*** Official Kansas City Royals @ Minnesota Twins Game Thread (6/10) ***

[alnorth]

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
KC (34-23)	4	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	7	8	1
MIN (33-26)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	7	3

Torii Hunter and Manager Paul Molitor were both ejected from the game in the 8th inning for arguing a strike



Win, (5-4) Edinson Volquez 7IP 1R 1ER 3BB 6K
Luke Hochevar 1IP 1R 1ER 0BB 2K 1HR
Jason Frasor 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K

VS.



Loss, (4-4) Kyle Gibson 6IP 5R 4ER 2BB 6K 1HR
J.R. Graham 3IP 2R 0ER 0BB 1K

Home Runs

KC

Alex Gordon, (7) - Top 1st 3-run homer to right

MIN

Trevor Plouffe, (9) - Bottom 8th solo shot to right

AL Central

Final: CHC 12, DET 3
Final: SEA 9, CLE 3
Final: HOU 1, CWS 4

Starting Lineups

KC

1. Alcides Escobar, SS
2. Mike Moustakas, 3B
3. Lorenzo Cain, CF
4. Eric Hosmer, 1B
5. Kendrys Morales, DH
6. Alex Gordon, LF
7. Alex Rios, RF
8. Salvador Perez, C
9. Omar Infante, 2B

MIN

1. Brian Dozier, 2B
2. Joe Mauer, 1B
3. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
4. Torii Hunter, RF
4. Chris Herrmann, RF
5. Kurt Suzuki, C
6. Kennys Vargas, DH
7. Shane Robinson, LF
8. Aaron Hicks, CF
9. Jorge Polanco, SS

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I played baseball. I was a good athlete, and I saw great athletes that were terrible at baseball and vice versa. I had no plate discipline. Could not figure it out. I have no idea how people walk. Every pitch looked like a strike to me, no matter what I did. That had nothing to do with my athleticism or lack thereof. Plus, anybody can acquire the needed strength to play baseball. Most people can never be as strong as an NFL safety, though.

I'm still not sure if you're trolling, but your high school team is kind of irrelevant. I don't think you realize just how good even the "shitty" players are at the MLB level.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Much of fielding is acquired skill, not all. Its a skill so to speak to be able to see the ball off the bat, or to be able to scoopnone out of the dirt. I hardly see how that has anything to do with being athletic or not. Like I said, being athletic is certainly helpful in baseball, that is obvious, but it is definitely not required.

And if you think Billy Butler is more athletic than 99% of all makes I dont know what to tell you, except laugh. Hes probably more athletic than like half of all people and that is realllllly pushing it.

OK, you're trolling. Or just a huge moron.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

I'm still not sure if you're trolling, but your high school team is kind of irrelevant. I don't think you realize just how good even the "shitty" players are at the MLB level.

Once again, Im talking about sheer athleticism. I think you guys have trouble reading or something. Id be willing to bet lots of money that 50% of all 31 year olds on Chiefsplanet are more athletic than Billy freaking Butler. In fact, theres literature out there that hes the slowest runner un MLB from home plate to 1B. Go film a video of yourself running to first, you will be faster than Billy Butler. Being athletic = quickness, vertical leap, change of direction/agility, NATURAL strength. Thats it.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Once again, Im talking about sheer athleticism. I think you guys have trouble reading or something. Id be willing to bet lots of money that 50% of all 31 year olds on Chiefsplanet are more athletic than Billy freaking Butler. In fact, theres literature out there that hes the slowest runner un MLB from home plate to 1B. Go film a video of yourself running to first, you will be faster than Billy Butler. Being athletic = quickness, vertical leap, change of direction/agility, NATURAL strength. Thats it.

Not trying to be mean but your made up criteria is far too narrow and is honestly just pretty ignorant.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Much of fielding is acquired skill, not all. Its a skill so to speak to be able to see the ball off the bat, or to be able to scoopnone out of the dirt. I hardly see how that has anything to do with being athletic or not. Like I said, being athletic is certainly helpful in baseball, that is obvious, but it is definitely not required.

Can we both agree that basketball is an "athletic" sport? What are the skills required to be a good shooter? To make a bounce pass in traffic? To dribble with both hands? Similar to those you dismiss in the quote above. Being athletic is more than running and jumping.

[Saul Good]

This has become a debate over whether or not athleticism and coordination are the same thing. They overlap, but they are distinct traits.

Billy Butler is an average athlete who happens to be incredibly coordinated.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by KevB

Can we both agree that basketball is an "athletic" sport? What are the skills required to be a good shooter? To make a bounce pass in traffic? To dribble with both hands? Similar to those you dismiss in the quote above. Being athletic is more than running and jumping.

It is not. Shooting has nothing to do with athleticism. Nothing.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

This has become a debate over whether or not athleticism and coordination are the same thing. They overlap, but they are distinct traits.

Billy Butler is an average athlete who happens to be incredibly coordinated.

Right.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

having elite hand eye coordination IS athleticism

...do you not realize that?

It is not. Is being good at Call of Duty or Counterstrike being athletic? Of course not.

[C3HIEF3S]

Is posting on CP a display of athleticism?

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by C3HIEF3S

**** golf . You want a hard mother****ing sport? Play some ****ing golf. My god, hardest sport there is to play.
To those who are good at it, respect.

I played golf in colleg, Division 2. Requires almost no athleticism albeit some. The kid on our team that hit the ball the furthest was the biggest dork alive. Couldnt get net on a basketball hoop, was the slowest kid in the team. The best athlete on the team also had a scholly to play football in college as well, he was just pretty short. He only hit 240. While I think athleticism does translate to hitting a golf ball further, you can see that it doesnt always matter

[srvy]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

This has become a debate over whether or not athleticism and coordination are the same thing. They overlap, but they are distinct traits.

Billy Butler is an average athlete who happens to be incredibly coordinated.

Lots of athletic spaz out there.

[BigCatDaddy]

I always felt ping pong players were the greatest athletesin the world.

[duncan_idaho]

I'll agree there are certain positions in baseball that don't require a ton of athleticism to play well. 1B. DH. And at P, you can get away with not being really athletic if you're a freak of nature. Teams tend to look for more athletic guys on the hill, though, because it helps with repeating deliveries and etc.

But try playing MI, or 3B, or any of the OF spots well. You need to be really athletic to do so in the major leagues. For those IF spots, great quickness and first two steps are a must. That's athletic ability. Speed helps. That's athletic ability. Throwing arm, again, athletic ability. There's a ton of quick twitch that's required on the IF.

In the OF, reading the ball off the bat and taking good routes are skills that can be taught. Speed and throwing ability cannot. And...you'll notice the best OF are the guys with a really quick first few steps. That's athletic ability as well.

And as for catcher, it requires a ton of quickness/endurance/throwing ability as well. You can put a fat guy back there to "hide" him, but it's going to hurt you a lot defensively.

[srvy]

Pablo Sandoval is a perfect example of an athletic fat guy IMHO. Billy Butler a coordinated spaz.