Our long national nightmare is over

[sigma7]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Jose Lima sprinted out of the dugout and threw his arms around Mike MacDougal, who had just closed out Kansas City's first victory in more than three weeks.

A few minutes later, the eccentric pitcher started pouring glasses of Dom Perignon champagne he'd been hiding in the clubhouse for this very moment.

Not quite a pennant or a playoff victory, but no matter.

The Royals ended baseball's longest losing streak in 17 years Saturday night, defeating the Oakland Athletics 2-1 to snap a club-record 19-game skid.

But when the next streak begins tomorrow, don't forget -- there are upsides to losing.

Comments

[bishop282.livejournal.com]

Great comic. I still haven't returned to baseball since the strike and only heard about the streak last Thursday. I grew up listening to Royals games with my dad. Sure they were my team because of geography, but at least they were good during the '80s and fun to watch. It's just a sad state now. Imagine if they could have afforded to keep 'the Wookie' and some talent around him.

Woohoo!

[jkgriffin.livejournal.com]

Hey, I remember, not that long ago, when the Mariners had their first winning season (as in over .500 for the season) and it made the front page of both daily papers in Seattle.

Isn't baseball fun?

Re: Woohoo!

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I gotta admit I'm more in line with bishop282 in that I don't see baseball as a sport anymore. A third -- maybe half -- of the teams are actually competitive, the rest becoming farm clubs for contenders (Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran were great Royals). Most of the actual competition happens between October and March anymore, with the free-agent jockeying. And this isn't even touching on steroids.

That said, the BoSox's (or as Bee would put it, "the Bostons'") post-season last year was good enough to enjoy in and of itself. The enemy of the Yankees is my friend.