Sam Mellinger

The Kansas City Star

The Lady loves sushi, which means she loves Jun’s, which means I now love Jun’s. If you haven’t been, it’s the most surprising (to me, at least) restaurant in the city because it’s a sushi place in a suburban strip mall … and it’s absolutely fantastic.

I bring this up because over dinner last night she said it was her favorite restaurant in town. You might know I take such proclamations roughly four times more serious than I should, but I can totally see how if you loved sushi and could have dinner anywhere in the city that you’d pick Jun’s.

The best way to decide these things is by the criteria of where you’d have your last meal in Kansas City.

To me, these are the places that come immediately to mind:

Oklahoma Joe’s, Plaza III, Garozzo’s, Justus Drugstore, Le Fou Frog.

I’m sure I’m forgetting some places, I’m sure you’ll disagree with some of these. But Oklahoma Joe’s knocks out the other barbecue joints for me, and as much as I love the Peanut, I’m not sure it rises to Last Meal status. There are plenty of other great meals too, obviously. Frida’s. Extra Virgin. Caddyshack pizza. Succotash breakfast. On and on we can go.

Me, I won’t surprise you. Mine’s Oklahoma Joe’s. Pulled pork Z-Man if I’m only hungry, ribs and chicken or pulled pork if I’m starving.

Anyway…

@michaelengel I don’t really have a question, I just need to be sure the term “asshat” makes it in for the 27th week in a row. #TwitterTuesday

Noted.

@kfcwar How did you get your @KCStar pic, your twitter pic AND the way you look in real life to all look different?

Different looks for different seasons. You gotta keep the ladies guessing, my man.

@proberts4 If you could have dinner with four professional athletes, who would be at the table?

A couple groundrules here: I’m saying this is a dinner tonight, so the athletes have to be living, and, well, I can’t think of a completely tactful way of saying I’d chop a pinky to have dinner with the 1970s Muhammad Ali but not as much today.

So, anyway, I’m going with Charles Barkley, Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter and I’ll tell you why.

The No. 1 thing I want out of this dinner is stories. Lots of stories. Lots of amazing, hilarious, never-forget-them stories and I think this group — I’m really counting on Barkley to get these other guys to open up, particularly Jeter — is the best one I could have.

My weakness with this group is the NFL, of course, and it’s tempting to put Tom Brady or Mike Singletary or someone in there, but my purposes would be more personality-driven than sport-driven.

@ChrisRElliott Favorite steak place in KC?

Plaza III is the best place in town, but it’s outrageously expensive and I’ve also had terrific steaks at Justus Drugstore (also very pricey) and the Frog (reasonable only by comparison here) but since I mentioned all those places in the open I’ll also point out that the Hereford House is always reliable and priced to where you can go there more than once a year.

@theonlytjd how bad are people that bought fb like babb freaking out with it dropping like a rock today?

Well, I gotta admit here, I had no idea it was doing bad until seeing this and firing up the Google machine.

My interest in and grasp of the stock market would be more of a problem if my dad didn’t double as my financial adviser, and if “my financial adviser” wasn’t code for “he does everything for me.”

@BBall138 could you explain what makes peanut wings superior to others? Size is an issue for me (a problem in other areas as well) #tt

Absolutely. First, it is what we like to call the Flinstone wing, or pterodactyl wing. You order six, you actually get 12, because each wing is the drumstick and whatever that other part is called stuck together.

The fine chefs at the Peanut have discovered the perfect balance between a good char but not too much, which I think is really hard to find, especially consistently. The wings are fried, but they’re not all batter-y like some places. The sauce is fantastic, spicy as a mother but not in that superficial, all-you-get-is-spice kind of way. And the blue cheese, mama, the blue cheese is just amazing. Homemade, I’m pretty sure, and to me a big part of what puts these wings over the top.

That previous paragraph is sort of like a Penthouse forum letter to me. Lets talk sports before I get distracted…

@canglem Do you think someone can at least convince AEG to help bring in a professional pitching rotation?

This was funnier before last night’s shutout by Felipe Paulino — that’s three badass starts in four tries for him now — but is still good enough to run today.

By the way, Paulino now has a 3.66 ERA, 148 strikeouts and 55 walks over 150 innings and 25 games (24 starts) with the Royals. He’s 28.

@caleboverman what’s your over/under on Hosmer’s average at the end of the year? #twittertuesday

If he hit .293 the rest of the year (that’s what he hit as a rookie), he’d end up at .263. That’s a pretty good number, to me, because I still think the talent is going to break through and there’s a chance the bad luck he’s running into will turn and even out.

I do, however, understand that most of you disagree with me…

@BenC1357 What do you make of the “Hosmer is drilling the ball and is just unlucky argument? Send him down like we did with Gordon?

Son, you’re talking to the captain of that argument.

I hear the Gordon comparison a lot, but it just doesn’t fit. Like, at all. The Royals sent Gordon down to learn a new position. Some of you will bring up Billy Butler, but the Royals sent him down as basically a wakeup call to get more mature. Hosmer’s not learning a new position, and he’s not immature.

Some of you will point out that Gordon struggled as a rookie and nearly got sent down before a four-hit game in Cleveland. True, but a terrible batting average is basically all the two situations have in common.

For one, Hosmer hit in the big leagues last year. Gordon’s struggles came as a rookie. Also, Hosmer has struck out 20 times. He is hitting an unsustainably low .169 on balls in play. Through his first 39 games as a rookie, Gordon struck out 42 times and was hitting .227 on balls in play.

The Royals can’t let this last forever, of course. This is the big leagues, phase two, all of that and the Royals need more production than Hosmer is giving them. But all the indicators are there that he’s not overmatched like a player who should be sent down is overmatched.

I’m still a believer. I’m still willing to be patient.

But speaking of Gordon…

@TarH2O23 When do we start thinking there’s a chance last year’s Gordon was a mirage?

I suppose, sure. And just like I blame a lot of Hosmer’s struggles on bad luck, part of Gordon’s struggles are the end of good luck (he hit .358 on balls in play last year; .289 so far this year).

I’ve said this a few times before, but there’s a very good chance that Gordon will never match what he did last year, but he could never match what he did last year and still have a terrific career, still live up to the $37.5 million contract.

I still expect Gordon to be a productive player who walks and strikes out a lot, hits for power and plays very good outfield defense. Two-for-four with a double and a walk last night is a good start.

@clung99 if Myers keeps raking in AAA any chance you see GMDM promote him to play over Frenchy? #twittertuesday

The Royals do love them some Frenchy, but keep this in mind: according to a couple baseball people I’ve talked to, the trade market should be especially seller-friendly on corner outfielders this summer.

It’s easy to wonder what might happen if Francoeur gets hot. This is a longshot, but assuming the Royals aren’t in contention, maybe a trade materializes with someone to send Francoeur (great clubhouse guy, terrific throwing arm, good athlete, reasonable contract, etc.) to a contender for a starting pitcher.

@AyCee6 When both are healthy, who is your centerfielder: Dyson or Cain? #ourtime?

The key part of your question there is “healthy,” and in that make-believe world, I’m taking Cain. He’s better defensively and I trust his bat more than I trust Dyson’s, even as there are encouraging signs there.

The problem with Cain is that his being on the disabled list isn’t an anomaly. This is a developing pattern.

@sleepydt is the @Royals bullpen tired already? Any stats out there on who has most BP innings do far? #startingpitchingrules

The Royals have needed more innings out of their bullpen than any team in baseball, and actually, it’s not particularly close.

Orioles relievers are 10 innings behind the Royals, but they’ve played two fewer games. The Twins have played the same number of games and are 15 innings behind the Royals. Also, the Twins are gawd-awful.

This is why the Royals are running the shuttle between here and Omaha, burning up relievers in the bigs and sending them to Omaha to rest up.

Speaking of…

@coachdicarlo will the return of Sal Perez have a positive impact on starting pitching performance, specifically Hoch? #TwitterTuesday

Boy, it better. Sal Perez earned his (very club-friendly, but still) long-term contract in large part with a very advanced grasp of defense and handling pitchers. He is smart, very smart, with what seems like an intuitive knowledge of game flow. When he went down, it meant a lot of invisible runs would be scored against the Royals, runs that won’t happen with Perez behind the plate, but runs that we now blame on other players or factors.

This brings up another important point, and I know this sounds like an excuse but it’s absolutely true: the Royals’ injury problems have long passed the threshold of changing the way we should judge this team.

I know the Royals are at the big boy table now and we all agree they should be judged on wins and losses, but even so, I think we can adjust the wins and losses we expect from a team missing (big breath) its closer, best starting pitcher, centerpiece offseason acquisition, centerfielder, catcher, and setup man.

That’s another reason all the apocalyptic talk about Mission 2012 being a flop and this whole youth movement being a bust is laughably absurd.

@dannyboi965 Indy killed hosting the SB, I’m a little nervous about the lack of chatter about what we’re doing for ASG; is my tinfoil hat on?

Kansas City’s going to do fine. The weather will be what most people are talking about, probably, because there’s a good chance it will be 110 degrees outside with 90 percent humidity. That part of it will suck. And people will complain.

But you know what? It’s going to be freaking July. July is hot. We can’t all live in San Diego.

So I think if the shuttles running the triangle between the stadium, downtown and Plaza have air conditioning and there are people handing out bottles of water then the people complaining can shut up and enjoy a great city.

@Wabasher How’s it possible that several Chiefs are on the list for NFLTop100 but that their best player @jcharles25 isnt? #Confused

All I see on the NFL Network’s list is 61-100. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place. I see Pete Prisco’s list, which has Derrick Johnson at No. 54, Brandon Flowers at 60, and Dwayne Bowe at 86.

I’m a little surprised Charles isn’t on there, but he is coming off major knee surgery that wiped out virtually his entire season. And the top 100 is pretty elite, that’s less than five players per position, enough that guys like Vernon Davis and Aaron Hernandez are left out. I’m equally surprised about Tamba Hali not being on that list.

@mmMOUF Matt Besler soccer style throw-in vs. Matt Cassell downfield toss, which goes farther? #twittertuesday

Not a bad joke, but I do think we’ve reached a tipping point on Matt Cassel where the criticism of him has gone over the top.

To whatever extent I’ve contributed to that, my bad, but I hope I’ve been consistent in feeling he’s an OK quarterback but too limited to be a Super Bowl champion. Maybe I’m misreading things, but it feels like the narrative gets out of control at times, and it’s easy to think of him as just incompetent.

To me, he’s something like the 20th best starting quarterback in football. He might be much better than that, of course, and even this might be enough if everything around him is going well enough.

@kent_swanson What Chiefs jersey should I get for my season tix? I’m torn between a 29 Berry, 92 Poe or a 14 A.H. Mellinger.

If you wore an Asshat jersey, I would pay for it. Just saying.

@admcgregor3 is Bob Boozer the greatest player in K-State history? Who’s in your Top 5? #TwitterTuesday

This is one of those things that, intellectually, sure, I understand that Boozer might be the best player in K-State history … but he played in the 1950s, and I’m just not sure how I can judge that.

But he is on the short list, along with Mitch Richmond, Ernie Barrett, Jack Parr, Mike Evans, Lon Kruger…I think you have to put Jacob Pullen and Michael Beasley in there, too.

@jhailos Does this big xii v. sec game really matter? Would last year’s have been Ark v. OSU or would it have just been canceled?

Yes, of course it matters. This is more about symbolism than the actual game, but the thing is very significant, particularly for a Big 12 that was stretching for credibility less than a year ago.

The game will be two very good teams, every year, no matter who’s playing in whatever the new BCS looks like. But it’s even better for the league, which is what’s more important around Kansas City, I think.

@rex3king what’s your prediction for MIZ in SEC football and basketball?

I think they’ll be fine. Roughly what they’ve been in the Big 12, I think, maybe a half-step below. They’re in the right division for football, definitely, and there’s no reason to believe they can’t be at or above .500 in the league most years. That translates, in my mind, to anywhere between 7-5 (if they’re 4-4 in conference and lose a non-league game) and 10-2 most years.

In basketball, they’d have been the second-best team in the SEC last year, which is, arguably (and I’m sure you will) what they were in the Big 12 last year.

@brentbeats Let’s say Webster deems “Floppy-Haired Ass Hatting” a verb. What is the definition? And please use it in a sentence.

Definition: the act of entertaining, informing or annoying with a unique brand of swagg. “That girl was out of his league, but he really won her over by Floppy-Haired Ass Hatting.”

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