Royal Impressions

Royals: Consistantly Inconsistant

2008-08-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

I think we have all come to the conclusion that the Royals are seemingly always hot or cold. Here is some data to show just how streaky the Royals have been this year.

March 31st-April 9th: 6-2
April 10th-April 24th: 3-11 (including a 7 game losing streak)
April 25th-May 4th: 5-3
May 5th-May 10th: 1-5
May 11th-May 18th: 6-1
May 19th-June 11th: 4-19 (including a 12 game losing streak)
June 12th-June 27th: 12-2 (including a a 5 and 6 game winning streak)
June 28th-July 9th: 3-9
July 10th-July 20th: 5-2
July 21-July 26th: 1-5
July 27th-Aug 4th: 7-1
Aug 5th-Aug 12th: 1-5

Pardon the Interruption

2008-07-23T11:39:00.001-07:00

School this summer took up the majority of my time so I havn't been able to post, my last class is tomorrow so hopefully I can get back to some regular posting.

Brett Tomko designated; Rosa called up

2008-06-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

Dick Kaegel of MLB.com reports that the Royals have designated for assignment Brett Tomko; the Royals have 10 days to place him on waivers, trade, release, or he could accept a minor league assignment.

Tomko sprinkled some pretty good starts in with his mostly terrible ones, however he has been just awful since moving to the bullpen. In relief Tomko went 0-1 with a blown save in 4.2 innings, he allowed 12 hits, 9 runs, and 3 home runs.

Taking Tomko's spot on the roster is Carlos Rosa. Rosa, the Royals 6th rated prospect, has split time between AA and AAA this season and has been good to great at both levels with a combined 62/11 ratio in K/BB in 70 innings.

I'm not at all surprised at Tomko's release, just surprised it took so long...he was this years Angel Berroa. It is some what a surprise to see Rosa get the call as he has only seen 25 innings at AAA Omaha, but then again looking at the Royals 40-man roster he is about the only one that makes any sense at all.

Should the Royals look to trade Greinke?

2008-06-01T17:03:00.001-07:00

Ken Rosenthal in his latest Full Count video blog thinks that the Royals might entertain offers for Zack Greinke. That might come as a shock to most Royals fans who are anxiously waiting for Moore and Glass to sign Greinke to a long-term extension, but Rosenthal does make some sense.

The Royals, while not exactly out of the race, find themselves struggling to play .400 ball. The good news, I suppose, is that the division is really down this year and despite the horrid play of late the Royals are still only 7.5 games behind the White Sox. The problem is this team lacks offense in a big way and there isn't much (if any) help in Omaha or Arkansas.

First lets look at the sorry state of the Royals AAA and AA teams and see what is going on that would require such a drastic move. Starting in Omaha most of the teams offense is coming from Royals retreads, such as Shane Costa, Angel Berroa, Jason Smith, and Ryan Shealy; that group accounts for 60% of the teams home runs and 48% of the teams RBI (not counting Aviles' numbers who is now on the Royals roster).

Also sitting in Omaha are former 1st round picks Mitch Maier, Chris Lubanski, and newly demoted Billy Butler. Butler will rejoin the Royals soon and Maier could be a useful bench player; as for Lubanski the jury is still out, he certainly isn't knocking down the door for a call-up.

Things in Arkansas are even worse as there are perhaps only two players who might be considered prospects at this point. Kila Kaaihue has been solid and Brian McFall is holding his own. This duo accounts for exactly 50% of the teams total home runs and the team is in the bottom third in AVG/OBP/SLG.

Without much coming up from the pipeline it then becomes a possibility that trading Greinke could be good for the future of this team. The question then becomes what could the Royals hope to get in return for their ace. As comparison I'm going to look at what teams got for their front of the line starters the past couple of years and see if that sort of return could be expected.

Johan Santana to the Mets
Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra to the Twins.

-The Mets gave up their 3-6th best prospects to land perhaps the best pitcher in baseball. Is Greinke comparable to Santana? He is this year and he is younger and far cheaper.

Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Eduardo Morlan to the Rays
Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, and Jason Pridie to the Twins

-Matt Garza certainly isn't the pitcher Greinke is but he did net the Twins a former 1st overall pick back in Young.

Dan Haran and Conner Robertson to the Diamondbacks
Brett Anderson, Dana Eveland ,Greg Smith, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham and Carlos Gonzalez.

-Eveland and Smith are in the rotation and pitching well and Gonzalez, Carter, Cunningham and Anderson are in the A's top 10 prospects list.

Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota to the Red Sox
Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Jesus Delgado, and Harvey Garcia to the Marlins.

-This trade worked well for both teams, Ramirez is perhaps the best shortstop in baseball and Sanchez has already tossed a no-hitter.

As you can see there is some incentive for a rebuilding (yes,I said it) team to trade away a star pitcher for prospects but it isn't without danger, after all they are just prospects. Dayton Moore would have to find a team that is in win mode now and would be willing to part with several of their top prospects, so which teams are candidates?

New York Yankees: The Yankees are 20th in baseball in team ERA and find themselves in 4th place in the East. Brian Cashman has put more emphasis on keeping the farm system together, does Hank Steinbrenner step in and push for a trade?

Top Prospects:

1.Joba Chamberlain, rhp
2.Austin Jackson, of
3.Jose Tabata, of
4.Ian Kennedy, rhp
5.Alan Horne, rhp
6.Jesus Montero, c
7.Jeff Marquez, rhp
8.Brett Gardner, of
9.Ross Ohlendorf, rhp
10.Andrew Brackman, rhp

Texas Rangers: The Rangers have stockpiled talent over the past couple of years and now find themselves only 5 games back of the division leading Angels. Do they make a trade to bolster their 28th ranked pitching?

Top Prospects:

1.Elvis Andruz, ss
2.Chris Davis, 3b
3.Eric Hurley, rhp
4.Taylor Teagarden, c
5.Neftali Feliz, rhp
6.Michael Main, rhp
7.Kasey Kiker, lhp
8.Blake Beavan, rhp
9.Julio Borbon, of
10.Engel Beltre, of

Cincinnati Reds: The Reds are in a distant 4th in the NL Central but have the talent to compete with some help to their 23rd ranked pitching. Problem for the reds is Dunn is a free agent and their best talent is very young. Do they try to win now or continue to build through the system?

Top Prospects:

1.Jay Bruce, of
2.Homer Bailey, rhp
3.Joey Votto, 1b/of
4.Johnny Cueto, rhp
5.Drew Stubbs, of
6.Devin Mesoraco, c
7.Todd Frazier, ss
8.Juan Francisco, 3b
9.Josh Roenicke, rhp
10.Matt Maloney, lhp

Losing streak comes to an end

2008-05-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

The streak is finally over and it only took a recall of Minor League pitcher Kyle Davies to do it... well not entirely but it didn't hurt. Davies making his first start of the year earned his second career victory at the K by going 5 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits. Not the best pitching performance we have seen this year but it was enough.

The Royals offense did just enough to beat reigning AL Cy Young award winner. DeJesus had a big night hitting his 4th home run to give the Royals a 1-0 lead in the third. The offense tacked on three more runs thanks to key hits from Buck, DeJesus, and Grudz.

Hillman did about everything he could to end this streak. He took Davies out after 5 innings and 100 pitches, Mahey pitched 1.1 innings, followed by Peralta for .2 innings, and Soria closed out the game by pitching the final 2 innings.

Look at the '08 draft

2008-05-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

With the Royals in an 11-game loosing streak, and find themselves an ugly 9.5 games out of first, I figure it would probably be healthy to look at something other than the Royals box score.

The draft is a tough thing to predict, nobody really knows who is going where, and teams are throwing out names to throw other teams off their guy. There is however, a general consensus on who the top guys are.

Buster Posey:

Position: Catcher
School: Junior at Florida State University
Birthdate: 03/27/1987
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 200 lbs
Bats: Right
Throws: Right

Posey is considered to be a gap-to-gap guy with occasional power to left field. He has good knowledge of the strike-zone and isn't afraid to take a walk. Posey is a versatile defender, only recently moving to catcher which means he has some work to do back there. He has an average to below average arm. He is projected to remain as a catcher at the Major League level which raises his stock.

Tim Beckham:

Position: Shortstop
School: Senior at Griffin High School
Birthdate: 01-27-1990
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190 lbs
Bats: Right
Throws: Right

Beckham is projected to have average power, but he has some flaws in his swing and could take awhile to develop fully. Beckham has good speed and is projected to have the tools to remain at shortstop. Labeled as a five-tool player Beckham will be hard to pass on but he does have a lot of work to do, particularly at the plate.

Pedro Alvarez:

Position: Third base
School: Junior at Vanderbilt University
Birthdate: 07/18/1987
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 225
Bats: Left
Throws: Right

Alvarez is considered a safe bet to be a productive hitter at the Major League level, he should hit for a solid average with average power to develop. It is somewhat a question mark on whether or not he can play third in the bigs as he has limited range and average arm; could be a future first baseman. Alvarez is a high energy guy that should move through any system quickly.

Justin Smoak:

Position: First Base
School: Junior at the University of South Carolina
Birthdate: 12/05/1986
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 215
Bats: Switch
Throws: Left

Smoak is a big guy with a good bat, he is projected to be a 30-40 home run guy in the Majors and will also hit for a good average. Smoak is very limited defensively and is slow on the base paths. Smoak will either be a below average first baseman or a DH at the big league level but his bat will carry him.

Eric Hosmer:

Position: First Base
School: Senior at American Heritage High School
Birthdate: 10/24/1989
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 210 lbs
Bats: Left
Throws: Left

Hosmer is a big left-handed bat who projects to hit for good average and plenty of power. Hosmer is good defensively and has a good throwing arm at first, but lacks speed on the base paths. Hosmer is considered to be the best high school bat in the draft and should move fairly quickly through the minors for a high school kid.

Aaron Crow:

Position: Starting Pitcher
School: Junior at the University of Missouri
Birthdate: 11/11/1986
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 195 lbs
Bats: Right
Throws: Right

Crow is a big right hander who has three plus pitches; a fastball that reaches 96, a hard slider, and a change-up. He has good command, especially with the fastball, and maintains his velocity well. Crow is aggressive and is perhaps the best college arm in the draft.

Brian Matusz:

Position: Starting Pitcher
School: Junior at the University of San Diego
Birthdate: 02/11/1987
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 200 lbs
Bats: Left
Throws: Right

Matusz has four pitches, all at least average. He throws a fastball in the low 90's, a slider, a plus change up, and his out pitch is a big curve. It has been noted that he doesn't work off his fastball as much as needed but he has good command and will throw any pitch at anytime. Matusz is argueably the top rated pitcher in the draft.

Roster Moves: Butler down, Aviles up

2008-05-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

We all expected some more roster moves but here is what we know so far. Billy Butler is being optioned to Omaha and Mike Aviles is being called up. Somewhat surprising, Butler hasn't been terrible but he has been struggling of late. Regarding Aviles about damn time, he has been tearing it up all year in Omaha, he will be starting tonight at shortstop.

More to come when on official release comes out.

Update: Here is the official release from Dick Kaegel. You have to figure there will be another move or two before to long, there are now 5 middle infielders on the 25-man roster...not good.

Update: There are now rumblings that Davies will be called up Saturday and Tomko will be moved to the pen. It appears Peralta will be the odd man out, or maybe Yabuta will see some time in Omaha.

Nunez to DL

2008-05-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

This news came out late last night but I was busy trying to ignore all things Royals after the game.

Mark Dent of MLB.com reports that Nunez was added to the 15-day disabled list because of a right lat strain. This is a huge blow to the Royals bullpen as Nunez has been lights-out in the set-up role this year posting a 3-1 record and a 1.71 ERA.

To take Nunez' spot on the 25-man roster is Neal Musser. Musser has had an up and down season so far in Omaha, he is sporting an 0-4 record and a 3.07 ERA. The move, while not completely out of line, is a little strange because Musser now makes lefty number three in the bullpen. He is already on the 40-man roster so no move is needed to add him.

Hopefully this is the first of many moves the Royals will make in the next few days. Pena needs to take a little vacation in Omaha, but that would require him slipping through waivers but I think he would make it. Also Tomko needs to move to the pen and Davies should be called up to take his place.

Unbelievable

2008-05-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Last night's game was a new low, even for the Royals. In fact I had to wait to even post about it to avoid an expletive laden post, luckily Guillen provided the expletives after the game...more later.

So if you missed the game (good for you), but let me fill you in. Livan Hernandez, already 2-0 against the Royals was making his third start against our boys. The Royals loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the first-then Guillen hit into a double play and then Olivo popped out. Perfect I thought, 3 hits and 1 run...sounds about right for this club.

As it turned out that 1 run was just the start for the offense tonight, they really poured it on against Hernandez, in 6+ innings the Royals scored 8 runs off 13 hits. Greinke also showed up tonight, he pitched 8 innings giving up only 3 runs.

So this is the set-up: Top of 9 and the Royals are up 8-3. In comes dependable Ramon Ramirez and his 2.14 ERA to close the door. Ramirez quickly strikes out Cuddyer, then Kubel singles, but Ramirez comes back and strikes out Young-two outs, up 5 runs...good bye losing streak. Then Ramirez throws a wild pitch, lamb then singles...then Harris...then Gomez. Out comes Hillman, obviously Rarmirez doesn't have it tonight-time to bring in Sor..er wait, Peralta!?!?

Peralta vs Monroe, 2 outs,2 on with the score 8-5...no sweat right? Couldn't be more wrong, Monroe homers to tie the score. 8-8, oh...my...god. Top of 10 and Peralta comes back out and quickly gives up the game winning home run to Morneau. The Royals lose 9-8 in 10 innings.

This loss has to fall on Hillman's shoulders, sure Soria pitched in back to back games but you need to bring in your closer in situations like this to put a streak to an end. Hillman, in the postgame, said that "I’m not willing to possibly jeopardize the rest of the season with one of the biggest strengths on our club", in reference to not bringing in Soria.

That wasn't the only curious decision Hillman made, DeJesus was pulled because of "hives" and he was replaced in right field by Gload. Why not put Gload at first and put Teahen in right field...he is the right fielder. That decision is curious because Gload failed to make a play on a fairly easy play in shallow right field which could of easily been the third out.

So on to Guillen, he had a few comments after the game, and I think they were much needed. “Too many babies in here,” Guillen fumed afterward in an otherwise hushed clubhouse. “They don’t know how to play the game and how to win games. That’s the problem here.
“Now I know why this organization has been losing for a while. Now I know. It doesn’t have anything to do with our manager. He cares more than anyone.”

It will be interesting to see how the Royals react to Guillens comments. It could fire them up and lead to some guys stepping up or it could alienate Guillen from all the "babies" in the clubhouse. I hope the players take these words to heart and step up because Guillen is absolutely right. These guys don't know how to win.

Who's to blame for the losing streak?

2008-05-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

First let me start off by saying that I have nothing groundbreaking to say here, I don't know why the Royals are playing like third graders and I don't know how to fix it-I'm just here to vent. So here is my list of people to blame for the streak.

1. Mark Teahen: 2-20 with 0 extra base hits, 1 RBI, and 7 walks. Teahen is a big guy (6'3" and 210 pounds) yet he has only 10 Extra base hits in 173 at bats. The Royals can not get that kind of production from a corner outfielder and get away with it.

2. Tony Pena jr: 3-21 with 0 extra base hits, 0 RBI, and 0 walks. I love the guys defense like everybody else but his production offensively is a real problem for this team.

3. Billy Butler: 4-26 with 0 extra base hits, 0 RBI, and 0 walks. The league has made their adjustments now it's up to Butler to counter. The kid is just to big to not drive the ball.

4. Mike Barnett: The Royals hitting instructor has to take some of the blame for the terrible production. The Royals are last in runs scored, home runs, and RBI. 26th in OBP and 29th in SLG.

5. Brian Bannister: He has had only 1 start during this streak but he has been pretty bad since the middle of April going 1-6, allowing 5 or more runs in 4 of those games.

6. Trey Hillman: Can you really blame the manager for a bad streak? As a fan, you bet I can. Hillman needs to instill some of his toughness on this team. Tony Musers' statement about a cookies and milk team has never fit any better. Marcum hit 3 batters Monday, nobody seemed to take offense.

7. Brett Tomko: Tomko has shown flashes of being decent this year but you wont find any evidence of that in his last 2 starts. 0-2, 10.1 IP allowing 11 ER.

8. Ross Gload: 1-11 with 0 extra-bats hits, 0 RBI, and 3 SO. So he hasn't played much but when he has he has been awful. "IchiGload" still hasn't seen a pitch he won't swing at.

9. Dayton Moore: Moore has gotten a lot of passes from fans and media but he needs to make a few roster moves to shake things up. If you aren't going to play like a Major Leaguer then you don't deserve to be on the 25-man roster.

10. Luke Hochaver: 0-2 in 12 innings, he has allowed 12 runs (8 earned) on 11 hits and 10 walks. Hochaver has pitched well, his only glaring problem is his walks. He allows far to many men on base and some bad defense has allowed those men to score.

Royals at Blue Jays (series II) Recap

2008-05-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

The bleeding continued for the Royals during their four game trip to Toronto. The Royals were swept handidly by the birds and the Royals come back to Kansas City riding an 8 game losing streak and are now a season high 7 games out of first.

Game 1: Zack Greinke had his first truly rough game of the year lasting only 5 innings while giving up 6 runs. Halladay on the other hand had no trouble with the Royals struggling line-up, he tossed a complete game allowing only 1 run on 4 hits. Guillen drove in the only run for the Royals with an RBI single in the first.

Player of the Game: Jose Guillin (this is almost charity at this point) he went 1 for 3 with an RBI.

Game 2: The Royals offense remained silent once again as the Royals were blanked by Jesse Litsch. Litsch threw Toronto's second consecutive complete game and he only needed 103 pitches to do it. Hochevar went his normal 6 innings giving up 4 runs.

Player of the Game: Mark Grudzielanek...umm, he did have 2 hits in four at bats.

Game 3: Meche provided the Royals with a goldon opportunity to break this streak but the bats are still playing dead as they only managed 1 run against McGowan. The good news is McGowan only went 7 innings...way to get that starter out early guys!

Player of the Game: John Buck he went 2 for 4...I've got nothing clever to say, this is just sad.

Game 4: It was a banner day for the Royals offense as they scored 2 runs today, that's right, sadly the Royals lost again. Shaun Marcum tossed 7.1 innings allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits. You just have to love being an opposing pitcher facing the Royals, you just know your ERA is going to drop by a point.

Player of the Game: Mark Teahen went 2 for 4 with an RBI-he raised his average to .249.

Look at the numbers:

The Royals are now 1-11 in four game series
The Royals were outscored 23-4
The Royals had 3 extra base hits in 128 at bats
The Royals had 2 walks in 134 plate apperances
The Royals defense had 3 errors, including Butlers first
The Royals pitching gave up 15 walks to 19 strike outs
The Royals are now 3-12 against the AL East

Royals @ Blue Jays (series II)

2008-05-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Royals (21-26) begin a four game set against the Blue Jays (24-25) tonight in Toronto. The Blue Jays are playing well and the Royals are reeling a little bit...could be a rough end to a rough road trip.

Game 1: Zack Greinke (5-1, 2.18 ERA) against Roy Halladay (4-5, 3.38 ERA)

Greinke has been the most consistent of the Royals starters thus far this season, he has yet to allow more than. His last time out, against Florida, he pitched 6 innings allowing 3 runs in picking up his 5th win. Lifetime Greinke is 1-2, with a 4.05 ERA; in his last outing against Toronto he picked up a no decision despite pitching 7 innings with only 1 run allowed. Kevin Mench has hit Greinke the best going 4 for 10 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI.

Halladay has been his normal spectacular self this season picking up a decision in every start. In his last start Halladay went 6.2 innings in picking up his 4th win. Lifetime Halladay is 7-3, with a 3.11 ERA; he has yet to face the Royals this season. The Royals are hitting a combined .113 against Halladay.

Game 2: Luke Hochevar (3-3, 4.29 ERA) against Jesse Litsch (5-1, 4.22 ERA)

Hochevar has been the Royals most consistent starter outside of Greinke, he has pitched at least 6 innings in every start except his first. In his last start he took the loss against Boston throwing 6 innings allowing 4 runs. Luke Hochevar won his only start against Toronto giving up only 1 run in 6 innings. Greg Zaun and Scott Rolen both are 1 for 2 with a double against Hochevar.

Litsch has been up and down for the Jays, mostly up however. Litsch won his last start against the Twins but only went 5.2 innings. He is 1-1 lifetime vs. the Royals with a 1.98 ERA, he picked up that win in his last outing against the Royals allowing 1 run in 7 innings. Teahen is 3 for 6 against Litsch in the past with a HR and RBI.

Game 3: Gil Meche (3-6, 5.58 ERA) against Dustin McGowan (2-4, 4.21 ERA)

Meche pitched well his last outing in Boston, yet picked up the loss. Meche is 4-5 with a 5.01 ERA lifetime against the Jays, and is 0-1 this year in one outing giving up 3 runs over 6.2 innings. Alexis Rios has given Meche fits going 10-13 against him in the past.

McGowan has been inconsistent so far this year for the Jays, especially in terms of innings per start but he has kept the score down fairly well. McGowan is 0-1 lifetime against the Royals and hasn't faced them this year. Alex Gordon is 3-3 with a HR and 2 RBI vs. McGowan.

Game 4: Brett Tomko (2-5, 5.76 ERA) against Shaun Marcum (4-3, 2.80 ERA)

Tomko continues his up and down season against the Blue Jays in which he is 2-0 with a 6.08 ERA. Tomko lost his last outing in Boston 3-6. Scott Rolen has done damage to Tomko in the past hitting .409 with a homer and 3 RBI.

Kansas City native Marcum has been really good this year, not allowing 4 runs in any start. He has also done well against the Royals with a career 2-1 record with a 1.05 ERA. Only Grudz has at least 2 hits in the past against Marcum as the Royals have a combined .114 BAA.

Royals at Red Sox (series I) recap

2008-05-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

The Royals took on the Red Sox in Boston for a four game set and were clearly no match. The Royals were swept in the four game series and now find themselves 5.5 games out of first.

Game 1: Luke Hochevar ran into some bad luck in his first start in Boston, first Grudz dropped an easy pop up which lead to a 5 run 3rd inning, and second he faced Jon Lester. Lester had little problem with the Royals allowing only a couple of walks in completing the first no-hitter against the Royals since 1973.

Player of the game: I've never done this, but you have to give credit where credit is due...Jon Lester, enough said.

Game 2: This is the one that got away...sort of. The Royals trailed the entire game as Meche allowed 2 early but the Royals had several chances to get a run across. The Royals left 13 men on base and none hurt more than when in the 8th the Royals stranded runners at 1st & 3rd with only 1 out.

Player of the game: Gil Meche, he pitched 7 innings allowing only 5 hits and 2 runs while striking out 8; he also picked up his 6th loss.

Game 3: Tomko started out well, allowing only 1 run through his first 4 innings. Things changed in the 5th when Tomko was hit for 4 runs-Tomko wouldn't see the 6th innings. Down 5-2 the punch less Royals offense was finished. What made this loss painful was that Bartolo Colon was making his first start of the year.

Player of the game: Alex Gordon, he went 1 for 2 with an RBI and 2 walks.

Game 4: The Royals offense finally showed up scoring 8 runs, thanks in large part to Guillin and Olivo. The bad news is that Bannister got hit hard giving up 7 runs in 5.1 innings, he also gave up his second gram slam of the year. Boston would hit another grand salomi as the cruised to an easy 11-8 win.

Player of the game: Miguel Olivo, he went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles and a home run and 5 RBI.

Royals recap

2008-05-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've been able to post anything here, I've been busy with finals and working on relaunching my other site BaseballPivot.com...which should launch within the week.

So the Royals have had an interesting couple of weeks since my last post, lets recap.

The Royals hit bottom on May 10th by falling 6 games under .500 by losing their 3rd straight game to Baltimore.

The Royals finally beat Baltimore 4-0 on the 11th behind 8 shutout innings from Bannister and a perfect 9th by Soria.

Starting with that last game against Baltimore KC goes on to sweep the Tigers and then take 2 of 3 against the Florida Marlins. The Royals won 6 of 7 and crawled within 1 game of .500.

John Buck becomes a proud papa of two. Buck and his wife Brooke are now proud parents giving birth to twin boys, Cooper and Brody. Buck missed the Florida series and rejoined the Royals in Boston.

Joakim Soria and the Royals agree to a contract extension that could go through 2014 and could be worth as much as $32,350,000. I think this is a great move by the Royals, it locks a guy in for the foreseeable future and the option years means the Royals won't get burned. I only hope the Royals get it together and get Greinke under contract...more on that later.

Jose Guillen wins AL player of the week...what? That's right, our very own Jose Guillen has finally gotten it together by hitting .458 with 5 doubles, 2 homers and 13 RBI over the past week, and all of this while being hurt...amazing.

Mark Teahen hits his second home run of the year. Is this really news? Well yes, Teahen hasn't hit a home run since April 3rd against the Tigers-some 141 AB's. This is a corner outfielder folks.

Jon Lester throws a no-hitter against the Royals as they fall to the Red Sox 7-0. It is the first no-hitter against the Royals since Nolan Ryan did it back in 1973. I watched the first 3 innings of the game and it didn't look like Lester was throwing all that well, but then again as bad as the Royals bats have been this year anything can happen.

So there you have it, some good and some bad, but interesting none the less.

Orioles @ Royals (series I)

2008-05-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

The Royals (15-18) face the Orioles (16-18) for the first time this season and it could be a good time for the Royals as the O's have lost 5 in a row.

Game 1: Daniel Cabrera (2-1, 4.06 ERA) against Luke Hochevar (2-1, 4.86 ERA)

Cabrera, now the Orioles ace, is pitching well so far this year allowing 3 runs or less in his last 5 starts. Cabrera has dominated the Royals in the past going 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA against them in 6 starts. Mark Teahen is 4 for 6 with an RBI in the past against Cabrera.

Luke Hochevar has won his last two starts throwing 6 innings in each allowing a combined 3 runs. Hochevar has never faced the Orioles.

Game 2: Steve Trachsel (1-4, 7.43 ERA) against Gil Meche (2-4, 5.98 ERA)

Steve Trachsel is in a rough patch for the Orioles, he has only gone 3 innings in his last 2 starts while allowing 10 runs. Trachsel has gone 1-3 in 9 starts against the Royals with a 4.81 ERA. Mark Grudzeilanek is 16 for 41 with 6 doubles and 3 RBI against Trachsel.

Gil Meche coming off his best start of the year looks to keep it going against the O's. In 15 previous starts Gil is 4-4 with a 2.95 ERA against the Orioles. Brian Roberts has given Meche fits in the past going 13-30 with 1 HR and 4 RBI.

Game 3: Garret Olson (1-0, 2.08 ERA) against Brett Tomko (1-3, 4.98 ERA)

Olson has two starts under his belt this season and has done well going 6 plus in each allowing a combined 3 runs. Olson has never faced the Royals.

Brett Tomko, like Meche, pitched his best start of the year his last outing throwing 7 shutout innings allowing only 2 hits. Tomko has no decisions against the Orioles in one start but has a 7.11 ERA. Kevin Millar is hitting .600 with 1 HR and 5 RBI against Meche.

Game 4: Brian Burres (3-3, 3.19 ERA0 against Brian Bannister (3-4, 4.46 ERA)

Brian Burres is pitching well allowing 3 runs or less in 6 of is 7 starts. Burres has only faced the Royals for one inning of relief and pitched a scoreless inning; only Jose Guillen has a hit against Burres, going 3 for 7.

Brian Bannister is struggling losing his last 4 outings and raising his ERA from .86 to 4.48. Bannister has never faced the Orioles.

Angels @ Royals (series II) Recap

2008-05-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

The Anaheim Angels (22-14) took two of three from the Royals (15-18) in Kansas City. The three game set concludes the season series for the two clubs, that's right, the Royals and Angels won't face each other this season.

Game 1: Brett Tomko threw his best game of the season, going 7 innings allowing 0 ER on 2 hits. Still the Royals lost the game 4-0 as Ervin Santana pitched a complete game shutout-allowing only 4 hits. Anderson, for the Angels, did most of the damage with a 9th inning 3-run shot off Joel Peralta.

Player of the game: Brett Tomko, looked amazing allowing only 2 hits and no runs in 7 innings while striking out a season high 7.

Game 2: Bannister had another rough start allowing 5 runs in 6.2 innings and the Royals struggled to score runs (surprise surprise) against rookie Adenhart as the Royals lost again 5-3. Bannister's problem for the second week in a row was the long ball as he gave up a 3-run shot to Anderson in the 4th that got the Angels rolling. The Royals had 4 doubles, 1 a piece by Gload, Gordon, Olivo, and Butler.

Player of the game: Alex Gordon went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, he also had a walk.

Game 3: The bats finally break out for the Royals as they beat the Angels 9-4 in the final game of the series. David DeJesus had a 3-run homer in the second, and Gordon added a 2-run shot in the 4th; Guillen also went 3-3 with a pair of doubles. Greinke earned his 4th win pitching 7 strong innings allowing 3 runs and striking out 8.

Player of the game: David DeJesus continued hitting well going 1 for 4 with 3 RBI and a walk.

Look at the numbers:

2-3, the Royals season record against the Angels.
The Angels outscored the Royals in the series 18-20.
The Royals were shutout for the 4th time this year.
Bannister lost his 4th straight game, his ERA is now 4.48.
Garret Anderson went 6-12 with 3 HR and 8 RBI in the series.
DeJesus now leads the Royals in RBI with 16 in only 19 games.
The Royals are 15-18 and only 2 games back in the Central.

Minor League Report

2008-05-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

Omaha Royals (AAA)

Record: 15-14
Streak: L-2
Standings: 1st in the North

Who's Hot:

Mike Aviles: .344/.371/.680 with 6 HR and 26 RBI
Mitch Maier: .360/.373/.560 with 2 HR and 6 RBI
Shane Costa: .331/.367/.585 with 6 HR and 22 RBI
Kyle Davies: 3-2, 2.61 ERA with 1.19 WHIP 22/13 (K/BB)

Who's Cold:

Rhan Shealy: .196/.277/.458 with 8 HR and 15 RBI
Chris Lubanski: .236/.310/.438 with 4 HR and 15 RBI
Mike Stodolka: .237/.348/.339 with 1 HR and 5 RBI
Tyler Lumsden: 1-3, 7.39 ERA with 2.04 WHIP 10/16
Matt Wright: 0-1, 5.16 ERA with 1.90 WHIP 14/12

NW Arkansas Naturals (AA)

Record: 16-16
Streak: W-3
Standings: 1st in Texas North

Who's Hot:

Geraldo Valentin: .326/.363/.407 with 1 HR and 7 RBI
Carlos Rosa: 3-2, 1.38 ERA with a .85 WHIP 38/6
Julio Ceasar Pimental: 2-2, 3.09 ERA with 1.14 WHIP 30/9
Devon Lowery: 1-0 0.69 ERA with 1.00 Whip 17/5

Who's Cold:

The Naturals offense: .227/.314/.331
Rowdy Hardy: 0-2, 5.40 ERA with 1.67 WHIP 12/3

Wilmington Blue Rocks (A Advanced)

Record: 13-17
Streak: W-1
Standings: last in North

Who's Hot:

Joseph Dickerson: .323/.414/.505 with 2 HR and 14 RBI and 16 SB
Blake Wood: 1-1, 3.86 ERA with 1.02 WHIP 34/8
Everett Teaford: 2-1, 2.15 ERA with .92 WHIP 19/8
Tyler Chambliss: 1-0, 1.02 ERA with 1.13 WHIP 13/9

Who's Cold:

David Wood: .181/.207/.217 with 9 RBI
Anthony Seratelli: .157/.255/.270 with 2 HR and 9 RBI
Mario Santiago: 1-3, 5.23 ERA with 2.08 WHIP 18/8

Burlington Bees (A)

Record: 12-17
Streak: L-2
Standings: 6th in Mid Western

Who's Hot:

Adrian Ortiz: .344/.366/.416 with 6 RBI and 12 SB
Edward Cegarra: 1-2, 2.12 ERA with .82 WHIP 37-1
Alexander Caldera: 2-2, 2.67 ERA with 1.05 WHIP 28/6
Joe Augustine: 1-0, 2.17 ERA with 1.14 WHIP 31/10

Who's Cold:

Burlington Bees offense: .211/.278/.318
Zack Peterson: 0-2, 5.85 ERA with 1.50 WHIP 16/5
Eduardo Paulino: 1-2, 5.61 ERA with a 1.64 WHIP 22/7

Top 10 Prospects:

Mike Moustakas .210/.269/.310 3 HR and 7 RBI (2 HR and 3 RBI last 2 games)
Daniel Cortes: 0-1, 1.35 ERA with a 1.28 WHIP (currently on the 7 day disabled list)
Luke Hochevar: 2-1, 4.86 ERA with Royals
Blake Wood: 1-1, 3.86 ERA with a 1.02 WHIP 34/8
Danny Duffy: Season hasn't started
Carlos Rosa: 3-2, 1.38 ERA with a .85 WHIP 38/6
Julio Pimental: 2-2, 3.09 ERA with a 1.14 WHIP 30/9
Matt Mitchell: 0-2, 4.29 ERA with a 1.48 WHIP 19/5
Yasuhiko Yabuta: 0-0, 8.31 ERA with Royals
Derrick Robinson: .277/.347/.339 with 8 RBI and 14 SB

Angels @ Royals (series II)

2008-05-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

The Royals return home to kick off their longest homestand of the year against the Anaheim Angels;The two teams split their last meeting. The Royals stand at 14-16 and the Angels are 20-13.

Game 1: Ervin Santana (5-0, 2.47 ERA) against Brett Tomko (1-3, 6.26 ERA)

The Royals have avoided Santana thus far this season and that is a good thing as he is off to the best start of his career. Santana is 1-2 in 4 starts against KC with an ERA of 6.04. German has hit Santana the best going 5-8 with a HR and 3 RBI.

Tomko has been giving up a ton of runs lately, 16 in his last 14.1 innings to be exact. Tomko is 0-1 in 3 starts against Anaheim. Erick Aybar has hit Tomko the best going 4-6 with an RBI.

Game 2: Nick Adenhart (0-0, 22.50 ERA) against Brian Bannister (3-3, 4.05 ERA)

Rookie right-hander Nick Adenhart has only one Major League start, going just 2 innings againt Oakland on May 1st. No Royal has ever faced him in a MLB game.

Bannister after his 3-0 start has now last lost 3 in a row. His last outing against Texas he was rocked for 7 runs in just 3 innings. Bannister has never faced the Angels and only Hunter has had any plate appearances going just 2-9 with 1 RBI.

Game 3: Jared Weaver (2-4, 4.36 ERA) against Zack Greinke (3-1, 1.47 ERA)

Jared Weaver has been roughed up a little in his last 3 starts but is still sporting a respectable 4.36 ERA. Weaver lost his last start against the Royals going 6 innings and giving up 2 runs; for his career Weaver is 2-3 in 5 starts against the Royals with a sparkling 1.93 ERA. Jose Guillen has hit Weaver well going 6-16 with 4 RBI.

Zack Greinke has been everything the Royals have wanted so far this season allowing only 7 runs in 6 starts. Greinke is 0-2 in 2 starts against the Angels with an 8.49 ERA. Hunter is 6 for 19 with 2 HR's and 5 RBI.

Royals at Indians (series II) Recap

2008-05-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

The Royals, who were swept by Cleveland in their first meeting, got revenge over the weekend by sweeping a rain shortened series. The Royals won the two games in similar fashion, good pitching with just enough offense.

Game 1: Luke Hochevar got his second straight win by pitching 6 innings allowing only 2 runs. Sabathia was on the mound for the Indians and dominated until the Royals finally broke through with 4 runs in the 7th. The Royals ended the game with 12 hits and won 4-2. Soria pitched the 9th and recorded his 7th save.

Player of the game: Luke Hochevar, he wasn't dominate but he was good throwing 6 innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 runs-he did walk 4 however.

Game 2: Meche pitched his best game of the season, and combined with Nunez and Soria to complete a shutout against the Indians. The offense scored only 2 runs against Cleveland, one un-earned, the other a 9th inning home run by Olivo.

Player of the game: Gil Meche, 7 innings pitched, 4 hits and 0 ER.

Look at the numbers:

This is only the Royals second sweep of the season in 6 opportunity's.
Gil Meche's ERA of 5.98 is his lowest of the season since being at 4.50 after his first start.
The Indians outscored the Royals 26-7 in their sweep, the Royals outscored the Indians 6-2 in their 2-game sweep.
The Royals are 2 games out of first and stand at 2 games under .500.
The Royals are 7-7 against the AL Central.

Royals at Indians (game V)

2008-05-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Royals get the chance to complete a quick 2-game set against the Cleveland Indians by sending Gil Meche to the mound. The Indians counter by sending young lefty Aaron Laffey to the mound.

Box Score

Gil Meche had his best outing of the year, he threw 7 shutout innings and earned his second win of the season by defeating the Indians and Laffey 2-0. Nunez pitched a perfect 8th and Soria pitched a perfect 9th, notching his 8th save in 8 chances.

Laffey pitched a great game himself, matching zero's with Meche before an error lead to a run in the 5th. The Royals added one more in the 9th when Olivo added his 4th home run of the season.

Royals at Indians (game IV)

2008-05-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is going to be the last series that I'm going to do game previews and reviews for. I just don't have the time to give daily updates, and it is keeping me from writing more opinionated pieces that blogs should be used for. Instead I'm going to post a weekly preview which will run down the week's match-ups. I will still do the series Recaps for now, and hopefully with school ending in a couple of weeks I can get some fun stuff written.

Luke Hochevar (1-1, 5.91 ERA) get's the start in this one after the first game was postponed due to rain. He will be facing off against big lefty C.C. Sebathia (1-4, 7.87 ERA). Sebathia got his only win of the season against the Royals when he beat them 15-1 on April 22nd.

Box Score

Luke Hochevar had his second straight solid start going 6 innings allowing only 2 runs. Sabathia was also throwing a good game until the Royals strung together 6 hits in the 7th scoring 4 runs. Mahey, Ramirez and Soria closed out the game with Soria getting his 7th save.

Royals at Rangers (series I) Recap

2008-05-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

After taking two of three against the Blue Jays the Royals went to Arlington to face the last place Rangers. Sadly the last place Rangers took care of the last place Royals and beating our boys two out of three.

Game 1: The Royals scored early and often (I think that's the first time all year that I've got to say that) and handled the Rangers 9-5. Brett Tomko couldn't take advantage for the easy win, instead he went 3.1 innings allowing 5 runs on 7 hits. The bullpen pitched 5.2 shutout innings. Guillen provided the lion's share of the offense going 2-4 with 5 RBI

Player of the game: Jose Guillen, he had a double and a home run, tying a career high with 5 RBI.

Game 2: The Rangers got to Bannister early hitting 3 home runs in 2 innings; the killer blow was a grand slam by Josh Hamilton in the 2nd. Bannister exited after 3 innings with the Royals down 7-1. The Rangers extended their lead to 11-1 before the Royals clawed their way back only to lose in the end 11-9.

Player of the game: David DeJesus, he had just one hit, a 3-run home run but he got the Royals comeback kick-started.

Game 3: Zack Greinke pitched possibly his best game of the season throwing 7 innings and giving up 2 runs, he also struck out a season high 9. If you've followed the Royals though you know where this is going, the Royals lose 2-1 on a total lack of offense by our whiffle bat swinging Royals.

Player of the game: Zack Greinke, 7 IP, 2 ER with 9 K's; season ERA of 1.47.

Royals at Rangers (game III)

2008-05-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

Zack Greinke (3-0, 1.25 ERA) looks to carry the Royals to their second straight series win tonight when he faces off against Sidney Ponson (0-0, 1.69 ERA). Ponson has only made one previous start this year, he went 5.1 innings allowing 1 ER. Ponson however, has had a rough couple of years with a 5.24 ERA in '06 and a 6.93 ERA last year. What does that mean you ask? It means the Royals will probably make Ponson into Cy Young...I hope I'm wrong however, because Ponson is very hittable.

Box Score

This is one of those games where you are just kind of sick to your stomach afterwards. Greinke pitched 7 really good innings against the Rangers allowing only 2 solo shots while striking out a season high nine. Sidney freakin' Ponson however, "out pitched" Greinke throwing 8 innings of 1 run ball.

This is getting frustrating, what is it going to take for the hitters to wake up? They can't really be this bad can they? This is already the 10th time they have scored fewer then 2 runs in a game. Their record in those 10 games you ask...1-9. Now the Royals have lost 2-3 to the worst team in the league and now head to Cleveland to face a team that swept them in their last meeting.

Jorge De La Rosa traded to Rockies

2008-04-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Jorge De La Rosa was traded today to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a PTBNL, the Royals also sent cash. De La Rosa has a career record of 15-23 with a 5.85 ERA.

This is an odd move for several reasons. First it's been well known that the Rockies have wanted De La Rosa as the PTBNL in the Ramirez trade, and for some reason the Royals refused. Second the Royals still don't have a left-hander in the rotation and Bale has been anything but good, so I assumed at some point the Royals would take another look at De La Rosa as he has been real good in Omaha.

Moore could have his eye on a Rockies player that he likes or maybe he just decided De La Rosa needed a change of scenery. In any case this move has set up the odd scenario of the Rockies and the Royals each owing the other a player.

Royals at Rangers (game II)

2008-04-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

In game two we see tough luck pitcher Brian Bannister (3-2, 2.48 ERA) going for the Royals and for the Rangers ace Kevin Millwood (1-2, 3.32 ERA). Kevin Millwood has been ok against the Royals in the past going 4-3 with a 4.66 ERA. Bannister has one start vs. the Rangers and pitched 7 shut out innings in earning the win.

Some players who have done well is Millwood and would be worth watching is Buck (5-10, 5 RBI), Grudz (11-35, 3 RBI), Teahen (7-20, 1 HR, 4 RBI), and Guillen (9-23, 1 HR, 7 RBI). Gload should sit, he is 1-10 career against Millwood.

Box Score

Brian Bannister had a rough night as he got rocked for 7 runs in just 3 innings, his shortest outing of the year. Bannister just couldn't keep the ball in the park on a windy night in Texas as he gave up a 2-run shot in the first to Bradley, a solo shot to Boggs in the 2nd, and to cap it off a grand slam to Hamilton-also in the 2nd. The bullpen, which has thrown a lot of innings lately, wasn't in top form as Peralta and Yabuta each gave up a couple of runs in their 5 innings of work.

Millwood held the Royals in check early, allowing only 1 run in his first 6 innings. The bats finally woke up in the 7th however, and scored 5 runs in knocking Millwood from the game. Batting third for the first time this year, DeJesus had another big RBI game driving in 3, including a 2-run shot in the 5th.

In the 9th with the Royals down 4 runs they put together a comeback bid. Butler doubled leading off, and Buck got him home with his 2nd home run of the year. Then Pena came to the plate with one out and quickly popped out, Gathright followed and bunted back to the pitcher for the final out.

I gotta wonder why Hillman didn't go to his bench to pinch hit for Pena and Gathright, but I guess that's why Hillman is the manager and I'm not.

Royals at Rangers (game I)

2008-04-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Royals head to Arlington to face the Rangers in a three game set. Brett Tomko (1-3, 5.25 ERA) is coming off his worst start of the year when he allowed 6 ER's against the Indians. Going for the Rangers is Jason Jennings (0-4, 7.46 ERA).

Box Score

With Tomko Vs. Jennings, I don't think anyone expected a pitching duel, and we weren't disappointed as both teams scored early and often. Tomko lasted just 3.1 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 runs, perhaps more amazing he threw 89 pitches. Jennings was even worse leaving with an "injury" after just 2 innings; he allowed 8 hits and 5 runs.

The bullpens for both teams did well and held down the scoring. The Royals used Mahey, Gobble, Ramirez, and Soria as they combined for 5.2 scoreless innings. The Rangers used Feldman, Wright, Benoit, and Francisco as they allowed 4 runs in 7 innings.

The offense for the Royals was the story Tuesday night as they scored a season high 9 runs on 14 hits. Jose Guillen, for one night at least, was the player we thought we signed as he had 5 RBI and hit his 3rd home run. Grudzielanek, playing his first game in 6 days, was red hot as he went 4-6 with 3 doubles and 3 runs scored. Gordon, Teahen, and Butler each had 2 hits a piece.

Royals host Blue Jays (series I)

2008-04-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week and I've fallen a bit behind on the blogging, so I want to apologize to my readers (all seven of you). Ok, now with that behind me, let's take a look at the Royals last home stand, more specifically the Blue Jays series.

The Royals returned home a week ago after completing a rough road trip in which the Royals went 2-5 and dropped out of first place. They first faced Cleveland, who promptly handled the Royals in three straight games, and extended the Royals loosing streak to 7 games. It was a bad week, no doubt about it, we all saw the Royals go from first to worst, but could the rebound against the Jays?

Game 1: Zack Greinke continued his strong start to the season by throwing 7 innings and allowing 1 run. Nunez pitched the eighth and allowed three runs, his first of the year in blowing the save. Down 4-2 the offense finally got to work scoring an amazing six runs in route to an 8-4 win.

Player of the game: David DeJesus was 2-4 with a walk and 3 RBI

Game 2: Luke Hochevar got the first win of his career by pitching 6 strong innings and allowing only 1 run. Hochevar was pitching with runners on all game but he got outs when it counted. Mahey, Nunez, Ramirez pitched the 7th and 8th and Soria notched his 6th save in 6 chances. The offense did just enough and Guillen hit his 2nd home run of the season, and the Royals won 2-1.

Player of the game: Luke Hochevar went 6 innings allowing 6 hits and 1 run and scored his first win.

Game 3: Going for the sweep the Royals sent struggling ace, Gil Meche to the mound. Meche pitched well, allowing 3 runs in 6.2 innings. The offense again let the team down scoring only 2 runs, both on an RBI single by David DeJesus. The Royals dropped the finale 5-2.

Player of the game: David DeJesus, he didn't do much but he did have both RBI in going 1-4 on the day.

Look at the numbers:

$11 million dollar man Gil Meche continues to struggle and is sporting an ugly 7.22 ERA.
DeJesus had 5 RBI in the series, 41% of the runs scored.
The Royals are now have 1 sweep in 5 chances.
The Royals offense now ranks last in runs scored at 82, the MLB average is 117 runs.
Speaking of lousy offense, how about 3.28 runs per game so far for the Royals.
Royals are 19th in baseball in average (.253), 26th in OBP (.305), and 28th in SLG (.346)
The Royals pitching fell from 14th to 20th in the league with a 4.42 ERA

Royals host Blue Jays (game III)

2008-04-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Gil Meche (1-3, 8.00 ERA) looks to get right today and complete the three game sweep of the Jays. Jesse Litsch (2-1, 6.16 ERA) gets the starts for the Jays as they look to end a 6 game loosing streak.

Box Score

Gil Meche pitched fairly well going 6.2 innings while allowing 3 runs on 9 hits, he took the loss, mostly based on our wiffle ball offense. Peralta pitched 1.2 innings allowing 2 ER and raising his ERA to 6.00 since his recall from Omaha. Gobble recorded two outs to end the game keeping his ERA at 0.00.

The Royals bats, like most nights, made an average pitcher like Litsch look like Cy Young himself. The Royals only managed to score 2 runs on 6 hits despite 3 errors from the Blue Jays. David DeJesus had both RBI's as he hit a single in the 3rd scoring Ross Gload and Tony Pena. That was it for the offense as the Royals lost 5-2.

Royals host Blue Jays (game II)

2008-04-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Royals take on the Blue Jays with a chance to win their first series since taking 2 of 3 from the Yankees on their last homestand. Luke Hochevar (0-1, 11.57 ERA) gets his second start of the season, Hochevar is still looking for his first career win. Going for the Blue Jays is Kansas City native Shaun Marcum (2-1, 3.42 ERA).

Box Score

Luke Hochevar was in and out of trouble all night but picked up his first career win tonight by beating the Jays 2-1. Hochevar allowed 6 hits in 6 innings of work while cutting his ERA in half...more importantly the Royals won their first series since April 10th-12th when they took the series from the Yankees.

Mahey took over for Hochever in the 7th pitching a scoreless inning before Nunez took over in the 8th. Nunez walked Rios to lead off the inning and was replaced by Ramirez with runners on first and second-Ramirez got out of the jam. Soria pitched the 9th and recorded his 6th save in 6 chances.

The offense as normal barely showed up. Teahen lead off the 5th with a double and Gload drove him in with a one out single. The Royals took the lead for good with a 6th inning home run from Guillen, his second of the year.

Royals host Blue Jays (game I)

2008-04-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

The Royals, after suffering their second consecutive sweep, look to Zack Greinke (3-0, 1.24 ERA) to stop the bleeding. Getting the ball for Toronto is right hander A.J. Burnett (2-1, 6.58 ERA) as he tries to end the Jays 4 game slide.

Box Score

It's finally over, the seven game losing streak came to an end as Greinke pitched 7 innings of 1 run ball. The thing is the Royal's bats, again struggled early, and the Royals were clinging to a 1 run lead when Greinke exited. Leo Nunez started the 8th and the Jays wasted little time in tying the game, eventually overtook, and extended their lead 4-1.

Then it happened, the bats finally stepped up and won a game. The Royals batted around and some, scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the eighth; the 6 runs were the most the Royals had scored in any game thus far. Soria came in to finish the game and pitched a perfect 9th as the Royals won 8-4.

Royals host Indians (game II & III)

2008-04-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

Let's play two. The Royals and Indians are looking to squeeze two games in today as heavy rain forced the cancellation of last night's contest. The pitching match-ups will be carried over so in game one Brett Tomko (1-2, 3.60 ERA) vs. Fausto Carmona (2-1, 1.96 ERA) in a 5:10 start. The second game will feature Brian Bannister (3-1, 2.42 ERA) against Cliff Lee (3-0, .040 ERA)

Game 1 Box Score

Brett Tomko was hit around hard in his 4 innings, allowing 6 earned runs on 11 hits. Yabuta relieved Tomko and, as usual, gave up 2 runs in his 2.2 innings of work; Ramirez finished the game out by pitching 2.1 scoreless innings.

The Royals bats came up short, but made some positives strides after their week-long slumber scoring 6 runs on 14 hits. DeJesus hit his first home run of the year and is now hitting .429. Olivo, starting for Buck, was 3-4 with his 3rd home run.

Just for the record that is now 6 loses in a row, yet if the Royals can manage a win in game 2 we will still be tied for second in the division.

Game 2 Box Score

Brian Bannister deserved better as he pitched 6.2 innings allowing only 2 runs, the thing is Cliff Lee pitched a complete game 3-hitter, and Bannister picked up his second loss of the season. That about sums it up. The Royals got pretty solid pitching, but again the bats were silent as the Royals picked up their 7th straight loss and are now in last place in the division.

Minor League Report

2008-04-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Omaha Royals (AAA)

Record: 11-7
Streak: W 1
Standings: 1st in the North

Who's Hot:

Shane Costa: .329/.375/.589 with 3 HR and 10 RBI
Mike Aviles: .329/.358/.579 with 2 HR and 16 RBI
Angel Berroa: .317/.328/.508 with 2 HR and 6 RBI
Kyle Davies: 2-1, 0.90 ERA allowed 13 hits in 20 IP. 14/8 K/BB
Jorge De La Rosa: 2-0 1.15 ERA allowed 11 hits in 15.2 IP. 15/5

Who's Cold:

Chris Lubanski: .233/.288/.417 with 3 HR and 10 RBI
Ryan Shealy: .169/.239/.400 with 4 HR and 8 RBI
Brandon Duckworth: 1-1, 5.28 ERA allowed 15 hits in 15.1 IP. 15/9

NW Arkansas Naturals (AA)

Record:5-13
Streak: L 1
Standings: Last in the North

Who's Hot:

Carlos Rosa: 1-2, 2.25 ERA allowed 16 hits in 20 IP. 16/3
Julio Pimental: 0-2, 3.60 ERA allowed 20 hits in 20 IP. 18/8
Daniel Cortes: 0-1, 1.35 ERA allowed 9 hits in 13.1 IP. 9/8

Who's Cold:

The Naturals offense (like last report): .204/.277/.287
Rowdy Hardy: 0-2 6.30 ERA allowed 37 hits in 20 IP 9/2

Wilmington Blue Rocks (A Advanced)

Record: 6-12
Streak: L 4
Standings: Last in the North

Who's Hot:

Jeffrey Howell: .359/.405/.564 with 1 HR and 9 RBI
Joseph Dickerson: .333/.431/.533 with 1 HR and 7 RBI
Everett Teaford: 1-0, 1.04 ERA allowed 11 hits in 17.1 IP. 12/5
Aaron Hartsock: 1-2, 2.50 ERA allowed 13 hits in 18 IP. 12/4
Matthew Kniginyzky: 0-1, 2.20 ERA allowed 10 hits in 16.1 IP. 15/7

Who's Cold:

Derrick Robinson: .222/.310/.254 with 3 RBI
Jeff Bianchi: .136/.208/.182 with 1 RBI
Blake Wood: 0-1, 5.29 ERA allowed 17 hits in 17 IP. 20/6

Burlington Bees (A)

Record: 8-9
Streak: W 1
Standings: 4th in Mid-Western

Who's Hot:

Adrian Ortiz: .324/.355/.380 with 4 RBI
Clint Robinson: .291/.381/.727 with 5 HR and 9 RBI
Daniel Gutierrez: 1-1, 2.37 ERA allowed 12 hits in 19 IP. 25/9
Alexander Caldera: 1-1, 1.04 ERA allowed 12 hits in 17.1 IP. 13/4
Edward Cegarra: 1-0, 1.13 ERA allowed 11 hits in 16 IP. 14/0
Anthony Bradley: 1-1, 0.66 ERA allowed 9 hits in 13.2 IP. 10/4

Who's Cold:

Alwin Perez: .157/.218/.176 with 1 RBI
Wilson Tucker: .135/.195/.270 with 1 HR and 3 RBI
Zack Peterson: 1-0, 7.50 ERA allowed 15 hits 12 IP. 9/2

Top 10 Prospects:

Mike Moustakas: .204/.271/.204 with 1 RBI
Daniel Cortes: 0-1, 1.35 ERA; 2 ER in 13.1 IP
Luke Hochevar: 0-1, 11.57 with Royals
Blake Wood: 0-1, 5.29 ERA; 10 ER in 17 IP
Danny Duffy: Season hasn't started
Carlos Rosa: 1-2, 2.25 ERA; 5 ER in 20 IP
Julio Pimental: 0-2, 3.60 ERA; 8 ER in 20 IP
Matt Mitchell: 0-1, 1.50 ERA; 2 ER in 12 IP
Yasuhiko Yabuta: 0-0, 9.82 ERA with Royals
Derrick Robinson: .222/.310/.254 with 3 RBI and 5 SB

Royals host Indians (game II)

2008-04-23T07:23:00.001-07:00

The Royals are looking to stop the bleeding tonight by sending Brett Tomko (1-3, 3.60 ERA) to the mound. Tomko has pitched fairly well so far this year and we desperately need him to step up. For the Royals sad offense it doesn't get any easier as Cleveland sends Fausto Carmono (2-1, 1.96 ERA) to the hill.

Update: The game was postponed due to rain. A double header is scheduled for tomorrow.

Royals host Indians (game I)

2008-04-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

The Royals are back home and are looking to put behind them a road trip that saw them go 2-5 and fall to second in the division. Gil Meche (1-2, 6.08 ERA) looks to build on his first win and end the Royals 4 game slide against a struggling Cleveland team. C.C. Sabathia (0-3, 13.50 ERA) gets the start for the tribe and has struggled badly this season; some even wonder about arm trouble for the reigning Cy Young winner.

Box Score

Is there a team you would rather face if you were a struggling starting pitcher? C.C. Sabathia doesn't think so, as he got right tonight throwing 6 scoreless innings while striking out 11. Gil Meche, now 2-7 with a 6.10 ERA in his career against the Indians, struggled early and often allowing 8 runs on 9 hits in 3.1 innings. The bullpen, so good early, is getting hit around as well-5.2 innings allowing 5 runs.

The Royals offense continues to be an embarrassment to Kansas City as they managed only 1 run on 6 hits while managing 13 strike-outs. Teahen, who had 3 of those K's managed an RBI single in the 8th to break the shut out. The Indians on the other hand had no problems scoring, they failed to score in only the 1st, 6th and 9th innings. Taking a look at their box score and you would think it was a spring training game as 13 players got to take batting practice against the Royals.

Personally, I think the Royals pitching is trying to be to perfect to overcome the dead weight of the offense, and they are starting to get hit around because of it. The offense needs to step it up, they need to get some extra base hits and they need to stop making outs on the base paths. The defense has been no help as of late either as Teahen mis-played another ball in left and Gordon had an error.

Royals at A's (series I) Recap

2008-04-21T15:22:00.000-07:00

The Royals wrapped up their road trip in dismal fashion as they suffered a sweep at the hands of the swingin' A's. The Royals finish the road trip at 9-10 and are under .500 for the first time this season, the A's are now at 12-8.

Game 1: Brian Bannister pitched well early and clinged to a 2-1 lead going into the 6th, and then the wheels fell off as 4 runs scored, all earned and all belonging to Bannister. Mahey and Peralta pitched 2 innings of scoreless ball before Yabuta and Nomo got hammered for 8 runs in an inning. The offense only managed 2 runs on 4 hits as the Royals suffered their worst loss of the season 13-2.

Player of the game: I never thought it would be so hard to announce a player of the game, but here goes...Billy Butler he had an RBI and went 1-4 on the night.

Game 2: Zack Greinke looked to break the Royals 2 game loosing streak and things were looking good early as the Royals spotted Greinke a 4-0 lead. Guillen hit his first homer of the year, a 3-run shot and Olivo added his second homer in the 2nd. Oaklands offense got it going in the 5th scoring 3 runs, in part due to an error by Pena, and from there it just got worse as the A's scored in the next 2 innings to earn a 6-5 win.

Player of the game: Jose Guillen, he finally hit his first home run going 2-4 with a double and 3 RBI

Game 3: Luke Hochevar making his first start of the year followed in Bannister and Greinke's foot steps by pitching well early before getting hit in the middle innings. The Royals were up 1-0 in the 4th before Oakland's offense got it in gear scoring 4 runs...more than enough to handle the Royals and their helpless offense. Final score: 7-1

Player of the game: Ack, this is harder then game 1...I'll go with Leo Nunez. Nunez pitched a scoreless 8th striking out 2 and keeping his ERA at 0.00 for the year.

Look at the numbers:

Bannister allowed 5 runs Friday after allowing only 3 his previous 3 starts combined.
Greinke allowed 2 earned runs Saturday, that matches his total from his previous 3 starts.
Guillen had 7 hits on the road trip, 5 were for extra bases.
Guillen and Gordon are tied with 9 RBI, tops on the team.
The Royals were out hit 42-15.
The Royals were out scored 26-8.
The Royals now have 8 blown leads on the season compared to 3 come backs.
The Royals have allowed 38 runs in innings 4-6 and 39 through the other 6 innings.
The Royals are now 28th in the league in runs scored, 24th in OBP, and 27th in SLG
The Royals pitching is now 14th in the league

Royals at A's (game III)

2008-04-20T05:47:00.001-07:00

The Royals look to avoid the sweep today against the A's as Luke Hochevar (0-0, 0.00 ERA) gets his first start of the season; taking the ball for the A's is Dana Eveland (1-1, 2.00 ERA). This is the second time this season the Royals have faced a three game sweep, last time Brett Tomko stepped up against the Twins, and the Royals avoided the sweep in Minnesota.

Box Score

Luke Hochevar looked sharp...for his first 3 innings and the Royals were out to a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 4th, the suddenly red hot Oakland offense, scored 5 runs with 2 outs. Hochevar tried coming back for the 5th but allowed another run in 2/3 of an inning and was replaced with Mahey. Hochevars line for the game was 4.2 IP, 6 runs on 9 hits with 3 BB and 5 SO's.

The Royals offense was, well, terrible. The Royals had a season low 3 hits and only scored the 1 run in the 3rd inning. Not much else to say about it really, was pretty boring.

The Royals finished the road-trip 2-5 and are now 2.5 games back from the White Sox.

Royals Notes: Hochevar called up

2008-04-20T05:37:00.000-07:00

Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports that Hochever was called up from AAA Omaha to make the start in place of injured left-hander John Bale. Hochevar who nearly won a spot with the club out of spring training was having a good spring so far posting a 1-1 record and a 2.60 ERA.

The club has yet to make room on the 25 man roster but there is really only a couple of options; one would be to designate Hideo Nomo for assignment or option Joel Peralta back to Omaha.

The move signals a win now attitude for the Royals as Hochevar needed only 3 more weeks in the minors to extend his option years by one. It's still possible the Royals will only allow him to start a couple of games and then send him back to Omaha. As for who has to go? It's painfully obvious that Nomo just doesn't have what it takes anymore and the Royals need to cut their loses.

Update: Nomo was indeed designated for assignment and now has 10 days to either be traded or put on waivers, the Royals will not offer him an assignment in Omaha. Nomo finished his come back with the Royals posting an ugly 18.69 ERA in 4.1 innings.

Royals at A's (game II)

2008-04-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

The Royals play the middle game of the series today in a 3:05 start as Zack Greinke (3-0, 0.75 ERA) looks to end the Royals 2-game losing streak. Rookie Greg Smith (1-0, 2.08 ERA) will take the mound for the swingin' A's.

Box Score

Zack Greinke and the Royals were off to a quick start running out to a 4-0 lead after 4 innings, then the wheels feel off. In the bottom of the 5th Greinke got into trouble giving up a lead off double to Barton followed by a walk, followed by a 1 out RBI single by former Royal Emil Brown. Ryan Sweeney then hit a double play ball to Pena at short; Pena quickly booted the ball and all parties were safe.

Ramirez took over in the 6th and surrendered the tying run in his inning of work. Peralta followed and allowed 2 runs in .1 of an inning and was rescued by Gobble. Yabuta pitched a perfect 9th.

There were some positives on offense as Guillen homered for the first time all season, a three run shot in the 1st, and Olivo connected on his second of the year in the 2nd. Then, as usual, the offense went into a prolonged slump at the plate not scoring again until the 9th.

Royals at A's (game I)

2008-04-18T15:44:00.001-07:00

The Royals conclude their 7 game road trip in Oakland where they will be reunited with former Royals Mike Sweeney, Emil Brown and Donnie Murhpy. Brian Bannister(3-0, .086 ERA) will be taking the mound for the Royals and looking for his 4th straight win. Chad Gaudin(0-1, 7.20 ERA) will be making his second start of the year for Oakland, he was knocked around in his last start against Toronto.

Box Score

It had to happen eventually, Brian Bannister finally had a bad outing. Bannister was cruising through 5 innings giving up only 1 run, but something was missing, and that was Bannisters control. While he only walked 1 batter he was all over the place, usually in the middle of the plate, and that caught up to him in the 6th as he allowed 4 runs and recorded no outs.

Mahey and Peralta came in and stopped the bleeding pitching 2 innings allowing no earned runs...Then it happened, the two headed Japanese monster known as Yabunomo came in and suddenly the swinging A's were back in business. Yabuta started the 8th but allowed 5 runs to score on only 1 hit, then Nomo came in to clean up and get the final out except that he allowed 3 runs to score first. Just in case you were wondering Yabuta's ERA is 10.13 and Nomo's is 18.69.

The Royals offense was just as terrible as Yabunomo. The only managed to score 2 runs on 4 hits and nobody had more than 1 hit. Billy Butler ended what could have been a promising inning by running into yet another out at second base in the third.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Nomo just doesn't have it and I would guess by Sunday Nomo is no longer on the Royals roster and we see one of Hochevar, Davies, or De La Rosa.

Royals at Angels (series I) Recap

2008-04-18T15:00:00.001-07:00

Continueing their West Coast trip the Royals took on the Angels for a quick two game set. The Royals coming into the series were at 8-6 and the Angels stood at 9-6.

Game 1: Meche earned that elusive first victory by pitching 6 innings and gave up 2 runs. The bullpen was great...again, in pitching 3 scoreless innings. The offense did just enough to beat the Angels 3-2 as the top of the order was 8-14.

Player of the game: Joey Gathright, he sat the table all game going 3-5 with a run scored and a stolen base.

Game 2: Tomko pitched fairly well in a 5-3 loss as the Angels avoided the sweep. Tomko went 7 innings giving up 3 runs in the 3rd and 2 more in the 5th. The Royals offense didn't bother to show up and I'm beginning to wonder if this team has any pop in its bats.

Player of the game: Alex Gordon, 2-3 with a run scored and a walk.

Look at the numbers:

.275 team batting average good for 5th in MLB
.325 team on base percentage good for 19th in MLB
.370 team slugging percentage good for 23rd in MLB
3.17 team earned run average good for 3rd in MLB
.995 team fielding percentage good for 1st in MLB
The Royals are scoring in only 25% of the innings played (36/143)
The Royals were outscored 7-5 but outhit the Angels 24-16
Meche ERA after 4 starts: 6.08
Tony Pena Jr. BAVG. .114
The Royals have taken 6 of 7 from the Angels dating to last year

Royals Notes: Bale put on 15 day DL

2008-04-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

Dick Kaegel of MLB.com reports that John Bale will be put on the 15 day disabled list with a "dead arm". The Royals are calling up Joel Peralta to take his spot on the roster.

Replacing a starter with a reliever? Something has to give, as the Royals now currently don't have a starter for Sundays game against Oakland. Odds are Peralta or perhaps even Nomo are sent back to Omaha and we see Hochaver or De La Rosa for Sunday.

Good Trade: Bad Trade

2008-04-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

In this new feature I'm going to look back at the trades Royals GM Dayton Moore has made since he took the reins from Allard Barid and pronounce a team the winner of said trade.

06-20-2006: Dayton Moore after only three weeks on the job pulled the trigger on his first trade sending lefty J.P. Howell to the Devil Rays for outfielder Joey Gathright and infielder Fernando Cortez.

J.P. Howell was taken by the Royals with the 31st overall pick in the 2004 draft and was pitching for the Royals by June of 2005. Howell picked up a win in his first Major League start allowing 1 run on on 4 hits in 5 innings, he also struck out 8 in an 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Howell made 14 more starts that year finishing with a 3-5 record and 6.19 ERA.

Howell started 2006 in AAA Omaha going 3-2 in 8 starts and on June 20th was traded the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in exchange for a speedy yet underachieving outfielder named Joey Gathright and a light hitting infielder named Fernando Cortez.

Joey Gathright was drafted in the 32nd round (949th overall) of the 2001 draft by the Rays. Gathright moved through the Rays minor leagues fairly well and by 2004 had gotten his first taste of big league action hitting .250 in 52 AB's.Gathright had a successful 2005 season splitting time between AAA Durham and Tampa Bay hitting .276 and 20 SB's for the parent club and had earned the starting center fielder job going into 2006. Fate wasn't kind to Gathright however, and by June 6th the outfielder was hitting .201 and was optioned back to Durham the next day.

Fernando Cortez was drafted in the 9th round (259th overall) of the 2001 draft by the Rays. Cortez moved rather slowly through the system until 2005 when he started the year in AA and by the end of the year he was with Tampa where he hit .077 in only 13 AB's. Cortez opened 2006 in AAA Durham before being included in the trade.

Reaction then: I had mixed feelings about the trade from the beginning, and it wasn't because I thought J.P. Howell had Ace written all over him, but because the Royals pitching was so terrible (5.65 ERA in 2006). In addition the Royals outfield seemed pretty crowded at the time; DeJesus was proving to be very solid, Brown was cheap and putting up good numbers and Teahen was expected to move to the outfield.

Gathright in turn had been bad in 2006 and despite all his speed he still had to get on base (which he wasn't doing). Cortez for his part couldn't hit a lick and wasn't to hot with the glove either.

Reaction now: J.P. Howell struggled as a starter last year going 1-6 with a 7.59 ERA in 10 starts and couldn't seem to get it together. The Rays moved him to the bullpen this year were he has performed much better (3.52 ERA). Looking at the Royals staff as it is now there seems to be no chance he would be on the 25 man roster and would still be struggling in Omaha.

Gathright struggled initially in 2006 but last year lead the Royals with a .307 AVG and .371 OBP in limited AB's. This year Gathright is off to a solid start hitting .269 with 7 stolen bases. From the Rays perspective their outfield seems to be pretty solid with Crawford and Upton.

Cortez saw brief action in 2007 with the Royals hitting .286 in 14 AB's and is now in the White Sox organization.

Winner: I think the nod has to be slightly in the Royals corner as Gathright has been more productive to date than Howell. That said, Howell is still 2 years younger and if his early success in the bullpen holds up he could still be valuable.

Forbes: Business of Baseball

2008-04-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today Forbes released it's annual "Business of Baseball" report and to nobodies surprise the #1 franchise is the game (in terms of worth) is the Yankees at 1.306 billion dollars; the Florida Marlins rank #30th at 256 million dollars. So where do the Royals stand?

The Royals come in at #27 in league with an estimated worth of 301 million dollars, that's a 7% increase from last year when they were worth an estimated 282 million. Not a bad investment for David Glass who paid 96 million for the team in 2000. A breakdown of a few other numbers:

Revenue- 131 million (123 million in '07)
Operating Income- 7.4 million (8.4 million in '07)
Player Expense- 74 million (66 million in '07)
Gate Receipts- 24 million (19 million)

Royals at Angels (game II)

2008-04-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

The Royals conclude their quick two game set against the the Angels tonight in a 9:05 start. Brett Tomko (1-1, 2.08 ERA) looks to continue his early success this season by facing Jon Garland (1-2, 5.50 ERA). Garland has been especially tough in his career against the Royals compiling a 16-6 record with a 3.54 ERA.

Update: David DeJesus left the game in the fourth with a stubbed toe. Apparently he injured the toe by crashing into the wall during pre-game batting practice.

Box Score

Well Jon Garland did what he does best and beat the Royals 5-3 to improve to 17-6 all time against the Royals. Brett Tomko did a decent job throwing 7 innings but giving up 5 runs on only 6 hits. Garret Anderson did most of the damage with a bases loaded double scoring 3 runs.

The Royals offense was again...well...the Royals offense. It "mashed" 11 hits but could only score 3 runs-about average for our boys. It really is a shame to waste all this good pitching we are getting.

Royals at Angels (game I)

2008-04-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Royals continue their West coast trip in Anaheim as they face the Angles in a 9:05 start. Gil Meche (0-2, 7.13 ERA) looks to get on track for the Royals and Jared Weaver (1-2, 3.79 ERA) gets the start for the Angels.

Box Score

Gil Meche finally earns his first win of the year with a 3-2 victory over the Angels. Meche didn't pitch especially well, but much like last year he fought through some rough innings and kept the team in the game; he also lowered his ERA to 6.08. The bullpen pitched amazing again throwing three scoreless innings in preserving the win.

The offense-what can I say? It's nice winning so it's hard to complain but boy they sure can't score many runs can they? They racked up 13 hits but only 2 extra base hits and only managed to score in the first and second innings. Gathright had 3 hits but was picked off first and thrown out at third on a steal attempt. Teahen broke his mini slump getting three hits as each regular got at least 1 hit, well except Gload and Pena.

Royals at Seattle (series I) Recap

2008-04-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

The Royals began their second road trip of the season by heading to the great northwest and taking on the Seattle Mariners. The Royals heading into the series were 7-5 and the Mariners were 6-7.

Game 1: Zack Greinke improved his record to 3-0 on the season by pitching a complete game and allowing only 1 run- his ERA actually went up to .75. The offense got off to a quick start in the 2nd with home runs from Butler and Olivo and never looked back.

Player of the game: Zack Grienke, was dominate all night earning his third straight victory.

Game 2: What a difference a day makes. John Bale got rocked by giving up 5 runs in 3 innings and the bullpen for the first time this season got hit as well; mostly thanks to one Hideo Nomo (1 inning 4 ER). The Offense scored a season high 6 runs in a losing effort.

Look at the numbers:

Billy Butler had his hitting streak halted at 13 games.
John Bale has now allowed 28 base runners in 15.1 innings
David DeJesus went 3-7 in his first action since game 1
Royals were 1-3 in stolen base attempts
Teahen was 2-10 with 9 LOB
Tony Pena had 4 hits in 8 AB's after going 0-26

Royals at Mariners (game II)

2008-04-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

The Royals wrap up their brief two game set against the Mariners today in an unusual 5:40 start. John Bale (0-2, 5.84 ERA) gets the ball for the Royals and ex-Royal Miguel Batista (0-2, 6.00 ERA) will start for Seattle.

Today is the 61st anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, always an important event. Trey Hillman, Jose Guillen, and Joey Gathright will be sporting the retired number 42 in honor of Robinson.

Box Score

The Royals are now 1 for 3 in closing out sweeps as the Mariners were all over John Bale scoring 5 runs in his 3 innings of work; Bales ERA now stands at 7.63 after three starts. The bullpen, who had 2 days of rest got a work out, Nomo, Mahey, Yabuta, Gobble, and Soria pitched 6 innings allowing 6 runs (4 by Nomo, 1 a piece for Mahey and Yabuta.

The Royals offense scored a season high 6 runs but the pitching also gave up a season high 11 runs-tough luck for the boys with bats. DeJesus and Pena had 2 hits and Grudz picked up 3 on the night. Billy Butlers hitting streak ended at 13 games.

Royals at Mariners (game I)

2008-04-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

The Royals begin their second road trip of the year by heading out west to face the Seattle Mariners in a 9:10 start. Zack Greinke (2-0, .060 ERA) looks to continue his hot start as he faces off against Jared Washburn (1-1, 3.00 ERA).

Update: DeJesus, out since game 1 against Detroit makes his return to the line-up tonight.

Box Score

Zack Greinke pitched another gem of a game, this time a complete game in which he allowed only 1 run on 5 hits. Greinke needed 107 pitches to mow down a Seattle team that has been struggling offensively, the only run scored on a Ichiro fielders choice. Washburn on the other hand struggled against the right handed bats of the Royals in allowing 3 runs in 6 innings.

The offense got off to a strong start in the second when Billy Butler extended his hitting streak to 13 by connecting for his first home run of the season, that was followed by a double from Guillen and an eventual Olivo home-run, also his first. The Royals added single runs in the 7th and 8th.

Royals host Twins (series II) Recap

2008-04-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

The Twinkies came to Kansas City with the Royals and their fans high on life after taking 2 of three from the Yankees. The good feelings were not going to last as the bats didn't show up and the Royals lost the first 2 games, they salvaged the last game of the series and finished the first home stand 3-3.

Game 1: Gil Meche's early struggles continued as he gave up 5 runs in 6 innings and he lost his second match with Hernandez and the Twins 5-0. Meche was followed by Yabuta and Ramirez as they pitched 3 innings of shutout relief. The offense obviously didn't show and Guillen in particular was terrible going 0 for 4 with 2 k's and 5 LOB.

Player of the game: Alex Gordon, 2-4 raising his average to .317.

Game 2: Brett Tomko was the stopper last week ending a 2-game losing streak, this time he wasn't so successful as the Royals got shut out again 2-0. Tomko however, pitched well allowing just 2 runs in 6 innings. Ramirez, Mahey and Nunez followed with 3 scoreless innings.

Player of the game: Brett Tomko, who expected a a 2.08 record in 2 starts?

Game 3: Brian Bannister got the start in the finale and he was fantastic throwing a complete game allowing only an un-earned run to score. The bullpen got a much needed day off and the offense finally re-appeared scoring (gasp) 5 runs.

Player of the game: Brian Bannister, he pitched the Royals first complete game and halted the losing at 3 games.

Look at the numbers:

Meche is now sporting an ugly 7.13 ERA
Meche has allowed 29 base-runners in 17.2 innings
18 scorless innings Twins pitchers tossed at the Royals (26 overall)
12 consecutive games Billy Butler has hit in so far
Alex Gordon didn't hit his third home run last year until May 23rd
The Royals were outscored 8-5 in the series yet out hit the Twins 21-20
1/2, the number of games out of 1st place the Royals are.

Royals host Twins (game VI)

2008-04-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

So for the second Time in two meetings the Twins are going for the sweep of the Royals. The first time around Tomko stepped up and the Royals salvaged the series, this time Brian Bannister (2-0, 1.50 ERA) looks to step up. Making his first start since 2006 is Francisco Lirano (0-0, 0.00 ERA); The Twins are expecting big things from Lirano but he will no doubt be on a pitch count today.

Box Score

Brian Bannister continues his amazing start throwing the Royals first complete game of the season giving up 0 ER on 3 hits. Lirano for the Twins was a little wild as expected allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and had 5 Walks.

The Royals on offense finally broke the 26 inning scoreless streak in the first when Gathright beat out an infield single, later in the inning Butler got him home on a 2-out single extending his hitting streak to 12. Gordon had a good game hitting his 3rd home run, he also added a double and a walk

Hillman, looking to break the hitting slump put out his third different line-up in the last three days, this time inserting Olivo at DH, Butler at 1st and giving Grudz the day off while German started at 2nd.

Royals Host Twins (game V)

2008-04-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

The Royals face the Twins tonight on Butler powder blue jersey night. On the mound for the Royals is Brett Tomko (1-0, 1.29 ERA), and pitching for the Twins is Boof Bonser (0-2, 4.15 ERA). The Royals offense has been pretty terrible the last couple of days, can they snap out of it?

Box Score

Brett Tomko did his best and took an undeserved loss on the return of the powder blue jerseys; he pitched 6 innings and only allowed 2 ER on a very cold and miserable night. The bullpen did it's normal thing pitching 3 scoreless innings.

Now to the Royals offense...I wish I had the words. I posted in an earlier blog how I feared that the Royals were going to hit a rough(er) patch offensively because it seemed that through out the first 9 games or so they were completely dependent on the clutch 2-out hit, well it happened as the Royals extended their scoreless streak to 26 innings.

This was the first game I got to attend and boy was it hectic as the first 20,000 received Billy Butler powder blue jerseys. The gates opened at 4 pm and I got there 20 till and the lines were past arrowhead stadium, it was a mad house. As far as the new jerseys on the players, I just have to wonder...why not powder blue pants?

Royals host Yankees (series I) Recap

2008-04-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

The Royals got a tough draw to start their home opener as the Yankees came for their only visit to the K. Coming off a 4-2 road trip that featured a sweep of the Tigers and then losing 2 of 3 to the Twins this was a good test for the Royals.

Game 1: Brian Bannister got off to a rough start but battled back and pitched 5 innings allowing 2 runs and the Royals offense scored a season high 5 runs, capped by a 2 run single by Gload in the 5th.

Player of the game: Brian Bannister, he battled through an un-even strike zone and gave the Royals a chance to win.

Game 2: With rain falling most of the game Zack Greinke pitched a fantastic game throwing 8 shutout innings. Girardi fearing rain scratched starter Ian Kennedy and went to the bullpen to start the game with mixed results. John Buck hit a monster home run in the 5th as the Royals win 4-0.

Player of the game: Zack Greinke, was absurd in 8 innings of work allowing 6 hits and 2 walks and 0 runs.

Game 3: Going for the sweep the Royals send left-hander John Bale to the mound against Royal killer Andy Pettitte, and Pettitte did what he does best and that is hold the Royals offense in check. The Yankees avoided the sweep and beat the Royals 6-1.

Player of the game: Mark Teahen (3-4 with a run scored)

Look at the numbers:

Royals outscored the Yankees 10-8.
For the first time this year the bullpen allowed more than 1 ER in a series.
Zack Greinke's ERA after 2 starts: 0.60.
6, the number of runs the Yankees scored Thursday, the most allowed by the Royals to date.
The Royals collected 10 walks, this after 0 in their last series.
The Royals offense is averaging 3.55 runs a game.

Royals host Twins (game IV)

2008-04-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

Another 7:10 start tonight as Gil Meche (0-1, 6.94 ERA) gets his second crack at the Twins. His last start vs. these twins he was rocked to the tune of 6 runs in 5.2 innings. Taking the mound for the Twins is Livan Hernandez (2-0, 3.86 ERA); his last start against the Royals he went 7 innings allowing 4 runs in a winning effort.

The Royals offense needs to get off to a good start after being held in check last night by Pettitte and it would be nice to see Meche get his stuff together and put together a couple good starts.

Box Score

Gil Meche had another rough outing getting blasted for 5 runs in 6 innings, he was assisted by some mis-played balls in the field. I really hope Meche gets things figured out because we can't depend on Bannister and Greinke to carry the full load of a winning season.

The Royals offense offense didn't show up as they have now gone 17 scoreless innings. Gordon had a 2-hit game and Butler added a hit and his hitting streak is now at10 games. Tony Pena Jr. was given the night off to see if he can get his head on right, we just can't have a starter hitting well under .100, it's just not right.

Royals host Yankees (game III)

2008-04-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Royals go for the sweep of the Yankees tonight at 7:10. John Bale (0-1, 5.68 ERA) makes his second of the year and pitching for the Yankees is veteran Andy Pettitte (0-1, 5.40 ERA). The Royals last swept the Yankees in a series at the K back in May-31 thru June 2nd. That was the first series for Buddy Bell as he took over for Tony Pena, ah, good times.

Update: The game is currently in a rain-delay in the bottom of the 4th with the Yanks up 2-1.

Box Score

Not much to say here, Andy Pettitte handled the Royals line-up pretty well last night allowing 1 run in 6.2 innings. Teahen had 3 hits and Butler moved his hitting streak to 9 games.

John Bale seems to be consistent in his mediocrity throwing 6 innings and allowing 4 runs. The Royals defense was shaky on several occasions throughout the game. Lets hope it's not a new trend.

Royals host Yankees (game II)

2008-04-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

At 7:10 the Royals and Yankees kick off game 2 of a 3 game set with the Royals leading 1 game to none. Taking the Mound today for the Royals is Zack Greinke (1-0, 1.29 ERA) and Ian Kennedy (0-1, 23.14 ERA) gets the start for the Yankees.

Guillen's suspension was again pushed back as MLB tries to figure out to do.

Update: It looks like Ian Kennedy was a last minute scratch in favor of Brian Bruney. No word as of yet why Kennedy isn't making his start.

Update II: Looks like Girardi was holding Kennedy out in case the game was postponed, which of course it wasn't. Kennedy came into the game in the 6th and allowed 2 runs on 2 hits.

Box Score

The rain couldn't slow down the Royals as Greinke pitched a fantastic game throwing 8 inning of shut out ball. The bullpen closed out the game in the 9th, first Yabuta and then Gobble to complete the shut out.

The offense like usually didn't get much going until the middle innings when John Buck took Farnsworth deep to lead off the 5th. The Royals added another run in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th to complete the games scoring.

My thoughts on Greinke is if you are going to bring him back in for the 8th when he was already at 97 pitches then why not let him come back for the 9th at 107? Would have been nice to see Greinke get the complete game but I'm happy non the less.

Royals host Yankees (game I)

2008-04-08T07:28:00.001-07:00

Finally, the home opener is upon us. Now we get the chance to see our boys in person and for many of us it will be our first look at the renovations taking place at Kauffman. Taking the mound for the Royals will be Brian Bannister (1-0, 0.00) vs. Phil Hughes (0-0, 3.00) and the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 pm if weather permits.

Box Score

The Royals started the home stand off with a 5-2 win over the Yanks, and Brian Bannister improved to 2-0 working 5 innings and allowing 2 runs. Both Bannister and Hughes had to throw a lot of pitches as the home plate umpire really squeezed the strike zone. The bullpen put in another stellar performance pitching 4 innings of shut out ball.

The offense again did just enough to win scratching out single runs in the 1st, 2nd and 4th and putting up 2 runs in the 5th; Gload came through with the big hit, a 2 run single off Ohlendorf. Several Royals put up 2-hit games including Gathright, Grudzielanek, Teahen, Butler, Gordon and Gload.

The Running game was fantastic tonight with 5 steals, 3 of those from Gathright; DeJesus must be itching to get back into the line-up before Gathright steals his job.

Minor League Report

2008-04-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

In this feature I'm going to take a quick look over the Royals minor league system. I'm going to dig up standings, who's hot, who's cold, and take a look at the Royals top prospects.

Omaha Royals (AAA):

Our boys in AAA are 2-2 to start the season, tied for 1st in the American North division.

Who's Hot:

Mike Aviles: .389/.421/.722 with 4 RBI
Chris Lubanski: .385/.429/.923 with 2 HR and 4 RBI
Ryan Shealy: .267/.389/.667 with 2 HR and 6 RBI
Roberto Giron: 1-1 6.23 ERA...not so good huh, well check it out 9K-0BB and a .188 BAA
Brad Salmon: 0-0 0.00 ERA, 0 hits allowed in 3 IP thus far

Who's Cold:

Shane Costa: .250/.333/.313
Kyle Davies: 0-0 3.00 ERA, 2 hits and 4 BB in 3 IP
Tyler Lumsden: 0-0 5.79 ERA, 6 hits, 3ER in 4.2 IP

NW Arkansas Naturals (AA):

First week hasn't been so kind as they are off to a 1-3 start, still tied for 1st in the North.

Who's Hot:

Dusty Hughes: 1-1 1.69 ERA, 1 ERA in 5.1 IP with a .75 WHIP
Daniel Cortes: 0-0 2.08 ERA, 1 ERA in 4.1 IP

Who's Cold:

The Naturals offense, they are hitting a combined .235/.278/.294
Julio Pimentel: 0-1 7.36 ERA, 7 hits, 3ER in 3.2 IP
Rowdy Hardy: 0-1 9.82 ERA, 9 hits 4ER in 3.2 IP

Wilmington Blue Rocks (A Advanced):

1-2, good for last in the North division.

Who's Hot:

Blake Wood: 0-0 0.00 ERA, 1 hit, 0 ER in 5.1 IP with 9K-0BB and a .19 WHIP
Greg Holland: 1-0 0.00 ERA, 4 hits, 0 ER in 5 IP with 7k-0BB and a .80 WHIP

Who's Cold:

The Blue Rocks bats hitting a combined .144/.265/206

Burlington Bees (A):

The Bees are off to a 2-2 start, good for 4th in the Mid Western division.

Who's Hot:

Adrian Ortiz: .438/.500/.500
Clint Robinson: .308/.438/.923 with 2 HR and 2 RBI
Edward Cegarra: 0-0 0.00 ERA, 3 hits, 0 ER in 6 IP
Daniel Gutierrez: 0-0 0.00 ERA, 2 hits, 0 ER in 5 IP with 8K-2BB

Who's Cold:

Alwin Perez: 0-11 to start the season
Jason Taylor: .091/.286/.091
Mike Moustakas: .176/.176/.176

Top 10 Prospects:

Mike Moustakas: .176/.176/176; 1 RBI
Daniel Cortes: 0-0 2.08 ERA; 1ER in 4.1 IP
Luke Hochevar: 0-1 4.76 ERA; 5 hits and 3 ER in 5.2 IP
Blake Wood: 0-0 0.00 ERA; 1 hit and 0 ER in 5.1 IP 9k-0BB
Danny Duffy: -
Carlos Rosa: 0-0 4.50 ERA; 6 hits and 2 ER in 4 IP 5k-0BB
Julio Pimentel: 0-1 7.36 ERA; 7 hits, 3 ER in 3.2 IP 5k-0BB
Matt Mitchell: 0-0 0.00 ERA; 2 hits 0 ER in 5 IP 4k-0BB
Yasuhiko Yabuta: Royals Roster
Derrick robinson: .167/.231/.167; 2 SB

Royals at Twins (series I) recap

2008-04-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

Coming off a sweep of the Tigers in Detroit the Royals came back to earth losing 2 of 3 to the Twins and will finally have their home opener Monday against the Yankees.

Game 1: John Bale started the series off pitching 6.1 innings and allowing 4 runs but Scott Baker was a run better as the Twins edged the Royals 4-3. Bale was followed by perfect appearances from Gobble and Ramirez.

Player of the game: Billy Butler; he was 2-4 with an RBI.

Game 2: Gil Meche was rocked for 6 runs in 5.2 innings as the Royals lost their second straight 6-4. Meche was followed by the first appearances of both Mahey and Yabuta.

Player of the game: Miguel Olivo; 1-4 with a 2-run double.

Game 3: Brett Tomko went 5 innings of 1 run ball in his first start of the season and the Royals offense did just enough to escape with a 3-1 win over the Twins. Mahey, Nunez, Gobble and Soria followed Tomko. Gordon provided the offense with a 2-run single in the 2nd.

Player of the game: Brett Tomko, the Royals needed a stop and Tomko did just that.

Unheralded player of the game: Jokaim Soria, he only got into one game, but he was dominate striking out the side for his 3rd save.

Look at the numbers:

The Royals didn't draw a walk all series, a span of 102 AB's
The Bullpen allowed 1 ER in 8 IP over the series
6.94, Gil Meche's ERA after 2 starts
.167, Jose Guillens batting average
1 the number of errors to date
The Royals didn't have a winning road trip until May 11th-20th of '07

Royals at Twins (game III)

2008-04-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

The Royals look to avoid being apart of their second sweep of the season today, this time on the losing end, by sending...(sigh) Brett Tomko to the mound against Boof Bonzer in a 1:10 Start. This will be Tomko's second appearance, his first was on opening day where he pitched 2 innings allowing a game tying run in the eighth; by all accounts he threw the ball well except for the Guillen homer.

Box Score

The Royals salvaged the last game of the series and return to Kansas City with a winning road trip, pretty good way to start the season. Our un-likely hero today was Brett Tomko who pitched 5 innings of 1 run ball, he did throw a lot of pitches but I'll take that trade off in his first start. The bullpen did a fantastic job allowing only 1 run in 4 innings and Soria picked up his 3rd save of the season.

The offense continues it's slow start but did scratch out 3 runs, which today, was good enough. Gordon had the big hit, a 2-run single in the second. Callaspo and Gordon both had a 2-hit game while Butler contributed 3 hits.

Royals Notes: Olivo, Nomo

2008-04-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Nothing ground breaking here, Olivo returned to the 25 man roster after his 4-day suspension to start the season. With his return Matt Tupman was optioned to Omaha and Hideo Nomo's contract was purchased from Idaho Falls; Nomo will work mostly in long relief for the Royals.

Everyone pretty much expected Nomo to be called up once Olivo's suspension was over, and I don't have a big problem with it, it's a good story if it works. I just fail to see how Nomo can really make this bullpen better. He gave up a ton of hits in spring training, but to be fair he also had more K's than innings pitched. That said I guess I'll just wait and see what happens, I'm just not convinced.

Royals at Twins (game II)

2008-04-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

Gil Meche working on his normal rest today will face Livan Hernadez and the Twins for the second game of a three game set. Meche went 6 innings in his first start allowing three runs and escaping with a no decision.

Box Score

Meche had another rough outing as he gave up 6 runs in 5 2/3 innings. Meche was cruising along through three innings before Morneau took a Meche pitch 420 ft. Mahey and Yabuta each made their first appearances of the spring, they combined for 2.1 innings of one hit ball.

The Royals offense continued its struggles today by again only scoring 4 runs, that's 20 for the season, and if you do the math that is 648 for the season. Hillman made several switches today to try and get the bats going. He switched Gordon and Teahen in the order and gave Buck the day off in favor of Olivo and Pena had a seat on the bench as Callaspo got his first start of the year. Those moves worked okay as the 4 went 5-16 with 3 RBI.

Royals at Twins (game I)

2008-04-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

John Bale looks to keep the Royals winnings streak alive by taking on Scott Baker and the Minnesota Twins in a 7:10 start. The Royals are still without DeJesus as he is mending a sprain to his ankle, he isn't expected to make any starts during this series so we will see some more of Joey Gathright.

Box Score

The Royals 3 game winning streak came to a halt tonight as John Bale gave up 4 runs in 6 1/3 innings. Bale making his first start obviously wasn't as sharp as he was in spring training, he allowed 10 hits and only had 2 K's. Scott Baker, who nearly pitched a no-hitter against the Royals late last year, was nearly un-hittable after the 2nd inning.

The Royals offense is still in a slumber, collecting 8 hits but only three runs. The Twins scored the winning run when Mike Lamb doubled to lead off the fourth and then was bunted the third by Tolbert and the squeezed home by Everett...who would have thought, but then again small ball is exactly what the Twins do well.

Royals at Tigers (series one) recap

2008-04-03T13:31:00.001-07:00

Who would have predicted that the Kansas City Royals would come out and sweep the overly-hyped Tigers to open the season? The Royals came out and played solid fundamental baseball and they out pitched, hit, and hustled the Tigers.

Game 1: Meche battled through 6 innings giving up three runs, he was followed by Tomko, Nunez and Soria. Gordon provided the early offense with a 2-run shot in the 6th. Royals hold on to win 5-4 in 11 innings.

Player of the game: Alex Gordon; his two run shot got the Royals on the board and rattled Verlander.

Game 2: Brian Bannister was the story of this game going 7 innings allowing 0 ER and only 2 hits, he was followed by Nunez and Soria. Grudzeilanek, Guillen, and Butler each had a double in the 6th accounting for the Royals first 2 runs. Royals win 4-0, in getting their first shut-out of the year.

Player of the game: Brian Bannister; he was amazing, enough said.

Game 3: Zach Greinke kept the good pitching performances going by throwing 7 strong innings allowing only 1 ER. Greinke was following by Ramirez, and Soria. The offense was again started by Gordon going yard in the 4th, a two run shot. The Royals scored single runs in the 6th (Teahens 1st HR) and 7th en route to a 4-1 win and completed the sweep.

Player of the game: Zack Greinke; he was solid, especially when runners were on base.

Unheralded player(s) of the series: Mark Grudzeilanek (6-12, 3 runs) and Joakim Soria. (3IP, 4K's, 2 saves)

Look at the numbers:

Royals are 3-0 for the first time since 2003
The Royals didn't win a series last year until April 20-22nd against the Twins
Royals allowed only 5 ER's in 29 Innings while striking out 24 K's/9 BB's
Royals outscored the Tigers 13-5
Royals out homered the Tigers 3-2
Royals out hit the Tigers 29-21
Royals don't play the Tigers again until May 13th
Royals were 3-4 in SB attempts

Notes: David DeJesus only played 3 innings due to re-injuring his ankle.

Royals at Tigers (game III)

2008-04-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Royals go for a sweep of the Tigers today at 12:05, Zack Greinke will take the mound against Jeremy Bonderman. The Royals have gotten great starts from Meche and Bannister with just enough offense to put away the Tigers, Greinke tries to continue this streak.

Its pretty amazing the way the Royals have started the year, sure it's only 2-0, but it's 2-0 for the first time since '03...that's an amazing start for the Royals. I'll have to miss the game today (stupid school) but will give a game update later.

Box Score

Greinke and the Royals completed the three game sweep of the Tigers today. Greinke allowed 1 run and 6 hits over 7 innings and Soria closed out the game with a 1-2-3 9th. The offense today was sparked by another 2-run homer courtesy of Gordon in the 4th and Teahen hit his first home run of the young season in the 6th.

Royals at Tigers (game II)

2008-04-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

At 12:05 Brian Bannister will take the mound against Kenny Rogers and the Tigers. The Royals are looking to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2003, in fact, the Royals havn't won an opening season series since the 2003 season.

Box Score

So there it is, the Royals first opening series win since 2003 and murderer's row didn't phase Bannister as he shut down the Detroit Tigers going 7 innings and allowing 0 ER, 4 K's and 0 BB's. Bannister worked quick and got help from some overly aggressive Tiger hitters needing only 85 pitches.

The offense again struggled early as Rogers kept them off balance but three doubles by Grudzeilanek, Guillen, and Butler produced two runs in the 5th. In the 8th Butler came through with his second big 2-out hit and scored Gathright and then Teahen got Butler home with a single to center.

A couple of curious bullpen decisions by Hillman in the late innings as he again brought Nunez in to pitch the eighth and then brought in Soria to close out the game in a non-save situation. The moves worked, and I'm not about to start questioning Hillman after two games; lets just hope we get an easy win tomorrow and these two guys can have a rest.

Royals open the Season at Detroit

2008-03-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

So here it is, the moment we have been waiting all winter for, the season opener. The Royals take on the Detroit Tigers and their killer line-up at 12:05. Meche will take the mound for the Royals against Verlander of the Tigers, should be a good one.

Box Score

What a game, could you ask more as a Kansas City Royals fan? Both teams played extremely well with Detroit in control through five innings the Royals came back late and eventually closed out the game in the 11th.

Gil Meche pitched well but continued his trend of throwing a lot of pitches and had to leave after 6 innings and 99 pitches. Another trend going for Meche was the lack of run support, the Royals didn't score until the 10th as Verlander was throwing a very good game (with a lot of help from a generous home plate umpire).

The Royals got the bats going in the 6th inning Grudzielanek hit a single to right and Gordon hit his first home run of the spring deep to right. After taking the lead in the 7th Brett Tomko gave up a solo shot to Guillen to tie the game. Nunez was lights out in relief striking out 3 in 2 innings. In the top of the 11th Teahen was thrown out at home on a John Buck single, Buck then scored one batter later when Tony Pena Jr. hit a soft single to center for the game winning run.
Soria closed out the game giving up a one out double, but striking out Renteria and retiring Polanco on a great play by Gordon diving to his left.

David DeJesus came out of the game after apparently re-injuring his sprained ankle, no word on the severity.

Royals set roster

2008-03-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Royals 24-man (yes, 24-man) roster was finalized today, the roster will expand to 25 when Olivo returns from his four game suspension. No big surprises except maybe that Shealy was optioned to Omaha, he had a good spring hitting 4 home runs and 10 RBI. Shealy could even return when Olivo's suspension is up though another reliever is also a possibility.

Those going to Omaha are Ryan Shealy, Jason Smith, Mitch Maier, Angel Berroa, Joel Peralta, Hideo Nomo, Neal Musser, Brad Salmon and Brandon Duckworth. Luke Hudson will see extended spring training in Arizona.

The Royals are going with seven infielders, which is pretty unusual. I really wish the German trade would of happened.

Royals at Brewers: Redux

2008-03-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is it, the last game before the regular season for our Royals. Zack Greinke will take the mound for the Royals against Dave Bush of the Brewers. Today's game, though still in Milwaukee, will be played with American League rules.

Box Score

Zack Greinke threw another good game going 7 innings and allowing 1 run but the bullpen gave it away in the 7th when Peralta walked the first two hitters he faced. On the offensive side of the ball DeJesus hit his first homer of the spring and Olivo went 3 for 3.

The Royals will have a practice tomorrow at Comerica Park before kicking off the season opener Monday.

Royals at the Brewers

2008-03-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

The Royals face the Brewers today in an exhibition at 7:05. Taking the Mound for the Royals is Brian Bannister, and for the Brewers it's ex-Royal Jeff Suppan.

Just two more games until the Royals kick of the regular season in Detroit; don't know about you guys but I'm getting stoked.

Box Score

Bannister threw the ball well going 5 innings and allowing only 1 run. The offense was held in check fairly well, Gathright was the only Royal to collect more than one hit. Yasuhiko Yabuta exited after 2 batters when a come-backer from Braun hit him in the leg, x-rays were negative.

Guillens suspension lifted

2008-03-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

Dick Kaegel reports that the suspensions of Guillen and Jay Gibbons could get lifted Sunday. ""I'm excited about that possibility because the rumors have been pretty consistent about that for several days. We'll see how it goes," Royals manager Trey Hillmam said on Thursday. "

It seems likely that the suspensions will get lifted as they have no intention of suspending the 82 other names in the Mitchell Report. It just amazes me and frustrates the Royals that Major League Baseball plans to wait until Sunday, which is the season opener by the way, to inform the Royals one way or another.

Miguel Olivo has had his suspension changed to four days instead of the five days it was originally. While only one day, it is still good news because the Royals are going to have to run a 24-man roster out there until Olivo comes back.

Update on Guillen: MLB has put the suspension of Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons on hold for 10 days while an agreement is being worked out.

Royals V. Texas

2008-03-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today's 2:05 start features Mike Maroth on the mound for the Royals against Jason Jennings of the Rangers. The Royals have what could very well be their opening day line-up with the exception of David DeJesus, who is out with an ankle sprain.

Box Score

Maroth got hit pretty hard giving up 5 runs in 3 innings and the Royals offense was held in check pretty well by Texas starter Jason Jennings. Gordon went 2 for 2, Gathright 2 for 3, and Buck hit his first homer of the spring.

Justin Huber A Padre?

2008-03-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing official but rumors are flying that Huber is on his way to San Diego. More to Come.

Ok so It is official: Dutton writes Justin Huber is traded to the San Diego Padres for a PTBNL. The move isn't a surprising one as Huber was out of options and was behind so many on the depth chart, not to mention the guy has it .346/.400/.615 this spring and still wasn't given much of a shot at winning a spot.

I'm a huge Justin Huber fan and I believe he will hit and hit well when given a real shot.

Royals Notes

2008-03-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Royals acquire 26 year old right-hander Ramon Ramirez from the Colorado Rockies today in exchange for a PTBNL. Ramirez who is out of options will be added to the Royals 40-man roster today, to make room Jorge De La Rosa was designated for assignment, if he passes through waivers he will be moved to Omaha.

This move is somewhat surprising because Ramirez battled an elbow injury last year which could be a bad sign. De La Rosa being designated isn't much of a shock to me, the guy just can't seem to figure it out and with Gobble and Mahey in the bullpen there just doesn't seem to be room for him.

Today on The Program with Soren Petro he confirmed that Kyle Davies has been optioned to Omaha. That leaves, as expected, John Bale and Brett Tomko as the fourth and fifth starters breaking camp.

Other players optioned today Chin-Hui Tsao to the minor league camp, Ramon Colon to AA Arkansas and Ken Huckaby was also sent to the minors - no word to where yet.

Royals host Mariners

2008-03-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Gil Meche and the Royals host the Eric Bedard and the Mariners today in a 3:05 start. Last time the Royals faced Bedard they hit him pretty well. The Royals plan on limiting Meche to 4-5 innings after his last start of 6 2/3 innings.

Box Score

Meche in his final start before the regular season had a rough outing allowing 4 ER in 5 innings. Big bats were Butler, Olivo, and Smith who had two home runs in the game.

2008 Preview

2008-03-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well today was the official start of the 2008 season when the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland A's 6-5 in 10 innings but I'm not going to let a little thing like that hamper my blogging plans.

Over the next couple of days I'm going to gather as many 2008 preview/prediction articles as I can find and post them here for our enjoyment now and at the end of the season. So let's get it started.

Sports Illustrated had the most complete, enjoyable, and objective preview I could find so they go first. Where do they place the Royals? 73-89, 17 games back of the first place Tigers.

ESPN has an annoying video preview and don't even mention the Royals but the graphic they show at the end has the Royals in dead last.

Fox also has video preview but it's a little more enjoyable, Ken Rosenthal is a good baseball guy.

The guys at Baseball Analysts put together a round table with a few local notables and the consensus seems to be a third place finish for the Royals.

I've never even heard of these guys before but the Associated Content's William Cohen has the most laughable prediction I have found. He takes every jab he can at the Royals and essentially has no clue about the team.

Armchair GM has the Royals at 64-98 (I'm not making this up)

207 Prospectus is an ok read despite the page being really hard to read...oh yeah, another last place finish for the Royals.

To save you from work Royal Impressions has a 78-84 prediction for the Royals

Royals Notes

2008-03-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

I was a little slow and missed this one yesterday. Dick Kaegel On Monday reported the Royals optioned infielder Mike Aviles to Omaha, the move leaves the number in camp to 42 with a mere five games remaining. Aviles had a good camp hitting .419 in 31 at bats, but there is no room for another utility infielder so the move was expected.

Bob Dutton of the Star has an interesting piece on Royals non-roster invitee Chin-Hui Tsao, I recommend a quick read of it. The guy has all the talent in the world but needs to stay healthy to realize it.

Finally my favorite article of the day comes from Jeffery Flanagan, he writes in his Top of the Mornin' column for the Star that John Bucks problems at the plate late last year were a result of "someone no longer with the Royals" tinkering with his swing. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, having Buddy Bell step down was the best thing the Royals did this offseason.

Royals at Padres

2008-03-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

At 9:05 tonight Brett Tomko and the Royals take on Justin Germano and the Padres. This will mark Tomko's last start of the spring and his bid to win one of the last two starting pitcher slots. As it stands now Bale and Tomko are the most likely canidates to win the spots, but Davies has had a pretty good spring in his limited outings (9 IP).

Box Score

Royals offense continues to roll along scoring 8 in this one for a come back win. Big hits in the game go to Huber and German as they each 2-run doubles. Tomko allow 1 ER in 4 innings, his best start in awhile, what worries me though is the amount of pitches he throws to get through 4 innings.

Royals host Dodgers

2008-03-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

At 8:05 De La Rosa will take the mound to face the Dodgers in Surprise. This game will go along way in determining De La Rosa's future with the Royals. So far this spring De La Rosa is sporting an ugly 7.56 ERA allowing 7 runs in 8.1 innings and a batting average against of .450, any way you spin it this has been a bad spring for him.

Another player to watch closely is Esteban German, the line-up isn't available yet but I'm willing to bet he is starting and playing in the infield. Last week the trade rumors were flying about the possible trade of German to the Dodgers, but the last few days have been silent, let's see if he can have a good game and get this trade rumor rolling again.

Well German didn't get the start but he did come in late and had a hit in one at bat, a run and a walk, not bad I suppose. Last nights game also had some other interesting points of note; Butler had a triple, Teahen hit his third homer of the spring and Gathright jumped over a 6'1" pitcher. De La Rosa had another bad start allowing 7 hits and 4 runs in 4 innings of work.

Box Score

Hochevar optioned to Omaha

2008-03-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Dutton comes through again. Luke Hochevar was optioned to Omaha today. Trey Hillman said "where he’s at right now and where we’re at right now, that’s the best thing for him and the best thing for us."

That's code for he has options so he will start the season at AAA. Hochevar had a good spring going giving up 2 runs in 8 innings of work. I don't think it will be long before we see Hochevar with the big league club.

Royals VS White Sox

2008-03-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Zack Greinke is currently on the mound today against John Danks and the White Sox. Current action in the third is 3-2 Royals.

So much for seeing our front-line guys in action every day until camp breaks.

Box Score

Greinke put together a good game today, the third straight quality start by a Royals pitcher, by going 6 innings and allowing 2 runs. Shealy hit his 4th home run of the spring and Hollins drove in 3 for his team leading 15th RBI.

German to the Dodgers talk heating up

2008-03-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

For a couple of days now there has been talks of the Dodgers scouting Esteban German and now it seems those talks are really taking off. The Dodgers in need of infield help because of injuries to Nomar Garciappara and Jeff Kent have been looking hard for a cheap but solid option. Ken Rosenthal says that both Joe Crede and Brandon Inge appear to expensive and that other options include Nationals infielder Ronnie Belliard and our very own German.

Bob Dutton has it that the Royals and Dodgers are discussing a deal that would send German to the Dodgers and net the Royals 23 year old righty Jonathan Meloan and 25 year old righty Miguel Pinango.

If that is really the package on the table the Royals need to jump all over it. Meloan is ranked as the Dodgers 8th best prospect and his minor league numbers are pretty impressive; for his career his K/9 is 13.51.

Another rumor courtesy of Dutton is that the Royals would send Berroa to the Nationals along with roughly $2.4 million (half of his $4.75 million contract) in exchange for 22 year old righty Zech Zinicola.

Royals Notes

2008-03-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reported that Bale and Tomko are likely going to be tabbed as the fourth and fifth starters. No big surprise there, Bale has been good and Tomko has a guaranteed contract.

Dutton also said that the Dodgers are still scouting German as a candidate to fill their utility role.

The Nationals front office has been rumored to have some interest in Angel Berroa. Not sure what they are thinking over there but getting rid of Berroa and his $4.75 million contract would be good news for the Royals.

Luke Hudson experienced yet another set-back this weak in his recovery from shoulder surgery. I hope the guy all the best and hope he can come back, I was really surprised with his stuff in '06.

Royals host Padres

2008-03-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Brian Bannister takes on Chris Young today in a 3:05 start. This is Bannisters last start before camp breaks. The rotation the last two games have put together some decent starts and the offense has been hot scoring 11 and 8 rans the last couple nights.

The Royals stand at 12-10 this spring.

Box Score

Royals at Mariners

2008-03-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Gil Meche gets the start today against Bedard in a 3:05 start. The Royals line-up today is similar to that of yesterday which is good, it's time to get our frontline guys some steady work.

Royals

DeJesus, CF
Callaspo, 2B
Gordon, 3B
Guillen, RF
Butler, DH
Teahen, LF
Gload, 1B
Pena, SS
Tupman, C

Royals aquire Brad Salmon

2008-03-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Royals traded the ever popular PTBNL to the Reds for righty Brad Salmon. The move is not expected to affect the 40-man roster.

Kind of a surprise the Reds would trade Salmon, he doesn't have much of a track record but was pretty darn good in limited action in '07 (0-1/4.12). It appears he is a stud against right handers holding them to a .213 BAA while striking out 18 in 16.2 innings but struggles against lefties. He could be insurance in case one of Nunez/Peralta/Davies can't hold onto their job.

Are the Royals a .500 team?

2008-03-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Optimism abounds this time of year and everyone is excited about this teams future but in 2008 I say they come a few wins short of .500. The AL Central boasts two of the best teams in all of baseball in the Tigers and the Indians whom the Royals will play 18 times each and I don't expect the Twins and White Sox to roll over either.

Looking back at last years squad and the Royals had some ugly numbers, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Here is a look at a few of them:

Runs 706 (27 /30)
Batting Average .261 (22/30)
Home Runs 102 (30/30)

Those are some ugly numbers. The Royals brought in Jose Guillen (.290/23/99) and Miguel Olivo (.237/16/60) to help lift this offense. In addition most expect Alex Gordon and Billy Butler to have better numbers in their sophomore season, and Dayton Moore is on record as saying David DeJesus is capable of reaching 200 hits. The Royals also seem high on Alberto Callaspo who they got from Arizona in an off season trade and his numbers thus far in spring are positive (.356/.408/.556).

On the pitching side the Rotation seems to be fairly strong one through three with Meche, Bannister and Greinke; as for the fourth and fifth spot I think you'll see Bale and Tomko. The bullpen which was so successful last year has been revamped, gone are Riske, Dotel, and Greinke, in are Mahey, Yabuta, and a handful yet to be named. Peralta, Gobble and Soria all locks while Nunez and De La Rosa seem likely.

Put this all together and the Royals for the first time in a decade have a core of young players on both sides of the ball who have big league talent. Royals fans have a legitimate reason to be excited about this year and the future.

My prediction is 78-84, a nine game improvement and good for 3rd in the division.

Royals host the Brewers

2008-03-20T10:01:00.000-07:00

Today Brett Tomko gets the start against the Brewers in an 8:05 start, Hideo Nomo is also scheduled to pitch.

Tomko so far this spring has been unspectacular, yet his $3 million contract makes him a near locke for the rotation. As for Nomo the guy has been suprising when you consider he hasn't pitched since 2005. This spring he has struck out a batter per inning but he is just giving up to many hits to make the cut. Look for Nomo to be outrighted to AAA or given his outright release before camp breaks.

Box Score