Did Luke Bryan have National Anthem lyrics on his hand?
Charlie 'Wild Thing' Sheen spotted at All-Star Game
Now back to the real world: Royals are woeful 37-47
Positives first: Maybe the Kansas City Royals are going to build off
all the All-Star Game hoopla and get back into the race to win the
Central Division title in the American League.
Negatives now: That's going to be tough to do, because KC is a woeful
37-47 after the first half of the season, 9.5 games out of first
place. And the team was really, really trying to come into the
Midsummer Classic break with a winning record and failed to do that.
The Royals have the 24th worst record in baseball. And the 14-23
win/loss showing at Kauffman Stadium is the worst home record in the
game.
But it's baseball, hope springs eternal, and maybe the pitching staff
will turn around, Billy Butler, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Alex
Gordon and the other hitters will really turn it on, and the Royals
will have a fantastic second half.
One thing seems sure: KC fans still like this team. Attendance is up
for the year, and Kauffman Stadium looked like an exceptional place to
play a professional baseball game during the recent All-Star Game
festivities.
I know I will be going to more games in the second half. I just hope
to see some additional victories on the field.
Yael T. Abouhalkah
Get Billy Butler to promote KC's sales tax, now
The Royals' Billy Butler could run for mayor, or so the saying goes
about the now supremely popular designated hitter.
So it could be a great idea for Mayor Sly James to pick Butler - fresh
off his All-Star Game publicity - to promote Kansas City's next big
thing.
That would be passage of the half-cent sales tax for capital
improvements on the Aug. 7ballot.
Personally, I'm not a big supporter of the tax - yet.
But can't you see the ads: Robinson Cano of the Yankees would
represent the people who want to hold KC back, who don't want the tax
to pass.
And then here comes Butler, exhorting voters to endorse the tax for
the home team.
Gold.
Yael T. Abouhalkah
The end
All-Star finale
And Butler ... strikes out. But he'll be back
All of KC - including this writer - was rooting for Billy Butler to do
something positive in his last at bat Tuesday night at the All-Star
Game.
But he struck out.
That ended his 0-2 appearance in what he along with Royals fans hope
will be the start of many appearances in the Midsummer Classic.
Now that's a positive thought, right?
Yael T. Abouhalkah
Butler grounds out. Satisfied now?
Billy Butler grounded out in the 7th inning of the All-Star Game
Tuesday night, bringing an end to a sad/beautiful story for KC Royals
fans.
On Monday, they repeatedly booed Robinson Cano (and cheered Butler
when he showed up on the video board). That brought out the cries,
from me and others, that the fans went too far. (Believe it or not,
though, some very passionate and sometimes rude people disagreed with
that opinion.)
Then, the fans again booed Cano, even though he played for the American League.
But Butler finally got his chance to stroll to the plate and, after
falling in the hole to Cole Hamels, grounded to third base and was
(not surprisingly) thrown out easily.
The crowd cheered and, barring a big comeback by the American League,
it was Butler's only plate appearance Tuesday night.
Yael T. Abouhalkah
Body art that's worth a second look
What's wrong with this picture?
Start of the second inning
Start of the second inning of the All Star game. Allison Long ''
AL infected by Royals' sick record at Kauffman?
Walk this one back:
The KC Royals by far have the worst home record in all of baseball, at 14-23.
The Royals are one game out of last place in the American League's
Central Division (yeah, raining on the good news parade again during
All-Star week).
And the American League just fell behind 5-0 in the first inning in
tonight's game when one of baseball's best pitchers - Justin Verlander
- gets bombed. (Although Jose Bautista might have helped him out with
a little better defense.)
So the Royals, who are just sick in a bad way at Kauffman, aren't
giving the American League any home team advantage. At least yet.
Yael T. Abouhalkah
600 mm lens in center field
Billy brings down the house
-Jeff Rosen
A patriotic scene, uniquely Kansas City
Those shirts, along with the gigantic flag unfurled on the field by numerous servicemen and women, made for a very patriotic scene during pregame festivities.
-Jeff Rosen
I want the ball!
Free T-shirts
Yost takes a back seat for this one
Yost is one of the coaches assisting American League manager Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers in the All-Star Game.
He'll be one of two Royals representing KC in front of the hometown crowd. Also on the roster, as a player, is Billy Butler, who could enter the game as early as the second inning.
-Jeff Rosen
Pins, pins everywhere
Getting to Kauffman a breeze - so far
I passed by beautiful Kauffman Stadium 10 minutes ago, and there were
no traffic backups on eastbound or westbound I-70 exits to the ball
park.
I'm sure some people took the ATA buses. More fans than usual are
carpooling today, too, because of the $25 parking charge.
With game time less than an hour away, we'll see whether the usual
latecomers snarl up traffic close to the stadium.
Then again, if I had paid $450 or more for a ticket to the All-Star
Game, I would have been there when the doors opened a few hours ago.
Yael T. Abouhalkah
