GOIN TO KANSAS CITY

This year’s baseball trip would take NickyV and myself to Kansas City to see the Royals play the White Sox for three and then three against the Yankees. This is the third baseball trip we’ve made. Previous trips have taken us to Fenway Park, Camden Yards, PNC Park, Yankee Stadium, The Great American Ballpark, Jacobs Field, Shea Stadium, Cal Ripken Park, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. We’ve also taken in alotta nightlife, too numerous to mention.

Heard alot of great things about Kauffman Stadium. Here’s what I know from being there… People in KC are pretty friendly, the ballpark reminded me of a minor league ballpark, and our seats were outstanding, 20th row behind home plate.

This was my 2nd White Sox road trip of the year, saw ’em in Pittsburgh, but missed out on going to Detroit. This was an important series for the Sox, aren’t they all when you’re in a playoff race? But these Kansas City Royals aren’t the same Royals the AL kicked around early in the year.

9/1/06: Runelvys Hernandez took the hill for the Royals versus Jose Contreras & the Chicago White Sox, Runelvys lowered his ERA to 6.67 with a ShO in his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays. Mark Grudzielanek singled home David DeJesus, who doubled, to give KC a 1-0 3rd inning lead. But then the wheels really came off the Sox wagon in the 4th when the Royals scored six. Chicago made three errors in the inning, Rob Mackowiak, Alex Cintron, & Joe Crede were guilty of the miscues. Contreras allowed seven runs, but only two were earned. Ozzie Guillen has to know by now that Mackowiak cannot play centerfield and the Sox are better off with Cintron on the pines. Crede knocked one deep over the leftfield wall in the 5th off Hernandez (the only run he’d allow in six) to get the Good Guys on the board. KC relievers did everything they could to try to give this one away, four runs, 4 walks, five hits in three innings. But the Sox would strand three runners in the 8th and then again three more in the 9th, losing 7-5. Joe Nelson got the save getting Crede to fly to left to end it, despite three walks & one hit in one inning. The postgame fireworks were outstanding! In the elevator on the way to the parking lot we encountered a woman with a small baby, we remarked how good the baby was, the mother commented, “She’s always a good baby. Her daddy was the Royals starting pitcher”. It all started making sense, maybe Runelvys had other things on his mind early in the year with a new baby on the way, now he was able to concentrate on baseball with the baby out there doing well. Sometimes we forget the human elements of baseball, sometimes life gets in the way.

9/2/06: Joe Crede’s two run 3rd inning single off Odalis Perez put the White Sox up for the first time in the series. KC retook the lead scoring two off Chicago starter Mark Buehrle, but that lead was shortlived as a sac fly to right by Sandy Alomar, Jr scored Brian Anderson with the tying run and then Tadahito Iguchi doubled home Pablo Ozuna with the go ahead run. Ross Gload plated Paul Konerko with an insurance run with an 8th inning single. BIG BAD Bobby Jenks struck out the side in the 9th to pickup the save for the Good Guys, 5-3.

9/3/06: Sox hitters could only manage one run off Mark Redman through seven innings, a Paul Konerko 2nd inning drive. KC had a 4-1 lead through seven, thanks to Ryan Shealy (1 HR & 3 RBIs) & Angel Berroa’s solo shot. Buddy Bell did Chicago a favor bringing Joel Peralta in to replace Redman. Jim Thome said, “thank you” by hitting a two run homer to make it 4-3 Bad Guys. Freddy Garcia was still in there to allow another run in the 8th, then Neal Cotts let in another, and Brandon McCarthy let up another, 7-3 Royals.

White Sox leave, New York Yankees come to town. We watched the first three games with Joe Crede’s brother in law, which made it extra special. But the stadium would fill up with the Yankees in town, and their fans in tow. We would even meet up with Taka, a fan from Tokyo, who’s been to 21 MLB ballparks & 6 of 10 ballparks in Japan. Taka’s knowledge of MLB is extensive thanks to the late great Pancho Ito. Mr. Ito was a Japanese broadcaster who brought MLB to the people of Japan, he passed July 4, 2002.

9/4/06: Labor Day saw the NY Yankees offense labor against KC starter Luke Hudson, managing only one run on nine hits through seven innings. Then Buddy Bell went to his bullpen and the Bronx Bombers scored ten runs in the eighth & another in the 9th to win it going away, 12-5.

9/5/06: We went to the Negro Baseball Leagues Museum, where we ran into Taka, we invited him to sit with us at the Yankee Royal game that night. Lefthander Jorge DeLaRosa was starting for KC vs Mike Mussina & the NY Yankees. On paper it looked like a classic mismatch, but that’s why they play the games. Moose was just coming off the DL, didn’t have his best stuff, while Jorge was in total control, final score 5-0 KC. Former Cub Todd Wellemeyer was brought on in the 6th inning, notching an ole fashion save, throwing 3 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. We found Taka to be quite a fan, it was tee shirt night at KC & we gave him our tees, bought him a Bud Lite, and even managed to get him up on the Jumbotron during the 7th inning stretch. Till tomorrow Mr. Taka.

9/6/06: The Big Unit totally shutdown Royal hitters, not allowing a hit through the first six innings, NickyV talked to his cousin about the no-no, David DeJesus got a 7th inning leadoff triple to end it. Promptly Jorge Posada picked DeJesus off 3rd, Posada also hit two HRs & knocked in six, leading the Yanks to an 8-3 win.

Thursday morning we headed home at 6:00 AM, zip-zip, we arrived in the Windy City at 2:00 PM. Normally I’d have gone to the Bleachers at Wrigley for the afternoon game between the Cubs & the Bucs, and then Redlined it down to the Cell for the game between the Tribe & the ChiSox. But just decided to grab a bite to eat & watch the action from the comfort of my own bed. Everybody was pulling me to the Cell this whole weekend, but with my brother & his family in town and Oma still recovering, just decided to lay low.