Off the Couch
“While I’m stretching and warming up before the [season-opening] game, I have a guy [in the New York stands] yell at me, ‘Randa! I’m going to be here all three games and I’m not going to stop. I’m going to be on you the whole game!’ Obviously it doesn’t affect you, but that guy just sits in the back of your mind; you can hear his voice. Those are the things that Yankee Stadium does.”
— Joe Randa, following the season-opening loss to the Yankees, WHB 810
“[Yankee Stadium] is an intimidating place to play, and to see them raise that [World Series] banner, it’s very tough. It’s a very difficult place to play and it always will be no matter if it’s opening day or during the season.”
— Randa, 810
GH: How can a seven-year veteran of three major league organizations and a designated team leader like Randa be affected by what some drunk from da Bronx is yelling at him? Maybe Randa’s combat gear in The Star’s team photo should have been in camouflage pink.
“I’m not convinced that [Carlos Beltran] is going to pan out. This guy just doesn’t get it.”
— Kevin Kietzman, 810
“We are committed to the Royals. As you all know, Steven St. John is a baseball encyclopedia.”
— Jason Whitlock, assuring listeners of his radio show who doubt Whitlock’s commitment to covering the Royals, 810
GH: One of my favorite Whitlock stories is his admission to George Brett a few years back that he’d never caught a batted fly ball in his life. How many men, women and children in America can make that claim?
“I’m still not a believer [in Dee Brown]. He’s got to convince me. I saw three of his at-bats [last week], and they were throwing stuff right by him as far as I saw.”
— Danny Clinkscale, on the Royals’ rookie outfielder, 810
“I think there would be some concerns there [with Dee Brown]. He’s the one guy that I am really anxious to see out of camp because I have not seen what I’m hearing about so far in camp.”
— Paul Splittorff, on Dee Brown, 810
GH: Stick Brown in the DH spot and leave him there against a righty or lefty. The Royals spend far too much time grooming talent rather than playing it.
