Dirty Dozen

The Kansas City Royals have lost 12 games in a row, which (sad to say) is not all that unusual in Kansas City, though it is unusual everywhere else. Since the strike, there have been 20 teams that have lost 12 or more games in a row -- about one per year.

Of the 20, five are Kansas City losing streaks. So, the Royals have that going for them.

More Fun With Moyer

How about a little more fun with Jamie Moyer.

Jamie Moyer was teammates with Davey Lopes … and Ron Cey … and Dick Ruthven … and Jim Sundberg … and Manny Trillo.

Jamie Moyer is older than Greg Maddux … Jose Canseco … David Justice … Will Clark … Benito Santiago (!) … Dwight Gooden … Greg Swindell … and and the late Jose Lima.

Jamie Moyer has faced 11 different players named Wilson: Mookie, Willie, Glenn, Enrique, Dan, Jack, Tom, Craig, another Craig, Vance and, of course, Wilson Valdez.

Jamie Moyer has faced 11 different players named Anderson: Garrett, Brady, Curtis, Dave, Brian, Marlon, Josh, another Brian, Rick and Anderson Hernandez.

Jamie Moyer has faced 13 different players named Gonzalez: Juan, Alex, another Alex, Adrian, Luis, Wiki, Carlos, Alberto, Marwin, Andy, Denny, Edgar and Jose.

Jame Moyer faced Tony and Eduardo Perez.

Jamie Moyer faced Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr.

Jamie Moyer has face ten different active managers -- Mattingly, Bochy, Gibson, Girardi, Guillen, Matheny, Melvin, Roenicke, Scioscia and Ventura -- and while he did not face Ron Washington, he did face U.L.

Jamie Moyer has pitched in 42 Major League parks.

Jamie Moyer has given up home runs to 326 different players, from Juan Samuel (his first!) to J.D. Martinez (who was not born when he gave up that first homer to Juan Samuel.

Jamie Moyer has faced every single player the New York Mets started in Game 1 of the 1986 World Series; though to be fair he has only faced five of the eight every day players who started for the Red Sox that day.

Here’s the big one. The awesome one. You ready for this? Not counting pitchers … Jamie Moyer has faced or been teammates with every single MVP in either league since 1980. Every … single … one … in … either … league.

Jamie Moyer has faced Michael Young, Dmitri Young, Chris Young, another Chris Young, Eric Young, Kevin Young, Ernie Young and, yes, Joel Youngblood.

And you wonder how he does it.

Moyer to Cy Young in 10 moves

In Jamie Moyer’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he beat Steve Carlton.

In Steve Carlton’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he relieved Bob Gibson (well, Gibson started the game).

In Bob Gibson’s first game as a Major leaguer, Stan Musial got two hits.

In Stan Musial’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he got two hits off Jim (Abba Dabba) Tobin.

In Abba Dabba Tobin’s first game as a Major Leaguer, Paul Waner got two hits.

In Paul Waner’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he walked against Flint Rhem.

In 1924 Flint Rhem -- who had thrown a no-hitter in the Western League -- was brought to the big leagues by Branch Rickey.

Branch Rickey’s first big signing was George Sisler.

In George Sisler’s first season, he was teammates with Bobby Wallace.

Bobby Walace played his early years for the Cleveland Spiders. His most prominent teammate was Cy Young.

Wouldn’t it be great if Jamie Moyer won the Cy Young?

Welcome to the new look

I’ll be talking at some length about all the fun things to come in the Project X where I will be working.

In the meantime, I hope to be back writing here on a regular basis … and with a new blog look on top of it.

It figures to be a bit sketchy for the next two or three weeks, but after that: Blogs galore. Yuni! Infomercials! Lebron! The absurdity of putting really fast guys who can’t get on base in the leadoff spot! Questions about those AT&T “so 27 seconds ago” jerks! The much awaited iPad review! Mocking the mock draft!

It will be good to get back.

A quick update

I wrote my last column for Sports Illustrated today. Emotional times. But I believe good times are ahead. More information to follow on Project X.*

*A few hints based on some of your questions: It's not a baseball project; it's not a USA Today specific project; it's not something that will have me writing less, and it's not a project that will require learning Jiu jitsu or how to speak Portuguese (though I could choose to try and learn those things, if I wish).

So you know: This blog is about to go through a full makeover … and it's about to start exploding with CLPs and Pozterisks and insane baseball tangents and lists and Snuggies once more. So hang in there, if you can.

I can tell you that the first post for Blog Mach 2 will be about my oldest daughter's first real love of sports, and the shocking direction that love took.