2009 Kansas City Royals Repository.

[WilliamTheIrish]

All Royals All The Time!

After consultation with others who peruse the game threads we decided to create this as a repository for all things Royals. Minor league news, AL (ahem) Central (thanks Vonne) news and anything Royals can be found here.

alnorth will continue the game threads as usual. But if you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

If a big story breaks, you can still start a thread about it. There is merely an all inclusive thread that will make a easy for us all to keep up with all things Royals.


Welcome! "Grab a Brew... don't cost nuthin"...[spills beer on feet]


Courtesy of ari:

Hey William... add this link to the opening post, if you want.

here. Free MLB radio... acts like you are a Holiday Inn customer... then you sign in with your MLB login

.
http://guest.ichotelsgroup.com/in_ro...Language=en-US

[alnorth]

AL League Leaders: Shutouts

1. Zack Greinke - 2
T2. Every other pitcher in the AL - 0

[alnorth]

Rob Neyer is about ready to climb on the bandwagon, and he briefly explains why he's been cranky about the Royals the last few years.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot...for-real-.html

I have to admit that I'm warming up, just a little bit, to these 2009 Royals.

Yes, it's mostly because of Zack Greinke. But it's more than that.

For many years, the Royals offended my sensibilities. Not just because they lost. Because of how they lost. Eight or nine years ago, I came up with a silly little thing called Beane Count, which was a way of looking at how teams fared in a couple of sabermetrics-friendly measures: home runs and walks. How many you get, and how many you give up.

Here's how the Royals ranked in the American League Beane Count from 2002 through 2008: 13th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 14th, and 12th. You might think that they could have, just by getting a little bit lucky here or there, broken into the top 10 for a season. But this organization was run so phenomenally poorly that it just never happened.

Another important thing that never happened: A Royal pitcher striking out an enemy batter. Well, it rarely happened, anyway. Here's how the staff ranked in strikeouts from 2002 through 2007: 13th, 13th, 14th, 12th, 14th, and 13th. As you know, pitchers who strike out few batters put an immense amount of pressure on themselves and the fielders who love them. Last season, with Greinke joining Gil Meche in the rotation, the Royals jumped all the way to seventh in the league in strikeouts; it was their first top-10 finish since 1998 and their best showing since 1994 (when power pitchers David Cone, Kevin Appier, and Tom Gordon anchored the staff).

For many years, then, the Royals didn't do the things you have to do to win. Their hitters didn't hit home runs or draw walks. Their pitchers didn't limit home runs or walks, or strike out anyone at all. Last season seemed like a small step forward, with Meche and Greinke doing their thing. The other stuff, though ... As usual, the Royals finished with a decent batting average but completely crashed in the important categories: 13th in home runs, 14th in walks. The more things change ... right?

Which is why I was brought up short while watching the game on TV last night, and heard the following exchange between broadcasters Ryan Lefebvre and Frank White during a David DeJesus at-bat:

Why, yes; that's exactly what good teams do. It's wonderful to discover that someone associated with the Royals seems to have figured this out, all these years later. After last night's dramatic victory, the Royals are sitting in first place in the standings with a 16-11 record. More to the point, they rank eighth in the league in home runs (which is great, for them) and fifth in walks (which is incredible). Oh, and the Beane Count? At this moment,

Billy Beane's Athletics are last in the league, and Dayton Moore's Royals are first.

I never thought I would have occasion to write those words.

[tk13]

If Neyer's jumping on the bandwagon, well, that's something. I totally agree with his premise, only thing about it is that he's pretty much ripped 95% of the moves Dayton made to actually build the current team. Seitzer so far has done an unbelieveable job. Coco Crisp looks like a legit leadoff hitter. And Willie Bloomquist, as much as some Royals fans have ripped him apart, he's really been a spark plug. Jacobs has done exactly what we brought him in to do, kinda streaky, lots of K's. But he's slugging .500+ while on pace to have nearly 70 walks.

Problem with the A's is everybody figured out their game and now there isn't nearly the same amount of market "inefficiencies". Lots of teams are going after the same things they are. I don't know what other rabbit they can pull out of their hat to catch up, because you'd think Beane would be on the hot seat eventually.

[Coach]

I was just looking over the stats on the web, and I found something very intruging. The career record for ERA+ (with a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched) is held by closer Mariano Rivera, who has a career ERA+ of 199. The career record ERA+ amongst retired players is 148, held by Lefty Grove. Walter Johnson, Dan Quisenberry, Hoyt Wilhelm and Smokey Joe Wood are tied in second place with a career ERA+ of 146.

It's a shame that the Quiz isn't in the HOF. He sure deserves to be there.

[KChiefs1]

Ten things to know about Zack Greinke.

1. Zack Greinke has a 1173 ERA+. I would wager than no pitcher in baseball history has had a 1173 ERA+ through six games.

2. There have been two complete game shutouts thrown in the American League this year. Greinke threw both of them. That makes for a fun “Shutouts” chart on Baseball Reference.

3. There have been eight complete games thrown in the American League. Greinke has three of them.

4. Greinke currently leads the league in wins, ERA, ERA+, shutouts, complete games, strikeouts, WHIP and he has not yet allowed a home run.

5. The league is hitting .242/.294/.337 against him with nobody on base.
But the league is hitting .109/.136/.125 against him with runners on base.
And the league is hitting .097/.097/.097 against him with runners in scoring position.

6. Greinke’s strikeout-to-walk ratio with runners in scoring position — 14-to-0.

7. Batters are hitting .171 against Greinke in the seventh inning and after.

8. Greinke has fallen behind 3-0 to a hitter only four times all year. He did not walk any of the four. He struck out two of them.

9. Greinke’s 0.40 ERA is so low, he could give up nine runs in an inning in his next start, get pulled, and his ERA STILL would be lower than 2.00.

10. This from brilliant reader Rob: Dating back to last year, Greinke has won nine consecutive starts, and in those nine starts he has an 0.69 ERA. How good is that? Well, legendary. There have been 50 pitchers since 1954 who have won nine or more consecutive starts. Greinke’s is the second-best.*

*The best of those by ERA?

1. Bob Gibson, 1968: 12-0, 0.50 ERA.
Note for posterity: Gibson completed all 12 of those games.

2. Zack Greinke, 2008-09: 9-0, 0.69 ERA

3. Steve Blass, 1968: 9-0, 0.70 ERA

4. Hoyt Wilhelm, 1959: 9-0, 0.79 ERA

5. Cal Eldred, 1992: 10-0, 0.95 ERA
Note for posterity: In 1997, Eldred led the league in losses.

6. John Tudor, 1985: 9-0, 0.97 ERA

7. Warren Spahn, 1961: 10-0, 0.99 ERA

8. Gaylord Perry, 1974: 11-0, 1.00 ERA
Note for posterity: I’m in Cleveland right now reminiscing about Perry’s amazing 1974. Only July 3, he was 15-1 with a 1.31 ERA. He seemed a legit threat to win 30 games. He promptly lost nine of his next 10 decisions.

9. Randy Johnson, 1999-00, 9-0, 1.09 ERA
Note for posterity: You know, there’s a case to be made that Randy Johnson is the greatest pitcher in baseball history. This is just a warning … that case might be coming.

10. Roy Oswalt, 2002, 9-0, 1.22 ERA.

Also worth pointing out Johan Santana’s 12-0, 1.28 ERA stretch in 2004, Pat Dobson’s 12-0, 1.77 ERA stretch in 1971 and Brad Radke’s 12-0, 1.87 ERA stretch in 1997.

And one more thing … remember when Bob Welch won 27 games in 1990? Well, he won 9 decisions in a row in the middle of that year. His ERA during the stretch — 3.59. Boy, that team scored a lot of runs for him.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009...nke-fun-facts/

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by tk13

If Neyer's jumping on the bandwagon, well, that's something. I totally agree with his premise, only thing about it is that he's pretty much ripped 95% of the moves Dayton made to actually build the current team. Seitzer so far has done an unbelieveable job. Coco Crisp looks like a legit leadoff hitter. And Willie Bloomquist, as much as some Royals fans have ripped him apart, he's really been a spark plug. Jacobs has done exactly what we brought him in to do, kinda streaky, lots of K's. But he's slugging .500+ while on pace to have nearly 70 walks.

Problem with the A's is everybody figured out their game and now there isn't nearly the same amount of market "inefficiencies". Lots of teams are going after the same things they are. I don't know what other rabbit they can pull out of their hat to catch up, because you'd think Beane would be on the hot seat eventually.

If the royals that kind of OB% from Jacobs, I can live with him playing 1st base ... every 10th game.

[eazyb81]

Neyer is such a little bitch. I despise that douche. Of course he'll jump back on the bandwagon when we start winning, all while patting himself on the back because they're finally doing what he KNEW they should do!!!!

And then we'll see him on ESPN as the face of a long suffering Royals fan, even though he is the biggest flip-flopping drama queen and has quit on this franchise more times than I can count.

**** Neyer.

I'll listen to him once he finally admits that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he knows, and that Dayton Moore has forgotten more about baseball than Neyer has ever known.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

Neyer is such a little bitch. I despise that douche. Of course he'll jump back on the bandwagon when we start winning, all while patting himself on the back because they're finally doing what he KNEW they should do!!!!

And then we'll see him on ESPN as the face of a long suffering Royals fan, even though he is the biggest flip-flopping drama queen and has quit on this franchise more times than I can count.

**** Neyer.

I'll listen to him once he finally admits that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he knows, and that Dayton Moore has forgotten more about baseball than Neyer has ever known.

There is very little in this post I agree with. Neyer is one of the most respected writers out there, and his opinions about the Royals over the last few years are almost all logical and correct. Some Royals fans who want to hear good things about the team every year might not like a dose of realism that is deserved when the Royals management seemingly doesnt care about encouraging what is necessary to win.

Neyer is not on the bandwagon because they are winning, he is on because they are no longer ignoring what is required to win. Winning is just a by-product of that. If they were respectable in getting and limiting homers and walks but were under .500 because of bad luck, I'm pretty sure he'd still have good things to say.

[teedubya]

Pedro Martínez holds the modern record for highest ERA+ in a single season; he posted a 1.74 ERA in the 2000 American League, which had an average ERA of 4.91, which gave Martinez an ERA+ of 285. While Bob Gibson has the lowest ERA in modern times (1.12 in the 1968 National League) the average ERA was 2.99 that year (the so-called Year of the Pitcher) and so Gibson's ERA+ is 258, still highly impressive, but only sixth since 1900. 1968 was the last year that Major League Baseball employed the use of a pitcher's mound greater than 10 inches.^[1]

[WilliamTheIrish]

One of the interesting aspects of Ponsoon the Pontoon pitching well, is it puts pressure on Davies to perform.

If the whale were to give the Royals that kind of effort in 3 of every 5 starts, it would be Davies pitching for his big league life.

I don't think it will happen, but the possibility exists.

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by alnorth

There is very little in this post I agree with. Neyer is one of the most respected writers out there, and his opinions about the Royals over the last few years are almost all logical and correct. Some Royals fans who want to hear good things about the team every year might not like a dose of realism that is deserved when the Royals management seemingly doesnt care about encouraging what is necessary to win.

Neyer is not on the bandwagon because they are winning, he is on because they are no longer ignoring what is required to win. Winning is just a by-product of that. If they were respectable in getting and limiting homers and walks but were under .500 because of bad luck, I'm pretty sure he'd still have good things to say.

I got through many terrible Royals seasons by reading Rob and Rany on the Royals. Their shtick always had Rany offering the unbridled optimism with Rob reminding everyone that the Royals were still the Royals. Those two have a lifelong pass with me; they were great national writers blogging on the Royals, long before blogging went mainstream.

[KCCHIEFS27]

grienke voted April's clutch player of the month..

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[luv]

The restaurant we went to for lunch today had the Cardinals game on. I was reading the closed captioning when the announcers got to talking about the Royals. They said they're on fire this year, and they think the Royals might have the best pitcher in baseball right now. Good job!

[PunkinDrublic]

Nice to keep winning. Let the tigers and white sux beat up on each other now.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Arsonist

Aviles showed so much potential last year and now I get that sinking feeling when he comes up to bat, kind of like when TPJ bats. I like the kid and I know that he can play at this level of ball, but he's gotta figure out how to hit the ball more.

I'm pretty sure that's what we're seeing right now. As others have pointed out... Aviles pretty much got to do what he wanted previously as far as his swing was concerned. And nobody messed with that, because he was hitting well. But Seitzer isn't letting him get away with that. Seitzer is actually forcing him to improve his mechanics and become a better all-around hitter. That's very tough to do at this level. And it won't come quickly if it happens at all.