KC Royals: Most Disliked Rival Players In 2015

Third basemen Brett Lawrie (15) – Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

KC Royals Most Disliked Rival Player of 2015 Number One: Brett Lawrie

With the most disliked player so far this season, we have Athletics third baseman Brett Lawrie, who is probably hoping he never has to play in Kansas City or at Kauffman Stadium ever again in his career.

The “We hate Lawrie” campaign began early on in the season when the Oakland Athletics traveled to Kauffman Stadium. Originally the story around this series was good ol’ Billy Butler returning to Kansas City for the first time since signing with Oakland during the off season. Brett Lawrie squashed that beautiful homecoming in the first game of the series.

In a game where the Royals and A’s were locked in at four runs a piece, Lawrie was running to second base and slid hard into Alcides Escobar while trying to break up a double play. Escobar was helped off the field and thus began the campaign.

Lawrie was booed throughout the rest of that game, one in which the Royals came back to win 6-4 and the pace was definitely set for the series. Lawrie was now public enemy number one in Kansas City.

The next night, Yordano Ventura had several hiccups on the mound and the Royals were down 5-0 in the fifth inning. After Josh Reddick hit a three-run homer, Lawrie was up to bat (cue the boos) and was hit in the elbow with a Ventura pitch. Cue cheers. This then led to the benches clearing and Ventura being ejected. Lawrie was booed throughout the rest of that game too, one in which the Royals lost.

The next day, everyone (especially Lawrie I imagine) was hoping that the drama was done and he wouldn’t be wearing another pitch. Scott Kazmir was on the mound that day and hit Lorenzo Cain with a pitch in the first inning. Ned Yost was ejected as a result of arguing Kazmir not being thrown out. Game on kids.

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As Lawrie continued to be booed, Kazmir was owning the Royals and they trailed until the eighth inning. The seventh inning, however, saw Kelvin Herrera taking the mound against who else but Brett Lawrie.  Herrera decided to retaliate for the whole Cain getting hit thing and threw behind Lawrie. Herrera was thrown out right away, and three other Royals as well.

The Royals went on to win this game in dramatic fashion in what I consider to be the best game of the season so far.  Some other interesting parts from this series concerning Lawrie:

• Text gate – Lawrie supposedly asked Eric Hosmer for Escobar’s number and said he texted him an apology to which Escobar denied.
•  Herrera was suspended for pointing to his head after he threw at Lawrie, which made it look like he was saying “Next time it’s coming for your head”. Herrera said it was more of a “Use your head, bro” type of gesture.
• Lawrie continued running his mouth for what felt like weeks after the incident. He pulled Angels first baseman Albert Pujols into the shenanigans by saying that Pujols stated the Royals did “bush-league stuff”. Pujols later denied this.

To top it all off, Lawrie put himself at the top of this list for talking crap on fans of the Kansas City Royals. Here was what Lawrie said, courtesy of MLB.com.

"And the way their fans approached everything, I hated it. The way their fans were antagonizing everything, you know, I got a first-pitch missed curveball up in my head and everyone leaps up in their seat like Bruce Buffer is about to come out. That’s not how we’re doing things. Shame on their fans for antagonizing everything that went on there, because that had a lot to do with it. Shame on the players and their team that went with it. I’m just glad it’s all over and we’re moving on. We don’t have to see them till June, and we’re just going to continue to go out and continue playing baseball."

Big mistake pal.  It’s safe to say that Lawrie will not be visiting Kansas City during his free time ever again.

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