The "Neifi Effect"

Back in 2002, Neifi Perez refused to be reinserted into a late-season blowout.

It was seen then as the first dent in Tony Pena's tenure as Royals manager.

In the aftermath of his resignation, we learn that Pena felt pressure not to publicly or privately reprimand any fellow Dominican players.

SAAAAYY WHAAAAT?

We thought that by bringing in Pena we would have a manager that would help to improve these guys rather than shield them from criticism and responsibility for the team's failures.

It turns out Pena was more interested in keeping the folks back home happy with his pampering of their natives sons. Hence the reason why Berroa and other are allowed to stay on the field and play absent-mindedly, rather than sitting them for extended periods of time (or even sending them down or shipping them out all-together).

We are sure to learn more lurid details in the coming months that pertain to this divorce proceeding that Pena finds himself embroiled in. It will be interesting to see whether or not his preferential treatment of Latin players becomes the focus of his tenure once the Clintonesque civil hearing fades away.

ESPN's Baseball Crew Poops on the Royals

This evening's edition of ESPN Baseball Tonight featured John Kruk offering the pros and cons to coaching/playing in KC right now:

Pros: Great Fountains, Great Ribs.

Cons: THEY STINK, They're not Getting Any Better, and THEY STINK.

Harold Reynolds burst into laughter and had to be restrained by Peter Gammons (a huge George Brett fan, no less).

"Alternative Media" Spills Beans on Pena's Off the Field Problems

Sports Radio 810 WHB's Kevin Ketizman refused to call The Pitch by name today, instead referring to them as an 'alternative media outlet.'

The Pitch's web site already has a front page story on Tony Pena's civil court proceedings. It appears that "Together We Can!" Tony got caught with another man's wife. Now he's pulling Pena into his divorce proceedings to show that the Royals ex-manager was a key figure in the dissolution of his marriage.

According to the Royals web site, some of the players reaction to Pena's resignation is....puzzling to say the least. Zach Greinke (or "Wacko Zacko" as he is known in some circles) was walking the streets of Toronto in the wee hours of the morning (he says he didn't sleep until 4a.m.).

Greinke admits to getting the news from his girlfriend, meanwhile Royals OWNER David Glass heard about Pena's decision from the media. We knew Glass was removed from the team, but this is a bad sign. How many other owners in MLB wouldn't know of these kind of moves before they are leaked to the media?


It's Going to Take Six...

The Royals have yet to win a game at this point in the season when they fail to score 6 RUNS.

Pena Watch Come to an End.....Glass Watch Begins

Well, after Angel Berroa made yet another bone headed play during Tuesday night's game Tony Pena decided to resign.

I suppose decided against postponing the inevitable sometime in the past week.

This blog was never created as an all out indictment against Pena. Now, that he's gone (just another victim of the Glass ownership), the blog needs a new name. From this point on, it will become "Glass Watch."

There's really not much left to say. Pena is gone, and hopefully Berroa and some other players will be kicked out along with him. Of course Baird doesn't have the balls to do any such thing.

Besides Berroa, somethings got to give with the bullpen. Mike MacDougal, and maybe Jeremy Affeldt need to be moved while they still have some minimal amount of trade value.

Ticket Inflation at the K

What is the deal with this $5 extra charge on all tixx for the St. Louis Cardinals series next week? It's MLB's new poliyc of "priority ticket pricing." This allows the Royals and any team that wishes to excercise this clause and temporarily inflate seat prices from series to series.

Those magnificent Hy Vee View Level seats now become $15 a piece, which is almost as much as dugout seats were five years ago (during the 2000 season those seats behind the Royals dugout were $18 bucks).

How has the issue of ticket inflation at Kauffman stadium not been made a bigger issue in an era when the team is being subsidized by Major League Baseball in the amount of 40 to 50 million dollars a year?

Baseball Stats Site O' The Day

Want to know who's executed the most hidden ball tricks? Check out this site, retrosheet.org. I've never seen any other baseball encyclopedia track this ridiculous statistic. Who would have thought that Ozzie Guillen had fallen victim to this trick play more than any other recorded player in MLB history? Somehow, Guillen managed to get caught on this play TWICE in the same season, and a third time later in his career. Sounds like a predecessor to Berroa on the basepaths.