Kansas City Royals @ Minnesota Twins Game Thread (9/27)

[alnorth]

Spoiler alert, round two.
<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> <center>H</center> </td><td> E </td></tr>
<tr> <td>KC (75-86)</td> <td> 0 </td> <td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 1 </td><td> 1 </td><td> 2 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 4 </td><td> <center>12</center> </td><td> 2 </td></tr>
<tr> <td>MIN (87-74)</td> <td> 0 </td> <td> 1 </td><td> 1 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 0 </td><td> 2 </td><td> <center>8</center> </td><td> 0 </td></tr>
</table>

http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/v/mlb/teams/20080123/80x60/kan.gif

Win, (14-11) Gil Meche 6IP 2R 1ER 3BB 7K
Hold, (2) John Bale 1IP 0R 0ER 1BB 0K
Hold, (21) Ramon Ramirez 1IP 0R 0ER 1BB 0K
Save, (42) Joakim Soria 1IP 0R 0ER 2BB 0K

VS.

http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/v/mlb/teams/20080123/80x60/min.gif

Glen Perkins 5IP 1R 1ER 0BB 4K
Blown Save, (2) Boof Bonser 0IP 1R 1ER 0BB 0K
Craig Breslow 0.1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K
Loss, (6-9) Matt Guerrier 0.2IP 2R 2ER 0BB 0K
Jesse Crain 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 2K
Dennys Reyes 1IP 0R 0ER 1BB 1K
Jose Mijares 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K

Starting Lineups

KC

1. Mike Aviles, SS/2B
2. Alberto Callaspo, 2B
2. Joey Gathright, CF
3. Jose Guillen, RF
3. Tony Pena Jr, SS
4. Ryan Shealy, 1B
5. Mark Teahen, LF
6. Billy Butler, DH
7. Alex Gordon, 3B
8. John Buck, C
9. Mitch Maier, CF/RF

MIN

1. Denard Span, RF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jason Kubel, DH
5. Matt Tolbert, DH
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Brendan Harris, 3B
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

[KCUnited]

I'm certainly pulling for the Royals to win out, but I definitely would rather see Minny get the division than the Sox.

[SAUTO]

screw them both

[Reaper16]

I'm certainly pulling for the Royals to win out, but I definitely would rather see Minny get the division than the Sox.
Me too. Ideally, the Royals will sweep the Twins while the Sox also keep losing, maintaining Minnesnowta's half-game lead.

[alnorth]

Man, it is really nice to have middle infielders who dont suck at the plate. Good teams almost always have a couple of those.

[alnorth]

Top 1st

Aviles flies out to center
Callaspo pops out to second
Guillen grounds out 1-5-3

0 runs, 0 hits

Bottom 1st

Span strikes out (looking)
Casilla walks
Mauer grounds out to first, Casilla to second
Casilla steals third
Morneau strikes out (looking)

0 runs, 0 hits

[Bowser]

Man, it is really nice to have middle infielders who dont suck at the plate. Good teams almost always have a couple of those.

Top 1st

Aviles flies out to center
Callaspo pops out to second


LMAO

[alnorth]

Top 2nd

Shealy strikes out (swinging)
Teahen pops out to shortstop
Butler grounds out to shortstop

0 runs, 0 hits

Bottom 2nd

Kubel doubles to left
Young grounds out to first, Kubel to third
Harris doubles to center, Kubel scores
Punto singles to left, Harris to third
Gomez grounds into a 6-4-3 double play, Punto out at second

1 run, 3 hits

[SAUTO]

thanks for the updates

[alnorth]

If anyone is watching live I'll be way behind today. TV is showing the cubs, and the radio is going with Notre Dame, so I've just got MLB.com's delayed audio feed.

[alnorth]

Top 3rd

Gordon grounds out to second
Buck singles to center
Maier strikes out (swinging)
Aviles flies out to right

0 runs, 1 hit

Bottom 3rd

Span reaches on an Error by 1B
Span steals second
Casilla bunts an infield single to pitcher, Span to third *
Mauer sacrifices (fly) to left, Span scores
Morneau singles to right, Casilla to second
Kubel grounds into a 4-6-3 double play, Morneau out at second

1 run, 2 hits, 1 error

* Meche was ready to throw him out at first, but Callaspo failed to cover

[alnorth]

Top 4th

Callaspo grounds out to pitcher
Guillen doubles to right
Shealy strikes out (swinging)
Teahen strikes out (swinging)

0 runs, 1 hit

Bottom 4th

Young flies out to center
Harris strikes out (swinging)
Punto singles to right
Gomez singles to right, Punto to second
Span grounds into a 4-6 fielder's choice, Gomez out at second

0 runs, 2 hits

[alnorth]

Top 5th

Butler singles to right
Gordon flies out to left
Buck doubles to left, Butler to third
Maier hit by pitch
Aviles sacrifices (fly) to center, Buck to third, Butler scores
Callaspo lines out to second

1 run, 2 hits

Bottom 5th

Casilla strikes out (looking)
Mauer walks
Morneau strikes out (swinging)
Kubel strikes out (looking)

0 runs, 0 hits

[alnorth]

Top 6th

Boof Bonser relieves Perkins

Guillen singles to right
Shealy singles to left, Guillen to second
Teahen singles to second deflected by pitcher, Shealy to second, Guillen scores
Butler singles to left, Teahen to second, Shealy to third

Craig Breslow relieves Bonser

Gordon strikes out (swinging)

Matt Guerrier relieves Breslow

Buck reaches on a 5-2 fielder's choice, Butler to second, Teahen to third, Shealy out at home
Maier lines out to first

1 run, 4 hits

Bottom 6th

Young strikes out (swinging)
Harris grounds out to second
Punto grounds out to first 3-1

0 runs, 0 hits

[alnorth]

Wow, the wheels are starting to come off against the Royals at their home. This doesn't look like a playoff team to me.

[KCUnited]

Gordon missed a granny by a few feet

[KCUnited]

and then struckout

[BigRock]

When he hit it, I thought for sure that was gone. Twins probably had fans blowing to push it foul.

[Mr. Arrowhead]

dam i thought that was way out of there

[alnorth]

Top 7th

Aviles singles to left
Callaspo singles to center, Aviles to second

Jesse Crain relieves Guerrier

Guillen strikes out (swinging), Callaspo to second, Aviles to third on a Wild Pitch
Shealy hits an infield single to first, Callaspo and Aviles scores *
Teahen flies out to left
Butler strikes out (swinging)

2 runs, 3 hits

Bottom 7th

Gomez reaches on an Error by 3B
Gomez steals second
Span walks

John Bale relieves Meche

Casilla bunt pops out to first
Mauer walks, Span to second, Gomez to third
Morneau grounds into a 6-4-3 double play, Mauer out at second

* 1B and 2B chasing it, deflects off of 1B glove enough to score both runners, somehow was not called an error

[DeezNutz]

Is this thing actually tied? Yahoo is saying 2-1 Twinkies.

[alnorth]

Is this thing actually tied? Yahoo is saying 2-1 Twinkies.

yep, and the royals started the 7th with a pair of singles to knock another pitcher out of the game

Where the hell was this team all year?

[alnorth]

When you strike out on a wild pitch that moves up the baserunners, then something is wrong with your eye

[DeezNutz]

yep, and the royals started the 7th with a pair of singles to knock another pitcher out of the game

Where the hell was this team all year?

****ing alnorth. Better than Yahoo Sports. :clap:

[BigRock]

That was some bullshit, Shealy had the ball.

[alnorth]

Top 8th

Dennys Reyes relieves Crain

Gordon singles to left
Gordon steals second
Buck strikes out (looking), Gordon steals third
Maier reaches second on a 1-2-1-5-1-6 fielder's choice, Gordon out at home
Aviles intentionally walked
Callaspo flies out to left

0 runs, 1 hit

Bottom 8th

Ramon Ramirez relieves Bale

Matt Tolbert bats for Kubel

Tolbert hits an infield single to second
Young reaches on a 3-6 fielder's choice, Tolbert out at second
Harris flies out to left
Punto walks, Young to second
Gomez flies out to left

0 runs, 1 hit

[alnorth]

Man, this is a wacky game of swinging momentum. Royals blow up the lead, then the Royals blow a bases loaded no out, Twins on the verge of coming back, boom double play

[alnorth]

Top 9th

Jose Mijares relieves Reyes

Guillen flies out to center
Shealy pops out to second
Teahen flies out to left

0 runs, 0 hits

Bottom 9th

Joakim Soria relieves Ramirez

Aviles moves to 2B

Maier moves to RF

Tony Pena Jr replaces Guillen and comes in at SS

Joey Gathright replaces Callaspo and comes in at CF

Span walks
Casilla walks, Span to second
Mauer grounds into a 4-6-3 double play, Casilla out at second, Span to third
Morneau flies out to left

0 runs, 0 hits

Royals win, 4-2

[Dartgod]

C'mon Soria!

Back to back walks, WTF?

[RealSNR]

DOUBLE PLAY!

One more!

[RealSNR]

NOICE!

[RealSNR]

I want the Twins to get in more than the White Sox, but still, nice win Royals!

[Dartgod]

I want the Twins to get in more than the White Sox, but still, nice win Royals!
Me too. As much as I like to see the Royals playing well, I hate the fact that we are helping the White Sox.

[irishjayhawk]

I want the Twins to get in more than the White Sox, but still, nice win Royals!

Same here, but if they keep losing, we can have the best of both worlds.

[alnorth]

Well, I just won $5, I bet a rabid Twinky fan at work that the Royals would win this series.

I'd rather see the Twins win the division than the White Sox, but they have to earn it. Baseball tradition demands that if a losing team is playing against a team with a must-win game, then you have to play hard to make it fair to the other teams involved. I'm sure the Indians arent giving up anything to Chicago either.

[irishjayhawk]

Well, I just won $5, I bet a rabid Twinky fan at work that the Royals would win this series.

I'd rather see the Twins win the division than the White Sox, but they have to earn it. Baseball tradition demands that if a losing team is playing against a team with a must-win game, then you have to play hard to make it fair to the other teams involved. I'm sure the Indians arent giving up anything to Chicago either.

Still, the Twins have to be relieved Greinke isn't going tomorrow.

[alnorth]

Still, the Twins have to be relieved Greinke isn't going tomorrow.

Yep, so assuming they can beat Duckworth at home (how hard could that possibly be?), then they just need to hope Chicago loses at least one more game to have a chance at forcing Chicago to play 1 or 2 tiebreaker games.

[alnorth]

In case anyone is confused about the ALC standings between Twins/White Sox and Tigers/Royals, a Detroit @ Chicago game was rained out and will not be made up unless necessary. If its not made up, then Detroit and KC cant tie, we'll either win or lose 4th place outright.

If Chicago finishes up or down half a game, then the Detroit game must be made up. If up a half game and they win or if down a half game and lose to detroit, thats it. If the makeup game leads to a tie, then Chicago and Minnesota will have to play another game to determine the division champ.

So, Chicago could conceivably stumble into the playoffs having had two fewer days rest than anyone else after playing these extra tiebreaker games.

[Bearcat]

I haven't been paying attention, but guys on ESPN the other day were saying it was virtually impossible for the White Sox to win the division. I think one guy even used the word 'miracle'.... and they were basing it on how the Twins were playing the Royals at home. With that information, I thought the Twins' magic number was 1 before last night's game.

Dumbshits. :shake:

[alnorth]

I haven't been paying attention, but guys on ESPN the other day were saying it was virtually impossible for the White Sox to win the division. I think one guy even used the word 'miracle'.... and they were basing it on how the Twins were playing the Royals at home. With that information, I thought the Twins' magic number was 1 before last night's game.

Dumbshits. :shake:

They apparently weren't paying attention to our September record. With a game left, the Royals have just had one of their best months in many years.

[teedubya]

75 wins, I'm tickled shitless with that result this year. VERY promising for the next couple years. VERY promising.

[Delano]

Double plays absolutely killed us today.

I had this game marked as a loss two weeks ago. The Royals are playing great ball and I hope that continues into next year. I think the AL Central could be extremely competitive by 2010-11 (hopefully with the White Sox in the cellar).

With that said, Minnesota will win tomorrow and I'm praying Cliff Lee starts for Cleveland.

[Bearcat]

They apparently weren't paying attention to our September record. With a game left, the Royals have just had one of their best months in many years.

I heard it from a few people on PTI and Around the Horn... Jay Mariotti even mentioned the Royals' record of late, but said there was no chance. Yeah, I know he's a tool and thinks people in KC ride horses to work, but the other guys didn't seem to care either.

Eh, it's the same media dipshits who, year after year, say crap like "there's no chance USC loses to Oregon State tonight, this is the greatest USC team evar", so it's not like I'm all that surprised.... but 1/2 a game?!? :doh!:

[BigMeatballDave]

18-6 this month. Wow.

[DeezNutz]

18-6 this month. Wow.

That type of winning percentage might lead to a pretty decent season. :)

[alnorth]

That type of winning percentage might lead to a pretty decent season. :)

We also can count on having at least two pretty good pitchers, maybe 3. Now we just need to preserve this sudden outburst of offense and we'll be ready to roll in 2009

[KC_Connection]

Well, I just won $5, I bet a rabid Twinky fan at work that the Royals would win this series.

I'd rather see the Twins win the division than the White Sox, but they have to earn it. Baseball tradition demands that if a losing team is playing against a team with a must-win game, then you have to play hard to make it fair to the other teams involved. I'm sure the Indians arent giving up anything to Chicago either.

The Indians are benching Cliff Lee due to a "sore neck" tomorrow.

I suppose he's sucked lately anyway, though.

[Moobs]

So for those of you who know more about the Royals than me, what's up with Kyle Davies? I don't recognize him after his last three starts. Petro was on the radio the other day talking about him possibly having 'the light' come on, and this is why many in the Braves and Royals organizations were still high on him.

[alnorth]

The Indians are benching Cliff Lee due to a "sore neck" tomorrow.

I suppose he's sucked lately anyway, though.

Looks like Chicago is going down tonight too. Good news for Twins fans: barring a big comeback, there is no chance at all that Chicago can clinch tomorrow. Even if Chicago wins and the Twins lose, they would still have to win the Detroit makeup game.

If it goes the other way and Minnesota gains a game, itll be over.

[chiefsfan987]

If it goes the other way and Minnesota gains a game, itll be over.

I sure hope that isn't the scenario that unfolds for two reasons. One, I hate the Twins and their fans invading the K. And two, it'll give the Royals a good shot at finishing last.....again. The Rays are just rolling over for the Tigers right now.