Buddy Bell has taken a leave of absence that will likely keep him away from his managerial position for the rest of the season. He has a growth near his left tonsil and he’s flying to Phoenix today to have it examined more thoroughly at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. Bell notified his players before the game last night. You can check out this article for their reactions.Game Date: September 20, 2006
Game Score: Angels 3, Royals 0 / Box Score
WP: Escobar (11–13), LP: Perez (2–4), SV: Rodriguez (44)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 58-94
Kelvim Escobar looked like a pitcher with one of the best ERAs in the American League last night. He was fourth in the league before the night began, and he lowered his ERA even more after shutting out the Royals on four hits over seven innings. Odalis Perez pitched well—only giving up one run on six hits over seven innings—but not well enough.
The Royals mounted a comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases with one out, but Jeff Keppinger fouled out to first and Joey Gathright struck out to end the game. Wouldn’t you have liked to see Matt Stairs given stride to the plate as a pinch hitter for Joey Gathright? Yeah, I know, he’s gone. But still…
The Royals are off today. The start a new series against the Tigers on Friday night in Kansas City. It’s the last home series of the year. Luke Hudson (7–5, 5.46) will take the mound for the Royals. Wilfredo Ledezma (2–3, 3.81) will pitch for the Tigers. Hudson is 0–0 in his career against the Tigers with a 0.00 ERA (in 1.2 innings of work). Ledezma is 1–1 against the Royals with a 5.58 ERA (in 30.2 innings of work).
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Kelvin Escobar, Odalis PerezZack Greinke was called up yesterday and the Royals plan to use him in long relief for the rest of the season. He was 8-3 with a 4.34 ERA in Wichita this season. He got a taste of winning while he was there. Wichita made it all the way to the Texas League championship. Now let’s hope that he has a couple of good outings before the season is finished so he’ll feel confident heading into spring training.
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Zack Greinke
Mark Grudzielanek is the latest to join the list of Royals who are out for the rest of the season. He strained his right groin while running the basepaths last night. We’ll probably see Esteban German play second for the rest of the season, which will open third base for Jeff Keppinger every night.Game Date: September 19, 2006
Game Score: Angels 5, Royals 2 / Box Score
WP: Saunders (6–3), LP: De La Rosa (3–3), SV: Rodriguez (43)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 58-93
The Royals couldn’t get it done at the plate last night when they got guys on base. They left 12 guys on base. In the fifth inning, with the score tied 1–1, the bases were loaded with one out. Emil Brown struck out, and then Ryan Shealy struck out. No runs. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and the bases loaded, Emil Brown struck out again.
Buddy Bell said that Jorge De La Rosa had “good command with his fastball, which set up his changeup.” And he called De La Rosa’s change up “outstanding.” If all of that were true, he wouldn’t have walked four guys and given up two home runs in 6.2 innings.
Let’s hope the Royals bounce back tonight. They send Odalis Perez (2–3, 5.82) against Kelvim Escobar (10–13, 3.54). Perez is 1–2 in his career against the Angels with a 4.68 ERA. Escobar is 8–2 against the Royals with a 2.84 ERA.
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Jorge De La RosaGame Date: September 17, 2006
Game Score: Mariners 10, Royals 5 / Box Score
WP: Meche (11–8), LP: Gobble (3–6)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 58-92
The Mariners scored 33 runs in the four game series that just concluded with the Royals. Thankfully we were able to score 30 runs (11 of which were driven in by Ryan Shealy) and split the series anyway. The game yesterday was another pitching debacle for the Royals. Runelvys Hernandez gave up four earned runs in 4.2 innings. Wellemeyer gave up an earned run in 1.1 innings. Gobble gave up an earned run in 0.1 innings. Peralta gave up two earned runs in 0.2 innings. Diaz gave up two earned runs in 1.0 innings. Mysteriously, Sisco was the only Royals pitcher to not give up any runs.
The Royals jumped out to a 4–1 lead, led in part by Ryan Shealy, who hit a two-run double in the first inning, but Runelvys Hernandez faltered in the fifth by hitting two guys (one of which forced in a run) and giving up a two-run single to Richie Sexson with two outs. After that, the aforementioned flood-gates were opened by our bullpen and the game got out of hand.
With 12 games remaining, the Royals need to go at least 5–7 to avoid another 100–loss season. We have an off day today. On Tuesday, we’ll begin a short, two-game series against the Angels. Jorge De La Rosa (3–2, 5.30 ERA) goes against Joe Saunders (5–3, 4.66 ERA). Neither pitcher has ever pitched against the opposing team.
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Runelvys Hernandez, Ryan Shealy, Jimmy Gobble, Seattle MarinersGame Date: September 16, 2006
Game Score: Royals 7, Mariners 4 / Box Score
WP: Redman (10–9), LP: Pineiro (8–12), SV: Nelson (8)
Royal Home Runs: Gathright (1)
Royals Record: 58-91
You know things are going our way when Angel Berroa draws a walk in the same inning that Joey Gathright hits an opposite field home run. That’s what happened in the third inning last night. The Royals actually tracked down the ball for Gathright so he could remember the home run. Maybe they should have done the same thing for Berroa with ball four since his walks are just about as rare as Gathright’s home runs.
Mark Redman nearly pitched a complete game. He got within an out of doing so. But he’d thrown 126 pitches and Joe Nelson is not Ambiorix Burgos. He doesn’t blow many save opportunities. In fact, he hasn’t blown one yet this season. He’s 8-for-8. Redman left to a standing ovation after giving up four earned runs and two walks. He became the first Royals pitcher to win 10 games since Darrell May in 2003. That’s how bad our pitching has been over the past few season. But you already knew that.
After Gathright’s home run in the third, the Royals erupted for five runs in the fourth. Shane Costa tripled in Mike Sweeney and Ryan Shealy with out out. Angel Berroa singled in Shane Costa with two outs. And David DeJesus doubled in Berroa and Gathright.
With the win, the Royals passed Tampa Bay and we no longer have the worst record in baseball. After the game, Ryan Shealy admitted that he’s been watching scores. “I think we’re watching what other teams do, too,” Shealy is quoted as saying in an article in the Star this morning. “I know I am. We’re trying to catch the Cubs and catch the Devil Rays. We’re not in the pennant race, so all we can do is keep moving up and finish with the best record we can.”
Let’s just hope they can stay ahead of Tampa Bay.
This afternoon, Runelvys Hernandez (6–9, 6.34) goes against Gil Meche (10–8, 4.28). Hernandez is 1–2 in his career against Seattle with a 3.60 ERA. Meche is 3–3 in this career against Kansas City with a 4.66 ERA.
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Mark Redman, Joey Gathright, Angel Berroa, Joe Nelson, Seattle MarinersGame Date: September 15, 2006
Game Score: Mariners 11, Royals 8 / Box Score
WP: Woods (5–3), LP: Braun (0–1)
Royal Home Runs: Shealy (7)
Royals Record: 57-91
Did I mention that our pitching staff is in dire need of revamping? Luke Hudson hardly pitched well last night (5 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 3 K in 5.0 IP), but he left the game with a two-run lead. The next five relief pitchers that Bell used had a hand in the Royals loss. Sisco allowed an inherited runner to score. Braun got bombed for three runs in two-thirds of an inning. Burgos gave up two hits, two walks an an unearned run in one inning. Gobble gave up an earned run in a third of an inning. And Dohmann gave up an earned run in an inning.
At one point, the Royals were ahead 6–0. Ryan Shealy continued his tear by hitting a grand slam home run in the first inning. It was his seventh home run of the season. Who would have thought that Ryan Shealy would end up with more home runs than Mike Sweeney (who has six)? Looks like it might happen. Esteban German continued his hot streak by going 3-for-5 with two RBI. He’s hitting .342 now.
Unfortunately, when you get into slugfests, sometimes you get out-slugged.
The series continues tonight. Mark Redman (9–9, 5.40) goes against Joel Pineiro (8–11, 6.02). Redman is 3–5 in his career against the Mariners with a 4.27 ERA. Pineiro is 4–0 against the Royals with a 1.50 ERA.
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Luke Hudson, Ryan Shealy, Esteban German, Seattle MarinersGame Date: September 14, 2006
Game Score: Royals 10, Mariners 8 / Box Score
WP: Perez (2–3), LP: Washburn (8–14)
Royal Home Runs: Shealy 2 (6)
Royals Record: 57-90
Odalis Perez didn’t pitch well last night. In fact, his performance was awful. He gave up five earned runs, ten hits, and a home run in five innings. But he still won the game. Partially because the bullpen did a good job after he left the game, partially because Ryan Shealy blasted two home runs, and partially because the top of the line up (consisting of DeJesus, German, and Grudzielanek) was 10-for-15 with three RBI. German’s two-run triple in the eighth inning was especially important because it gave the Royals a 10–6 lead. Joe Nelson gave up two runs in the top of the ninth, but we had enough insurance that it didn’t matter.
The Royals have won ten of their last fifteen games. And they just surpassed their win total for last season. The magic number is now six. If the Royals can win just six of their remaining fifteen games, they’ll avoid another 100–loss season. That sounds quite pathetic. But I don’t think anybody believes that this current roster is anything close to the roster we started the season with. And Dayton Moore is not Allard Baird. I love the way Moore is keeping our good you talent together in the minor leagues—letting them gel together as teammates.
This was victory number 100 for Buddy Bell since he took over after Tony Pena quit (thankfully) last season. He’s handled the job better than I would have expected. Especially during the days when guys were forgetting sunglasses, and then losing the ball in the sun. Or when we went on monumental losing streaks and were being compared to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders or the 1960 New York Mets. Bell shook his head, said he’d never seen anything like it, but then said our guys would learn and get better. Frankly, I’m not so sure it would’ve happened if Baird had remained the GM, but with Moore’s philosophy firmly in place, you can see it starting to take place.
We still need a better pitching staff. Winning 10–8 isn’t going to be a common occurrence. But hopefully help will be on the way in 2007 via free agency and our minor league system.
The Royals play the second of a four game series tonight against the Mariners. Luke Hudson (7–5, 5.25 ERA) goes against Francisco Cruceta (0–0, 6.75).
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Odalis Perez, Ryan Shealy, Esteban German, Buddy Bell, Dayton Moore, 1899 Cleveland Spiders, 1960 New York MetsGame Date: September 13, 2006
Game Score: Royals 6, Indians 2 / Box Score
WP: De La Rosa (3–2), LP: Westbrook (12–10)
Royal Home Runs: Brown (14)
Royals Record: 56-90
The Indians threatened to blow this game open in the bottom of the third tonight against Jorge De La Rosa—who was stretched as far as he could go with out breaking. With one out in the bottom of the third, he gave up a solo home run to Grady Sizemore that hit the right field foul pole. Jason Michaels singled, then stole second. Victor Martinez walked. And Michaels stole third before Ryan Garko walked. At that point I though De La Rosa was done, but he gave up a sacrifice fly to Casey Blake that made the score 2–0 Indians, and then he got Jhonny Peralta to fly out.
De La Rosa didn’t give up any hits after that, but he left after five innings—probably because he’d thrown 93 pitches. Not a bad outing for a guy who is still learning how to pitch. He kept us in the game until the Royals got their own hit parade going in the fourth inning. Brown singled to lead off the inning. Then Shane Costa singled. Ryan Shealy singled in Brown. And Bako got a sacrifice bunt down. Joey Gathright singled to score Costa and the score was tied 2–2. Esteban German’s one-run double in the fifth inning broke the tie. The Royals tacked on a run in the sixth inning and Emil Brown hit a two-run home run in the seventh and this game was over.
Ambiorix Burgos, Andrew Sisco, and Ryan Bruan shut down the Indians over the final four innings—giving up no runs on four hits. And with the win, the Royals swept the short two-game series with the Indians, and they ended up 4–1 on the road trip through Boston and Cleveand. The fly home now to start a new four-game series against the Mariners.
Tomorrow night, the Royals send Odalis Perez (1–3, 5.48) against Jarrod Washburn (8–13, 4.39). Perez has never pitched against the Mariners. Washburn is 6–3 with a 3.13 ERA against the Royals in his career.
Technorati Tags: KC Royals, Royals, Jorge De La Rosa, Emil Brown, Cleveland IndiansThe good news about the Wichita Wranglers is that they are playing in the Texas League championship right now. The bad news is, Zack Greinke got hammered in Game One. He gave up six runs on twelve hits in six innings. In true Greinke-like fashion, he said this after the game: “I was a little bit over the plate. I’m not good enough to hit the corner every time, and that’s why I think they just did a really good job.”
The Wranglers lost Game One, but the won 2–1 tonight to even the best of three series. The series moves to Corpus Christi on Thursday. Go Wrangers!
According to this article in the Star, David Glass has agreed to increase the 2007 payroll to $50–55 million. That’s up from $47.3 million this season. And, it sounds like he’s willing to go higher if that right deal comes along: “If we played really well and have the opportunity to significantly improve ourselves,” Glass said, “I’m always willing to do something more. But I’ve told Dayton $50-55 million. In that range.”
We’re already on the hook for $30.95 million next season with seven guys. And somewhere between five and seven guys are eligible for arbitration. But if you look at some of the guys—guys like Runelvys Hernandez and Jimmy Gobble, surely, they won’t have much of a case if the Royals offer them fair market value or slightly less (what exactly is fair market value for a starting pitcher who is under .500 with a 6.34 ERA—or how about a reliever who is also under .500 with a 5.00 ERA?).
Seeing how all of this plays out over the winter will be quite interesting.
Game Date: September 12, 2006
Game Score: Royals 5, Indians 3 / Box Score
WP: Hernandez (6–9), LP: Sowers (7–4), SV: Nelson (7)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 55-90
The Royals jumped on Jeremy Sowers in the first inning tonight and they didn’t look back. Esteban German doubled to lead off the game. Mark Grudzielanek singled to center to drive in German and the Royals were up 1–0. Then David DeJesus walked. Emil Brown and Ryan Shealy followed with strikeouts, but John Buck got a big two-out single that drove in Grudzielanek.
Cleveland scored a run in the bottom of the second. And then, in a rather bizzare sight, after Runelvys struck out Ryan Garko to end the third inning, he pointed at John Buck in the dugout and then threw a punch at him. Before it turned into an all-out brawl, Angel Berroa and other players broke it up. No report yet on what happened, but you have to assume that Buck either said something to Hernandez or that he kept calling pitches that Hernandez didn’t feel comfortable throwing. If Buck said something, then the altercation is between the two of them. But if Hernandez simply got upset with the game that Buck was calling, his actions were outrageous. I suspect we’ll find out more tomorrow.
The Royals scored two more runs in the top of the fourth inning, and oddly, Hernandez and Buck both came back out for the bottom of the fourth inning. The Indians picked up another run that inning to make it 4–2 Royals. Both teams scored one more run before it was over. The bullpen got it done tonight for the Royals. Hernandez only made it five innings (he threw 95 pitches, giving up three earned runs, eight hits, three walks, and had one strike out). Dohmann, Gobble, Peralta, and Nelson pitched the final four innings and gave up only two hits and runs. Nelson picked up his seventh save.
The magic number is now eight. If the Royals can win eight of their remaining seventeen games, they’ll avoid a one hundred loss season. And while that’s hardly anything to brag about, one hundred losses looked like a certainty earlier this season.
Tomorrow night, Jorge De La Rosa (2–2, 5.57) goes against Jake Westbrook (12–9, 4.22). De La Rosa is 0–0 in his career against the Indians with a 9.64 ERA. Westbrook is 5–2 against the Royals with a 2.14 ERA.
Game Date: September 10, 2006
Game Score: Red Sox 9, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Tavarez (3–4), LP: Redman (9–9)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 54-90
Mark Redman said that he felt rusty yesterday. His numbers bore that out—five earned runs, three walks, and nine hits in 4.2 innings. The Red Sox moved a sign on the center field wall that supposedly gave them problems picking up Redman’s delivery the last time he faced them in Boston (July 19: during which he gave up just one earned run in eight innings). Apparently it helped.
But the Royals were still in the game, down 6–3 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, when Joey Gathright dropped a ball and allowed Kevin Youkilis to reach base with one out. Enter Andrew Sisco who promptly gave up a two-run home run to David Ortiz to put this game out of reach. Gathright hardly seems like the defensive outfielder we were led to believe we were getting. He hasn’t made many errors, but he has misplayed too many balls, and I doubt that he has made any plays that David DeJesus couldn’t have made. And Sisco, well what more can be said about his awful season?
We’ve still got to feel good though about winning two out of three in Boston. With 18 games remaining, the Royals need to go 9–9 to prevent another 100 loss season. The Royals are off today. They’ll open a new series in Cleveland tomorrow. Runelvys Hernandez (5–9, 6.39) will go against Jeremy Sowers (7–3, 3.35). Hernandez is 3–2 in his career against the Indians with a 4.80 ERA. Sowers is 1–0 against the Royals with a 0.00 ERA.
