For a wondrous, magical period in May, the Kansas City Royals held the best record in baseball. And maybe we’ll look back on it like we look back on 2003, when they were the best team in baseball! for the month of April. Maybe that week in May is as good as it gets, and there’s nowhere to go but down. But then again, maybe the end-of-the-month slide was the fluke, the ship will be righted, and the Royals will once again triumph over all baseball adversaries.
Or maybe the truth is somewhere in between.
Because this is baseball and the season is impossibly long, and rarely are teams as succinctly good or bad as their last ten games would indicate.
One thing is for sure: this maddening rotation often makes me want to light my face on fire. The only two (mostly) consistent pieces of the puzzle have been Chris Young (who was signed to be a spot starter and a long relief guy) and Edinson Volquez (whose tightrope walking skills would put a Wallenda to shame). Were it not for the impenetrable bullpen and defense, and the surprisingly potent offense, it feels safe to say that this would be a decidedly different team.
So here’s to hoping Yordano Ventura and/or Duff Dynasty and get their shit together, Kris Medlen can come back from his second Tommy John surgery to be an injection of much needed greatness in July, and Dayton Moore can land Johnny Cueto in a trade because that would just be fucking awesome.
So who won May? Let’s look.
Kendrys Morales has been nothing short of a beautiful, Cuban angel who fell from heaven. When Moore signed him this offseason, I scoffed, I’ll admit. I didn’t think he’d be bad, necessarily, I just wondered if he’d be THAT much of a step-up from the departing DH, Billy Butler.
He has been tremendous, and then some.
His April was good, and his May (through May 30th) was even better—a .303 AVG, 3 HR, 20 RBI, 9 BB, 8 2B and an .864 OPS. And unlike Butler, I don’t live in constant fear of an inning-ending double play when Morales comes up with one out and a man on first. With Billy, it was a foregone conclusion; with Big Ken, it will probably be an RBI double.
I’ll go ahead and say it: I love this big, beautiful man.
Speaking of unadulterated, steamy man-love, if Wade Davis proposed to me, I’d probably feel pretty compelled to accept.
Wade. Davis. Remember when he was a shitty starter? Remember when people called him “Wad” and cursed him mercilessly because he was part of the Wil Myers deal?
He is, without a doubt, the best reliever in baseball. And really, his May was no different than what has basically been his past two years. He’s given up six hits in 12 innings while striking out 12. His WHIP is 0.83. His ERA for May—well, and for the season—is 0.00. That’s not “microscopic.” That’s NON-EXISTENT. Oh, and he SAVED three of the 12 games in which he pitched because Greg Holland was hurt and he was like, “save a game? Fuck yeah I can save a game.”
I am fairly certain that Wade Davis is not of this realm.
Anyway, those two were your May MVPs. Honorable mention goes out to, well, everyone else on the team, really. Because you don’t end up in first place—through May 30th, at least—without tremendous contributions from a ton of other dudes. (Except the starting pitching. Man, I hope they can fix the starting pitching.)
lefty, please do NOT light your face on fire. that’s kinda what happened to Richard Pryor, and, you know, he like died. and if you don’t die from doing that, you can pretty well be assured you’ll be in a LOT of ‘fkn pain, scarred for life with skin from your leg where your cheek used to be, maybe one eye kinda bulging out, and unable to ever again to grow facial hair, including your eyebrows and nose hairs.
maybe just bang your head against a nice piece of hardwood, or a concrete wall, or something?
Fair enough. Yeah, Pryor was the first thing that popped into my head when I was writing that. Did he ruin “lighting your head/face on fire” for everyone?
don’t think too many have jumped onto that bandwagon…maybe a few Tibetan monks….