It is downright disheartening to watch the Royals imploding before our eyes, but it’s not an apparition.
This downfall has been in the works for several weeks. (Those of you who are regular readers might recall my prediction on Aug. 23 that the Royals “probably aren’t going to win the American League championship.”)
The nadir of this slide into mediocrity occurred tonight. The Royals led the Orioles 6-4 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. They needed just six outs. But then a funny thing happened: The Orioles scored 10 (TEN!) runs in the bottom of the eighth, including TWO grand slam homers.
Here’s how our vaunted bullpen performed in the eighth inning: Chris Young gave up one run, Kelvin Herrera four, Franklin Morales another four and a guy named Chamberlain one. It was a milestone performance, in that it once and for all blew up the notion our bullpen is as strong as last year.
Baseball is all about momentum. Last September the Royals went 15-11, nudged into the playoffs and then got even hotter than they had been.
This year, they are 3-7 in September, and the momentum is all on the losing side. The next milestone will be when the Toronto Blue Jays overtake the Royals (the Jays are three games back as of tonight) for home field advantage in the American League playoffs…That’s when you’ll see widespread panic among the body politic.
…As I said on Aug. 23, you’re not going to see the most likely scenario laid out on The Star’s sports pages; they don’t want to spoil the script. You probably won’t get it on 610 and 810 sports-talk radio, either; they don’t want to kill their ratings.
So now what? Well, what we’ve gotta do here is brace ourselves for keen disappointment; it’s barreling straight down the tracks. And it’s OK to cry.
:: A friend sent an email tonight, saying: “I’m very disappointed in the KC Star today. I couldn’t believe that there was not one mention of 9/11??? I was pretty dumbstruck…What’s up with that? Their choice of news coverage baffles me at times.”
…I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t even noticed. I thought my friend must be wrong, and I quickly went back to check. I shouldn’t have doubted her because she’s an avid reader of The Star (at least until now).
I wrote back that The Star’s oversight was not just disappointing but bordering on outrageous. The New York Times had an editorial titled “Will We Always Remember?” (Particularly interesting in light of The Star’s forgetfulness, don’t you think?)
The Times also had a story that contained some 9/11 emails recently released by the George W. Bush Presidential Library. One of those emails, sent at 8:56 a.m. Eastern time by White House media affairs director, said: “Turn on CNN.”
Here’s the story. I think you’ll find it interesting.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Jimmy, perhaps you’re been too hard on the Star about 9/11 coverage? That event happened 14 years ago…and they can’t even manage to cover yesterday’s KC news or late sports scores because they’re closing the news cycle a lot earlier these days. Then again, perhaps they don’t have the space to cover all the news in a 6-page A Section?
Remember when we got similar calls Dec 8? But as I recall, the biggest complaint was too little coverage, not a total lack.
Yes, I recall that, Gene…I think it might have been in 2001, the 60th anniversary of the attack. I believe I was still at The Star when we got that backlash, which we deserved.
…I remember that Steve Shirk, former managing editor, used to say he didn’t like anniversary stories. But some, like Pearl Harbor and 9/11, are events that will always cry out for notice on the day of their anniversary.
Jim:
Someone pointed out that the only mention of 9/11 in The Star yesterday was in Vahe Gregorian’s column stating that it was a sad birthday for Mike Moustakas, who was born 9/11/88.
One had to look for it.
Best,
Laura
I saw that, so there was an allusion to it, but nothing in the news pages, where there certainly should have been a story.
Absolutely right! Unbelievable!
NBC ran their initial coverage all over again but I didn’t want to watch.
Best,
Laura
The long-awaited memorial at Shanksville was dedicated the day before (the 10th), so the Star would have had plenty of time to cover it, had they been so inclined. Strange …
Good to see our commenters have their priorities in order…The Royals are a distant second to proper coverage of the 9/11 anniversary.
Can’t give up on our Boys in Blue (Moosie’s on fire!!), but game calling sounds unnatural without Hud / Monty / Ryan.
Nine runs batted in??? Wow.
Dewey Defeats Truman!
I’m not giving up on the Royals until their last out of the season. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.
I admire your dedication, Jason. Most royals’ fans are like you, and that’s a good thing; keeps the energy level up. If everyone was as fickle as me, it wouldn’t be nearly as exciting…When I go to the games – I went to the 12-inning one last week — I get just as excited as everyone else. The enthusiasm is infectious. It’s just when I sit around and watch on TV that I give up quickly…I tell you, though, “The Fantastic Johnny C” is a big, big problem. I sniffed that one out early on.
You sound like my husband, Jim — giving up too quickly. But driving us just as crazy as Cueto’s horrible showing is the seeming detachment of Ned. We find ourselves screaming at him quite frequently to get a clue. Don’t understand his style.
“In Ned I Trust.” That’s the philosophy I’ve developed since last September, Gayle. On several occasions, I’ve thought, “What the hell is he thinking?”, only to see some seemingly illogical decision work out. The key to his m.o. is exhibiting total trust in his players…until they show conclusively that the trust is not warranted. For example, a lot of people, including me, were ready to throw in the towel on Moustakas last season, when he wasn’t hitting a lick — and hadn’t in a couple of years. But Ned stuck with him, and now he’s a force to be reckoned with, and a veritable powder keg, as you pointed out the other day.
I suppose all that’s true; just frustrating to watch the process!
Jim, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m about ready to drop the print edition of the Star and cut back to the electronic version. We didn’t get our paper Sunday morning; I called and complained and was promised the paper would be delivered later that day. Didn’t happen. Monday morning arrived but again no paper. I called to complain again, and was promised that my complaint would be “escalated” and that the Sunday and Monday papers would be delivered. Didn’t happened. Then came this morning, Tuesday – still no papers. The Star circulation guy I spoke to yesterday said they have started using a new group of carriers. My family and I live in a downtown high-rise apartment building, and the residents of our building who take the paper have it delivered to their door. The carrier needs to use an entry code to get in the building. My suspicion is that the Star got rid of the old carriers without first obtaining their knowledge of how to gain entry to downtown residential buildings that have an entry setup such as ours. We have received excellent delivery service from the Star for the nearly five years we have lived in this building. I am extremely disappointed at the way the Star has handled this.
Today’s “Tony’s Kansas City” blog says DEAD TREE MEDIA DELIVERY PROBLEMS PERSIST AMID EVIDENCE OF KANSAS CITY STAR NEWSPAPER CARRIER REVOLT!!! http://www.tonyskansascity.com/