Can we overnight Hoechevar?

Well, based on tonight ..we just need to spread the runs across the pitchers and hope Ponson doesn't pull a Davies

Ponson has been kinda good start/bad start, so maybe he's due for a good one tomorrow. As much as he gets railed, and no I don't have a ton of confidence in him... but before that last hideous start he went 8 innings against Detroit and pitched great. Just didn't have run support.

the good news is the mariners have carlos silva going tomorrow. he is almost as bad as ponson.

I haven't agreed with all of Hillman's moves, but if Soria's sore shoulder explains his bizarre usage early, I'm a lot less critical. I was fine with pinch running for Guillen, not so much for plugging Willie for Butler. But, he went for broke and it backfired. It happens. Ironic that those two guys tag teamed to win the game in the end.

To continue to compete, we really need Davies to regain his game.

I'll take a W against our division everytime

Yes, but I'm more worried about him pulling a Ponson.

What a great pickup, non roster invitee

2nd stint as a royal

Tomorrow is the first game I'm attending this season, with those two pitchers on the mound, it could be a very long night.

Coco Criso OBP=.363

especially one of the teams that on paper will be right by our shoulder in the race

Royals with 10 BB tonight.

Are you ****ing kidding me? Wow.

With a .235 avg....:eek:

Dayton has done an incredible job with the pen since he's come on as GM. Farnsworth notwithstanding, he's had the golden touch.

i'll take 4 division wins in a row any time!

Absolutely to this and to Nzoner's initial comment.

He already did that last outing....

if he can pitch like he did the first 2 games we can win.

10? Ya, big deal, I can believe that. But Eleven!?! Hot damn, thats unbelievable.

i wish we played the Mariners on the 9th. Greinke versus Hernandez would be an epic battle of pitchers.

PBJ

We actually picked him off waivers from the Braves

The way this team is going, this is true every single night.

And don't forget, we're facing Silva tomorrow aren't we? I was reading something earlier... Silva has thrown 163 fastballs this year, and and only 6 times has the batter swung and missed it.

You one upper, you. :)

I agree with all of this very much so. Also gotta say how impressed I am with our ball club this year. Doesen't seem to matter what the circumstances our players just don't seem to have any quit in them this year. And every ball club that plays us better be prepared to play hard for 9 innings or more or we're gonna take advantage. Tonight was a great example, battling back all game long. You can just see the confidence in this team right now. They really believe they can win. That's really one of the biggest parts of getting over the hump, is believing they can do it. This team is on the right track. Boy does it feel good to be a Royals fan.

:clap:

He's completely lost. Balls he drove the opposite way last year, he's fisting weakly to the 2nd baseman this season. It's ugly right now.

Whatever Ponson does, we could really use 6 innings tomorrow. If he has to get pulled after 4, it will be kinda tough.

That's quite a stat. I think Greinke did that in one inning yesterday.

The biggest thing is that not only are we playing through the good plays by the other team, we are playing through our own mistakes as well.

If Ponson is any type of competitor, we should see his best game tomorrow, what with the open speculation from Trey about his spot in the rotation.

Dude should feel the pressure to step up, and it's not like he's incapable of doing this.

Huh?

To be honest I kind of hope we move Callaspo to SS when Gordon gets healthy. Put Teahan back over to 2nd. Get rid of TPJ and have Aviles come off the bench. Right now we aren't getting anything out of our SS.

Should we be glad we got Jacobs now?

threw 6 fastballs that opposing batters swung at and missed?

Naw, Grienke will want to warm up for Saturday.

I like the thought, but there's no way you can put AC's range at SS.

It's a problem, though, if Aviles continues to look Pena-like at the plate.

Jason Starks said today along the lines that Ponson's life span as a Royal is probably short lived. Once Luke comes back up, Ponson is likely a gonner soon after.

i was glad when we got him in the first place...

He also gets paid like he's capable of doing it.

I guess.

Don't mind nothing on KcMizzou. He's just special like that.

me too, but Gordon needs to step it up a notch, IMO. He SHOULD be the offensive equivilent to Zack...preferably this year

Is Teahan at short out of the question?

Maybe we can send Aviles to get reacquainted with Omaha (its odd that we send our batters to omaha to fix their swings...) and borrow moosetacos or something.

Way to go Royals!! I turned off the running commentary when they went into the 10th and got interested in the Nuggets game. In which they now have in control in the 4th btw. :thumb:

This Royals team is a different beast this year!!

Indeed.

Well, let's say his stock went up tonight. He should have won the game but hit into some rotten luck. If he can just cut out the bad K's he will be a fine DH.

There's no chance Callaspo could handle SS unfortunately.

Oh, I agree our defense would probably suck horrible with Callaspo at SS, but once Gordon comes back it will be awful tough to keep Callaspo and Teahan off the field.

Yes. He doens't have the range for 2nd so no way he has it for SS.

Also: WTF isn't Callaspo in the three hole yet?! Teahen isn't exactly lighting it up....

mike jacobs looks way less like a douche now that he has shaved that turd off of his chin.

Alice is ass out right now as I see it. You don't **** with a good thing and we have a good thing going right now.

But AC is picking up the lower part if the lineup where we are terrible.

:D

Gordon actually has more range, and he might be better suited. Not a great option by any means, but...****.

No, no, no. Hands off the Moosetacos.

We really might have to have a look around in June and July and see if there are any possibilities out there via trade.

Man the Nuggets are getting run out after run out...by the way, I hope Callaspo stays in the lineup somehow. Can Gordon not handle short stop?

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/stats/


OY thats a lot of Greinke....

He can and would be better than Teahen. Teahen is just too ****ing tall to play the middle IF spots.

I think there are only 2 legit options for SS right now:

1. Hope really, really hard that Aviles snaps out of it.

2. Hope the kid we just called up becomes Aviles 2.0 '08 edition.

I don't want to move AC out of his batting line-up spot. He is perfect where he is at. Basically if Callaspo keeps this up, once Gordon comes back, Teahan will have to be our utility guy. He can spell the outfield, 2B, 1B, 3B and even DH if needed be. Then again we also have Bloomquist that can do this role as well. Might be nice to have both of them handy and just dump TPJ like originally brought up.

No ****ing way. Alice K's way too ****ing much, imo. He is long overdue for a AAA tour.

yeah.

Sorry, I thought it was pretty easy to understand.

Bloomquist at SS is also a distinct possibility.

Assuming Teahen continues to hit, we should not move him. AC staying in the lineup is a given.

If this team is winning and playing well, Gordon cannot just be handed his spot back. He might have to grab some wood for his ass.

If Gordon can actually play a decent SS, I say we do it. It is best for the team. Teahan has taken many bullets for the team.

Yeah, I'm not convinced that Gordon deserves his old job back. When he comes back, he needs to push Teahen off of 3rd. Its popular to hate Teahen, but at least he has an OPS over .800 (or hell, over .550), and Gordon really sucked to start the season.

If he could play a decent SS, he would have been there long before, considering that this organization is so bereft of talent at this position.

The only thing I even go for with Gordon right now is SS. Trading Avilles for Gordon is non-impacting to this team right now. Anything else ****s up the mojo.

yep, the first question that is asked of ANY non-pitcher is "can you play shortstop"? If the answer is no, then you figure out what they are good at defensively. Shortstops that dont suck at the plate are so rare, that everyone with talent is considered for that position before sent elsewhere, or they start at shortstop in High School and stay there till they cant hack it defensively in the higher level.

I ask again...Does it bother anyone else that Teahen only has 9 RBIs? He's hit third for at least half the season.

This is exactly right, and we're seeing it play out with Moosetacos right now. Everyone is confident that he can swing it, and now he has to prove beyond a shadow a doubt that he can't be the answer at SS.

What was our team leader before tonight? 15?

So it's not like it's ridiculously low. Plus, he's had some key hits and been pretty productive overall.

More sample size needed to be worried.

I don't think we've had the right personnel for Gordon to play SS, honestly. This year I think we do. I think.

Fair enough, but Nine RBI in a month is awefully low for a number 3 hitter...'sall I'm sayin

The other positions are far easier to fill.

SS and CF are the two most critical defensive positions, so if you think you can get those situated, you lock those up first. And remember, Gordon has been the golden child. If he could play SS, we would have seen it.

I think Gordon at SS would look about like Teahen at 2B. Not awful, but every play would make you nervous.

not even a little bit. RBI is largely a function of luck and the players in front of you, not as much skill as the other stats. RBI isnt totally irrelevant because it indicates a player who likely has good OBP and SLG, but if your OPS is high, then the RBI's will come unless you are unlucky or the players in front of you arent hitting.

Who would you make a play for at SS, if you were to trade?

I get all that.

Mike Aviles, for example, has 7.

Teahen has had plenty of opportunities. He has not delivered in my opinion.

oh hey, good news! Brayan Pena cleared waivers tonight and is going back to Omaha.

Brayan is obviously a promising player that a few Royals fans actually want instead of Olivo or Buck, but we had a problem:

• Buck isnt going anywhere
• We arent sending down Greinke's catcher
• We'd like to have Pena as insurance given that both our catchers are flawed (even with Buck's game-winner today)
• We arent carrying 3 catchers this season, thats silly.
• Pena couldnt be optioned back, he had to clear waivers.
• A few teams need catchers, including the Yankees

Now that he's still with us, we can keep him and see if he is for real in Omaha, bringing him up later if needed or someone gets hurt.

bad luck, period. Otherwise, you have to assume that some hitters are "good" at hitting when runners are in scoring position. Just like the "clutch hitter", thats a myth.

RBI is an interesting stat that might tell you if a hitter is good or not if you dont have AVG/OBP/SLG for some weird reason, but thats it.