Game 152: Seattle @ Kansas City

Game Date: September 17, 2008
Royals 5, Mariners 2 / Box Score
WP: Meche (12-11), LP: Corcoran (5-2), SV: Soria (40)
Royal Home Runs: Shealy (6)
Royals Record: 68-84

Do you remember how all of us felt before the Royals collapsed last season in September? Their record was awful, but they played .500 ball for three months and we thought that we might finally be on the road back to respectability. Here's a blurb from a post I wrote after the Royals beat C.C. Sabathia and the Indians 2-1 last August 24:

As Joe Posnanski pointed out in his column this morning, the Royals are 18-16 in one-run games this year. They have two potential rookie of the year candidates in Brian Bannister and Joakim Soria. And they've been playing .500 ball for the last three months. Not bad for a team that was the butt of jokes just one season ago.

Then the Royals went 9-19 in September and it pretty much killed any momentum we had built.

The opposite seems to be happening this year. We've had a roller coaster season, but the Royals won just seven times in August, and an even bigger collapse than last season seemed to be in progress. Then September hit and the Royals are 11-5. They've won six games in a row. Ryan Shealy has returned from the dead. Hitters are playing situational baseball. Pitchers are finding a way to keep opponents off balance. And if the Royals can find a way to keep this up for another ten games, fans might go digging for their optimism by the time the 2009 season rolls around.

We're several players short of being a real threat, but wouldn't it be nice to just play .500 ball for a season?

I was impressed with Gil Meche yesterday. He gave up two runs in the first inning and you had to wonder if he was even going to be able to get out of the inning. But he weathered the storm and got through seven innings. The Royals struck for three runs in the bottom half of the seventh to give Meche the win. 

Ryan Shealy hit yet another home run...this time to left field. He says that he's never experienced such a power surge before.

And Jose Guillen was back from his mystery day off. He did what he often does--he drove in runs--two of them in seventh inning and it turned out to be the game-winning hit. That's what you get with Guillen; lots of controversy, a bad attitude, and lots of RBI. Is it worth it? Before the season I thought it probably was, now I don't.

Joakim Soria picked up his 40th save of the season and he's quickly climbing the charts as one of the best closers in the history of the franchise. In fact, his 57 career saves puts him fourth on the all-time saves list for the Royals and he's just one save shy of tying Doug Bird who had 58 career saves from 1973-1978. He won't catch Dan Quisenberry (238 saves) or Jeff Montgomery (304 saves) any time soon, but he's off to a great start.

This afternoon, Zack Greinke (11-10, 3.73) will go up against Ryan Feierabend (1-3, 5.79). Greinke is 1-0 in his career against the Mariners with a 3.26 ERA in 30.1 IP. Feierabend is 0-1 against the Royals with a 16.88 ERA in 5.1 IP.

Game 151: Seattle @ Kansas City

Game Date: September 16, 2008
Royals 6, Mariners 3 / Box Score
WP: Duckworth (3-1), LP: Morrow (2-4), SV: Soria (39)
Royal Home Runs: Buck (9), DeJesus (11), Shealy (5)
Royals Record: 67-84

It's amazing what a five game winning streak can  do, isn't it? The Royals have been so streaky all year, that it would be hard to describe this season. But if they could end the year on a high note by winning the majority of their final eleven games, it would probably be enough to make most fans dream a little about next year.

The lineup looks so different with a healthy Ryan Shealy in the middle of it. And I like Mike Aviles hitting third as well. The Royals hit three home runs last night; Shealy hit his fifth since coming up from Omaha on September 2 and he made a nice play over at first base on a bad throw from Alex Gordon.

Brandon Duckworth won his third game since coming up from Omaha on August 24 by allowing just two earned runs on five hits and two walks in six innings. His fastball had a lot of life to it and it moved all over the place. 

Jose Guillen was a late scratch and after the game Trey Hillman said, "I just made a late managerial decision to not play him." When a reporter asked him if Guillen was hurt, Hillman repeated himself, and then went a little further by saying, "The rest of it will stay in-house, from me, at least. I just decided it was best not to play him." Later, when contacted by telephone, Guillen said he was sick. Does Hillman's answer sound at all like that could be true--or is this yet another incident we can add to Guillen's list of screw ups?

Tonight, Gil Meche (11-11, 4.14) will go up against Ryan Rowland-Smith (4-2, 3.65). Meche is 1-1 in his career against the Mariners with a 5.01 ERA in 23.1 IP. Rowland-Smith is 0-0 against the Royals with a 5.79 ERA in 4.2 IP.

Game 150: Seattle @ Kansas City

Game Date: September 15, 2008
Royals 3, Mariners 0 / Box Score
WP: Davies (7-7), LP: Silva (4-15), SV: Soria (38)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 66-84

Will the real Kyle Davies please stand up?

Remember Kyle Davis' fast start when he first came up from Omaha? He went 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA in June. Then he hit a wall. In July his ERA was 5.61 and in August it was 5.79. Then September rolled around and after his outstanding performance last night, he's 2-1 with a 2.47 ERA for the month.

If you read this article, his turnaround is a result of a change in attitude after his birthday last week. He said that he needed to stop pitching like a 33- or 34-year-old and pitch more like a guy his age (25) should--aggressively. He certainly was aggressive last night. He threw 98 pitches over eight scoreless innings and 66 of them were strikes.

The Mariners's pitching staff didn't give up much either. Mike Aviles scored the first run of the game for the Royals in the first inning on a wild pitch. In the fourth inning, Mark Teahen hit a 2-1 pitch into center field for a RBI single. And David DeJesus drove in the final run in the seventh inning.

Four Royals had two or more hits. Mike Aviles was 2-for-4. Jose Guillen was 2-for-4. Ryan Shealy was 2-for-4. And Teahen was 3-for-4 with an RBI.

The Royals have won four games in a row and improved their record in September to 9-5.

Tonight, it'll be the Battle of the Brandon when Brandon Duckworth (2-1, 5.85) goes up against Brandon Morrow (2-3, 1.64). Duckworth is 0-1 in his career against the Mariners with a 4.35 ERA in 10.1 IP. Morrow is 1-2 against the Royals with a 5.06 ERA in 5.1 IP.

Game 149: Kansas City @ Cleveland

Game Date: September 14, 2008
Royals 13, Indians 3 / Box Score
WP: Bannister (8-15), LP: Mujica (2-2)
Royal Home Runs: Shealy 2 (4)
Royals Record: 65-84

Brian Bannister finally ripped the monkey off his back and got a win for the first time since June 23.

And the Royals offense continued to score tons of runs. They scored thirteen times on seventeen hits and when you look at the box score, it hardly seems real, given how poor we've been at the plate this season.

Ryan Shealy hit two more home runs and ended the day going 3-for-5 with five RBI. If he keeps hitting them at this pace, he may make a run at the team lead. Yeah, that's a joke, but...it also contains an element of truth.

Mike Aviles was 3-for-5. Alberto Callaspo was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Jose Guillen was 2-for-5 with 3 RBI. Alex Gordon (who returned to the lineup this afternoon) was 2-for-5. And Esteban German was 2-for-5.

Where has all this offense been all season?

The bullpen was good again. John Bale threw another scoreless inning (he hasn't given up a single run since he came off the DL). Jimmy Gobble lowered his ERA under 10.00 for the first time since July. Even Yasuhiko Yabuta got in on the act and threw a scoreless inning.

The Royals are now 8-5 in September. Maybe we will finally end the season on a good note.

Tomorrow, the Royals begin a new series at home against Seattle. Kyle Davies (6-7, 4.70) will go up against Carlos Silva (4-14, 6.53). Davies is 0-0 in his career against the Mariners with a 3.86 ERA in 7.0 IP. Silva is 5-3 against the Royals with a 4.15 ERA in 78.0 IP.

Game 148: Kansas City @ Cleveland

Game Date: September 13, 2008
Royals 8, Indians 4 / Box Score
WP: Tejeda (2-2), LP: Bullington (0-1), SV: Soria (37)
Royal Home Runs: Shealy (2), Teahen 2 (14)
Royals Record: 64-84

What's this? Extra base hits for the Royals?

Ryan Shealy gave the Royals an early lead in the second inning of Game Two when he belted a home run to right field. Mark Teahen hit a home run to center in the fourth inning. Alberto Callaspo tripled to right in the fourth. And Teahen hit another home run (this time to right) in the fifth inning.

After the dust settled, Robinson Tejeda found himself on the winning side of a 6-1 lead after five innings. He was working on an 80-pitch limit and he made the most out of it. He got through the fifth inning, giving up just one earned run on two hits a three walks.

Ron Mahay took over from there and gave up an earned run over the next two innings. After a scoreless inning from Ramon Ramirez, Devon Lowery struggled, giving up two runs on four hits, but Joakim Soria came to the rescue and picked up his thirty-seventh save of the year.

Ryan Shealy had a huge game at the plate, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and the aforementioned home run. Wouldn't you just love to see what this guy could do if he could ever stay healthy? Miguel Olivo was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI. Alberto Callaspo was 2-for-5 with an RBI. And David DeJesus was 2-for-3 with a walk.

With the sweep of the double-header, the Royals are on pace to win 70 games. Unfortunately, that's just not enough improvement over last season. Let's hope they find a way to win 70 anyway.

This afternoon, Brian Bannister (7-15, 5.81) will go up against Jeremy Sowers (3-8, 5.60). Bannister is 2-1 in his career against the Indians with a 1.33 ERA in 27.0 IP. Sowers is 2-1 against the Royals with a 2.50 ERA in 18.0 IP.

Game 147: Kansas City @ Cleveland

Game Date: September 13, 2008
Royals 8, Indians 3 / Box Score
WP: Greinke (11-10), LP: Carmona (8-7)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 63-84

Zack Greinke picked up his eleventh win of the season in Game One of the day-night double-header against the Indians yesterday. And in true Greinke-like fashion, he was honest afterward about how he felt going into the game in Cleveland (a place he hasn't pitched well in in the past).

"Like the White Sox, I'm nervous when I'm facing them, but the Indians, I'm not," Greinke said. "Even if they have hit me good, I feel confident every time."

If you didn't follow Greinke's career, you'd think this would be bulletin board material for his next encounter against them. But if you do follow his career, then you know he wasn't being cocky (he was just 1-5 against the Indians in Cleveland in the past). He was just telling you how he genuinely felt without any disrespect to the Indians. Not many other guys could pull that off.

The Indians struck first in this one, scoring a run in the first inning, but the Royals answered in the third when Mike Aviles singled in a run to tie the game 1-1, and then Mark Teahen singled in a run later in the inning to give the Royals a 2-1 lead. The Indians tied the game in the fifth, but again, the Royals responded. In the sixth inning, Ross Gload singled in Billy Butler and Alberto Callaspo singled in Teahen to make it 4-2. The Royals scored four more runs in the seventh and knocked Fausto Carmona out of the game.

Mitch Maier made his return to the lineup and got the start in center. I'll be interested to see how he performs over the final couple of weeks of the season. He was 1-for-4 last night.

Greinke lasted six innings. John Bale and Leo Nunez pitched well in relief over the final three innings, giving up no hits, walks, or runs.

Game 146: Kansas City @ Cleveland

Game Date: September 12, 2008 
Indians 12, Royals 5 / Box Score
WP: Lee (22-2), LP: Meche (11-11) 
Royal Home Runs: Guillen 2 (20)
Royals Record: 62-84

Cliff Lee did it again. He beat the Royals last night for the fifth time in 2008, which means that 22.7% of his wins this season have come against us. Of course, the Royals are in his division, so he's going to match up against us more often, but still, to win five games against one club in one season is phenomenal.

You might be surprised to find out that Lee isn't the first guy to do it against the Royals though. Dick Kaegel says that Wilbur Wood (White Sox) went 5-0 against the Royals in 1971 and Nolan Ryan (Angels) went 5-1 against us in 1974.

Gil Meche, on the other hand, got knocked around last night. He gave up six earned runs on ten hits in five innings. Kip Wells was even worse. He gave up three earned runs in a third of an inning.

Jose Guillen hit two home runs (one to center and one to right), but the Royals weren't a threat after the Indians scored four runs in the fifth inning to give them a 6-1 lead.

The Royals will play a day-night double header today.

In the first game, Zack Greinke (10-10, 3.70) will go up against Fausto Carmona (8-6, 4.88). Greinke is 3-8 in his career against the Indians with a 4.00 ERA in 69.2 IP. Carmona is 4-0 against the Royals with a 3.46 ERA in 41.2 IP.

In the second game, Robinson Tejeda (1-2, 4.19) will go up against Bryan Bullington who has not pitched at the Major League level this season. Tejeda is 0-1 in his career against the Indians with a 3.86 ERA in 9.1 IP. Bullington has never faced the Royals.

Game 145: Kansas City @ Minnesota

Game Date: September 11, 2008 
Royals 3, Twins 2 / Box Score
WP: Ramirez (3-2), LP: Guerrier (6-8), SV: Soria (36) 
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 62-83

Well, I didn't see that one coming. The Duckworth vs. Liriano match up hardly seemed to be in our favor on paper. And in reality, it wasn't in our favor on the field either. They both gave up two runs, but Liriano pitched eight innings while Duckworth lasted just five.

Both teams scored both of their runs early. The Royals scored their first run in the second inning. Miguel Olivo led off the inning with a double; Ryan Shealy flied out to center, moving Olivo to third; and Esteban German doubled in Olivo. Then in the third Mike Aviles tripled with out out and Jose Guillen drove him in with a double.

The Royals' bullpen was outstanding. Ron Mahay pitched 1.2 innings without giving up a run. John Bale pitched 1.1 innings without any giving up any hits or runs. Ramon Ramirez struck out two and didn't allow any runs in the inning he pitched. And Joakim Soria got the save.

The Royals took the lead in the top of the tenth. Mark Teahen singled with one out. Alberto Callaspo followed him with a single. And David DeJesus singled in Teahen.

Hopefully the Royals enjoy this win because they face Cliff Lee (21-2, 2.28 ERA) again tomorrow. Gil Meche (11-10, 3.96) will take the mound for the Royals. Meche is 4-7 in his career against the Twins with a 4.91 ERA in 95.1 IP. Lee is 11-4 against the Royals with a 4.49 ERA in 108.1 IP.

More on Sweeney

In light of Mike Sweeney's recent release by the A's, and the fact that his career may be over, here's a link to a post I wrote back in February called Honoring Mike Sweeney--just in case you missed it.

Game 144: Kansas City @ Minnesota

Game Date: September 10, 2008
Twins 7, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Slowey (12-9), LP: Davies (6-7) 
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 61-83

You can add one more American League pitcher who has our number: Kevin Slowey. He's faced us three times this season and he won all three games. In fact, he has been so dominant against us that he hasn't even given up more than one run in a game against us. He is 12-9 with a 3.63 ERA overall though, so at least we aren't the only team who can't figure him out.

This game is yet another in a long line of recent games in which we were out-pitched and out-hit. The Royals managed just six hits last night and it would be nice if we could say that we are in evaluation mode and therefore are playing a lot of young guys, but that's not the case. Alberto Callaspo is playing out of necessity after the injury to Mark Grudzielanek and Jason Smith is seeing action because Alex Gordon went down. Beyond that, you're seeing a lot of regulars every night and they just aren't getting the job done.

If you're looking for a positive, maybe one can be found in Jimmy Gobble's recent performances. He gave up two hits in 0.2 innings last night, but he didn't give up any runs. In his three appearances since being recalled in early September, he hasn't give up a run. The last time he gave up a run was that disastrous games against Detroit on July 21 in which he gave up ten runs. That performance landed him on the DL. Since coming back, he's dropped his ERA by over a run, but it is still 10.21. There's only so much you can do when you've given up 31 earned runs in 27.1 innings.

I hope your expectations aren't high for the game this afternoon. Brandon Duckworth (2-1, 6.60) goes up against Francisco Liriano (5-3, 3.33). Duckworth is 1-1 in his career against the Twins with a 3.93 ERA in 18.1 IP. Liriano is 2-1 against the Royals with a 4.73 ERA in 13.1 IP.

Royals Dismiss Ladnier as Scouting Director

Yesterday, Dayton Moore announced that he had removed Deric Ladnier as the senior scouting director and he moved J.J. Picollo over the First-Year Player Draft, which means Picollo is now the head of both the scouting and the player development departments. Ladnier has been offered another job in the organization and it sounds like he'll accept it.

Moore said that his decision was based on who he wanted to see running the draft and in his mind, Picollo was the person he wanted in that position. If you look at how thin the Royals are in Major League talent right now, even though they've had high draft choices ever since Ladnier joined the Royals in 2000, then it's easy to see why Moore went in another direction.

Craig Brown over at Royals Authority broke down the Royals' draft choices by year going back to 2001. Check it out if you get a chance.

Game 143: Kansas City @ Minnesota

Game Date: September 9, 2008
Twins 7, Royals 2 / Box Score
WP: Blackburn (10-8), LP: Bannister (7-15) 
Royal Home Runs: Olivo (12)
Royals Record: 61-82

I like to drink a cold beer while watching a ball game once in a while. So, I bought a 12-pack a week or so ago, and the "born on" date was June 23. Does that date sound familiar? It was the last time Brian Bannister won a game. So, I now have beer as old as his winless streak.

Yesterday, Bannister gave up seven earned runs on ten hits in just 3.2 innings. And he threw 93 pitches. Wow. John Bale, Jimmy Gobble, Kip Wells, and Devon Lowery pitched the final 4.1 innings without giving up a run, but after the second inning, the Royals really didn't make a serious run at the Twins.

Jose Guillen had three of the six hits the Royals had on the day and Miguel Olivo hit a solo home run. The rest of the offense was pretty silent.

Tonight, Kyle Davies (6-6, 4.59) will go up against Kevin Slowey (11-9, 3.75). Davies is 2-3 in his career against the Twins with a 4.76 ERA in 22.2 IP. Slowey is 2-0 against the Royals with a 2.50 ERA in 18.0 IP.

Mike Sweeney Released by A's

Mike Sweeney said that the A's gave him two options recently; either go on the 60-day DL or be released. He said that he told them to release him because he was healthy. In his last AB for the A's on Friday, he doubled in Baltimore. He's going to try to hook up with a different team to finish the season, but it very well good turn out to be his last Major League at bat. How fitting would that be?

It's just too bad that it didn't happen in Royal blue.

Game 142: Cleveland @ Kansas City

Game Date: September 7, 2008
Indians 3, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Lee (21-2), LP: Greinke (10-10), SV: Lewis (8) 
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 61-81

If ever a starting pitcher owned us, it's Cliff Lee. He beat us for the fourth straight time this season yesterday. Of course, he's only lost twice this season, so he's been tough on every team, but still.

Zack Greinke wasn't bad (3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 8 K, in 6.0 IP). He just wasn't as good as Lee. And don't look now, but the Royals are probably going to have have face Lee again next Friday night in Cleveland.

Here's a trivia question for you: Without looking it up, can you tell me how long it has been since the Royals have hit a home run? I'm guessing you can't. I couldn't do it either. Turns out, you have to go back to last Tuesday when Billy Butler and Ryan Shealy did it. Yikes.

The Royals are off today. They open a new series in Minnesota on Tuesday night. Brian Bannister (7-14, 5.56) is scheduled to go up against Nick Blackburn (9-8, 3.71). Bannister is 3-0 in his career against the Twins with a 2.00 ERA in 36.0 IP. Blackburn is 0-0 against the Royals with a 1.64 ERA in 11.0 IP.

Game 141: Cleveland @ Kansas City

Game Date: September 6, 2008
Royals 3, Indians 1 / Box Score
WP: Meche (11-10), LP: Jackson (0-2), SV: Soria (35) 
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 61-80

Gil Meche dominated the Indians in this one. He gave up just one earned run on three hits and two walks, while striking out ten. He lowered his ERA to 3.96, which is the lowest it has been all season. And he won for the first time since August 10--although you can hardly blame him for that. He's had several outstanding outings since then, but the Royals could never close the deal for him.

The Royals didn't give Meche much run support, but they gave him enough. In the second inning, with two outs, Esteban German singled in a run and David DeJesus followed him with another single that drove in two runs. That was all Meche needed.

Ramon Ramirez and Joakim Soria shut down the Indians over the final two innings. Soria picked up his 35th save of the season. Unfortunately, he's probably not going to get a chance to make a run at the Royals season record (45) though. In fact, you have to wonder if the Royals will even win ten more games this season.