Detroit Tigers @ Kansas City Royals--April 18

[stonedstooge]

Need a win tonight. Sanchez on the mound

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

I'm sad for you young guys. Please go back and watch Dartgods video.

[The Dawg]

I'm so tired of hearing "---- WELLLLLLLLLL our window is 2014-2017 ----"

Our window has been 3 years away for the past 30 years. It's a never-ending cycle of dumping on the fans or and over and over again. This team should move to Japan.

All I know is Ken Harvey. KEN ******* HARVEY AND TONY PENA!!!!!!!!!!!

**** this team.

Rant over.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

As near as I can tell, everyone that's ever met George Brett thinks he's an insufferable ass.

Kinda sucks. It's why I've never really had an interest in meeting Ozzie Smith. That way, as far as I'll ever know, my childhood hero was a class-act and all around boy scout.

But for many folks that grew up idolizing George Brett, meeting their hero didn't leave them with warm and fuzzies. I know he was good and shitcanned when I met him and pretty much an obnoxious buffoon. When I told my folks about it, they both said they'd met him a few years earlier and it was the same story - though they think he was sober, just an asshole.

That said - you couldn't find a better guy to emulate between the lines. Brett was the perfect ballplayer, IMO.

That asshole tried to fight my dad at a Blades game.

[mikey23545]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Fast forward to 5:50


It still gives me chills.

That really brought back some memories, Dart...most of them terrible, bittersweet ones, but at least one great one...

Thanks for posting that.

[Reaper16]

Dartgod's video is just going to make us more sad.

[KCUnited]

Running yourself out of innings, balls to the screen, failing to advance runners, and head scratching bunt attempts are not 'being cursed', it's just bad baseball.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Running yourself out of innings, balls to the screen, failing to advance runners, and head scratching bunt attempts are not 'being cursed', it's just bad baseball.

Yup. The problem isn't some intangible, "don't know how to win" syndrome. The problem is that the team isn't playing the game of baseball well. Play better baseball and they'll win.

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The Royals really had nothing to do with the discussion, but Larry Bowa and Mitch Williams both got a kick out of pointing out just how green the Royals are. Williams asked "So is Yost teaching these kids to win?"....Bowa sat there for a second and just says "Well they aren't winning right now."

He should be reminded of that line drive off the side of his face.

[Great Expectations]

Originally Posted by JD369

I

Our window has been 3 years away for the past 30 years.

Rant over.

To be fair, 30 years ago we won the World Series in 3 years.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Yup. The problem isn't some intangible, "don't know how to win" syndrome. The problem is that the team isn't playing the game of baseball well. Play better baseball and they'll win.

The biggest problems are that 1. there just isn't enough overall talent on the team - especially pitching and 2. not enough experience from the existing talent to produce consistent results on the field.

[Deberg_1990]

Yost is starting to me me pine for the "Glory Years" of Buddy Bell and Trey Hillman.....

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by JD369

All I want is this team to be competitive once.... It's not that much to ask....

Hey, whaddya want? We're losing by less! We're building character. Baseball people don't look at the record. They see past it. Fans just get all worked up over trivial things, like win-loss records, the standings...you know, the intangibles.

Hey, did you know we get the All Star Game this year? A good seat is just $2000!

Which Royal should volunteer to be our All Star this year?

I'm for Yuni Betancourt!

[mr. tegu]

7 game losing streak ends today. Book it!

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Hey, whaddya want? We're losing by less! We're building character. Baseball people don't look at the record. They see past it. Fans just get all worked up over trivial things, like win-loss records, the standings...you know, the intangibles.

Hey, did you know we get the All Star Game this year? A good seat is just $2000!

Which Royal should volunteer to be our All Star this year?

I'm for Yuni Betancourt!

Salvador Perez. He hasn't ****ed anything up. Well not on the field.

[Deberg_1990]

Rany unloads on Yost today....Wow





If you’re looking for a silver lining, you’re best off not reading the remarks that Ned Yost made after tonight’s game. The Royals blew a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning, thanks to Jose Mijares allowing two-out singles to Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder sandwiched around a wild pitch, plating the tying and winning runs. After the game, Yost admitted that he made a mistake in the inning.


The mistake? After Mijares’ wild pitch tied the game and moved Cabrera to second base, he should have had Mijares intentionally walk Fielder.


Here’s what Yost said about giving up a hit to Fielder after giving up one to Cabrera: “The second time was pure stupidity on my part, plain and simple that’s what it was. After the wild pitch, we had a runner on second. I started to overthink the situation.”


This is where things start to go off the rails, my friends. Jose Mijares is on the roster for one reason: to retire left-handed batters. (Or at least, he should be.) I didn’t get around to commenting on his signing this winter, but I liked the acquisition. We saw a lot of Mijares the last four years when he pitched for the Twins, and he was generally effective as the quintessential left-handed specialist. Pitching from a near three-quarters delivery, his career line against left-handed batters was .212/.278/.331. For $925,000 guaranteed, he was a good gamble that he might bounce back from a disappointing 2011 season and fill that role, freeing Tim Collins up to pitch longer outings against hitters from both sides of the plate.


Coming into the game, Mijares had pitched well, allowing one run in five innings, walking two and striking out five. It’s his job to get left-handed hitters out. Prince Fielder bats left-handed. If you don’t trust Jose Mijares to get Prince Fielder out, why the hell is he on the roster?


What really bothers me about Yost’s comments is that THIS EXACT SAME SITUATION essentially sealed his fate as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. Read this article. Please. On September 14th, 2008, with the Brewers in the thick of the wild-card hunt, with the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Yost brought Brian Shouse – like Mijares a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Left-Handed Specialists – in the game to pitch to left-handers Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. After Utley bunted a runner over to second, Yost had Shouse intentionally walk Howard.


THAT Ryan Howard. The Ryan Howard who has maybe the biggest platoon split of any left-handed hitter in the game. When you have the chance to face Howard with a left-handed pitcher in a key situation late in a game, you’re supposed to get on your knees and kiss the ground.


Instead, Yost walked Howard, so that Shouse could face Pat Burrell, a right-handed hitter who crushes left-handers. Burrell singled in the go-ahead run. Shane Victorino, batting from the right side, then hit a three-run homer off Shouse.


On September 15th, 2008, Ned Yost was fired. The Milwaukee Brewers would rebound to win the wild card by a single game.


I wrote about this extensively when the Royals hired Yost, which you can read here. My conclusion then was that while Yost has never shown tactical decision-making to be a strength of his, that we shouldn’t let a single horrific decision overshadow the terrific work he had done in developing young talent.


I stand by that. I think Yost has generally done a good job of bringing the Royals’ young players along, and that Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez and Danny Duffy might benefit from his presence the way Fielder and Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy did.


But if he really thinks that the mistake he made tonight was not giving the Tigers a free baserunner, then he’s starting to panic. He’s letting the outcome dictate his decisions. Never mind that pitching to Fielder with Mijares was the best matchup the Royals had at that time – Fielder drove in the winning run, and that’s all that matters.


Which is ridiculous. Look at the real outcome of the at-bat – Fielder hit a hard groundball to the left of second base, about where the shortstop would normally set up. But because the Royals had the shift on against Fielder – which they should – Escobar was to the right of second base and the ball got through for a single.


In the bottom of the ninth, with two on and one out, Escobar hit a ball just inside the third-base line. But because the Tigers were playing their no-doubles defense – as they should – Miguel Cabrera was in position to snag the ball, step on third base, and throw to first to end the game.


As painful as it was, the game was essentially decided by defensive positioning and the vagaries of ground balls. One grounder had eyes, the other didn’t. Mijares was the right matchup against Fielder, and more than that, he did what he was supposed to do: he got a ground ball. No less an authority than Mariano Rivera once said after a blown save – I’m paraphrasing here – “I can only get ground balls – I can’t point them in the direction I want them to go.”


This isn’t quite as bad as what happened in Milwaukee, because Yost did indicate he would have then brought Louis Coleman in to pitch to Delmon Young. But if Yost really regrets letting Mijares pitch to Fielder, then he’s saying that he cares more about the results than he does about the process. And if Yost doesn’t trust the process, why should we trust The Process?


It’s unfortunate and upsetting that the Royals are 3-9. But it’s the job of the fans to overreact to the losing streak, to beat their fists against their chest and wail and gnash their teeth. It’s the job of the manager to stay the course, to trust the process more than the results, to have faith that the team he thought was good enough to compete two weeks ago is still good enough today.


It’s not his job to panic. If Ned Yost is starting to let the losing get to him, we’re going to be in for a long summer. And it’s still early spring

http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/