Our Buddy...

[RockChalk]

Like a lot of Royals fans, I used to believe that Buddy Bell simply struggled as a manager because he has always been surrounded with mediocre talent. That is no longer the case...the man simply has no feel for the game as a manager.

I have seen Bell pull pitchers way too early this season and tonight was one of many examples of his horrible judgement of baseball. Keppel had every right to finish that game tonight and Bell brings in a pitcher that couldn't stop a beachball from going into a golf hole. 94 pitches, 7 hits, 0 runs, and one lousy leadoff single in the 9th gets you pulled???? The guy pitched his ass off only to watch it waste away because he has a jackass for a manager. Moore better take care of business starting tomorrow.

[Sure-Oz]

Buddy Bell get's this loss, easy.

[BWillie]

Who is this Keppell guy anyway. Where did he come from? I guess I don't know much about him, but yeah you bring up a good point. I don't know why you would yank a guy after a lead off single when he's had that kinda game. Doesn't make since

[RockChalk]

Bells makes moves like this all the time. Keppel pitched pretty well in AAA and got the call up. I believe this was his 2nd quality start in as many chances. He went 6 or 7 innings against Seattle last weekend but 84 year old Moyer shut us out. Maybe Bell is trying to get fired?

[RockChalk]

The thing that drives me crazy is that when I listen or watch these games, I get the feeling that Bell is making a wrong move. I always seem to second guess his decisions and his decisions always seem to get us a loss, or at least contribute. Now I know even the best manager will make a mistake from time to time, but his decisions seem to hurt us 80% of the time.

[ChiefsCountry]

He is killing time until we move the Wichita Wranglers to KC. White will be the manager.

[Moooo]

This would've been Keppel's first win no?

So he pulled a pitcher who was about to have his first win, in the 9th when he was pitching a shutout?

I'm sorry if I'm too sentimental, but this kid may never be able to pitch a shutout again, or perhaps even a win again, who knows what can happen, especially with the most finicky position in all of sports. It seems to me that in a season thats already over for us, a little sentimental thing like this would play in someone's mind.

Nice to see some good pitching, too...

Moooo

[BWillie]

He is killing time until we move the Wichita Wranglers to KC. White will be the manager.

If Wichita is so good then how come they are 27-31? I don't buy it. Butler, Gordon...they'll all find ways to suck. Always happens for the Royals. Fork up the money, get some good free agents. I'm sick and tired of waiting.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by BWillie007

If Wichita is so good then how come they are 27-31? I don't buy it. Butler, Gordon...they'll all find ways to suck. Always happens for the Royals. Fork up the money, get some good free agents. I'm sick and tired of waiting.

Pitching, Wichita has no pitching. They are good - Butler, Gordon, I saw them in person. No pitching kills them.

[BWillie]

Pitching, Wichita has no pitching. They are good - Butler, Gordon, I saw them in person. No pitching kills them.

Yeah, well pitching kills Royals too. By far an away worse than our offense. If we had the Yankees offense, we still wouldn't be .500.

[Moooo]

Originally Posted by BWillie007

Yeah, well pitching kills Royals too. By far an away worse than our offense. If we had the Yankees offense, we still wouldn't be .500.

If we had the Yankees offense, We'd be the Chiefs of Baseball. It would be only fitting that both offensive ponies would be in the same city...

Moooo

[Eleazar]

Yeah, you can argue about all this after the fact, but if you are the manager and are making the decision in real time, you might not choose the same thing.

It's easy to say 'leave the rookie in the game' after the fact when you know how it turned out. Not a terribly risky statement. But if Bell would have left him in and he'd blown it, the same thread would exist here, with all the same people bitching about Bell blowing the game for leaving him in.

Common sense tells you that the way it probably went down was that Bell let Keppel go out for the 9th, told him or decided that if he brought the tying run to the plate (which he did), he would go to the closer. He's brand new to the majors, he was at 100 pitches, he's got a long history of injuries so you dont want to overwork him, and the last time Keppel was out on the mound he was left in a little too long and it blew up an otherwise good outing.

While everyone pretends like they knew all the right answers, I'll go on record saying that I would have done the same thing. I would have sent Keppel out in the 9th, and told him that if the tying run came up I was going to make the change. I wouldn't have gone to Burgos - criticism of that is fair - but we don't have a whole lot of options out there either.

[chiefsfan987]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Yeah, you can argue about all this after the fact, but if you are the manager and are making the decision in real time, you might not choose the same thing.

It's easy to say 'leave the rookie in the game' after the fact when you know how it turned out. Not a terribly risky statement. But if Bell would have left him in and he'd blown it, the same thread would exist here, with all the same people bitching about Bell blowing the game for leaving him in.

Common sense tells you that the way it probably went down was that Bell let Keppel go out for the 9th, told him or decided that if he brought the tying run to the plate (which he did), he would go to the closer. He's brand new to the majors, he was at 100 pitches, he's got a long history of injuries so you dont want to overwork him, and the last time Keppel was out on the mound he was left in a little too long and it blew up an otherwise good outing.

While everyone pretends like they knew all the right answers, I'll go on record saying that I would have done the same thing. I would have sent Keppel out in the 9th, and told him that if the tying run came up I was going to make the change. I wouldn't have gone to Burgos - criticism of that is fair - but we don't have a whole lot of options out there either.

So if you were manager you would have taken out a guy who was pitching a shutout and in the 7th and 8th pitched his best innings both 1-2-3 innings to bring in a guy who's era is over 7 (now 7.90) with a runner already aboard and had blown 6 of his last 8 games to close the ninth? Your odds of coming out ahead on that one is pretty slim to none.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by chiefsfan987

So if you were manager you would have taken out a guy who was pitching a shutout and in the 7th and 8th pitched his best innings both 1-2-3 innings to bring in a guy who's era is over 7 (now 7.90) with a runner already aboard and had blown 6 of his last 8 games to close the ninth? Your odds of coming out ahead on that one is pretty slim to none.

Like I said, I would not have gone to Burgos. But I would have made a change when he brought the tying run up.

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Yeah, you can argue about all this after the fact, but if you are the manager and are making the decision in real time, you might not choose the same thing.

It's easy to say 'leave the rookie in the game' after the fact when you know how it turned out. Not a terribly risky statement. But if Bell would have left him in and he'd blown it, the same thread would exist here, with all the same people bitching about Bell blowing the game for leaving him in.

Common sense tells you that the way it probably went down was that Bell let Keppel go out for the 9th, told him or decided that if he brought the tying run to the plate (which he did), he would go to the closer. He's brand new to the majors, he was at 100 pitches, he's got a long history of injuries so you dont want to overwork him, and the last time Keppel was out on the mound he was left in a little too long and it blew up an otherwise good outing.

While everyone pretends like they knew all the right answers, I'll go on record saying that I would have done the same thing. I would have sent Keppel out in the 9th, and told him that if the tying run came up I was going to make the change. I wouldn't have gone to Burgos - criticism of that is fair - but we don't have a whole lot of options out there either.

I was second guessing Buddy Bell during the game. I was listening to the game on 810 and when LeFebre said that Bell was on his way out to the mound, I turned the game off. An hour later, my brother called telling me that the game was lost. My point is this, the Royals suck, we are going nowhere. Is it that big of a deal to let your rookie pitcher try and get out of the jam he put himself in. Keppel was the only reason we were winning that game, so it was his to lose.

On a side note, I think Burgos may be injured. No zip on his fastball and no break on the dreaded splitter.