Melville Shines in Debut, Trey Hillman Sucks..

I am getting sick and tired of watching Trey Hillman make stupid decision after stupid decision.  George Brett can bitch and moan all he wants, but the fact of the matter is that the media complain about Trey's moves because the media know what the hell they're talking about..

Pulling Gil Meche after 87 pitches when he's got the best stuff he's had all season - mistake

Replacing him with Jamey Wright who's practically already thrown his arm off and it's not even June yet - mistake

Replacing him with Sidney Ponson who obviously sucks.. - mistake

Bunting DDJ over with John Buck in the 6th (I think) inning with 1 out - mistake

You think that it's not a big deal, but when we're 4 games out of the playoffs in September remember nights like tonight, when a competent manager who would bring in a guy like Robinson Tejada with the bases loaded instead of bringing him in to clean up Hooch's mess.. it just doesn't make any sense..  Use your best pitchers in the close games and let them pitch the most innings.  Jamey Wright has had a nice start to the season, but the dude wasn't even on a major league contract before the end of ST.  He's already thrown like 500 innings and his stuff isn't electric.  I know that Joakim is hurt, but jeez, don't act like our bullpen is 05 status.. it's clearly better than that. 

Look at it this way, of the 4 pitchers that pitched tonight, they would rank like this in terms of current ability:

Meche
Tejada

Wright
Ponson

So why don't you let Meche pitch into the 7th and if he has some trouble bring in Tejada to bail him out, we're up 2 runs at that point, shouldn't you use your 2nd best pitcher, remember, as you achieve outs, there are less opportunities for the other team to score and win, so while the outs are more "valuable" in the 9th than in the 1st (think of it like the clock ticks faster after the 2 minute warning than before in football) it's also more difficult to come back because you have less chances to screw up.  Use your better pitchers while you have the lead, don't let your worse pitchers come in and screw it up.  Jamey Wright got screwed on a HBP call but that doesn't make it ok to bring in an even worse pitcher in Sidney Ponson, who is 1-5 now, btw.  It frustrates me to no end, and I really want Trey fired.  Seriously.

Whatever.

Hitter of the Game

I guess Jose Guillen.  Jose was 2-4 with a walk, 2 k's 2 RBI and a run scored.  One of his hits was a double.

Pitcher of the Game

Gil threw 87 pitches, 55 were for strikes.  His line ended up looking like this: 6 ip, 6 h, 2 er, 1 bb, 2 k.. the k's are lower than you'd like, but he wasn't bad at all.. a lot of ground ball outs and not many hard hit balls..

Tomorrow

The Don pitches tomorrow.  He'll face off against Carl Pavano in an epic battle (just kidding I hope) in an afternoon game.  First pitch is at 1:10.  If you CAN go, then you SHOULD go.

Minor League Notables

Derrick Robinson had another 2 hit night, going 2-5 with a run scored and 2 more stolen bases.

Mike Moustakas was 3-5 with a double, an RBI, and 2 runs scored.

Johnny Giavotella got on base 3 times as he was 1-3 with a triple, an RBI, 2 walks, and 2 runs scored.

Danny Duffy earned the win tonight as he went 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 7 hits 2 walks while striking out 5.  He is now 5-1 with a 3.43 ERA.. I'll take it.

Nick Van Stratten was 4-4 tonight with a double, a triple, 2 runs scored, 3 RBI and a walk and a  stolen base.  Alright!

Tim Melville made his 2009 debut tonight, he pitched 6 innings, allowing just one run on 2 hits and 1 walk, striking out 2.  He earned the win.

Thanks for reading!

Luke Hochevar and Brian Bannister combine for 14 IP 10 H 0 R 1 BB 16 K .. Solid..

6 game winning streak.. 

Pure awesomeness.

Short post today, it's been awfully busy..

and I'm still trying to cope with the Manny news.  It's too soon for me to talk about it.

Hitter of the Game

Billy Butler was the only Royal with 2 hits, and one of only two Royals with an RBI.  He gets the award today, he was 2-4 with an RBI, no runs, strikeouts, or walks.

Pitcher of the Game

I don't necessarily like it when starters only go 6 innings, but Banny was pretty damn good today, even without his best control.  He went 6 innings, allowing 5 hits and walking 1 while striking out 7.  He did not allow a run, earned or otherwise.

Tomorrow

The Royals travel to LA tomorrow to take on the Halos.  Gil Meche will take on Matt Palmer.  First pitch is at 9:05 central time.

Minor League Notables

Nick Van Stratten was 4-6 with a HR, a 2B and 7 RBI.

Alex Caldera struck out 10 over 6 innings of 1 run ball.  He walked just one and allowed just 4 hits.  Very nice showing for him, he's got a 4.97 ERA on the year.

Kurt Mertins had a 2 hit game, going 2-4 with a home run, 1 run, 1 rbi and a strikeout.  He is batting .278 so far.

Dan Cortes had one of his better outings this season as he pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball.  He struck out 8, walked 4 and allowed 5 hits.  His ERA is "down" to 5.02 after tonight.

Brayan Pena played left field, batted 3rd, and had 2 hits for AAA Omaha.  He was 2-4 with an RBI, no k's or bbs.

Luke Hochevar had his best outing of the season, throwing 8 shutout innings against the Springfield Redbirds.  He struck out 9, walked none and gave up just 5 hits, all singles.  75 of his 97 pitches were for strikes.  I think it's gotta be close to hoochie mama time in Kansas City.

Thanks for reading!

Two straight comebacks leave the Royals alone atop the Central..

Sorry there wasn't a post on Saturday, I was too busy turning 21..

I did catch a chunk of the game though, and all I can say is that the Royals gave me my favorite birthday present this year in the form of a W!  Coupled with Sunday's comeback stunner, the Royals are 14-11 and alone in first place in the central.  They are also in pretty good condition to move further ahead as the pitching matchups for the 2 game Chi-Sox series looks like this:

Bartolo Colon vs. Zack Greinke

Gavin Floyd vs. Kyle Davies

You have to love facing a teams 2 worst starters (probably) with 2 of your best 3 starters.  

Anyway, as I said, Saturday was my birthday, and I was excited that the Royals managed a win.  The Royals really aren't that good on my birthday.  In the 21 years that I have been alive, (and a Royals fan), the Royals have had 17 games on my birthday.  In those games the Royals are 7-10.  I guess that really isn't that awful considering how many years the Royals have been awful during that span.

The Royals impressed me to no end on saturday with their patience at the plate, even against a team that rarely makes mistakes.  The Royals drew 5 walks against 5 strikeouts.  Not great, but acceptable, especially in a win.

And again today, while the Royals drew just 3 walks against 5 strikeouts, they still did a good job of not giving up.  Jose Guillen's long ball really changed the game, but only the half inning before Meche had given up 2 more runs, had he not done this, Guillen's long ball would have given them the lead.  They fought and clawed back to the top.  It's a horrible cliche, but it stands true.  Good teams find ways to win these kinds of games, bad teams find ways to lose them.

Let's look at the award winners

Hitter of the Game

Sat - Willie Bloomquist, believe it or not.  Willie was 3-5 with a BB and K on saturday.  He hit his first home run of the season, stole 2 bases, drove in a run and scored 2 more.  Willie has impressed me so far this season.  He's actually not been bad.

Sun - It's gotta be Jose Guillen.  Guillen changed the game.  While Bloomy and Teahen had broken up the no hitter right before him, Guillen broke up the shutout and basically turned Baker's bid for a no hitter into a 6 ip 5 er affair.  Not bad.  Guillen was 2-3 with a BB, 4 RBI, 1 run and no strikeouts.  His two hits both when for extra bases, one was a double and the other was a home run.

Pitcher of the Game

Sat - It's gotta be Soria - Joakim the Dream pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up just 1 hit and striking out 1 while walking none.  Joakim picked up his first win of the year.

Sun - I'll go with Jamey Wright, who picked up his 3rd hold of the year.  Jamey pitched a perfect 8th inning, striking out 2.  Jamey's ERA is at 1.72 so far this season.

Callaspo - Bert Reynolds has been absolutely awesome this year and is now hitting .380/.432/.570.  Just thought I'd bring that up..

Tomorrow - The Royals are playing the Chi Sox and Greinke will take on Bartolo Colon.  I'll be at the game and I plan on taking more pictures.  Maybe I'll actually post them this time, we'll see..

Minor League Notables - 

The Bees won 1-0 in 10 innings today on the back of Blaine Hardy and Brian Casey's strong pitching performances.  (they were the only pitchers used in the game.  They combined for 10 innings, 6 hits, 7 strikeouts, and 3 walks, no runs.  Nice.)

Wilmington was postponed

Northwest Arkansas was postponed

Omaha was postponed

Exciting.

Thanks as always for reading!

Another late post.. woops

Yesterday's game is proof that the Royals will be nothing this year if not dramatic.  The Royals again lost due to an error by Trey Hillman, namely that Gil Meche should have NEVER pitched as long as he did.  I was fuming about 24 hours ago, but I've had time to settle down and realize that if Trey keeps this up (personally losing 3 games in the first 15) then he'll be gone by the All star break.  As it stands, the Royals will send Zack Greinke to the mound to extend his franchise record scoreless innings streak against the Detroit Tigers and Rick Porcello.  Interesting matchup, I won't get to watch it until after it's over, unfortunately, because of work, but I promise I'll have another update tonight about the game and I'll include some of our "hot" prospects down in the minors (here's a hint, they're 2 centerfielders).

Hitter of the Game

Alberto Callaspo's RBI double was pretty much the most important hit our offense had, though Mitch Maier was equally important in getting on base and then stealing 2nd.  Either way, Bert Reynolds Callaspo is going to be the hitter of the game award winner.

Pitcher of the Game

Gil Meche ended up with a line of 7.1 ip 5 h 4 r 3 er 7 k 3 bb, which isn't bad, but it should have been even better if Trey knew how to manage his bullpen.  Meche "earned" the loss, but he also earned the pitcher of the game award.

Tomorrow

Which is actually "today", but as I said earlier, Greinke and Porcello face off in the battle of the phenoms.  First pitch is at 7:10.  Today will be one of the best games at the K this year, Fireworks friday, buck night, Greinke pitching, weather nice.  Perfect.  Get out there!

Return of the Professor..

What a game.

After the heartbreaker last night, the Royals really mended our relationship today with their 3rd shutout of the season.  By comparison, the Royals didn't get their 3rd shutout until May 4th, last season.  It came against the Indians, of all teams.

Mr. Bannister was not amazing tonight, but he didn't walk too many hitters, and his pitch count stayed decent.  He probably needs to continue to attack more / nibble less, but it's hard to pick on a guy for 6 shutout innings and 4 singles allowed.  He might not be one of the "big 3" who can pick up a strikeout almost at will, but if he maintains an ERA sub 4.15 then the Royals will have the best pitching staff in the A.L.  (assuming the big 3 continue to pitch at their ridiculous paces.)

This brings up the question.. when is Hoochie mama coming up?  Soon, I hope..

Read yesterday's post if you want to see what I said about how well Cliff Lee would do against the Royals..  It wasn't the 3 hit 9 k shutout he threw last year, but no one will deny Mr. Clifford Phifer Lee pitched a very good game today.

The offense needs to draw more walks, period.  Billy's in the first inning was nice, because it came after falling behind, but seriously, one walk?  Pathetic.  Cliff Lee threw 122 pitches, 85 of them were for strikes..  While he was pounding the strike zone, if the Royals decided to not swing first pitch so often we would have a better chance of making Cliff throw more outside the strike zone and getting to the bullpen more quickly, which should be every offense's goal.

Hitter of the Game

Like yesterday, I really struggled with this one today..  DDJ drove in the "winning" run but was 0-3..  Bloomquist drove in the other run on a bloop single.. Callaspo had 2 hits but no runs or RBI..  I think I'll settle with Coco Crisp, who really set the table today in the first with his second leadoff double in as many days.  Coco ended up with 2 hits in 4 at bats, and while he didn't walk for what seems like the first game this season (it's not..) he also didn't strike out.  He scored a run but didn't capitalize on an opportunity to drive some in during the 7th inning, oh well, he earns today's award.  In reality, the offense wasn't that great and the award should probably go to Butler, if anyone, simply for taking the lone walk.. Oh well.

Pitcher of the Game

I was considering using Soria simply because he finally got to pitch, but we'll go with the Professor, he wasn't dominant, but he was very good and threw 6 innings of shutout, 1 walk, 4 hit baseball in the big leagues.  Something that is very commendable and earns him the pitcher of the game award.

Tomorrow

It's an early game tomorrow, with Gil Meche facing Anthony "I wear my hat low" Reyes.  First pitch as at 11:05 central time, so don't forget!

Also, I fully intend to include some minor league stats/analysis very soon, I just haven't quite picked a format and had the time to start it yet.  Fear not, it shall arrive!

Thanks for reading!

Teahen celebrates return to 3rd with 5 hits as Gordon hits the DL..

Tonight was one of those nights when (almost) everything goes right.  The starter had a quality start, everyone in the lineup had at least 2 hits except for DDJ, and well, the bullpen wasn't great, but we won the game.  Obviously Gil didn't have a perfect game, as the Rangers had plenty of baserunners, but he was able to pitch 6 shutout innings, and I'll never turn down that from my starter.  He also recorded 6 strikeouts, giving him 18 strikeouts in 20 innings.  Gil leads the AL with those 18 strikeouts, not too bad.

The Royals take over first place in the AL Central as they improve their record to 6-4 on the season.  Even more impressive, they have scored 11 more runs than they have allowed (43:32).  A sign which validates their above .500 record.

I said everyone but DDJ had two hits, well Coco didn't, he only had one, but that one hit was a HR.  Coco is now batting a ridiculous .235/.409/.647 on the season.  Remember when I said Coco would be the Royals best hitter this season?  Yeah, I wasn't kidding..

But Coco's game today didn't come close to our HoG, Mr. Teabag.

Hitter of the Game

Mark Teahen had one of the best games of his career tonight, as he was 5-6 with 3 runs and an RBI.  Teahen was a triple short of the cycle as he counted a HR, a 2B and 3 singles amongst his 5 hits.  Teahen will be playing 3B for the next few months as Alex Gordon recovers from his hip surgery, so look for Teahen to step it up at the plate as he settles in to his natural position.

Pitcher of the Game

Gotta be Gil.  Meche pitched 6 scoreless innings allowing 6 hits, none of which went for extra bases.  Gil struck out 6 batters and walked just 2, increasing his K:BB ratio to 18:4, very nice.

As I said earlier, Alex Gordon is expected to miss the next 2 or 3 months, as he had successful hip surgery in Vail, Colorado earlier today.  Mark Teahen will fill in at third for him, and Mitch Maier was recalled from AAA and will probably see some time in the OF while Guillen is still hurt, which will be for another week or so.  It will be interesting to see what roster moves get made once Guillen comes back from the DL.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow Zack tries to maintain his league leading 0.00 ERA, as he'll face Kevin Millwood in a 7:05 central time start.

DO call it a comeback..

Well.. when the Royals gave up the lead in the 7th inning on Mike Jacobs lack of an ability to effectively field a ground ball, all hope was lost.  At least in my opinion.  When the next 5 Royals batters made consecutive outs, most all hope was lost.  But nay, not today, the Royals roared back on the bat of Butler, Pena, Callaspo and Buck.  I'll admit, I was surprised, as I didn't think the Royals offense had 6 runs in them.  

When Joakim Soria shut the door, I felt completely silly for having given up earlier.  Then again, this offense does suck.  Our DH and RF combine for 8 career home runs.. and neither of them are "young".  Ouch.

Hitter of the Game

Big ol' John Buck stole the show today with a 3-4 performance.  John drove in 3 runs and scored one himself.  He did not walk and struck out once.  2 of his 3 hits went for bases as he had a double and a home run.

Pitcher of the Game

I know that Gil could have easily had 7 shutout innings today, as it was his defense more than his pitching that let him down, but I have to go with Soria slamming the door shut by striking out the side en route to his third save of the season for the pitcher of the game.  Soria gave up no hits and walked no one.  Perfect.

Tomorrow

Zack Greinke will take on Fausto Carmona tomorrow at the K.  First pitch is at 7:10 central time.

Offense bad, HoRam worse..

HoRam bad, offense worse..

I had to work tonight and so I won't get a chance to watch the game until tomorrow morning, but I'll still name the award winners..

HoG goes to Mike Jacobs, 2-4 with a double, no K's, Runs, RBI, or strikeouts..  

PoG goes to Robinson Tejada, 2.2 innings, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, no hits or runs.  The walks aren't great but 6 strikeouts makes it okay, I guess. 

Interesting attendance tidbit..

Today the Marlins had 39,412 people in attendance, the Royals just 31,271.  The difference in attendance was mainly because the Marlins had their first "Super Saturday" of the year, with a post-game concert of Pitbull, Flo-Rida, and DJ Laz, as well as fireworks.  Why don't the Royals have anything like this?  Sure, there really aren't any well known music groups from KC, but that doesn't mean we can't bring someone in.  The K has been completely renovated this last offseason, but it still feels like the only thing it's used for is baseball.  Kind of a waste, really.

Tomorrow

Gil Meche faces off against Joba Chamberlain in Easter Sunday matchup.  First pitch is at 1:10 central time.

Does our offense really suck more than Sidney Ponson.. Really??

Well, I guess as long as the outcome was the same I can't be too disappointed, as I did expect the Royals to lose today.  But I'm pretty sure the fact Ponson actually surprised me and kept them in the game was even more frustrating.  Add in the fact that the Yankees only deserved probably 1 or 2 of their 4 runs and it's very very frustrating.  

First off, I thought Alberto Callaspo was the "experienced" second baseman?  Haven't we heard Trey talk a ton about how Bloomquist has the range, Teahen has the bat and Callaspo has the "experience"..  Dude looked like he was confused as all get out today.  Not making the right out, not tagging the runner and just running through the base assuming a force out.. all kinds of madness.

Anyway, Callaspo hate aside, the strikeouts and lack of discipline are killing me.  Pettite easily could have pitched another inning today if he wanted, he was just that efficient.  Sure, the strike zone was big, and I have beef with that, but the Yankees drew more walks and frankly, that pisses me off.  If there's one thing your offense should do it is to strive to draw more walks and get more hits than the other offense.  At a few points I felt like the offense was just swinging at anything that was a strike, instead of working the count and looking for a pitch to drive.  Pathetic.

I'm pretty sure Butler had the only hard hit ball period, and thanks to FSN we didn't even get to see the pitch.  Awesome, very reminiscent of the RSTN days.  The point is, the offense was awful for the 4th day in a row.  1 or 2 runs a game is not going to cut it in the ML, no matter how good MGD (Meche, Greinke, Davies) are going to be this season.  We have got to cut down on the strikeouts and we have to make the other pitcher work.

In other news, Jose Guillen went on the DL today.  Awesome.  It is definitely better than last season when he tried to play through a similar injury, but it always hurts losing your cleanup hitter.  No matter how much I rag on him, I recognize he means a lot to this team.  I am slightly confused though as to why Brayan and Tony Pena are still both on this roster.  Neither of them really does a lot for the bench.  Sure TPJ plays defense, but that's all he does, and Trey has yet to use him in 4 close games yet this year.  Brayan is the real head scratcher though.  I just don't understand the obsession.  He is a backup catcher who can play some in the field.  How'd that work out for JR House?  I understand the intrigue that he can bat from both sides of the plate.. but if he's a crappy hitter (okay, he isn't THAT bad) then it doesn't matter where he likes to swing the bat from, he isn't helping the offense very much.

Point is, I feel like Kila, Shealy, Maier, Costa, etc. would all be much more beneficial to this team than baseball.  Baseball has the most games of any sport that I know of, and players on the bench are going to get starts.  Who would you rather see grab 200 ABs for the Royals this year, Brayan and Tony Pena or Shane Costa and Ryan Shealy?  I thought so..

Jamey Wright will be the pitcher of the game, as he went 2 scoreless striking out 3 and giving up just a hit.  

Billy Butler hit a double, drew the only walk and scored the only run, earning him HoG honors today.

Let's hope the boys turn it around tomorrow against CC.. ugh.. haha.. just kidding, we all know Horacio Ramirez is going to start for the Royals..  Gil Meche will try to prevent the sweep on Sunday.  First pitch tomorrow is at 6:10.. 

Stars aligned for Teahen to take off??

Well, after another short hiatus I'm back.  I guess I should warn everyone that throughout the season I may miss a few days due to my somewhat unpredictable schedule.  Rest assured, however, that I will always be back and should be able to catch up the PoG and HoG award winners for the games that I missed.  Speaking of the PoG and HoG, you should notice a new table on the main page with a list of all the HoGs and PoGs that I will update all year long.

Anyway, let's look what's gone on since I last posted!

The Royals fell 4-2 on Tuesday, with 3 of those runs coming from a shot by Jim Thome.  Personally, I was distraught when Meche wasn't run back out to pitch the 8th after he only had 91 pitches in the 7th (this was a pitcher who led the league in pitches last year), but I was even more distraught when Hillman left Farnsworth (the king of giving up HR.. or at the least the Prince to Joel Peralta's King) in to face one of the best HR hitters of all time.  Farnsworth throws hard and straight, Thome hits hard straight balls a long ways..  Bad combo.  I fully expected Hillman to put in Mahay or Soria or even Cruz in after Farnsworth K'd the righty Quentin.  It just didn't make much sense to me for Farns to stay in.  But by not posting yesterday I mostly missed out on this discussion so I'll let bygones be bygones.   Anyway, there were only two pitchers yesterday and one ended up with an ERA of 9, the other ended up with an ERA under 2.  For those reasons I'll anoint Gil Meche as the first PoG.  As for hitters, I'll name the only player to drive in a run (he drove in 2) to be the HoG.  Gil Meche and Alex Gordon, if those two players are the most important for a lot of games this year I expect we'll do pretty well.

As for today's game, I felt like it was a slightly worse game for the Royals than yesterday, even though they won.  The offense was slightly less patient and the pitching was slightly less good.  Don't get me wrong, it was a great game.  In fact, I think one of the most important plays of April happened this game.  In the 8th inning, Mark Teahen ranged far to his right and scooped a ball up on the run and threw out Dewayne Wise.  While Mark Grudz probably would have made this look routine even with his reduced range, I was pretty impressed.  I know it's early, but so far Mark Teahen has not been embarrassing at 2nd base.  Listening to his interview today on 810 with Soren Petro, he makes me want to believe that playing 2nd base is something he will work even harder at than learning the OF.  This is because it is something he enjoys.  Mark Teahen will probably never have the career he could have had if the Royals had drafted Ryan Braun and moved him to the OF while keeping Teahen at 3B.  But that doesn't have to be a bad thing.  Teahen is only 27 this season, and while he may not be that pull hitter everyone wants him to be, by playing 2B and having Kevin Seitzer as a pitching coach, I really feel like the stars are in line for Teahen to have another breakout year.  He may not do this by hitting for a ton of power, but look for a player who will hit for around .290 with a lot of doubles, a lot of walks, less strikeouts, and around 15 home runs.  Maybe a player similar to Jose Lopez with a few more walks?  That may be something to hope for.  Probably not as good defensively as Jose, however.

Anyway, the PoG of today's game has to be Zack Greinke.  Greinke looked like good ol' vintage Zack.  I had hoped he could get through 7 innings, but let's be honest, in today's world 6 innings of shutout ball and 3 hits is pretty good for a starting pitcher.  Add in the fact you're pitching AT the home of one of the better offenses in the league, and he had a downright great performance.  The hitter of the game will be Mike Aviles.  Mike had a nice bounceback day after going 0-4 in his '09 debut yesterday.  Mike was the only Royal to score a run, as he scored both of the runs today.  He also started the only double play of the game.

Another thing I just remembered that somewhat irks me is the sac bunt that Crisp had to lay down today.  I know Hillman used to manage in Japan, but c'mon!  There simply isn't a Tony Pena Jr. in the starting lineup (hopefull there won't be in ANY starting lineup this season!)  The Royals lineup is clearly aligned for offense, otherwise Gload will still be here and playing 1B, Bloomquist would be playing 2B Guillen would be the DH with Teahen in the OF.  But, that's not the case, the lineup is catered to offense, so let them hit!  What irked me even more was there was a wild pitch to move Aviles to 2B while Crisp was trying to bunt.  Did Trey decide to then let Crisp swing away with a 2-0 count?  NO.  He made Crisp bunt Aviles over to 3rd.  Ouch.  This is the leadoff hitter we're talking about.  A player capable of 35 doubles and 15 home runs, not to mention a .300 average.  And we're bunting over to 3rd with no outs..  Really?

This nonsense has to stop!

On the plus side, there haven't really been any baserunning gaffs yet, and no stolen bases, so that's a good sign.  (I think only Crisp and Teahen should be green-lighted on the basepaths.. everyone else is probably too much of a liability.  And I'm not saying Teahen is as good at stealing as Crisp, I just think he is as smart on the basepaths as any other player in the majors, so the trust should be there to allow him to know when to run and when not to run.)

Anyway, the game tomorrow starts at 1:05 p.m. with Kyle Davies taking on John Danks.  Should be another pitcher's duel.. (or so we hope!)

Thanks for reading!

p.s. I picked 77 in the poll question..

Royals name their crappy rotation, as well as finalize their 11 man pitching staff..

The Royals beat the Colorado Rockies 6-5 today, as they fought through another attempted blown save by Joakim the Dream (I think he's been spending way too much time around Sidney and Horacio lately).  

Meche made his final start of the preseason today as he pitched 4 shaky innings.  Although he only gave up 1 run, he did walk 4 colorado hitters while striking out just 2.  Meche did give up just 3 hits, so while he didn't have his best control (probably not even his "better" control) he still wasn't very hittable.  Definitely a good sign.  The pitchers en masse were not awful, though Soria had his second bad outing in a row.  The pitchers allowed 5 runs on 9 hits while striking out 6 while walking 5.  The hitters were better, but still not great.  They did score 6 runs on 11 hits, but drew just 3 walks against 7 strikeouts, numbers I'd still like to see them improve upon.  They did have 7 extra base hits, and 6 were for home runs, which is nice.

Hitter of the Game

Mark Teahen once again earns the hitter of the game award, although it could have gone to any number of home run hitters, Teahen was the best of them all today, I think.  Mark was 2-4 with 1 RBI, 1 run scored and 1 home run.  After today's game, and with one remaining, Teahen is tied for 3rd in the nation in home runs (7) and is first in slugging percentage (1.000).  Not bad for a second baseman.

Pitcher of the Game

Doug Waechter will be the pitcher of the game for today.  He bounced back from his previous poor outings with 2 perfect innings, striking out one Rockie (Rocky?).  Doug apparently has pitched well enough this spring to make the final cut as the 11 pitchers the Royals are going to start the season with have been named, but more on that later.

Tomorrow

The Royals have the last game of their Cactus League pre-season tomorrow.  They will face the Texas Rangers as Hosucky Ramirez will face Scott Feldman.  The Royals will then travel to Texas to play the Rangers two more times, once on Friday and then again on Saturday in Arlington.

Well, it looks like the rotation is set.  Not only that, but the entire pitching staff is set as well.  All signs point towards the Royals opening the season with 11 pitchers, which has been their standard procedure for the last few seasons.  It looks like the pitching staff will look like the following, at least for the first few weeks or so:

Rotation:

Gil Meche

Zack Greinke

Kyle Davies

Sucky Ponson

Hosucky Ramirez

'Pen:

Doug Waechter

Robinson Tejada

Ron Mahay

Kyle Farnsworth

Juan Cruz

Joakim the Dream

Overall, I'm quite frustrated, and I have been ever since learning that Hosucky and Sucky Ponson are both going to be in the rotation.  Not only that, but Sucky Ponson even gets to start the Home Opener against the Yankees, so the first game in the "New" Kauffman Stadium will be a 20-5 shellacking.  Awesome.

Look, I understand the reasoning for Hochevar and Banny to get sent down, and I'm not wholly opposed to those moves.  But DM, you've been here 3 freaking years and the Royals are still sending out pitchers who don't deserve to be the 25th man on a roster, let alone starting the home opener for your ball club.  I mean honestly, I'd rather see Matt Wright in the rotation than Hosucky or Sucky Ponson.  At least you might catch lightning in a bottle with him.  Ponson and Ramirez are both retreads who haven't seen success in half a decade.  It's pathetic and frustrating, and frankly, I don't care to write about it anymore.

Thanks for reading.

Sir Sidney Certainly Sucks..

Okay, all alliteration aside, (oops, I did it again), I'm not joking.

Sidney Ponson had another awful showing today, as he pitched 5 innings allowing 7 runs (7 earned) on 7 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.  He did give up just one extra base hit, a triple to Travis Buck, but was obviously not 4th starter quality today.  (Unless we're using the 2005 Royals as the measuring stick, in which he was probably #2 starter quality).  While spring training games are not a promise of things to come, this late in the game they are sure a good indicator, and all indications point to me wanting to vomit as I see DM penciling in "Ponson, S." in the 4th starter's slot below Kyle Davies.  

edit: I forgot to even write about my frustrations about how our 2nd best starter this spring, Sir Luke Hochevar was sent down yesterday, but needless to say, the move frustrates me!  I'm frustrated!  Frustrated..

Horacio Ramirez was bad enough, I felt like he was a waste of space, too old to have potential and too much of a bad track history to trust any potential he was given anyway.  But at least he was a lefty.  At least DM could argue that he was something he felt we needed.  Sure, I disagree, I don't see any point in saying that it's more important to have a lesser pitcher in your rotation because he uses the wrong arm to throw a baseball.  But the whole Sidney Ponson thing is really turning into a sour apple for me.  Now while it's true, one sour apple might not necessarily spoil the bunch, (at least I'm trying to not let it spoil the bunch), it is one more thing to add to my list of grievances with Dayton Moore.

Sure, DM has added countless depth to the organization, but is that more of a function of his eye for talent or his ability to make David Glass open his checkbook more often?  I believe the argument could swing either way.  I'm not ready to write off DM yet, as I haven't been in the past.  But I really could use some reinforcement from him that he is committed in the ways he says he is.  Please do not let Tony Pena be on this team, please do not let Ponson or Ramirez be in the rotation.  Please stop trying to make the Royals be something they are not.  They are a youthful team that is building in the right direction, stop trying to add pieces that are unnecessary and a waste of money.  This money could be spent in Latin America!

Take for instance Horacio Ramirez, Ross Gload and Willie Bloomquist.  All three are superfluous parts on this ball club, in my opinion, because they could easily be replaced by AAA or players who are released.  Let's look at just how much money these players are set to make in 2009, assuming they spend the entire year with the Royals.

Ross Gload - 1.9 million

Horacio Ramirez - 1.8 million

Willie Bloomquist - 1.4 million

2009 total - 5.1 million dollars

5.1 million dollars is a ton of money.  Let's take a look at something that 5.1 million dollars could buy the Royals in Latin America instead of these three wasted roster spots.

Last season, the Oakland A's set a record for the highest international signing bonus in franchise history when they inked then 16 year old RHP Michael Inoa to a contract with a bonus of 4.25 million dollars.  Inoa is already rated as the A's 3rd best prospect as a 17 year old by Baseball America.  Keep in mind that the A's have the 3rd best system in MLB according to the same source.  That is to say, we could trade Gload, Ramirez, and Bloomquist for an A caliber prospect, and possibly add wins that very season as well.

While this all sounds promising, keep in mind that just having money to spend isn't the same as signing this caliber of prospect.  And that player is just a prospect, not a proven commodity.  However, all of these things in the open, I think that 7/10 Royals fans would prefer the prospect over the ML trash.. (oops I mean "players").  

My point isn't that we should cut these players and sign the next prospect we find to a monster deal, my point is just that in baseball, especially in this economic environment (dang it, I promised myself I wouldn't bring that up..), it's ultra important to watch spending, and most importantly, spend wisely.  Sure, there's no guarantee that Inoa pitches even 1 effective ML inning, but I'd rather build my team with players of his caliber than overspend for players who have already proved they are not super stars.. (see: Guillen, Jose).

Anyway, let's take a break from this rant and take a look at the game.  The Royals lost to the A's 7-2 today in front of 3,183.  Obviously Ponson was bad, but the rest of the pitching was good, as the pitching outside of Ponson struck out 4 batters and walked none in 4 innings.  The offense on the other hand was abysmal.  The hitters struck out 8 times and walked just once, which is really frustrating this close to the season.  

Let's take a look at the HoG and the PoG.. By the way, as the season gets rolling I'm going to be adding a box to the sidebar on the main page listing which players have won the POG and HOG and how many times they have won it.  Should make for an interesting experiment as far as who I think has carried the team the most.

Hitter of the Game

Tony Pena had two hits including the only extra base hit (a double), but since he's Tony Pena I'm going to choose someone else.  That's why John Buck will be the hitter of the game for today.  John was the lone Royal to draw a walk.  Sad, but true.  John was 1-2 with 1 run scored.  John took the one walk and did not strike out.  His spring average sits at .390.

Pitcher of the Game

Robinson Tejada will nab the pitcher of the game award, and it wasn't just because he was Ponson's first replacement.  Tejada pitched a perfect 6th inning with 2 strikeouts, proving that even fringe-replacement level pitchers could succeed against the A's today.  I guess that makes Ponson below replacement level.. hmm..

Tomorrow

Gil Meche will face off against Aaron Cook and the Rockies as each pitcher will get their last look before the regular season tomorrow.  First pitch is at 3:05 central time.  Tomorrow's game will be the second to last game in Arizona, as the Royals will travel to and play in Texas Friday and Saturday.

Bert "Reynolds" Callaspo's 4 hit day leads the Royals past the M's..

Haha.  Royals.com has a story entitled "Soria now one of Majors elite closers".  It's like.. really? NOW he's one of the majors elite closers?  After a season and a half of being a stud closer he becomes one of the majors elite closers near the end of spring training?  Apparently the 22 runs and 17 hits today by our offense wasn't enough of a story, the writers had to go and write some silly story about how Soria is NOW one of the elite closers.  I understand the fact that a lot of people around the nation have yet to realize just how great he is.  But really, to anoint him a phenom NOW seems kind of pointless and mistimed, at best.

Oh, and did anyone catch the fact that ESPN the Magazine brought up in its newest edition about David DeJesus.  Apparently David has a better WARP than Adam Dunn in left field last season.. Interesting..  Just goes to show why the Royals should have signed Dunn to DH!

Anyway, on to the slugfest!

Zack Greinke was pretty bad as he only made it through 2 innings allowing 8 runs, but the Royals used their 9 run seventh inning to power back and beat the Seattle Mariners today in front of a Seattle crowd of 7,271 in Peoria.

The Royals offense really impressed me today, not only because of all the runs and hits, but because they finally walked more times than they struck out.  The offense drew 6 walks against 5 strikeouts.  The pitchers on the other hand walked just one batter while striking out 8, so it was great on both sides.

Hitter of the Game

Tough, but I'll go with the guy who banged out 4 hits and scored 3 runs while driving in 2 himself.  I'm talking about Bert "Reynolds" Callaspo, of course.  Callaspo was 4-6 and did not walk while striking out once.  His average sits at .262 on the Spring, a little below Teahen's .500.

Pitcher of the Game

Brandon Duckworth.. Ew.  I really don't even care to explain it, but he pitched two scoreless innings giving up just one single.  He didn't strike out or walk anyone.

Tomorrow

The Royals host the Chicago Cubs and Rich Harden tomorrow in a game set to start at 3:05 Central Time.  Kyle Davies gets the nod for the Royals, also scheduled to pitch is Joakim the Dream.

Oh and as a side note, Kevin Gregg will be the Cubs closer, at least at the beginning of the season..  Interesting.

Royals ride Gil's Gem past Dodgers..

After 35 straight days of blog posting, I needed a few days off, so excuse my short sabbatical.  Anyway, I'm back and ready to hit my stride right as spring training finishes up and the boys in blue pack up and come back home to KC.  The Royals were in action today against the Dodgers, and won handily, 4-1, behind a strong start by Gil Meche.

In fact, all of the pitching was very good today, as the pitchers allowed just one run on 5 hits while striking out 9 and walking just three.  No extra base hits were allowed.

The offense was not bad, either, banging out 10 hits for 4 runs.  2 of the ten hits went for extra bases, both being doubles smacked by John Buck and Jose Guillen.  The offense continues their struggles as of late as far as drawing walks however, as they drew just 1 while striking out 8 times.

Hitter of the Game

Mike Aviles, back in the three hole, continued his torrid pace at the plate today.  Mike was 2-3 with one walk and one RBI.  Aviles is hitting .407/.469/.704 in 27 spring at bats.  

Pitcher of the Game

Gil Meche, no ifs ands or buts.  Gil had the kind of outing that will hopefully quiet critics who had been speaking quite loudly as of late.  Gil pitched 7 shutout innings, allowing just 4 singles.  Gil also struck out 6 batters while walking just one.  Remember, this was a Dodgers lineup that started 7 of its 8 projected starters, including Manny, as only Casey Blake was missing.  Overall a VERY impressive start from Gil, it sounds like his back is just fine.

Tomorrow

Horacio Ramirez will get ANOTHER start tomorrow as the Royals take on the Rangers tomorrow at Surprise Stadium.  First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 central time.  Getting the nod for the Rangers will be Scott Feldman.

Halos + Royals = 40 hits and 30 runs.. and why Horacio Ramirez should be in AAA..

The Angels and the Royals combined for 40 hits and 30 runs today.  Wow, clearly it was a bad day to be a pitcher, but is Horacio Ramirez seriously a "lock" for the rotation?  He has been the epitome of awful this spring.  In 14 innings and 4 starts (5 appearances) Horacio is 1-2 with a 10.29 ERA.

We know that Meche and Greinke will both make the rotation.  Davies and Hochevar both have been excellent (or at least "very good") this spring, so in a perfect world (my world) they both make the rotation as well.  That means that Horacio and Bannister (and Sir Sidney, I guess) are up for the final rotation spots.  As bad as Banny has been this spring, Horacio has been worse.

Banny and Horacio both have 4 starts.  Horacio has an extra relief appearance so he leads the innings pitched category 14 to 12.2.  However, Horacio has allowed 31 hits and 4 walks in those 14 innings, for a WHIP of 2.50, which is unheard of.  Bannister has given up "just" 17 hits and 4 walks for a WHIP of 1.66.  Still bad, but "bad" is always better than "unheard of".  Banny and Horacio both have equal K/BB rates, so we'll call that a wash.  Neither of them has been able to strike anyone out though, which is discouraging.

The one stat Horacio has on his side is ground outs to air outs.  Ramirez has a 3.88 GO/AO ratio, which is actually quite good.  Banny on the other hand has a 1.40 GO/AO ratio on the other hand.  One other interesting side note, Ramirez has allowed 5 steals on him this spring, while no batters have been caught stealing.  No one has attempted a steal on Bannister yet.  

I think I've mentioned before that I hate "errors".  Because I hate "errors" (both "errors" on the field, and "errors" the concept) I think that "ERA" isn't as useful as Run Average, which is simply how many runs, earned or otherwise, a pitcher allows over 9 innings.  Horacio Ramirez's Run Average is at an atrocious 14.14, meaning he allows 14 runs per nine innings.  Absolutely awful.  The whole point to this argument that while it may be a nice luxury to have a lefty in the rotation, when the lefty is getting yanked in the 2nd or 3nd inning every game, you're just putting too much stress on your bullpen.

That's why I think the rotation should fill out as such:

Gil Meche
Zack Greinke

Kyle Davies

Luke Hochevar

Brian Bannister

Who's with me?

Hitter of the Game

Miguel Olivo mashed two home runs today as he went 2-5 with one strikeout.  Miguel drove in 2 runs and scored 2 more himself.  Miguel is hitting .354 on the spring.

Pitcher of the Game

He was the only pitcher not to give up a run today, in fact he hasn't given up a run all spring.  Lenny DiNardo earns the pitcher of the game award today.  Lenny Pitched a scoreless 8th inning, allowing two singles and striking out one while walking none.

Tomorrow

The Royals will travel to Peoria to face the Padres tomorrow.  Kyle Davies will look to bounce back from his worst start of the spring as he faces off against Chris Young.  Also scheduled to pitch for the Royals is Doug Waechter, Joakim Soria, and Heath Phillips.

Ponson debuts in minor league game as Royals cruise in Tucson

Sir Sidney Ponson made his debut today, pitching 5 solid innings.  Ponson allowed just one run on a solo homer, struck out three and walked none.  Ponson needed just 49 pitches to get through those 5 innings as he did not pitch more than 4 pitches to any one batter.  Time will tell us if Ponson really has anything left in the tank, but for now, you couldn't ask for a much better debut from the veteran sinkerballer.

At the same time Sir Sidney was debuting, the Royals were off in Tucson facing the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Meche lasted just 3 2/3 innings, wasting 82 pitches in the process.  Vintage Gil Meche, one might say.  The good news was that 8 players had multi-hit games, as the Royals banged out 22 hits as a team.  those 22 hits were good for 13 runs as they beat the d-backs 13-6.

The offense was easily the better side of the team today, as 7 of the 22 hits went for extra bases.  Butler and Maier led the XBH charge as Butler had a home run and a double and Maier had two doubles.  The hitters struck out 6 times and managed just 3 walks, however.  Fairly disappointing numbers for such an offensive game.  Teahen, Colon, and Tommy Murphy all made errors as well.  Teahen did manage three hits today, however, driving his spring line up to .484/.543/1.065 with 5 home runs.

As a whole, the pitching wasn't THAT bad.  The pitchers allowed 6 runs on 13 hits, with half of those runs being allowed by Gil Meche.  Gil also allowed 8 hits in his 3 2/3 innings.  The pitchers did strike out 9 and walk just 4, an encouraging sign.  In fact, only the three runs allowed by Gil were earned, as the other three (one by Jamey Wright, two by Yaushiko Yabuta) were unearned.  

Hitter of the Game

Lots of good options here today, but I'm going to go with Billy Butler.  Billy the kid was 2 for 6 with 3 runs scored and 5 RBI.  Billy did not draw a walk or strike out.  His two hits were a double and a home run.  The double was off of Travis Blackley and the home run was off of Evan MacLane.  Billy's spring line sits at .341/.408/.614.

Pitcher of the Game

Pitcher of the game today will be Roman Colon.  Roman earned his first hold of the season as he pitched a scoreless 7th and 8th innings today.  Roman gave up just one hit, a double to Chris Young.  Colon did not walk any and struck out one.  Roman's spring ERA sits at a breezy 0.93. 

Tomorrow

The Royals will host the LA Angels of Anaheim at the Surprise complex tomorrow.  First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 central time.  Horacio Ramirez will get the nod for the Royals.  He will face off against John Lackey.  Also scheduled to pitch are Robinson Tejada and Lenny DiNardo.

Lowery and Ka'aihue reassigned as Lubanski goes yard..

The big news of the day (for me, anyway) is that Devin Lowery and Kila Ka'aihue were both optioned down to AAA.  This leaves the Royals with 48 players left in major league camp, players like JR House, Tommy Murphy, Heath Phillips and Corey Smith, all who are virtual locks to get cut eventually.  Before everyone gets out of hand over the young players getting cut before the players who are locks to get cut later you must understand the reasoning for the moves.  That is; to get those players more at bats.  

Ka'aihue had 17 at bats this spring, good for 21st on the squad.  In those at bats he posted a line of .235/.409/.235.  Devin Lowery on the other hand had pitched in 4.2 innings, good for 17th most this spring.  Devin had given up just 1 hit and no runs so far this spring.  Both of these players figure to spend at least some time in Kansas City this summer, regardless of injuries to the ML squad.

Well the 2nd and final TV game for the spring has come and gone, this one being much better than the first, in my opinion.  The Royals beat the Dodgers 9-4, as Brandon Duckworth managed to get the win.  10 Royals hitters had 1 hit each none better than Chris Lubanski's 2 run shot in the 6th innings.  The Royals managed 6 runs in the 5th innings when the Dodgers booted the ball around defensively.

Hochevar was solid, after a shaky start and poor command I was concerned.  However, he managed to fight through it and produced 4 solid innings, striking out just one but allowing just 3 runs.  

Hitter of the game

The hitter of the game has to be Chris Lubanski, who drove in himself and Coco Crisp in the 6th inning with a good shot to straight away center.  Chris is hitting .304/.322/.504 in 23 at bats this spring, including 3 home runs.

Pitcher of the game

Overall the pitching today was quite solid, but I like Joakim Soria for the pitcher of the game.  It was good to see Joakim in a Royals uni today, as he's fresh back from the WBC.  Joakim pitched the 7th inning, allowing just one single and striking out 2 batters.  Vintage Joakim, one might say.  Joakim has yet to allow a run this spring.

Tomorrow

The Royals once again travel to Tucson to take on the D-backs tomorrow.  First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 Central time.  Gil Meche gets the nod for the Royals against AZ ace Brandon Webb.  Jamey Wright, Roman Colon, and Yasuhiko Yabuta are also scheduled to pitch tomorrow.

Thanks for reading, once again.

Teahen Tees off Twice..

The Royals lit up Barry Zito today for 6 runs in 5 innings on 10 hits, beating the Giants 11 to 3 today.  As bad as the Royals were yesterday is as good as they were today.  The offense managed 17 hits including 6 extra base hits and scored 11 runs.  The hitters drew 6 walks against just 4 strikeouts, a trend that has been continuing as of late (drawing more walks than strikeouts).  The pitching was stellar as well, although they gave up 12 hits, they only allowed 3 runs.  The pitchers did only walk one batter however, which is awesome, and did strike out 6 giants.  Overall, a very good game for the boys in blue.

Hitter of the game

Mark Teahen gets the award for hitter of the game today, as he went 3-4 while drawing a walk and not striking out.  Teahen scored 4 runs and drove in 2 runs as well.  Mark's three hits were a double and 2 home runs.  His spring batting average sits at .400.

Pitcher of the game

Luke Hochevar will be the pitcher of the game today, as he went 4.1 innings, allowing just 1 run.  Luke did give up 6 hits, including a double and a triple, however he only walked one batter, while striking out two.  Luke's spring ERA sits at 2.92.

Tomorrow

The Royals will travel to Camelback Ranch for a 3:05 game against the Chi Sox tomorrow afternoon.  Gil Meche gets the nod for the good guys, he will face Bartolo Colon.

A couple of hitting prospects to keep your eye on this summer

I figured I would let you in on a couple of prospects that I am going to keep my eye on this summer.  They're not really unheard of, but they don't get a lot of press either.  Adrian Ortiz and Paulo Orlando are both centerfielders that intrigue me because of their abilities.  Both Orlando and Ortiz will probably start the year in Wilmington.  Neither of them may every amount to more than Joey Gathright, but I think that both of these young players have a lot of potential.

Thanks as always for reading.

No more Neal - Musser signs with 'Stros

No game today, so it'll be just a short post.

No More Neal

I noticed this little nugget on MLBTR today.  

If you recall, when the Royals claimed INF Timothy "Tug" Hulett off of waivers a few weeks ago, they subsequently DFA'd LRP Neal Musser.  Well, I hadn't heard any news on Musser's status until today.  Apparently the Houston Astros signed Musser today to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, and he reported to the 'Stros camp today.  

*note*

I just checked Royals.com and Neal Musser cleared waivers and was released on the 27th of February.

The Impact.. at least according to me

While it is unfortunate to lose a player like Musser in the sense that it's always good to have extra lefties stashed away in AAA, it's also a very positive sign of where the Royals are headed.  While Musser might not make the Astros out of ST, I think it's only a positive sign that the guys that we get rid of are being picked up by other big league teams.  There was a time when the players that we DFA'd would have to go to an independent league or to Japan, because there were no teams lower than the Royals to pick up our scraps.

Sure, it may not be a big deal, as it surely is just a small sign.  But it's important to keep everything in perspective.  While it definitely takes a long time to turn such an awful franchise as KC around, this is one more sign that we're on the right track.

DFA's in '05 and '06

All of the crappy players we designated for assignment in 2005 and 2006:  RHP Ryan Jensen 6/4/05, Eli Marrero 5/31/05, Calvin Pickering 9/6/05, Kyle Snyder and Devon Lowery 1/6/06, Chip Ambres 3/28/06, Joe Nelson 4/26/06, Steve Andrade 4/1/06, Aaron Guiel 6/30/06, Kerry Robinson 6/21/06, Kyle Snyder 6/11/06, Steve Andrade 6/11/06, Chris Booker 7/9/06, Donnie Murphy and Juan Cedeno 11/20/06, Scott Dohmann 12/8/06, Brandon Duckworth 12/11/06, Paul Phillips 12/15/06

It's proof positive that we're getting better because Neal Musser is better (and at least has a better combination of youth and usefulness (being a lefty) than just about all of those players.  Sure, you can make an argument for some, but I hope you get my point.

Tomorrow

The Royals will take on the Texas Rangers once again, with Heath Phillips, Ron Mahay and Kyle Farnsworth scheduled to pitch.  No official word on the starter, but I imagine it's Heath.  Also, the Royals have a B game against the Rangers in the morning on the side field, getting the start will be Gil Meche.

Thanks again for reading!