KC Royals - August

[SubGod22]

Treanor gets his own view of plate collision Sounds like he at least believes he's doing well. It was a nasty hit.

Moose takes time out to correct swing

KANSAS CITY -- Royals rookie third baseman Mike Moustakas is getting two days off to work on fixing his swing.

"It's mechanical more than anything else," manager Ned Yost said. "But once you start adding mechanics and pressing a little bit at the plate, trying to get results, it just makes it worse. So we're just giving him a couple of days to sit back and relax a little bit and work on these mechanics with [hitting coach] Kevin Seitzer."

Moustakas said the problem has been turning his front shoulder too early, leading him to have trouble using his hands to square up the ball.

I have faith in Seitzer and it sounds like Moose is open to correction. Hopefully he doesn't fight it like Gordon reportedly did.

Pina is smash hit in Major League debut

KANSAS CITY -- As excited as catcher Manny Pina was in the hours leading up to his Major League debut on Wednesday night, he might have been in an even better mood after it.

"Oh man, you have no idea how excited I am," Pina said after the Royals' 6-2 win over the Orioles. "That was so amazing, really good."

Pina, batting ninth, may have been a bit too excited in his first at-bat, popping out to second on the first pitch he saw. But he lashed a double down the left-field line in the seventh inning for his first Major league hit and later scored on Billy Butler's three-run homer

Glad to see the young man with some early success. He may never be more than a backup catcher, but it's nice to have options there.

Hosmer surprised by Rookie of the Month honor

For the month, Hosmer hit .306 with a .358 on-base percentage and .523 slugging percentage. Hosmer led all AL rookies with 34 hits and nine doubles in July, adding five home runs and 19 RBIs. He had a career-best 11-game hitting streak from July 19-30 and recorded 10 multi-hit games. He has collected multiple hits in 27 of his 76 games played, and has the most multi-hit games of any AL rookie.

The left-handed slugger leads the Royals with 16 go-ahead RBIs and nine game-winning RBIs, including a walk-off double in a 5-4, 10-inning win over the Rays on July 23.

Royals manager Ned Yost was happy to see his first baseman recognized outside of Kansas City.

"It's nice to see him get national attention on something like that," Yost said. "I think he gets our attention every night with the way that he plays and I'm satisfied with that. For him to get American League Rookie of the Month is a pretty special award."

He's having a pretty good rookie season and may end up leading the Royals in a couple of categories by the end of the year. So nice of him to give the rest of the team a headstart.

Butler powers Hochevar to third straight win

KANSAS CITY -- Luke Hochevar and Billy Butler are on power trips.

Butler blasted his sixth home run in the last nine games to support Hochevar's powerful pitching in the Royals' 6-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night while 14,187 enjoyed a respite from the scorching heat at Kauffman Stadium. After all, it was down to 91 degrees from the game-time temperature of 107 just 24 hours earlier.

Everything was cool for Hochevar, too. He stands 3-0 in four starts since the All-Star break, and with a 2.70 ERA in that span. He evened his overall record to 8-8.

Hochevar gave up just two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings, and at one point retired 16 straight batters. Certainly, he was looking for some satisfaction against the Orioles, considering he was 0-4 against them in five previous starts and had been subjected to an eight-run inning last May 25 at Baltimore. Oddly enough, Hochevar's other six innings in that loss were scoreless.

Maybe? I'm trying not to get too excited about Hoch... Butler though :D

[ShockTalk]

About time regarding Moose. Hope it helps.

Good for Pina, I'd just like to see Cody get a shot.

[SubGod22]

[quote="RoyalShock"]Some of the proceeds from the sell of the shirt will go to the Bishop Sullivan Center and #countrybreakfast himself and endorsed the shirt. When they become available I may have to buy one.

[SubGod22]

[quote="RoyalShock"]Some of the proceeds from the sell of the shirt will go to the Bishop Sullivan Center and #countrybreakfast himself and endorsed the shirt. When they become available I may have to buy one.

[SubGod22]

(When) will the real Hochevar please stand up!!!

Luke Hochevar had another strong performance last night for the Royals going 7.1 innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits. He struck out seven and walked just one. That’s the kind of outing most teams expect regularly out of their Opening Day starter. Of course, the Royals expected a little bit different this season. They did expect Hoch to turn the corner and become a top of the rotation starter, but I don’t think their expectations were as high for him as the Tigers expectations for Verlander were. At times this season, it has looked like Hochevar had regressed badly. Even throughout his struggles, he’d have flashes of greatness like his 80 pitch complete game against the Reds or his 13 strikeout, no walk game against the Rangers. You could see that the dominant ability was there. He hasn’t had that signature game yet this season, though he did pitch another gem against the Rangers earlier this season. What an odd team to do so well against.

Last night’s seven strikeouts were a season high for Hochevar, which might be a big reason for his struggles this season. He has struck out less than five per nine innings, and the list of pitchers who can succeed with that ratio can be counted pretty quickly. Now, with offense being down this season, it’s a little bit less important to strike people out than it was, say ten years ago, in the height of the offensive era. No matter what the era, though, striking people out leads to success more often than not. Think about it. A groundball can find a hole no matter how slowly it is hit. A flyball can drop in a spacious outfield. A strikeout is an out something like 99.7% of the time. There is the occasionally time when a batter can reach on strike three, but it’s almost always an out. I always watch pitchers like Hochevar and even the Orioles starter from Tuesday, Alfredo Simon, and wonder how they don’t strike out more batters.

At the All-Star break, the Royals announced that they had made some tweaks to Hochevar’s approach and that they think it should help him both avoid the big inning and become a better pitcher. Many were skeptical as we had heard that story before and the results still were not there, but we were all hopeful. Watching Hochevar pitch when he is on is mesmerizing. He can go stretches of five or six innings in a game where it looks like there’s absolutely no way anybody is going to get a hit off of him. Last night is a perfect example of that with Hochevar retiring 16 in a row at one point. In his first start after the break, it looked like things had worked well as he gave up just one run in seven innings, but he only struck out four while walking three. Then he struggled against the Rays before pitching well against the Tigers and then the Orioles. The difference with his last two starts is that in 14 innings, he has struck out 13 and walked just two. It’s a small sample size, so it’s very possible and almost probable that it’s just a blip on the radar, but a stretch of four games like this becomes relevant when it comes on the heels of a proclamation that the Royals “figured out” what was wrong with him.

[SubGod22]

Pulling Country Breakfast

Last night, as I watched Billy Butler launch another home run (his 7th in his last 56 plate appearances) I couldn’t help but wonder if Country Breakfast was developing into a power hitter.

I’ve written about this at length, and I’ve always been skeptical given his proclivity to the ground ball and his opposite field approach. There’s been some movement on the latter issue… Albeit minor. But it may be enough to push Butler north of the 20 home run plateau for the second time in his career.

To start, here is the breakdown of where he put his balls in play in 2010:

[SubGod22]

#Countrybreakfast shirts are now ready for sale

I just ordered mine

[SubGod22]

Matt Stairs plans to retire
I always liked Stairs. He was a solid player and a good teammate. Just found it interesting news of a former Royal.

[RoyalShock]

Giovatella is free!!!

Coming up to KC tomorrow!

Not yet known who is packing his bags.

[SubGod22]

Giovatella is free!!!

Coming up to KC tomorrow!

Not yet known who is packing his bags.

Hell yeah!!! This better mean that Getz only plays when Gio needs a day off. The infield of the future is now!!!

[RoyalShock]

And pizzalady and her mom are making the drive to the K today to see Meatball's debut.

(a few of you may know the references)

[SubGod22]

Gordon leads Royals' hit parade against O's

KANSAS CITY -- Alex Gordon set the pace and had a lot of followers in the Royals' lineup on Thursday night.

Gordon had four hits and everyone in the starting lineup contributed to the 17-hit attack in a 9-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles before a crowd of 12,161 at Kauffman Stadium. A six-run sixth inning sealed the win.

The Royals won the series, two games to one, and have notched victories in 10 of their last 15 games. Also included were series wins over Chicago, Tampa Bay and Cleveland plus a split at Boston.

"Since the All-Star break we've been playing pretty good baseball," manager Ned Yost said. "I think we were playing pretty good baseball up to the All-Star break, but we were just struggling to find ways to win games. We're playing good baseball now and the offense has kicked it in, and we're getting timely hits, our starting pitching has settled in a little bit, the bullpen has been fantastic and we're finding ways to win games."

[SubGod22]

All You Have To Do Is Ask… Giavotella Time!

I asked on Wednesday and it took less than 48 hours for the Royals to respond. According to Bob Dutton on Twitter, the Royals are calling up 2B Johnny Giavotella from Triple-A.

It’s the best kind of call-up because it’s one that’s absolutely deserved. Gia is hitting .339/.391/.481 in just under 450 at bats for the Storm Chasers.

The Royals had a spot open on the 40-man roster, so they don’t have to expose anyone to waivers, but they will obviously have to shed someone from the 25-man. And the Royals, as usual, are playing coy in announcing who gets shipped north on I-29. In my mind, there are three candidates.

I didn't realize that Getz still has an option. I wouldn't be opposed to that. He's not going to see much time anyway. Teaford keeps bouncing back and forth and I'm not sure we really need that many in the pen. Navarro has been rumored to be the guy so he can play everyday. But he's the only guy who can backup the three infield spots and I'm not sure you really want to lose that.
Here's Johnny

The Royals announced via twitter (What else nowadays) that they have bought the contract of second baseman Johnny Giavotella tonight and he will be up tomorrow with Kansas City.

The University of New Orleans 2008 2nd round pick who at the start of the day was leading all of the minor leagues in hits with 152 has destroyed AAA pitching since the end of May collecting 93 hits in just 58 games (.384) to put the full court press on the organization to call him up.

It'll be nice to have a 2B that can do more than occassionally reach first. I'm excited. May have to record the game tonight.
Friday Notes

After a long week that included me questioning Dayton Moore’s ability to build a team, calling for Johnny Giavotella to be called up, actually praising Luke Hochevar and whatever other babble I spewed, I thought it was a good time to give some quick hit thoughts on the Royals. Of course, with Johnny Giavotella’s callup, I was tempted to write some poetry about the joy I feel about this event. So stay tuned, there might be a haiku later on. Still, it’s an important day for the Royals as one more piece of the bright, bright future has made it to the big leagues and will play most every day throughout the rest of the season. Like I said the other day, if an infield of Hosmer, Giavotella, Escobar and Moustakas doesn’t excite you then you’re a little dead inside. Onto the notes!

[ShockTalk]

The Royals' quality youth movement is certainly good news for Royals fans. However, in the AL Central, KC's offense this year was good enough to compete for that title. In MLB, they rank in the top 10 (and nearly in a few others) in a good number of categories, some in the top 5. To make all this youth in the field worthwhile, they need to address the starting pitching woes in the very near future or this crop of kids will start to vanish before any real fruit comes about. Not just one or two, but three or four new starters. It will take more than a couple of holes (maybe) getting plugged by youngsters. Will Luke get it together consistently, will Duffy become a quality starter next year, can Crow become a starter?

I still contend that with the Royals cutting their payroll in half this year, about $35 mill I believe, they need to reinvest some of that and make some sound capital improvements to their starters to get this program turned around.

[ShockTalk]

Can't image they'd send Navarro down. Heck, he did a lot in his first 2 games (reached base 5 times, 3 hits, 2 walks, 2 R, 3 RBI) compared to Moose's July of 24 games (reached base 20 times, 15 hits, 4 walks, 4 R, 9 RBI).