship sailed in 2001.

As for the revenue sharing, that's all fine with me. It's pointless to throw around numbers, because no one has any idea which money goes to pay which expense. Did Glass make a $15 million profit this year? I don't know, but I hope he did. Good for him if he did. As long as the franchise remains profitable, there will be baseball in Kansas City, so as far as I'm concerned, profit=good.

Now, will the payroll go up next year? Maybe it will, maybe it won't. It all depends on what holes the Royals think they can fill internally. Keep in mind that the Royals are already dropping $17 million in dead weight contracts after this season, so it would take quite a bit of spending to get to a point where next year's payroll surpasses this year's. Do the Royals have $17 million in holes? Do they have $32 million in holes? Will spending either $17 million or $32 million in the offseason give us a realistic shot at the playoffs next season?

These are all questions that have to be answered before I can summon any outrage over our payroll. And at this point, I'd rather see the Royals try to lock up their young guys like DeJesus and Greinke to long-term deals.

As for the Sabes statues, if you want to blame anybody, blame Sprint, not Glass -- they paid for them. I personally don't think they're all that bad, but I definitely don't like the Sprint ad on the base.

 
At 8/16/2005 2:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, of course I was also playing along with you about Sabes making a comeback. I saw an arm fall off of one of the other patrons Sabes statue. If he were to make a comeback, the same thing might happen to the real Sabes right out there on the mound!

I agree with locking young guys up, but what's wrong with throwing another 15 million towards the rotation and one hitter?

 
At 8/16/2005 7:59 PM, Blogger Daniel said...

David...no, no, Sabes cannot be any worse than Shawn Camp, or Brad Voyles, or Blake Stein, or Chris George, or Jose Lima...

...now I'm depressed. The thing is, I'm thinking that I'm not kidding when I say he couldn't be worse than those guys...maybe.

But I'm still depressed now. I need a drink. I think my toast will be...

"21 (losses), here we come!"

Followed closely by, "22, here's to you!"

It seems almost impossible for this team to not be historically bad.

 

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