Royals Loss to Yankees Shows How Far Team has to Go

The Royals you were expecting this year have surfaced, as Kansas City has regressed back to its 2010 season form. Last night's 3-1 loss to the Yankees was a bad trip down memory lane for Royals fans, and it appears as if this year's magic may be slowly wearing off.

On paper, a two run loss to a dangerous Yankee team doesn't appear that bad. However, it was the way Kansas City lost that was so cringeworthy. Every inning, it seemed that the Royals put men in scoring position and failed to manufacture runs. Melky Cabrera provided Kansas City with its only run, a solo shot in the fourth inning. The bottom of Kansas City's order is what will ultimately hold this team back, proven last night when the Royals 7 through 9 hitters constantly left players on base.

The Royals also made several head-scratching plays that showed this club still has a long way to go. Matt Treanor got picked off in a horrible steal attempt, and Chris Getz was easily thrown out trying to reach second base off a pitch that hit the dirt.

The Royals also announced yesterday that starter Bruce Chen will be placed on the 15 day DL due to a sore side. Kansas City will call up Vin Mazzaro from Omaha to take his place. This could be a big blow as Chen has been the rotation's most consistent pitcher this year. The Royals are still above .500, but the team has a lot of work to do and obstacles to overcome if they want to keep the cinderella story going.

KCI Baby Patdown Picture Becomes International News

This picture, tweeted by local pastor Jacob Jester, has made international news with an appearance on the Drudge Report. Since the story's emergence on Saturday, it has been picked up around the world, including CBS News.

Saturday Afternoon, the 8-month old's stroller set of the alarm at the pre-flight screening area and further pat downs of family members, including the baby were performed. According to the TSA, the family was "very cooperative" with the pat down searches.

This incident comes less than a month after there was an outcry over the TSA search of a six year old in New Orleans, who's parents made a Federal case of a pat down when they should have told their spoiled brat to deal with it. I'm not in favor of pat downs at all, personally I think we should profile, but until this PC crap goes out the window, your bratty kids are going to have to suffer the same indignities as the rest of us. Maybe, God forbid, you can use the experience as a character builder instead of an opportunity to reinforce the general attitude of whinyness in America today. What a nation of pussies we are.

Kanrocksas Music Festival Lineup Tickets Kansas Speedway

Eminem, Muse, The Black Keys, A Perfect Circle, The Flaming Lips, Kid Cudi, D12, Girl Talk, Flogging Molly and more are headed to the Kansas Speedway on August 5th and 6th for the Kanrocksas Music Festival.

I've heard of stupid names before for concerts, Yallapalooza, etc. but Kanrocksas is without a doubt THE dumbest name for an event that I've ever heard.  How in the hell did THAT name get out of the meeting room?  It's like a tribute to illiteracy.  Well, it makes sense since given the bands that will be on stage will certainly draw Kansas City's biggest morons.  If they posted up a police checkpoint at the front gate and checked everyone for outstanding warrants, they would need 50 buses to fit them all in.  This will be the biggest gathering of white trash that Kansas City has ever witnessed in one place.

Kanrocksas is expected to draw near 100,000 attendees and they are providing camping grounds for fans to stay overnight.  This is NOT a good idea.  The kind of people who would want to hear bands like the King of White Trash himself, Eminem, are not the kind of people who will all get out of this alive.  I'm going to guess that there will be at least 3 deaths at Kanrocksas, and at least 1700 babies conceived.  I'm going to take another wild guess that Crystal Meth will be the substance of choice among these well educated and sophisticated fans, giving them the opportunity to stay up for the entire 48 hours of the concert without needing sleep or food.  The last concert that hosted this many white trash attendees was the 2010 Warped Tour where there were only about 2500 people and 1 person still died of dehydration.  This time there will be 100,000 drunk crystal meth heads in the dead heat of August, you do the math.

There is one shining light for Kanrocksas in that it will definitely be a good place to people watch.  There will definitely be some camo shorts, steel toe boots, the over sized man earrings that make the earlobe stretch out (those are so cool), various trashy tattoos, and some classic white trash girls who look really cute.........until they speak, that is.........  think Mallory from Natural Born Killers (pictured right).

Tickets for the Kanrocksas Music Festival are on sale at Ticketmaster as follows:
 
G.A. TICKET, 2-DAY
This is a general admission (G.A) ticket, valid for two-day admission. Two-day G.A. passes are $179 and include free parking and free camping.  This ticket will be $225 on the day of the event.

VIP TICKET, 2-DAY
VIP tickets include the 2 day G.A. admission, plus upgraded VIP parking, exclusive access to the Kanrocksas VIP area, and premium food and beverage purchase options. Two-day G.A. passes are $359 and include upgraded VIP parking and free camping.  This VIP ticket will be $420 on the day of the event.

Royals Drop Home Series to A's - Francis Still Winless

The Royals finally hit a speed bump at home, dropping its latest series to the Oakland A's. Kansas City lost the final game of the series 5-2, dropping its record at the K to 15-8 this year. The Royals are 18-16 overall, and still remain in second place in the AL Central.

Jeff Francis yet again failed to earn a win, and the Royals starter might hit Independance day before he notches a victory at this rate. Francis isn't pitching terribly, and the Royals had an idea of what they were getting with the veteran. The lefty has a career ERA of 4.79 and an overall record of 55-54, and this season his ERA sits at 5.09. The Royals just need Francis to pitch decently and keep them in games, and he was able to do that in his last start. The Royals offense couldn't get anything going against the A's Tyson Ross, who is off to a solid start this season.

Kansas City is off today, and travels to New York to face the Yankees tomorrow. The matchup with the Yankees gives the Royals an opportunity to prove if they are for real or not to the entire nation. Don't hold your breath.

Royals Fall to A's

The Royals' offense was flying high, and fireworks Friday at the K seemed like a good omen that Kansas City's bats would remain hot. However, Gio Gonzalez had other ideas. The young lefty baffled the Royals all night, and Kansas City fell to Oakland 3-2.

Kansas City wasted a great effort from Sean O'Sullivan, who only gave up three runs in eight innings of work. O'Sullivan gave up all of his runs in the deciding fifth inning, but otherwise was just as good as Gonzalez.

Eric Hosmer made his much anticipated debut to mixed results. He drew two walks and stole a base early, but ended up striking out in his final two plate appearances. Hosmer, who led the minor leagues in hitting, likely needs some time to adjust to major league pitching - and he should eventually provide Kansas City's offense with a boost.

The loss dropped Kansas City to 17-15 on the season, and the Royals currently sit alone in second place in the AL Central - five games behind the surprising Cleveland Indians.