Two games is a winning streak. Yes it is. You know how Tiger Woods won four majors in a row, but they weren't in the same year, so they called it a "Tiger Slam?" Two straight wins is a "Royal Winning Streak." 4-3 over Detroit on Wednesday and 11-7 over the Twins on Friday. And I'm celebrating.
Both wins were gritty too. Both times they struggled early, got down, fought back and prevailed. This one was particularly clutch. because this win--combined with Philadelphia's loss--means the Royals no longer have baseball's worst record. (You know the guys were high-fiving each other in the clubhouse when they learned that.)
Big days from several Royals in the series opener vs. the Twins--Teahen got three hits, Sweeney with a shot, DeJesus kept rolling with three more hits. But the best thing that happened on offense was Reggie Sanders, wearing Jackie Robinson's 42, hitting a prodigious homer that missed making the left field fountain by maybe a fraction of an inch, and then pointing to the sky as he touched home plate. And in case you weren't positive he was giving respect to Robinson with that move, he flashed a grin to the RSTN camera when he went to the dugout, then turned around and pointed to the 42 on his back. It's amazing how quickly you can become a fan of a player.
I've been pretty "bleh" about Sanders to this point. He was one of those "veteran leader" signings, and just seems like a placeholder until Billy Butler forces his way onto the major league roster. But now I'm a Reggie Sanders fan. Sometimes it seems like athletes are are just glory suckers. Trying to Hoover up every little bit of props they can get--and whining at any slight, however minuscule. But for Sanders to take his piece of commonplace glory--the home run--and immediately allude to someone bigger and more important...to really show how honored he was to be wearing Robinson's number, well, that really got me.
Random thoughts about the last several games.
There's been a lot of talk about Mike Sweeney's slower bat these days, but I'm not sure I'm buying it. Joe Posnanski referenced an "unamed scout" in his blog saying the same thing as the Toronto scout in Bob Dutton's article. (In fact so much the same thing, that I'm guessing it's the same scout.)
Clearly Sweeney has had his (and yours and my) share of injuries, so perhaps they've taken their toll and he's done. But his batspeed doesn't look any slower to me. Besides that, it's hard to blame Sweeney when no one on the team, save DeJesus, has been hitting on a game-to-game basis.
Baseball scouts have a kind of mystical quality in the abstract, but really, can't we all see that Sweeney's started terribly? And yet I've watched Sweeney go through plenty of horrible stretches--it's just that when you're young and and healthy no one says that your bat speed has slowed just because you're in a 1 for 21.
I'm going to go ahead and put my considerable, five post blogging reputation up against these "unnamed scouts," and say that Sweeney's still a productive hitter who's been in a slump.
Who are you going to believe?
The Royals scored three insurance runs in the eighth inning of their 11-7 win over the Twins with only one hit. And it was a leadoff single. Here's how it went: Single, wild pitch, Hit-by-Pitch, HBP (when Teahen was trying to bunt), walk (RBI), wild pitch--run scores, Sac Fly where the run scores when the catcher loses the ball.
Unbelievable. But mostly because I couldn't believe the Royals weren't in the field during that rally. That described about 25% of their losses from last year. I mean, I'm astonished that Andrew Sisco and Ambiorix Burgos weren't on the mound for some of that.
John Buck and Jason LaRue are still splitting time--almost exactly 50-50. Buddy Bell went into Spring Training saying that he wanted a starter to emerge, but they played similarly and so Bell opted to split the playing time. Well, now Buck has an OPS about 900 points higher than LaRue's--and I'm not exaggerating, it's about 900 points higher--and yet they're still trading starts. If only Buck had hit so well in the all-important exhibition games...
During the team's horrific offensive start, I kept hearing "hitting is contagious," and it sure looks like it--the Royals have scored 26 runs in their last four games, after scoring only 29 in their previous 11. My concern, though, is since the Royals knew it was contagious, what were they doing about it?
Right in their midst they had David DeJesus, who has had seven multi-hit games already this season--whose batting average hasn't dipped below .321 since their second series. Why haven't I heard any stories about teammates walking up to DeJesus and deep kissing him? Or at least begging him to sneeze in their face?
Apparently DeJesus' teammates have lackadaisically waited for his hitting contagion to meander airborne through the clubhouse and randomly alight on them.
And that's just not good enough.
They knew he had the fever, and yet no one was willing to go that extra mile. Unless there's something Bob Dutton isn't telling us...
Friday, April 20, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
11 Games, .273 Winning Percentage
I don't think that every sports fan is just like me. I used to go to Chiefs games during the heyday of the Marty Schottenheimer era and I was always amazed at the negativity of the fans sitting around me. It seemed that many fans were expecting the Chiefs to blow every game--and blaming Marty for the impending doom. (I don't know why they thought Marty would blow those game--these were all regular season games. )
A couple loud fans behind me would bemoan that the Chiefs would always run on first down! Which was not at all true. What was true, and what they never commented on, was that the Chiefs would always run on 2nd and 10, after an incompleted pass. It was the West Coast offense idea of running on throwing downs, but taken to such an extreme by the Chiefs in those days, that I have to think opponents starting playing 2nd and 10 as a running down. But I digress--before I've even started.
What I'm trying to say is that I know there are fans who live in the negative. Who's "favorite" team diminishes some of the invective that might otherwise be directed at their families. (At least you hope the family gets spared--at least a little). But I tend to live in the more optimistic camp. Not crazy-optimistic--the blog is called "Royal Pain" after all, but I'm hopeful. At least I try to be.
This season I thought there was a decent chance that the Royals might shed their April Curse. I really did. There was Gil Meche, the return of Zack Greinke, Alex Gordon, a full year of the "real" Mark Teahen--and I was really excited about our Rule V draft pick, Joakim Soria. (And probably only a Royals fan would be excited by Rule V guy.) But there was one more key cog responsible for my sunny outlook--Octavio Dotel.
Dotel was nails in Spring Training. in his first 7.2 innings he had 12 strikeouts. He was hitting 97 on the gun, saying things like, "I feel like I've got a brand-new arm." So I start thinking, if Dotel can be a real closer--the first one the Royals have had since Jeff Montgomery--hell, they can seriously improve on last years' record when they blew 31 saves.
But this is Octavio Dotel we're talking about. He's thrown less innings over the last four seasons than Roger Clemens threw last season--when he "came out of retirement" on June 22. That's the kind of fan I am--banking on Octavio Dotel's health.
And, of course, Dotel's shoulder probably still feels brand new, but now his left oblique's ruining all his child-like excitement about it. And of course the Royals did their classic, "We're going hold him out of the opener, then we've got a day off, so he should be good to go Wednesday; We're going to put him on the DL and backdate it, he should be good to go then--we're being very cautious; He felt a little something in the oblique when he tested it, but he should be fine, He's not going to be available when we'd hoped, but we think it will be soon after that;"(and on and on and on). Finally finishing with, "We don't really know what's going on with his "day-to-day" injury, but we're the Royals and this shit happens to us all the time!" (Okay, so they might not have said anything like that last part on the record. But you know they said it. "They" being...well, pick anyone in the Royals organization.)
So, anyway, I was counting on Dotel. And I was pleased that KC had signed David Riske--a nice set-up guy. Not overpowering, but deceptive and he throws strikes--something previously the Royals didn't seem to find all that necessary in a reliever. Plus, Ryan Braun made the team, and he's a young guy with a power arm that just might be ready for success. Jimmy Gobble wasn't a bad lefty, Joel Peralta was pretty effective last year, and then there was Soria, who I hoped might be eased in with some low pressure innings and eventually, after gaining some confidence, would pitch very effectively this season. That looked like a very good bullpen--by Royals standards. But, of course, that's not actually their bullpen.
Buddy Bell wasn't satisfied with six relievers, he wanted seven. Which meant that Todd Wellmeyer made the team--and when Dotel finally took his accustomed place on the DL, Jason Standridge also joined the club. They've both turned out to be bad ideas. Bad ideas in the, "Let's tell the security screeners we're terrorists!" vein. Because if you don't have a good bullpen, the thing to do is add more guys to it!
Riske was the first to step into the closer's role--and actually got a save before imploding against the Tigers on April 8, blowing a two-run lead before even getting an out in a 3-2 loss. The first blown save in the attempt to break last year's record (31 to go!). And that was enough for Bell, Riske was out as the closer. He didn't come out and say that, but it was true all the same. And who did Bell go to? Ah, let's skip the shenanigans--he went straight to the Rule V guy. That's how the Royals ease him in. And so far he's one for one! Here's hoping someday the Royals will have another lead in the ninth inning.
Because it doesn't feel like they ever will.
Okay Royals fans--let's do a quick word association-type test! I say, "The Royals get back-to-back walks to lead off the inning," what do you say? That's right! "Strike three, looking; double play." (It's really not magic, it just looks like it. What else would Royals fans think might happen--aside from some sort of injury...originally labeled "day-to-day.")
Strike three looking, double play is what happened to the Royals--most recently--in the first inning of their Friday the 13th game, an 8-1 loss to Erik Bedard. Bedard vs. Duckworth is not a good match-up for our slow-starting heroes, so getting back-to-back walks to lead off the first was cause for great optimism. But then Grudzielanek takes strike three and Sweeney hits into a DP and you can't help but think, "Oh no, I was being optimistic! Again! When will I ever learn?"
When I say the Royals can't score right now, I mean they really can't score. They've played 11 games, been on offense for 98 innings, and managed to put up a "crooked number" (i.e., score more than one run in an inning) only four times. Four. No team in the majors has fewer crooked number innings--and that includes Seattle who's only played six games!
In an earlier post, I hoped, after Alex Gordon's first home run, that he was ready to carry the team, because the team sure seemed to be waiting for him. But maybe the team isn't waiting for Gordon after all. Maybe they're just waiting for May.
A couple loud fans behind me would bemoan that the Chiefs would always run on first down! Which was not at all true. What was true, and what they never commented on, was that the Chiefs would always run on 2nd and 10, after an incompleted pass. It was the West Coast offense idea of running on throwing downs, but taken to such an extreme by the Chiefs in those days, that I have to think opponents starting playing 2nd and 10 as a running down. But I digress--before I've even started.
What I'm trying to say is that I know there are fans who live in the negative. Who's "favorite" team diminishes some of the invective that might otherwise be directed at their families. (At least you hope the family gets spared--at least a little). But I tend to live in the more optimistic camp. Not crazy-optimistic--the blog is called "Royal Pain" after all, but I'm hopeful. At least I try to be.
This season I thought there was a decent chance that the Royals might shed their April Curse. I really did. There was Gil Meche, the return of Zack Greinke, Alex Gordon, a full year of the "real" Mark Teahen--and I was really excited about our Rule V draft pick, Joakim Soria. (And probably only a Royals fan would be excited by Rule V guy.) But there was one more key cog responsible for my sunny outlook--Octavio Dotel.
Dotel was nails in Spring Training. in his first 7.2 innings he had 12 strikeouts. He was hitting 97 on the gun, saying things like, "I feel like I've got a brand-new arm." So I start thinking, if Dotel can be a real closer--the first one the Royals have had since Jeff Montgomery--hell, they can seriously improve on last years' record when they blew 31 saves.
But this is Octavio Dotel we're talking about. He's thrown less innings over the last four seasons than Roger Clemens threw last season--when he "came out of retirement" on June 22. That's the kind of fan I am--banking on Octavio Dotel's health.
And, of course, Dotel's shoulder probably still feels brand new, but now his left oblique's ruining all his child-like excitement about it. And of course the Royals did their classic, "We're going hold him out of the opener, then we've got a day off, so he should be good to go Wednesday; We're going to put him on the DL and backdate it, he should be good to go then--we're being very cautious; He felt a little something in the oblique when he tested it, but he should be fine, He's not going to be available when we'd hoped, but we think it will be soon after that;"(and on and on and on). Finally finishing with, "We don't really know what's going on with his "day-to-day" injury, but we're the Royals and this shit happens to us all the time!" (Okay, so they might not have said anything like that last part on the record. But you know they said it. "They" being...well, pick anyone in the Royals organization.)
So, anyway, I was counting on Dotel. And I was pleased that KC had signed David Riske--a nice set-up guy. Not overpowering, but deceptive and he throws strikes--something previously the Royals didn't seem to find all that necessary in a reliever. Plus, Ryan Braun made the team, and he's a young guy with a power arm that just might be ready for success. Jimmy Gobble wasn't a bad lefty, Joel Peralta was pretty effective last year, and then there was Soria, who I hoped might be eased in with some low pressure innings and eventually, after gaining some confidence, would pitch very effectively this season. That looked like a very good bullpen--by Royals standards. But, of course, that's not actually their bullpen.
Buddy Bell wasn't satisfied with six relievers, he wanted seven. Which meant that Todd Wellmeyer made the team--and when Dotel finally took his accustomed place on the DL, Jason Standridge also joined the club. They've both turned out to be bad ideas. Bad ideas in the, "Let's tell the security screeners we're terrorists!" vein. Because if you don't have a good bullpen, the thing to do is add more guys to it!
Riske was the first to step into the closer's role--and actually got a save before imploding against the Tigers on April 8, blowing a two-run lead before even getting an out in a 3-2 loss. The first blown save in the attempt to break last year's record (31 to go!). And that was enough for Bell, Riske was out as the closer. He didn't come out and say that, but it was true all the same. And who did Bell go to? Ah, let's skip the shenanigans--he went straight to the Rule V guy. That's how the Royals ease him in. And so far he's one for one! Here's hoping someday the Royals will have another lead in the ninth inning.
Because it doesn't feel like they ever will.
Okay Royals fans--let's do a quick word association-type test! I say, "The Royals get back-to-back walks to lead off the inning," what do you say? That's right! "Strike three, looking; double play." (It's really not magic, it just looks like it. What else would Royals fans think might happen--aside from some sort of injury...originally labeled "day-to-day.")
Strike three looking, double play is what happened to the Royals--most recently--in the first inning of their Friday the 13th game, an 8-1 loss to Erik Bedard. Bedard vs. Duckworth is not a good match-up for our slow-starting heroes, so getting back-to-back walks to lead off the first was cause for great optimism. But then Grudzielanek takes strike three and Sweeney hits into a DP and you can't help but think, "Oh no, I was being optimistic! Again! When will I ever learn?"
When I say the Royals can't score right now, I mean they really can't score. They've played 11 games, been on offense for 98 innings, and managed to put up a "crooked number" (i.e., score more than one run in an inning) only four times. Four. No team in the majors has fewer crooked number innings--and that includes Seattle who's only played six games!
In an earlier post, I hoped, after Alex Gordon's first home run, that he was ready to carry the team, because the team sure seemed to be waiting for him. But maybe the team isn't waiting for Gordon after all. Maybe they're just waiting for May.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Oh, G's!
In Zack Greinke's first start of the season there was pressure, sure. Pressure to show his great Spring was no fluke. Pressure to prove that he was past his depression and social anxiety. Pressure to match one of Japan's (and perhaps the world's) greatest pitchers, Daisuke Matsuzaka. But that difficulty paled compared to the strain that Dice-K was under--millions of his countrymen watching at three in morning. Seemingly millions more countrymen with press passes and telephoto lenses at the game. And that's after a Spring of Dice-K-O-Rama, which followed a Winter of "Who Wants to Make Dice-K a Millionaire." No, Zack had pressure, but he's a smart young man--he knew that the spotlight--while on him, was really aimed at another.
But Greinke's start today was a different story. Because this pressure wasn't about what anybody thought of him, or whether people believed in him or not. This was basic baseball pressure. It was about breaking a three game losing streak. It was about making teammates and fans forget about the crushing loss the night before--and the heartbreaking 9th inning of the game before that. It was about changing the momentum when the Royals looked to be hurtling off their usual April cliff. And just like in his first start, Greinke was outstanding, limiting the Blue Jays to one run in six innings in the Royals 6-3 victory.
Greinke seems to be specializing in striking out the other teams best hitter--looking. He got Ortiz looking twice in his first start (and if you want to argue with me that Manny's really Boston's best hitter...well, okay) and he got Frank Thomas looking twice today.
Total Aside: There's nothing better than watching Frank Thomas jacknife out of the way of a pitch that's over the inner-half of the plate on strike three, and then witnessing his utter shock that the umpire has the gall to ring him up. I actually understand his surprise--no one called him out for years when he made that ridiculous move. But then his play eroded in Chicago and he stopped getting that call. Somehow he made a comeback in Oakland, landed a big contract with Toronto and clearly he thinks he should be getting that call again. No, Frank, no you shouldn't. You never should have gotten that call in the first place. But keep leaping to saftey on those strikes--like a little girl who's seen a spider while jump roping, and just can't let go of the rope mid-jump--it always makes me laugh.
Extra Bonus Aside: Tom Hallion, the homeplate ump, could not have been more enthusiastic in his called third strikes. His signature strikeout call includes him twisting his body sideways and thrusting his left fist up towards his throat while his head actually tilts skyward. Something tells me Hallion releives the boredom of the road with a lot of air guitar.
Back to Greinke: In his first start against Boston, the Red Sox were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position--today Toronto was 1 for 9. And that's a particularly good thing since batters leading off innings have been swatting him around--6 hits in 7 AB's in the first game, and 3 for 6 today. (Including a bizarre amount of doubles. He's allowed 5 doubles to lead off innings, yet only one of those guys have scored--when Julio Lugo went for a steal of third and John Buck threw the ball into left field.)
Zack's doing his best pitching when his opponents have a guy standing behind him.
It wasn't all Greinke today, though. Not when Alex Gordon breaks a 1 for 24 slump with a majestic home run to right. Ryan Lefebvre, the Royals excellent radio/tv announcer, said as Gordon was circling the bases, "The sound you hear is Alex Gordon exhaling." But I'll go him one further--it seemed as if the whole team exhaled. After Gordon's two run shot the team tacked on two more runs in the inning--and that four-run inning is their biggest outburst of the season. Prior to that the Royals had only put up "crooked numbers" in three other innings (out of 66).
It seems--after only eight games--as if the Royals have hitched their wagon to Gordon's star even more than it first appeared. Look rookies struggle--it's almost axiomatic. Most teams start their rookies off batting in the lower third of the order, hope they don't get overwhelmed and try to keep the spolight off them until they get over their "upper deck syndrome." Not the Royals. They hit him fifth, where he seemingly never bats without men on base, they move their best player to new position to accomodate him--they put the team on his shoulders right from the get-go.
So...Alex struggles, the team struggles. Alex hits a shot, the teams wins. It would have been nice if one of the veterans had been able to carry the team a while, at least until Gordon knew how much to tip the bellhop on roadtrips. But no one did--so apparently that's Alex's job. He put a jolt in one ball today--and it jolted his teammates. Maybe he'll be ready to do that on a consistent basis soon. I hope so, because it looks like the team's waiting for him.
Well, maybe not everyone on the team is waiting. Every fifth day it looks like battler will be taking the mound. Every fifth day, at least, Greinke will have Gordon's back.
But Greinke's start today was a different story. Because this pressure wasn't about what anybody thought of him, or whether people believed in him or not. This was basic baseball pressure. It was about breaking a three game losing streak. It was about making teammates and fans forget about the crushing loss the night before--and the heartbreaking 9th inning of the game before that. It was about changing the momentum when the Royals looked to be hurtling off their usual April cliff. And just like in his first start, Greinke was outstanding, limiting the Blue Jays to one run in six innings in the Royals 6-3 victory.
Greinke seems to be specializing in striking out the other teams best hitter--looking. He got Ortiz looking twice in his first start (and if you want to argue with me that Manny's really Boston's best hitter...well, okay) and he got Frank Thomas looking twice today.
Total Aside: There's nothing better than watching Frank Thomas jacknife out of the way of a pitch that's over the inner-half of the plate on strike three, and then witnessing his utter shock that the umpire has the gall to ring him up. I actually understand his surprise--no one called him out for years when he made that ridiculous move. But then his play eroded in Chicago and he stopped getting that call. Somehow he made a comeback in Oakland, landed a big contract with Toronto and clearly he thinks he should be getting that call again. No, Frank, no you shouldn't. You never should have gotten that call in the first place. But keep leaping to saftey on those strikes--like a little girl who's seen a spider while jump roping, and just can't let go of the rope mid-jump--it always makes me laugh.
Extra Bonus Aside: Tom Hallion, the homeplate ump, could not have been more enthusiastic in his called third strikes. His signature strikeout call includes him twisting his body sideways and thrusting his left fist up towards his throat while his head actually tilts skyward. Something tells me Hallion releives the boredom of the road with a lot of air guitar.
Back to Greinke: In his first start against Boston, the Red Sox were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position--today Toronto was 1 for 9. And that's a particularly good thing since batters leading off innings have been swatting him around--6 hits in 7 AB's in the first game, and 3 for 6 today. (Including a bizarre amount of doubles. He's allowed 5 doubles to lead off innings, yet only one of those guys have scored--when Julio Lugo went for a steal of third and John Buck threw the ball into left field.)
Zack's doing his best pitching when his opponents have a guy standing behind him.
It wasn't all Greinke today, though. Not when Alex Gordon breaks a 1 for 24 slump with a majestic home run to right. Ryan Lefebvre, the Royals excellent radio/tv announcer, said as Gordon was circling the bases, "The sound you hear is Alex Gordon exhaling." But I'll go him one further--it seemed as if the whole team exhaled. After Gordon's two run shot the team tacked on two more runs in the inning--and that four-run inning is their biggest outburst of the season. Prior to that the Royals had only put up "crooked numbers" in three other innings (out of 66).
It seems--after only eight games--as if the Royals have hitched their wagon to Gordon's star even more than it first appeared. Look rookies struggle--it's almost axiomatic. Most teams start their rookies off batting in the lower third of the order, hope they don't get overwhelmed and try to keep the spolight off them until they get over their "upper deck syndrome." Not the Royals. They hit him fifth, where he seemingly never bats without men on base, they move their best player to new position to accomodate him--they put the team on his shoulders right from the get-go.
So...Alex struggles, the team struggles. Alex hits a shot, the teams wins. It would have been nice if one of the veterans had been able to carry the team a while, at least until Gordon knew how much to tip the bellhop on roadtrips. But no one did--so apparently that's Alex's job. He put a jolt in one ball today--and it jolted his teammates. Maybe he'll be ready to do that on a consistent basis soon. I hope so, because it looks like the team's waiting for him.
Well, maybe not everyone on the team is waiting. Every fifth day it looks like battler will be taking the mound. Every fifth day, at least, Greinke will have Gordon's back.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Royals Drop Series, Show Improvement
Dice-K vs. Greinke was a good match-up. I don't think it was fully appreciated by non-Royal fans, but it wouldn't be surprised to see both of those guys in the top 10 in ERA this year. Matsusaka was all that was advertised (well, except for the gyroball--I saw no gyroball), and Greinke was all that he portended out of Spring Training.
Zack seems to have transferred his former passion for throwing trick pitches into a passion for hitting his spots exactly. He K'd David Ortiz three times--twice looking and once on a very feeble swing. The ump had a wide outside corner today--and I think both teams were upset by it--I read a lot of Royals fans complaining that their hitters were getting jobbed, but tell that to Ortiz, no doubt he thought those strike three's he was taking were going to be called balls.
Greinke struck out seven--four of them were looking. He struck a lot of guys out this Spring as well--I doubt he'll all the sudden become a strikeout pitcher, though, since generally you've got to miss bats than Zack does. Zack doesn't exactly "pitch to contact" (one of those ridiculous baseball phrases that doesn't even make sense) but he's a few miles per hour short of the kind of overwhelming stuff that blows guys away. Zack changes speeds well, and if yesterday's start is any indication, possesses great control and that's going to result in a lot of soft contact.
Greinke missed most of the season last year after bolting during Spring Training. And, though he tried to explain what his Social Anxiety was, it's difficult to really pinpoint the problem. It seemed like a combination of too much losing, too much too fast, a sense that he wasn't really earning his place on the team, lack of direction, lack of fun, perhaps a little isolation because of an inability to relate to his teammates. It's hard to say for sure.
After he returned from his home in Florida, the Royals sent him to AA Wichita to play with their best prospects, including Alex Gordon and Billy Butler, and Greinke thrived. The Royals brought him up in September for a couple relief innings, but I'm sure they were in no way counting on him come Spring Training. But I bet they're starting to count on him now.
The time in Wichita seemed to help. That, and perhaps the medication that Zack began taking. But in Wichita they were in a pennant race, he was playing with young men around his age, he was no longer being treated with kid gloves--and he really responded.
Greinke really showed toughness amid the glare from bright lights that follow Dice-K around last night. It's tempting to say he's back to 2004 form, when he finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting--but it's even more tempting to say he'll better than that now.
The Royals faced three excellent starters from Boston, but still, nearly getting shut out twice isn't going to get the job done. Unfortunately for them, Justin Verlander is on the mound tonight. Actually Detroit's weather postponement yesterday hurts the Royals, because they don't get to face their former flame-out Chad Durbin, who's in the Tigers rotation because of Kenny Rogers injury. Durbin got hit hard with the Royals, I don't see why that should change just because he's wearing an Olde English "D" on his cap.
But the chance to beat up on Durbin must wait 'till later. It's Verlander, Maroth and Bonderman this weekend. Verlander dominated KC last year: 3-0 in three starts, an 0.68 ERA and a .178 BAA. It's going to be another cold night in KC, so a hard thrower like Verlander really has an advantage. On the other hand, KC might be featuring its hardest thrower in this game--Juan De La Rosa. The concern with De La Rosa is whether or not he can throw strikes. In general, he probably can't. But the Tigers are a pretty aggressive team, so that might work in his favor. Unfortunately their big off-season acquisition, Gary Sheffield, has great plate discipline, and if he faces De La Rosa three times, you can pretty much chalk him up for at least one walk.
Final thoughts on the Boston series. Buddy hasn't pinch hit for anyone yet. Not even Tony Pena, Jr. Not even leading off the eighth, down by two, against a lefty last night. Now, it's not that Pena is particularly bad against lefties--I don't know that he is. I just know that his best OBP in the minors was .312, and the Royals had four righties sitting on the bench. Mike Sweeney, Reggie Sanders (who hasn't gotten a plate appearance yet), Mark Grudzielanek and Jason LaRue--any of those guys would have been more likely to to get on base than Pena.
Gordon's struggling defensively and hitting into some bad luck offensively. He may not have millions of Japanese watching his games at three in the morning regularly, but there's a lot of pressure on Gordon. He looks to me like he'll handle it. All he needs is one good game to realize he's still just playing ball. It's almost gametime now--maybe that good game will be tonight.
Zack seems to have transferred his former passion for throwing trick pitches into a passion for hitting his spots exactly. He K'd David Ortiz three times--twice looking and once on a very feeble swing. The ump had a wide outside corner today--and I think both teams were upset by it--I read a lot of Royals fans complaining that their hitters were getting jobbed, but tell that to Ortiz, no doubt he thought those strike three's he was taking were going to be called balls.
Greinke struck out seven--four of them were looking. He struck a lot of guys out this Spring as well--I doubt he'll all the sudden become a strikeout pitcher, though, since generally you've got to miss bats than Zack does. Zack doesn't exactly "pitch to contact" (one of those ridiculous baseball phrases that doesn't even make sense) but he's a few miles per hour short of the kind of overwhelming stuff that blows guys away. Zack changes speeds well, and if yesterday's start is any indication, possesses great control and that's going to result in a lot of soft contact.
Greinke missed most of the season last year after bolting during Spring Training. And, though he tried to explain what his Social Anxiety was, it's difficult to really pinpoint the problem. It seemed like a combination of too much losing, too much too fast, a sense that he wasn't really earning his place on the team, lack of direction, lack of fun, perhaps a little isolation because of an inability to relate to his teammates. It's hard to say for sure.
After he returned from his home in Florida, the Royals sent him to AA Wichita to play with their best prospects, including Alex Gordon and Billy Butler, and Greinke thrived. The Royals brought him up in September for a couple relief innings, but I'm sure they were in no way counting on him come Spring Training. But I bet they're starting to count on him now.
The time in Wichita seemed to help. That, and perhaps the medication that Zack began taking. But in Wichita they were in a pennant race, he was playing with young men around his age, he was no longer being treated with kid gloves--and he really responded.
Greinke really showed toughness amid the glare from bright lights that follow Dice-K around last night. It's tempting to say he's back to 2004 form, when he finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting--but it's even more tempting to say he'll better than that now.
The Royals faced three excellent starters from Boston, but still, nearly getting shut out twice isn't going to get the job done. Unfortunately for them, Justin Verlander is on the mound tonight. Actually Detroit's weather postponement yesterday hurts the Royals, because they don't get to face their former flame-out Chad Durbin, who's in the Tigers rotation because of Kenny Rogers injury. Durbin got hit hard with the Royals, I don't see why that should change just because he's wearing an Olde English "D" on his cap.
But the chance to beat up on Durbin must wait 'till later. It's Verlander, Maroth and Bonderman this weekend. Verlander dominated KC last year: 3-0 in three starts, an 0.68 ERA and a .178 BAA. It's going to be another cold night in KC, so a hard thrower like Verlander really has an advantage. On the other hand, KC might be featuring its hardest thrower in this game--Juan De La Rosa. The concern with De La Rosa is whether or not he can throw strikes. In general, he probably can't. But the Tigers are a pretty aggressive team, so that might work in his favor. Unfortunately their big off-season acquisition, Gary Sheffield, has great plate discipline, and if he faces De La Rosa three times, you can pretty much chalk him up for at least one walk.
Final thoughts on the Boston series. Buddy hasn't pinch hit for anyone yet. Not even Tony Pena, Jr. Not even leading off the eighth, down by two, against a lefty last night. Now, it's not that Pena is particularly bad against lefties--I don't know that he is. I just know that his best OBP in the minors was .312, and the Royals had four righties sitting on the bench. Mike Sweeney, Reggie Sanders (who hasn't gotten a plate appearance yet), Mark Grudzielanek and Jason LaRue--any of those guys would have been more likely to to get on base than Pena.
Gordon's struggling defensively and hitting into some bad luck offensively. He may not have millions of Japanese watching his games at three in the morning regularly, but there's a lot of pressure on Gordon. He looks to me like he'll handle it. All he needs is one good game to realize he's still just playing ball. It's almost gametime now--maybe that good game will be tonight.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Royals Win Monday, Don't Lose Tuesday
Ah, a day off to bask in the 1-0 record. The defeat of the future Hall of Famer, the justification (for one start at least) of the huge Gil Meche contract. Life is good on April 3rd, 2007, for Royals fans.
1-0 is a ridiculous thing to be excited about...but I am. Hey, I'm a Royals fan--a game over .500 is pretty damned good. Even if it is only one game. Of 162. That's .00617 percent. It's like a K-State basketball fan getting excited because they're up on KU by a bucket, 15 seconds into the game. But as a Royals fan, you've got to take what you can get -- especially lately.
I was shocked to realize that this win actually makes the Royals 19-19 all-time on opening day, because it seems like they always lose the opener. So I had to do some other research at baseballrace.com to confirm that, even though they don't lose every opener, they do pretty much suck every April. First I have to say that in 2003 the Royals got off to a fantastic start, they were 17-4 at one point, and that start almost carried them to a playoff berth, but injuries and a lack of pitching, and injuries to pitchers took their toll. Anyway 2003 happened, I know it happened, but it's hard to believe it happened because the Royals just don't play well in April.
According to Buster Olney (gotta be an Insider) the Royals have the toughest April schedule in MLB. Great, just what this franchise needs--even more reason to struggle out of the gate. 20 of their 27 games are against teams that finished over .500 last year. (The Royals were 62-100.)
I decided to see what the Royals record has been over the last several seasons after 27 games:
2006: 7-20
2005: 7-20
2004: 8-19
2003: 18-9
2002: 8-19
2001: 10-17
2000: 13-14
1999: 12-15
1998: 12-15
1997: 13-14
1996: 9-18
1995: 13-14
1994: 14-13
1994 was the first year of the Wildcard. So, semi-randomly taking 27 games as the measure--since that's how many April games they have this season--they've managed a winning record only twice! Once thirteen years ago--by one game!
And the Royals don't stop in April, oh no. The Royals just keep tanking. With the exception--again--of that beautiful, wonderful, hard-to-believe-it-ever-happened 2003 season, where they actually finished with a winning record (they finished third in that Shangri-La of a year) the Royals just keep plummeting.
One more list for you--how quickly they fall 20 games out of first place. I'm going to do this one in reverse chronological order, because 2006 was so spectacular. In '98 the Royals had a good season, by their recent standards, and finished 3rd in the Central, 16.5 games back. I'll use that year as a jumping off point.
In '99 they were 20 games out after 80 games.
in 2000, it took 152 to fall 20 games out.
In 2001, only 86.
In 2002, 104.
In 2003 -- another third place finish baby!
In 2004, it took 98 games to fall 20 back.
in 2005, they were 20 games back after playing just 50 games.
But in 2006 they were incredible. They managed to be 20 games out of first on the 23rd of May. Their 43rd game of the season.
It's hard to believe that any team has ever fallen 20 games back quicker. Of course, mathematically you could do it in 20 games. But you'd not only need to lose 20 straight, another team in your division would have to win 20 straight. The Royals really did their part, though, going 10-33. 10-33! And not only that, in their historic Plummet to Twenty, they put together an 11 game losing streak to get to the mark. And they added two more losses right after that--a 13 game losing streak. Detroit chipped in as well, going 31-14 (It takes two tango--but, then again, they had only a one game lead over Chicago at that point).
In 2005 the Royals were pretty pathetically spectacular--20 games back by May 29, but 2006, that was really one for the ages. Needless to say, those kinds of starts don't do much for attendance. Especially when you're out of it--and I mean way out of it--before school's out, and families start looking for things to do with their free time.
And that's all the Royals need to do this year--be reasonably competitive until school's out. Give the fans something to hope for, because hope has really been lost for...well, since divisional play. Right now there is some excitement--Alex Gordon looks like he could be the second coming of George Brett. Mark Teahen was their best player last year, he moved to rightfield to accommodate Gordon--and didn't even complain! And, of course, a free agent cashed in on a big payday with the Royals. Does Meche deserve the money--who cares? For all the critics who complain he's merely a league average pitcher, I can only say, after watching game after mind-numbing game, league average pitching would be like a cool waterfall on a hot August day. Sure, I hope he does better than that, but average would be a huge improvement on what Royal fans are used to.
Quick takes on Game One:
Top of the first Grudzielanek singles to right with one out, then Teahen singles up the middle but Grud falls while making his turn to round second and so can't get to third. Then Sweeney lasers a single to JD Drew in Right and Grudzielanek can't score. The ball was hit too sharply, got to Drew too quickly. If Grud had just not fallen trying to round second, he would have scored on Sweeney's single. And I'm thinking here we go again. But after Schilling K'd a battling Alex Gordon, Ryan Shealy worked a walk. Only the 2nd walk with the bases jacked that Schilling has given up since 2004. And even though it was the only run the Royals were able to push across in the first, at least it was the run that misfortune seemed to have cost them. And that's not how things have been going the last few years.
Gordon looked great. Oh for three, two strikeouts, hit by a pitch, an error that was scored a hit and still he looked great.
Tony Pena, Jr. crushed two balls -- which is about how many people expected him to crush all season. He almost missed out on his second triple of the day by not busting ass out of the batters box, though. It was strange, he wasn't in a home run trot, but you would think after hitting one triple, he would have been thinking triple again once the ball started sailing toward the left-center gap. Kauffman Stadium is a great place for triples, he should get a few more--other teams won't be playing him deep.
In the fifth, with lefty Javier Lopez, Buddy Bell opted to let Ross Gload hit. But he didn't hit, he made an out. Gload is the somewhat surprising platoon partner with Emil Brown. Brown's unsurprisingly not happy about getting the short end of a platoon after leading the team in RBI last season--and he really can't be happy about Gload staying in there vs. the lefty. I realize it was only the fifth, but Brown hits righties pretty well. He hits lefties for more power but gets on base better vs. the right.
Meche taking the mound in the eighth. Joe Posananski, the great columnist for the KC Star did a live diary on his blog and wondered in the moment if it was just so Buddy could pull him after his warm-up pitches and let Meche have the applause. But it wasn't.
Meche had thrown 96 pitches through seven, so it figured he was done (especially on opening day). But Buddy Bell knew how bad it was last year, he was there for some ugly times and he knew the bullpen was eminently capable of blowing that game--especially with Octavio Dotel out for the next few games. (Side note: there is no team in the majors who tease you with the, "He should be fine, we're being extra cautious, he'll probably be available day after tomorrow" type of injury than the Royals. Mike Sweeney has seemingly spent this century one day away from being ready to play.)
Anyway, it's the eighth inning, Meche is dealing, they'd knocked Schill around--I can totally see Bell regarding it as a "must win" at that point. Saying, "Let's send Meche out there until he lets someone on." And Meche managed one more out before Pedroia singled--and then Meche got his applause, a standing O.
And then Joel Peralta did his best Joe Nathan imitation. He stuck out David Ortiz with two on and two out in the eighth, and during that Ortiz at-bat, you really got the feeling it was the ballgame. That if Ortiz crushed one, then the Royals were going to blow it--despite the fact that it was 7-1 at the time.
It felt like the Bartman moment. If something bad happened right there, then despite the lead--and the worst Ortiz could have done is make it 7-4--the Royals would have been caught in a vortex of loserdom, and gotten sucked right down into its stinky bowels.
But Peralta K'd Ortiz, (just like Grudzielanek scored after falling down), and, for a day at least, Royals fans can have some hope that this will be a season free of sucking vortexes and stinky bowels.
1-0 is a ridiculous thing to be excited about...but I am. Hey, I'm a Royals fan--a game over .500 is pretty damned good. Even if it is only one game. Of 162. That's .00617 percent. It's like a K-State basketball fan getting excited because they're up on KU by a bucket, 15 seconds into the game. But as a Royals fan, you've got to take what you can get -- especially lately.
I was shocked to realize that this win actually makes the Royals 19-19 all-time on opening day, because it seems like they always lose the opener. So I had to do some other research at baseballrace.com to confirm that, even though they don't lose every opener, they do pretty much suck every April. First I have to say that in 2003 the Royals got off to a fantastic start, they were 17-4 at one point, and that start almost carried them to a playoff berth, but injuries and a lack of pitching, and injuries to pitchers took their toll. Anyway 2003 happened, I know it happened, but it's hard to believe it happened because the Royals just don't play well in April.
According to Buster Olney (gotta be an Insider) the Royals have the toughest April schedule in MLB. Great, just what this franchise needs--even more reason to struggle out of the gate. 20 of their 27 games are against teams that finished over .500 last year. (The Royals were 62-100.)
I decided to see what the Royals record has been over the last several seasons after 27 games:
2006: 7-20
2005: 7-20
2004: 8-19
2003: 18-9
2002: 8-19
2001: 10-17
2000: 13-14
1999: 12-15
1998: 12-15
1997: 13-14
1996: 9-18
1995: 13-14
1994: 14-13
1994 was the first year of the Wildcard. So, semi-randomly taking 27 games as the measure--since that's how many April games they have this season--they've managed a winning record only twice! Once thirteen years ago--by one game!
And the Royals don't stop in April, oh no. The Royals just keep tanking. With the exception--again--of that beautiful, wonderful, hard-to-believe-it-ever-happened 2003 season, where they actually finished with a winning record (they finished third in that Shangri-La of a year) the Royals just keep plummeting.
One more list for you--how quickly they fall 20 games out of first place. I'm going to do this one in reverse chronological order, because 2006 was so spectacular. In '98 the Royals had a good season, by their recent standards, and finished 3rd in the Central, 16.5 games back. I'll use that year as a jumping off point.
In '99 they were 20 games out after 80 games.
in 2000, it took 152 to fall 20 games out.
In 2001, only 86.
In 2002, 104.
In 2003 -- another third place finish baby!
In 2004, it took 98 games to fall 20 back.
in 2005, they were 20 games back after playing just 50 games.
But in 2006 they were incredible. They managed to be 20 games out of first on the 23rd of May. Their 43rd game of the season.
It's hard to believe that any team has ever fallen 20 games back quicker. Of course, mathematically you could do it in 20 games. But you'd not only need to lose 20 straight, another team in your division would have to win 20 straight. The Royals really did their part, though, going 10-33. 10-33! And not only that, in their historic Plummet to Twenty, they put together an 11 game losing streak to get to the mark. And they added two more losses right after that--a 13 game losing streak. Detroit chipped in as well, going 31-14 (It takes two tango--but, then again, they had only a one game lead over Chicago at that point).
In 2005 the Royals were pretty pathetically spectacular--20 games back by May 29, but 2006, that was really one for the ages. Needless to say, those kinds of starts don't do much for attendance. Especially when you're out of it--and I mean way out of it--before school's out, and families start looking for things to do with their free time.
And that's all the Royals need to do this year--be reasonably competitive until school's out. Give the fans something to hope for, because hope has really been lost for...well, since divisional play. Right now there is some excitement--Alex Gordon looks like he could be the second coming of George Brett. Mark Teahen was their best player last year, he moved to rightfield to accommodate Gordon--and didn't even complain! And, of course, a free agent cashed in on a big payday with the Royals. Does Meche deserve the money--who cares? For all the critics who complain he's merely a league average pitcher, I can only say, after watching game after mind-numbing game, league average pitching would be like a cool waterfall on a hot August day. Sure, I hope he does better than that, but average would be a huge improvement on what Royal fans are used to.
Quick takes on Game One:
Top of the first Grudzielanek singles to right with one out, then Teahen singles up the middle but Grud falls while making his turn to round second and so can't get to third. Then Sweeney lasers a single to JD Drew in Right and Grudzielanek can't score. The ball was hit too sharply, got to Drew too quickly. If Grud had just not fallen trying to round second, he would have scored on Sweeney's single. And I'm thinking here we go again. But after Schilling K'd a battling Alex Gordon, Ryan Shealy worked a walk. Only the 2nd walk with the bases jacked that Schilling has given up since 2004. And even though it was the only run the Royals were able to push across in the first, at least it was the run that misfortune seemed to have cost them. And that's not how things have been going the last few years.
Gordon looked great. Oh for three, two strikeouts, hit by a pitch, an error that was scored a hit and still he looked great.
Tony Pena, Jr. crushed two balls -- which is about how many people expected him to crush all season. He almost missed out on his second triple of the day by not busting ass out of the batters box, though. It was strange, he wasn't in a home run trot, but you would think after hitting one triple, he would have been thinking triple again once the ball started sailing toward the left-center gap. Kauffman Stadium is a great place for triples, he should get a few more--other teams won't be playing him deep.
In the fifth, with lefty Javier Lopez, Buddy Bell opted to let Ross Gload hit. But he didn't hit, he made an out. Gload is the somewhat surprising platoon partner with Emil Brown. Brown's unsurprisingly not happy about getting the short end of a platoon after leading the team in RBI last season--and he really can't be happy about Gload staying in there vs. the lefty. I realize it was only the fifth, but Brown hits righties pretty well. He hits lefties for more power but gets on base better vs. the right.
Meche taking the mound in the eighth. Joe Posananski, the great columnist for the KC Star did a live diary on his blog and wondered in the moment if it was just so Buddy could pull him after his warm-up pitches and let Meche have the applause. But it wasn't.
Meche had thrown 96 pitches through seven, so it figured he was done (especially on opening day). But Buddy Bell knew how bad it was last year, he was there for some ugly times and he knew the bullpen was eminently capable of blowing that game--especially with Octavio Dotel out for the next few games. (Side note: there is no team in the majors who tease you with the, "He should be fine, we're being extra cautious, he'll probably be available day after tomorrow" type of injury than the Royals. Mike Sweeney has seemingly spent this century one day away from being ready to play.)
Anyway, it's the eighth inning, Meche is dealing, they'd knocked Schill around--I can totally see Bell regarding it as a "must win" at that point. Saying, "Let's send Meche out there until he lets someone on." And Meche managed one more out before Pedroia singled--and then Meche got his applause, a standing O.
And then Joel Peralta did his best Joe Nathan imitation. He stuck out David Ortiz with two on and two out in the eighth, and during that Ortiz at-bat, you really got the feeling it was the ballgame. That if Ortiz crushed one, then the Royals were going to blow it--despite the fact that it was 7-1 at the time.
It felt like the Bartman moment. If something bad happened right there, then despite the lead--and the worst Ortiz could have done is make it 7-4--the Royals would have been caught in a vortex of loserdom, and gotten sucked right down into its stinky bowels.
But Peralta K'd Ortiz, (just like Grudzielanek scored after falling down), and, for a day at least, Royals fans can have some hope that this will be a season free of sucking vortexes and stinky bowels.
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