Royal Reflections

Omaha drops fourth straight

2009-07-11T12:32:00.001-05:00

The Omaha Royals are currently on a 9-game road trip and it’s not going well. They are 2-5 on the trip so far, losing the last four games they’ve played—during which they’ve been outscored 30-11. Kyle Davies gave up two home runs in New Orleans last night and he took the loss—his first since being demoted.

Lester Takes it to the Royals, Again

2009-07-10T23:55:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 10, 2009
Kansas City @ Boston
Red Sox 1, Royals 0 / Box Score
WP: Lester (8-6), LP: Bannister (6-7), SV: Papelbon (23)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 37-49 / Record in July 4-6

Three things about this game:

Brian Bannister’s cutter was a thing of beauty. He ran it in against lefties and away to righties and the Red Sox had a hard time hitting it. He even took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. But he left a change up up in the zone to Dustin Pedroia and he made him pay for it with a line drive off the Monster to drive in the only run of the game. You have to feel for Banny after pitching so well but still getting the loss. Such is life as a starter for the Kansas City Royals.

Mark Teahen can not put himself in a situation to get thrown out at second base trying to tag up with one out considering that Jose Guillen moved up to third on the same play in a scoreless game in the seventh inning. The double play would have still been in order with John Buck coming up, but you’ve got to give him a chance to get Guillen home. Teahen doesn’t make many base running mistakes, but this one was huge. And what in the world was Hillman doing by allowing Olivo to swing away anyway with guys on first and second and no outs? I know he’s not a small ball kind of guy, but it’s a scoreless game and Tim Lester owns us. Seems to me that you’ve got call for a bunt, even if Olivo is at the plate.

What was Ryan Freel thinking in the eighth inning, with the game still scoreless, when he watched three straight pitches rather than attempting to lay down a sacrifice bunt like he did on the first pitch he fouled off? Alberto Callaspo led off the inning with a walk and Freel followed him. The only thing that made sense was that he missed a sign or didn’t understand the sign because surely Hillman wouldn’t have taken the bunt sign off with only one strike, would he? Afterward Freel said this: “I got confused and screwed that up. I’d have bunted on the third pitch if I knew; I’m not afraid to bunt with two strikes, but I just screwed it up, so you can blame the whole thing on me.” At least he took responsibility.

Tomorrow night, Gil Meche (4-8, 4.14) will go up against John Smoltz (0-2, 6.60). Meche is 5-2 in his career against the Red Sox with a 3.62 ERA in 59.2 IP. Smoltz is 0-0 against the Royals with a 0.00 ERA in 1.0 IP.

Royals Trade for Yuniesky Betancourt

2009-07-10T15:13:00.002-05:00

The Royals just traded minor league pitchers Danny Cortes and Derrick Saito to Seattle for shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

We certainly needed to do something about the shortstop position but Betancourt is having a poor season offensively. In fact, he was on the verge of being benched. He’s hitting .250 with 2 HR and 22 RBI. His OBP is a pitiful .278. His career OBP is just .302. If fact, if you look at his walk totals throughout his career, they could be mistaken for Angel Berroa’s walk totals. His best season was 17.

Unfortunately, he is also tied for last in fielding percentage (.967) of all qualifying American League shortstops. This post points to a book that reportedly says Betancourt is the fourth worst defensive shortstop in baseball. Sounds like he knows how to turn a double play though. He’s turned 341 of them since 2006 which ranks him second in MLB.

On the plus side, he doesn’t get hurt often. He’s played at least 153 games the past three seasons. Ironically, he’s currently on the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring and he’s just beginning a rehab assignment. He’ll join NW Arkansas to continue his assignment.

I wonder if this trade will be the defining move in Dayton Moore's career as the Royals' GM. Is this when the masses turn on him?

An Offensive Explosion

2009-07-09T23:58:00.002-05:00

Game Date: July 9, 2009
Kansas City @ Boston
Royals 8, Red Sox 6 / Box Score
WP: Hochevar (5-3), LP: Masterson (3-3), SV: Soria (14)
KC Home Runs: DeJesus (7)
Royals Record: 37-48 / Record in July 4-5

Who saw that one coming? Especially after the Red Sox put a three spot on the board in the first inning. But Hochevar battled and found a way to keep the Royals in the game. Not a great performance from him, but it was good to see him slow the attack.

Offensively, every starter for the Royals had at least one hit except for Mike Jacobs. Mark Teahen and Willie Bloomquist had three hits. And what’s with all of the stolen bases? Bloomquist stole his 16th, Teahen stole his fourth, and Miguel Olivo stole his third. David DeJesus even went deep. It’s about time the offense pulled its weight. Let’s not read too much into this offensive explosion though. We all know how quickly it can fade away.

On a somewhat related note, I found Gil Meche’s comments interesting regarding the possibility of waiving his no-trade clause. He said he wants to be in Kansas City and then he said, “If everybody is healthy, this is a different team. Why would I want to leave what could be a good situation? I came here to win. So to leave when we have guys hurt would be a waste. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

Surely losing Alex Gordon, Coco Crisp, and Mike Aviles have left huge holes in the lineup. If all three had remained healthy, we probably wouldn’t have seen Luis Hernandez or Tug Hulett in Kansas City. Mitch Maier wouldn't have seen nearly as much playing time. And you wonder if Alberto Callaspo would been able to hang on to his spot since Teahen would probably be the everyday second baseman and Willie Bloomquist would be a utility man.

But every team has injuries. I’m just glad to hear Meche say he wants to be in Kansas City. I don’t really understand why, other than the reason he stated—he came to Kansas City to win.

Tomorrow, Brian Bannister (6-6, 3.87) will go up against Jon Lester (7-8, 4.16). Bannister is 0-3 in his career against the Red Sox with an 8.22 ERA in 15.1 IP. Lester is 2-1 against the Royals with a 1.64 ERA in 22.0 IP.

A Lack of Offense, Again

2009-07-09T10:09:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 8, 2009
Kansas City @ Detroit
Tigers 3, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: French (1-0), LP: Greinke (10-5), SV: Rodney (19)
KC Home Runs: Callaspo (6)
Royals Record: 36-48 / Record in July 3-5

I continue to be baffled by Kansas City outfielders who refuse to throw to second base when the situation warrants it. David DeJesus did it again last night in the first inning when he threw the ball to the middle of the infield, allowing Placido Polanco to take second. Polanco came around to score.

DeJesus has done this more than once this season. So has Coco Crisp. So has Jose Guillen. So, what gives? It can’t be pinned on poor minor league instruction since Crisp and Guillen didn’t come up through our system. And we know that guys like Frank White, George Brett, and Willie Wilson have been part of the instruction, at least during Spring Training, for a while now—so surely guys are hearing fundamentals preached. If that’s true, then what’s the problem? Why does a team like the Twins always play the game the right way while we don’t?

Maybe the answer can be found in an organization’s toleration of obstinate players. Can you see a outfielder in the Twins’ organization making the same mistake over and over again without paying the price with his job? I can’t. Can you see a .220 hitter for the Twins taking a huge rip at the ball on every swing while keeping his spot on the roster? Me either. So why does Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman tolerate such things?

I’m not saying that heads should role every time a mistake is made. But when a player shows a consistent pattern of not being willing to play the game the right way, you’ve eventually got to cut him lose and find somebody who will. When Dayton Moore became the GM of the Royals he said that he wanted to change the atmosphere. There would be no better way than to start targeting obstinate players for replacement.

Ultimately, DeJesus’ mistake didn’t cost the Royals the game because they only managed to score one run, but having an anemic offense is all the more reason we need players to throw the ball to the correct base.

Enough about that.

Zack Greinke settled down after the first inning and pitched pretty well. Just not well enough. I remain relatively unconcerned about his recent outings. His ERA is still barely over 2.00. And even if you are look at his seven starts in June and July, his ERA during those starts is 3.97. The one statistic that is alarming is BAA. In April it was 1.88, in May it was .229, in June it was .290, and now in July it is .320. His career BAA is .269.

The Royals begin a new series tonight in Boston. Luke Hochevar (4-3, 5.08) will go up against Brad Penny (6-3, 4.67). Hochevar is 0-2 in his career against the Red Sox with a 6.94 ERA in 11.2 IP. Penny is 0-1 against the Royals with a 3.86 ERA in 7.0 IP.

If you get a chance, check out the article I wrote about the Omaha Royals’ loss in New Orleans last night during which Scott Thorman hit his 17th home run of the season.

Too Many Walks, Too Many Home Runs

2009-07-08T10:47:00.002-05:00

Game Date: July 7, 2009
Kansas City @ Detroit
Tigers 8, Royals 5 / Box Score
WP: Verlander (9-4), LP: Chen (0-3), SV: Rodney (18)
KC Home Runs: Butler (8)
Royals Record: 36-47 / Record in July 3-4

Bruce Chen didn’t help his chances of staying in the starting rotation with this performance: seven earned runs on four hits and five walks. He also gave up three home runs. Is Chen another one of those guys on the list of Royals’ starters who can put up solid numbers in Omaha but then can’t do it at the big league level? I guess we’ll see, but his 6.88 ERA can’t be acceptable for too long.

The top of the order for the Royals continues to hit well. The combination of David DeJesus, Willie Bloomquist, and Billy Butler went 6-for-14 with 4 RBI and a walk. Unfortunately, the middle of the order didn’t do much. Mark Teahen, Jose Guillen, and Mike Jacobs were just 2-for-10 with one RBI. Guillen got both hits and produced the RBI. He removed himself from the game with an injury, but I haven’t heard his status. Have you?

Newly acquired Ryan Freel got the start in center and went 1-for-3 with a run scored. I echo the sentiments of many regarding the Freel trade—it doesn’t make a lot of sense if everybody else stays in place—but it was fun to watch him get out and run the bases yesterday. He can fly. And you have to like his .355 career OBP. But he has no power, he doesn’t drive in runs, and he’s 33 years old. He also hasn’t played more than 75 games in one season since 2006 with Cincinnati. Throw in the issues he’s had off the field and the bad seems to outweigh the good. But now that he’s here, I’m hoping he can get on base and make things happen.

Tonight, Zack Greinke (10-4, 2.00) will go up against Luke French (0-0, 2.35). Greinke is 10-4 against the Tigers in his career with a 2.69 ERA in 97.0 IP. French has never faced the Royals.

Last night in Oklahoma City, Brandon Duckworth was hit hard before being ejected. Check out the article I wrote about it.

Ponson Throws Eight Shutout Innings in Omaha

2009-07-07T16:07:00.002-05:00

I wrote an article for Examiner.com about Omaha's 2-0 win in Oklahoma City last night behind the strong pitching effort of Sidney Ponson. Here's a link if you are interested: Sidney Ponson hurls eight shutout innings in Omaha win.

Jacobs Blast Lifts Royals

2009-07-06T22:09:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 6, 2009
Kansas City @ Detroit
Royals 4, Tigers 3 / Box Score
WP: Colon (1-0), LP: Rodney (0-2), SV: Soria (13)
KC Home Runs: Bloomquist (2), Jacobs (11)
Royals Record: 36-46 / Record in July 3-3

So, are the Royals teasing us or what? A three game winning streak is almost enough to create some hope. Remember how we felt when the Royals won four in a row last month . . . at least until they followed it up with a five game losing streak?

Too bad Gil Meche didn’t get the win. He wasn’t great tonight, but decent enough to keep the Royals in the game. And isn’t this like the third day in a row that the bullpen has been solid? Joakim Soria seems to be back to normal—he picked up his third save in the last three days.

In the ninth inning, a friend who is a Tigers fan started sending me text messages which included his predictions that the Tigers would come back and win. I wasn’t confident about the Royals holding on to the lead, but I played the part and it turned out okay.

Tomorrow night, Bruce Chen (0-2, 4.38) goes up against Justin Verlander (8-4, 3.54). Chen is 0-1 in his career against the Tigers with a 5.00 ERA in 18.0 IP. Verlander is 8-1 against the Royals with a 2.21 ERA in 77.1 IP.

Royals Even the Series

2009-07-05T22:47:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 5, 2009
Chicago @ Kansas City
Royals 6, White Sox 3 / Box Score
WP: Bannister (6-6), LP: Richard (3-2), SV: Soria (12)
KC Home Runs: Olivo (13)
Royals Record: 35-46 / Record in July 2-3

What is this offense that you speak of? The Royals had 14 hits—eight of which came from the top three hitters. The bottom of the order wasn’t bad either. Brayan Pena and Alberto Callaspo were a combined 3-for-7 with 2 RBI and a walk.

Brian Bannister is quietly putting together a solid season and he picked up another win today. At 6-6 with a 3.87 ERA he fits into the rotation nicely. Joakim Soria is starting to look like his old self again. And the bullpen in general hasn’t been bad the last couple of days.

You just never know which version of this team is going to show up from one day to the next. But at least they found a way to even the series with the White Sox. They’ll begin a new series in Detroit tomorrow night.

Gil Meche (4-8, 4.20) will go up against Armando Galarrago (5-7, 5.34). Meche is 8-5 in his career against the Tigers with a 3.79 ERA in 114.0 IP. Galarraga is 2-0 against the Royals with a 1.80 ERA in 20.0 IP.

Royals Trade Rumors

2009-07-04T18:44:00.001-05:00

Buster Olney made the following observation on his blog today about a possible trade between Atlanta and Kansas City:

The Braves and the Royals match like puzzle pieces in a possible [Yunel] Escobar deal. The Royals want and need a shortstop. The Braves could use someone like Mark Teahen, who could give Atlanta great flexibility. Teahen, a solid veteran hitter, could play third in place of Jones, or start in left field or right field, or first base, or even second base. If the Braves required the Royals to take on some money, then Francoeur could be added to the trade; Dayton Moore, the Kansas City GM, has known Francoeur for years and coveted him, and he could use the last months of this season to evaluate him. The Braves could use another middle reliever; the Royals have Juan Cruz and Ron Mahay, pieces that Atlanta knows well. Moore knows the Braves' farm system. A lot of elements in place here.

Remember the last time Dayton Moore made a trade with Atlanta for a shortstop? Looking at Escobar’s numbers, it’s not really fair to compare him to TPJ though. In 296 games in Atlanta, he’s hit 22 HR with 130 RBI. His career OBP is .369. And at 26, he seems to be on the verge of establishing himself as a solid shortstop for years to come. In my opinion, Mark Teahen would be too much to give up for him though. A package deal might make more sense.

What are you thoughts?

Hochevar Picks up the Win

2009-07-04T18:29:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 4, 2009
Chicago @ Kansas City
Royals 6, White Sox 4 / Box Score
WP: Hochevar (4-3), LP: Floyd (6-6), SV: Soria (11)
KC Home Runs: B. Pena (2)
Royals Record: 34-46 / Record in July 1-3

Luke Hochevar was far from stellar this afternoon. In fact, usually when one of our starting pitcher gives up four earned runs it’s as good as a loss, but not today. We got a nice mix of timely hitting, situational hitting, a good effort from our bullpen, and even a long ball. It’s hard to get excited about one game, but let’s hope there’s a little carry over for the game tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon, Brian Bannister (5-6, 3.93) will go up against Clayton Richard (3-1, 4.48). Bannister is 2-4 in his career against the White Sox with an 8.15 ERA in 49.2 IP. Richard is 1-1 against the Royals with a 4.15 ERA in 17.1 IP.

It’s the Same Game Over and Over

2009-07-04T03:28:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 3, 2009
Chicago @ Kansas City
White Sox 5, Royals 0 / Box Score
WP: Danks (7-6), LP: Greinke (10-4), SV: Linebrink (2)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 33-46 / Record in July 0-3

I didn’t see a single pitch of this game. I was at Rosenblatt Stadium all day and part of the night. But when I looked at the score, I figured it was pretty much more of the same: no offense, a costly defensive blunder or two, and decent starting pitching. I looked up the numbers and what do you know . . . six hits, no runs, an error that led to two runs, and a quality start from Zack Greinke.

It’s the same game over and over again.

So, should Dayton Moore and/or Trey Hillman be fired? I don’t know. We’ve had so many injuries and a couple of guys are having bad years. But someone should be accountable for this atrocious defense.

Obviously, when you’re putting a team together during the offseason, you cannot completely ignore defense.

Again, I know that we’ve had some injuries, but at one time Alberto Callaspo was considered a viable option at second base. He’s one of the worst fielding second basemen I’ve ever seen. He might even be the absolute worst I’ve ever seen. What in the world did the Royals see in Callaspo that made them believe he could might be an everyday second baseman one day?

Billy Butler is better than he was last season, but I still don’t think he’s good enough in the field to warrant playing the field. But we can’t play Mike Jacobs there, so we’re kind of stuck with Butler.

And that brings us to Jose Guillen. His knees just won’t allow him to be a decent defensive player.

So, the entire right side of the field is sub-par and opponents continue to expose it as such. That’s just not acceptable.

And what about the offense? Someone should be accountable for this atrocious offense. They are one run from sharing the honors of scoring the fewest runs in the AL with Seattle. And they are dead last in the AL in OBP.

Thankfully, the starting rotation remains fairly solid. Imagine how bad this team would be without starting pitching.

Tomorrow afternoon, Luke Hochevar (3-3, 4.96) will go up against Gavin Floyd (6-5, 4.12). Hochevar is 0-2 in his career against the White Sox with a 4.50 ERA in 22.0 IP. Floyd is 1-4 against the Royals with a 4.35 ERA in 39.1 IP.

Alex Gordon makes a stop in Omaha

2009-07-03T17:20:00.007-05:00

Alex Gordon was available to the media this afternoon at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. I wrote an article for Examiner.com about what he said regarding his hip injury and how he's feeling ten weeks removed from his surgery on April 17. Here's a link. At the end of the article, I included video footage of Gordon taking BP indoors (it was raining in Omaha at the time).

John Buck, Alex Gordon in Omaha

2009-07-03T09:45:00.005-05:00

A couple of notes about the Omaha Royals:

John Buck continued to look good in his rehab stint in Omaha. He hit a home run last night and he was behind the plate making throws to second and looking good as new. I snapped this photo of him resting between innings next to Brandon Duckworth (the starter last night):

Alex Gordon mania is running wild in Omaha today. He’s scheduled to play one game here before moving on to NW Arkansas on his rehab assignment. I’m planning to be at Rosenblatt this afternoon to cover it. In fact, in the future, most of the writing I do about the Omaha Royals will be on the Examiner.com website. I'm the new Omaha Royals Examiner for the site. My first article, about Rosenblatt Stadium, is posted up there now.

Buehrle Outduels Chen

2009-07-03T09:44:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 2, 2009
Chicago @ Kansas City
White Sox 4, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Buehrle (8-2), LP: Chen (0-2), SV: Jenks (19)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 33-45 / Record in July 0-2

I hate to see Mark Buehrle’s name on the probable starter list against Kansas City. He’s made a living against the Royals, winning his 20th game against us last night. He works fast naturally and that just makes our offense look even more inept at fast forward speed. Very few Royals stepped out against him and he had them reaching at pitcher’s pitches all night.

Bruce Chen wasn’t bad; he just wasn’t good enough. But I liked what I saw. I don’t know if he has enough speed variance between his fastball (which topped out around 89 mph) and his change up (somewhere between 76-80), but the White Sox took a lot of poor looking swings against his change, so it must have been enough.

I didn’t really understand the two base running errors by Willie Bloomquist and Mark Teahen—normally two good base runners. After the game Hillman said, “You gotta be able to check and pick up the ball when you're in motion like that.” So, why didn’t they?

The top of the order (the first four guys) was just 2-for-15 and that pretty much tells the story. As a team, the Royals didn’t draw a single walk. But Mark Buehrle is good. We know that. We’ve heard that. And we’ll continue to hear that every time he faces us.

It was funny to see Buehrle throw the ball back to the dugout after getting Mark Teahen out late in the game. Teahen is 22-for-50 against Buehrle and he had two more two hits last night. So getting him out must have felt like a milestone moment for Buehrle—enough so that he made a little fun of himself. I like that.

Tonight, Zack Greinke (10-3, 1.95) goes up against John Danks (6-6, 4.08). Greinke is 5-8 in his career against the White Sox with a 4.20 ERA in 111.1 IP. Danks is 1-0 against the Royals with a 3.25 ERA in 36.0 IP.

Twins Take the Series

2009-07-02T10:49:00.001-05:00

Game Date: July 1, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Twins 5, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Perkins (4-4), LP: Meche (4-8), SV: Nathan (21)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 33-44 / Record in July 0-1

The good news was, Gil Meche’s velocity was back where it should be. The bad news was, he lost anyway, despite pitching relatively well. His pitch count (121) was too high for six innings and he walked too many guys (5), but he only gave up two earned runs.

At the plate, the Royals had 12 hits and managed to score only one run. That’s hard to do. And what’s even more bizarre is, Billy Butler was 4-for-4 in the three hole and he didn’t drive in a single run even though the two guys ahead of him had three hits between them.

Unfortunately, we found out before the game that Mike Aviles is going to have Tommy John surgery next week and he’ll be gone for the rest of the season. With the injuries and losses piling up, this could be a long summer.

Tonight, Bruce Chen (0-1, 5.68) will go up against Mark Buehrle. Chen is 0-1 in his career against the White Sox with a 5.66 ERA in 20.2 IP. Buehrle is 1908 against the Royals with a 3.48 ERA in 258.1 IP.

Another Tough Loss

2009-07-01T09:48:00.001-05:00

Game Date: June 30, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Twins 2, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Baker (6-6), LP: Bannister (5-6), SV: Nathan (20)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 33-43 / Record in June 10-16

If official scorekeeper really wanted to tag somebody with this loss, he wouldn’t have given it to Brian Bannister.

He would have given it to Billy Butler. His errant throw toward second base in the sixth inning on what should have been a double play but instead the ball ended up in the outfield which led to the winning run for the Twins. Or he would have given it to the Royals offense which never could get a timely hit or even productive outs. Or he would have given it to Dayton Moore or Trey Hillman—whoever made the decision to carry 96 weak hitting infielders on our roster so we could pinch hit them for each other.

After the game, Hillman had this to say about Bannister getting the loss: “It adds a little insult to it, no doubt,” Hillman said. “You can’t not produce in the two major areas that we didn’t—and that’s defensively and offensively—getting the big hit and making routine plays.”

In other news, Alex Gordon is set to make a rehab appearance for the Omaha Royals on Friday night. He’ll be the DH. I plan to be there to snap some photos on the field and hopefully get in on the interview process. He’s never played for the Omaha Royals and it looks like it might be a one time thing since Omaha goes on the road on Saturday. Gordon will go to NW Arkansas after the game in Omaha.

And in totally unrelated news, has anybody seen the numbers that Jeremy Affeldt is putting up this season? He has pitched 18 straight innings without allowing a run; he also has 16 holds and a 1.48 ERA. And we thought we made a great deal when we sent Affeldt and Denny Bautista to Colorado for Ryan Shealy and Scott Dohmann.

Back to the current series. This afternoon, Gil Meche (4-7, 4.27) will go up against Glen Perkins (3-4, 4.70). Meche is 8-5 in his career against the Twins with a 4.62 ERA in 103.1 IP. Perkins is 0-0 against the Royals with a 4.40 ERA in 14.1 IP.

Hochevar Tosses Seven Shutout Innings

2009-06-29T22:59:00.002-05:00

Game Date: June 29, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Royals 4, Twins 2 / Box Score
WP: Hochevar (3-3), LP: Blackburn (6-4), SV: Soria (10)
KC Home Runs: Olivo (12), Callaspo (5)
Royals Record: 33-42 / Record in June 10-15

The entire day had a damper on it after news began to surface that the Royals may be looking to move players since their season has been disappointing thus far. In reality, I can’t see Dayton Moore getting much more than prospects for most of the guys he might be able to move, with a couple of exceptions. And besides, doing so is an admission that he was wrong about the choices he’s made when he put this team together. He didn’t bring all these guys to Kansas City, but he did choose to keep all of them here.

I’m not in the mood to see a bunch of guys who don’t belong at the big league level playing out the year in Kansas City simply because Moore wants to dump salary and start over again. Royals fans have already suffered too long with make shift line ups and line ups that didn’t really contain big leaguers. We don’t want to see that again. At least I don’t.

Okay, I got that off my chest.

I was at the Omaha Royals game tonight, so I didn’t see much of the game in Kansas City. I could see a small TV in the press box that was showing the game, but it wasn’t quite close enough for me to have one eye on Kansas City and one on Omaha. I did follow along on Game Day and saw the updates come through Twitter.

One thing I know is that Hochevar was battling his control early in the game. He walked several guys and then it seemed like he figured something out. Or course, the most important thing is, he figured out a way to keep the Twins off the scoreboard for seven innings.

Meanwhile the offense had 12 hits, including two solo home runs. Not bad. They didn’t score a ton of runs, but enough. And the Royals have now won two games in a row. Any kind of positive streak feels good right now.

The Omaha Royals game looked quite similar tonight. They defeated Albuquerque 2-0 behind a strong starting effort by Lenny DiNardo—who also threw seven shutout innings.

John Buck was the DH for Omaha and he looked pretty good at the plate. He singled in his first at bat to drive in a run in the first inning. He made the third out of the inning when he tried to stretch the single into a double, but the run had already scored. In his other at bats, he seemed to be right on the ball—fouling several straight back and hitting a couple of others right at fielders. He also struck out once after fouling a number of pitches off.

Tomorrow night in Kansas City, Brain Bannister (5-5, 4.17) will go up against Scott Baker (5-6, 5.17). Bannister is 3-1 in his career against the Twins with a 3.60 ERA in 45.0 IP. Baker is 5-3 against the Royals with a 3.03 ERA in 68.1 IP.

Royal Trade Rumors, Meche’s Arm, Quirk on MLB

2009-06-29T13:00:00.001-05:00

Bob Dutton said the following in the Star this morning: “The buzz on the rumor mill is that the Royals are openly offering some veteran players in response to their disappointing season. Names making the rounds include David DeJesus, Mark Teahen, Kyle Davies, Brian Bannister and virtually all of their relievers.” To deal DeJesus, Teahen, or Bannister right now would seem to me to be a huge regression.

We should know more about Gil Meche’s dead arm today. Meche’s velocity was down to 87-88 mph in his last start. Dutton says that if Meche can’t make his start on Wednesday that Sidney Ponson would be his likely replacement. I don’t like the sound of that.

Lorraine DelliCarpini, media relations manager at the MLB Network, sent me an email today letting me know that Jamie Quirk will be a guest analyst on MLB Network’s “MLB Tonight” tonight and tomorrow starting at 7:00 PM CT. If you have the MLB Network, check it out.

Greinke Wins Number 10

2009-06-29T12:44:00.001-05:00

Game Date: June 28, 2009
Kansas City @ Pittsburgh
Royals 3, Pirates 2 / Box Score
WP: Greinke (10-3), Morton (0-1), SV: Soria (9)
KC Home Runs: DeJesus (6)
Royals Record: 32-42 / Record in June 9-15

Too bad the rain stopped the game for a while in the seventh inning. I’m always interested in seeing Zack Greinke going deeper in the game whenever possible. But his efforts, along with solid bullpen help, were enough.

The Royals sure didn’t manage much offense, but David DeJesus drove in two, including hitting a solo home run. I know it’s late June, and I know that DeJesus is hitting just .239, but with him back at the top of the line up—presumably for the rest of the season with Coco Crisp out—I really do expect his numbers to improve drastically.

It’s always fun to see Greinke hitting. He hit a double in the seventh inning. You almost wonder if Hillman shouldn’t use him as a pinch hitter sometimes given the light hitting bench players he often has to choose from. Yeah, it’s ridiculous, but still . . .

The Royals open a new series at home tonight at home against the Twins. Luke Hochevar (2-3, 5.87) will go up against Nick Blackburn (6-3, 3.11). Hochevar is 0-1 in his career against the Twins with an 8.44 ERA in 5.1 IP. Blackburn is 1-0 against the Royals with a 2.00 ERA in 18.0 IP.

Chen Unable to Stop the Pirates

2009-06-28T12:44:00.002-05:00

Game Date: June 27, 2009
Kansas City @ Pittsburgh
Pirates 6, Royals 2 / Box Score
WP: Maholm (5-4), Chen (0-1)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 31-42 / Record in June 8-15

I don’t think anybody envisioned the Royals being 3-8 against NL competition since sweeping the Reds in the middle of the month, but that’s the reality we face going into the game today. So many poorly played games. So many blowouts. It wears on a fan. But yet, we continue to hope that things will change in the next series. Because that’s what we do. We hold out hope.

We still have one more game in this series to play though.

Last night, Bruce Chen didn’t look awful. His missed badly with a change up to Delwyn Young in the fourth inning and Young smashed a three-run home run. You sort of had the sense then that we weren’t going to win this one. But Chen hung in there. He didn’t walk anybody. He made a great defensive play on a bunt. We could do worse at the back end of the rotation.

The bats were relatively silent again. Willie Bloomquist and Billy Butler had two hits each, but the rest of the team only managed three more hits. We only drew one walk—and that was Bruce Chen.

I’m anxious for the Royals to finish off this miserable stretch of games against the NL. I don’t know why though, really. I guess because I’m like any other fan. Things might just turn around with the next series.

Meche Lacks Command, Loses His Seventh

2009-06-27T10:02:00.001-05:00

Game Date: June 26, 2009
Kansas City @ Pittsburgh
Pirates 5, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Vasquez (1-0), LP: Meche (4-7), SV: Capps (17)
KC Home Runs: Teahen (9)
Royals Record: 31-41 / Record in June 8-14

I only caught bits and pieces of this game, but it seemed like every time I looked up, somebody for the Pirates was launching a home run. I’m not too concerned about solo shots. I’d rather see a pitcher going after a guy and giving up a long ball every once in a while instead of seeing him nibbling and ultimately walking guys before giving up the home run. Two of the Pirates’ home runs were solo shots. One was a two-run shot.

Gil Meche gave up the two-run shot and a solo shot. My bigger concern was his lack of command. Here’s what he said afterward:

“I hadn’t felt real smooth out there, obviously. Tonight was terrible. Just didn’t feel great, didn't have good arm speed, couldn’t locate—pretty much the same story as the last start.”

I can’t speak much about the offense since I missed so much of the game. I could mention the base-running debacle in the second inning, but unfortunately we’re used to that by now, even though such things still grate on my nerves.

Tonight, Bruce Chen will make his debut with the Royals. He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2006. He’ll go up against Paul Maholm (4-4, 4.48). Chen is 1-3 in his career against the Pirates with a 4.15 ERA in 30.1 IP. Maholm is 0-1 against the Royals with a 12.45 ERA in 4.1 IP.

Royals Can’t Complete the Sweep

2009-06-25T23:53:00.001-05:00

Game Date: June 25, 2009
Kansas City @ Houston
Astros 5, Royals 4 / Box Score
WP: Wright (2-1), LP: Bannister (5-5), SV: Valverde (6)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 31-40 / Record in June 8-13

This loss was a result of three things:

1. Brian Bannister not quite having the control he needed.

2. Lance Berkman taking advantage of Banny’s poor control by hitting two two-run home runs.

3. Failure by the Royals to take full advantage of an atrocious defensive game by the Astros, during which they committed three errors.

Mark Teahen had a nice game, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. And David DeJesus drew a walk, scored a run, and saw 28 pitches in four plate appearances—which isn’t too bad considering he didn’t even have a hit. But the Royals only managed six hits and generally speaking that’s not going to win you many ball games.

At least we won this series.

Now it’s on to Pittsburgh. Gil Meche (4-6, 4.11) will go up against Charlie Morton (0-0, 3.00) tomorrow night. Neither pitcher has faced the other team.

Royals Win a Bizarre Game

2009-06-24T23:59:00.007-05:00

Game Date: June 24, 2009
Kansas City @ Houston
Royals 4, Astros 3 / Box Score
WP: Soria (2-0), LP: Fulchino (2-3), SV: Bale (1)
KC Home Runs: Pena (1), Olivo (11)
Royals Record: 31-39 / Record in June 8-12

So much to talk about in this one:

Dave Owen got Mitch Maier thrown out at home in the third inning by waving him home on an attempted inside the park home run. There was no reason for it since Maier was leading off the inning. Granted, Luke Hocehvar was up next, but David DeJesus flew out to center after that. Owen’s track record of getting guys thrown out at home this season is not good. Maybe it’s time to move him to first base and give Rusty a shot at third, huh?
Luke Hochevar looked incredibly sharp. His breaking stuff had a ton of movement and he kept the ball down for the most part. He eventually gave up a two-run home run to Darin Erstad, but that was after Alberto Callaspo didn’t field a double-play ball cleanly and wound up only getting one out.
With the Royals trailing 2-1 in the ninth and a guy on first with one out, Mike Jacobs launched a ball to left field that wrapped around one of those crazy outfield walls in Houston and deflected into Jason Michaels’ glove. He made it look like he caught the ball but after the umpires had a discussion they determined that the ball had indeed deflected off the wall. Good job by the umpires getting the call correct. But it bugged me that Jacobs wasn’t on second base. He couldn’t have been running hard and as a consequence he kept the double play in order for Houston. Thankfully, DeJesus picked him up by singling in a run to tie the game.
In the Royals’ half of the tenth, Pudge Rodriguez apparently accused Brayan Pena of peeking back to see where he was set up and Pena went on to hit a solo home run. If Pena did indeed do it, you really can’t defend that sort of thing. It just shouldn’t be done. I couldn’t tell on the replay if he was guilty or not, but Pudge sure seemed to think so. Trey Hillman removed Pena from that game before the bottom half of the inning—did he do so to keep the situation from escalating since Rodriguez was leading off the next inning?
In the bottom half of the inning, Rodriguez raced home after a single and Jose Guillen had a chance to throw him out, but for some reason Miguel Olivo came way up the right field line and left the plate wide open for Rodriguez. Sure enough, Rodriguez slid in safely to tie the game again. Both Olivo and John Buck continue to do this and I really don’t understand why. Neither have shown a lack of desire to take a hit in the past so you have to wonder if this isn’t something the Royals are teaching catchers, but if that’s the case, the obvious answer is why?
And since I’m asking a lot of questions: What is the deal with Joakim Soria? He blew another save and he still doesn’t look right. He has a good ERA (2.16), but you don’t feel secure when he’s in the game like we did when he entered games last season.
In a bizarre twist of events, Miguel Olivo crushed a ball over the left center field wall in the top of the eleventh and that run held up when John Bale retired the Astros 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning for Bale’s first save.

Lots of craziness in this one. But a win is a win. Now let’s hope the Royals can complete the sweep tomorrow. Brian Bannister (5-4, 3.89) will go up against Brian Moehler (4-4, 6.43). Bannister has never faced the Astros. Moehler is 2-1 against the Royals in his career with a 4.62 ERA in 39.0 IP.

Greinke Wins His Ninth Game

2009-06-23T23:06:00.001-05:00

Game Date: June 23, 2009
Kansas City @ Houston
Royals 2, Astros 1 / Box Score
WP: Greinke (9-3), LP: Ortiz (3-3), SV: Soria (8)
KC Home Runs: Butler (7)
Royals Record: 30-39 / Record in June 7-12

So Trey Hillman pulled a La Russa tonight and hit Zack Greinke eighth. It’d didn’t backfire on him, nor did it help much. Both Greinke and Mitch Meier, who hit ninth, were 0-for-3. Greinke had a good night on the mound though, pitching eight strong innings and picking up his ninth win of the season.

After Billy Butler crushed a solo home run in the third inning to give the Royals a 2-1 lead, I didn’t think it would hold up, but it did. Greinke didn’t have great control of his fastball, but he was able to get outs when he needed them. And the defense wasn’t horrible behind him. At least they didn’t commit any errors.

Joakim Soria wasn’t exactly stellar in the ninth inning. He gave up a single to Miguel Tejada and another single to Lance Berkman. But he got two big strikeouts and a ground out to end the game.

The Royals needed this win. They haven’t won a game since last Tuesday when they beat the Diamondbacks 5-0 in the first game of that series. Since then they have been outscored 53-21. Let’s hope they can win one of the next two in Houston to capture this series.

Tomorrow night, Luke Hochevar (2-3, 6.61) goes up against Roy Oswalt (3-4, 4.48). Hochevar has never faced the Astros. Oswalt is 1-0 in his career against the Royals with a 1.13 ERA in 8.0 IP.