At MLB, Anne Rogers wrote about a turning point for Carlos Estévez:
Just a few hours after Carlos Estévez recorded a blown save in the Royals’ Game 1 loss against the Cardinals on June 5 at Busch Stadium — a walk-off single from Willson Contreras in the bottom of the 10th inning — Estévez was running in from the ‘pen in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2. He shut down the same part of the order he faced in Game 1, but this time, it didn’t get to Contreras. Estévez notched his 18th save of the season
instead.
“Oh yeah, I remember that day. The whole time that [Game 2] was playing out, I was just like, ‘Get me into this game,’” Estévez said. “I was praying. I couldn’t wait. And it was funny because it was the same guys, and a 1-2-3 inning. I was like, ‘There we go. I can put this day behind me.’
“I remember that [pitching coach] Brian Sweeney didn’t even come talk to me in between games, no one was talking to me. I was really mad about that first game. But then when we went out to the bullpen for Game 2, I told them I was good to go.”
The Urban Youth Academy is in the middle of a sporting goods drive and at least one Royals Hall of Famer is helping out:
“Not only baseball, but just sports it taught me worth ethic, discipline, overcoming adversity, being a good teammate, a good leader, all these kinds of things, these kids are going to benefit when they get involved in sports,” Gordon said. “So having this equipment is going to motivate them to come out here and be a part of it.”
How about lots of listicles?
At The Athletic ($), Jim Bowden lists “the biggest concern for each MLB contending team down the stretch”:
Kansas City Royals — run production from the bottom of the lineup
The Royals’ staff is second in the AL in ERA and features a strong rotation that includes Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Noah Cameron and Ryan Bergert — not to mention Cole Ragans, who is on the IL with a rotator cuff strain. Their bullpen is led by All-Star closer Carlos Estévez and set-up relievers Lucas Erceg, Angel Zerpa, Taylor Clarke and John Schreiber. The pen ranks fourth in the AL in ERA and first in saves.
Offense has been the Royals’ main issue all season. They rank 26th in runs scored and 26th in home runs. The top of the lineup is solid with Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez, but the rest of the lineup needs to produce more runs if the Royals are going to return to the playoffs.
Their trade deadline acquisitions of Mike Yastrzemski, Adam Frazier and Randal Grichuk have helped, but will they be enough? They have the strong pitching and defense needed to play in October, but offensive questions remain.
R.J. Anderson at CBS Sports looks back at the trade deadline:
Encouraging deadline so far: Kansas City Royals
The Royals need to make up about a game per week in order to reach the playoffs for a second consecutive year. Stay tuned on that front, but Kansas City being (for now) the first team out on the American League side of the ledger can be credited to its deadline adds.
Remember, it wasn’t clear heading into the mad season if the Royals would even buy — there were, at the time, rumors they could sell. Instead, Kansas City extended ace Seth Lugo and added a handful of players to its collection through various trades: outfielders Mike Yastrzemski and Randal Grichuk, infielder Adam Frazier, and pitchers Ryan Berget, Bailey Falter, and Stephen Kolek. Those additions haven’t all paid off to date, but Yastrzemski, Frazier, and Berget sure have.
The Royals have set a new season high in runs scored in a month in August, and you can draw a straight line from that statistic to another: Yastrzemski and Frazier upping the number of Kansas City hitters with an OPS+ above 100 from four to six. Berget, by the way, has helped stabilize the Royals rotation that lost Kris Bubic and Cole Ragans to injury over the summer by surrendering two runs or fewer in each of his first four starts.
I’m not familiar with TJStats (that’s on me, not them). Over there, Thomas Nestico profiled Carter Jensen (and others) in yesterday’s Prospect Parade:
Carter Jensen – C – KC
Carter Jensen (TJStats #45 Prospect) has thoroughly enjoyed his time in AAA, slashing a .292/.404/.646 en route to an immaculate 165 wRC+, fuelled by 13 HR and an elite 15.7 BB%. He has been selling out for power since his promotion as both his K% and Whiff% have ballooned +6%. While this is a concerning trend, he makes up for it with jaw-dropping power including a ridiculous 62.4 HardHit%. Jensen rounds out his intriguing offensive profile with a keen eye and an impressive 20.0 O-Swing%.
This power upside packed into a catcher is extremely compelling, and become more tantalizing given his improvements to his defense this season. He is a strong framer and has posted plus pop times to support his average arm. Jensen has all the making of the next big-slugging catcher and given his dominance in AAA, he may get a taste of the Majors before the 2025 season ends.
At Bleacher Report, Tim Kelly runs down the AL MVP Candidates. Maikel Garcia comes in at 10th and Bobby Witt Jr is 6th.
Only one long blog post.
David Lesky ($) writes about Wednesday’s game:
If you’re thinking to yourself that only Perez can hit that pitch for a home run, I’ll tell you that you’re wrong, but not that wrong. Coming into yesterday, there were 195 total home runs hit by right-handed batters up and off the plate. Not this year. Since 2008. The leader of that group is Albert Pujols. He hit eight of them. Third in that group is Paul Goldschmidt with four (tied with Evan Gattis). You might notice I skipped second. That’s because it belongs to Perez, who now has six home runs on pitches up and away. We all hate the chases when they don’t come through, but it’s hard to stop chasing when you can do that on a pitch that most guys don’t even hit hard, let alone 396 feet the other way.
Blog Roundup:
- Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History–1985 Edition – August 28 – The Royals blast four home runs as they cruise to a win in Milwaukee
- Royals Data Dugout ($): A Quietly Superb Summer – BWJ’s greatness is going overlooked
- Jacob Milham at KOK: How Jac Caglianone is taking drama out of Royals’ September roster
- Oliver Vandervoort at KOK: Royals high-flying prospect arm still looked incredible in worst start in months
Sure, today’s Royals stories were a little short, but OT is going a smidge long so it all evens out, right?
At the beginning of the month, I went to a “Weird” Al Yankovic concert. It was my third and all have been generally good experiences. Even when it poured rain at Starlight. Or that time I got shushed for quietly talking with friends between songs during the opening act in Manhattan. Aside: Weird Al fans, you can actually stand up for the music – you don’t have to just sit on your hands.
In the couple of weeks before and after the concert, I went through and re-listened to all of his music again. That brought up the question of “Which is his best album”. And there’s no clear cut favorite. Heck, I searched for some lists online and it’s amazing how little consensus there is on which are his best and worst albums. So I started doing my own rankings and here we are. The below are in order from “worst” to best. But we’re also talking about “Weird Al” so there’s no “worst”, really.
Bookkeeping note: Any long quotes – the type in quotation marks that sound like they’re not from me – those are from either the Wikipedia pages for the songs, the album, or just Weird Al’s page. Speaking of Wiki, here’s Weird Al’s discography.
Notable: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story soundtrack (2022)
I mention this as it’s not considered a “studio album” and mostly a greatest hits CD. It also has some of the score and some short movie clips. The most notable new song is “Now You Know”. At the concert, Al comes on stage and says something to the effect of “There’s this song that’s in the credits of Weird: the Al Yankovic story. It only makes sense in the context of the credits and at no other time whatsoever… so we’re going to play it now!”
14. UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989)
This is considered a “studio album” and it does feature the Beverly Hillbillies “Money for Nothing” parody that is shown in the movie in its entirety. But there’s also a lot of noodling around and some sketches from the movie like “Spatula City” and “Ghandi” II. Both “Generic Blues” and “Spam” are good in different ways. Would you consider “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota” one of Al’s epic ballads? It’s his 5th longest song but feels more cohesive and less meandering than all of the longer ones.
13. Polka Party! (1986)
I’d say “not much here has survived the test of time”, but I guess it wasn’t popular at the time, either. The wiki for the album says: “Peaking at No. 177 on the Billboard 200, Polka Party! was met with mixed-to-negative reviews and was considered a commercial and critical failure. Despite this, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1988. Polka Party! is one of Yankovic’s few studio albums not to be certified either Gold or Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).” Though I don’t really care for it, “Dog Eat Dog” became one of Al’s top 20 concert songs. “Christmas at Ground Zero” is his second best Christmas song. I want to love “Living With a Hernia”, but the medical jargon filler part of the song drags it down.
12. “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3D (1984)
Al’s sophomore album is a mixed bag. “Eat It” is an unimpeachable smash hit. But what’s the next best song from the album? “I Lost on Jeopardy”, I guess? “The Brady Bunch”? I like the one-trick parody ponies “Theme from Rocky XIII” and “King of Suede”. “Nature Trail to Hell” is a catchy, epic original that’s not particularly popular and runs a bit long, but I like it. “Polkas on 45” is the first of many polka medleys. On the strength of “Eat It”, it sold enough to solidify Weird Al as a music sensation, but I don’t think it’s a great album.
11. Alapalooza (1993)
This was my first Al album, and, though it has its charms, it’s not one of his best. There is a feeling that it was rushed as he was writing it while doing production for Off the Deep End. “Jurassic Park” is a classic. “Bedrock Anthem” is in his concert rotation. Using “Bohemian Rhapsody” for polka was inspired, particularly after Off the Deep End had just used many of the recent popular songs in its polka. Personally, I like “Young, Dumb, and Ugly” (even though Al doesn’t), “Frank’s 2000 inch TV”, and “Livin’ in the Fridge”. But I also like those styles of music and I might just be looking through sepia-toned nostalgia glasses. After Alapalooza, Yankovic’s release schedule slowed down. His first eight albums were released ten years apart. It took more than twenty years to release his other six albums.
10. “Weird Al” Yankovic (1983)
I originally had this debut album lower, but after another pass on the list, I have to move it up. This isn’t some mediocre debut we grudgingly accept, saying “well, without it, we don’t get the other 13 albums”. There are major songs like “I Love Rocky Road”, “Another One Rides the Bus”, and “My Bologna”. Without them, Al’s catalog of hits would not be complete. “Ricky” reminds me that Al is two decades older than I am, and I’m not old enough to get all the parodies. Sure, some of the songs like “My Bologna” sound like they were recorded in a tiled bathroom (the original was). And there’s a bit of low-end filler and songs that lack the sophistication of later parodies. But there’s more than enough good here to justify its spot.
9. Alpocalpypse (2011)
A lot of this album’s ranking hinges on how you feel about “Perform This Way”. Was it a smash hit that was the perfect Weird Al concert song with a light bit of controversy, ridiculous lyrics, and lots of silly costume changes? Or was it a predictable paint-by-numbers parody of an artist who is already a bit over-the top? If you split the difference and it’s a top 20 or 30 Al song, then that’s how we end up with this ranking. There are a number of mostly ephemeral songs about the changing face of pop culture: “TMZ”, “Ringtone”, “Craigslist”, and “Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me”. I enjoy “Party in the CIA” and, especially, the video. “Skipper Dan” is definitely original, but a bit of a downer. We’re about to get into albums where we have to decide to how to rank “Smash hit plus mediocre rest of album” against “strong album but lacking in big hits”. This is a bit of a mediocre album with no huge hits, so it’s on the tier below.
8. Mandatory Fun (2014)
This was the hardest one for me to place. Al’s last full album was his only #1 on the Billboard charts and was his second to win a Grammy (Poodle Hat also did; the song “Eat It” and video for “Fat” also won). However, it’s “only” been a decade since it came out, and the odd distribution method makes it harder to stack this up against some previous albums. He didn’t promote any singles, but released eight different music videos online the same week as the album. “Word Crimes” still became a top 40 hit, “making him one of few artists to achieve such a feat in four separate decades”. “Handy” (“Fancy”), “Tacky” (“Happy”), and “Foil” (“Royals”) are all single-word parodies based on single-word #1 hits. He’s in top form with his imitations but the songs lack a bit of comedic punch (though “Foil” has a funny last verse twist). Personally, I don’t really care for the epic-ly long “Jackson Park Express”. Maybe I’m just getting old and had mostly left music behind by the time this had come out.
7. Even Worse (1988)
This album is like a better version of “In 3-D”. “Fat” is on the Mount Rushmore of Weird Al songs. The video is even better – squeezing tons of jokes into a shot-for-shot parody of one of the biggest videos of the 1980s. But after the hit Michael Jackson parody, the album is a hair thin. The other singles are the parodies “Lasagna” and “I Think I’m a Clone Now”, but they haven’t had a lot of staying power. I absolutely love the witty and catchy “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long”. There are dozens of us. Dozens! I get a decent chuckle out of the Beastie Boys parody, “Twister”. “Melanie” is a concert staple, but I don’t care for it – it’s very much a product of the 80s. The floor of the weaker songs is much higher than when Al started, but there’s not a lot of depth past the leadoff superstar.
6. Off the Deep End (1992)
After the mixed reception for UHF, this album revived his career. Like many of his better albums, it starts off with a smash hit in “Smells Like Nirvana”. The song and video are both excellent. The concert regular “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” and parody “I Can’t Watch This” are both quality as we weren’t to the point in his career where he’s made too many demented love songs or TV jokes (yet). Originals “When I was Your Age”, “Trigger Happy”, and “I Was Only Kidding” are some personal favorites. There’s some filler, but it’s a solid outing.
5. Poodle Hat (2003)
The more I listen to the album, the more underrated it feels. There’s no big smash hit. “Couch Potato” was supposed to be the lead song, but there was a permissions controversy. Eminen allowed Al to parody the song but wouldn’t allow for a video. It’s also “yet another song making fun of TV”. At some point, yet another TV or food or profession or movie song stops feeling fresh. That means it falls to either “Ebay”, “A Complicated Song”, or “Ode to a Superhero” as the biggest hit. So why is this one ranked so highly? It feels like the album of a mature artist – someone who knows his voice but isn’t yet too stale. “Bob” is a brilliant original idea: all palindrome lyrics, sung in an unexpectedly good impersonation of Dylan. “Hardware Store” isn’t a gut-buster, but it’s got an amazing vocal range. Just try to sing it. Almost every song on the album goes down smooth or has something creative and/or interesting going for it. This album also contains my least favorite of Al’s four long songs, “Genius in France”, but “Wanna B Ur Lovr” is the only song I might routinely skip on the album.
Side note: While touring for Poodle Hat, tragedy struck Yankovic when his parents died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning in their California home.
4. Straight Outta Lynwood (2006)
Unless you think it’s too much self-parody, it’s hard not to see “White & Nerdy” as the quintessential Weird Al song. I mean, just look at him (and much of his audience). Most of the jokes are on the nose, both lyrically and visually, in the video: Dungeons and Dragons, Star Trek, math, etc. But my favorite is the subtle moment where the two tough guys frantically lock the car door on their convertible before escaping. Or his little quip about his rims being quite stationary. “Canadian Idiot” is a distant second single for the album, but it’s quite popular. There are a couple of skippable songs like “Pancreas”, “Confession Part III”, and “Do I Creep You Out”. But the rest of the album is quality. “Trapped in the Drive-Thru” is his second-longest song and, while it has the opposite energy of “Albuquerque”, I really enjoy it, even as it just keeps droning on and on. One I wish got more love? The 80s fundraiser styled “Don’t Download This Song” is tremendous. I don’t think it’s quite as even as Poodle Hat, but it has more high highs.
3. Bad Hair Day (1996)
When I started writing these rankings, it was easy to skim off the lowest albums. But it wasn’t until I wrote up all the other that three rose to the top. I adore this album and it’s Al’s highest-selling of all time. “Amish Paradise” leads off and it’s on the short list of “best Weird Al songs of all time”. The next biggest single is “Gump”, a quality movie parody. But it’s not as timeless as a parody about a franchise like Star Wars, Spider-Man, or Jurassic Park. After that, “Cavity Search”, the formulaic job parody from “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” and the TLC parody “Phony Calls” struggle to compare with other albums’ second and third parodies. I love the two demented style-parodies in this album: “Everything You Know is Wrong” and “I Remember Larry”. Sorry, “Christmas at Ground Zero” fans. “The Night Santa Went Crazy” is the far superior holiday song. If there was another heavy hitter to move everyone else down in the lineup, so to speak, the album could challenge for the top spot.
2. Running with Scissors (1999)
This was the first album with Al’s new look: his glasses, mustache, and long hair replaced with Lasik, no mustache, and (still) long hair. The album boasts four singles – only our top album and Alpocalypse had more. “The Saga Begins” is almost always one of the encore songs (along with “Yoda”). “All About the Pentiums” is a solid number 2 and “My Baby’s in Love with Eddie Vedder” is played more frequently at Al concerts than I’d like. “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi” and “Polka Power” were also released as singles. Parodies like “Jerry Springer” and “Grapefruit Diet” may veer a little into cliche, but they’re easy listens, and I’m a fan of the original “Your Horoscope for Today”. The album ends with the crazed masterpiece “Albuquerque”. Al never expected it to be popular, but his longest song became such a fan favorite that it has been on tour setlists and even expanded past its original 11-minute runtime. It’s not a perfect album, but it’s one of the best.
1. Dare to be Stupid (1985)
Speaking of perfection, side one of Dare to be Stupid is just that: “Like a Surgeon”, “Dare to be Stupid”, “I Want a New Duck”, “One More Minute”, and “Yoda”. All but “Yoda” were released as singles. All but “I Want a New Duck” are on his concert top 10 played list and two of them (“Yoda” and “One More Minute”) often get special concert treatment. “Dare to be Stupid” has cult status due to its inclusion in Transformers: The Movie. I’d even argue that it is somehow underrated and one of Al’s smartest songs, with the mix of turning idioms on their head and inverted commercial slogans set to a perfect Devo-style parody. The only thing it lacks is a killer video. The second half of the album is weaker, but notable songs include the polka medley “Hooked on Polkas”, Al’s only cover (“George of the Jungle”), and “This is the Life”, the theme song from the movie Johnny Dangerously. When I started this list, going through the albums chronologically, it was the first one that stood out. Nothing was able to top it.
There are so many options to choose from for the Song of the Day. In my mind, the finalists were “Eat It”, “Fat”, “Smells Like Nirvana”, “White & Nerdy”, and today’s song. Here’s what I went with:
