This past weekend was crazy. The weather here in Houston was
wild, the Royals versus A’s series was almost out of control, and the NBA and
NHL playoffs started getting interesting. Here is a quick recap:
Friday night: The Oakland Billy Butlers came to The K,
probably hoping to avenge their 2014 Wild Card loss to the Royals. My wife and
I were planning to meet with some friends to celebrate a birthday, but mother
nature here in Houston decided to let loose with a crazy storm that set off
flood warnings and knocked out electricity everywhere. Just look how big the storm was:
Thus, I was forced to
follow the Royals game on my phone. The essence of the game could be
captured in the following image:
You will notice that Oakland A’s player Brett Lawrie DID NOT
EVEN ATTEMPT TO SLIDE SAFELY INTO SECOND BASE, opting instead to cowardly slash
Alcides Escobar, who had to be helped off the field. Lawrie would have been safe at second had he not been such an idiot. Please pardon my French, but what an arsehole.
Meanwhile, my wife and I were scrambling to move our
belongings in case the rising waters in the bayou adjacent to our first floor
apartment rose high enough to submerge us. Fortunately, we did not have to see
if our couch could float and the rain eventually stopped.
Saturday: Since Houston is one of the world’s largest cities,
there is a constant stream of ethnic festivals and on this particular Saturday,
there were two that my wife and I hoped to attend: the Japanese Fest and the
Lebanese Fest. There was also a local music and beer fest at the House of
Blues, and one of my favorite Texas country artists, Jeremy Steding, was
performing that night. It was gray outside that afternoon and when we attempted
to find parking for the Japanese fest, it started drizzling so we decided to
skip that and eat lunch with the friends that we missed on Friday night. After
a short nap, we headed downtown to check out the Lebanese festival, which
included a ginormous hookah (see below), then we stopped by the House of Blues
for the beer fest.
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| Giant Hookah at the Lebanese Fest |
The Houston Rockets had a playoff game at 8:30 and we
decided to grab some Texas cooking for dinner and watch the game before the
Jeremy Steding show. At the same time, the Royals were playing their worst game
of the season but at least were able to extract revenge of Brett Lawrie when
Yordano Ventura hit him with a 99 MPH fastball and was promptly ejected from the
game. The Royals were shutout for the first time this season and lost 5-0 but
at least Lawrie got punished.
Sunday: My wife and I headed to church Sunday morning, which
ended in time to watch the Royals rubber game with the A’s. I tried to tune in
and watch on the internet but the storm on Friday had knocked out the internet
so I had to follow the game on my phone again. Since Lawrie had received his
punishment, this game should have been all about baseball but Oakland pitcher
Scott Kazmir, normally known for his control, hit Lorenzo Cain with a 2-seam fastball
(Royals 14th HBP this season). Here is a look at the 2-seam fastballs that Kazmir threw on Sunday (pic from Hunter Samuels):
It is pretty clear which pitch hit Cain and that it was intentional. Kazmir was given a warning, which caused Ned
Yost to argue with the umpire since Yordano Ventura did not receive a warning
after beaning Lawrie on Saturday. Yost was ejected then pitching coach Dave
Eiland got ejected for yelling at Kazmir. Kazmir stayed in the game showcasing
his good control and limited the Royals to 2 runs on 6 hits, but in the 8th
inning, Kelvin Herrera decided to even the score once more and threw a 100 MPH
heater behind Lawrie’s back. He was immediately ejected, along with Alcides
Escobar and Don Wakamatsu, meaning a total of 6 Royals players and coaches were
ejected in this series versus the A’s (Oakland had 0 ejections). Lorenzo Cain,
the reigning ALCS MVP decided he had had enough and reached base on a double,
then stole third. Kendry Morales drove Cain and Hosmer home helping the Royals
win the game and the series. After the game, Oakland fans and media went
ballistic over Herrera’s pitch.
And you know what? I DON’T BLAME THEM. I have previously
written about how tough
it is to face the Royals intimidating trio of relievers, and now we have an
entire city afraid of Kelvin Herrera. In fact, some of them were even
suggesting that Herrera could have murdered Lawrie and THEY ARE COMPLETELY
CORRECT because Herrera throws pure fire and that 100 MPH fastball he threw at
Lawrie could have easily defeated Smaug from The Hobbit. Oakland folks are also
suggesting that Herrera was throwing at Lawrie’s head but that is utterly
ridiculous for three reasons: 1 – look at the photo below. The red arrow is pointing at the ball and those are called
ribs, not the head; 2 – Herrera could have easily hit Lawrie’s head if he
wanted to. In fact, he can put the ball wherever he wants which is why he has not
allowed a home run since 2013; and 3 – Herrera throws so hard he does not need
to hit someone’s head to murder them. He could probably kill you by hitting
your foot (which is where Cain was hit by Kazmir after he jumped out of the way) so hard that your body would
literally combust from the heat.
As you can see, this was a crazy weekend and hopefully the
Royals crush the Twinkies tonight. Never forget that KC is greater than
Oakland.
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