The Royals are in the midst of their most boring season in team history.
They have been hovering around the .500 mark since the beginning of the
season, and have no hopes of catching the Edmonton Sled Dogs mainly because
Tim Belcher is pitching like he's 25 years old.
They have no ace (Cormer is not what I would call an ace). There is no real
dominating prescence in the bullpen. The Royals do have three stars: Frank
Thomas, Brady Anderson and Rusty Greer. Those three players also make up
90% of the Royals' offense. Players such as Bobby Bonilla, Gary Gaetti and
Mike Lansing are pretty are visibly rotting of old age.
And don't ask about trade activity. The problem is simply, the Royals are
good enough to temp with competitiveness, but so mediocre that they will
never get anywhere. "I would actually kind of like to be in Medina's
situation right now because we don't have an excuse to give up," said GM
Carbonetto.
"We can't really pick up any good prospects in the drafts and are minor
league system is pretty weak. We have nothing to look forward to. At least
the Mustangs can say their future looks bright. The fact is, we were a
mediocre team in 1997 and we are a mediocre team now. We improved for sure,
but we never had strong enough players."
"And I must admit, Mr. Reese had some passion over there in Medina. What we
need is passion."
Vert et Or Go 4-0
After the Generals couldn't draw a crowd in Ottawa (those politicians were
too busy running the country), the Montreal Royals moved their Triple-A
franchise to Sherbrooke where they are now known as the Sherbrooke Vert &
Or. The less-knowledgeable Amercians call the team the "Vertandors", but
the correct pronounciation is "Vere (as in 'there') ay (as in 'hay') or".
Or you may call them the Sherbrooke Green and Gold.
Richard Galen is still the main draw, and for a good reason. He pitched a 7
inning shutout in his first AAA start, striking out 16!!!
Every single Sherbrooke win has come on pitching. Melwin Lowry, recently
drafted, was the biggest surprise. He gave up only 2 hits over a 7-inning
start.
The Nanimo franchise gave out free Nanimo bars to celebrate their home
opener. "These are better than Maple Cookies!" exclaimed pitcher Richard
Galen.
