Kansas City Loses 18th Straight

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jul 28 @ TB L 5-10

Jul 29 @ TB L 3-6

Jul 30 @ TB L 3-7

Jul 31 @ TB L 2-6

Aug 2 @ BOSL 4-6

Aug 3 @ BOS L 5-8

Aug 4 @ BOS L 9-11

Aug 5 vs OAK L 4-5

Aug 6 vs OAK L 1-16

Aug 7 vs OAK L 0-11

Aug 9 vs CLE L 7-13

Aug 10 vs CLE L 1-6

Aug 11 vs CLE L 2-4

Aug 12 vs DET PPD (Yay! We were spared! Against... maybe... the only... team... we can beat...)

Aug 13 vs DET PPD (Of all the...)

Aug 14 vs DET (DH Game 1) L 7-8 (Even with Vance Wilson in for Pudge.)

Aug 14 vs DET (DH Game 2) L 0-1 (Argh)

Aug 15 @ SEA L 3-11

Aug 16 @ SEA L 3-4

Aug 17 @ SEA L 5-11

To top it off (or put it in perspective), Manager Buddy Bell missed Tuesday's game to attend the burial of his nephew, a marine killed in Iraq.

[MFS62]

So much for the idea that consistency is a good thing.

That's just plain ugly.

Later

[Willets Point]

I know the modern day world has a short memory, but I remember when Kansas City was one of the best teams year in, year out. They even won a World Series. That was just before the, um, Mets won their last World Series.

[Frayed Knot]

KC last won in '87, just after the Mets won their last WS.

[Willets Point]

No, that was Minnesota. They both beat the damned Cardinals though.

[Frayed Knot]

I just realized that after I posted.
KC won in '85 against those speedy cardinals.

Oh well, too late to change now.

[Benjamin Grimm]

My favorite Kansas City pennant is the one they won in 1980, because they finally beat the Yankees in the ALCS. (After losing to them in 1976, 1977, and 1978.)

[MFS62]

Yes, but does KC's victory deserve an asterisk for pine tar?

Later

[smg58]

It was only two years ago that they were in contention until the last week, and looked for all the world like they had finally tuned the corner after a long run of futility. Now they're worse than ever, none of the young guys they've been banking on have panned out, their best player can't stay healthy, and now 18 in a row. There but for the grace of God.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Nineteen-eighty was a funky year in that it was such an evenly matched series. Each team had had a good decade with no championships to show for it. The Royals finally got past the Yanks and the Phillies finally got past the Dodgers. Most importantly, they featured perhaps the top two thirdbasemen ever, each in likely their finest season.

Both had recently turned the manager's chair over while winning. Both were on Astroturf. Both would eventually send Lonnie Smith out there to scare World Series watchers. Both had a now-dead legendary flake closing their games.

Philadelphia cheated that year. Marty Bystrom had come up in September and caught fire. When it came time to assemble the post-season roster, they convinced Nino Espinosa (also dead now) to play sick and were able to add Bystrom to the post-season roster. Bystrom wasn't really the difference, although he may have been in the fantastic playoff victory over Houston. Heck, any player may have been.

OPS for that world series by Schmidt: 1.176. By Brett: 1.090.

[metirish]

Hard to believe this team swept the MFY's this season.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

25th anniversary of that season, by the way.

Dickie Noles was a Philly rookie pitcher that season too. Some say his dusting of George Brett in Game 3 (was it game 3?) of that series served as the wakeup call the Phils needed. Noles had great potential and was fearless on the mound but would eventually drink himself out of a career. He's now sober and a member of the Phils' community outreach team.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Noles, Bystrom, and Walk, three world-champ rooks.

[Centerfield]

40 some-odd losses more and our '62 boys will be off the hook.

[G-Fafif]

]The Royals finally got past the Yanks and the Phillies finally got past the Dodgers.

The Phillies got past the Dodgers the way the Mets got past the Braves in 2000, by having somebody else (the Astros) beat them and then beating the team that got past them. The Phillies did take care of the Dodgers at last in 1983.

]Yes, but does KC's victory deserve an asterisk for pine tar?

Pine tar was 1983. But any and all helpful substance used against the MFYs should be permitted.

I really liked those Royals teams. And really hated those Phillies teams, Tug notwithstanding. When the Mets made their aborted run to respectability in 1980, we took three straight at the Vet in late June. When we lost the fourth game, Dallas Green channeled Leo Durocher and said something to the effect of "those were the real Mets we saw today." I hated Dallas Green from there on out, only lightly suspending that distaste for patches of 1993-96. A team fronted by Carlton, Rose and Bowa may have been very good but they weren't particularly warm and fuzzy. Not that that was their goal.

The Royals, on the other hand, were always throwing themselves in the way of the Yankees, so how could you not love them? By the time they finally won it all in '85, they were on the last legs of a tremendous decade and had recovered from a drug scandal. Only thing that bugged me about the 1980 Royals was they had Jose Cardenal, one of the most useless Mets ever who suddenly got to be in the World Series.

Very sad to see the Royals of today. Hope Super Joe is holding up.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

metirish wrote: Hard to believe this team swept the MFY's this season.

Not really, its been that kinda year for the MFYs. (And an enjoyable one)

[Guest silverdsl]

metirish wrote: Hard to believe this team swept the MFY's this season.

It's not considering how bad the Yankees played during that series. At that time they looked like a team that could lose 18 in a row, not the Royals.

Imagine being a player on that team. How do you feel going to the stadium each day? How do you get motivated to play? Can't be a good feeling knowing that you play for the worst team in baseball.

[smg58]

I think that's part of the problem, like with batting slumps that take on a life of their own. You lose, the confidence suffers, dejection sets in, motivation gets harder, you lose some more, and so on. The deeper you fall into the spiral, the harder it is to pull out of it.

I'd feel really bad for the fans of any team who outdid the 62 Mets. Unless it was the Yankees, of course.

[Willets Point]

I'm listening to the Red Sox game tonight, and Joe or Jerry (I can't tell the difference) said that in the midst of the Royals losing streak they had scheduled a weekend reunion of the 1985 championship team. The game was postponed by rain and the next day when they went ahead with the ceremony only a handful of the '85 players were still in town because they'd had plane reservations. That's so depressing.