Royals Lose Close Game

I’m glad to see the series in Cincinnati come to an end. We don’t have the pitching it takes to stay in games there. The Royals put up a good fight tonight—coming back from a 5-2 deficit, but after rallying to tie the game in the eighth, the Reds came back and scored a run in the bottom of the eighth and the run held up.

Bobby Keppel had another poor outing. He only lasted 2.1 IP and he gave up 4 ER and 5 hits. His ERA has climbed to 5.50 after several bad outings in a row. You have to wonder if his shot at the rotation is almost gone at this point. He showed a lot of promise in his first two starts of the season, but it’s been all downhill for him ever since.

Jeremy Affeldt was solid out of the pen—going 3.2 IP and giving no earned runs. Wellemeyer had good stuff in relief of Affeldt. Dessens struggled, as did Jimmy Gobble.

The Royals are on to St. Louis where they will take on the Cardinals this weekend in a three game series. Tomorrow night, Brandon Duckworth (1-1, 4.96) goes against former Royal Jeff Suppan (6-4, 5.09).

Too Much Long Ball

Players hit five more home runs last night at the Great American Launching Pad. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them were hit by the guys in red. Scott Elarton was atrociously bad—giving up 3 HR, 6 ER, and 8 H. He’s a fly ball pitcher in a stadium that resembles a little league park. Not a good combination.

The Reds won the game 7-2. Hopefully the Royals can bounce back and win the final game of the series to continue their hot stretch. It’d be nice to see them take a four-series winning streak into St. Louis—especially since the Cardinals are playing so poorly right now. I’m planning to visit family in the St. Louis area this weekend and I’ll be at one of the games. Hopefully I can provide you with a few good pictures next week of the Royals playing at the new Busch Stadium.

Tomorrow night, the pitching match up favors the Reds again. Bobby Keppel (0-4, 4.78) goes against Bronson Arroyo (9-4, 2.58).

Berroa Walk Watch (the quest for double digits): 6 walks in 71 games.

Stairs' Blast Wins Game

The Royals prevailed 9-8 tonight at the Great American Launching Pad in Cincinnati on a two-run home run by Matt Stairs in the top of the ninth with two outs. Stairs turned on an offering by Todd Coffey and the ball was last spotted somewhere over Kentucky. He absolutely crushed it.

As a guy who follows American League baseball much more closely than National League baseball, this is one of my first looks at the park and it seems to be a bit of a joke. It’s 370 feet to the power alley in right and 379 in left, but it doesn’t even play that long. The Royals hit four home runs and the Reds hit two. I don’t know how a pitcher can make a living in that ballpark, but obviously Bronson Arroyo has found a way to do it (he’s 4-1 with a 2.49 ERA at home—just to show you how good he is).

Unfortunately, Mike Wood wasn’t sharp tonight and he was chased after just 3.2 IP. He gave up 4 ER and 7 H and seemed to be running out of gas in the fourth after just 58 pitches. Wellemeyer was outstanding in relief—giving up no runs or hits in 2.1 IP. Dessens had a rare poor outing, but Affeldt picked him up (and ended up with the win). Burgos got the save, but not before giving up another home run.

Emil Brown finally had a break out game—going 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBI. He was right on everything that came his way. In addition to Brown’s home run, DeJesus, Buck, and Stairs all hit dingers.

This was another one of those not so pretty games, but a victory nonetheless. The Royals have now won 9 of their last 12 games and with the Pirates loss tonight, the Royals have caught the Pirates in the battle to no longer be the worst team in baseball. The pitching match ups over the next two days in Cincinnati favor the Reds, but let’s hope that our confidence wins the day in at least of the two games.

Tomorrow, Scott Elarton (3-8, 4.87) goes against Aaron Harang (8-5, 3.59).

Sweeney Stays with Team for Now

Mike Sweeney was supposed to be headed to Wichita today, but Bell decided against it saying he wants Mike to be 100% when he returns. Sounds like Sweeney will begin his rehab assignment in Wichita on Saturday if all goes well this week in Cincinnati.

What's Going On?

“What’s going on?”

Remember that call by Denny Matthews in early April of the 2000 season after Rey Sanchez hit a walk off home run against the Baltimore Orioles? It was the third game in a row that the Royals won with a walk off home run, which is an incredible feat, but to see Sanchez do it left Matthews almost speechless.

After the worst start in franchise history to start this season, the Royals are beating up on other bad baseball teams and all of a sudden, they’ve won 8 of their last 11 games—which includes winning three series in a row. They are getting timely hitting. They are playing relatively good defense. They are patient beyond belief at the plate. And their bullpen is almost unhittable (with the exception of Burgos).

So, what is going on?

Regarding the timely hitting—I suspect that it has a lot to do with their newfound patience at the plate. Royals’ hitters drew 15 walks in the Milwaukee series, and by working the count better, they had better pitches to hit. They aren’t missing those pitches right now. But where did all of this patience come from?

The Royals currently rank 27th out of 30 teams in total walks with 206. But since Dayton Moore took over on June 8, they have walked 62 times. So, nearly 30% of their walks for the season have come in the last 17 games. The Royals are 10-7 since Moore took over and you have to wonder if his initial team meeting didn’t go something like this…

“Guys, I’m honored to be your new GM, but you need to know something. If you continue to swing at every pitch, and if you continue to show more concern for your individual stats than the success of the team, and if you continue to play poor fundamentally, you will be gone faster than Juan Gonzalez at game time. Got it?”

The Royals get a day off today. Tomorrow, things get tougher. The Royals play a surprisingly good Cincinnati team and then the Royals are off to St. Louis over the weekend. Let’s see if they can continue to play good baseball against better competition.

Winning Streak Ends

So much for the winning streak. Getting behind in games early and often isn’t the greatest game plan. And while it’s not actually part of the game plan, it sure looks that way. Our starters continue to give up runs in the first and second inning, and Bobby Keppel did it again last night, but this time, the Royals weren’t able to overcome it and they lost 7-2.

Keppel gave up 5 ER, on 8 H, in 2.1 IP. He seemed to believe that the Brewers hit good pitches. Bell seemed to think that Keppel was up in the zone. Either way, he gave up way too many runs. Affeldt was good in relief—giving up just one run in 4 innings, but the Royals couldn’t get the bats going. Although Doug Mientkiewicz did have two hits, and John Buck had three.

In fact, here’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever say—John Buck is on fire right now. He was 3-for-3 last night. He was 2-for-2 on Thursday. And he was 1-for-2 on Tuesday. He’s hitting the ball the other way and his stroke looks quite confident right now. His numbers this season are even respectable: 5 HR, 21 RBI (a little low), a .256 AVG, and a .322 OBP.

Berroa got the night off. Bell said it was a planned day of rest for Berroa. And maybe it was, but I think the fans needed a rest from Berroa as well.

Tonight, Brandon Duckworth (0-1, 3.18) goes against Doug Davis (4-4, 4.69).

Final Results of RR Poll #4

What is the main reason the Royals are so bad?

73% (22 votes): David Glass
13% (4 votes): Poor scouting
7% (2 votes): Allard Baird
3% (1 vote): Poor instruction at lower levels
3% (1 vote): Other
0% (0 votes): Realities of small market baseball
0% (0 votes): Poor managers
0% (0 votes): Underachieving players

A new poll will be up soon.

Royals Sweep the Pirates

The Royals didn’t exactly put on a baseball clinic at Kauffman Stadium yesterday en route to their 15-7 win, but the name of the game is winning, right? They completed a three game sweep of the Pirates (who have to be feeling lower than lower right now) and in the process, won their fourth game in a row for the first time this season.

Scott Elarton picked up the win while finally getting his ERA under 5.00 (4.87). Wellemeyer and Peralta stumbled in relief, but Jimmy Gobble threw two more shutout innings and saw his ERA drop to 3.99. You hate to see a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds pitching in middle relief, but Gobble does seem to excel there and we definitely need somebody like him in that position since our starters never seem to make it six innings.

Esteban German finally got a little playing time and he took advantage of it—going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 1 BB. Reggie Sanders was 1-for-4 with 2 BB and he scored four times. Emil Brown was 2-for-5 with 3 RBI. Tony Graffanino was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. And John Buck was 2-for-2 with an RBI, a walk, 2 HBP, and a home run. All of those rather college “baseball” like numbers came against some horrendous pitching, but it’s nice to see that we can hit bad pitching when given the opportunity.

With two outs in the Pittsburgh half of the sixth inning, and with the Royals leading 7-3, Angel Berroa dropped a pop up and two runs scored to make it 7-5 Royals. Fans booed him incessantly after the play and then twice more when he came up to bat in later plate appearances. He later said that he lost the ball in the sun. In the Star this morning, David Boyce said “the treatment might have been a bit harsh considering all the blunders committed by both teams.”

That might be true if we weren’t talking about Angel Berroa, but we’re talking about a guy with tremendous athletic ability who doesn’t seem to have a clue how to play the game and he doesn’t seem all that interested in learning. We’re talking about a guy who routinely makes baserunning blunders that most little leaguers don’t make. And we’re talking about a guy who has never seen a pitch that he hasn’t considered swinging at. If I had to guess, fans are simply tired of seeing Angel Berroa as our starting shortstop and they want somebody else. His error gave them another chance to voice their opinion.

The Royals begin a new series tonight at home against the Brewers. Bobby Keppel (0-3, 3.64) goes against Dave Bush (4-6, 4.81). Milwaukee has won six of their last ten games and they are 5-4 in interleague play.

Berroa Walk Watch (the quest for double digits): 5 walks in 67 games.

Royals Come from Behind Again

The Royals’ 6-4 win against the Pirates last night was their third straight win, their fifth in their last seven games, and it guaranteed that they will win back-to-back series for the first time since last August. We’re winning ugly right now, in spite of committing too many errors and leaving too many pitches out over the plate.

We continue to get down early in games, but ever since that 16-12 come from behind victory against the Rangers a couple of weeks ago, we actually seem to believe we have the ability to come back when we get down early. What’s caused that? Who knows. Maybe the arrival of Dayton Moore has helped to boost the players’ confidence. He’s saying all the right things right now. He wants to leave guys in the minor leagues longer and fill in the gaps with veterans when possible. He’s looking for starting pitching. He’s unwilling to dump salary. And he certainly has shown that he doesn’t have any allegiances to unproductive high draft choices.

A couple of days before Moore took over, I asked Reggie Sanders what he thought about the mix of veterans and young guys on the team.  

“I think the mixture is good,” Sanders said. “I do believe that they’re going to have give up a lot more money to get some quality veteran pitching into this clubhouse—which is what we need. It’s important, so hopefully we can do that.”

Nearly every major league team is in the same quandary regarding starting pitching, but Moore has already made two attempts (Etherton and Duckworth) to improve our rotation and I’m guessing that he’s going to follow through and make many more attempts. Maybe the players have seen his actions so far and they are finding hope once again. Maybe they simply ran into an Astros team that hit a bump in the road and a bad Pirates team. It’s hard to say, but it’s fun to see them string a few wins together.

And it’s nice to see Mark Teahen turning on the ball like he did yesterday when he hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning. Going into the game yesterday he was hitting .315 since his recall from Omaha. He went down there for one purpose, to increase his bat speed on inside pitches. Opponents aren’t convinced yet that he can get to the inside pitch.

“I just tried to be aggressive,” he’s quoted as saying the Star this morning. “They’d been throwing me in all night. I got another pitch in, and I finally got to one.”

His home run bought him a reprieve after his otherwise poor performance. He made an error, bungled another play that should have been ruled an error, and he got picked off at second base by the catcher. Bell was complimentary of Teahen after the game saying that “a young kid with poor makeup doesn’t respond like that.”

So, all is well that ends well.

This afternoon, the Royals send Scott Elarton (2-8, 5.09) against Paul Maholm (2-5, 4.50) in what could be Joe Randa’s last game at Kauffman Stadium.

Berroa Walk Watch (the quest for double digits): 4 walks in 66 games.

Randa to Retire After Season

Joe Randa was on WHB this afternoon and he announced that he would retire after this season. He said that the wear and tear on his body has caught up with him. And he said he’s ready to watch his kids play little league and enjoy family life in Kansas City. Don’t be surprised if you see him around Kauffman Stadium next season in some official capacity.

Royals Have Signed 16 of 50 Draftees

According to Baseball America, the Royals have signed 15 of their 50 picks made in the 2006 draft. Jason Taylor doesn’t show up as a signed player yet. He makes number 16. You might want to bookmark this site if you want to keep up with who the Royals have signed.

New Royals Site

Royals Corner has joined forces with FoxSports.com and they have a new Royals site up and running at Scout.com. Check it out when you get a chance.

Jason Taylor Signs

According to this article, the Royals second round pick, shortstop Jason Taylor, agreed to terms with the Royals and he’ll report to Surprise, Ariz. later this week. He put up big numbers in his senior year in high school—including a .455 average and 26 stolen bases. He’ll reportedly receive a $750,000 signing bonus.

Gathright to Start in Center

Now I'm even shaking my head more over the Howell for Gathright trade. According to an article in the Star this morning, "Gathright is expected to arrive tonight and become the club's regular center fielder." Bell said that he'll move DeJesus to left field to make room for Gathright. Emil Brown will become our 467th designated hitter, behind Mike Sweeney, and presumably, in front of Matt Stairs.

I love the fact that Gathright has speed. He stole 165 bases in his four-year minor league career and he's shown a propensity to be patient at the plate—he drew 126 walks in 320 minor league games. And he's certainly played the outfield well for Tampa Bay. He's only made 4 errors in 140 games at the major league level. And maybe that's enough. But the guy can't hit a lick and Bell is planning to hit him in the nine hole—below Angel Berroa, and below John Buck.

Moore's thought process is simple. He'll take speed and good defense over power and average since speed and good defense don't go in slumps. We've certainly lost our share of games in the past few years because of bad defense. But taking a legitimate stick out of a line up that already has a hard time getting big hits is a bit of a risk. We'll see if it pays off.

Royals Down Pirates 10-6

Mark Redman was up in the zone early last night and Pirate hitters made him pay by scoring four runs in the first inning. He really never looked sharp, but he found a way to stop the bleeding and he exited the game after five innings with the Royals up 8-5, picking up his fourth win in his last four starts.

Royal hitters had no problems with Kip Wells last night in their 10-6 victory. They got six runs off him in 3.1 IP, and they worked him for five of the eleven walks the Royals had on the night (Angel Berroa was the only Royal without a walk—big surprise, huh?). The nice thing about the victory last night was, the Royals didn't need the long ball to come back and they didn't need to string a lot of hits together. They just took what was given to them—walks, errors, wild pitches, and passed balls—and turned them into a ten spot. Nice work.

Joe Randa got a nice ovation from the Royal-faithful. Some even gave him a standing ovation when he was announced for his first at bat. That was nice to see.

"Kansas City is very similar to the town I grew up in," Randa said. "My wife and I felt people treated us the way we needed to be treated, and that was really No. 1."

One of Randa's sons, Jacob, wore a Royals jersey at the game last night and his other son, Justin, wore a Pirates jersey. I guess that tells us all we need to know about what the Randa family still thinks of Kansas City. They live in the Leawood area.

The Royals have won three of their last four games and if they win tonight, they might actually be considered hot by anybody's definition. But let's not get too crazy. The Pirates are a bad team (they've lost six games in a row and they have the second worst record in baseball—behind the Royals, of course). Instead, let's be happy that we are playing them right now.

Tonight, the Royals send Mike Wood (3-2, 4.69) against Ian Snell (7-4, 4.71).

Berroa Walk Watch (the quest for double digits): 4 walks in 65 games.