…when you open a new issue of a magazine to see your stuff published, and then you see that your name is misspelled.
(Also: I’ve lost 10 pounds since that headshot was taken. Good thing.)
Jul 26
Win FREE Royals Tickets from StorageMart of Kansas City!
Ed. note: This is a sponsored post, but the contest is legitimate – and a really easy way to win free tickets!
You could score free tickets to see Alex Gordon score some runs
With fewer and fewer games left in the 2011 season isn’t it about time you went to see the Kansas City Royals? How about you go to the game for free with tickets from the StorageMart of Kansas City Facebook page ticket giveaway!
By simply visiting the StorageMart of Kansas City‘s Facebook page you can become eligible for tickets to a few of the games left. You could win tickets to see the Tigers or Red Sox in August or perhaps the Indians or White Sox in September. Like StorageMart’s Facebook page, tell them who you think will win the game, and you become eligible just like that.
Here are the exact dates for the games.
August 7, 2011 vs. Detroit Tigers
August 21, 2011 vs. Boston Red Sox
September 4, 2011 vs. Cleveland Indians
September 18, 2011 vs. Chicago White Sox
Be sure to check as the date approaches so you are sure to get your submission in. This is a great opportunity to check out the future stars in Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, or see other Royal favorites like Alex Gordon and Billy Butler!
Jul 19
Congratulations to Luis Mendoza,
who threw a no-hitter at Memphis tonight, and congratulations to Manny Pina, his catcher tonight!
Jun 25
I’m on a magazine cover!*
*Well, I am not, but my photos are!
Raise your hand if you had guessed that my first magazine cover would be a gay magazine in Palm Springs…or that my silly pictures would ever be featured on any magazine! Nobody? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. And yet:
YEEEEEAAAHHH!
Jun 11
Mike Moustakas and media cliches
Moustakas showing a fan where the flag is before the Anthem
The best I could do for Mike Moustakas’ MLB debut was sneak a few peeks at the score on my phone during slow moments at work, and then read about the game later. (Thanks, though, to all of you on Twitter who offered to write a fake doctor’s note so I could get out of work and go to the game!)
A story on Royals.com included some quotes from Moose that might make you roll your eyes, if you didn’t know better. Specifically, he had this to say about the media attention:
“I could be doing so many other different things in life other than talking to you guys and getting ready to play a baseball game. It’s really a blessing to be able to come out here, put on this uniform and perform the game I love to play.”
That sounds like a carefully developed media persona, right? Like ole’ Scotty Boras put him through some rigorous PR training? But as far as I know from working with him in Omaha, he actually means it.
I admit, I have a habit of eavesdropping. Whether or not that makes me a terrible person is a debate for another time, but the point is: I eavesdrop. And on more than one occasion, I heard Moustakas talking to teammates – when he thought no media types were around – and he said things exactly like the quote above:
“I don’t know why so many guys don’t sign autographs. I love that stuff. It’s SO easy for me to make some kid’s day, just by writing my name on a ball? That’s awesome!”
and
“There’s no reason to be mean to fans. You just have to smile and say ‘hey.’ It’s not that hard. You have a choice, you can either be a mean guy or be nice to these fans, why not just be nice for 5 seconds?”
Again, these things were said in the dugout, in conversation with a teammate. There were no cameras or microphones, and he had no way of knowing that a nosy blogger would be quoting him. So I’m pretty sure this is actually how Mike Mosutakas feels. That’s why I tell people that I have never met a ballplayer like him. That’s why I can promise anyone in baseball who hasn’t worked with him before that they’re going to love having him around. That’s why I wrote this really terrible piece last year about how all of a sudden, I see what a difference a guy’s “clubhouse presence” can make.
I still worry about Moose’s discipline. He doesn’t have anywhere near as good of an eye for the strike zone as his bestie Hosmer. And I worry about his defense. I definitely saw him beat himself up over all the sloppy defensive miscues he had early in the season in Omaha. But I hope so desperately that he can succeed in spite of those concerns, because I want as many Kansas City fans as possible to love one of the only top prospects in all of baseball who will genuinely love them back.
Jun 10
Five Foto Friday: Little Moments
Yesterday, Lee Warren made my day by sharing how my photography inspired him to seek out the moments between the action instead of worrying about action shots. It’s true – people’s faces and reactions make for way better photos than most action shots*. I think this is especially true in baseball, where a lot of the action – pitchers pitching and batters swinging – looks the same across the thousands of photos that are taken of it every day. Heck, the only reason I bother with those shots is for utility. I want to have at least one workable shot of every pitcher pitching, and ever hitter at the plate. But those are never the best photos – they just fulfill a purpose in the space of this and other websites.
So, here are some “little moments” from sporting events:
Jun 05
Five Foto “Friday” – from Palm Springs!
I know, it’s not Friday. But I took some of these on Friday! These are from my internship with the Palm Springs POWER. You can see the rest of them here. More to come as the summer goes on, I hope!
From our open tryout last Monday
Jun 02
Goodbye, Lucas May. We hardly knew ye.
Lucas May came to the Royals in the Scott Podsednik trade last summer. Today, he was traded to the Diamondbacks, for righty Andrea Pizziconi. (I can already hear Ryan LeFebvre having fun with that name on a broadcast.)
(Thanks to Greg Schaum for alerting me that I am stupid, and missed the fact that Pizziconi’s name was already published as the return the Royals got.)
May played 48 games in Omaha – 24 last year, and 24 this year. (Incidentally, 24 was also his jersey number this year.) He also appeared in 12 games for the big club last year.
He has struggled quite a bit at the plate this year, putting forth a line of .160/.244/.277. He’s walking less and striking out significantly more than he did last year, which probably means that he’s pressing, to some extent. But he’s also been the victim of some bad luck, with a BABIP of just .203.
Hopefully Reno* treats him well and he can figure himself out again. Though I doubt he’ll ever be a Major League regular, he’s a really nice “depth” type of guy to have around in case of injuries. I’ll send him off to his new team in the best way I know how: Shamelessly pimping my own pictures.
Signing autos a few days after his arrival in Omaha last year.
Jun 01
Frenchy an All Star? No thanks.
Aaahhhh!
Because this site accidentally turned into a 24/7 Jeff Francoeur site last winter, I think it’s only appropriate that I contribute to the Royals’ campaign for him to be an All Star this summer.
Some people say that you can use numbers to say anything. I’m trying to make the numbers say that Jeff Francoeur is an All Star. It is…not going well. Maybe excessive exclamation marks will help.
Frenchy is 4th in the league in plate appearances among RFs!
He is tied for 3rd in hits!
He is 3rd in home runs!
He is 6th in runs scored!
He is 3rd in RBIs!
He is 3rd in stolen bases!
He is dead last in walks per nine! (Oh, crap.)
He is 3rd-worst in OBP, but that’s OK because that stat is not on the scoreboard!
Yeah…this isn’t going to work. All those numbers were just among AL right fielders. If the All Star Game is supposed to highlight the best players in the league, Francoeur would not be the right choice. He’s not among the best outfielders in the league, and he’s not even the best outfielder on his own team.
Obviously, the ASG doesn’t matter a whole lot to Royals fans. It doesn’t much matter whether our league or the other one has home field advantage in the playoffs, because that won’t be the Royals. We’ll get our token representative, and some of us will completely ignore the ASG and lament the lengthy absence of real baseball.
But for those who do care, the time might be nearing when Kansas City has multiple legitimate options to send to the host city. That could even be next year, when the host city is at home. Until then, I’ll just roll my eyes at the marketing material in my inbox touting Frenchy as an All Star. And put up more pictures of his scary, scary eyes.
May 30
Travelogue Preview
Long story short, I have been in Palm Springs, California for two weeks, and I took about a week to get here. For an English class, I am writing a travelogue sort of thing, which will be excerpted here periodically. As a sort of preview, here is an image I’m using to help describe the snowstorm I drove through in Wyoming:
I will almost definitely get an A, right?