Kansas City Royals: May the 4th be with you!

While May the 4th had no real power to help the Royals prevail today, it has always been a special date with one of our Royals Blue Members. Editor-in-Chief and overall creator of the blog Luke Goosen’s birthday is also the 4th of May. As is tradition I like to share a favorite Royals memory of our team on their birthday, so here is Luke’s.

Let me start this post off by saying, Luke had an uncanny streak as a we lad. He had attended many Royals games up until the age of 24, however had never once seen the Royals lose. NOT ONCE!  And we sucked for most of that time. Yet all that came CRASHING down one warm August evening.

The Date, August 9th, 2005. Luke and his brand new bride were returning to KC from their honeymoon to Newfoundland (I really can’t remember where they went, so I made that up), and decided to thank me for watching their car (I drove that Ford Contour into the ground that week by the way) and picking them up from the airport they would treat me to a Royals game.  A grand gesture, even if we were in the midst of an 8 game losing streak.  Luke reminded me countless times about his streak, and seemed impervious to jinxing it. However, this night held something special in store.

The game started out with a bang. Mike Sweeney (Luke’s favorite Royals at the time) smashed a three run bomb to left. The Royals started out up 4 runs. Things didn’t slow down a bit from there, add in (It’s not a snack it’s) Emil Brown’s booming RBI Double and an Angel Berroa solo job, and the Royals are sitting pretty at 7-2 headed into the 9th.

After being away for nearly a week, and feeling the effects of jet lag, we jokingly hinted at leaving early, because they had a long drive back to Cole Camp. BUT NO, we couldn’t leave. The 9th inning of all 9th innings was upon us. The Royals turned it over to former All-Star closer Mike MacDougal. MacDougal had a bit of a bumpy go, but managed to get two outs. Then Berroa couldn’t quite get a pop-up, and the next thing you know the tying run is on base and the Indians go to the bench for Jeff Liefer (ya I didn’t remember his name…had to look that part up). Liefer strokes a ball to deep ,yet playable in Left Field. Chip Ambres camps under it, Luke and I all but high fived that we dodged the bullet, and the 8 game skid had ended…..when the unthinkable happened.

Ambres clanks the catch. Right off the heal of his glove and down to the grass. The tying run scored…add two more base runners, and boom Grady Sizemore puts the exclamation cap on the inning with a Grand Slam. Royals Lose 13-7, and they go on to lose 10 more games in a row! Probably the low point for the worst team in franchise history. And that is saying something! And we were right there to witness it. Luke’s streak came crashing down in all the fiery glory of the Hindenburg.

We rarely speak of this day, and have since made many trips to the K together. But that is, and will always be, my most vivid memory of a Royals game with Luke Goosen…So Happy Birthday to him, and for the rest of you MAY THE 4th BE WITH YOU!