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The Greinke Delima...

What Should the Royals do with Zack Greinke

There are several schools of though about what to do with Zack Greinke.

Let him continue to flourish in middle relief

- Greinke is really doing well in the bullpen. The resurgence of the bullpen coincides with the movement of Greinke into the pen. For now it seems as though Buddy Bell and the Royals enjoy having a reliever that is a true power arm. When Greinke was in the starting rotation his fastball was sitting somewhere between 89-91mph, but since he moved to the pen, his fastball speed has really jumped regularly hitting between 94-96mph. He comes into games throws strikes and gives the Royals a chance to win on a regular basis. helping the Royals get to their closer with the lead. Another positive is instead of effecting one or two games a week, Greinke has a chance to impact 3-4 games a week.

Move him back to the starting rotation

- Greinke's stuff is too good to only be used in the bullpen. Nothing is as important to a baseball team then starting pitching. If you don't have starting pitching, the game won't matter in the 7th inning. The Royals used a first round draft choice on Greinke to be a starting pitcher and they only gave him 64 starts before they decided that he wasn't good enough to be a starter. Look a Jeremy Bonderman's numbers. It took him almost 100 starts before he became the stud he is today(2003: 6-19, 2004: 11-13, 2005: 14-13, 2006: 14-8.)

Move Greinke to the closer

- Zack Greinke has lights out stuff. He hits his spots with all of his pitches...power fastball, sweeping curve, diving changeup... He is too good be be left in middle relief and with his stuff he could just blow people away in the 9th inning a la Jonathon Papelbon. Octavio Dotel is not doing so hot this season and will hopefully be dealt by the trading deadline leaving the closer's job in the air. Joakim Soria, would be the obvious choice because of his experience earlier this season, but why not give Greinke a chance. If the Royals have given up on Greinke as a starter the next most valuable position as a pitcher is the closers job. Let's see what he can do...

As for me...

I would like to see Grienke back in the starting rotation. That being said I don't think he'll crack the starting rotation again this year, so yes, I'd like to see what he'd do as the closer. Dotel makes me nervous each time he enters the game and I just don't feel comfortable with him in the game. I'd like to see Dotel dealt for anything except an outfielder. Greinke is too good to be in middle relief and his talents need to be utilized as something in a role that has more of an impact on the game. Sure middle relief is important, but you can find it: David Riske. IF the Royals are entertaining the notion of moving Grienke to closer they need to do it sooner then later and definitely not in November. To tell the truth I'm not sure how Greinke would react to the stresses of the closers job, but I think he would relish the opportunity that he might pitch everyday and could have a large impact on the game.

I guess I change my answer...let me see what Greinke does as the closer and then let me make up my mind. Also as a sidebar: I'd like to see Soria switched to a starter after this Rule V season.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 36-48

The Lost Art of Retaliation

Hit Someone...Please!

Sweeping the Angels is a great way to end a road trip, whether a winning or a losing road trip, it's just solid to come home aftersweeping the best team in baseball.

The Royals played solid baseball, winning in every way possible...a normal win, a blowout and a 1-run pitching duel. Good solid baseball and a good solid sweep.

I saw 3 different things that really stood out in my mind after this series:

1. The bullpen deserves an atta'boy! 8 IP 1.12ERA 1ER 7K 1BB

2. The homerun hitting duo of Gordon and Butler going deep in the same game is awesome. First time ever on 6/26/07

3. Royals pitchers need to freaking bean some people!

Lets elaborate on the last topic:

Over the 3 game series in Anaheim Royals batters got beaned 5 times...2 times in the Monday game and 3 times in the blowout on Tuesday. Take a guess at how many times an Angel got beaned? If you guessed none, you would be right. After 5 Royals players took pitches on the chin, Royals pitchers felt no need to protect their hitters or even things up a bit.

To tell the truth it kinda pisses me off. Stand up for your batters. It's not a difficult theory, just send a message to the other team and let them know, if you plunk a Royal, expect to get plunked.

I looked up the numbers for this season...So far Royals batters have been plunked 49 times this season, which incidentally leads the majors. Royals pitchers have hit opposing batters only 21 times, which is good for 26th in the majors.

I'm not sure if it is a coaching philosophy or what, but someone needs to step up and protect our batters. I'm not advocating for retaliation in a 1-0 game, but during Tuesdays blowout after 3 Royals players have already been hit, why not just give an Angel a shot to the ribs as a bit of payback.

Bruise for a bruise.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 33-46

Indictment of the System or the Braves Way?

Last Thursday the Royals placed Scott Elarton on the DL, whether he is actually hurt or just terrible is an argument all in itself, regardless Royals fans no longer have to deal with him and his 9.17ERA.

Let me just say first of all I'm ecstatic that Elarton is no longer in the starting rotation. It at least takes an almost surefire loss out of the balance and maybe even gives the Royals a chance to win.

With Elarton on the DL, it opened up a spot in the starting rotation and GM Dayton Moore was left with a decision. There are several ways that Dayton could have dealt with this situation.

He could have...
1. Moved Zack Grienke back to the starting rotation from the bullpen.
2. Called up one of the many(smell the sarcasm?) Royals pitching prospects.
3. Signed a veteran to just fill a spot.

As most of us know by now, Dayton selected option #3 and signed veteran John Thompson.

John Thompson's Career Numbers:
62-84 4.69ERA 796K 366BB
-not bad, just about major league average. Earlier this year Thompson was released by the Toronto Bluejays. The Jays decided they didn't have room on the roster for Thompson, because of his roster bonus. Toronto's starting rotation was already full of young up-and-comers and they didn't want to pay his bonus for him to sit in the bullpen, so they released him.

Now the question remains of the other 2 options:
-As for Grienke...he's doing quite well in the bullpen, flourishing in his new role and with his mental history the Royals feel safer to let him stay where he is.
-What about bringing up one of our youngsters? Let's take a look at the Royals top 3 pitching prospects.

Billy Buckner's 2007 numbers(AAA):
6-2 4.15ERA 43K 13BB
Tyler Lumsden's 2007 numbers(AAA):
5-5 5.57ERA 50K 30BB
Luke Hochevar's 2007 numbers(AA):
3-6 4.63ERA 83K 19BB

Just looking at the numbers, Billy Buckner is the obvious choice, but remember this is his first year in AAA. His numbers show that he has been good, but not dominating AAA, so what would that conversion be in the majors? Probably not to good. The other two, Lumsden and Hochevar, obviously need more seasoning.

So what led Dayton Moore to his decision to sign Thompson? Was is an indictment of the system or the Braves way or doing things?

I believe it was the latter. The Braves Way. No need to rush a prospect when a decent, average veteran waiting in the wings that can be signed for little money. Let the prospects continue their development and don't rush them. We as Royals fans have seen to many prospects come up to fill a void and just get hammered.

I believe Dayton made a good decision signing Thompson so lets see what he does tonight...

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 30-46

The Sweet Smell of Mediocrity

Who are these Guys?

All season long everyone has been saying these Royals are better then last years Royals, but the record never showed. They were still dropping games and losing series, but no longer. The Royals of the last 5 weeks have showed that they are better and have played better baseball. In the Royals last 33 games they are 17-16 and that includes a 7 game losing streak.

During this stretch of good, solid baseball the Royals have removed themselves from the worst team in baseball and are now sitting as the third worst team in baseball, 1 game in front of Texas( 26-43) and 2 games up on Cincinati( 27-44). The Royals are also working their way out of the cellar in the AL Central. As of today, 6/19/07, the Royals are 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox for 4th in the AL Central. Baby steps.

Everything seems to be coming together at the right time. The starting pitching has been good, not great, but good enough. One starter has been outstanding in the month of June...Brian Bannister.

Brian Bannister's June Numbers; 4-0 1.60ERA 28IP 5ER 15K 3BB

And when the starting pitching isn't good *cough. cough- Scott Elarton* the offense has provided enough run support to help the Royals win, averaging 4.3 runs a game over the last month. John Buck and Alex Gordon have really started hitting the ball well.

John Buck's June Numbers: 10/37 .270BA 4HR 1 Double 7RBI

Alex Gordon's June Numbers: 17/55 .309BA 2HR 3 Doubles 1 Triple 9 RBI

Editor's Note: John Buck is only catching 3 of 5 starts so the question is should he be getting more starts? Or are his power numbers the result of getting more rest? Talk amongst yourselves.

The final piece of the puzzle is the bullpen. Wow...the bullpen. The most frustrating piece of the puzzle for Royals fans over the past 3 years has finally come together and slam the door for the Royals win. The combination of Grienke, Gobble, Soria, Riske and Dotel have been outstanding.

Bullpen Numbers for the Month of June:

2-0 2.34ERA 53 1/3 IP 14ER 48K 18BB 6SV and no! blown saves...

I couldn't believe those numbers when I saw them. A 2.34ERA, a k/bb ratio of 3.5/1. Those numbers are Anaheim Angel numbers not Royals numbers.

Lets hope the Royals keep up the good work and catch the White Sox and get out of the Central cellar.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 29-42

Cardinal Stew

Series Analysis

St. Louis @ Kansas City

Tuesday June 12 KC 8-1 STL

Wednesday June 13 KC 0-7 STL

Thursday June 14 KC 17-8 STL

There are very few things in my book that are better then beating the Cardinals. Most of my fraternity brothers in college were from St. Louis so naturally, they were pompous Cardinal fans and usually lambasted me for being a Royals fan. So to see the boys in blue take a series from the Cardinals for me, is just bittersweet vindication.

After watching the series there are a few things that have really come to life:

-One- Scott Rolen is obviously washed up, he has become a shell of his former self both with the bat and in the field.

-Two- The Royals are frustrating. Its nice to see them play well, but to score 8, 0 and then a 17 is a bit odd. Hopefully they just ran into good pitching, and they did, but the inconsistency is a bit troubling...but that is just a minor complaint. I'll take 2 out of 3 every series like that all year.

-Three- Alex Gordon is starting to come around- 6/13 .461 2HR 6RBI 2K for the series and is batting .204 for the season. His first homerun of the series on Saturday was a thing of beauty, a 439 ft shot to right-center that landed in the second tier of the water spectacular.

-Four- Scott Elarton is not very good- 2IP 6ER 0K 3BB- I think the Royals may end up putting Grienke back in the starting rotation...

-Five- Grienke is very good in the bullpen- W 4IP 1ER 3K- but to keep him in the bullpen is a waste. I think this stint in the pen has been great for his confidence, but I'd like to see what happens if they put him back in the starting rotation.

-Six- Odalis Perez has regressed mightily- L 3IP 6ER oK 2BB 1oH!- he had pitched very well earlier this year, but before that he pitched like this crap. I'm not sure what to do...the Royals need a warm body for the rotation and with nobody ready in the minors, I guess the fans will just have to cross their fingers and hopefully Dayton can flip him for something useful at the trade deadline, but with starts like that...

-Seven- Mark Teahen's bat is also starting to come alive- 6/13 .461BA 7RBI 3 Triples

-Eight- The Royals have played very well against the National League. So far this season they're 6-3 against the NL and with 3 series left against NL teams the Royals have a good shot at a winning record for interleague play.

I guess that's more then a few things, but hey I've been gone a while. Hopefully they keep the momentum going against the NL and then carry it back to the AL.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 26-41

Did You Miss Me?

I have returned from sunny Cancun after a week of laying by the beach and chugging Corona...I think my minimum beer intake per day was at least 5...Alas though, I have returned and was treated to a hell of a performance from the Royals on day 1 of the I-70 series, an 8-1 victory over the Cardinals. Later this week we will break down the series, but lets hope the Royals can keep it going and manage another series win.

Over the week I was gone the the Royals went 5-4...not as good as the last time I was gone, but hey it's not 1-8. Small victories folks, small victories.

Also while I was gone the MLB amateur draft was held. Check back later this week for a breakdown of the draft or check out Royals Authority, but for now we will just leave you with what Baseball America said about the Royals 1st Round draft pick Mike Moustakas:

No premium draft pick had a better season than Moustakas, who had one of the great careers in California high school history. The nephew of former Mets hitting coach Tom Robson, Moustakas tightened up his body between his junior and senior seasons, stepping up his conditioning as he healed completely from a hairline ankle fracture sustained during a scrimmage football game as a high school junior. He was the starting quarterback at Chatsworth as a freshman and has a bazooka for an arm--his fastball sat in the low 90s early in the year in relief roles and hit 97 mph in April. His power arm isn't his best tool though, as Moustakas' quiet, quick hands, polished approach and strength at the plate produce light-tower power and a smooth swing he repeats easily. Earlier in the year, scouts wondered about his defensive position--he's Chatsworth's shortstop but will move immediately as a pro. Most believe third base would be the first natural spot and others dreamed of his arm behind the plate, but most agree now that it doesn't matter. His bat will play at any spot, even first base, though it would be a shame to waste that arm there. The only complicating factor was his commitment to Southern California--he and Robert Stock would become an unrivaled pair of two-way players--and representation by Scott Boras. The combination clouds his signability, but not his impressive ability.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 25-40

Bad News and Good News

Royals Drop 7th Straight

The Bad News:

What a terrible stretch of baseball the boys in blue have put forth this past week. After such a strong road trip and then come home and drop 7 of 9 on the home stand is just disheartening. The Royals have been methodically beat down until last night when Gil Meche went 7 strong innings only surrendering 1ER, but the lowly offence manged no runs and no extra base hits to back up Meche. Even worse the team is currently batting during this losing streak, a paltry .193.

Other Notes

- Royals players of the month: Outfielder Teahen was selected Royals player of the month for May. Teahen hit .304 with three home runs and 17 RBIs. He also had seven outfield assists. Reliever David Riske was pitcher of the month. Riske didn’t allow a run in May, covering 14 appearances in 13 1/3 innings.

- David DeJesus is still struggling- 0/13 2BB during the BAL series

- I really thought this team was better, but who knows...they are on pace to lose 106 games

The Good News:

I am going out of town again! The last time I was on vacation the Royals won 8 of 10 so hopefully that will happen again while I'm gone. For updated Royals information during my hiatus, check out the links on the right and I will check back in next week.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 19-34

Maybe I Should Leave Again

Series Analysis

Seattle @ Kansas City

Friday May 25 KC 2-10 SEA

Saturday May 26 KC 1-9 SEA

Sunday May 27 KC 4-7 SEA

Sweet goodness that was ugly. While I'm out of town the Royals play great baseball and now that I'm back they lose 4 in-a-row. Well the good news is I'm going out of town again this upcoming Saturday, but the bad news is I'm here the rest of the week. The Royals were never in any of these games against Seattle and the final run totals were 7-26. I haven't seen the Royals collectively play this bad of baseball in quite a while. Sure they've lost a few games already this year, but nothing like this past series where they had their asses handed to them in every aspect. Everything the Royals did this weekend was pretty much awful. The only bright point of the weekend was Paul Splittorff bobble head night.

Lets have a look at the totals from the 3-game set:

Royals Starters: 0-3 17IP 9.00ERA 7BB 4K

- Meche: 4 1/3IP 7ER 2BB 2K

- Bannister: 7IP 4ER 2BB 0K

- Perez: 5 2/3IP 6ER 3BB 2K

To make matters worse, Meche left his game early because of soreness in his lower back, but says he will make his next start on Wednesday vs. Baltimore. Meche has really cooled off over his last couple of starts. Here are the total numbers from his last 3 starts:

- 0-2 16 1/3 IP 6.61ERA 5BB 10K 3HR

that is definitely not the Meche we have come to expect, so lets hope he bounces back on Wed.

Royals Bullpen: 10IP 8.10ERA 1BB 5K

not good either. Joakim Soria was placed on the DL with shoulder stiffness, but Buddy says it's nothing to worry about. In his place the Royals recalled Ryan Braun from AAA and then he gave up 5 runs on Saturday.

Royals Offense: 20/100 .200BA 4RBI 4BB 25K

Umm...Okay. Two questions...1. Is this the same offense that played so well last week? And if so 2. What the hell happened? The Mariners starters are not that good, but the Royals batters made them look like Cy Young candidates.

Overall, this was a poor series and the Royals deserved to get their butts whooped and the Mariners did just that. Lets just hope the Royals snap out of it and play against the Orioles like they did on the road trip and not like they did against the Mariners.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 19-32

It's Nice to be Home

Since I've Been Gone

Oakland Series

Monday May 14 KC 2-1 OAK

Tuesday May 15 KC 4-5 OAK

Wednesday May 16 KC 4-3 OAK

Thursday May 17 KC 7-4 OAK

Colorado Series

Friday May 18 KC 5-2 COL

Saturday May 19 KC 6-4 COL

Sunday May 20 KC 10-5 COL

Cleveland Series

Tuesday May 22 KC 4-3 CLE

Wednesday May 23 KC 11-7 CLE

Thursday May 24 KC 3-10 CLE

Returning from Atlantic City, which is a bit of a dump by the way, I happen to see that the Royals have been playing excellent baseball. Over the last 10 games they have gone 7-3. They won series' in both Oakland and in Colorado and even won a series at home against Cleveland.

Some Stats From the Streak

- Over the past road trip the Royals offense as a whole is batting .286.

- In those 10 games the Royals have double digit hits in 6 of the games

- The Royals had 5 come from behind wins, with one come from behind loss

- During the streak, Royals starters only won A game...the bullpen won the other 6

- Royals Starters Stats: 1-2 55 2/3IP 5.17 ERA 33K 24BB

- Royals Bullpen Stats: 6-1 40 2/3IP 2.65ERA 33K 20BB

- Meche: 0-1 12IP 3.75ERA 8K 2BB

- De La Rosa: 0-1 10 2/3IP 9.28ERA 4K 7BB

- Perez: 0-0 12IP 2.25ERA 10K 3BB

- Elarton: 1-0 10IP 7.20ERA 4K 7BB

- Bannister: 0-0 11IP 5.00ERA 7K 4BB

-Bullpen All-Star: Zack Greinke: 1-0 5 1/3IP 0.00ERA 7K 1BB

-Offensive All-Star: John Buck: 9/27 .333BA 3HR 7RBI 2Doubles

- Royals Homerun's for the past 10 games
...Buck 3
...Sweeney 2
...Gordon 1
...Shealy 1
...Brown 1
...Grudzielanek 1

-Alex Gordon's stats for the past week: 8/23 .348BA 1HR 3RBI 2Doubles 1Triple

It's just nice to come home as see that the Royals have played so well on the road...They're off to a bad start against the Mariners and have now lost 3 games in a row, but it doesn't seem as bad after they have played so well...but we'll see how the rest of the home stand goes.

-b

I Have Returned! and a Link

Streaking

Since I have been gone the Royals have won 8 of their last 10 games and tonight go for the sweep of the Cleveland Indians. The boys in blue have been playing good baseball and tomorrow we will go over the series and have a look at Alex Gordon's current numbers...

for now though head over to Royals Authority for a look at the upcoming amateur draft...

-b

On the Road...

Kansas City @ Oakland

Monday May 14 KC 2-1 OAK

Tuesday May 15 KC 4-5 OAK

Wednesday May 16 KC 4-3 OAK

Thursday May 17 KC 7-4 OAK

Kansas City won its second series this year and first series on the road vs Oakland this past week.. It was fun actually watching this team play like a real baseball team...coming from behind, having excellent starting pitching and even a solid bullpen.

Other Notes

- Ryan Shealy has returned from the DL

- Billy Butler was sent to AAA to make room on the roster for Shealy

- John Buck had a great series...he had 2HR 4RBI playing in 3 of the 4 games

- Buck now leads the Royals with 7HR

-Mark Teahen hit his 4th homerun of the year

Editors Note- sorry for the short post...I'm off to Atlantic City for the weekend and have just run out of time...For some excellent commentary while I'm gone checkout the links on the right.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 15-27

Pink Bats and Time for a Change?

Series Analysis

Kansas City @ Chicago

Friday May 11 KC 1-2 CHW

Saturday May 12 KC 4-5 CHW

Sunday May 13 KC 11-1 CHW

The losing end of a pitchers duel, a blown save and a blowout. That sums up not only this weekends series, but the Royals season as a whole. At least the Royals broke their losing streak at 3 and won in big fashion Sunday avoiding the sweep at the hands of the South Siders.

The Royals bats finally broke out of their slumber Sunday in the win, but the Royals timely hitting...hell, even their hitting in general is awful. Their strikeout rate stands at 7.25 K's per game and their team batting average is at .249. I could keep going on the inability of the Royals bats for quite some time, but I am going to get to my point.

Fire Mike Barnett. Plain and simple. If hitters aren't hitting then obviously fire the hitting coach. I'm not sure that it is all Barnett's fault, but something needs to be done to light a fire...or just a change in the hitting philosophy. Earlier this year when all the Yankees were getting injured, what did they do? They fired their strength and conditioning coach because his only job is to basically keep guys healthy and he didn't do it, so they fired him. Barnett's job is to get the Royals to hit and they aren't, so fire him. Barnett is an Allard Baird guy, so why not let Buddy get his own hitting coach anyways? They front office needs to do something to wake up the bats and firing the hitting coach is the obvious and easiest...you can't send everyone down to the minors...or maybe the Royals should just use pink bats all the time.

Game Time:

Friday's game the Royals wasted a good start from Perez(7 IP 2ER 2K 1BB 4H). Perez kept the Royals in the game and they showed in support 4 hits and 1 run. That run came in the 9th inning off of Jon Garland and then Sweeney grounded out with the tying run on 2nd to end the game...Timely hitting?( I will give Sweeney a pass on this one though...he did have a game winner against the A's).

Saturday's game was the brutal loss. It sounds so familiar. Royals had lead, lost lead and lost. The game was Elarton's welcome back to the rotation(5 IP 3R 2ER 1K 2BB) and he should have got the win. Greinke looked good out of the pen throwing 3 shutout innings, but then Soria blew his 2nd save of the year and the Royals lost in 10 innings. The Royals scored 4 runs in the 4th inning and no more and it wasn't enough...and it never is. They also stuck out 11 times.

In the series finale the Royals broke out the pink bats in honor of Mother's Day and Breast Cancer Awareness. Along with those pink bats, they also broke out the offense. The Royals scored 11 runs on 15 hits. De La Rosa also had an excellent bounce back start(7 IP 1ER 4K 3BB) and earned the win.

Column Update:

David DeJesus in the 2 losses: 1/9

David DeJesus in the 1 win: 4/6 3R 2RBI 2 Doubles

...Weird.

Other Notes

- John Buck hit his 5th homerun of the year

- Mark Teahen hit his 4th homerun

- All 9 starters had a hit in Sunday's win

Next to Oakland for 4 games.

Royals Fact: I think that the trade of Jermaine Dye to the Rockies for Neifi Perez really, really sucked.

Royals 2007 Record: 12-26

The DeJesus Factor...

As Goes DeJesus So Do The Royals

David DeJesus has a profound effect on the offensive output of the Royals. Never is a leadoff hitter more important than when the offense is struggling and the starting pitching is beginning to falter. In the beginning of the year, DeJesus was on fire, recording multi-hit games and runs scored helping the Royals to earn victories(DeJesus is currently 2nd in the AL in runs scored). Have a look DeJesus stats so far this year...with a record of 11-25

The difference in the numbers is remarkable. When DeJesus has a good day it seems as though the Royals end up on top, winning the game. Sure the numbers are a bit skewed, just because of the win/loss ratio...but the batting average and the runs scored is completely disproportional when compared to wins and losses. When you look at DeJesus' numbers over the last 7 days and compare the Royals record, 1-6 is there a corelation? DeJesus has been in a slump just like the Royals over the last 2 weeks, he only has 1 extra-base hit in the last 2 weeks and is batting .240. The Royals over that stretch are 4-10.

DeJesus needs to get back on track soon or the Royals could be in for a deeper downward spiral. It's obvious Dejesus is the catalyst of this offense and needs to stay on track and on-base for the Royals to right the ship

-b

The Definition of a Whoopin'

Series Analysis

Oakland @ Kansas City

Tuesday May 8 KC 1-6 OAK

Wednesday May 9 KC 3-2 OAK

Thursday May 10 KC 3- 17 OAK

If you've ever eaten a leftover sandwich that's the best way to describe this series. The meat in the middle is great, but the bread on both sides is soggy and nasty yet you still eat the damn thing because you know it's a good sandwich. The problem with that leftover sandwich is \ the bread makes it not worth the meat. That's the way this series went...Soggy bread loss on Tuesday-Awesome meat on Wednesday-Nasty, nasty bread on Thursday.

I didn't get a chance to watch or listen to the game on Tuesday, but looking through the box scores, it looks like De La Rosa(4 1/3 IP 6R 5ER 2BB 1K) was all to hittable. He surrendered 10 hits including 2 doubles. It seems like a bit of a regression, but its his first poor start of the season. The Royals offense only mustered 6 hits against the A's and struck out 9 times. The bullpen didn't allow a run in the final 4 1/3 innings, but they weren't very good. The bread...

Gobble 1 2/3 IP 1H 0K 3BB (double)

Musser 2 IP 2H 1K 2BB (double)

Riske 1 IP 0H 1K 1BB

Overall the Royals deserved to lose and lose they did. Also during the game Billy Butler committed his first error of the season, dropping a routine fly ball leading to the unearned run.

The Wednesday night game was a great game for the Royals. They got an excellent start from Gil Meche(6 IP 2R 1ER 4BB 7K) and nailed down the win with a 8th inning homerun from Mike Sweeney. Meche didn't have his best stuff, 111 pitches in 6 innings, but kept the Royals in the game. The unearned run came courtesy of Alex Gordon and his dropped fly ball(for more on Gordon read Joe Posnanski's latest article). Again the Royals bullpen came in a held the lead and even got the win(Gobble). Soria came in and nailed down the save in the 9th inning. The meat...

The series finale. Here's all you need to know. The Royals surrendered 6 homeruns...and got throttled 3-17!

Hudson 2 IP 5R 4ER oK 4BB 1HR- Sweeney error led to the unearned run

Wellemeyer 2 2/3 IP 5R 4ER 3K 1BB 2HR- German error led to his unearned run

Peralta 1 1/3 IP 2ER 3K 1BB oHR

Musser 1 IP 4ER 0K 0BB 3HR - the A's even had a back-to-back

...the bread

That really sucked...

Another thing that came out of this series is the Royals are beginning to entertain the thought that Billy Bulter will never be a major league outfielder and are begining to work him out at first base. He wont play there yet, but the process has begun...as Soren Petro says "if the fat kid can hit, put him at first."

Other Notes

- Both Luke Hudson and Scott Elarton have been reinstated into the starting rotation

- Zack Greinke has been put into the bullpen to make room for "starting pitching relief."

- Todd Wellemeyer's season ERA- 10.34

- After the game Wellemeyer was sent up I-29 to Omaha...see ya!

- But they brought Jason Standridge back up to the bigs with his 9.34 ERA

- Mark Teahen had a good series 5/12 .417BA 2 RBI 2 Doubles 1 Triple 2BB

- Teahen also had 2 more outfield assists, giving him 6 for the season

- David DeJesus is in a bit of a slump 1 for his last 12

- Mike Sweeney hit his 4th homerun of the season

- Soria picked up his 6th save

Royals Fact: Sweeney's homerun on Wednesday giving him 194, good for 2nd on the all-time Royals list

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 11-24

Tiger Bite

Series Analysis

Detroit @ Kansas City

Friday May 4 KC 3-6 DET

Saturday May 5 KC 5-7 DET

Sunday May 6 KC 4-13 DET

It was bound to happen sometime, but the Royals finally got swept and it came at the hand of the AL champion Detroit Tigers. The Royals were obviously outmatched in every facet of the 3 game series. The boys in blue had been flirting with being swept all season, but always managed to find a way to win at least one game...not this time though.

Before I get into the game analysis, I'd like to give a bit of an update on Billy Butler. After watching him play for almost a week, it has become completely obvious of two things.

1. He is a hitter and it's only a matter of time before he really begins to produce

2. He is NOT a fielder. The boy was has offensive prowess, but not a clue about defense

His season batting line so far: 7/23 .304BA 2RBI 1 Double. I tried to watch him as much as possible in left since he was summoned and an outfielder he is not. First of all he is slower then molasses, seriously, he is without a doubt the slowest player on the roster. Another reason Butler doesn't belong in the field is his routes to the ball. He can't read where the balls are going, so he takes a meandering route and the ball drops in for a hit. The combination of poor speed and poor routes equal one thing...DH. I know he's only 21, but he belongs in the batters box, not the field.

On to the game analysis:

The Tigers jumped out to an early lead in this game, a two-run double from Carlos Guillen got them on the board in the 1st inning. Don't forget, before those runs crossed the plate and in that same 1st innning an error by third-baseman Alex Gordon(6) extended the inning. You can't give a team like the Tigers an extra out and they made the Royals pay. Brian Bannister(4 2/3 4R 2ER 2K 2BB) doesn't impress me to much. He throws to many pitches, 100 in 4 2/3, and leaves to many balls up in the zone, he also gave up 3 doubles Friday night. Todd Wellemeyer was the next pitcher of record and after he had a strong outing on Monday against the Angels, regressed mightily(No Outs Recorded 2ER 2BB) The Royals did score three runs, but it wasn't enough against Justin Verlander and the Tigers.

The Saturday night game was the heartbreaker of the series. The Royals ended up losing 5-7 due to some bad luck and a wanna-be hotshot asshole. The Royals offense showed some wind-aided power, cranking out 3 homeruns(Sweeney, German and LaRue). Odalis Perez pitched, not good not bad, he just pitched(6IP 4ER 0K 2BB), but left after 6 innings with the lead 5-4. To leadoff the 7th innings Emil Brown hit a shot to deep center. Instead of running right off the bat, trust me it wasn't that majestic of a shot, he stood at home and watched the ball for a bit and then broke into his homerun trot...the problem was the ball didn't leave the yard, it hit the top of the fence and Emil was thrown out trying to stretch a sure-fire double into a double. Editors Commentary: Emil's shenanigans really hurt the team. Only, only if the ball is hit about 420 feet can you watch the ball. My other problem was he compounded his mistake. Instead of accepting he screwed up and take a single, he tried for a double and got thrown out. Bad Emil...asshole Emil. Regardless, the Royals still had the lead. Now for the bad luck part. During the 8th inning with a man on 1st, Brandon Duckworth, slipped making a pitch home and the ball ended up about 5 feet over the LaRue's head resulting in a 2-base wild pitch. After that the game was all the Tigers. Joakim Soria came in recorded his first blown save. Tigers win 5-7. Another game note...Mark Teahen really played well in right this game. He threw out 2 runners at home and one at third. He is really starting to take to right field.

The final, sweep resulting game can be summed up in one inning. Zack Greinke(4IP 6ER 1K 0BB) came out and as Buddy Bell said after the game was "wild in the strike zone." Which really means...all of his pitches were right down the heart of the plate.The 2nd inning was where the game got out of control. Zack surrendered 3 consecutive 2-run homeruns and the Tigers never looked back. Game over. Todd Wellemeyer did come in in relief and sucked again(2 IP 3ER). After Wellemeyer, Neil Musser came in and sucked as well(1 IP 4ER.)

Other Notes

- Mike Sweeney hit his 3rd homerun of year

- Eseban German hit his 2nd homerun of the year

- Jason LaRue hit his 1st homerun and is now batting .163

- Ross Gload's batting average is sitting at .305 and leads the team with 16 RBI

- Todd Wellemeyer's ERA- 9.69

Monday is an off day and then the former Kansas City Athletics come to town for 3 games

Royals Fact: Last season the Royals record through the first 32 games was 10-22.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 10-22

Wins, Moves & A New Whipping Boy...

Series Analysis

Anaheim @ Kansas City

Monday April 30 KC 1-5 ANA

Tuesday May 1 KC 5-7 ANA

Wednesday May 2 KC 3-1 ANA

Thursday May 3 KC 5-2 ANA

After dropping the first two games of the four game series, the Royals came back with a vengeance and took the final two games of the series breaking even with the Angels of Anaheim. After the first two games and seeing the same ol' Royals...leaving men on base and ice cold bats...to take the final two games of the series was quite the feat. The Royals beat two good pitchers and the Royals pitchers weren't pushovers either.

Monday nights game was a pretty poor offensive performance. Odalis Perez(6 IP 3ER 4K 1BB) pitched a solid game, he did surrender 10 hits, but he kept the Royals in the game. Following the 6th inning manager Buddy Bell summoned righthander Todd Wellemeyer from the pen...Wellemeyer had his best performance of the year to date(3 IP 0ER 1K oBB!). To bad the Royals offense wasted two good pitching outings only scratching out 1 run against John Lackey. They did manage to get 9 hits, but they left 7 men on base and struck out 11! times. Also during the game Ryan Shealy pulled his hamstring and was put on the DL the following day.

-Editor's Commentary- This is just the reason the Royals were looking for to send Shealy to the minors to get his head together. To send him down normally, he would've had to clear waivers and that wouldn't have happened...so the 15-day DL and a long 30 day rehab assignment in the minors...Tah-Dah!

On to Tuesdays game. The biggest news of the day was not that the Royals dropped their 3rd game in a row, but that super prospect Billy Butler hath arrived. With Shealy on the DL, the fan base rapidly losing interest and a terrible offense, the Royals decided to bring up Butler to satisfy all three of the above problems. He did go 2/4 in his MLB debut.

What happened to the Zack Greinke from the first two starts of the year? This Zack isn't bad, but hes definitely not good. Greinke(5 IP 6ER 3K 2BB) really struggled in the first inning. His sequence went something like this:

-bloop single to left

-bloop single to right

-solid single to center

-Vladimir Guerrero yard...Grand Slam.

It is only the second homerun that Greinke has surrendered all year. Granted the other homerun he gave up was also in the 1st inning and also a grand slam...so...not good. One good thing about Tuesday's game was the awaking of the Royals offense. The Royals scored 5 runs, capped off by a 3rd inning 3-run homerun from Mark Teahen. Alas though, it was not enough as the Royals fall 5-7.

The third game of the set ended in a Royals victory, 3-1. This game is one of the better games that the Royals have played all year. They got a good solid start from Jorge De La Rosa(7 IP 1ER 2K 1BB). De La Rosa has really taken a step forward this year and lets hope he keeps putting up solid starts. The best part of the evening came off the bat of Esteban German. For 6 innings the Royals couldn't push a run across against Ervin Santana. The Royals left runners at third base in 3 innings, but could never score. In the 7th inning though that all changed. Esteban German hit a 3-run homerun and the Royals never looked back. Brandon Duckworth and Joakim Soria combined for 2 shutout innings and the Royals stopped the losing streak at 3. During this game the Royals lost another player to the DL...Reggie Sanders was placed on the DL after the game, diagnosed with a torn hamstring. Shane Costa was called up from Omaha to fill Sander's spot on the roster.

The final game of the series on Thurday afternoon and chalk up another win for the Royals. Gil Meche was excellent again in his 7th start this year. Meche(7IP 2ER 6K 1BB) allowed a 1st inning, 2-run homerun to Vlad and a 7th inning single to Vlad. Meche only allowed 2 hits over 7 innings...Ace? It really is looking like it. Even though the Royals were down 2 runs in the 1st inning they never gave up and ended up scoring 5 runs and earning the victory. Duckworth and Soria again combined for 2 scoreless innings to help seal the victory.

Other Notes

- Ross Gload had a hellava series: 7/15 .467BA 2RBI 3 doubles 1 triple

- Mark Teahen also played well: 6/16 .375BA 1HR 3RBI 1 double

- Alex Gordon continues to stuggle, his season batting average: .169

- Billy Butler is off to a decent start: 4/12 1RBI

- Jason LaRue is off to a miserable start: .098BA

- Tony Pena Jr. did not have an error during the whole series

A New Whipping Boy!

I like Jason LaRue. He's a nice guy, but is just having a terrible season. All he's doing currently is taking away at bats for John Buck. Dayton Moore brought in another catcher to provide some competition and John Buck responded very well. In the beginning of the season Buddy said the Royals were going to platoon in the catchers spot because neither one stood out above the other. After the first month John Buck has stood out, but Buddy just keeps playing LaRue. Until LaRue removes head from ass before playing, he should be relegated to backup duty and let Buck play everyday.

Next up Detroit comes back to town for 3

Royals Fact: Gil Meche's era currently stands at 2.23. The lowest ERA for a Royals starter for a whole season is 2.08 by Roger Nelson in 1972.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 10-19

A View of the Future

Prospect Report

One thing a Royals fan always does, besides drink scotch, is check on prospects. Prospects are hope, they're the potential stars of the team and most importantly they're not on the big league team that's making us drink the scotch. Below are the stats from the first month of some the Royals best prospects.

**Editors Note**When this was typed Billy Butler had not been called up yet. Good luck William, good luck.

Batters

*Jeff Bianchi has only played in 1 game and that was Monday's game

Pitchers

*Billy Buckner has been sent to AAA

**Carlos Rosa has been sent to AA

-b

Editors Note: MY apology's about the format of the post. I'm still learning how to post tables, but I assure you they will improve.

Seattle Slew

Series Analysis

Kansas City @ Seattle

Friday April 27 KC 4-7 SEA

Saturday April 28 KC 8-3 SEA

Sunday April 29 KC 1-5 SEA

And slew the Royals were. This series really but into perspective why the Royals are 8-17 and not any better. Berroa-eske errors, piss pour batting with runners on base and a leaky bullpen that gets down on its knees and blows if the game is anywhere near close.

Is Tony Pena Jr. any better than Berroa? So far this year Pena has 7 errors, whereas last year at this time Berroa only had 4. Also at this time last year Berroa was hitting .280 and TPJ is hitting a weak .200. TPJ seems like the same player as Berroa. He has a penchant to make the outstanding plays that are nearly impossible, but botches the simple routine grounder just as Berroa used to do. TPJ had an error in all three games in Seattle this weekend and is starting to wear thin on my patience.

On to the game analysis:

At least the Royals got the busted game out of the way on the first game of the set. The Royals trailed all game. De La Rosa struggled(6 1/3 Ip 5ER 3K 1BB 2HR), but his line looks a bit worse then it was. Ryan Braun came in to pitch in the 6th inning with 1 out and let the runners left on base by De La Rosa to score with this wonderful sequence: wild pitch-single-wild pitch. Well done son, well done. Last year De La Rosa struggled with both walks and surrendering homeruns. On Friday he only regressed with the latter and that I can deal with. The Royals made the game close Friday night with a 3-run pinch hit homerun by Ross Gload bringing the game to within 1. Then on came David "Gas Can" Riske who promptly surrendered 2 runs putting Seattle up for good.

The Saturday night game turned out good for Gil Meche's return to Seattle(6 IP 0ER 3R 5K 2BB). Meche didn't have his best stuff, tossing 110 pitches in 6 innings and only surrendering 3 unearned runs. The more he pitches the more he seems like an ace. Meche was also supported by a 6 run first inning from the Royals and locked up the Royals 8th win of the year.

The series finale from the Royals was terrible offensive output and a good start from Brian Bannister(6 2/3 IP 3ER 4R 1K 2BB). The Royals didn't even get a hit until the 6th and only scratched out a run. They also struck out 11 times. If you watched this game please send a note to the Kansas City Royals and they will refund your wasted time.

Overall, I know...err I think this Royals team is better, but are they? They just seem to be missing something...oh yeah offense, defense and a bullpen. The starting pitching is really doing well, but you can't win if you can't score. These Royals would have trouble scoring with an `80's Madonna.

Other Notes

- Todd Wellemeyer did not pitch in this series: His ERA still stands at 10.13

- Ross Gload hit his 2nd homerun of the year

- Tony Pena Jr. has 7! errors so far this year

- Mark Teahen is tied for first in the AL with the most strikeouts: 28

- David "Gas Can" Riske season line: 0-2 6.97ERA

- The Royals left 28 men on base for the three game set...

Royals Fact: The Royals are now tied for 4th in the majors with 188 strikeouts

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 8-17

Splitsville

Series Analysis

Kansas City @ Minnesota

Wednesday April 25 KC 4-3 MIN

Thursday April 26 KC 0-1 MIN

Wednesday nights game was a bit of an unusual phenomena for the Royals. The bullpen held the lead...no joke they really held the lead. Before the game was turned over to the relief core Royals starter Odalis Perez turned in his best game of the season(6 IP 3ER 2K 2BB) and his longest outing of the year. I'm not sure where this start came from, but it could have something to do with both Scott Elarton and Luke Hudson on the horizon. Regardless, he pitched his way to his second win of the season. More exciting then the start of Perez was the 3 innings of scoreless ball from the bullpen. Brandon Duckworth, David Riske, Jimmy Gobble and Joakim Soria combined for 3 IP and oER! The Royals runs both came from 2 2-run homeruns, Mike Sweeney in the 1st and David DeJesus in the 4th, which was all the Royals needed to complete the win.

The Thursday night game was a bit different. Zack Greinke labored through 7 innings, 108 pitches(7 IP 0ER 1K 4BB). He struggled with his command all night, but even when he didn't have his best stuff, he still kept the Twins out of the runs column. The offense had the same problem. No matter what they did they couldn't get into the run column. Royals hitters left 14 men on base and ended up losing in 11 innings. Aside from the poor offense, the bullpen put together its second straight decent outing, except Todd Wellemeyer who got the loss(1/3 IP 3H 1ER) and has become my official whipping boy. The offense had plenty of opportunities to win the game and didn't, so its not all Wellemeyer's fault.

Other Notes

- The Royals struck out 13 times on Thursday...and struck out 17 totals times for the series

- David DeJesus is Red-Hot! His season line .315 4HR 4Doubles 9RBI 10BB oSB

- But he did go 0-6 on Thursday...and went 3/4 HR DB 2RBI 1BB on Wednesday

- Todd Wellemeyer's season ERA- 10.13

- Alex Gordon went 2-2 with 2BB on Thursday and only struck out 1 time during the series

-Mike Sweeney hit homerun #2 on Wednesday

- Soria picked up save number 3

The Royals are off to Seattle next for a 3 game series

Royals Fact: Tony Pena Jr. still leads the AL with 4 triples

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 7-15

That Really Sucked

Series Analysis

Chicago @ Kansas City

Monday April 23 KC 4-7 CHI

Tuesday April 24 KC 7-9 CHI

A quick two game series in Kansas City with Chicago resulted in a quick sweep. The worse part about the two game set was that the Royals had a chance to win both games, but came up with a goose egg...a big fat zero.

The Royals offense continued hitting, putting up runs while the bullpen continued deteriorating, giving up runs and costing the Royals games.

Bullpen Stats for the two game set: 7 2/3 IP 9.39ERA 8ER 4K 5BB 2HR

Is that pathetic or what. The bullpen couldn't get Mario Mendoza out. A weak bullpen has been the Royals downfall the last couple of seasons and apperently this is no differnet. There are several "key" members of the bullpen that started the season on the DL: Octavio Dotel, John Bale and Joe Nelson. Those names don't really strike confidence, but anything is better then this.

2007 Bullpen Stats through the first 20 games

Ryan Braun: 0-0 8 2/3 IP 5.19ERA 8K 7BB

Brandon Duckworth: incomplete-Only 1 game out of pen 2 IP 4.50ERA 2K 1BB

Jimmy Gobble: 0-1 6 2/3 IP 2.70ERA 5K 1BB

Neil Musser: 0-0 1/3 IP o.ooERA 0k 1BB

Joel Peralta: 0-2 11 1/3 IP 7.94ERA 11K 5BB

David Riske: 0-2 9IP 6.00ERA 6K 4BB

Joakim Soria 1-1 10 1/3 IP 3.48ERA 13K 5BB

Todd Wellemeyer 0-0 7 2/3 IP 9.39ERA 5K 8BB

If the above numbers don't make you queazy, you may have a problem. That's enough of the bullpen, my blood pressure is high enough and the bullpen raises it another 10 points or so...

Other Notes

- The bullpen sucks

- Brian Bannister made his first carrer start for the Royals. He was given a 3-run lead, but couldn't hold on. He nibbled a bit to much getting behind the White Sox hitters and they made him pay. His final line: 4 1/3 IP 4R 3ER 4K 3BB

- Seriously, the bullpen sucks

- Royals had a good offensive series: 18/70 .256BA 11RBI 14K 7BB

- John Buck hit his 4th homerun of the year

- Teahen's batting average is up to .281, but still leads the AL in strikeouts with 24

- Gil Meche had a decent outing on Monday: 7 IP 3ER 3K 0BB 1HR...the Royals gave him leads of 2-0 and 3-2, but he couldn't keep the White Sox off the board and left with the game tied at 3-3.

The Royals are off to Minnesota for 3 games.

Royals Fact: The 2007 bullpen is off to the worse start in Royals history.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 6-14

Riske Blows Another Game

Another Meltdown

If David Riske was an Italian chef, his speciality would be meatballs. On Monday night, a 4-7 loss to the White Sox, Riske surrendered his third homerun of the year.

Sure, the box score says that Jimmy Gobble got the loss, but he didn't earn the "L." Gobble came in to the game in the 8th inning with the score tied at 3-3 to be a lefty specialist against Jim Thome. Thome hit a single right up the middle. Buddy Bell promptly removes Gobble and brings in a righty, David Riske, to face Paul Konerko. With the count 2-2, Riske lofts his speciality, a meatball, right down the center of the plate and Konerko easily deposits the ball over the left field fence giving the White Sox the lead for good.

Granted the rest of the bullpen wasn't very good either...the bullpens stats from Monday night: two innings, four runs, four hits and three walks.

I just expect more from David Riske, not much, but more. He's a veteran pitcher who was brought in to be the setup guy and help the Royals maintain a lead in the late innings and he has done anything but that. He has become a firefighter that uses kerosene instead of water to fight a fire.

Riskie's 2007 Stats: 0-2 2SV 6.00ERA 3HR 6K 4BB 1Blown Save(BLSV) .281 Opponent BA

---$2 million dollars for those stats---

Royals Bullpen Stats

2007
-29th out of 30 teams: 1-6 4S 5BLSV 6.05ERA 9HR 50K 35BB .286 Opponent BA

--Seems familiar doesn't it. And this bullpen is supposed to be revamped.

-b

First Series Win

Series Analysis

Minnesota @ Kansas City

Friday April 20 KC 11-7 MIN

Saturday April 21 KC 5-7 MIN

Sunday April 22 KC 3-1 MIN

As the weather warms so do the bats. The Royals achieved their first series win of the season over reigning AL Central champion Minnesota Twins this weekend. It has to be a relief to finally come out on top of series.

All three pieces of the baseball puzzle came together for the Royals this weekend: Pitching, Hitting and Defense

The Royals bats came alive for the first time this season, aside from the Opening Day win. During the previous 16 games the Royals hit 10 homeruns, but during this 3 game set they cranked out 10 homers.

The bullpen held leads on two different days, granted they did blow a lead on Saturday, but 2 outta 3 ain't bad. The starting pitching was also the same formula, but reversed two not-so-good outing and one dominant performance.

Last, but not least, how about that Royals D! Tony Pena Jr. really flashed some leather and has made a "Web Gem" in each of the last three games, but Pena wasn't the only one playing D. The Royals turned 6 double plays this weekend.

Fridays game marked the beginning of the bats resurfacing. The Royals scored 11 runs beating Minnesota 11-7. Sweeney, Grudzielanek and Sanders all went deep helping pickup Odalis Perez's mediocre start(5 IP 4ER 2K 1BB). The other positive sign that arose from Fridays win was the bullpen holding a lead. Braun, Gobble and Wellemeyer all helped keep the lead and Riske came in a earned the save.

The Saturday game was another mediocre start for Kansas City. Greinke( 5 IP 4ER 2K 1BB) struggled his way through 5 innings, but managed to leave the game with a lead thanks to homeruns from Teahen and Gordon, before Joel Peralta blew his 3rd game of the year. Overall the game was pretty sloppy, but the Royals should have came out on top, but didn't.

If you happen to see Jorge De La Rosa out before his next start make sure you buy him a beer. De La Rosa(8 IP 0ER 1R 4K 1BB) pitched his butt off. He only surrendered one unearned run and after a rough first inning retired 16 straight Twins. After 8 innings from De La Rosa, Joakim Soria came in a nailed down the save striking out 2 in the process. The offense cooled down Sunday afternoon, only scoring three runs, but it was enough to earn the win.

Other Notes

- Sweeney had a good series at the plate 6/11 .545 BA 1HR 1DB 3RBI, bringing his season BA to .260

- Teahen did as well 6/11 .545 1HR 1DB 2RBI, raising his season BA to .268

- Gordon hit his second homerun of the year. His season BA is still only .136, but he did take 2BB this series

- DeJesus injured his ankle on Saturday afternoon and missed Sunday's game...he's not expected to miss extended time.

- Todd Wellemeyer's ERA is now at 9.49

- The Royals optioned Jason Standrigdge to AAA and brought up lefty Neil Musser

- Musser's MLB debut- 1/3 IP 2HA 1Unearned Run

- Royals batters struck out 21 times during the three game set

- Ross Gload hit his first homerun in a Royals uniform

- Grudzielanek also hit his 1 homerun on the year

- Reggie Sanders hit his 2nd of the year

Coming up next...a two game series against the White Sox

- Mark Buehrle who threw a no-hitter against the Rangers on April 18th pitches Monday night

Royals Fact: De La Rosa's 8 innings pitched is the longest outing of his career.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 6- 12

Royals Avoid Sweep...

Series Analysis

Kansas City @ Detroit

Monday April 16 KC 5-12 DET

Tuesday April 17 KC 6-7 DET

Wednesday April 18 KC 4-3 DET

On Wednesday afternoon the Royals finally broke the 6 game losing streak and picked up their 2nd road win of the year. Overall the Detroit series was a disappointment, but the Royals at least came away with a win. This series had it all: A blowout, a blown save and a come from behind win.

The Royals are still struggling mightily at the plate, batting a paltry .228 and they are even batting worse with runners in scoring position, .224. Also the strikeout numbers are getting worse. The Royals lead the league in K's with 131.

Zack Greinke earned his first loss of the season Monday night. Greinke didn't even make it out of the first inning( 2/3 IP 4ER 1K 3BB). It was by far his worst outing of the season. He struggled with his command and ended up surrendering a Grand Slam homerun to Pudge Rodriguez. The rest of the game was just as bad, but hey the Royals got 5 runs.

Now for the hearbreaker and Tuesday's game was it(still have one bad loss each series). By the end of the 5th inning the Royals were already down 4 runs and the game seemed over. The came the 4 run outburst from the Royals in the top of the 6th inning. Then the inevitable happened...the bullpen. After the Royals take the lead in the 6th the bullpen, Peralta and Riske, each give up one run in consecutive innings to blow the game for the boys in blue. David Dejesus really carried the team in this game(4/5 3R 2RBI).

Gil Meche is looking like an ace. He pitched a stellar game on Wednesday afternoon(8 IP 0 ER 6K), but still didn't get the win. He did what an ace is supposed to do. He kept the team in the game and hell the Royals even ended up winning. Down 2 runs going into the 9th inning, an RBI double from Teahen and a sure fire double play ball that a hustling Ross Gload beatout scoring Teahen tieing the game. Then another miracle, the bullpen held the game! The bullpen held the game! Joakim Soria came in and didn't allow a single run, getting the Royals to the 10th and allowing John Buck to put the Royals on top for good with a lead off homerun over the left field wall.

To Royals ended the road trip with a solid win and can hopefully carry this momentum into the next series

Other Notes

- David DeJesus is my favorite Royal and is off to a great start .339 4 doubles 3HR 7RBI

- Joakim Soria picked up his first major league win on Wed.

- John Buck hit his 3rd homerun of the series. The first game winner of his career.

- Gil Meche's season stats 1-1 2.22ERA 21K 7BB

- Alex Gordon in starting to get comfortable at the plate hitting 2 doubles this series.

- The bullpen blew another series, this one came courtesy of Joel Peralta

- Mike Sweeney is also starting to hit getting 2 hits and an RBI on Wed.

- David Riske is becoming a risky option out of the bullpen getting his 2nd loss out of the bullpen

Royals Fact: Before Wednesday's game the Royals’ bullpen had allowed runs in nine straight games: 26 earned runs in 33 2/3 innings

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 4-11

Rain helps Royals

Series Analysis

Kansas City @ Baltimore

Thursday April 12 KC 1-2 BAL

Friday April 13 KC 1-8 BAL

Saturday April 14 KC 4-6 BAL

Sunday April 15 Rainout

Mother Nature is the Royals savior of the week causing the 4th and final game of the series to be rained out. Sunday's rainout surely had to be a good thing for the Royals giving them their first off day of the year and a break from the monotony of losing. Before the rainout the Royals had dropped their last four games in a row. The Royals offense continues to struggle, but showed signs of life for the first time since the first week, scoring 4 runs before thebullpen blew it's second game of the series.
Thursday's game was an overall disappointment. Again the Royals had another excellent quality start to begin the game from Gil Meche(6 IP 0ER 5K) before he left with a tight hamstring and turned the ball over to the bullpen with a 1-0 lead. Jimmy Gobble (2/3 IP 3H 1ER) came in and immediately let the Orioles back into the game ultimately leading to the loss in 10 innings. Granted the Royals offense didn't score enough runs, but is disheartening to waste a good start.
Game two of the series was never even close. Brandon Duckwork( 5IP 4R 2ER 4K 4BB) got the start and struggled with his command most of the game. A 1st inning error by Esteban German led to two runs and the O's never looked back. The low light of the game was in the 8th inning when guess who...Todd Wellemeyer( 1 IP 3H 4ER 1BB) came in and surrendered a Grand Slam to Nick Markakis. Wellemeyer has really struggled so far this year and continues to do so. I only feel comfortable seeing him in mop-up roles until he gets his head on straight.
It seems as though every series has a heart breaker and Saturday's game was it. The Royals bats had finally awoken from their slumber, getting 4 runs in the first 5 innings before the usual bullpen implosion. Granted it wasn't all the bullpens fault. Some fault lies with Buddy Bell for not pulling starter Odalis Perez(5 IP 4ER) before the 6th, another 1/3rd of the fault lies between Reggie Sanders , David DeJesus and Tony Pena Jr., who let a routine fly ball drop between them. The final 1/3rd of fault lies with Joel Peralta who surrendered the go-ahead Grand Slam, second of the series, to put Baltimore up for good.
I really thought that the Royals would come away with at least a series split from Baltimore, but the anemic offense and the shoddy bullpen really did them in this series.

Other Notes

- As a team the Royals only batted .236 for the series in Baltimore
- They also struck out 27 times during the 3 game set
- DeJesus, Sanders, Gload and German are all batting over .300 so far this season
- Todd Wellemeyer's season ERA 15.43
- Teahen showed signs of breaking his slump on Sat going 2/4, but still had 2 K
- Gordon, Teahen and Shealy each have 14K already this season

Upcoming series is 3 games in Detroit

Royals Fact: In 1969, the Royals inaugural year, the Royals team batting average was .240, the lowest it has ever been.

-b

Royals 2007 record: 3-9

Offensive Offense

The Royals offense is leaving Royals fans and Buddy Bell scratching our heads. When the Royals broke camp this spring they had a team batting average of .301 and all seemed right with the baseball gods, but Buddy Bell knew the truth.
The Royals currently hold the 6th worst batting average, .237, in the majors. The next lowest is Baltimore who is currently spanking us 2-0 for the weekend set. In the Friday night game the Royals left 10 men on the bases and they were also 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Batting Averages of the 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 hitters for the Royals this season are:
Mark Teahen- .161
Mike Sweeney- .179
Alex Gordon- .091
Emil Brown- .133
Ryan Shealy- .103
If that's the batting average of the meat of your order, your team has a serious problem.
Although the Royals are not on the bottom of all statistical categories. They actually lead the majors with the most team strikeouts(not including the 10K they had in the Friday night game).
Someone besides Reggie Sanders, hitting .500, needs to figure out how to hit the ball and get te Royals off this trend.
The poor offense wouldn't standout as much as it does right now for several reasons...First of all it has only been 11 games, so the sample size it quite small. Also the starting pitching so far has been decent unlike in previous years making the offensive weakness a glaring problem. Granted they only have 3 wins to show for it, but Royals starters do have 6 quality starts already this season.
In past years Royals fans have been let down so much by the pitching that we haven't paid that much attention to the offense.

They say "hitting is contagious," but the Royals bats must have Gonorrhea because they sure don't want to catch it.

Toronto Series Recap

Series Analysis

Kansas City @ Toronto

Monday April 9 KC 1- 9 TOR

Tuesday, April 10 KC 6- 3 TOR

Wednesday April 11 KC 4- 7 TOR

Toronto was the third series of the year for the Royals and the third series loss. The Royals need to get off this trend of winning one game and losing two. If they keep up that pace whey would only get 52 wins this year. It’s still too early to panic and by no means is this a trend, but the Royals need to do something to get over the games where they have less then stellar starting pitching. The Royals are still leaving to many men on base, but are getting better as the season progresses.

AJ Burnett over matched the Royals on Monday. He was good, Odalis Perez was not good (1 IP 1/3IP 4ER). When Perez can’t find his spots he becomes very hittable as the Jays showed during game 1. Enough said.

Game number 2 was quite the showing by up and coming young Royals. Zack Greinke was outstanding for the second game in a row (6 IP 1ER 5K), Alex Gordon hit his first major league home run and Joakim Soria notched his first major league save (2 IP 3K). Except for a hiccup in the 7^th, a 2-run home run given up by Peralta, the Royals played good solid baseball.

In the final game of the series and another less then stellar pitching outing for the Royals. Jorge De La Rosa (5 1/3 IP 4ER 3K 1BB) is showing better command so far this season, but it still leaving too many pitches up in the strike zone, which were pounded for doubles, the Jays hit 4 doubles off De La Rosa. The other flaw in the Royals game was the defense. The Royals misplayed too many balls allowing the Jays to extend their lead resulting in the 6^th loss of the season.

Other Notes

- DeJesus hit well again this series 5/14 1HR 2RBI and is batting .378 for the season

- Gordon’s strikeout numbers are declining…3 K for this series, so he’s making contact!

- Todd Wellemeyer did poorly again in relief Wed…1 IP 2ER 2K 2BB…

- Mike Sweeney is starting to press and is only batting .200 for the season

- Teahen’s switch to RF might be affecting his bat .192 12K 1HR, although he has 8BB

- John Buck hit his 2^nd homerun of the year on Monday off Burnett

- Tony Pena Jr. hit his 4^th triple of the year

- I heard a disturbing stat on Crunch Time this morning. When Buck catches a game the pitchers are averaging 2.8BB a game and when LaRue is catching pitchers are averaging 3.6BB a game. The host Dave Stewart believes it has to do with LaRue not offering a target with his mit. Keep an eye on that.

Next the Royals are headed to Baltimore for a 4 game set.

Royals Fact: Willie Wilson holds the Royals record for most triples in a season, 21, in 1985.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 3-6

Detroit Re-cap

One thing that we at heycameraman.net have learned from the first 7 days of the baseball season. 90% of area t-ball players have a better batting average than Alex Gordon.

Here is Brett's recap of the Detroit city recap.

Series Analysis

Detroit @ Kansas City

Friday April 6 KC 3-1 DET

Saturday April 7 KC 5- 6 DET

Sunday April 8 KC 2- 3 DET

Overall the series was a disappointment, falling 1-2 to Detroit. The Royals should’ve/could’ve won all three of those games, but that’s not how it turned out. The losses were especially troubling, not because of the offense, but the lack of pitching caused the Royals to blow the series

The statistical trend that’s starting to develop that will haunt the Royals this season if it continues is men left on base. During this three game series the Royals batters left 47 men on the bases. Come on guys knock get the RBI! The opposite end of that stat is a good one. The Royals are obviously getting on base and that in theory equal more runs.

The most frustrating loss of the series was the finale on Sunday. The Royals or I should say Mark Teahen( 2/3 HR, 2 RBI) and Brandon Duckworth(6 1/3 IP 0ER), played very well against the Tigers. Jeremey Bonderman is an outstanding pitcher and for the Royals to have him beat is excellent and the bullpen comes in. The Royals were leading 2-0 going into the 9^th and then stand-in closer David Riske comes in. Next thing I know he lays a room service fastball to Pudge Rodriguez and he promptly knocks it out of the park. After the game when asked about the pitch Riske replied “I thought he was going to bunt, so I threw one right down the middle. I was thinking about fielding a bunt and getting the next guy out instead of making a high-quality pitch.” That is unacceptable for a veteran pitcher. Get well soon Dotel.
Game two was frustrating as well. That Saturday afternoon we got to see the other side of Gil Meche( 7IP 6ER 3HR.) Aside from Meche’s poor afternoon the Royals offence really battled hard for him getting 5 runs, but fell just shy. Reggie Sanders had a great game(3/4 HR, 2B, 2 RBI,) but it wasn’t enough to overcome the poor outing from Meche. A few positives from Meche’s outing, he went 7 innings and struck out 4.

The lone win from the series was the cause of an outstanding pitching effort from Jorge De La Rosa(7 IP, 1ER, 5K, 3BB.) The walk total is a bit high, but we will have to expect that from De La Rosa because his command is a bit shady, but I will take a start like that every time from him.

Other Notes

- Alex Gordon continues to struggle, batting .053 with 3 K

- Mark Teahen hit his first homerun of the season

- David DeJesus had an outstanding series 7/11 3BB, 3 Doubles

- Joakim Soria and Joel Peralta each pitched well in relief

- David Riske blew a save

- Esteban German is still a hitter 2/4 2 RBI

Coming up next…3 games in Toronto

Royals Fact: Hal McRae holds the record for most doubles in a season, 54.

Royals 2007 Record: 2-4

“Royals Baseball is on the Air.”

Everyone Stay Calm!!!

Series Analysis
Boston @ Kansas City

It was an anticlimactic end to the Red Sox series for the Royals. KC came out of the gate firing on all cylinders on Opening Day beating the Red Sox 7-1, then they fell on their faces losing consecutive games 1-7 and 1-4.
There were several bright spots, such as

the starting pitching, but alas as with every year the bright spots are just an eclipse of the sun and eventually the truth comes out.
Don’t put to much emphasis into the first series numbers because of two reasons. First of all it’s the first series of the year and two it was against perennial contender, Boston.
A few offensive trends that showed in the final numbers that bother me are the strikeouts. The Royals totaled 28 K’s in 98 at-bats, that’s a strikeout every 3 ½ at bats, which is awful. Granted, the strikeout stat is number that needs to be taken with a grain of salt for now. The hitters are still getting their timing and the Royals faced Schilling, Beckett and Dice-K and they probably won’t face a three like that the rest of the year.
The other troubling trend was the lack of key two out hits. The Royals did an excellent job of this on Monday and they won, but the other two days they didn’t and they lost. They are currently batting .241 with runners on base.
The worst and final problem for the Royals this weekend is the number of walks issued by the bullpen. The bullpen is supposed to be rebuilt yet issued 6 walks in 7 innings. That Must Stop!
One problem the Royals didn’t have was poor starting pitching. The Royals had decent, nay, good staring pitching for the series
Gil Meche 7 1/3 innings 1ER 6K 1BB
Odalis Perez 5 1/3 innings 4ER 3K 3BB
Zack Greinke 7 innings 1ER 7K 1BB
When you look at those numbers you’d think the Royals would win two of three and if these pitching numbers keep up they will win some games.

Other Notes

- Alex Gordon got his first major league hit…he also struck out 5 times.
- Sadly, Gordon’s 5 K’s weren’t the most on the team, Teahen’s 6 were
- Even with those strikouts Teahen is still batting .300
- DeJesus and Buck both had solo homeruns
- Grudzielanek had 3 RBI for the series
- Tony Pena Jr. is batting .200, but had two triples on Opening Day
- Joel Peralta had 5 K in 2 2/3 innings
-Todd Wellemeyer was awful in his season debut, 1 inning 3ER 3BB and gave up a dong

Upcoming next, three at home against the reigning AL champion Detroit Tigers.

Royals Fact: In 1989 Bo Jackson struck out 172 times, the most in Royals history and is 15th all-time.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 1-2

“Royals Baseball is on the Air.”