The Royals have 4 wins over the last 4 Thursdays so we, here at Friday Rumblings, are doing our part
At The Star, Jaylon Thompson writes about Maikel Garcia’s new stance:
While Garcia has seen the biggest growth with the toe tap, the Royals also have other players utilizing it from time to time. Infielder Jonathan India switched to the toe tap in recent weeks. He doesn’t have a set batting routine but felt the toe tap could help him regain his timing.
“I just needed to be athletic,” India said. “In the spring, it was working and I was hitting everything hard. Being here I was just being stiff. My foot didn’t have any swag and the rhythm was lost.”
…Both Pasquantino and Perez have used the toe tap as well. Michael Massey experimented with it for a while.
Lots and lots of talk about the World Series celebration from this weekend.
The Star had a nice photo collection from both World Series.
Dayton Moore revealed a trade that could have altered two franchises’ fortunes:
Former Royals general manager Dayton Moore was on Hosmer’s Diggin’ Deep podcast this week and revealed that Luhnow proposed a blockbuster trade involving Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.
“When you think about a trade, we were in Houston in ‘13 and I got a call from Jeff Luhnow,” Moore recalled. “I was sitting at the Starbucks coffee, and he said, ‘I got a deal for you.’ I said, ‘OK.’ He said, ‘I’ll trade you Altuve for Eric Hosmer.’ That’s one.”
At MLB.com, Jackson Stone, filling in for Anne Rogers, talked to Denny Matthews about the two titles:
But Matthews, who has witnessed all of the Royals’ biggest moments, said he’ll never forget Gordon’s heroics in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series.
“I’ll always remember … Alex Gordon’s home run against the Mets early in that series,” Matthews said. “That stands out to me as kind of the point where I thought everybody figured out — connected to the Royals — that yeah, we’re going to get it done. That kind of confirmed it.”
Not exactly Royals related, but the AL Central is hard this year. The Royals are having a nice season at 25-20. That’s a 90-win pace! I think most of us would have taken that at the start of the season. But they’re in 3rd place and a loss tonight could put them in 4th as the Twins won their 11th(!) in a row after starting the season 13-20. However, they had a really scary collision in their game yesterday when Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton smacked heads.
With the Royals off, how about some Jac Caglianone video:
Loved Jac Caglianone’s 1st AB on Tues.
Tulsa with a clear plan (keeping the ball up; Campos sits 95). Cags makes him pitch, recognizes the 2-0 offering; takes a shot at it but misses. Fights off great pitches 5 & 6, & doesn’t miss the cookie on pitch 7. #Royals pic.twitter.com/4bKbkB9KeU
— Josh Keiser (@joshkeiser40) May 15, 2025
Onto blogs. Kevin O’Brien, the Royals Reporter, gives us “Three Players in Omaha Who Could Bring a Spark to the Royals Lineup”:
Cam Devanney, SS/2B/3B
Corresponding Move: Designate Hunter Renfroe for Assignment
Devanney remains an intriguing player in Omaha because he’s not a prospect anymore at 28 years old. However, he’s demonstrated a productive bat in Triple-A who can play multiple positions in the infield.
Acquired last offseason from Milwaukee with Ryan Brady (who’s been decent as a reliever in the Royals system the past couple of years) in the Taylor Clarke trade, Devanney has been productive with the Storm Chasers in 2024 and this season. However, he has dealt with some nagging injuries in 2025.
Last year, in 136 games and 524 plate appearances, Devanney hit .254 with a .347 wOBA and 100 wRC+. He collected 19 home runs, 77 RBI, and eight stolen bases. Even though he doesn’t have a daunting stature, he proved to be a dependable bat for the Storm Chasers last season at the top of the lineup.
Blog Roundup:
- Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History—1985 Edition: May 15 – Charlie Leibrandt’s pitching and Steve Balboni’s hitting lead the Royals to a win over Cleveland
- Patrick Glancy at Powder Blue Nostalgia: A Quarter of the Way In
- Caleb Moody at Kings of Kauffman: KC Royals’ first round investment in this prospect is finally paying off in 2025
- Also Caleb Moody at KOK: Why the KC Royals don’t need to get involved in the Rafael Devers trade drama
Last week, we talked about my little cassette tape conversion project and some tools if others wanted to do the same thing. As mentioned last week:
The mix tapes are of, well, mixed quality. Some were right off the radio in the “ooh, I like that song, hit record” variety. For others, I would tape a couple of hours off the radio, listen through the source audio, and pick a few songs to keep. Then I’d take my dual tape deck and record what I wanted from the source tape to my new mix tape.
This week, we’re going to talk about one of my main sources: the Z-Rock 50. Z-Rock was a nationally syndicated radio network from Dallas that specialized in hard rock and metal during it late 80s through mid 90s heyday. Sadly, the network ended in 1996 – I remember that day – though some stations still use the branding.
From their wiki page:
Z Rock targeted fans of heavy metal and hard rock, a group that was increasingly ignored by conventional album-oriented rock (AOR) stations. As a result, the network had a massive economic impact on record labels, affiliate stations, and other businesses serving this largely untapped market. Metal and hard rock recording artists, particularly those signed to independent music labels, enjoyed greater exposure. Advertising sales to record companies as well as music retailers such as Camelot Music and Musicland increased significantly at Z Rock affiliates and music publications; Rolling Stone reported that accounts doubled in the several months since the network’s launch
I think many people of a certain age remember Casey Kasem and his countdowns. The Z-Rock 50 was this station’s harder answer to that: a 3-hour-long weekly countdown that aired on Sunday nights. I could pop in a tape, change it out every 30 or 45 minutes, and I’d have a set of songs to listen to and/or use as a source for my next mix tape. The host was one of the regular Z-Rock DJs named Dave Bolt and, after some cursory Googling, I can’t find where he’s at. The best I could find was a link to a MySpace page back in 2007 that no longer exists.
They also had a couple of special editions of the show. The first was the Z-Rock 1000, which was a end of the year list of the greatest rock songs of all time. I never got one of these on tape and cannot confirm the accuracy of this list but this is supposedly the 1990 version.
The other special edition was the Year End Z-Rock 50. This aired on the last Sunday of the year and ranked the top 50 songs on their chart that debuted on the weekly 50 in that calendar year. I still have tapes (and now digital copies) of two of those: 1993 and 1994. Below is the 1993 list with some notes. We’ll look at the 1994 list another time, if there’s interest.
Ed note: You’ll have to forgive me for any mistakes here. There’s nowhere to dig up this entire list on the internet, so I was just transcribing as I went.
Tape I (50-29)
* songs with an asterisk were not played in their entirety in the Year End Z-Rock 50
50. Candlebox – “Change”
49. Scorpions – “Woman”
48. * Rush – “Animate”
47. Ozzy Osbourne – “No More Tears”
46. Coverdale–Page – “Take Me for a Little While”
45. Living Color – “Leave It Alone”
44. Jackyl – “Dirty Little Mind”
43. * Van Halen – “One Way to Rock” (Live)
42. Heart – “Black on Black II”
41. Winger – “Down Incognito”
40. Alice in Chains – “Down in a Hole”
39. * Metallica – “Don’t Tread on Me”
38. Tool – “Sober”
37. * Megadeth – “Sweating Bullets”
36. Jackyl – “Down on Me”
35. Kiss – “I Love it Loud”
34. * Anthrax – “Only”
33. Alice in Chains – “What the Hell Have I”
32. Brother Cane – “Got No Shame”
31. * Aerosmith – “Fever”
30. Jackyl – “When Will It Rain”
29. Aerosmith – “Amazing”
.
Tape II (28-11)
28. * Led Zeppelin – “Baby Come on Home”
27. Def Leppard – “Desert Song”
26. Megadeth – “Angry Again”
25. Vince Neil – “Sister of Pain”
24. * Aerosmith – “Eat the Rich”
23. Bon Jovi – “Bed of Roses”
22. The Smashing Pumpkins – “Cherub Rock”
21. * Coverdale–Page – “Shake My Tree”
20. Queensryche – “Real World”
19. Ugly Kid Joe – “Cats in the Cradle”
18. White Zombie – “Thunderkiss 65”
17. Rush – “Stick it Out”
16. Pearl Jam – “Go”
15. Coverdale–Page – “Pride and Joy”
14. Ozzy Osbourne – “Changes”
13. * Van Halen – “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (Live)
12. Alice in Chains – “Rooster”
11. Pearl Jam – “Daughter”
.
Tape III (Top 10)
10. Scorpions – “Alien Nation”
9. Nirvana – “Heart Shaped Box”
8. Stone Temple Pilots – “Wicked Garden”
7. Pearl Jam – “Black”
6. Aerosmith – “Living on the Edge”
5. Blind Melon – “No Rain”
4. Aerosmith – “Cryin”
3. Lenny Kravitz – “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
2. AC/DC – “Big Gun”
1. Stone Temple Pilots – “Plush”
.
Quick Thoughts
- Top 10 is pretty solid, though “Alien Nation” didn’t survive the test of time whereas both 11 (“Daughter”) and 12 (“Rooster”) have
- Following those thoughts, I think there’s something to be said for the fact that it’s measuring song popularity in the moment as opposed to trying to guess for longevity
- The changing of the guard from the 80s to the 90s is almost complete – sure, there’s a couple of older bands, but alternative music is starting to dominate
- I don’t remember the David Coverdale/Jimmy Page collaboration at all, but it yielded 3 songs on the list
- Aerosmith had the biggest year with 5 songs off of Get A Grip, including #4 and #6
- One soundtrack (below) had 4 songs
Max already used the #1 song back in 2021. But that gives me a chance to talk about the #2 song. The “Last Action Hero” soundtrack is tremendous, with 6 singles getting radio play. It’s a who’s who of early 90s hard rock, metal, and alternative bands. The AC/DC song “Big Gun” was their first Billboard #1. However, it gets lost in their catalog because, as Dave Bolt put it “of course, the movie sucked”. It’s one of my favorites of theirs.