KC Royals - JUNE

[SubGod22]

KC has no plans to make Soria a starter

"He's got the pitches to be a starter," Yost said. "But there's no thought of that right now."

Chen, Davies nearing return to KC rotation

Despite the injury, Chen still leads the Royals with a 4-1 record. Davies is 1-6 with a 7.46 ERA.

Crow makes unexpected trek to closer's role

Soria, who went 43-for-46 in save opportunities with a 1.78 ERA in 2010, is having a miserable season by any standard, not just his own. The two-time All-Star is 7-for-12 in save opportunities with a 6.55 ERA. He has already allowed more earned runs this season (16) than he did all of 2010 (13).

Royals erupt to take down Angels

Finally things worked out for the Royals and they had, of all things, a relatively peaceful and easy 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Most of the 14,174 customers were Royals fans, and they witnessed some pleasant developments on a relaxing 81-degree evening: Jeff Francis survived a rocky start to pitch seven innings. The bullpen held fast with Blake Wood's two shutout innings. Alex Gordon and Chris Getz each had three hits. Eric Hosmer had two hits, two RBIs and two runs. Jeff Francoeur knocked in a couple.

Pleasant indeed, especially after two straight games lost in the ninth inning.

[SubGod22]

Mexicuted

At The Ballpark...

Thumbs down…

To Dayton Moore’s recent trades. Sean O’Sullivan’s starts make me want to skin baby seals and Vin Mazzaro’s relief appearance where he was allowed to get sodomized was the stuff of legend. O’Sullivan and his 3.0 SO/9 strikeout rate would be the lowest since Chien-Ming Wang finished with a 3.1 SO/9 back in 2006. I want to wholly buy into The Process (really, I do) but when the GM is actively acquiring pitchers like O’Sullivan and Mazzaro to round out a pitching staff, you have to wonder.

[SubGod22]

Yost, McClure investigating Soria's issues

Overuse of the cutter and more reliance on Soria's staples -- the fastball and changeup -- is being studied. Yost said that McClure became concerned last season about Soria's frequent use of the cutter.

"Mac got a little fearful last year when he was throwing so many cutters, but he was racking up save after save after save. What are you gonna say?" Yost said.

Although Soria had 43 saves in 46 chances, disturbing side effects were duly noted.

"Higher pitch counts, fewer swings and misses and it all played into it," Yost said. "But when you're racking up 38, 39 consecutive saves, how do you tell a guy?"

Solid start has Francoeur top 10 in ASG voting

KANSAS CITY -- Jeff Francoeur came to the Royals with a potent bat, a powerful arm, a knack for clubhouse leadership and a magnetic personality.

All that, plus a strong start for his new team, has put Francoeur in the top 10 in the outfield balloting for the 2011 American League All-Star team. The first results for the AL were announced on Wednesday.

Francoeur rated 10th among AL outfielders with 407,517 votes. The three leaders were the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista with 1,261,659 votes, the Yankees' Curtis Granderson with 994,315, and the Rangers' Josh Hamilton with 748,240.

[SubGod22]

Escobar's dazzling defense saves game

KANSAS CITY -- Billy Butler might have been a hero for his bat, but that was just one swing. During the top half of many innings, it was shortstop Alcides Escobar who saved the game again and again in the Royals' 2-0 win Wednesday afternoon.

With two outs in the top of the eighth, the Angels managed to load the bases on a single, double and walk. Alberto Callaspo stepped to the plate with his .340 average with runners in scoring position.

Royals pitcher Tim Collins got Callaspo to hit the ball on the ground, but it was headed in a hurry for left field. That's when Escobar dove to his right to stop the ball in the grass, saving at least one run. And when he launched a two-hopper to first that Eric Hosmer scooped for the final out, he made sure the score would stay at 0-0.

Some would say it would be gutsy to go for the out at first from shallow left field, but for Escobar, there was no question where the throw was going.

"When I saw the ball, I saw Callaspo hit the ball, so I had the time to make the out at first," Escobar said. "Callaspo's not the fastest runner, so I threw to first and Hosmer made a very good play, too."

Escobar got a chance to not only save the game but potentially win it in the bottom of the eighth. He came up to bat with one out and Chris Getz on second, but could only manage a groundout that moved Getz to third.

Some of the fans were not as appreciative of Escobar's game as Royals manager Ned Yost was.

"It's crazy," Yost said. "When Esky was hitting in the eighth inning and we had a runner on second, somebody screamed from the stands, 'Ned, get a hitter in there!' And I'm thinking, 'Dude have you been watching the game?' This guy just saved us four runs -- that's like driving in four runs. His runs are in his glove."

Escobar finished the series 0-for-10 at the plate, but he realizes that as long as he keeps playing spectacular defense, he can help his team win games.

"I need to help the team, whether with my defense or my hitting," Escobar said. "Right now, my bat's so down, so I'm working very hard."

There's video of the play in the article.

Butler's reviewed walk-off serves Royals

KANSAS CITY -- Who needs video replay on home runs? Not the umpires. All they have to do is check with Jeff Francoeur.

Francoeur knew immediately that Billy Butler's drive had cleared the left-field wall and was a home run that gave the Royals a 2-0 walk-off victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium.

"I knew it was out," said Francoeur, on base with a one-out single. "When I rounded second and he went up, I just started jogging because the ball hit the seat and came screaming back. I got eyes like a hawk, man."

Even so, the umpires initially decided that Butler's ball, which bounced back onto the field was still in play. Butler got to second and apparently had a double and Hawk-Eye Francoeur had to be content holding at third base.

"I knew I had at least a double," said Butler, who teed off on a 3-1 pitch from left-hander Scott Downs. "It's tough to tell here with home runs, but they don't have the yellow line and the seats are right there and it bounces back a lot, so obviously you have to go off their call."

Royals manager Ned Yost jogged onto the field, confused as everyone else -- except for Francoeur, of course.

"I didn't know what it hit," Yost said. "I was just hoping it'd get out, I was hoping he [Bobby Abreu] wouldn't catch it. They played deep, and anything deep was going to get caught. It looked to me like it hit the screen and bounced back. I couldn't tell. So I ran out and told [third-base umpire] Fieldin Culbreth, 'I've got no stinkin' idea where that ball hit.' And he said, 'Don't worry about it, we're going to go do the right thing here. I'm not sure either, so we'll go check it.' "

Sure enough the umpires adjourned to a private viewing room under the stands to review the tap. A couple of minutes later, they came out and ...

"He took a second to signal and he definitely stone-faced it a little bit, so I didn't think he was going to signal," Butler said.

But the signal was home run, Francoeur dashed across the plate, and so did Butler, flinging his helmet in glee as the crowd of 12,022 exulted in the Royals' eighth walk-off victory this season. Butler got an immediate TV interview, a Gatorade shower and a shaving cream pie in the face from Hawk-Eye.

This should take you to the video.

[SubGod22]

Yes, work is this slow.... Thru June 1: Listed in order of ABs

Melky Cabrera - .269, 33 R, 12 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 34 RBI, 14 BB, 34 SO, 5 SB
Alex Gordon - .285, 36 R, 18 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 30 RBI, 21/48, 5 SB
Jeff Francoeur - .278, 27 R, 13 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 14/40, 6 SB
Billy Butler - .296, 26 R, 14 2B, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 39/27, 1 SB
Alcides Escobar - .212, 20 R, 7 2B, 13 RBI, 9/25, 5 SB
Wilson Betemit - .306, 23 R, 13 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 23 RBI, 23/40, 3 SB
Chris Getz - .253, 25 R, 4 2B, 2 3B, 13 RBI, 19/17, 8 SB
Mike Aviles - .236, 12 R, 9 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 29 RBI, 6/24, 8 SB
Eric Hosmer - .291, 12 R, 6 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 17 RBI, 7/17, 2 SB
Matt Treanor - .212, 14 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 19/24, 1 SB
Kila Ka'aihue (1 less game played than Hosmer) .195, 6 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 12/26
Brayan Pena - .220, 7 R, 4 2B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 7/8
Jarrod Dyson - .167, 6 R, 4/8, 9 SB
Mitch Maier - .348, 7 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 5/6

Listed in order of IP

Luke Hochevar - 3-5, 4.96, 12GS, 78.0, 23BB/37Ks
Jeff Francis - 2-5, 4.46, 12GS, 1 CG, 74.2, 15/39
Sean O'Sullivan - 2-4, 6.75, 10G (8), 50.2, 24/17
Bruce Chen - 4-1, 3.59, 7GS, 1 CG, 42.2, 14/24
Kyle Davies - 1-6, 7.46, 9GS, 41.0, 17/29
Tim Collins - 3-2, 2.61, 29G, 31.0, 24/31
Aaron Crow - 2-0, 1.33, 22G, 27.0, 9/26
Nate Adcock - 1-0, 4.07, 10G (2), 24.1, 7/13
Blake Wood - 2-0, 2.78, 19G, 22.2, 8/20
Joakim Soria - 3-3, 6.55, 23G, 7 SV, 22.0, 10/19
Louis Coleman - 0-2, 3.12, 18G, 1 SV, 17.1, 11/19
Danny Duffy - 0-0, 4.11, 3GS, 15.1, 10/14
Jeremy Jeffress - 1-1, 4.70, 14G, 1 SV, 15.1, 11/13
Greg Holland - 1-0, 0.00, 6G, 9.1, 4/13
Felipe Paulino - (Includes pre KC stats) 0-4, 4.50, 20G (1), 24.0, 7/21
Robinson Tejeda - 0-1, 6.14, 9G, 7.1, 3/2
Vin Mazzaro - 0-0, 22.74, 2G (1), 6.1, 7/4
Everett Teaford - 0-0, 2.84, 8G, 6.1, 3/1
Kanekoa Texeira - (Yankees) 0-0, 2.84, 6G, 6.1, 3/0

[newshock1234]

wow, looking at those number just reminded me at how brutal our starting pitching has been

[RoyalShock]

wow, looking at those number just reminded me at how brutal our starting pitching has been

And in spite of that, if Soria is the closer of the past two years, we're .500 or just 1-2 below.

[SubGod22]

Tejeda clears waivers, stays with Royals

KANSAS CITY -- Relief pitcher Robinson Tejeda will remain with the Royals organization after clearing waivers and being assigned to Triple-A Omaha.

Tejeda was designated for assignment after the Royals acquired Felipe Paulino from the Colorado Rockies on May 26.

Tejeda was put on the 15-day disabled list on April 14 with right shoulder inflammation. Prior to being placed on the disabled list, Tejeda gave up five runs in just 7 1/3 innings, along with 12 hits and just two strikeouts.

Royals focus on positives in loss to Twins

But there were some positive notes for Royals fans as 14,584 folks gathered in the 83-degree evening at Kauffman Stadium. Right fielder Jeff Francoeur pounded out three extra-base hits and knocked in both Royals runs. Shortstop Alcides Escobar made another marvelous play, this time not bothering to use his glove. Relief pitcher Nate Adcock contributed 4 1/3 innings and gave up only one run.

However, the biggest news for Kansas Citians was that Joakim Soria pitched two perfect innings of relief and looked like the Soria of old. Soria and the Royals needed that reassurance and they certainly got it in his first outing since he was removed from the closer's role.

"I thought he looked great," manager Ned Yost said. "He had good finish on his fastball, good finish on his delivery and his fastball had that little natural cut and hop to it at the end. So 19 pitches for two innings, he was real efficient with good stuff."

[SubGod22]

Mazzaro stepping in for injured O'Sullivan

By posting a 2.84 ERA in his last three games, Mazzaro has whittled his Omaha mark to 4.06 to go with a 3-0 record. He has 42 strikeouts and 20 walks in 44 1/3 innings.

Mazzaro is likely to get at least two starts for the Royals while Chen and Kyle Davies are off on a rehab assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Reliever Jesse Chavez, called up on Friday, is likely to be returned to Omaha to make room for Mazzaro. He gave up three hits and two runs in one inning against the Twins on Sunday.

Soria returns to closer role

KANSAS CITY -- It looks like Jack is back.

One week after being demoted, Joakim Soria was reinstated as the Royals' closer. Soria pitched two clean innings in Kansas City's 3-2 extra-innings win over the Blue Jays Monday and after the game, manager Ned Yost said Soria would take over as his ninth-inning role.

"I told him after the game he's ready. That's five pretty dominant innings of relief work for him," Yost said. "I told Aaron [Crow] that he'll move back into the eighth-inning spot, and that sets our bullpen up really nice."

He's still not missing many bats. I'm still concerned.
Hosmer delivers KC's ninth walk-off victory

KANSAS CITY -- In Ned Yost's mind, there was no way Eric Hosmer was not going to get a hit. It simply wasn't an option.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning on Monday, Melky Cabrera scorched a line drive that looked like it was headed for the hole at short. Instead, Toronto third baseman Mike McCoy dove to his left and snagged the ball for an out. If there was any justice in the world, Yost thought, Hosmer would get a hit.

So, when the rookie first baseman came up with two outs, it came as no surprise to his manager when he lined the first pitch he saw into right-center field, scoring Chris Getz and giving the Royals their ninth walk-off win of the season, 3-2, over the Blue Jays.

Paulino, making his second start for the Royals, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. It was promptly broken up by a Jayson Nix single to left, but the right-hander ended up going 6 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and two runs, with only one being earned.

"He's just been dynamite," Yost said. "On the attack with great stuff and manages his pitch count well. He's been quite a find for us so far."

[SubGod22]

Royals can't find winning way against Jays

Right-hander Vin Mazzaro's second return to the Royals lasted five-plus innings. It involved six runs on eight hits, not a tidy outing but much improved on his 14-run mess of May 17 against Cleveland. That occurred amidst 11 hits in 2 1/3 innings and was of historic proportions. Researchers determined that the 14 runs were the most given up by a pitcher in less than three innings since 1899.

"There were three or four plays where we didn't help him out much tonight," Yost said. "He pitched OK. If he'd had a little more help, his line would've been better."

This time out, Mazzaro labored through a rough first inning. Yunel Escobar led off with a single and scampered around the bases when, as he swiped second base, catcher Matt Treanor bounced his throw into center field. Melky Cabrera grabbed the ball and flung it past third base where it ricocheted off a barrier and bounced past the visitors' dugout, eluding the pursuing Mazzaro. The two throwing errors enabled Escobar to score.

Duffy, Villanueva aiming to start winning trend

[ShockTalk]

As I just normally scan this thread, I'm sorry if someone has address the following question earlier.

What's with the weird Royals' scheduling this year? They've played 39 home games and only 22 road games so far this year. It's not usual for a team to get 8-9 games off in one direction or the other, but 17 games seems extreme. Given that they have played .500 ball at home, but are only 6-16 on the road, it looks like their record is only going to get worse.

Hopefully, this isn't because the Twins now have an outdoor stadium and MLB is loading them up with road games early. I noticed they have only played 21 home games with 39 on the road.

[SubGod22]

I hadn't even thought about that. But the Twins playing outside now may play a part. Who knows...

As far as the Royals record, I think they'll struggle all year considering the starting lineup and trying to get some of the youngsters MLB experience. Moose can't be far away. He's hit the ball pretty well since April. Monty is struggling and the way it's going he definitely won't be up until sometime after the All Star break.

They need to figure out the pitching. I'm fine with Hochevar, but he's not a number 1 guy. Chen has been just fine. Duffy shows potential. SOS sucks. Paulino has been a pleasant surprise so far. Davies sucks. Francis is what he is. Mazzaro hasn't shown much yet. Duffy and Hochevar could be 1-3 types. Probably 2 and 3. Everyone else is a 4 or 5 type at best.

[SubGod22]

The Duffy Problem

We discussed the super-two possibilities when he was recalled and how easy it would be for the Royals to send him back to the minors if he struggled. With his numbers and performance, it would be easy for them to ship Duffy to Omaha for a couple of starts, which would then essentially buy the Royals an extra year of cost control. As simple as that sounds, we have to remember Vin Mazarro and Sean O’Sullivan are getting starts. So is Felipe Paulino and Nate Adcock. This is a paper thin pitching rotation.

Duffy will have to stick around a little bit longer. Bruce Chen and Kyle Davies both made rehab starts last night for Northwest Arkansas, so they are a week or so from rejoining the team. The right move when they are ready to be activated would be to replace Duffy. Yes, I’m advocating putting Davies in the rotation ahead of Duffy. That’s simply because one pitcher represents the future while the other represents… A void. The Royals need to make sure Duffy finds his command and finds his confidence. I’m not giving up on Duffy… Not in the least. But the best place for him to work on his issues is Omaha. And with the potential super-two issue, moving him to the farm is a win-win situation.

[newshock1234]

Moose has just got called up

[SubGod22]

Aviles has been optioned to Omaha. Not sure who's getting removed from the 40 man roster but I'm going with Kila.