Royals Final Record: 69-93
.426, last place
27 Games Back of Cleveland.
ESPN keeps a great schedule of Royals upcoming games, and records from previous games. You can follow along here:
Visit these great Royals web sites and get all the latest poop on the boys in blue:
Topeka Capital Journal's Royals Zone
Kansas City Royals Official Team Website
Before we get started: I must say that I start the year with my usual mix of angst and battle scars from 20 years of baseball bending me over. Most Royals fans are realistic, and this year we're just asking for measurable improvement. After multiple 100 loss seasons, one would think there's nowhere to go but up. But we've been saying that now for years, and we certainly didn't get any pre-season respect.
So here we go again. I'll write occasional thoughts and rants during the season. Don't look for daily updates. I'm way too lazy to do that, and sometimes the season just makes me speechless.
September 30th: Today was the last game as
manager for Buddy Bell. Bell, who had a cancerous growth removed from
his throat last
fall,
announced
in August that he would resign. He
finished with a 174-262 record as manager of the Royals.
One of only three major league managers with an overall record that's 200 games
below .500, Bell will still be in the organization as an adviser. It will probably
be November or December before Dayton Moore names a new manager. Alex
Gordon took a bad hop in the schnozz in the 9th inning, and ended his season in the
hospital with a broken nose. Today was likely the final game
as a Royal for Captain Mike Sweeney.
Sweeney's
been a Royal for 17 years, and took out a full page ad in today's KC Star sports
section to thank the Royals and fans for his time here. Nice gesture, but Mikey
definitely had the money to buy the ad, and a thousand more like it. Royals
fans can't help but feel short changed by Sweeney. He spent more time on the
DL
than active
during
the
life
of his $11 Million contract, which in great part kept the Royals from re-signing
both Jermaine Dye and Carlos Beltran. Although the Royals went 9-19 in September
and finished last for the fourth straight time, at least they didn't lose
100 games
this
year.
Baby
steps,
but
fans do have a glimmer of hope for 2008.
September 29th: Last night I got to see the Royals clinch....clinch last place for the fourth year in a row. Tonight, the Royals came back and won 4-3 to knock Cleveland out of home field advantage for the playoffs, which is a minor consolation. Buddy Bell got kicked out in his next to last game as Royals manager. Tomorrow is the last game of the season, and most likely Mike Sweeney's last game as a Royal. Luke Hochevar, the Royals overall No. 1 draft choice in 2006, will make his first major league start. The Indians had five hitters in their starting lineup with at least 21 home runs. The Royals had none. That says a lot about why Cleveland is going to the playoffs, and the Royals are in the cellar...for a fourth straight year.
September 13th: As soon as I say the Royals are playing better, they match their season long losing streak at 7 games, fall 21 games behind Cleveland. The Good News: Today's win means they won't lose 100 this year. The Bad News: We're 21 games out of first, but at least we're not in last. Suck it, Chisox!
September 2nd: I must admit, the Royals are playing better, seriously. They just finished up a split with the Twins today with an impressive 8-1 Sunday Afternoon win. Brian Bannister gave up a run in the 8th, and Soria followed up for a lights out inning of relief. Alex Gordon had his first two home run game, and John Buck broke a 1-17 slump with a three hit game including an exclamation point homer in the top of the ninth. KC remains a good three games ahead of the Chisox for the cellar, and if they can hold on in September and finish fourth in the toughest division in baseball, that's measurable improvement for sure.
August 25th: The Royals are no longer in last place. Dig it! They're a game an a half up on the greasy Chisox for last, which is, defininte, infinite PROGRESS! It's been a long time since the Royals weren't in the cellar this late in the season. One of my favorite writers, Joe Posnanski of the KC Star wrote a great article in today's paper about the Chiefs and the Royals never being good or bad at the same time. I've always had a theory that God makes KC sports fans pay for success in one sport with failure in the other. Could the Royals be on the rise and the Chiefs in decline? MMMMMM.....COULD BE! Here's what Jo Pos thinks:
Royals may be really turning around
By JOE POSNANSKI, The Kansas City Star
You may already know this: The Royals and the Chiefs have never been especially
good at the same time. One goes up, the other comes down. If you want to see
it in timeline form, well, it goes something like this:
From the late 1960s to early 1970s: Chiefs go to two Super Bowls, win one.
They are a class organization led by Len Dawson, Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier,
and they consistently are one of the best teams in professional football.
In baseball, the Athletics leave town. The Royals are born, and though
they develop
quickly for an expansion team, they are not contenders during this time.
From 1973 to 1988: The Royals win the American League West seven times,
go to the World Series twice, win one. They are a class organization
led by George
Brett, Frank White and Hal McRae, and they are consistently one of the best
teams in baseball. The Chiefs, with a couple of exceptions, stink every year.
From 1989 to present: The Chiefs, spurred by Marty Schottenheimer, begin
to win again. They go to the playoffs nine times in this span, and even
though they frustrate the heck out of everybody because of their inability
to get
to the Super Bowl, they still sell out every game. Chiefs fans always have
hope. The Royals, with a couple of exceptions, stink every year.
That takes us up to the present moment when, well, something seems to be
happening. This is not to say that the Chiefs are collapsing. But things
do seem to be
going right for the Royals. Friday night, Zack Greinke made his first start
in three and a half months. It was a short stint — he was on a strict
50-pitch limit for his first start — but it was impressive. He went
three innings. He faced the minimum number of batters. He struck out two.
He threw
his fastball at 97 mph in the third inning, and mixed in some nasty curves
and sliders throughout.
And while it is way too early to make any judgments, it’s exciting to
think about what the Royals could be with a locked-in Zack Greinke in
the starting rotation. It’s already amazing to see how far this team
has come in less than a year. One year ago today, the Royals were 38 games
under .500. They
were 35 1/2 games out of first place. More than that, they were 14 1/2
out of fourth place. Their
No. 1 starter was Mark Redman, with his 5.71 ERA. Their closer was Ambiorix
Burgos, with his 5.52 ERA. They did not have a single
guy in the
lineup who
hit 20 home runs, stole more than 10 bases, drove in or scored 90 runs.
OK, that was one year ago. Now, the Royals are 13 games under .500, a huge
improvement. Even better, they are actually over .500 the last three months.
They are 13
games
out of first
place, which is almost close enough to dream. They are a full game
and a half out of last place.They have a potential rookie of the
year, pitcher Brian Bannister, who has 10 victories and better overall
numbers than
Boston’s mega-hyped Daisuke
Matsuzaka. They have another potential rookie of the year, closer
Joakim Soria, who got his 14th save Friday in Kansas City’s 2-1 victory
over Cleveland. He dropped his ERA to 2.44. They have a couple of the most
exciting young hitters in the game, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler,
who since July 4 have combined to hit
.305 with
11 homers
and 62 RBIs.
Sure, it isn’t perfect. There are problems. But it’s just
a whole different feeling with this team right now; they do a lot of
things right.
Friday night, when they won 2-1, it improved their record in games
decided by one run to 18-16. Do you know the last time the Royals had
a winning record
in one-run games? That would be 1998.
August 5th: The previous road trip to Minnesota was forshadowing for KC's trip to the Big Apple, as the Royals collapsed like a big ol' bridge in the Bronx, getting swept three straight games. Not only that, but the Royals played "history patsies" too. Yesterday new meat pitcher Kyle Davies walked Bobby Abreu on four straight pitches to get to A-Rod, who then launched the next pitch for his 500th career homer. A-Rod stood at home plate admiring his shot. Royals pitching should have stuck the next pitch in A-Rod's ear, but we're too meek and nice to do that...because they're a bunch of last place pussies. Today, Hideki Matsui smacked his 100th career homer in helping pin down the Sunday sweep. Davies is who the Royals got in exchange for Octavio Dotel in a trade deadline day fire sale with Atlanta. Looks like he may be another Jim Pittsley. Just a clueless young guy who throws real hard and gets hammered. Royals were 1-6 against the Yanks this year. Not nearly good enough to show any meaningful progress against what should be an "arch rival." Disappointing, to say the least.
August 1st: Today is one of those days that reminds you that baseball is not life and death. In most cities, it's a normal Wednesday night. In Minneapolis, where the Royals are playing tonight, it's a different story. About an hour before the Twins-Royals game started tonight, a major interstate bridge, I-35W in the heart of downtown Minneapolis and blocks from the Metrodome, collapsed into the Mississippi river. As I watch the game on TV, I think about Ryan Lefevre, who attended the University of Minnesota right next to where the bridge went down, and what must be going through his mind as he does the play by play tonight. It's probably best that the Twins home crowd stay in the dome, and away from the major catastrophe just a couple blocks to the north. It's ironic that inside the dome it's the insulated world of major league baseball, and down the street, emergency rescue folks and worry about what will be found in the aftermath of the disaster. Tomorrow's game is cancelled. Truly a terrible accident, and my thoughts go out to the people of the Twin Cities.
In news that seems almost inconsequential, Buddy Bell announced he will not return to the Royals for the 2008 season. Here's the story by AP writer Gregg Aamot:
An emotional Bell, who will turn 55 on August 27th, announced the decision
before Kansas City's game against the Minnesota Twins. He will join
the Royals'
front office in 2008 as a senior adviser to general manager Dayton
Moore.
"I had to make a choice between managing and my family," Bell said, "and
to me that's a no-brainer."
Health concerns also played a part in Bell's decision. Last September,
he had surgery to remove a cancerous growth in his throat. "There
are some things I want to do in my life right now, and that's spending
time with my family and with my daughter, in particular," Bell said. The
announcement comes as the Royals — again at the bottom of the AL
Central at 47-59 entering Wednesday night's game — are showing
signs of hope after two straight winning months. It was the first time
they've
had two straight winning months in four seasons. Bell said his decision
had nothing to do with the Royals' struggles and that he was seeing improvement
in play and team chemistry."It doesn't have anything to do with
what we've been through at Kansas City," he
said of the timing of the announcement. "I wanted to wait until
things got better and then decide if I still felt this way" Bell
said he planned to move to Cincinnati, where he played during an All-Star
career, while continuing to work for the Royals organization. "I'm still
going to be a part of what the Royals are all about," he said. Before
becoming the Royals' 14th manager on May 31, 2005, Bell managed the
Detroit Tigers from 1996-1998 and the Colorado Rockies from 2000-2002. "We've
got a long way to go this year and we need to go out there and not
let this bother us, not let it get into our brains," Royals outfielder
David DeJesus said "He's going to be our manager still so all we
can do is go out there and keep playing the way we've been playing." Second
baseman Mark Grudzielanek said he was surprised by Bell's announcement
but also said the manager is well-rounded with interests beyond baseball. "It
seems like he still has a lot left in the tank, but there are family
reasons he has for moving on," he said. Grudzielanek said Bell's
leadership has been a big part of the team's improved play."It's
gonna be huge to keep him around," Grudzielanek said. "With
the young group we have here, just the way he goes about his business
in spring training and during the season, he's been a big part of (the
recent improvement)."
July 22nd: After the All-Star Break, the Royals faced a road trip that looked like a potential disaster. Three in Cleveland, Three in Boston, Three in Detroit. Royals come home with a 5-4 record from that trip, not too shabby. Now they come home for four against the hated Yanks. Hopefully they'll split or better. The good news today is the Royals are no longer in the cellar by themselves; they're tied with the greasy Chisox, who are not far removed from being World Champs. Last years champs -the St. Louis Cards- only have one more win than KC at this point of the season. The team has played much better since the first of June. We'll see if it stays together, or if Dayton Moore trades off a bunch of guys before the July 31st deadline to go young for 2008. Stay tuned...
July 8th: It's the half-way mark of the season, and the Royals are 38-50, 15 games back of Detroit. While the team could still easily lose 100 games this year, they are in better shape than last year when they were 27 games out of first at the break. The Royals had a winning month of June, their first winning month since the 2003 season. The Good News: No Royal starter is hitting over .300, but many have respectable averages: DeJesus .284, Teahen .282, Peña .275, Butler .284. Spot left fielder Joey Gathright is at .328, and has played well when given the opportunity.Tony Peña Jr has been a pleasant surprise at short, playing defense and hitting better than anyone imagined back in April. He could be a legit major league shortstop for many years, and thankfully, has made Aw-Hell B-Error-A expendable. No Royal starting pitcher has a .500 record, but Gill Meche goes to the all-star game with a 5-6 record and a respectable 3.54 ERA, with 88 Ks and only 36 walks. Royals bullpen has been good over the past month, especially Gobble, Greinke, Soria and Dotel. It's been a long time since the Royals had a reliable bullpen staff. If we can get more reliable starts from Bannister and DeLaRosa in the second half, we may have something good cooking on the pitching staff for 2008. The Bad News: Captain Mikey had knee surgery yesterday, and may be out for the rest of the 2007 season. He didn't even make it to the all-star break this year. $11 million shot to hell. Mikey will be a free agent next year, and most likely will be picked up as a DH by somebody. The Royals already have a great young gun -Billy Butler- who could be a great future DH in the mold of Jim Thome or David Oritz. Mikey really raided the Royals treasury over his career. Too hurt, too often. While Alex Gordon has played very good defense, his hitting in the first half was disappointing. He amazingly raised his average to .233 at the break, after basically going oh-for April and May. John Buck has slumped, dropping to .245 after hitting up around .280 for most of the first half. His defense has improved, a bit, but last night a catcher's interference call almost cost the team a game against Tampa Bay. Buck has hit 14 dingers, and could break the Home Run record for a Royal catcher. That record is 20 held by Darrell Porter and Mike MacFarlane. Scott Ellarton has been awful in this last four outings, and may end up in Omaha or outright released. Reggie Sanders should be ready to play after the break. Look for Sanders, Grudzielanek and Emil "Roberto Clemente" Brown to be trade bait after the break.
July 4th: The Royals as an organization are still a train wreck .Yesterday I drove 500 miles to get back to KC, so I could see the Royals on July 4th. Baseball...hot dogs...fireworks....Shit. Bannister and the Royals gave up four runs in the first. That was all the scoring, period. Bannister settled down, but the rest of the team played like crap and got five lousy hits.This happening one night after scoring 17 runs. With a great chance to sweep Seattle, they didn't even bother to show up. Then with 27,000-plus in the house on a Wednesday night, they shoot off four fireworks shells....Four. After a 15 minute delay with thousands of antsy kids screaming for fireworks, the stadium announcer said sorry kids, the fireworks are out of order. The Royals have no equal in pissing all over their fan base. They made 27,000 sit through a torturous five hit shutout, then couldn't even make fireworks happen on the Fourth of July. Disappointing. Disgusting. Disheartening. Typical Royals.
June 27th: An amazing thing happened today. The Royals SWEPT the California-Orange County-Anaheim-Los Angeles-Cucomunga-Disneyland Angels. Swept them. The team with the best record in the American League. Swept...by the worst team in the American League. That's why baseball is great. Angels had ten hits today, and were shut out 1-zip.This is the first sweep of the season for KC, and the first time they've won four games in a row this season. Royals are now just one game behind the greasy Chisox, who just happen to come to KC this weekend. Battle for the AL Central cellar begins! Whoo-hoo!!!
June 24th: Royals actually won an extra innings game today to avoid being swept by the Brew Crew. Kansas City snapped a four-game losing streak with today's come from behind win. It was only the third time in 39 games that the Royals have come back to win when trailing after seven innings. Inter league play is now done. The Royals did well at home taking two of three against Philadelphia, St. Louis and the Florida Fish, then leveled back off on this road trip, dropping two of three to St. Louis and Milwaukee in back to back series. Coming down the stretch towards the All Star Break, the Royals haven't improved much in the standings compared to last year. They have the worst record in the American League, and only the Cincinnati Reds have fewer wins. As bad as that is, the Royals are only 1.5 games behind the Chisox in the AL Central. If KC could crawl over at least one team in the division and get out of the basement, that would be a marked improvement. Royals starting pitching has really been on the slide the last week. No starter has a winning record. In fact, Jimmy Gobble at 3-1 is the only pitcher on the staff with a winning record. Perez and De La Rosa are both pushing ERAs up to almost six. Soria has been the biggest surprise, saving 10 games out of 13 opportunities. On offense, Alex Gordon has finally crossed the Mendoza line, and has had a few multiple hit games in the past couple weeks. He checks in with a .234 average, but he's struck out 63 times in 69 games. Teahen is at .290, Buck has cooled off to .251, but has 13 dingers. Captain Jesus Sweeney is hurt again. This time it's a sore knee. His $11 million salary has been worth 205 at bats and a .245 average. Think we could get that for say, half a mill from a Triple-A player. Shealy has been hurting the team. He's batting .220, only hit three homers, and hasn't had his head in the game. Got doubled off the other night in Milwaukee sleeping on the bases. It's possible that when Reggie Sanders comes off the DL, he goes to right, Teahen goes to first, and Shealy goes to Omaha.
June 10th: Today I got to go to the final game in the home series vs.the Phillies. My old high school friend Eric works for a guy who has "Crown Seats," which are the ultra rich guy seats right behind home plate. I got to go in those same seats last year vs. St. Louis, and we killed the Cards. Today the Royals put a major ass kickin' on the Phillies, 17-5. Grudz had 5 RBI's, Tony Peña Jr. hit his first homer as a Royal, and the team looked pretty good from about the third inning on. Here's what a crown seat ticket looks like:
Before the game there's a big brunch in the Crown Club, which is like a bar/restaurant with TVs everywhere. I had an omlette with cheese and mushrooms, fresh fruit, link sausage, beef oscar (which is funky rare beef with yellow sauce on top), coffee, a bloody mary, and a little later, peanut butter cake for dessert. Totally stuffed, we waddle out to our seats right behind home plate. I'm talking maybe 30 feet from home plate. During the game, waitress chicks wait on you hand and foot. Free beer, mixed drinks, whatever you want. Then they bring you more food outside, here's what the menu looks like, and again, you can have as much as you want of everything, if you still have room for it.:
There were four of us; Eric and me, and two of my best buds Gary and Brad. I was the designated driver, so just had a couple beers during the game, but the other boys had as much as they could handle. The view is incredible. Here's a pic I took from my seat:
When the game is over, you tip your waitress, usually $10 or $20 or $100 depending on how filthy rich you are. My ticket was free so I tipped her $20, which was probably about half of what the meal and snacks and drinks was worth. Can you imagine having four Crown Seats at $180 each for 82 home games? That's $59,040 per year, plus the parking pass and tips. It must be great to be that wealthy, and I am very very very lucky to get to experience something like this. With my front row 50 yard line Chiefs tickets, and occasional Crown Seats for the Royals, there's nothing better. Man, I love Kansas City!
May 21st: After actually winning a road trip, the Royals come home for Memorial Day Weekend. Play to big crowds, get some attention from casual fans after going 8-2, then do a typical Royals swan dive. Kansas City has dropped its last four games by a combined score of 36-10, and are firmly back in last place, already 13 games back of Cleveland. They may be 25 out by the All-Star break if this pace continues. The Good News: De Jesus and Captain Mikey have stayed relatively healthy so far this year, although neither is exactly tearing it up. De Jesus is hitting .270, Sweeney's hitting .253. While no Royals starter is hitting over .300, Teahen is at .292 and John Buck is at .277, good numbers for both players. Buck leads the Royals with 8 homers, Shealy and Gordon have been hitting better, although their batting averages for the season are still woefully anemic with Shealy at .217 and Gordon below the Mendoza line at .191. Catcher Jason La Rue is back from injury, as is pitcher Octavio Dotel, the alleged bullpen "stopper." Zach Greinke has shown signs of improvement in the bullpen. The Bad News: Gordon has struck out 47 times in 47 games. If he had as may hits as strikeouts, he'd be hitting .291. Royals pitching has been horrendous during the home stand. Gill Meche got cuffed around in his last start against Seattle, and left the game with "tightness in his ass muscles." His sphincter probably tighten up beyond belief as it's probably sinking in that he's working for the Royals. The most reliable reliever in the pen, Soria, is on the 15 day DL with a sore shoulder. That's bad, as the Royals have really leaned on Soria over the past few weeks to shut down the opponent when nobody else can. Royals have already used 17 different pitchers this season. Two of which (Standridge and Wellemeyer) are no longer in the organization. Took them less than two months to wash out. And when you wash out with the Royals, your career is really in the dumper.
May 19th: Royals started inter-league play last night with a Friday night game at Colorado. Rockies starter Jeff Francis was cruising with a 2-0 lead and a shutout into the 8th inning. After striking out De Jesus, for some unexplained reason, Rockies Manager (and former Royals phee-nom) Clint Hurdle pulled him, brought in reliever Manny Corpas, who gave up five straight Royals runs. Rockies fans boo (as they should).Thanks Clintster! Royals relief pitcher Brandon Duckworth got the win, got a single in his only at bat, and was fresh off his daughter being born 24 hours earlier. Nice couple of days for Brandon. Royals starting pitching has been decent the last week. Royals have won three straight for the first time this season, and may actually have a winning road trip. John Buck has been the most improved starter this year. Buck's hitting .293 with seven dingers. He seems to hit better in clutch situations this year, and his defense behind the plate has been much better. Rookie phenom #1 Alex Gordon is still struggling, .162 average and 42 Ks. His defense has been up and down. Last night he turned a nice round the horn double play to end the eighth inning. Rookie phenom #2 Billy Butler was sent back down to Omaha, after hitting an uninspired .243, striking out 7 times out of 37 plate appearances and making a couple costly errors in the outfield. Ah-Hell B-Error-A has seem limited action off the bench. Last night's win was Buddy Bell's first victory over the Rockies, a team he used to manage.
May 13th: Royals play the wrap up game against White Sox in Chicago, avoid the sweep with an 11-1 butt kicking. Today is the first win against Chicago in five tries. Today was "Breast Cancer Awareness Day" in major league baseball, and teams used bats painted pink as a good will gesture -although the bats looked very penis-like. after today, it looks like the Royals should play with big penis bats every game. Teahen had a three-run homer, De Jesus had a four-hit game. Last night Soria blew his second save of the year. Royals were one out away from a 4-3 win, Chisox has a 2-out rally to tie in the ninth, won in the tenth. Alex Gordon is still overmatched at the plate. He leads the AL in strikeouts with 38 K's in 34 games. His .161 average is a real drain on the team, especially batting in the number six spot. They may have to move him down to the eight or nine hole until he starts to hit. If he doesn't start to hit better soon, it could mean a lovely Omaha vacation in June. Royals could move German to third and (God Forbid) bring up Aw-Hell B-error-a to play short. John Buck has hit much better this year, and leads all AL catchers with five dingers. He's been the team's most improved position player so far this year. De La Rosa and Soria have been the biggest pitching surprises. Even with the blown save last night, Soria has been a reliable closer as a Rule Five pick. Big bucks free agent Dotel has yet to throw an inning in the regular season. Royals may end up playing the first two months of the season without their free agent "closer."
May 10th: Last night Captain Mikey hit a homer in the 8th which stood up for a 3-2 win over Oakland. You'd think the team would pick up some momentum. So today was a Thursday afternoon game, with 18,000 local elementary school students in attendance for "Student Day at the K." Royals respond by dropping Planet Zack from the rotation and sticking him into the bullpen ala Jeremy Affeldt, and starting Luke Hudson, fresh off his rehab stint. Not an especially good marketing move....inviting 18,000 future "Royals Fans" to witness a 17-3 butt kicking at the hands of the A's. Royals were down 10-zip by the fifth inning. Exciting Royals Baseball.....yeeech. Royals worst in the American League, basically right at the same pace as 2006. No measurable improvement at all so far. Will Buddy Bell last till Memorial Day? Place your bets...
May 6th: Last night I turn on the Royals - Tigers game. 5-4 Royals in the sixth. Emil Brown leads off the inning. He hits a shot to dead center field, stands at home plate to admire his work. Only problem is the ball hits about two feet below the top of the wall. Tigers center fielder gets the ball of the rebound, turns and fires to second, throwing out Brown by about three steps. Nice job, Putz. Royals lose 7-5, Brown is hitting .189. Did I mention he's a putz? Today they play the final game against Detroit, hoping to avoid a sweep. In the previous series, the Royals played pretty decent in splitting a four game series with the Angels. Today they had a chance to at least salvage one game against Detroit, who's been the big dog of the AL Central? How'd they fare? A 13-4 loss. Planet Zack gave up three -count 'em- three two run homers in the second inning. To make matters worse, crappy hopeless ex-Royal Pitcher Chad Durbin got the win, and the evil, worthless, sloth-like Neifi Perez hit a three run homer. Detroit gets the sweep, Royals go to double digits out of first place. Truly a low day for this typical Royals season.
April 29th: Royals in Seattle, get Sunday's game (rubber game of the series) to the 7th inning with a 1-1 tie. Two guys on, two out, 3-2 count. Brian Bannister throws a fastball to Seattle's Willie Bloomquist. He barely tips the ball. Instead of John Buck catching the foul tip in his mitt, it wedges in his armpit between his throwing arm and his chest protector. Royals run off the field, strike three, inning over. Umps call it a foul ball, said the catcher has to catch the ball in the hand or the mitt, not squeezed between the arm and the chest protector. Next pitch Bloomquist lines a 2-run double to center which was, by the way, only Bloomquist's second hit of the season. Royals fold up like a cheap lawn chair, lose 5-1. Royals now tied with the Nats for worst record in the majors at 8-17. Almost eight games back after the first month of the season, so at this pace, they should finish 46 games back in the AL Central, and be mathematically eliminated sometime in early August. Good News: De Jesus has stayed healthy, missing just a couple games with a sprained ankle. He's hitting .320, but still hasn't stolen a base. Not good for a true lead off man. Speaking of Jesus, Captain Mikey has his average up to .276, but still seems to get garbage time hits, stranding men on base when it counts.Of his 18 hits, only three are for extra bases. That's weak for a number four hitter. Bad News: Roberto Clemente, uh...Emile Brown, is hitting a blistering .197 with 12 K's and zip home runs. Mark Teahen has struck out 26 times, way too much for a number three hitter. And phee-nom Alex Gordon checks in at a smokin' .162 with 25 Ks. Back up Catcher Jason La Rue is hitting .111. When you can't beat out John Buck for a job, that's pretty pathetic.
April 21st: As soon as I say something nice about Planet Zack, he melts down. Only goes part of an inning against Detroit, gets blasted. Figures. Planet Zach now 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA. On the last road trip, the Royals gave up three grand slams in four games. That's hard to do.
April 14th: Same old Royals. After blogging these losers for five years, it's all too familiar. First game in Baltimore, Royals can only manage to squeak out one run, get the game to extra innings and lose. Last night they can only squeak out one run. Get the game to a manageable 4-1 in the eighth, then the crappy bullpen -in this case Todd Wellemeyer and his 12.00 ERA- give up a grand salami to go down 8-1 into the ninth. Brutal. Today in the KC Star, Captain Mikey Jesus says "our bad hitting is contagious," and the Royals plate anemia has spread like the clap. So far, our "big money" players are all dancing way below the Mendoza line. Teahen at .161, and zip for his last 17, Captain Sweeney (the Eleven Million Dollar Man) hitting .167 with no homers and one RBI in 11 games. Ryan Shealy hitting .115 with no homers and only two RBIs, and rookie phenom Alex Gordon is 3 for 33, hitting a blistering .091. The Royals also lead the American League in strikeouts. The starting pitching, except for Perez, has been decent. Five Million Dollar Closer Dotel is still having shoulder problems, and may go on the 60 day DL soon. That leaves the Royals with no real closer, and the bullpen has been basically awful. Only bright spot has been Greinke, who has been great as a starter, 1-1 with a 1.38 ERA.
April 9th: Well, let's see how they
react to the Rodriguez killer homer yesterday. It's Toronto's home opener,
50,000 screaming hosers in the dome, Perez gets blasted, Bell gets kicked
out, Royals get pasted 9-1. Ugly, just plain ugly. BTW: Buck hits a meaningless
homer in the 7th after he hits into an inning ending double play in
the 3rd. Typical. Buck is Hal Morris all over again. If you're wondering
what I'm talking about, Hal Morris was the Royals first baseman in 1998.
He was
the biggest garbage time hitter in history. Here's his
season stats:
127 games, 472 ABs, 1 HR, 40 RBI, Average .309. That has to
be the worst production EVER for a .300 hitter in a full season. The sad
thing is, Buck's worse. No way he hits .300. Royals only had four hits all
night. Weak.
April 8th: Six games into the season, we're already in last place in the AL Central. Today's game against the Tigers was a soul-crusher. Fifth Starter Brandon Duckworth takes a 2-0 shutout into the seventh. Gobble and Soria get it to the ninth, still 2-0. A win would give the Royals their first series win at home, and even their record at 3-3. Soria burned through the Tiger lineup in the eighth, but in the ninth, our good Buddy sends out Riske to close the ninth. And Riske lived up to his name. He gives up a lead off double, walks the next batter, then on his first pitch to Pudge Rodriguez grooves one which lands about halfway up the left field hillside. Instant blown save, instant 3-2 loss, dropping the Royals to 2-4 and LAST in the AL Central. Six games into the season, already in last place. BTW: Alex Gordon only has one hit in six games. Sweeney took Easter off, because Jesus didn't want him or his $11 million salary to hit today. Grudz is 0 for his last 17 ABs. Shealy finally got two hits today, and Teahen hit his first homer. Not enough. Looks like we're going to lose a lot of one run games this year. On to a ten game road trip. Happy Happy, Joy Joy.
April 5th: Well, I finally got around to setting up the 2007 blog. I didn't get to go to opening day this year, although every year I marvel at how beautiful Kauffman Stadium is. I'm really glad Kauffman is going to stay put, and be the home of the Royals for years to come. The renovations over the next few years should be tremendous. The first home series was with Boston. Opening day went the Royals way completely. Beautiful 80 degree weather, and a 7-1 win for Gil Meche. The next two didn't go quite as well, with BoSox Pitchers Beckett and Dice-K shutting down the Royals in successive games.
Spring Training Outlook:The Royals have made some great moves since last season. Landing Dayton Moore as GM in the middle of the '06 season seems to be a great move, at least so far. Moore worked under John Schuerholz at Atlanta, the man who was responsible for the Royals last period of baseball greatness. Former Royals GM Allard Baird was a hard working talented baseball guy, but didn't have the chops to be a major league GM. He's now a scout for the Bosox.
Moore has done exactly what needed to be done to start cleaning up the mess. He cleaned out the losers and dead weight in the front office, and brought in seasoned successful baseball people in scouting and player development. He gutted the pitching staff, and made trade after trade for pitching. Moore spent $55 Million to land Gil Meche as a legit number one starter, something the Royals haven't had since David Cone and Kevin Appier.
Moore also sent a message that losers, whiners and slackers are no longer going to be tolerated. Run-Elvis Hernandez (aka El Taco Grande) came into camp 40 lbs overweight last year. Surprise...he had physical problems all year and minimal production. This year he's history, toiling in the minors with the Red Sox.
Aw-Hell B-Error-A, once the AL Rookie of the Year and touted as the "Next Miguel Tejada", was sent on an extended Nebraska vacation, even though he has a guaranteed $8 million contract. Berroa had the lowest on-base percentage of any starting AL player last year, and Moore sent him down until he learns to walk and recover his defensive abilities. The message to the team is: If you don't produce, you're DONE. Sounds simple, but that hasn't been part of the Royals culture for a long time.
The lineup looks decent. David De Jesus in Center, Mark Teahen in Right, Roberto Clemente in Left...oh wait, that's Emil Brown. He just thinks he's Roberto Clemente. Grudz won a gold glove at second 2006. Ryan Shealy is a good young first baseman with some pop and good soft hands. The left side of the infield is brand new with promising rookie Alex Gordon at third, and Chico Escuela (Tony Peña, Jr) at short.
Catching still suspect with John Buck and Jason La Rue sharing the starting spot. Buck is the human pass ball, and is just a terrible defensive catcher. La Rue came over from Cincy after a knee injury, and will hopefully push for a starting job. DH is Jesus best friend, the $11 million dollar man himself, Mike "Ouch" Sweeney. I bet he's on the 60 day DL before Mother's Day. Hope I'm wrong. It is a contract year for Mikey, and God needs the money. So maybe he'll manage to stay in the lineup for a week or two.
Dayton Moore has said the currency of baseball is pitching. He's focused on bringing in a slew of new pitchers, and has challenged the pitchers he's inherited. Hold-overs from last year include Planet Zack, De La Rosa, Perez, Gobble, Peralta and Duckworth. New guys include Meche, Riske, Soria, Braun and Dotel. The past five years the Royals have burned through pitchers like a chain smoker burns through bic lighters, so we'll see how the rotation holds up.
Buddy Bell is back as manager after a bout with throat cancer. Here's hoping he has a much less stressful year.
Want to re-live the searing pain of the last five Royals seasons? OK Sparky, you asked for it!
