*** Official Chicago White Sox @ Kansas City Royals Game Thread (5/20) ***
 

<table border=3 cellpadding = 4>
<tr><td>Final</td> <td> 1 </td> <td> 2 </td><td> 3 </td><td> 4 </td><td> 5 </td><td> 6 </td><td> 7 </td><td> 8 </td><td> 9 </td><td> R </td><td> </td><td> E </td></tr>
<tr> <td> CWS (23-24) </td> <td> 1 </td> <td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 3 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 3 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 7 </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td></tr>
<tr> <td> KC (22-23) </td> <td> 0 </td> <td> 2 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 3 </td><td> 1 </td><td> 6 </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td></tr>
</table>

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/logos/80x80/cws.png

Win, (4-0) Andre Rienzo 6IP 2R 2ER 2BB 8K
Hold, (3) Jake Petricka 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K
Scott Downs ⅓IP 2R 2ER 1BB 0K
Frank Francisco 0IP 1R 1ER 1BB 0K
Hold, (4) Zach Putnam ⅔IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K
Save, (1) Ronald Belisario 1IP 1R 1ER 0BB 1K

VS.

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/logos/80x80/kc.png

Loss, (2-4) Yordano Ventura 6IP 4R 4ER 0BB 3K 1HR
Tim Collins 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K
Aaron Crow ⅓IP 3R 3ER 0BB 0K 1HR
Casey Coleman 1⅔IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K

Home Runs

CWS

Tyler Flowers, (3) - Top 5th solo shot to left
Adam Dunn, (7) - Top 8th 3-run blast to dead center

KC

ROFL Are you kidding?

AL Central

Final: DET 2, CLE 6
Final: MIN 5, SD 3

Starting Lineups

CWS

1. Adam Eaton, CF
2. Gordon Beckham, 2B
3. Conor Gillaspie, 3B
4. Dayan Viciedo, RF
4. Moises Sierra, RF
5. Adam Dunn, 1B
6. Alexei Ramirez, SS
7. Paul Konerko, DH
8. Alejandro De Aza, LF
9. Tyler Flowers, C

KC

1. Norichika Aoki, RF
2. Alcides Escobar, SS
3. Eric Hosmer, 1B
4. Billy Butler, DH
5. Alex Gordon, LF
5. Jarrod Dyson, pr
6. Lorenzo Cain, CF
7. Danny Valencia, 3B
8. Pedro Ciriaco, 2B
9. Brett Hayes, C
9. Mike Moustakas, ph
9. Francisco Pena, C
Major League Debut

Geez, we're already 7 games back of the Tigers.

Well, just 1 game back of a wild card.

In to wipe away the memory of last nights abortion

The quest to climb back over .500 starts tonight. YAY!

I expect a shutout tonight.

Not gonna happen

Yeah but from which team.

Andre " Cy Young" Rienzo goes for the Sox tonight

My prediction: a hilarious blowout win. 16 hits, 3 home runs, White Sox have 2 errors, final score 11-2.

win tonight 10-3 lose tomorrow 1-0 lose the series. Salvador Perez with 2 passed balls and concussion. Vanilla Harvey falls again tripping over first.

The game of chicken between the Red Sox and Stephen Drew is finally over. Red Sox blinked and signed him for $10MM.

They won't get the draft pick they would have if Drew signed elsewhere, but Drew has made it clear by now that he was going to wait till after the draft anyway. Red Sox also can't extend a QO to Drew after this season.

Gio has been sent down to Omaha.

Also called up Francisco Pena, son of Tony, as a backup catcher.

Thought that homerun in Seatle Mendy Lopez'd his stay longer at the big league level.

Well he is an AAAA type player.

The wrong AAAA player was sent down.

The other one is more "special", he can't go to Omaha.

Its difficult for me to get too worked up over this. Yes, Gio didn't get much of a shot and yes its probably unfair, and yes Moose probably should be sent down instead, but aside from a couple bright spots he kinda sucked the little time he's up here.

Its clear the Royals don't believe in Gio, and so when they gave him a small chance out of desperation he really needed to cash in.

No doubt. He's not a Big League player. Not a great IF'r, and way too inconsistent at the plate. I've no problem sending him down. He just should have had some company to ride shotgun to Omaha:evil:

In for a Chisox win!!

Royals lineup is up. Its.... uhh.... underwhelming.

With Omar and Salvy hurt not much you can do.

Go **** yer mother!

Yep. Kinda depressing.

Almost seems like the race is over before it hardly got started...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/I_c1KPIAqY4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Heat Is Here Lineup: Aoki 9, Escobar 6, Hosmer 3, Butler DH, Gordon 7, Cain 8, Valencia 5, Ciriaco 4, Hayes 2, Ventura 1. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23royals&amp;src=hash">#royals</a></p>&mdash; Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCulloughStar/statuses/468833110860115968">May 20, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Tigers are a damn good team but can they keep this pace up all season? If they do they are looking at 110 win season, which would be a top 5 season of all time. Almost be like 1989 all over again for the Royals.

When you're 0-5 at this point in the season against the division favorite, you're going to have a tough time staying close to them.

Side note:

If Billy Butler does not pick up his offensive production enough to justify his $12 million option, the Royals will HAVE to add a bat entering next season if they hold any illusions of being competitive (this assumes Ventura continues to pitch well and one of Duffy/Zimmer pitches like a No. 3 piece without injury).

Market is pretty ugly. I'm sure they'll bring in a guy who has some positional versatility (Ideally, someone who can play RF and maybe a little 1B).

Best options are probably the ancient Michael Cuddyer (36, probably will be expensive after another great Coors-driven year) or Melky Cabrera.

Awesome. :doh!:

I can already hear the questions about Melky and PEDs and the response from Dayton that those were issues he had after he left the Royals. As if the outrageous numbers he and Franceour put up were just from putting in hard work.

What price do you see for Chase Headley demanding in the trade market?

Not a ton, though Headley hasn't been very good this year. He was just kind of OK last year.

He's also pretty short on HR power, one year aside, which means:

1) Dayton Moore will love him
2) Royals fans will probably hate him, even if he is pretty solid otherwise

Wow, that is just a flat awful lineup. **** me.

I'm pretty sure he has been injured this year, which explains the lack of numbers. But he is right at 3.0 WAR player which would be a nice upgrade at 3rd base, not to mention a switch hitter.

Hes slowly got his batting average up to acceptable ive noticed. Still no power.

It would be a nice upgrade. He's 31 and will be a free agent following this season. Not sure what his trade market would be (and can't imagine the Padres could risk offering him a qualifying offer, as he hasn't played at a level deserving of $16 million).

He'd be a nice FA pickup in the offseason if the price is right. In the trade market... not sure what he'd take at this point, though I can't imagine it's a ton.

He was mostly healthy last year and was a .750 OPS guy. Pretty good defender at 3B and good all-around player (similar to Gordon as a base runner).

This would be like acquiring Mike Schmidt compare to the pit of despair we've had at 3B

I'm sticking with this prediction. We'll blow them out, somehow.

Yeah, but there's not much you can do when Omar is hurt, Sal is hurt, and Moose sucks.

Valencia is getting the start tonight vs a RHP, DM needs to send his boy Moose down like yesterday.

What do you think Melky's price tag would be? Move Gordon to right and Melky in left?

I wouldn't move a 3x, soon to be 4x, gold glover out of left, but that's just me.

Move the gold glove outfielder in the hardest outfield position to the weakest. LMAO

Hard to say. He's having a very nice year so far. Dayton Moore loves him.

I could see it happening.

I'd imagine you'd leave Gordon in LF and play Cabrera in CF. He doesn't have an ideal arm out there, but he'd be fine otherwise.

He's got the arm for RF where Melky doesn't. And CF would be the most difficult.

I guess if Cain were to play RF that would still be a pretty solid defensive outfield. Melky doesn't have that blazing speed, but seems to play the ball well. Probably 12 million per on a 3-4 year deal or am I way too low?

Apparently Moose's vagina was so wounded that the Royals are now boycotting speaking to 810 LMAO

That's not the correct reason, I don't think.
Some of the players are for not being allowed into something that 810 sports sponsored, I believe.

It is obvious that the Royals don't handle the big bad KC media very well. Couldn't imagine these players playing in markets like New York or Philadelphia.

I didn't catch a reason. I guess since they weren't talking it would be tough to get one.

Cabrera doesn't have an ideal arm for RF, but you cant move Cain off of CF. That's where he derives most of his value. Cabrera has played RF in the past and offers pretty average defense out of the position.

Remember, too, that we're assuming Butler is let go. That leaves the DH spot open. I would guess that Cabrera would play LF for the 10-15 games they give Gordon "off" at the DH spot. He also would DH some himself (15-20 games) and I suspect they might have him pick up a 1B mitt.

Though if Valencia is kept, he could play 1B on days Hosmer DHs/is off.

Cabrera would not be a bad sign for a 3-year deal or so if the money is reasonable. No idea what he'll ask for... something similar to Gordon, I'd suspect.

Only potential problem is that if they let Aoki walk, then Gordon probably is asked to lead off again, so you're really not deepening the lineup much, if at all.

Good news would be the ability to get Sal Perez more rest without sacrificing his bat in the lineup.

Yost just dropping excuse after excuse after excuse in the pre-game. My favorite line from him today, "Nah, I don't have a plan"

Man, I'm going to love when he and Moore are gone.

They weren't allowed in the 810 zone a couple of weeks ago for the Mayweather fight. The building was at fire code capacity and they (Dyson, Hosmer) weren't allowed, now they are being spoiled pussies. **** those 2 do-nothing shit heads. Win something before you try to big time people.

I think it's time to stop complaining that Giavotella hasn't had a chance. He's been called up four years in a row, and he's sucked four years in a row. He's had 461 plate appearances now, which is nearly a full season. His numbers:

.235 AVG
.273 OBP
.329 SLG
4 HR
45 RBI
20 BB
76 K

Pathetic.

LMAO here's to a good game

While not good, his chances are in quick 5-10 game spurts not playing everyday to get a rhythm. I'm not defending the guy, but if they're going to let Butler use the excuse of being sat in NL parks to not hit the next night, then Gio can use the same reason.

Oh, and #letsthrowfirebitches!

In other news, I guess Miguel Olivo decided to bite off a piece of his teammates ear in the dugout during a game today. Oh, and let's go Royals!

The Injuns are hammering Detroit so far.

lewdog approves

Ned Yost before the game...

"It's hard to hit...."
"Guys are throwing cutters and breaking balls..."
"Guys are throwing 95 mph"
"The best hitters are only good 3 out of 10 times..."


There was more as well...I mean dude was just crying about how tough it is to hit in the majors and what not. Meanwhile Chicago put 3 over the wall last night and came back from 5 runs down

I hate it when he's a whiney little bitch

I know its hard to hit. Our expectations, as baseball fans who have watched the game for a damned long time, are adjusted accordingly.

Moose has sucked under any reasonable expectations.

THe good news tonight:

Mike Moustakas is not playing
Ventura

The Bad

Everything else

Don't call a 5 run first inning this game :)

1st inning
 

Top 1st

Eaton strikes out (swinging)
Beckham flies out to right
Gillaspie triples to right
Viciedo singles to center, Gillaspie scores
Dunn strikes out (looking)

1 run, 2 hits

Bottom 1st

Aoki grounds out to shortstop
Escobar strikes out (looking)
Hosmer strikes out (swinging)

0 runs, 0 hits

Let that hate flow. We win when you're a bitchin'

Sick

Sorry no premonitions this game unfortunately, but I do know Ventura is going to make them look silly at the plate.

Let's throw fire, bitches.

Google Fiber is ****ing me on FSKC, just a black screen of nothing.

21 k's for ace

Don't tell me that, I get it installed in a few weeks. Is just a one time thing?

Way to lob it in Aoki

They aren't scoring the run so that triple doesn't even matter. JUST KIDDING FOLKS

I see no possible way to justify a .150 hitter starting at all save to give someone else a day off. That being said it seems every time I say that he knocks in 3 runs

Woot! 1-0!

LMAO good one Nostradamus

Generous, but I'll take it.

did anyone else notice that out of ACE's first inning, he only threw 1 pitch out of the strike zone (read: one ball)? the rest IMO were all strikes.

let's get that run back here, bitches.