Random thoughts....

The Missouri Tigers softball team pushed their record to 37-5 following a sweep of the double header against SLU on Wednesday night.  The Tigers, currently ranked 8th in the nation have now won 10 games in a row as they took down St Louis U. 5-1 and 7-4.  Kristin Nottelmann threw a complete game in the nightcap to move her record to 13-1 giving up 1 run and 6 hits, but also issuing 6 walks.  That would be troubling if it weren't for the fact that she's going to continue to be the number 2 pitcher behind Chelsea Thomas.  The Tigers head to Lincoln this weekend to battle Lady Hick Nation in a conference match up, one of the last meetings between the 2 schools as members of the Big XII as Big Red Fan will soon be driving their combines to such locations as Ann Arbor, Columbus and Happy Valley.  Adios hayseeds.

Speaking of Nebraska, former Husker Alex Gordon appears to finally be fulfilling the promise that Royals fans dreamed of when he was picked 2nd overall in the 2005 MLB draft.  AG is currently hitting .351 with 27 hits in 77 plate appearances and 14 RBI's and a home run.  It appears that moving Gordon from 3rd base to left field helped his concentration at the plate as well as the extra time he put in last winter working with Royals hitting coach Kevin Seitzer.  Whatever has changed this year, it's been a welcome sight for the Royals.  Yes, they have a lot of high profile rookies sitting in the minors, but Gordon, along with DH Billy Butler are a couple of hold overs that have plenty of upside and hopefully add some stability as guys like Hosmer, Moustakas and Montgomery make their way to the show. 

And continuing with baseball, MLB is taking over the day to day operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers from owner Frank McCourt, currently in financial trouble due to his divorce from hell from soon to be ex-wife Jamie.  Not content with the problems with his ex, it appears that McCourt will sue MLB in an effort to regain control of his team.  McCourt recently took a 30 million dollar loan from Fox to cover expenses into the next month and also may be having to answer some questions from the IRS about unpaid taxes on 145 million dollars they allegedly took from the team.  The attack on the San Francisco fan opening weekend, that left Bryan Stow in a medically induced coma also brings security measures into question.  This isn't exactly unprecedented as MLB took over the Montreal Expos from Jeffrey Loria until buyers could be found that moved the team to Washington.  However, the Dodgers are one of MLB's crown jewels.  It's probably going to get a lot messier before it ends and is an excellent argument for the marital pre-nup.

A little mini run to start the year. A reason to hope?

Before the season started, I expected the Royals to lose 94 games this year.  I'm not backing down from that but I do like some things I'm seeing from them just 3 games into the season.  The Angels aren't world beaters, but they're a semi solid club that certainly seemed the lowly Royals.  But the fact that we've only seen 3 errors in 3 games is certainly encouraging. The Royals aren't going to be good enough to give runs away and stay in games.  That was their downfall last year.  Billy Butler is hitting .300 but still isn't showing a lot of pop.  Chris Getz is hitting .429 and we all know that won't last.  Alex Gordon is 2 for 13 on the season, a blistering .154.  That can't continue if he intends to keep calling Kansas City home.  His clock is going to strike midnight pretty soon.

The starting pitching hasn't been terrible yet but it's been a long way from great.  The # 1 starter, Luke Hochevar, looks like a solid # 4 guy and Kyle Davies continues to prove he doesn't belong on a major league roster that intends to go anywhere.  The young bullpen looks good so far however, particularly former Tiger Aaron Crow that has thrown 3 innings in 2 games, giving up no runs and 2 hits while striking out 5.  Joakim Soria looks as solid as ever, with a 1-0 record to go with 1 save.  His strikeout numbers are low, non-existent as a matter of fact, but he's been workmanlike, throwing only 6 pitches in the save Saturday afternoon.  Better defense makes better pitchers when they're afraid to let the other team make contact for fear of an error.  Small things but something manager Ned Yost can build on while waiting for the hoped for barrage of heralded prospects to hit the major league roster the next 2 years.

I'm sticking with my prediction for now, but I reserve the right to up the losses to 100 if we see a return to the Royals baseball we've seen the last few years.  The first thing that needs corrected here is the losing mentality.  Zack Greinke admitted to it last year when he stated he didn't try his hardest since he knew he'd lose anyway.  Of course, Zack wasn't exactly a walking tribute to mental health to begin with.  

Opening day and the search continues

Baseball season in Kansas City begins Thursday at 3:10 as the Royals take on the Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium.  Coming off a 95 loss season in '10, Ned Yost begins the season as manager and mercifully ends the Trey Hillman era.  But after you've sat through Bob Boone and Tony Pena, you're used to seeing scratch your head decisions.  Yost has experienced some limited success while managing the Milwaukee Brewers, going 512 wins against 574 losses from 2003 to 2008.  However, he took over a terrible team and brought them to respectability going with young players.  Ironically he was fired late in the season in 2008 with his team playing good ball.  I don't think Yost, at 55 is going to suddenly make you a world series contender, but he seems to do well with young players, and that's where the Royals are going to be, starting this season.  4 rookies in the bullpen, including former Missouri Tiger, Aaron Crow.  Luke Hochevar draws the opening day start.  I had pretty high hopes when he was drafted, but really haven't seen any consistancy from him yet.  I'd like to get excited but really can't.  Starting pitching is weak, some journeymen guys were acquired.  When the season starts to slip away, which could happen in May, I expect to see some young guys start to come up. 

Some guys had some nice stats during spring training.  Those really don't mean much but this is a big year for some guys that fans and the team had high hopes for when they were signed.  One of those is Alex Gordon, drafted in 2007 from hick nation.  He was a top 5 pick that has been pretty disappointing so far.  But I really like this kid and hope that he breaks open this year.  He's playing left field now, which has to be easier than playing 3rd base.  I still think this kid has the talent to hit .280 with 15 homers and 70-80 ribbies.  Billy Butler turns 25 on April 18th.  I expect him to DH more this year.  He's another kid that I'm hoping for a big improvement in.  But this starting rotation scares me to death, and we're counting on a lot of guys matching their biggest years ever, and that wasn't last year.  Mike Aviles is a great guy to have on your team.  He's not great when he's your starting 3rd baseman.  Early prediction...I go to more games this season than in the past 5.  The Royals fade early and we see young talent start to be brought in.  Probably looking at a record of 68-94 this year though, and Yost will be on a much shorter leash next year.

And switching gears, it's been a rough week for Missouri basketball fans as their # 1 target, Matt Painter of Purdue decided to remain after the Boilermakers upped his salary close to one million dollars over what he was previously being paid.  I assume that a portion of the fan base is going to blame athletic director Mike Alden for failing to land Painter, and for the fact that the news got out that he was attempting to hire him.  We'll also have a percentage of fans that will say Painter was doing nothing more than using the Tigers to garner a raise for himself.  I don't agree with either sentiment, but we're Tiger fans, so that's how it's going to play out.  Now Mizzou has to continue it's search, and I frankly have no idea where it goes, but I do know that regardless it's going to be ugly on the Missouri message boards.