The Burlington Royals aren’t looking so hot
July 2nd, 2008, 2:09 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Alex Kreitman
I made my first trip out to Burlington Athletic Stadium this summer on Monday and I was quite disappointed.
Not with stadium because the organization made some improvements during the offseason and it looks as good as ever, which wasn’t great to begin with, but it’s better. The field itself is in great shape, but the team stinks.
I went over to shoot some video and stayed for about five innings. What I witnessed should have been embarrassing for the Burlington Royals players.
The Elizabethton Twins were in town and they pounded the Royals all over the field. Burlington’s starter got shelled and he had no help from his defense. Burlington’s outfielders showed no effort whatsoever. I remember one play really well. It was a soft fly ball to short center field and the outfielder came in lazily and just let it drop in front of him and a run scored. He made no effort to hustle after it, to dive or to slide. He didn’t even try.
The left fielder wasn’t much better. He came in slow for a base hit and booted it for an error, allowing another run in. It was sad.
If possible, the offense might have been worse. The Royals couldn’t buy a hit. It was sad. They were facing a tough lefty who had good stuff, but they went out swinging at the first or second pitch every time up. No patience.
I know this is a young team, but so are all the teams in the Appalachian League. I just hope the Royals improve so it’s fun to go watch them play. The crowd out there, granted it was just after 5 p.m. because it was a doubleheader, was really weak. I hope more people come out to watch because maybe with some support they’ll get better. Maybe.
