It was the bottom of the eighth inning and my fantasy prospects were doomed. Entering the day I had a 62.5 point lead and two solid pitchers starting. Then all hell broke lose. By the afternoon I was down 21.5 points after a terrible start from Kevin Slowey. This was then countered by 10-win Andy Sonnanstine blowing a 2-0 lead by giving up 6 runs in 5 innings. The loss sent my fantasy pitching total for the day to minus 50.5 and, at the time, my offense had produced a whopping 22 points.
On the other end KC had both Zack Greinke and Mark Buehrle pitching. The two through seven innings had combined for 53.5 points. The only earned run given up in the game was a solo home run by KC starting right fielder Jermaine Dye.
Buehrle came on in the eighth with a shutout still in tact. A shutout win for Buehrle would mean a 25 point net for KC. Greinke would get the loss, but he would also get the quality start. Buehrle would get the quality start, win and shutout. This would mean a 78.5 point pitching day for KC and a negative 50.5 pitching day for me. Throw in that both of our offenses were canceling each other out and suddenly KC is looking at a near 100 point lead heading into the weekend, sending my playoff chances spiraling down the drain. Life was grim.
Then Buehrle gave up a leadoff single to John Buck. Suddenly there was a glimmer of hope. Joey Gathright was going to (and did) pinch run for Buck, steal second and then let the hottest hitter with runners in scoring position drive him home. It was our only chance. Then, for some reason unknown to man, Gathright never attempted to steal. David DeJesus was ordered to bunt – twice. And DeJesus grounded into a double play – almost. A slightly wide throw to first went off of Paul Konerko’s glove and DeJesus was safe.
This brought up Aviles. Aviles was 0-3 with a three pitch strikeout. He wasn’t seeing Buehrle well at all. Nobody was seeing Buehrle well. And if David DeJesus couldn’t hit, nobody would.
Then it happened.
Aviles took the first pitch and ripped it down the left field line all the way to the wall allowing DeJesus to score from first. Aviles stood on second, as he has seemingly the entire time he’s been in the big leagues, clapping for yet another clutch game-tying hit.
I was clapping for a different reason. I feel the winds of change.
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2 comments:
we really need a nickname for this guy....like "first offensive prospect to do anything productive since Carlos Beltran" I like the ring to it. haha
It is nice to finally see the Royals winning games like last nights...even though they lost two leads against the White Sox earlier in the series (but atleast they had leads!!!!)
The record isnt going to show a whole lot of improvement this year (although I hope it does) but Im beginning to see DeJesus, Teahen, Aviles, and Buck finally start to play like they were supposed to coming up...now if only Gordon and Butler could do this we'd have an above avg offense!
Oh and I guess I need to say something fantasy related since it is the fantasy blog...that sucks about your team.
Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you'd wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.
- David
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