Happy birthday Mike

What a difference a healthy Mike Sweeney makes. Mike turned 31 yesterday and had a career day knocking two balls out of the park and driving in seven as the Royals beat the Tigers 13-7.

Sweeney has his average up to .284 now. That's a far cry from the .340 he hit in 2002 or the .333 he hit in 2000, but with his aggressive swing back to form, I'm guessing that he won't end the season at .284.

Now if he can just stay healthy, perhaps we can salvage one of the worst Royals seasons in recent memory.

Lopez no longer a Royal

This is taken from mlb.com tonight:

Infielder Mendy Lopez's contract has been sold to the Samsung Lions, a Korean team. He was outrighted to Triple-A Omaha on May 28 after being designated for assignment. With the Royals in 2004, Lopez was 4-for-38 (.105) with a homer and four RBIs. Lopez had played in 30 games with Omaha this year, hitting .293 (32-for-126) with 13 homers and 26 RBIs.

Mendy Lopez was never going to be a starter for us, but I'm still sorry to see him go. What he lacked in talent, he made up for in attitude. He showed up at the park every night willing to play anywhere Pena asked him to. He knew his place on the team and he knew that the only way he was going to play was to step in for starters for an occasional day off. Obviously, top notch talent is necessary to win, but having a guy in the organization like Lopez is an asset that I don't think can be easily measured.

Cashing out in April?

Remember the Eduardo Villacis debacle? Listen to what Joe Posnanski said in his column in the Star this morning:

I'm convinced that the day Villacis pitched, the Royals packed it in. I'm not saying they quit — teams don't quit (As Kansas State coach Bill Snyder has pointed out “They don't let you quit.”). Deep down, though, they had to know it was over. The players had never heard of Villacis, they could tell he wasn't a major-league pitcher, they knew he had absolutely zero chance of beating New York at Yankee Stadium. Management had cashed out. It's hard for players to believe after that.

I had never heard of Villacis until that day in Yankee stadium, but to find out that our players had never even heard of him speaks volumes. How could fans conclude anything except what Posnanski did here—that management cashed out the season while we were still in April (the Royals were 7-14 at the time)? What a sickening thought.

May stops the Orioles

I don't know if we can consider Darrell May a stopper, but he stopped one of the most frustrating streaks I've witnessed as a Royals fan—three straight shutouts—with a shutout of his own last night as the Royals beat the Orioles 7-0. He kept the ball down and his ball had good movement on it. He had guys chasing pitches way outside and down in the dirt.

This game reminded me of the May who fought Mulder a couple of months ago in Kauffman Stadium to the bitter end. Mulder was a little better that day and the A's won 3-1, but both guys went the distance and you got the sense that May was ready to establish himself as an above average pitcher.

Then everything changed. He started getting hit hard and even he seemed to have no idea why. At one point, a reporter walked into the clubhouse after one of those bad outings and said that May was sitting by his locker with his head down in his hands. This might sound crazy, but I was glad to hear that report. It told me that May isn't a guy who just wants to pick up a big paycheck ever other week.

It appears that he has things turned around. He has won four of his last five decisions to bring his record to 6-9. I wouldn't mind a 12-14 record with an ERA below 5.00 by the end of the year. Given our offensive problems this year, that would be quite a season. I know, I know. I sound desperate for mediocrity. But when you are as far down as we are—both in spirit and the standings—mediocrity doesn't look all that bad.

Pena's boast

This is taken from an article on mlb.com:

Pena, who before the game boasted that he likes to go against conventional baseball theory, kept his team aggressive on the bases -- so much so that the Royals ran themselves out of two innings before breaking through against Orioles starter Erik Bedard (3-3).

Why would Pena boast about going against conventional baseball theory when his team is off to the worst start in franchise history?

Tales from the Royals dugout

I'm just about through the new book, Tales from the Royals Dugout, by Denny Matthews with Matt Fulks. The book jumps around a lot and at times seems a little unorganized, but for the most part, it lives up to it's advertising—great stories told by someone who has been with the organization since day one. I've included a link to the book on amazon.com on the left hand side of this site under the "Royal Reads" section if you are interested in purchasing a copy.

My favorite chapter was chapter six: The Men in Royal Blue. Denny wrote blurbs about 78 players by my count in this chapter. It is so current that it includes a blurb about Jose Lima and it has stories that you may not have heard before. Chapter five is about the players who are in the Royals Hall of Fame. Good, good stuff.

I have been listening to Denny Matthews since I was a child. And to think that he started calling Royals games when I was three years old seems almost unbelievable. I had the pleasure of meeting him earlier this year when I was in the press club working on a couple of profile articles for publications. Of course, he was a nice guy—until he blamed the loss that day on my presence. It was one of those gut-wrenching, early season losses that we got used to after a while. We weren't used to it at that point though. I plead innocent.

I'll take Muser any day

Tony Pena is 161-206 (.439 winning percentage) since taking over this team. Tony Muser was 317-431 (.424 winning percentage) with far worse lineups than Pena has had the past two seasons. I hope Baird doesn't give Tony Pena 748 games as the Royals manager before he fires him.

What would a good manager be doing right now that Tony Pena is not? Especially with the line up we
currently have on the field (no Beltran, Sweeney, Gonzalez, Santiago, or Randa)? Good question. He would be stuck with the lineup we currently have and this lineup doesn't scare anybody. But we would still be better off without Tony Pena because if we had a better manager:

1. Our guys would be more concerned about the fundamentals. Forget "fun" Spring Trainings. This team looks lost--missed cut-off men, failure of pitchers to cover first base, horrible fundamentals behind the plate, guys with their backs to the play, balls misplayed in the outfield, a fear of pitching inside, and on and on and on. A "rah-rah" manager can only take a team so far—third place in our case.

2. We would not have people in the line up who refuse to hustle. If guys who make tons of money to play a game cannot run hard for ninety feet to first base or go after balls hard on defense, then they should be removed from the game immediately and released from the team the following day. Physical errors are going to happen in the field. As long as a guy is in the right position and gives one hundred percent, no problem. But a failure to make a play simply because a player doesn't care is unacceptable.

3. We would have a manager who manages closer to standard baseball protocol. Tony Pena's managerial style reminds me of Hal McRae's. Just as McRae played hunches and went against normal baseball wisdom, Pena does the same thing. I remember one game during Pena's first season when he chose to pitch to Ellis Burks rather than Lee Stevens (who was hitting a buck ninety at the time) with the game on the line and Burks smashed a ball into the waterfall in left center. I remember another game this year when the game was on the line against Oakland. Pena chose to allow Adrian Brown to hit rather than pinch hitting…anybody!
Would we have a better record right now if Tony Pena was not the manager? I believe so. We've lost so many games because of poor fundamentals and incorrect personnel. A good manager would have had the team better prepared and would have made better decisions on the field. Both of which would have led to a better record.

A good manager can only take a team so far. But what would have happened if this team would have been fundamentally sound the day they broke camp? What would have happened if Pena played less of his hunches and just managed the way most good managers do? What would have happened if we had started off hot and the town caught fire like last season? Injuries still would have happened and we still wouldn't be in first place. My guess is though, we wouldn't be in last place either.

Harvey going to Houston

Another Royal is on his way to Houston. At least this one is coming back. Ken Harvey was chosen as the Royals representative to the All Star game next week in Houston.

With 10 HR, 34 RBI, and a .328 average, he probably even belongs there. Quite a few other first basemen have better power numbers, but none of them are close to his average. You could probably make a case that Scott Hatteberg (10 HR, 49 RBI, .304) is having at least an equivalent year with Harvey, but someone from the Royals has to go, so Harvey it is.

After the play in San Diego the other night, it just seems odd that he would be considered All Star material. I’m still not sure what he was thinking when he turned his back to the outfield and Matt Stairs fired an attempted sacrifice fly home in a tie game. Granted, he ducked, but that doesn’t help a lot of if the ball still drills you in the middle of the back. He admitted it was a mistake on his part and I’m not picking on him. I guess it was just indicative of this entire year.

Appier shuts it down for the season

I was bummed to hear that Kevin Appier decided to shut it down for the season. He’s been on the DL since April 24th with a strained right forearm. He was about to be sent to Omaha for a couple of rehab starts before the possibility of him coming up to KC. And it sounds like his velocity was back up to 88 mph.

"I had all the assessors out there today,” Appier said. “And I threw a good bullpen. They said it looks real healthy. It's just the process of rehabbing a post-surgery elbow and it seems real tired. The combination of rehab and tired would make coming back this year impractical."

Appier knows his body and if he said his arm is tired, then we have to accept that. If his body can hold out, he wants to try it again next year.

For now, we have the memories. I can still remember the 1990 season–Ape’s first full season in the majors. He was 12-8 with a 2.76 ERA. He never looked back. It’s been so much fun watching him throw his slider that looks and reacts more like a curve ball. And when he didn’t get the call–to see him kick at the dirt. Or to see him get mad at himself for leaving a pitch up in the zone. It’s nice to see a guy looks like he cares. And who can forget his masterful performance against the evil Yankees last season?

Royal Reflections wishes you well Apes...and we hope to see you back in Royal Blue for one more season.

A Justin Huisman interview

Earlier this season, I had a chance to interview Justin Huisman in the Royals clubhouse. It was his first stint with the big league club. The Royals were off to a bad start at the time, but there was still a sense in the clubhouse that they could get things turned around.

Obviously things have changed since then. That, coupled with a few changes in personnel make this interview a little dated, but I thought you might enjoy reading what he had to say. I only had a few minutes with him.

Here’s the result:

Are you aware of the websites that baseball fans maintain that are based upon their favorite teams or players? And if so, do you ever go out and look at the sites?


I’m sure there are. I don’t actually view them that much.

You just came up from Omaha, right?

I came up Saturday. I was with the Rockies and got traded. Then I was with Omaha for a few weeks. Now I’m here.

You didn’t have a chance to pitch in Coors Field, did you?

I was never in the big leagues with them (Rockies), so I didn’t even see Coors Field.

Maybe that was a good thing.


Well, everybody knows it’s a tough place to pitch. But, when you are in the big leagues you don’t complain.

Has Tony Pena given you any idea about how he plans to use you?


No not really. He just said to be ready at any time. Pitching is like that. Things change every day. You just never know what you are going to do. Sometimes guys get hot. Sometimes they don’t. You could be doing different things, so he (Pena) just said to be ready.

Tell me about the Royals clubhouse. Some of these guys really know how to have fun in here don’t they? (I asked this question after seeing Jason Grimsley ride around the clubhouse on a motorized scooter the day before.)


Everybody just has a good time. Lesky (Curtis Leskanic) has a good time. We like to joke around a little bit. Everybody’s real nice and likes to have fun. You gotta have fun playing this game.

Wood sharp in debut

Mike Wood won his first start for the Royals last night. I was most impressed with his sinker. It dove down quickly. He even got it to move down and in to righties. Good luck hitting that.

The rest of his pitches had good movement. He won’t throw the ball by many hitters, but it looks like this guy knows how to pitch. He’s a welcome addition to the rotation–especially since he is a righty. Our starting staff is full of finesse lefties and most of them just haven’t got the job done.

Now that we’ve got Greinke and Wood throwing from the right side, perhaps it will break up the rotation a little so hitters won’t be so honed in on pitchers that look to be clones of each other.

Cumberland fired

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that John Cumberland was fired today. With a staff ERA of 4.96, second worst in the American League, it’s probably long overdue.

Mike Mason will be the interim pitching coach for the remainder of the season. I don’t know anything about him, but how could our staff get any worse?

Best wishes to Joe Randa

Royal Reflections wishes Joe Randa a speedy recovery from knee surgery that he underwent yesterday. He’s expected to be out for one month. Relaford and new Royal Jose Bautista will probably split time at the hot corner until Randa returns.

Run!

Have you ever seen Matt Stairs hit a routine ball to second base? Have you watched him run down the first base line? He actually runs. Hard. His actions are so out of the ordinary that fans notice his hustle down the first base line—and really all over the field.

We had a guy like that in Royal Blue until he signed somewhere else in the off-season—Raul Ibanez. Beyond the numbers that Ibanez put up, I always admired his hustle. He didn't take routine ground balls hit at in infielder for granted. He put his head down and ran.

I was in Busch Stadium last year during the Cards-Royals series when Bo Hart came up from the minors and made his major league debut. He hit like a mad man, but one of the things that made him an instant fan favorite was his hustle. He ran so hard up the first base line on routine ground balls that he really put pressure on Royals infielders to make a good play. Can you tell that I hate it when guys don't hustle?

I even hate when I see players on other teams dogging it. Juan Gonzalez has always done it. I remember one series in particular several years ago at Kauffman. The entire Ranger team did it.

Garret Anderson did it in the ALCS a few years ago against the Yankees on a ball hit right to Soriano. He didn't even leave the batters box and sure enough Soriano bobbled it. But he had plenty of time to throw out a guy who just couldn't be bothered to run.
I've seen Albert Pujols do it in Busch Stadium last year when the Cards played the Royals. He ripped a ball down the left field line. Ibanez was unaccustomed to playing in Busch and he misplayed a ball in the corner. Pujols trotted into second base just as Ibanez got to the ball. If he had been running, he would have cruised into third.

I listened to one game several years ago where Trot Nixon trotted to first base on a Texas Leaguer. The ball dropped in and he wasn't able to take second base when Denny Matthews said he should have been able to.
And don't even get me started on guys hitting home runs and standing at home plate to admire their work.

Carlos Lee hit what he thought to be a home run the other day, only to have it hit the top of the wall and drop into the field of play. He stood at home plate, watching it and he ended up getting thrown out at second base. Why in the world do managers tolerate that?

Guys like Matt Stairs, Raul Ibanez and Bo Hart are in the minority. But I love to watch them play. I know that Matt Stairs struggles in the outfield, but I'd much rather have somebody out there like him who seems to care and will lay out for a ball than have someone who fails to back up plays and nonchalants his way around the outfield.

The Beltran deal

Allard Baird wanted a catcher and a third baseman for Carlos Beltran. We certainly needed both positions filled with Santiago's career winding down and Mike Tonis not performing the way many had hoped. And Joe Randa's days appear to be numbered in Kansas City. I hope that's not the case, but with a mutual option for the 2005 season, I can't see the Royals picking up their end.

When you look at the catcher the Royals got, John Buck, it's hard to argue that we could have received a better catching prospect. He has torn up Triple A pitching in New Orleans this season, hitting .300 with 12 HRs and 35 RBIs. He's been an All-Star the past three seasons in the minor leagues. He has an outstanding glove and a willingness to smother pitches—something Santiago is unwilling to do. The good news is, he is only 23. So, if he can hit major league pitching to even the smallest degree, he may be a guy who is around KC for a long time.

Baird has high hopes for third baseman Mark Teahen. My question about Teahen is his power. He was hitting .335 in Double A this season with 6 HRs in 53 games. That's an improvement over his first couple of minor league seasons where he hit 4 HRs. He's only 22, so that's a major plus. Let's see how he does starting in Omaha for the rest of the season.

The Royals also received a 24-year old starting pitcher named Mike Wood in the Beltran deal. His numbers in Triple A this season look to good to be true. He was 11-3 with a 2.80 ERA with 90 innings pitched for Sacramento. He throws in the upper 80's and seems to have great control of his pitches already, walking just 24 this season in the 90 innings he has pitched. He is slated to start against Baltimore this week. I'm anxious to see if he is ready to pitch at the major league level.

Like anybody else, I hated to see Carlos Beltran traded. But his affiliation with his agent, Scott Boros, made it impossible to resign Beltran. Boros wanted way too much. The Astros already know this and they don't seem to have a much better chance than the Royals did to resign him next season.

Baird took a chance by trading for prospects after initially saying that he wanted guys who could contribute at the major league level right away. All three of these guys have posted fantastic numbers in the minors. They are all young. And except for Teahen, they appear to be ready to make the jump to the major league level right now. We'll find out soon enough how good this deal was.