Garland Outduels Perez

Game Date: May 11, 2007
White Sox 2, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Garland (2-2), LP: Perez (2-4), SV: Jenks (12)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 11-25

Well, I wasn't crazy about this pitching match up, but Perez pitched far better than I expected. He gave up just two earned runs on five hits in seven innings. Unfortunately, Jon Garland was just a tad better, giving up just one earned run on four hits in 8.1 innings.

The stage was set for the Royals to sneak back into this one in their half of the ninth when Bobby Jenks came in with two outs and a runner on base to face Mike Sweeney. Sweeney blistered a ball toward Joe Crede and Crede made a nice catch to preserve the win for the White Sox.

Tonight, Scott Elarton will make his first start of the season for the Royals. He'll go against Mark Buehrle (2-1, 3.22). Elarton is 2-4 in his career against the White Sox with a 3.73 ERA. Buehrle is 16-6 against the Royals with a 3.28 ERA.

A's Stomp the Royals

Game Date: May 10, 2007
A's 17, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Kennedy (1-2), LP: Hudson (0-1)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 11-24

Seventeen runs on eighteen hits--including six home runs. Are you kidding me?

Analysis of this game probably isn't even possible. But let's attempt to at least recap this nightmare. Luke Hudson had a horrendous start. He completely lost the strike zone in the second inning and couldn't make it out of the third. Todd Wellemeyer was nearly as bad giving up four earned runs on seven hits in 2.2 innings. He's off to Omaha, which is probably a good thing. Joel Peralta was hit hard, giving up two earned runs in 1.1 innings. Neal Musser (what is this guy doing in the major leagues?) gave up three home runs in one inning. Zack Greinke was hit hard, giving up a run on three hits in one inning. The only Royals pitcher to escape unscathed was Brandon Duckworth who pitched a scoreless inning. The A's were probably grateful. They had to be tired from running around the bases so often.

I know this next point probably seems minor to some people, but I can't get over the fact that Mike Sweeney, an injury prone, below average first baseman who can still hit is playing first base to make room for a 21 year-old out of shape designated hitter who can't play the field well enough for Bell to be comfortable playing him out there--even after naming him the starting left fielder. Sure enough, Sweeney made an error yesterday and all I could do was shake my head and wonder what he's even doing out there to begin with. Especially since the Royals made such a big deal during Spring Training about not wanting Butler to be a just a DH at such a young age. Maybe we've realized since then that Butler really is just a DH. If that's true, then why can't he wait his turn until Sweeney is done or injured?

One of the glorious things about the game of baseball is that most of the time you get to play a game the next day and hopefully move on from disasters like yesterday. However, I'm not real confident about tonight's game when I look at the pitching match up. Odalis Perez (2-3, 6.75) goes against Jon Garland (1-2, 3.92). Perez is 0-3 in his career against the White Sox with a 6.65 ERA. Garland is 13-5 against the Royals with a 4.00 ERA.

Sweeney's Blast Lifts Royals

Game Date: May 9, 2007
Royals 3, A's 2 / Box Score
WP: Gobble (1-1), LP: Duchscherer (3-2), SV: Soria (6)
Royal Home Runs: Sweeney (4)
Royals Record: 11-23

This is the first game I can remember this season where the Royals didn't play well, but found a way to win. They certainly got another good start out of Gil Meche (1 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 7 K in 6 IP), but in the late innings the Royals made numerous mistakes--from Alex Gordon failing to get a bunt down, to Sweeney and Gordon not advancing runners, to Gordon dropping a pop foul.

The Royals got a break in the seventh when Mark Teahen threw out Jason Kendall at home. The ball beat Kendall by a mile, but Buck dropped the ball and replays showed that he didn't get the tag down in time after he picked up the ball. That would have given the A's a 3-2 lead.

Mike Sweeney gave the Royals a huge lift in the eighth inning. Mark Teahen doubled with one outs and the scored tied 2-2, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Mike Sweeney got a fast ball up in the zone from Justin Duchscherer and he hammered it over the left field wall to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.

Joakim Soria came in a saved his sixth game.

Before the game, the Royals announced that Luke Hudson and Scott Elarton would join the rotation. Hudson will start tomorrow afternoon. He'll take over Brian Bannister's spot and Bannister will be sent to Omaha. Elarton will take Zack Greinke's spot and start on Saturday against the White Sox.

Hudson will go up against Joe Kennedy (0-2, 2.48). Kennedy is 2-0 in his career against the Royals with a 4.29 ERA.

Royals Lose Fourth Straight

Game Date: May 8, 2007
A's 6, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Gaudin (2-1), LP: De La Rosa (3-3)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 10-23

10-23. It's the same record the Royals had last season after 33 games. I don't think anybody predicted that the Royals would be as bad as they were last year. But so far, they are. And it might not change any time soon. The next nine games on the Royals schedule consists of games against the A's and White Sox.

I'm not even sure where to start in discussing last night's game. The Royals had just one hit after the fourth inning. Billy Butler flat dropped a ball. De La Rosa was hit hard (5 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 1 K, in 4.1 IP). Bell seemed dumbfounded after the game. And it felt a lot like 2006.

If you're looking for bright spots, the bullpen didn't allow any runs in 4.2 innings. And Mark Teahen went 3-for-3. But that's about it as far as positives go.

Tonight, Gil Meche (3-1, 2.23) goes against Dan Haren (3-2, 1.75). Meche is 2-7 in his career against the A's with a 4.56 ERA. Haren is 2-1 with a 2.49 ERA against the Royals.

Greinke Rocked by Tigers

Game Date: May 6, 2007
Tigers 13, Royals 4 / Box Score
WP: Durbin (2-1), LP: Greinke (1-4)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 10-22

The irony of it all.

Chad Durbin, a former starter for the Royals who never showed a lot of promise, got the start for the Tigers and beat Zack Greinke, the guy who has shown a lot of promise, but can't seem to figure out how to transition from promising young starter to a legitimate number two or three guy.

Early on this season, I was convinced that Greinke had it figured out. His first two starts against Boston and Toronto were phenomenal. He gave up just two earned runs in 13 innings of work. But then he got hit hard by Detroit on April 16, and with the exception of a good start in Minnesota on April 26, it's been down hill ever since.

He really struggling with his control. He's not walking a ton of guys, but he's missing out over the plate and he's paying the price. Bell said that Greinke is "wild in the strike zone." That sounds too crazy to be true, but actually I think it is true in Greinke's case.

Yesterday, he gave up three two-run home runs in the second inning without walking anybody. He only lasted four innings and he saw his ERA go up by just over a full point to 5.71. As soon as Scott Elarton or Luke Hudson are ready, Greinke will probably move to the bullpen.

The only real positive in this game was the fact that the Royals were down 13-0 going into their half of the eighth inning and they didn't quit. They scored two in the bottom of the eighth and two more in the bottom of the ninth. It's a small consolation, but a consolation nonetheless.  

The Royals are off today. Tomorrow they'll begin a new series at home against Oakland. Jorge De La Rosa (3-2, 3.38) goes against Chad Gaudin (1-1, 2.70) on Tuesday night. De La Rosa is 0-0 in his career against the A's with a 1.80 ERA. Gaudin is 1-1 with a 2.76 ERA against the Royals.

The Home Run Trot Blues

Game Date: May 5, 2007
Tigers 7, Royals 5 / Box Score
WP: Mesa (1-1), LP: Duckworth (0-1), SV: Jones (12)
Royal Home Runs: Sweeney (3), German (2), LaRue (1)
Royals Record: 10-21

The wheels came off in the late innings again. This time, I think the blame can be placed on Emil Brown. With the Royals up 5-4 to start the seventh inning, Emil Brown smoked a line drive to center field. And he stood at home plate at watched it thinking he'd hit a home run. Then he went into his home run trot. Problem was, the ball hit the wall and he was thrown out at second. You could feel the air leave the stadium.

As a Royals fan, I've tolerated a lot over the years. Bad managers, bad players, bad personnel moves by ownership, bad trades, poor planning, and several 100-loss seasons. I tolerate them because that's the reality of a small market team that hasn't drafted well (until recently, arguably) and hasn't had the cash to sign or keep top notch players. I haven't liked it, but it's just the way it is. What I cannot tolerate is a player who doesn't hustle. I'll stop there before I say more than I should.

The very next inning, the Tigers got to Duckworth and Soria. How bizarre was the wild pitch that Duckworth threw that allowed Polanco to take second and third base? And what took Ross Gload so long to retrieve the ball after it bounced off the back stop towards first base?

Soria came in at that point and Ordonez doubled on another bizarre play. Emil Brown was playing way off the line in left field. Apparently the charts say that Ordonez doesn't pull the ball down the left field line. If that's true, then the charts were wrong. After an intentional walk to Carlos Guillen, Craig Monroe singled in two runs and the Tigers were up 7-5. The Royals went down in order the final two innings.

Tomorrow Zack Greinke (1-3, 4.70) goes against Chad Durbin (1-1, 6.39). Greinke is 6-2 in his career against the Tigers with a 2.86 ERA. Durbin is 1-1 against the Royals with a 6.53 ERA.

Defensive Lapses Costly

Game Date: May 4, 2007
Tigers 6, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Verlander (2-1), LP: Bannister (0-2), SV: Jones (11)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 10-20

I watched the game last night with a friend. And as soon as Alex Gordon made an error in the first inning, I told him, "I can't remember the last time we gave a team four outs and it didn't cost us." Then Billy Butler couldn't get to a foul ball down the left field line (could he be any slower?), and in essence, we gave the Tigers five outs in the first inning. And of course, they ended up scoring two runs when Carlos Guillen doubled.

Being down early by two runs against Justin Verlander isn't a good place to be. The Royals eventually got to him for two runs in the eighth, but that only made it 6-3 Tigers, which turned out to be the final score.

A few things stood out in the game:

• Alex Gordon continues to struggle in the field (and at the plate). He made his sixth error last night. Only Mike Lowell has more at third base in the American League. Gordon doesn't appear to be relaxed and he has hands of stone. I suspect that'll get better over time, but you hate to see it contributing to losses right now.

• Billy Butler is one of the slowest human beings I've ever seen. He was out early yesterday afternoon taking fly balls in left and not only did he misread many of them, but he was just so unbelievably slow in the process. Sure enough, last night his lack of speed cost us when he couldn't get to a foul ball. I know that the Royals don't want him to be a 21 year-old DH, but that's what he is. The guy can hit. That's his thing. But I'd rather see him doing it in Omaha until we need a DH in Kansas City.
  

• Brian Bannister hasn't impressed me much. I especially don't like his attitude. After the game last night, he dumped on Gordon for costing him a quality start. Here's what he said: "That cost me a chance to go for a 'quality start,' I wound up throwing 17 pitches to Ordonez and Guillen. That's an inning right there. It's tough to start out with a 25-pitch inning. You know who you're up against." How about showing a little class by picking up your teammate rather than running him down, huh Brian?
  

• Todd Wellemeyer has been a huge disappointment so far this season. Wellemeyer gave up two more runs last night without recording an out and saw his ERA climb to 9.00.
  

• And enough with the bases loaded walks already. Both Wellemeyer and Neal Musser did it last night.

Tonight, Odalis Perez (2-3, 6.91) goes against Mike Maroth (2-0, 4.82). Perez is 0-0 in his career against the Tigers with an 18.00 ERA. Maroth is 10-8 against the Royals with a 4.37 ERA.

Sanders Placed on DL

Reggie Sanders is headed for the DL with a torn hamstring. That doesn't sound good. Shane Costa will take his place on the roster.

Meche Dominant in Royals Win

Game Date: May 3, 2007
Royals 5, Angels 2 / Box Score
WP: Meche (3-1), LP: Weaver (1-3), SV: Soria (5)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 10-19

How much fun is it to watch a guy on the mound who knows what he's doing? Gil Meche had yet another great outing this afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. He was almost unhittable. Vladimir Guerrero hit a screaming line drive over the left field wall in the first inning for a two-run home run, but after that he settled in and shut down the Angels. At one point he retired 17 straight. He hit his spots, his curve ball was nasty, and you could tell that he was confident. Gary Matthews even commented about it after the game. The Angels managed just two hits off Meche.

Of course, none of that would have mattered if we hadn't figured out a way to score some runs--a task we've been struggling with mightily as of late. But our offense did some good things today. John Buck hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning to drive in the first Royals run of the day. Ross Gload (who was 4-for-4 with 2 RBI), hit an RBI single in the fourth to drive in Mike Sweeney. Alex Gordon got down a good sacrifice bunt in the same inning to move runners to second and third. Tony Pena had a two-out RBI hit in the sixth to put the Royals in front. And in the seventh, Gload doubled with two outs to drive in Teahen, and Billy Butler singled in Gload for his first major league RBI.

Brandon Duckworth looked good again out of the pen (no hits or runs in an inning of work). And Joakim Soria, while he struggled, nailed down his fifth save of the season.

So the Royals ended up splitting the series with the Angels and now get set to begin a new series against the Tigers this weekend. Brian Bannister (0-1, 4.91) will go up against Justin Verlander (1-1, 2.79) tomorrow night. Bannister has never pitched against the Tigers. Verlander is 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA against the Royals in his career.

German's HR Lifts the Royals

Game Date: May 2, 2007
Royals 3, Angels 1 / Box Score
WP: De La Rosa (3-2), LP: Santana (2-4), SV: Soria (4)
Royal Home Runs: German (1)
Royals Record: 9-19

This one had all the makings of another game that would slip through the Royals fingers.

A bad call (Tony Pena was safe at second during an attempted steal in the third inning, but was called out...David DeJesus tripled right after him and the Royals didn't score), coupled with missed opportunities (the Royals failing to get the big hit with two outs, again...and Jason LaRue not getting a bunt down with two strikes to advance a runner--what in the world was Bell thinking?), seemed to be working against the Royals, even though they got another good start--this time from Jorge De La Rosa (1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 7 IP).

But then Esteban German stepped up in the seventh inning and hit a three-run home run as rain poured down from the heavens, and gave the Royals a 3-1 lead. Brandon Duckworth held the lead in the eighth and Joakim Soria got the Angels in order in the ninth for his fourth save.

Tomorrow afternoon, Gil Meche (2-1, 2.18) goes against Jered Weaver (1-2, 5.40). Meche is 5-2 against the Angels in his career with a 5.38 ERA. Weaver is 2-0 against the Royals with a 0.66 ERA.

Royals Drop Another One

Game Date: May 1, 2007
Angels 7, Royals 5 / Box Score
WP: Colon (3-0), LP: Greinke (1-3), SV: Rodriguez (10)
Royal Home Runs: Teahen (3)
Royals Record: 8-19

What an ugly pitching performance from two guys you expect more from. The Royals got to Bartolo Colon for five runs on nine hits in just five innings. Zack Greinke nearly didn't survive the first inning after giving up a grand slam to Vladimir Guerrero. He ended up giving up six earned runs on ten hits in five innings.

Even though the Angels jumped out to a big lead, Mark Teahen brought the Royals right back with a three-run home run in the third. But the Royals bats went cold after the fourth inning and the Angels' bullpen finished the game off only giving up one hit in the final four innings.

Billy Butler made his major league debut and went 2-for-4. Nice to see him off to a good start at the plate. He wasn't as good in the field. Hopefully that'll improve with experience.

With Scott Elarton and Luke Hudson nearing their respective returns to Kansas City, there's talk of moving Greinke to the bullpen since he's struggling so much right now. He still has a better ERA than Odalis Perez and I'd much rather see Greinke stay in the rotation that Perez, but we seldom seem to leave young pitchers in their roles when they are struggling. And Perez would probably throw a hissy-fit if he got moved to the pen.

Tonight, Jorge De La Rosa (2-2, 3.82) is matched up against Ervin Santana (2-3, 5.79). De La Rosa is 0-1 in his career against the Angels with a 5.40 ERA. Santana is 1-0 against the Royals with a 5.73 ERA.

More on Billy Butler

Just one month ago, Kansas City fans were downright giddy over the idea of Alex Gordon playing every day at the major league level. But it's hard to stay that stoked when you look at his .167 batting average. I'm surprised that he hasn't performed at a higher level, and I think he'll turn things around, but shouldn't we be a little more cautious about bringing guys up before we planned to?

Yesterday I said that Moore's move to bring up Billy Butler was a reach for the panic button. Maybe Butler figured out how to play the outfield adequately in one month, I don't know. But I saw him play it in Omaha last Saturday night and he looked a little shaky to me. He got turned around on a ball and looked downright out of his comfort zone.

Then I read this quote in the Star this morning: “It’s not a panic move,” general manager Dayton Moore insisted. “We’re 8-18, and we need to get some offense in here...We believe Billy can add a spark and give us some punch in the lineup right now.”

Nobody doubts that he can hit. But that isn't the point. The plan was to keep him in Omaha to work on his defense. We only need to go back to March 18, to an article on the Royals website that said this: "The Royals want Butler to begin the season with Triple-A Omaha and work on his outfield defense. His bat looks as if it already is Major League ready."

Our current roster has six outfielders, including Ross Gload (who will be playing first base for a while until Ryan Shealy returns from the DL). Butler has been named the starting left fielder, which means that Emil Brown and Reggie Sanders have been relegated to pinch-hitting duties. Reggie Sanders is hitting .348. Couldn't he provide the offensive spark that Moore wants? Especially given that we are admitting that Billy Butler isn't really ready in the outfield yet?

Don't get me wrong. I'm rooting for Billy Butler every bit as much as the next guy and I'm anxious to see what he can do at the plate. But this move still doesn't make sense to me. Maybe we're on the verge of trading Brown or Sanders. If so, that would make more sense. If not, then I just don't get it.

Hudson Battling Control Problems

Luke Hudson had control problems last night while pitching for the Omaha Royals. In his four innings of work against Memphis, he gave up four runs (only two were earned), 4 BB, 4 H and 1 HR. He did have 7 strike outs, but he left several pitches up in the strike zone and he's not sure why.

Here's Tom Bergmeier's (Omaha's pitching coach) assessment of Hudson's performance: "His fastball command wasn't what it should be, but his stuff was good. (His) curveball was real sharp, (he) got four or five strikeouts on that. When you're ahead in the count and have a curveball like that, a lot of them are going to swing and miss. But a couple of times he'd throw the curve (early in the count), then throw a couple of fastballs and end up walking guys."

After the game, Hudson was watching his performance on video trying to fix his delivery. Here's a link to an article in the Omaha World Herald about Hudson's outing.

Roster Moves

The Royals made several roster moves before the game today:

• Ryan Shealy was placed on the DL.
  


• Billy Butler was called up and got the start in left field. I don't really understand this move. Surely, the Royals offense has been anemic, but between Emil Brown and Reggie Sanders, they have left field covered. And Butler was supposed to be in Omaha to get his defense up to par. Was he able to do that in one month? Seems to me like Moore is hitting the panic button to get the offense jump-started at the major league level. I'm guessing that Butler won't have a problem in the plate, but I'm not so confident regarding his fielding.
  

• Ryan Braun was optioned to Omaha.
  

• Neal Musser was called up to Kansas City.

Offense a No-Show Again

Game Date: April 30, 2007
Angels 3, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Lackey (4-2), LP: Perez (2-3), SV: Rodriguez (9)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 8-18

The Royals had a runner in scoring position ten times last night. They only got two hits. That's been the story of the 2007 season for the Royals thus far. They got a decent start from Odalis Perez (3 ER, 10 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 6.0 IP) and he kept them in the game, but in the end the offense couldn't get it going.

Perez recently started throwing a sinker that breaks toward the first-base side of home plate. So he's throwing his cutter in on the hands of right-handers and his sinker inside to left-handers. He added it four starts ago after getting hit hard in Toronto on April 9. He's 2-1 since then with a 5.72 ERA--which is certainly better than his overall numbers: 2-3, 6.91. But I'm hoping that the days of the Royals keeping a guy with a 5.72 ERA in the rotation are done. We'll see.

Bob Dutton points out that the Royals focused on improving their rotation during the off-season thinking that if they could get their rotation turned around, then maybe they could turn the entire team around. And for the most part, our starting pitching has been good. Dutton points out that the Royals are 7-7 when they get a quality start this season and just 1-11 when they don't. Imagine how much better their quality start record would be if the offense could actually hit with runners in scoring position?

Tonight, Zack Greinke (1-2, 3.51) goes against Bartolo Colon (2-0, 1.93). Greinke is 0-1 in his career against the Angeles with a 9.00 ERA. Colon is 13-7 against the Royals with a 4.74 ERA.