Milwaukee Ned has the boys headed in the right direction and we're now on a 9-3 streak, 8 games out of first and only 8 games under .500. As you can see from the quote above, Ned strongly believes that we are right in the middle of a pennant chase in the AL Central and while my first reaction was to laugh and ridicule this comment, you know what...I have to say that Ned's got the right idea. While the 8-day week Ned mentions would be one helluva week (the Tigers, White Sox and Twins lose every game and we win every game), still anything positive for KC is a good thing.
First, I'll start off by apologizing profusely to Wilson Betemit and Bruce Chen; Wilson is the power bat that we have been looking for and Chen is the missing #2 starter behind a rejuvenated Greinke. I can't explain it but I'll give credit where credit is due and these two have been big contributors to the recent success of the Royals.
Next, now that we're back in the race we can finally stop all of this cooky trade talk and start talking about who we are going to pick-up for the stretch run. Previously the discussions involved our veteran players going to contenders but now we can get down to the business of which of our prospects we use to get us into the playoffs. So much has been made about our improved minor league system and now is the time to capitalize on all the hype: boys and girls there is a new name in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. Probably any two of our top prospects would fetch us Cliff Lee and KC is hungry for a pennant so lets throw Hosmer and Montgomery at Seattle and see what they have to say. I'll bet we could have this deal done overnight and Lee starting behind Greinke after the All Start break.
Thankfully we have Rick Ankiel coming back soon from the DL, so we have no need to go out and get a big-name slugger. Rick has been resting-up for a couple of months and now that quad/hammy/ankle is surely ready to go. This is, of course, not to mention Betemit who, if only he had enough at bats to qualify would be leading the league in slugging and OPS. These two guys really balance out our line-up and offer the added pop we've needed to go along with our league leading singles attack.
Bullpen? Check. No need to look for help here, we just had to find the right situations for the guys we already had and like that we've got a shut down group of relievers. Good luck finding a stingier group than the feared trio of Farny, Robby and Mexy; 7th, 8th, 9th Game Over Man!
Once we acquire Lee, our staring rotation is going to be dominant. The Yankees are having nightmares right now just thinking about Grienke, Lee and then Chen. Of course I almost forgot that THIS time when Gil and Hochevar return from the DL they will be at the top of their game and then the rest of the AL can just forget about even playing the Royals.
It's a tough leap of faith for a bitter Royals fan, but lets all have two of what Ned is drinking and get behind this bunch. Being a Royals critic is easy and quite frankly we should all be a bit bored of it by now, so lets try our hand and being believers for once. Ned for president!
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