Tony Pena

Nice little piece on Tony Pena who won the manager of the year award in the AL. The article does fail to mention that the 16-3 start was against the White Sox, Tigers, Indians, and more of the Tigers, Indians, and White Sox. Once they went on the road against better teams they started to fail and lost 27 of their next 41. Still, a great season and a lof of fun to watch (I attended over a dozen games). From my scorebook:

3/31/03 White Sox 2-0 W - over in 2 hours and 5 minutes, 40,302. Great performance by Hernandez, 6 IP 2 hits, McDougal gets the save and looks sharp
4/05/03 Indians 3-1 W - 44 degrees at game time, Tucker 2b, 3b, Hernandez again 7 ip, 2 hits, McDougal Ks 2 in the ninth for the save
4/24/03 Twins 2-1 W - Only 11,981 in attendence, Sweeney homers and the Royals are 16-3, save by McDougal again, exceptional DP turned by Febles and Berroa
5/27/03 Mariners 6-15 L - 19 hits by the Mariners, Ichiro bats in the first 5 innings, Royals now 26-23
6/10/03 Giants 3-7 L - Some good defense by Randa and Lopez, HR by Sweeney, Bonds walks twice, Royals now 32-31
6/30/03 Indians 5-10 L - 2 great catches by Beltran, 3 run HR by Blake in the 8th is the backbreaker
6/30/03 Indians 5-7 L - Royals swept now 42-38, gave up 2 HR in the first and 2 in the 6th
7/21/03 A's 0-10 L - I'm on a losing streak here. Durazo hits 2 HR, 80 degrees and perfect weather 1:05 game
8/26/03 Rangers 9-2 W - Royals now 1/2 game out. 3 run HR by Sweeney, 2 r HR by Palmeiro, 31st of the year. 2 great catches by Beltran, only 12,917 in attendance
9/4/03 Diamondbacks 5-6 L - in 10 innings. Had Randy Johnson on the ropes but gave up 3 in the 7th. Bad use of pitchers by Pena. Beltran scores tying run in the 9th with a walk, steals of 2nd and 3rd and score on a sac fly. Also threw out a runner at the plate
9/10/03 Indians 9-7 W - Royals now 74-70, 4 games out, 21,581 in attendance. Affeldt 2 scoreless innings in relief
9/23/03 Tigers 6-15 L - Now 84-73, 5.5 games out and officially eliminated. Lima is shelled. Tigers get 3 bunt hits in a row in the 5th.

I also attended at least 2 games I didn't score, a win over the A's in late July or early August and a win in July when Beltran saved a homerun and then hit the game winning homerun in the bottom of the 10th on a 105 degree day. Sat in the upper deck dousing myself and the kids with water.