I am setting here with my Christmas Eve scotch and water in hand.  I have spent the day cooking, cleaning, and finishing the wrapping of presents.  Christmas day two of my children and their families will descend on my home and the fun and craziness will start.  I am going to spend tonight with a BLT and christmas cookies...oh ya, and scotch.  I will be watching "The Natural" and then turn in early.  We old men need our sleep...right Buddyball.  So, what is the RR crew doing tonight and for the next 10 days.

1. What are you doing for Christmas?

2. What was the best Christmas present you received under the age of 21?

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The RRKLYr3 fantasy baseball league needs one more new manager to take over an orphaned team.  This is a 20 team keeper league that is based on Yahoo.  15 teams returned from last season's tough competition.  Going into the last week of the season 12 teams were still in the hunt for a playoff spot.  This is a very hardcore league.  If you need any advise about getting into the league email AxDxMx, NYRoyal, Marbotty, and or the 2009 winner Focs. 

One spot and it will be given to the first new manager that emails me.  Do it now!  Winter Meetings, via email, will start the first week of December.  Email me...  You had better be competitive all season because you do not want to piss this group off.  Email me...

Today the Surprise Rafters face Steve Strasburg.  This will be Stevies first outing since his "fall from grace" performance.  8 earned runs in three innings proves he is human.  I am hoping that Mous and Bianchi can make it two bad starts in a row. 

Check out the updated stats below:  Why is it that both Duarte and Lisson look so good in the off season but when they get to the Royals farm teams they flopped like a dying fish.  Bianchi is still having a pretty good fall season with the bat.  It would be nice to see some more power from him.  Hartsock and Sisk are putting up some good numbers and hopefully will be given a shot to make the Royals bullpen next season.

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Okay, the Huskers did have 8 turnovers but the Cyclones were playing with a backup QB and a backup RB.  Our Def. looked better than they ever have.  I smell a bowl game in our future.  Go Clones...  we made some Husker fans cry today.  1977 was the last time we beat them in Lincoln.   The victory scotch is flowing and I am headed to the neighbors for more.    Go Clones.....  Take that Gene Chizek... we now have won 5 games and you did that in two years.  Auburn can have the likes of you and I hope they aren't planning on you staying there to long.   Go Clones.... 

We can all breathe a sigh of relief because Washington's number 1 pick in the draft is human.  Strass pitched a terrible game giving up his first two homers this fall in one inning.  Now we will see just how well he can come back and compete after a disasterous start.  Wood pitched 4 innings of shutout ball tonight and Sisk followed that up with another scoreless inning in relief.  Sisk and Hartsock shouldn't spend too much time in Omaha with the shape of our bullpen.  Keep an eye on the Rangers rookie Moreland.  He looks to be as good as Smoak if not better.  Remember Smoak is the player we passed up to take Hosey (with glasses).

Here are the winter league stats so far for the Royals:

Individual Statistics As of: 10/22/2009 02:45 AM EDT
      BATTERS   CLUB   LEAGUE   AVG   G   AB   R   H   2B   3B   HR   RBI   SO   BB   IBB   SB   CS   OBP   SLG   OPS   SF   SAC   HBP   GIDP  
  Bianchi, Jeff SUR AFL .308 6 26 3 8 1 0 0 4 4 2 0 0 0 .357 .346 .703 0 0 0 0
  Duarte, Jose CAR VWL .324 11 34 9 11 1 0 0 2 7 5 0 2 0 .425 .353 .778 0 0 1 0
  Lisson, Mario CAR VWL .333 4 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 .600 .667 1.267 0 0 0 0
 * Moustakas, Mike SUR AFL .333 5 21 4 7 3 0 1 9 3 0 0 1 0 .348 .619 .967 1 0 1 1
  Pina, Manuel LAG VWL .400 4 10 1 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 .500 .700 1.200 0 0 2 0
 * Tupman, Matt LIC DWL .100 3 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .182 .100 .282 0 0 0 2

      PITCHERS   CLUB   LEAGUE   W   L   ERA   G   GS   CG   SHO   SV   SVO   IP   H   R   ER   HR   HB   SO   BB   IBB   WP   GIDP   WHIP   AVG  
  Abreu, Juan AGU DWL 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 .000
  Hartsock, Aaron SUR AFL 0 0 2.70 3 0 0 0 0 0 3.1 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0.90 .167
  Nicoll, Chris ORI VWL 0 0 2.25 1 1 0 0 0 0 4.0 4 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1.25 .286
 * O'Connor, Michael MAR VWL 0 1 0.00 5 0 0 0 0 0 4.1 6 1 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 1.62 .316
  Paulino, Eduardo LIC DWL 0 0 0.00 2 0 0 0 0 0 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 .000
 * Rivas, Carlos CAR VWL 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 .000
 * Rivas, Carlos LAR VWL 0 1 10.12 2 0 0 0 0 0 2.2 4 3 3 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 2.63 .444
T * Rivas, Carlos   0 1 5.79 4 0 0 0 0 0 4.2 4 3 3 0 0 2 3 0 1 1 1.50 .267
 * Sisk, Brandon SUR AFL 0 0 3.00 2 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1.33 .333
 * Swaggerty, Ben SUR AFL 0 0 13.50 3 0 0 0 0 0 3.1 6 5 5 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 2.40 .500
  Wood, Blake SUR AFL 1 0 9.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 3 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2.00 .375

The Surprise Rafters are out to an unusually good start at 4-1.  Mousetaco has brought his bat with him to the desert and is having some early success.  Here are the early stats...  Bianchi had better get the sun out of his eyes and start putting the bat on the ball.  Our pitchers are looking like all relievers which maybe is a good thing for our pitiful bullpen next season.  Danny G. are recent download to another team seems to have righted the ship and looks good early.

Player  POS  G  AB  R  H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  TB  BB  SO  SB  CS  OBP  SLG  AVG  OPS  E 
Brandon Laird 3B 3 16 6 10 1 0 1 7 14 0 4 0 0 .625 .875 .625 1.500 0
Bryan Anderson C 1 5 3 3 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 .667 .600 .600 1.267  
Daniel Descalso 2B 2 9 3 5 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 .500 .556 .556 1.056 0
Austin Romine C 3 13 2 6 0 0 0 2 6 1 2 0 0 .500 .462 .462 .962 0
Mike Moustakas 3B 2 9 2 4 3 0 1 8 10 0 0 0 0 .500 1.111 .444 1.611 0
Doug Hogan C 2 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 .400 .600 .400 1.000 0
Lucas Duda OF 2 5 1 2 1 0 0 2 3 1 0 0 0 .500 .600 .400 1.100 0
Ruben Tejada SS 3 13 5 5 1 0 0 3 6 1 3 2 0 .467 .462 .385 .928 0
Marcus Lemon 2B 3 8 1 3 0 0 0 1 3 1 2 1 0 .444 .375 .375 .819 0
Ike Davis 1B 3 14 2 5 2 0 1 8 10 0 4 0 0 .333 .714 .357 1.048 0
Colin Curtis LF 4 19 4 6 2 0 1 4 11 1 1 0 0 .350 .579 .316 .929 0
Tyler Henley RF 3 11 3 3 0 0 0 1 3 2 2 0 0 .385 .273 .273 .657 0
Daryl Jones LF 3 11 5 2 0 0 0 1 2 2 3 3 0 .400 .182 .182 .582 0
Jeff Bianchi SS 3 14 3 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 3 0 0 .200 .143 .143 .343 0
Reese Havens SS 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 .250 .000 .000 .250  
Mitchell Moreland RF 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 .400 .000 .000 .400

 CG  SHO  SV  IP  H  R  ER  HR  HB  BB  SO  WHIP  HLD  GF 
Ian Kennedy 1 0 2.25 1 1 0 0 0 4.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 4 0.50 0 0
Danny Gutierrez 1 0 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0.67 0 0
Gary Daley 0 0 3.00 2 0 0 0 0 3.0 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 1.33 1 0
Zach Kroenke 0 0 3.00 2 0 0 0 0 3.0 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 1.67 1 0
Josh Stinson 0 0 9.00 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 2 2 2 1 0 2 1 2.00 1 0
Aaron Hartsock 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 1 0
Brandon Sisk 0 0 4.50 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 1.50 0 0
Tanner Scheppers 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 1.00 1 0
Grant Duff 0 0 0.00 2 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.00 0 2
Scott Moviel 1 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1.50 0 0
Blake Wood 1 0 9.00 1 1 0 0 0 2.0 3 2 2 0 0 1 1 2.00 0 0
Evan Reed 0 0 9.00 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 3.00 0 0
Adam Reifer 0 0 9.00 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 2.00 0 1
Ben Swaggerty 0 0 9.00 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 3.00 1 0
Michael Dunn 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 1 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 3.00 0 1
Jenrry Mejia 0 0 27.00 1 1 0 0 0 1.0 1 3 3 0 0 3 1 4.00 0 0
Scott Gorgen 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.00 0 0
Eric Niesen 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 1 0
Mike Parisi 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0
Brennan Garr 0 0 18.00 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 2.00 0 0

Congrats to Focs for winning the Championship and to NYRoyal for winning the regular season title.

Thanks, everyone for making this a very competitive league. The race for the playoffs came down to the final day and at least 14 teams were in the heat of the battle up until the last several weeks. Great Job...

The deadline for registering your teams for the 2010 season and for naming your (6) six keepers is November 8, 2009. Please email the above information to me by that date. All teams not registered by that date will be considered Orphaned. Winter Meetings will start on December 1, 2009 via email. Next seasons draft will be around March 20, 2010.

Any persons interested in managing a new team next season should email me by November 8.  Orphaned teams will be assigned by a random drawing.   

Again, it was a great season and as the commissioner, I thank all of you for your support through out the season. 

RR Keeper League YR2: Championships:

                                                                                1st: Focs

                                                                        2nd: Marbot Crush

                                                             3rd: RaefzillaHamFighters

RR Keeper League YR2 Final Standings: 2009
 
*1.   Focs 156-94-14 
*2.   Marbot Crush! 149-101-14 
*3.   RaefzillaHamFighters 150-99-15 
*4.   NYRoyal 157-92-15 
*5.   JQ's Sluggers 131-111-22
*6    TrumanRoyal 135-115-14
7.   Grudz96er's 131-120-13
8.   5 More Years!-AxDxMx 129-113-22
9.   thats Mr. Daddy to u 129-118-17
10.   RR's Huberites 129-118-17
11.   Gordo's Cowboys 126-123-15
12.   Rock Chalk Baby 124-120-20 
13.   the dudethangers 123-125-16
14.   JasonM 114-139-11
15.   GoBabies!! 111-138-15
16.   Randa's Rampage 107-143-14
17.   Stuckinstl12 101-146-17
18.   Matty486 99-144-21 
19.   Sisquatch Kids 97-146-21
20.   L2R Jalapeña Hottiez 78-171-15

As of Aug. 20th our victory total stands at 47.  Since today is an off day and we can't win or thank god lose that gives us 11 more days to try and win three games.  If we don't succeed we will go into the last month of the season with a good shot of not winning 60 games in 2009.  When or if we meet that apocalyptic goal will this become the worse team in the last five years of the Royal's futile history? 

Here is the draft information for the Keeper League

We have space for 16 teams and as of today only 10 have signed up.  The deadline for adding a new team will be Wednesday, August 12th.  Email me if you are interested.

I have deleted the Powder Blue League due to lack of teams. 

I hope everyone has a great draft and a good competitive season.

but that was a ass kicking ugly game today.  The Royals looked like they would have had a hard time beating the 2005 version of this franchise.   Why not dump the marginal players and bring up the rookies.  Why not?????

The Orioles have overhauled the starting rotation and their bullpen with rookies.  The brought up a rookie outfielder who is now in the running for ALROY.  In fact they have used 16 different minor leaguers this season thus far.  Oh, did I mention that they have a better record than we do.   Our hated rivals, the Cards, have use 17 different players from the minors and they are battling for the division title even with Wellmeyer in the rotation.  I just watched the Cubs vs Reds game and the one thing that Lou does that I really like is to use his AAA team like a taxi squad.  The ICub players seemed to be on free bus passes to Wrigley field.  Did I mention that the Cubs are in the race for central division crown and that the ICubs have a better record than Omaha.  Why not the Royals????

We are never going to know if Rosa can be in a major league bullpen until he pitches here for more than a week.  He has to be better than Tejada.  Put Logue in leftfield and Maier in centerfield and let them start the rest of the season.  Can it be worse than what we saw today and the past month.  Why is Bruce Chen up here while Lenny DiNardo is 7-4 and still in AAA????  Use the minor leagues before we go out and sign more players off the slag heaps of other teams cast offs.   Kia, Holland, Mertins, Lubanski.... they all deserve a shot and this season is going nowhere fast so why not bring them up.  Dump or trade some of these guys and bring up the rookies.  Watching young gritty scrappers would be a hell of a lot better than what we saw today. 

Hillfire and Dancing in the Dark Dayton, you are starting to remind me of the Royals bosses of old.  I am starting to have visions of Fuddo the Clown's ghost returning to the dugout.  Get the sunflower seeds ready.  Do something and do it quickly the off season is rapidly approaching and so is another 100+ game losing season.   It is great to look down the road and develop talent slowly but at least put a team on the field that is fun to watch and has a chance of winning.  That is not what we saw today.  Today was just SAD!!!!