"Its looking like the end of the season." September 9, 1999
Frank Thomas, who has many reasons to be happy, sat in the clubhouse as
glum the Liberals after the election results. "In me, I have as much hope
now as I would if this was September 30th. Its looking like its the end of
the season for us."
Like a good Shakespeare novel, several events foreshadowed the Royals'
ultimate demise. But the final blow that but the Royals out of contention
came last night, as the Montreal Royals were playing host to their own
McCoy division rivals, the Deadwood Outlaws.
In the sixth inning, Rusty Greer chopped a single towards the shortstop
Travis Fryman, who relayed the throw to first. But the ordinarily routine
play was misfired, and Greer collided with firstbaseman Palmeiro. Greer
somehow tripped on the base and broke his ankle.
Greer lay in anguish as the coaches carried him off the field. The sellout
crowd was suddenly silent. Greer, who was batting .383 and had already
collected 200 hits and 31 home runs, will not be able to play until next
spring. It's unlikely Frank Thomas can carry the team anymore than he
already is.
The Royals went on to lose 8-7 in extra innings as Jose Mesa let a 3-run
lead slip away.
Greer's injury put the Royals out of the pennat race, but nevertheless the
Royals did not come to terms with their numberous problems:
* The Royals have never had a bona-fide ace, despite the success of Rheal
Cormier.
* Jose Mesa, despite a good ERA, has struggled to close games all year.
This was never more evident in yesterday's loss to the Outlaws.
* Beginning-of-the-season heroes Juan Samuel and Mike Lansing have
continued their struggles in September.
* By acquiring Frank Thomas, the Royals sacrificed their pitching depth, in
both the rotation and the bullpen.
Like always, owner Peter Carbonetto had the post-game press conference:
"Everbody has to deal with injuries, but these were key players. And when I
mean key players, I mean they were the glue that held this team together.
And not surprisingly, everything is falling appart now."
