Why We Watch - 2008 Kansas City Royals

February 22nd, 2008 by Tuffy Posted in baseball, mlb, why we watch |

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

O-o-h Child, Things Are Gonna Get Easier

Royals Babies, we make our dreams come true
Royals Babies, we’ll do the same for you

Alex Gordon: When your team looks kinda weird and you wish that you weren’t there
Zack Greinke: Just close your eyes and make believe and you can be anywhere (like the World Series!)

David DeJesús: I like adventure
Billy Butler: I hit home runs
Tony Peña: I love great jokes
Joey Gathright: Joey Gathright dance!
Rany Jazayerli: I’ve got my computer
Alex Gordon: I swing through the air… hey!
Mike Moustakas: I can play, too!
Zack Greinke: And I might get blue hair
Joakim Soria: Me, I throw things
Jimmy Gobble: Gobble gobb… really? This is my lyric? Call my agent!

Dayton Moore: Is everything all right in here?
All: Yes, Dayton!

Royals Babies, we make our dreams come true
Royals Babies, we’ll do the same for you

Royals Royals Royals Royals
Babies Babies Babies Babies
Make dreams come true!

People Who Need People Are Kinda Clingy

Zack Greinke definitely qualifies as the most curious child in the class. He disappeared off the map in 2006, leaving the team entirely for unspecified reasons at the time. (Not to judge the American people too harshly, but the first question Royals management had to field was about illegal drug use.)

When he finally returned near the end of 2006, Greinke spoke haltingly about his newly diagnosed social anxiety disorder and mood swings. His desire for a solitary life clashes quite harshly with his career choice, but he also didn’t want to give back his gift for placing a baseball precisely.

He eased back into baseball life slowly, eventually pitching full-time in 2007. He started early and late in the season, switching to relief during the summer months.

Outside of a horrific May, his ERA was quite impressive (under 3.00) and he’s only 24 years old. Flip over during a Greinke start this season to root for a quality control specialist seemingly approaching his peak or just to root for a guy that could truly use a little support.

Roving Instructor Richard Trickle Could Not Be Reached for Comment

As long as we’re being juvenile, I might as well admit it: I’m a big fan of the first base coach for the Royals (pictured below). I’ve never seen him play baseball or know much about his work with signals or coaching up the boys, but I’m constantly rooting for him.

(By the way, he pronounces it ‘COON-tiz’, but I have a vulgar lisp.)

As Long As We’re Wallowing in Our Own Filth

Trey Hillman is the new head coach of the Royals, having just returned from back-to-back championships in the Japan Series as the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. (Point of order: are the Ham Fighters taking on the scourge of pig meat or defending its honor?)  (Second point of order: yes, it’s the Fighters, not the Ham Fighters.  Didn’t you see the Rusty Kuntz joke above?)

He’s also a colorful fellow:

• Shouted the word “Shinjirarenai!” (Japanese for “Unbelievable!”) after winning the first championship, coining a catchphrase for Japanese baseball fans
• Country singer that released a CD of Christmas songs sold at the Sapporo Dome on Fan Appreciation Day for charitable ends
• Owns an “American Style Grill&Bar” near the McDonald’s in Sapporo
• Carries a stopwatch at all times in the dugout
• Voluntarily cleaned the entire locker room and bullpen upon arriving as manager of the (Ham) Fighters
• Is called “Trey”

Also, he gives pep talks to plastic heads in spring training.

With 29 other managers practically identical to each other, check in on Trey for a little different American Style flavor. Oh, and I think Zack and Trey will get along just fine.