Number 23

Game Date: August 30, 2009
Kansas City @ Seattle
Royals 3, Mariners 0 / Box Score
WP: Greinke (13-8), Rowland-Smith (2-2)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 50-80 / Record in August 10-20

On a 2-2 offering, Mark McGwire sent a ball between the shortstop and third baseman during the fourth inning. It would be the last hit an aging Mark Gubicza would give up that day. He went on to throw 107 pitches that day in Oakland, 69 of which where strikes. He had five strikeouts, so he had to rely on his defense. It was one of his final masterpieces. The date was June 15, 1995. He would retire just two years later. But number 23 had already left his mark on the baseball world by then.

His lively fastball and nasty slider allowed him to win 132 games in a Royals uniform. He finished slightly under .500 in his career, but he played for some bad Royals teams. In 1988 he won 20 games and finished third in the Cy Young Award contest. Unfortunately, the injury bug bit him and he never made more than 30 starts in a season after 1989, with the exception of 1995. The year he reached back in the tank one more time and produced the one-hitter at Oakland.

Fast forward 14 years to last night and another number 23 is on the mound for the Royals on the west coast. Zack Greinke throws a 2-0 pitch to Kenji Johjima in the bottom of the second and Johjima singles to center field. Greinke would go on to sit down 22 straight after that. He threw 114 pitches, 74 of which were strikes. He had five strikeouts, so he had to rely on his defense. It was one of the many masterpieces he’s thrown this season, but it may be the most impressive outing of his young career.

His lively fastball and nasty slider have allowed him to win 47 games in a Royals uniform. He’s slightly under .500 in his career, but he has played for some bad Royals teams. His anxiety order days seem to be behind him and he’s on the verge of greatness. Joe Posnanski says he’s the best pitcher in baseball and it’s getting harder and harder to disagree.

This number 23 seems to have picked up where the previous number 23 left off. If he’s able to avoid the injury bug, it’s hard to imagine the current version not surpassing the previous one and before he’s done, he might just become the best pitcher in Royals history. If that doesn’t excite you as a Royals fan, something is wrong.

Royal Reflections Podcast #6 with Gary Webster

There’s a new episode of the Royal Reflections podcast available. Gary Webster, a Royals fan, journalist, and current radio personality on KMDO-AM/KOMB-FM in Fort Scott, Kansas was my guest. He followed the Kansas City A’s as a young boy and during the podcast he recounts numerous stories about his boyhood memories of the team and of Municipal Stadium. After he got into radio, he covered the Royals from 1971 to 1992 and he offers listeners great insight into the guys who played for the Royals during the organization’s glory years.

• Listen to this episode
• Download this episode (right click and save)
  
• Subscribe to the Royal Reflections podcast in iTunes
• Visit the Royal Reflections podcast archive

Gary was generous enough to allow me to publish the following photos that were mostly taken during his days as a broadcast journalist as he interviewed various Royals players and broadcasters (you'll have to listen to the podcast to hear the story about the photo of Gary shaking hands with Rene Lachemann):

Ken Brett (playing with the Twins at the time) and George Brett share a moment:

with Denny Matthews:

with Fred White:

with Al Hrabosky:

with Amos Otis:

with John Wathan:

with Paul Splittorff:

with Rene Lachemann:

Following Mike Sweeney’s example

Game Date: August 29, 2009
Kansas City @ Seattle
Mariners 8, Royals 4 / Box Score
WP: Snell (3-1), LP: Meche (6-10)
KC Home Runs: Buck (6), Teahen (11), Maier (3)
Royals Record: 49-80 / Record in August 9-20

Watching Mike Sweeney take it to the Royals this weekend reminds me of the fact that the 2009 version of the Royals lacks a hitter like Sweeney, who, for a couple of games, can pick up a team—emotionally speaking—and hoist it on his back. I’m not downing the Royals for failing to resign Sweeney. It’s a business and Dayton Moore believed that Billy Butler was ready to step into Sweeney’s shoes. To some degree, his decision has turned out to be correct. But as good as Billy Butler has been the last couple of months, he’s not at the level where he’s been able to do what Sweeney has done this weekend for the Mariners.

It’s not fair to expect that of Butler at this stage of his career. But the problem is, the Royals don’t have anybody else to fill the emotional void that Sweeney left behind. Sweeney played on some terrible baseball teams in Kansas City and with the exception of the 2003 season, their records looked pretty much like the 2009 Royals. So, in the big scheme of things, it doesn’t look like it matters all that much. But the teams Sweeney played on lacked a more mature Zack Greinke, a steadying force in the rotation like Gil Meche, a solid closer, and a hitter like Billy Butler who is coming into his own. His emotional uplift had little long-term effect on the team because, for the most part, the team was so bad.

After the game on Friday night, Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said this about Sweeney’s head first slide at home and his emotional outburst afterward: “I don’t know if in my lifetime I’ll ever see Sweeney do that again, but that’s what makes him special,” Wakamatsu said. During the television broadcast last night Ryan Lefebvre said that the play made quite an impact on the Mariner’s clubhouse. They see a guy who went through two knees surgeries during the offseason, who really has nothing left to prove at this point in his career, laying it all on the line for his team and it infused them with a spark of inspiration.

Seattle fans are noticing the difference too. In a comment left on the Mariners website after the game last night, one Mariners’ fan said this: “All credits go to Wak, his staff and his field commanders (Griffey and Sweeney). The Mariners are playing without their best players and still winning games. Yes, this homestand was against Triple-A teams, but in the long perspective, the M's were supposed to have a KC or Baltimore-like standings performance. Don is building a solid professional team playing hard and with heart.”

Yes, I know a team can play with heart and still be bad. But can a team become good without any heart? I can’t think of many examples. And that begs the question, who will step into Sweeney’s shoes in Kansas City and become the spark and ultimately the leader of this team in the future? Who will want to be at the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with runners in scoring position and the Royals down by a run? Who will lay his body on the line by charging down the third baseline with a willingness to do whatever it takes to score? Who will earn the respect of his teammates, and opponents alike, like Mike Sweeney has?

Too many mistakes to overcome

Game Date: August 28, 2009
Kansas City @ Seattle
Mariners 6, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Hernandez (13-5), LP: Bannister (7-11)
KC Home Runs: Maier (2)
Royals Record: 49-79 / Record in August 9-19

I’d say it’s amazing regarding the number of ways in which the Royals give away runs, and ultimately games, but that wouldn’t be true. It’s pretty much a routine by now. There were numerous instances last night:

In the second inning, with Mike Sweeney on third base with one out, Banny snagged a comebacker—he looked Sweeney back to third, but when Banny threw to first base Sweeney darted for home. You know the result—a headfirst dive by Sweeney that beat Miguel Olivo’s sweeping tag. Olivo was, as is often the case, positioned several feet in front of home plate, giving a lot of the plate to Sweeney and Sweeney took advantage of it.

Our catchers continue to be out of position on plays at home and I can really only think of three reasons for it: (1) They have been taught incorrectly. (2) Lazy habits. (3) They are afraid of taking a big hit. Options one and two are possibilities in this organization—especially since it has happened so many times by multiple catchers. But eventually option number three is going to go running through the minds of your opponents and if that’s the case, you might as well pack it in.

By the way, it was nice to see Sweeney playing hard and contributing again. His interview with Joel Goldberg after the game was pure class—pure Mike Sweeney.

In the third inning, Mitch Maier came to the plate with David DeJesus at second base and no outs. Maier struck out. Billy Butler followed with a ground ball to second that probably would have scored DeJesus if Maier had advanced him to third. Didn’t happen and we lost a run as a result.

You’d like to say that Maier made up for it later with a two-run home run in the fifth, but to me the two plays are mutually exclusive.

In the bottom half of the third, Miguel Olivo let a pitch squirt between his legs, allowing a runner to reach third, who came around to score with two outs when Mark Teahen committed an error, giving Seattle a 3-1 lead. The pitch was first ruled a passed ball and then changed to a wild pitch. It was a horrible correction and should have been called a passed ball, but whatever the case, it set the stage for yet another error, which gave Seattle another run.

Then we had the dropped throw by Billy Butler at first from Alberto Callaspo. And Kyle Farnsworth walking Mike Sweeney with the bases loaded. It’s a game that would have upset a little league manager. Trey Hillman was short with the media after the game—which I sort of understand because he’s frustrated, but at the same time, it’d be nice to see him exhibit his frustration with the proper people.

Seattle done in by the long ball

Game Date: August 27, 2009
Kansas City @ Seattle
Royals 8, Mariners 4 / Box Score
WP: Davies (5-9), LP: Fister (1-1)
KC Home Runs: DeJesus (11), Betancourt (5), Pena (5), Callaspo (8)
Royals Record: 49-78 / Record in August 9-18

Four home runs in one game? We’ll take it.

Kyle Davies had an odd outing. He struggled in the first inning, but once he settled down, he put together a three inning stretch in which he looked better than I’ve ever seen him. Loved seeing him throw all of his pitches for strikes. Then in the middle innings he started to struggle again. He got through six innings though, only giving up two earned runs, so we can’t complain. He’s made a change to his delivery recently that keeps him over the rubber a little longer so he doesn’t drift toward home plate so much. Let’s see if it pays long term dividends.

The bottom of the order, consisting of Pena-Betancourt-Anderson, went 5-for-11 with 4 RBI, 4 R, and a walk.

All in all, it was a good day.

A few items of note regarding the Omaha Royals:

• Tug Hulett was named to the U.S. World Cup team that’ll be played next month.

• Brian Buchanan was named the PCL Player of the Week for August 17-23.

• I bumped into Joe Posnanski in the press box in Omaha last night. He’s working on his last official column for the KC Star that’ll be coming out this Sunday. He’s writing about Omaha reliever Chris “Disco” Hayes. Posnanski is one of the nicer guys I’ve ever met in the industry. We talked about the Omaha Royals roster and the direction of the organization over all.

• And the Omaha Royals won.

Like I said, it was a good day.

Thirty games under .500

Game Date: August 26, 2009
Cleveland @ Kansas City 
Indians 4, Royals 2 / Box Score
WP: Huff (8-7), LP: Hochevar (6-7), SV: Wood (16)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 48-78 / Record in August 8-18

Walks, an error, a wild pitch, another losing home series—it’s all par for the course. And for the second time this season, the Royals are 30 games under .500. There’s no way to put a positive spin on that. This team seems destined to lose 100 games again. But I still hope they don’t. The stigma is hard to shake. So is the disappointment.

Greinke sets a new record with 15 strikeouts

Game Date: August 25, 2009
Cleveland @ Kansas City
Royals 6, Indians 2 / Box Score
WP: Greinke (12-8), LP: Masterson (4-5)
KC Home Runs: Olivo (17), Maier (1)
Royals Record: 48-77 / Record in August 8-15

I ended yesterday’s post by saying you never know when you might see something special when Zack Greinke is on the mound. Then he goes out and strikes out 15 guys and sets a new single game Royals’ record by passing another guy who used to wear number 23—Mark Gubicza—for the most strikeouts in a game. [There’s a nice video montage of all 15 strikeouts on the Royals website if you didn’t get a chance to see the game.] Gubicza struck out 14 in a game in 1988 and if you look at Gubby’s numbers from that season, they are quite similar to what Greinke is doing this season. Gubicza was 20-8 in 35 starts with a 2.70 ERA. He threw eight complete games that season, including four shutouts. And he struck out 183. Greinke is in good company.

It was nice to see Mitch Maier get his first major league home run in this one—a no-doubter that he turned on and smashed over the wall in right field. Given that the Royals probably aren’t going to content in 2010, I wouldn’t mind seeing them reject the club option on Coco Crisp for next season and then give Maier a full season to see what he could do out there in centerfield. The numbers he’s put up in his 300+ MLB at bats aren’t overly impressive, but they aren’t awful either. And at 27, it’s time to find out what we’ve got in him. If it doesn’t work out, we could move on and sign a centerfielder for 2011—the year when some of Dayton Moore’s draft choices may begin making the major league roster.

The Royals play the Indians this afternoon. Luke Hochevar (6-6, 5.60) will go up against David Huff (7-7, 6.80). Hochevar is 1-2 in his career against the Indians with a 5.14 ERA in 14.0 IP. Huff has never faced the Royals.

The worst Royals team ever?

Game Date: August 24, 2009
Cleveland @ Kansas City
Indians 10, Royals 6 / Box Score
WP: Sowers (5-9), LP: Soria (3-2)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 47-77 / Record in August 7-15

According to the Associated Press, Joakim Soria “does not usually come in before the ninth” inning. You have to wonder if the writer has even been watching the Royals play recently because Soria has pitched in the eighth inning in four of his last ten appearances. But really, who could blame him if he hasn’t been paying attention?

Joe Posnanski is calling this team “the worst Kansas City Royals team I have ever seen.” That’s hard to believe because we’ve had some terrible baseball teams in the past 15 years. One wonders what Buck O’Neil might say about this team if he were still alive. Would he still be sitting in the seats every night with that big smile of his? I tend to believe that his personality transcended bad baseball because he’d seen so many worse things in his life—that indeed he probably would still be there every night, but you just wonder what he would think about this mess.

The Royals have lost five games in a row. The last two games, their pitching staff has given up 20 runs. The Royals are 7-15 in August. And another 100 loss season is looking more and more possible. As Sam Mellinger and others have pointed out recently, the Royals don’t really appear to be playing for next year. They seem to recognize that another 100 loss season is going to lead to a lot of grumbling this winter. That’s one of the reasons Soria is being used in the eighth and ninth innings. And it’s why Brayan Pena isn’t starting quite as many games as Hillman said he would. I really don’t blame Moore or Hillman for treating the final month like a pennant run. Their jobs may hinge on a mediocre or better finish.

Moore re-arranged a couple of chairs on the Titanic yesterday by designating Ron Mahay for assignment to clear a spot on the roster for Yasuhiko Yabuta. I’ve seen Yabuta pitch in a few times in Omaha this season and he was mediocre. He does have a 3.55 ERA in 26 appearances in Omaha, but I’m not so sure that’ll translate well to the big leagues for him, but it really doesn’t matter much in the big picture. At least the Royals will be out from under his contract after the season.

Wondering how things are going with Yuniesky Betancourt since the trade? His numbers are brutal. In 36 games, he’s 25-for-121 (.207) with 2 HR and 14 RBI. His OBP since coming to KC is .240.

So, what’s your take on Soria’s numbers in August? His ERA is 5.00 for the month and he’s given up three long balls in seven appearances. Are the two-inning outings wearing him down? I don’t see how they could be since he usually gets a number of days off in between. He was pitching on four days rest last night. Something sure doesn’t look right though. In July, Soria posted a 0.82 ERA and had seven saves. You can’t expect that from him every month, but his numbers this month have been surprisingly poor.

At least we get to see Zack Greinke pitch tonight. As bad as the Royals are, you never know when you might get to see something special when Greinke is on the mound.

Twins sweep the Royals

Game Date: August 23, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Twins 10, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Pavano (11-9), LP: Bannister (7-10)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 47-76 / Record in August 7-14

Thankfully, I didn’t see this game either. I was at Rosenblatt Stadium watching the Omaha Royals split a double header, but I kept GameDay up on my computer and followed the game in Kansas City. I turned away from it for a couple of minutes and came back to see an 8-run inning by the Twins and I automatically thought it must have been a break down by the bullpen and our defense yet again.

True to form, as I began reading accounts of the game it sounded like the defense made multiple mistakes. And I saw that Kyle Farnsworth gave up five runs on five hits in one inning. With 13 pitchers on hand I’m not sure why you let a guy get beat up like that, but in the big scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. The Royals are now officially on pace to lose 100 games again this season. If they do, this will be a giant step backward for Dayton Moore.

Oops we did it again

Game Date: August 22, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Twins 8, Royals 7 / Box Score
WP: Duensing (1-1), LP: Davies (4-9), SV: Guerrier (1)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 47-75 / Record in August 7-13

I missed most of this game, which from what I can tell, wasn’t a bad thing. I did happen to tune in for about five minutes and I saw the blooper drop in and I had a feeling that would be our doom. Sounds like it was. I couldn’t figure out why Anderson didn’t call everybody else off the ball and make a diving attempt at it. But then again, given how unsound this team is fundamentally, I’m not sure why I keep expecting anything different.

As bad as this team is, there are still a few guys I really enjoy watching. Brian Bannister is one of them. Unfortunately I probably won’t get to see much of the game today either because I’ll be at the double header in Omaha this afternoon, but I’ll be rooting for Banny to stop the three game losing streak.

Queue the circus music

Game Date: August 21, 2009 
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Twins 5, Royals 4 (10 inn.) / Box Score
WP: Nathan (2-1), LP: Soria (3-1)
KC Home Runs: Butler (15), DeJesus (10), Pena (4) 
Royals Record: 47-74 / Record in August 7-12

Another frustrating loss for the Royals—and so much to talk about:

First, I know it didn’t effect the outcome of the game, but watching Yuniesky Betancourt go into a home run trot in the bottom of the ninth inning only to watch the ball hit the wall and see him barely make it into second base is one of the more irritating things I’ve seen from the Royals this season. I’ve said this in the past about various guys—guys like Emil Brown who did the same thing while playing for us—but I simply don’t understand not running after a player has made contact with the ball. And I don’t understand why it is tolerated. But it is, and the action itself as well as the toleration of it, says a lot about this organization.

The second thing I don’t understand is why we need 96 pitchers on the roster. Okay, actually it’s only 13—while also carrying three catchers. I understand that our bullpen is horrendous and that Dayton Moore is just looking to give Trey Hillman another option or two, but you cannot put yourself in a position in which you don’t have a guy on the bench who can pinch run in a tight ball game—as was the case last night when Billy Butler singled in the tenth inning with one out with the Royals down by a run. John Buck was the only guy available and obviously that didn’t help. So Butler stays in and Willie Bloomquist singles but Butler doesn’t take third. You can’t really blame Butler. He’s slow, he knows it, and I rather see him stay at second then get thrown out at third. If we would have had a guy with decent speed on base, he would have taken third and came home on the subsequent fly ball to center. That scenario is on Moore for leaving Hillman short on the bench.

Next, we’ve got to talk about the defense. How about the play by Josh Anderson in right field in the sixth inning? First, he fails to stop the ball from rolling to the wall and then, when he picks it up—with his glove for some reason—the ball squirts out of his hand when he goes to throw the ball in and it shoots backward. How many lowlight reels is that one going to end up on at the end of the season? And we’d be remiss if we didn’t bring up Bloomquist’s failure to take the correct angle on the ball in right field in the top of the tenth inning—allowing the ball to get past him, hit the right field wall and roll away, which in turn allowed what turned out to be the winning run to score.

I know this team is nearly 30 games under .500, but I still can’t stand to see baseball played this way. Of course, this team is nearly 30 games under .500 because they are playing baseball this way.

Greinke’s shot at the AL Cy Young Award is fading

Game Date: August 19, 2009 
Kansas City @ Chicago
White Sox 4, Royals 2 / Box Score
WP: Contreras (5-11), LP: Greinke (11-8) SV: Jenks (26)
KC Home Runs: DeJesus (9), Teahen (10)
Royals Record: 47-73 / Record in August 7-11

If you do the math, Zack Greinke probably has eight more starts this season. After getting tagged with the loss last night, you have to believe he has to win at least seven of his final eight starts to still have a shot at the Cy Young Award. That’s not very realistic and it’s a shame, given the season he has had, but it’s the reality he faces.

He’s not pitching to win awards. I know that. But it’s all we have left to root for this season. I’m with many of you who believe that judging a pitcher by his wins doesn’t accurately portray the way he’s pitched, but clearly, piling up wins puts a pitcher in contention for the Cy Young Award.

The last time a pitcher in the American League won the Cy Young with less than 18 wins was in the strike-shortened 1994 season. David Cone went 16-5 with a 2.94 ERA in 23 starts for the Royals that season. Toss out the 1994 season because of the strike and expand the view back to 1985—the first season Bret Saberhagen won the award—and with the exception of the season a reliever won the award, none of the remaining pitchers had less than 18 wins.

This season there are ten other pitchers in the AL who have at least 11 wins, tying Greinke, and seven of the ten have more wins the Greinke. Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia have 14 wins and if they win half of their remaining starts, that would put them in the 18-win range. If they win more than half, Greinke doesn’t stand much of a chance without running the table.

None of the contenders have a better ERA than Greinke, who currently sits at 2.44, although Felix Hernandez is close at 2.66 and Roy Hallady isn’t far away with at 2.78. Unfortunately, ERA is only one of the three main criteria the baseball writers seem to take into account when handing out the award: wins and team performance being the other two.

Of course, when it comes to team performance, Greinke is in trouble and that brings me back to my first point. To have a chance, Greinke needs to win at least seven of his final eight starts. But we saw Greinke win seven of his first eight starts to begin the season, maybe he can do it again. It might not be very realistic, but I’m rooting for it to happen anyway.

Solid performances all around lead to win

Game Date: August 18, 2009
Kansas City @ Chicago
Kansas City 5, White Sox 4 / Box Score
WP: Meche (6-9), LP: Garcia (0-1), SV: Soria (20)
KC Home Runs: Buck (5)
Royals Record: 47-72 / Record in August 7-10

Over the course of the past several months, I’ve certainly been hard on the bullpen, justifiably so in my opinion, but they certainly deserve some praise for the game last night. Robinson Tejeda had dominant stuff for three innings and he didn’t allow any hits or runs. He picked up Gil Meche who looked flat again. He doesn’t have any command of his fastball right now and he’s paying the price. Let’s hope that consistent work will take care of his command issues.

Billy Butler, fresh off winning the American League Player of the Week Award, had three more doubles and two more RBI. We’ve been waiting for him to come around, and frankly, I was losing hope in him, but he’s knocked the cover off the ball over the last two months and is putting together a career year. He might be laying the groundwork for becoming the fixture in Kansas City that we need him to be. By the way, it looks like Butler might be on Twitter now (@BillyButlerKC). I haven’t seen this confirmed anywhere yet, but it looks legit. I added the account to the Royals Twitter Directory.

Willie Bloomquist quietly had a solid performance. He was on base twice when Billy Butler doubled which led to two runs. And he made what turned out to be a game-saving throw to home plate from right field in the fifth inning to nail Carlos Quentin who tagged up on the play. If he had scored, the game would have been tied 5-5. Instead, Bloomquist threw him out on one bounce and neither team scored after that.

Joakim Soria gave us a scare when he turned an ankle on the second pitch he threw in the ninth inning while trying to nail down the save. After the game he said he twisted his ankle in a hole on the mound left by another pitcher. For a reason I couldn’t understand, some in the crowd booed when Soria took a couple of throws to test his ankle. Not exactly a classy move by the fans.

The Royals play this afternoon at 1:05 pm and it will not be televised by FSKC. I checked WGN and it won’t be on there either. So, the radio it is, which I don’t mind. Zack Greinke (11-7, 2.33) will go up against Jose Contreras (4-11, 5.40). Greinke is 5-9 in his career against the White Sox with a 4.14 ERA. Contreras is 9-4 against the Royals with a 3.51 ERA.

Update on Aug 20 @ 12:11 pm: Just heard from Doug Rogalski, Billy Butler's agent, and he confirms that Butler's Twitter account listed above is legit. Many thanks to Doug for taking the time to do so.

Kids' Day Photos

Back on August 9, many of you participated in sending a boatload of kids to the game at Kauffman Stadium against the A's. The Royals have sent me three photos that one of their photographers took of some of the people you helped. I don't know if you remember or not, but the temperature was off the charts that day, so people scattered to find shade any where they could. I don't have a group shot as a result, but I do have a few individual shots that are priceless. Thanks goes out to the Royals for providing them:

Alex Gordon optioned to Omaha

When the game between the Omaha Royals and New Orleans Zephyrs was postponed on July 3 to August 27 because of rain, nobody would have expected that Alex Gordon, who was in Omaha on a rehab assignment, would end up completing the game. But he might.

To read the rest of the article I wrote for Examiner.com, click here.

Photo by Lee Warren, taken before a game in Omaha on July 3.