KC Royals - JUNE

[SubGod22]

Royals get best of Pujols, nip Cardinals

Mike Moustakas drew a walk from Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter to open the eighth, and he moved up on Matt Treanor's bunt. After the second out, Alcides Escobar's sharp bouncer got through Pujols at first base and Moustakas scored, just beating right fielder Lance Berkman's throw to snap a 4-4 tie.

"I was watching E-Rod [Eddie Rodriguez] over at third and he was waving me to go," Moustakas said. "He sent me in, and the rest is history."

Moustakas dove past the plate as catcher Tony Cruz applied a tag.

"I wanted to get around him, and he gave me a lot of the plate on the outside and I just slid out there and snuck in a hair before he got me," Moustakas said.

Pujols was charged with an error on the sharply hit ball, but Royals manager Ned Yost thought Escobar deserved a hit because it took a tough hop. Pujols, though, didn't question the ruling.

"That ball was hit pretty good and it just came up on me, that's the way it goes," Pujols said. "That's a play that you probably make 99 out of 100 times, and I think if we were on a winning streak or something like that, I don't think a crazy thing like that would have happened. But it seems like when things are not going your way, a lot of little things happen like that."

[SubGod22]

Kendall will start rehab in Rookie League

ST. LOUIS -- Catcher Jason Kendall took a big step toward returning to the Royals on Sunday by flying to Arizona to further the rehabilitation process of his right shoulder.

Kendall last played on Aug. 30 when his aching shoulder forced him out of the lineup. He underwent extensive surgery on Sept. 3 in Los Angeles and has been on the disabled list ever since.

At the Royals' training facility in Surprise, Ariz., Kendall will play for the Rookie classification team in the Arizona League, which opens on Monday.

This doesn't really excite me...
Duffy's excellent outing ends early with cramp

When he left, Duffy had registered nine consecutive strikeouts while getting 11 outs as the Cardinals seemed largely baffled. Not so baffled, however, that they couldn't score two runs with three hits and a walk in the first inning.

Yet, after Colby Rasmus flied to left for the Cardinals' first out, the next nine outs came on strikes, all but two swinging. That string was broken when opposing pitcher Jaime Garcia grounded out to short. That was followed by Kozma's single to left and Duffy's departure.

"It just grabbed me a little bit. I didn't really expect to come out but it's just one of those things -- you've got to err on the side of caution," Duffy said.

"Growing up, I used to wonder why pitchers would come out with blisters -- that's not who I am. I'd be out there with a broken leg. The last thing I want to do is use up our bullpen the way I did today. It's just unfortunate it happened the way it did, but I'll hydrate really well next time."

I'm just glad it was a cramp. I didn't see it initially, but Traenor was out there and looking at the dugout with a why aren't you guys out here body language.
Gordon puzzled by seventh-inning plunking

"If it was on purpose, I mean what is your retaliation? What are you retaliating -- that Albert got hurt at first on a clean play? Or that there was a pitch inside that almost hit Albert that didn't?" Gordon said. "I'd say, 'Quit being a bunch of babies.'"

Royals rally twice, but fall one hit short

ST. LOUIS -- When an unlikely power source such as Alcides Escobar electrifies your ninth inning with a game-tying home run, you've got to feel pretty good about your chances.

And Kansas City did -- until St. Louis unleashed its own unlikely charge in Skip Schumaker, whose homer in the bottom of the ninth gave the Cardinals a 5-4 victory on Sunday to the delight of the large red-clad portion of 41,660 fans at Busch Stadium.

Zap. The Cardinals won the "Teams Unite for Joplin" Interleague series, two games to one, all by 5-4 scores. The Royals sank into last place for the first time this season, behind the surging Minnesota Twins.

[SubGod22]

Cellar Dwellers

Sunday’s game was one of the more interesting contests of the season, for the sheer volume of crazy. Let’s start with Danny Duffy who somehow managed to put up this wonderful line before leaving the game with a leg cramp:

3.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO

Read that again. Duffy recorded 11 outs, nine of them on strikeouts. Uh… Wow?

He threw 90 pitches and 56 of those were strikes. What was insanely incredible about his strikes were how they broke down:

17 – Swing and miss
16 – Fouls
15 – Looking
8 – In play

That just doesn’t happen where a pitcher has more swings and misses than any other kinds of strikes. Searching for an adjective for a performance like this… Dominant comes to mind. Except it really wasn’t.

Because of the eight balls the Cardinals put in play, only two of them were converted into outs. Yep… The Cards posted a .750 BABIP against Duffy on Sunday. The same game where he was routinely making hitters look overmatched at times… things would get mixed up. Topsy-turvy.

As the game progressed, things got even more interesting. I just don’t understand why the Cardinals were throwing at Alex Gordon. Oh, wait… I do understand. Their manager is a egomaniacal headhunter of the highest order. Come on… We assume, this was in retaliation of the Louis Coleman throwing high and tight to Albert Pujols. They say the son resembles the father… In this case, poor little Albert sure emulates his whiny little manager. Offering a staredown after an inside pitch? Does Albert want an Oscar, because that was quite the dramatic performance. Come on… Like it’s illegal to throw up and in on a guy who sits over the plate.

(Is it just me, or had Pujols really taken on LaRussa-like qualities in that he just whines about everything. And it’s non-stop. Really Albert, you’re great. We know that. It can be fun watching you hit. But you’re veering toward A-Rod territory where you just need to shut up and play.)

If the pitches to Gordon (there were two – one behind his back before he was actually plunked) were in fact retaliation, that was the ultimate punk move by the Cardinals. Why? First of all, Pujols wasn’t even hit. He wasn’t hit! Second, Pujols got whatever he was seeking when he hit a home run on the next pitch. Besides, he sure took his time and admired his work. (My rough estimate has his home run trot – plus the bat flip styling – at 24 seconds. That makes it one of the longer home run trots this weekend.) If Pujols was perturbed by the inside pitch, that’s revenge.

There was also speculation the Gordon HBP was retaliation for Matt Holliday getting hit on Friday. Seriously? That makes even less sense. But with LaRussa, nothing is out of the realm of possibility. Ordinarily, if it was just one pitch that hit Gordon, I’d write it off as nothing. But two… Where there’s smoke and a manager with an ego that can’t fit under that arch, there’s fire. Also, there is some question as to whether the Gordon HBP was in fact a hit ordered from management since Tallet isn’t exactly a control pitcher – he owns a 7.15 ERA. That’s LaRussa’s M.O. on something like this – send an expendable pitcher to the mound so he gets the ejection and/or suspension. Stay classy, Tony.

Of course, this whole thing takes on an added dimension when Wilson Betemit runs into Pujols’ wrist on a play at first in between Pujols’ home run and the Gordon HBP, knocking him from the game. It should be noted that while The Best Fans In Baseball think Betemit did something wrong, there is absolutely no way he was at fault. He was clearly running down the baseline, well within his rights. Pujols just handled the throw in the worst possible way. Although by the time this is over, I’m sure Cards fan will somehow place Betemit on the grassy knoll in Dallas. Jeez…

One final note on this… the unwritten rule is if you seek retaliation, you look to the comparable player on the other team. You hit my catcher? I got your catcher. You hit my best hitter? I’ll do the same to your best hitter. So if the Cardinals are seeking retribution for coming up and in on Pujols, they have to go after Alcides Escobar. You think I’m kidding? Whatever that kid is eating, I’ll take two.

– The Shortstop Jesus was hitting .500/.524/.675 in the 11 games prior to Sunday and picked up two more, including the game tying home run in the ninth. That was his first home run of the season, naturally.

[RoyalShock]

I didn't see much of the game but a co-worker described the festivities.

I know there's not much chance of it happening, but I would love for STL to re-sign Pujols for an ungodly amount, only to have him bust next year.

[SubGod22]

Alcides Escobar is the best player on the planet

When Thomas Gray wrote “where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise” in his poem Ode On A Distant Prospect of Eton College, he was ruminating on how blissful his years were prior to becoming wise. In my life as a Royals fan, I’ve been blissfully ignorant of the true joy of watching an elite defensive shortstop. I wasn’t completely ignorant, I knew that Angel Berroa, Tony Pena Jr. and Yuniesky Betancourt weren’t great defenders, but I didn’t really know, not until I got to see Alcides Escobar. It may be folly to be wise, but it sure is a hell of a lot of fun. Especially when for the moment, Alcides Escobar is the best player on the planet.

When we talk about players who were the best in the game, we’re talking about in a certain period of time. Maybe it’s a decade, a season or the dead-ball era. I know that it’s an absurdly short period of time in baseball terms, but for the past two weeks, the best player on the planet has been Alcides Escobar.

I have a statistical interest in baseball, so I’m fully aware of sample sizes. But the results are the results. Whether they come from luck or an anomaly only matters in the context of future prediction. It’d clearly be folly to predict Escobar will continue hitting this well, but that’s not the point. Exactly how well has Escobar hit in the past 14 days? His triple-slash line in super-duper sized font for emphasis:

.468/.500/.681


Those are absurd numbers, the kind that only exist in short time-frames. But still, this is Alcides Freaking Escobar we’re talking about. His slash line after the first game of this time period was .207/.241/.240. So after 60 games of being absolutely woeful at the plate, Escobar goes all bizzaro-Escobar and starts getting hits in about half of his at-bats. In fact, lets watch a video of one of those hits just to prove that it actually happened:

[ShockTalk]

I didn't see much of the game but a co-worker described the festivities.

I know there's not much chance of it happening, but I would love for STL to re-sign Pujols for an ungodly amount, only to have him bust next year.

With this comment, Royal, I'll assume you agree with the article above your post. In this day and age, a batter staring down a pitcher on a close pitch is considered passive. As for him trotting around the bases slow, that was out of character for him. I'm sure he is frustrated with his overall performance this year. For a star player, he represents himself, his team, and his community extremely well. It's unfortunate that you wish him ill will. I reserve those comments only for the high paying Yankees and then only to "deserving" players.

As for LaRussa, I don't care for him. However, I thought the announcers said that Gordon had hit a homer off of Tallet in St Louis and they thought that was the reason for the plunk. I also noticed that LaRussa didn't take Tallett out of the game after he hit lefty Gordon and then faced righty Cabrera. Personally, I blame the umps for not issuing a warning after the pitch behind the back. That being said, Tallet shouldn't be on any team's major league roster.

[SubGod22]

Gordon's hot bat can't cool off D-backs

KANSAS CITY -- Luke Hochevar is a man without answers right now.

The Royals starter again had a game where he cruised early before getting tagged in later innings. And again, he was at a loss for reasons why.

So, after the Royals absorbed a 7-2 Interleague loss to the Diamondbacks at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night, Hochevar admitted he doesn't know exactly what happened.

"I don't know. I was cruising there until the seventh," he said. "A couple hits down the line ... Whatever it is, I need to figure it out. Whether it's poor execution, I'll sit down with the video [Wednesday] and see if the execution is [it] or if I'm falling into a pattern, or what it is. We need to figure it out."

The right-hander was nearly untouchable through four innings, sending down the first 11 D-backs he faced and 13 of the first 14. Things got stickier in the fifth and sixth innings, but not unmanageable and certainly not worrisome.

[SubGod22]

Speedy Dyson called up from Triple-A

It's just temporary, though. Dyson, called up on Tuesday from Triple-A Omaha, is expected to spend just the three days of the Arizona series with the Royals. Then left-hander Bruce Chen will be activated from the disabled list to start Friday night's Interleague game against the Chicago Cubs.

"It didn't make any sense to have Mazzaro sit here for five days when we could bring up a guy like Dyson for three days to help us win, and then when we need Bruce, Dyson will go back," Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Kyle Davies, another starter on the disabled list, will make another Minor League start in his rehabilitation process and then return to start on July 1 at Colorado. That means that Danny Duffy, a rookie left-hander, will make one more start for the Royals against the Cubs on Saturday night and then return to Omaha to work on his control.

"Command is still a bit of an issue for him. He needs to be more efficient with his pitches. Nine of the 11 outs against St. Louis were strikeouts but it still only got us 3 2/3 innings at 90 pitches and that doesn't work," Yost said. "But his stuff is tremendous. We need to get him a little more efficient in his pitch count and he's going to be OK."

Yost said he would've preferred to keep Duffy in the Majors, but he wants to get more from his five starters.

"We are very, very close to being a very, very good baseball team but we need to have some consistency out of our starting rotation," Yost said. "If we can get consistency out of our rotation, we could put a run together and win eight or nine out of 10 or 11 and get back to the .500 level. You get back to the .500 level, you can compete."

[RoyalShock]

I didn't see much of the game but a co-worker described the festivities.

I know there's not much chance of it happening, but I would love for STL to re-sign Pujols for an ungodly amount, only to have him bust next year.

With this comment, Royal, I'll assume you agree with the article above your post. In this day and age, a batter staring down a pitcher on a close pitch is considered passive. As for him trotting around the bases slow, that was out of character for him. I'm sure he is frustrated with his overall performance this year. For a star player, he represents himself, his team, and his community extremely well. It's unfortunate that you wish him ill will. I reserve those comments only for the high paying Yankees and then only to "deserving" players.

As for LaRussa, I don't care for him. However, I thought the announcers said that Gordon had hit a homer off of Tallet in St Louis and they thought that was the reason for the plunk. I also noticed that LaRussa didn't take Tallett out of the game after he hit lefty Gordon and then faced righty Cabrera. Personally, I blame the umps for not issuing a warning after the pitch behind the back. That being said, Tallet shouldn't be on any team's major league roster.

If his ability to make ends meet was reliant upon his performance on the baseball field, I suppose my comments could be contrued as wishing ill will.
I have respected Pujols but I trust the judgement of my co-worker, who is about the most objective person I know, that the pitch wasn't cause for a stare down or to exchange words, unless you view yourself as being above the game. If that's Albert's view of himself then I have no reason to wish him any more success then he already has. His life will be just fine whether he hits .300 with 40 homers or .260 with 20.

[SubGod22]

Foxworthy has fun with his good buddy Yost

KANSAS CITY -- If you promise a comedian he can be your bench coach, you might be a redneck -- or Royals manager Ned Yost.

Yost's close friend, comedian Jeff Foxworthy, was in town on Tuesday, taking batting practice and later, telling the story of his ticket to becoming a Major League coach.

"I've got a sheet of notebook paper, and this is when [Yost was] between the Milwaukee job and this job," Foxworthy said. "I said, 'Hey Ned, if I ever want to be your bench coach, would you let me?' And he said yeah. So, I wrote it out, 'I Ned Yost, swear that Jeff Foxworthy can be my bench coach,' and I had him sign it.

[SubGod22]

Royals' gutty effort can't overcome D-backs

D-backs closer J.J. Putz got two quick outs in the ninth inning but Getz, the ninth-place batter in the Royals' shaken-not-stirred lineup, legged out a ground ball to Kelly Johnson near second base. On the first pitch to Melky Cabrera, Getz swiped second base as catcher Miguel Montero boxed the pitch.

Royals manager Ned Yost, trying to enliven things, re-shaped his lineup especially at the top. Cabrera was put into the leadoff spot -- he's got 42 RBIs and is a good clutch hitter -- and here he was with the tying run at second base. Putz got behind 3-and-0, threw a strike and on the following pitch, Getz took off for third base.

Dangerous play because if he's out, the game is over.

"If you're going to steal in that situation, you better make it a hundred out of a hundred times," Yost said. "That's not a play that you can afford to get thrown out one time out of a hundred."

Getz, knowing that Putz was relatively slow to the plate, decided the risk was worth it.

"Sometimes you've just got to force stuff," Getz said. "Things have been kind of stagnant the last few nights, not putting runs on. Sometimes you've got to push the envelope, even if it's a little unorthodox."

He was safe at third, poised to score on a wild pitch or passed ball, and the count on Cabrera was 3-2.

"I was also thinking, Melky might end up walking here, it could potentially open up a hole at first when it's first and third," Getz said. "So there was some thinking there. That being said, yeah, I've got to be safe there, thank the Lord that I was."

Sure enough, Cabrera walked on the next pitch to put runners at the corners. But Yost wanted both runners in scoring position.

"Great at-bat at the end to put us in a situation where we could pinch-run [Jarrod] Dyson," Yost said. "I was pretty sure Melky could make it if he stole, but I was positive Dyson could make it, so we made that change."

Speedster Dyson, just returned from Omaha, ran for Cabrera and took off for second on Putz's first pitch to Eric Hosmer. But Hosmer swung and popped out to the shortstop and the game was over.

"What Hosmer did today was a big mistake," Yost said. "You don't go up there when we pinch-run and swing at the first pitch with the tying run on third. That gives us the opportunity to have the winning run on second base. Then you go about your at-bat. And it was an issue of being over-anxious and wanting to make it happen too fast. When he learns to slow the game down a little bit, that's when you take your game to the next level."

Hosmer, a rookie in just his 42nd game, had delivered a run-scoring triple into the right-center field gap in his previous at-bat. He had flied out to deep center the time before that. So he was feeling confident and didn't want to wait or take a pitch.

"Not at all," Hosmer said. "The main goal is to worry about the tying run and get that run in. Especially if Dyson steals that base, you take a pitch and you're 0-1 with a base open against one of the best closers in the league, so it was just too good of a pitch to let go."

I was surprised he swung too. He'll learn.

[SubGod22]

The Melkman Cometh

Ned Yost revamped the batting order for last night’s game and was rewarded with 11 hits, but only two runs. A massively changed order is, of course, easy fodder for a column. However, after Yost inserted Melky Cabrera and his .315 on-base percentage into the leadoff spot and was rewarded with two hits and a walk, what is one to say?

Melky Cabrera, after hitting .255/.317/.354 in an unenthused, out of shape campaign for Atlanta in 2010, was not greeted with much anticipation by the Royals’ fan base this off-season. I think to a lot of followers, Cabrera has been a nice surprise thus far. He did show up in shape, seems to play hard and has hit better than most of us expected.

That said, Melky is currently sporting a line of .277/.319/.435 for a career high OPS+ of 111. Still, that really is basically what Melky Cabrera has always been. Throwing out 2010, he compiled a career line with the Yankees of .269/.331/.385. If Melky’s power surge (his current slugging percentage is also a career high) continues throughout the season he will certainly enjoy the best year of his career, but nothing dramatically greater than what he did as a 21 year old rookie five years ago.

Certainly as likeable player as anyone on the roster for the past decade, Francouer started 2011 on a hot streak and endeared himself to almost all of us with some timely hits and great outfield throws. Still, we wake up this morning to find Jeff hitting .257/.304/.429. His career line is .267/.309/.425. Francouer is Francouer, no matter the uniform.

So, the Royals sit here in late June, out of the race once more with two 27 year old outfielders with serious time on their major league resumes who are basically performing exactly as they always have: maybe even a little better in the case of Cabrera. What do you do?

Should the Royals keep them both and avoid the Facebook outrage over ‘always trading our best players!?###’, move one or move both? Is there even a market for Melky and the Frenchman?

Both have been solid and a surprise. I'd like to see the Royals move Melky and call up Cain. He's the future and producing quite well in Omaha. I honestly like the idea of holding on to Frenchy because he's such a good clubhouse guy and I think is good for the kids that are there and on their way up. Until you can't keep Lough or Myers down, I'd think Frenchy would be alright.

Song Remains The Same

The most notable thing that’s come from this series is the lineup shake-up. For the second consecutive game, Melky Cabrera led off, followed by Eric Hosmer. Funny… You can juggle the lineup all you want, but you still can’t prevent regression to the mean. That’s exactly what’s happening with guys like Jeff Francoeur who has expanded his strike zone to include a four state area. Then, there’s the learning process that’s ongoing with Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. That was evident in the ninth inning on Wednesday, when Hosmer was first pitch swinging with two out and the tying run on base in the ninth.

What it boils down to is unless Bud Selig turns his head to the advances made in genetic cloning, the Royals still have just two hitters in this lineup that can be counted upon to produce: Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. That’s it. The rest of the guys can run hot and extremely cold.

This will change over time. It’s all about The Process. Soon, we can include Hosmer and Moustakis in this group. Throw in a few arms and we may be in business.

[SubGod22]

Alex Gordon = All-Star

The Royals’ All-Star selection this year (and there will only be one) is kind of interesting in that the team has a player who probably could make a case to be selected even if the league didn’t require every team to have a representative and that player is one who many were ready to give up on before the season began. Of course, I am talking about Alex Gordon.

Let’s check out Gordon’s resume to date:

11th in the American League with a WAR of 2.8 (Fangraphs)
19th in batting average, 16th in on-base percentage and 20th in slugging
6th in total hits
18th in runs scored
3rd in doubles
6th in triples
1st in outfield assists and zero errors
9 home runs and 5 steals, just as a bonus

Certainly, those are not MVP numbers, but they reflect an all-around good season. Are there three outfielders in the American League having clearly better seasons than Alex Gordon? Yes. Are there six? Maybe not.

[SubGod22]

Royals to implement six-man starting rotation

SAN DIEGO -- The Kyle Davies-Danny Duffy question has been settled. Both will be in a Royals' pitching rotation that is being expanded from five to six starters.

The upshot is that Duffy will start on Friday night and Davies on Saturday night against the Rockies at Coors Field.

"It's worth a try to keep Duffy here and to keep Davies in the rotation," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We can't keep sending Kyle out on rehab starts. He's ready, and nobody in our organization wanted to send Duffy down right now because he's making progress."

Is it wrong of me to hope Davies fails and just goes away?

[RoyalShock]

No, Sub. That would make you a good fan. Only non-KC fans want to see Davies stick around.