Wednesday Bullets

Some random thoughts on this overcast Wednesday:

• A Good Morning - It's really been quite an interesting day. At the start I was very discouraged and frustrated, which tends to happen this time of year. As the school year ends, my schedule undergoes shock as I try to figure out what to do with myself without the structure that I've had for the past nine months. I've been feeling that for a few days, wondering what I should be doing, feeling quite useless and unmotivated to do much of anything.
  
  This morning I had a good heart-to-heart with the Lord, and as He always does He Himself encouraged me before dropping someone in my path who did a great job with more of the same. It sure is great to know the Lord.


• Whitlock Suggests Adding Barry Bonds - As I've said before, I know his primary job is to stir the pot. In my last commentary on a Whitlock article I pointed out that very little journalism seemed to be happening. Well, in his most recent work, he actually appears to have talked to a lot of Royals players. Good job! It was very interesting to read different players' takes on Barry Bonds and the possibility of him joining the team. While I may have missed on my Tony G prediction, I feel quite confident in this one: Barry Bonds will never play for the Royals. There's simply nowhere for him to play, as he'd be a major liability in the outfield and the Royals are already stuck with two DH's that barely play passable 1B defense (Mike Jacobs and Billy Butler).


• Zackkkkk Greinkkkkke! - Man, this guy is really becoming a national story. He's going to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated (which hasn't happened to a KC Royal since David Cone in 1993!) and there probably aren't any good adjectives to describe his season thus far. If it weren't for an unearned run, the best word would likely be "perfect."
  
  Anyway, if you don't know anything about Greinke then you need to do some reading. Great story. But today I simply wanted to share a quote from him that I found both refreshing and extremely encouraging:
  

  “We’re not even a month in, not even a month. Everyone has hot streaks. (Mike) Aviles was the best player for a week a couple times last year. (Brian) Bannister was the best player for a month a while back. The good players do it all year long, and then all year long the next year, and the next year after that. The key isn’t one week or one month. You have to do it longer.”

  
  Here's hoping he can do it for a lot longer. Both he and Royals fans deserve it!


• Deep Thoughts - I have way too many half-written blog posts sitting here, waiting to be finished. I will try and get those done before I leave the country on May 17!

That Figures...

"I have no idea what will happen, but I expect Tony to stay and retire as a Chief. Just wanted to get that out there in case he's part of a blockbuster trade tomorrow and I'm way off." - Me, February 24, 2009.

Well, the trade didn't happen the next day, and it didn't turn out to be a blockbuster either. A second round pick in next year's draft is a little frustrating in exchange for Tony G. I like the idea of getting a second round pick, we clearly are a team in building mode. It's just too bad that pick won't come until 2010.

I can't say I'm all that on board with this trade. Tony still has a few quality seasons in the tank and would be a great target for new QB Matt Cassel. The fact that we didn't acquire any picks in this year's draft* means we don't even get anything in return this year. That's a gaping void to fill, and taking Michael Crabtree means you don't address your offensive line or your defense.

* Of course Pioli seems to be a major wheeler/dealer, so it's quite possible the Chiefs will still move around in the draft this weekend and pick up some additional picks. And maybe they'll even move that pick they just got from Atlanta. I hope so.

I understand that Tony is disgruntled and wants to play for a winner. It's arguable how many wins he'd add to the team right now given the state of last year's defense, but he was an absolute blast to watch play. I understand that if he had retired here you would've gotten nothing in return for him, and maybe he wanted out so badly that he left the team with no other choice. Either way it's no fun for the fans. Maybe I'm just more attached to Gonzo than I was to Jared Allen, because that trade really didn't bother me too much. But then again, guaranteed first ballot Hall of Famers are rare for any team, especially the Chiefs.

Great pick up for Atlanta, I'm sure it will be a big boost to their offense and fantasy football players better target Matt Ryan early. The only thing I know for sure is that I'll miss Tony and hope to pick up my first ever Atlanta Falcons jersey before the season starts!

Get Smart

Joe Posnanski writes all kinds of great stuff, but I found this to be particularly interesting. If you're a baseball fan, you'll want to read this article. It details different pitch counts and what is likely to happen in each situation. Very educational!

• The Count of Counting Counts

Sweet Mexicutioner

While the weather in April is a constant source of frustration for me, there is one thing that's always a certainty: the return of baseball. I'll admit that while I've always maintained allegiance to the Royals, it's been pretty tough to be excited about the team in the past. Since Dayton Moore came on board things have been getting better, and there are legitimate reasons to be excited about the team and the direction it is heading.

As you probably know, the Royals were postponed on Opening Day due to bad weather in Chicago. So Tuesday was their first game, and I managed to watch the first 7 1/2 innings. Meche was great, and the offense showed some signs against Buehrle, even though they were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position.

The Royals held a 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning, and as all current fans know, Jim Thome hit a three run bomb off of Kyle Farnsworth to ruin the game for us all. Yes, it nullified Meche's great performance. Yes, it displayed some questionable decision making by manager Trey Hillman. But the worst thing of all: it kept us from watching Joakim Soria.

So last night, while unable to watch the game live, I did get to watch Soria pitch thanks to DVR. I've never enjoyed watching a pitcher as much as I like to watch this guy. He's absolutely unshakable and relentlessly attacks hitters. The other Royals pitchers will almost guarantee that every first pitch of Soria will be a strike. I expect the ones that aren't are on purpose too, just to throw off the hitters!

There were a few Soria stat gems last night from Ryan Lefebvre that have to be passed along:

1. Soria had more saves last year than hits given up. That's crazy! He notched 42 saves while only giving up 39 hits. So he was more likely to save the game than even give up a hit. Not a run, a hit. Outstanding!


2. This is even crazier, and is tied to the first. Last year's saves leader (which was an MLB record) was Francisco Rodriguez, with 62. In those 62 saves, he had a 1-2-3 inning 21 times. That's 34% The NL leader, Brad Lidge, accomplished that feat 25 times in 41 saves (61%). Not bad! So how about Soria? Oh, just a meager 36/42. That just blew me away. 86% of the time he just mowed them down, 1-2-3. No walks, no hits, just pitching dominance.
   

Naturally he locked down his first 1-2-3 save of the '09 season last night. But even that's not the best part of watching Soria. No, the best part is when he gets two strikes on a hitter. The first two guys he faced last night, Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome, popped out before getting to two strikes. That's probably a wise thing to do, because getting that second strike typically spells disaster for a hitter.

But Jermaine Dye was not so lucky. I love what Rany wrote about last night's encounter between Dye and Soria: "When Soria worked the count to 2-2 on Dye, it was clear that the Mexicutioner was about to unleash the Guillotine, as I call his vicious (and delicious) slow curveball that he dispatches his victims with. I knew it was coming, you knew it, I imagine Dye knew it, and we all knew that there was nothing Dye could do about it anyway." Yes, I knew it, and I couldn't wait to see it. It was a thing of beauty.

As I said earlier, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Royals this year. Meche is very good and Grienke could be amazing. The lineup has considerably more pop this year and the team has a newly renovated stadium to play in. But the best thing will still be hoping for a close game in the ninth and seeing the Mexicutioner dispatch his victims with ease.

Spring Break Recap

Here's a reprint of an article I wrote for the MBC:



Including myself, 28 of us spent our spring break at Mission Arlington in Arlington, TX. How we ended up spending our spring break there is another story - an interesting sequence of events orchestrated by the Lord.

The slogan of the ministry is "Taking church to the people" and we got to see it first hand. They have over 280 different Sunday morning outreaches, some rather small while others number over 70. As far as I know these all take place in various apartment complexes throughout the city. Some of the workers live in the apartments and work very hard to connect with the residents and share Christ with them.

The ministry also does a lot to meet the practical needs of the people. There was a constant rush of activity, as people swarmed the medical and dental clinics, furniture came in and out, and the food and clothing areas buzzed. Most of the workers are there from 7am to 7pm, continually giving to those in need. That in itself was a great example and challenge to us as a group.

We spent our week helping in each of these areas as needed, while a lot of the time ended up being spent at some of the apartment complexes where Bible studies are being planted and relationships are being established. We got to clean apartments (including one that had just flooded that day with sewage!), help with minor repairs, deliver food and furniture to people in need, deliver fliers and invite people to Bible studies or other events, and also help with after school programs with kids.

Many of the kids we worked with had very troubled home lives and were just longing to be loved. Several in our group had a difficult time parting with them.

One of the more powerful experiences for the group was connecting with one of the local workers. He is a former youth pastor in Johnson County who left behind his five bedroom home there to move into the apartment that, as he said, "Used to be where people did drugs or had sex." He had an overwhelming heart to give to the people and do whatever was necessary to share Christ with them. Working with him was a blessing and by itself would have made the entire trip worth it.

So far I've only heard back from a few students as to what they took away from the trip, but here are a few quotes:

"The trip helped show me that there are a lot of people out there searching for something more. Before, I had the mentality that people would just brush me off if I tried to talk to them, but in reality, most people do want to hear about it."

"I feel that it kind of reaffirmed my passion for children. It also reminded me that mission work or something similar may still be a possibility for my life."

"Well, I just got reminded of how powerful the spirit is. How when i'm walking in the spirit, sin has no reign on me. I found that getting away from TV, computer, internet, etc, I was set free from most of my struggles. So, for me, now i'm just trying to remember what I put into my body, and keep out what isn't good."

For me personally it was a week of consistently relying on God to come through and provide answers to a wide variety of questions and challenges that faced me. He was faithful to work things out in every single circumstance (including driving home through the remnants of a blizzard), even though I would prefer to simply avoid trials altogether :) And of course seeing a ministry that goes to the people rather than trying to get them to come to us, and then figuring out how we can better incorporate that into the BSU.

I would gladly return to work with that ministry again and give them a whole-hearted recommendation for any other group.

Late to the Party

I'm sure I've never been mistaken for a trend setter, so I guess I tend to be a little late when it comes to what's current or cool. I know many others have already heard and appreciated Lecrae, but I just got my first taste of his music over spring break. It's too bad too, because I just missed him in concert a few weeks ago here in Maryville. (I had a prior engagement at the time, although I would've worked around it had I known better.)

There were a handful of his songs that became unofficial theme songs for the week of spring break, here's one of them:




Here are links to a few others:

Fanatic
Represent
Praying For You
Take Me As I Am