View Full Version : 2008 Royals Season Thread
KCGHOST
04-18-2008, 01:01 PM
The Royals are off to a nice start do to fairly good starting pitching and lights out relief pitching in games Nomo doesn't appear in. There are some storms clouds out there, though. The offense had been pitiful due to the usual suspects: lack of plate discipline, a paucity of power hitting, and very little clutch hitting. The defense is suspect and the base running has been atrocious.
All-in-all we have to be thrilled with a 9-7 start and the performances of Bannister, Greinke, Nunez, and Soria. Teahen, Butler, and Gordon all have an OPS above .840. Amongst the remaining players with 25+ PA's no one has a an OPS anywhere near the league average. The team's SLG of .375 is 25 points below the league average.
The Boys in Blue are going to have to start hitting because it is impossible for this pitching staff to maintain this level of productivity.
Stray Cat
04-19-2008, 06:33 AM
Last nights game was good on defense, sucked on offense. :eek:
royalsfaninmaine
04-21-2008, 11:28 AM
You hit it smack on the head KCGhost. I think we have seen exactly what you describe with the A's series. With yesterday's game and slipping just below .500, I just hope this isn't the beginning of a typical slide. I guess we will see what kind of manager Hillman really is. Can he get the team to maintain a focus and pull it together enough to keep from falling as far as they usually do during a season...?
royalsfaninmaine
04-30-2008, 08:29 AM
Well, last night's game had some offense at least. Granted it was against Texas' 0-4 (at the time) starter Jennings, but maybe it will get something started. Tomko wasn't all that impressive going just over 3 innings and giving up 5 runs. But tonight we have Bannister, so that is something. Then there's Guillen. One hopes this is finally the beginning of something with his bat...Let's hope the Royals can keep the offense going tonight against Millwood. He's got a better record than Jennings and a better era, so we'll have to see.
Stray Cat
05-01-2008, 05:05 AM
Picked a bad time to play the Rangers. Rookie Boggs was up for the task.
Wind and hot bats were the downfall for the Royals.
But they did get 9 runs and that's awesome. :atthepc
Old Sweater
05-02-2008, 05:47 AM
KC: L. Hochevar (1-1, 5.91)
CLE: C.C. Sabathia (1-4, 7.88)
I'll be pulling for the Royals tonight with the Colorado kid pitching.
KCGHOST
05-02-2008, 06:46 AM
On paper the Royals don't have much of a chance tonight. They just got shut down by a guy who is basically a batting practice pitcher and now they have to face a guy who just dominated them a week ago.
royalsfaninmaine
05-04-2008, 04:34 AM
How about Hochevar! Nice win last night. Granted he had a few walks, but overall he hung in there and got the w. He kept some composure through it.
Old Sweater
05-04-2008, 08:12 AM
How about Hochevar! Nice win last night. Granted he had a few walks, but overall he hung in there and got the w. He kept some composure through it.
Yeah, the kid had a good game and the Royals came thru with 4 runs in the 6th so Hochevar got the win.
On paper the Royals don't have much of a chance tonight. They just got shut down by a guy who is basically a batting practice pitcher and now they have to face a guy who just dominated them a week ago.
No MLB pitcher is a BP pitcher. Or any pro pitcher as far as that go's.
Even a bad team has a 40% chance of winning.
royalsfaninmaine
05-06-2008, 11:06 AM
Last night (mon-5/5) was a real heartbreaker. A great game throughout, strong defense...then came the 9th. The best performance by Tomko we've seen. Monday morning qb is easy, but what might have been if they'd let him keep pitching? ...the way Santana looked it still would have been hard to score on him...and the way the Royal bullpen was last night, extra innings wouldn't have helped anyway.
Let's hope Bannister has his stuff tonight and the Royal bats can get something going early.
Stray Cat
05-07-2008, 06:23 AM
The Royals are getting the hits and runs but the Angels have more veterans
on their team. I hope Bannister can come back and get some wins. :atthepc
KCGHOST
05-07-2008, 07:02 AM
The Royals continue to slide into offensive oblivion. Somehow we have turned Billy Butler (a hulking 240 pounder) into an up-the-middle singles hitter and Alex Gordon (2006 minor league player of the year) into a strike-out artist. They have developed a terrible habit that with men on base and a favorable count they will swing at anything.
KCGHOST
05-07-2008, 07:03 AM
No MLB pitcher is a BP pitcher. Or any pro pitcher as far as that go's.
Hyperbole (definition): An exaggeration used to make a point.
royalsfaninmaine
05-07-2008, 01:15 PM
The Royals continue to slide into offensive oblivion. Somehow we have turned Billy Butler (a hulking 240 pounder) into an up-the-middle singles hitter and Alex Gordon (2006 minor league player of the year) into a strike-out artist. They have developed a terrible habit that with men on base and a favorable count they will swing at anything.
That is how it seems. Had a little spark of sorts last night, but couldn't pull it out. Everytime Butler is up, I look at him and think this could be the at bat he starts cranking...but still not happening. You look at the guy and you just know he could be belting shots out left and right. And Gordon should be hitting a lot more consistently it seems to me.
What is the solution with swinging away? I realize most of it has to boil down to player discipline...and they are young players, but isn't it the hitting coaches job to get them focused? Not trying to throw blame around, but isn't there something that could be done from a coaching situation? Other than he came from Toronto, I don't know much about Barnett. Is it time for a change?
Now its up to Greinke and the rest to salvage one win in the series. Need some kind of momentum with a four game set against the Orioles coming. Granted they have a losing record, but it is still technically better than KC's.
Stray Cat
05-08-2008, 05:17 AM
Big home run last night for the Royals. Avoiding the sweep. http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/152/uowthankyou016ip.gif
royalsfaninmaine
05-09-2008, 05:02 AM
Last night was all too typical. They got a decent performance out of the pitcher, but nothing from the offense. Hochevar, while not perfect, would have had a good enough effort IF he'd gotten some run support. Seems like this has happened a few times this season. The Royals have a strong offensive effort one night, the next night they can't do anything. They need consistency, consistency, consistency....
That is what gets so frustrating. You know they have the capability to score runs, but they don't do it when they need to do it. :sigh:
Old Sweater
05-14-2008, 11:02 PM
Hochevar (3-2), the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, limited the Tigers to four singles while striking out five and walking three. He lowered his earned run average to 3.94 in five starts since being called up from Triple-A Omaha on April 20.
The kid from Fowler is doing good. Hochevar says his kid brother is the best athlete of the whole family and should about be done with HS in the little town of Wray.
royalsfaninmaine
05-15-2008, 04:56 AM
Hochevar is looking pretty good right now. He got into a little trouble last night, but again he stayed poised enough to work out of it. You have to love that about him. Seems to be an enthusiastic guy too. Am enjoying watching Hochevar carve out his spot.
Stray Cat
05-15-2008, 05:26 AM
Soria gets another save, :applaud:
KCGHOST
05-15-2008, 07:43 AM
Hochevar has done really well since being called up. Nunez and Soria must be Spanish for "Lights Out".
Stray Cat
05-18-2008, 06:45 AM
Bannister was pitching good until...............:disbelief:
He ran out of ooomph. Offense needs to get hopping!
Stray Cat
05-27-2008, 02:37 PM
Royals are back in Kansas City. Let's go and get a win tonight Brian.
:applaud: :clapping :crossfingers: :gt :thumbsup::baseball::hyper:
Nice choke job in the 9th against the Twins.
:applaud:
royalsfaninmaine
05-29-2008, 04:15 AM
Wow. I went to bed a little early last night. It was 6-2. I was feeling pretty good. Greinke had it going well. I got up a little later, checked the score...8-3...I'm feeling pretty comfortable that in the morning I will see a W for KC. Finally broke the streak... ...but then morning arrived :dismay:
Sometimes it seems like they prefer losing... :sigh:
Lets hope Hochevar can be solid tonight and that the offense can perform 2 nights in a row.
KCGHOST
05-29-2008, 01:38 PM
Well, we at least got to May 28th before the season was over. It appears that Buddy Hillman will be leading us to another 100 loss season.
royalsfaninmaine
05-30-2008, 03:11 AM
Don't you think Trey Bell sounds better?
Stray Cat
06-01-2008, 06:40 AM
Royals finally break the losing streak! :gt :shhh:
Stray Cat
06-08-2008, 07:24 AM
What a nail biter with the Yankees yesterday. Too bad they lost but it was a great game. Grand slam! :bowdown::gt
royalsfaninmaine
06-10-2008, 05:31 AM
Saturday's game was something else for certain. Lot of offense on both sides. If KC could only harness that kind of offense a little more often. Obviously you can't do that kind of thing every night, but it goes to show they are capable.
To end with a split in NY is pretty good too. KC came away with quite a few positives there if you ask me. Guillen really started to click with the home runs...I guess that talk about how much he likes the heat is no lie. Interested in seeing more of Aviles as well. And Hochevar looked solid yesterday... Now if we could just get Gordon back on track...and keep some of the positive stuff Teahen did on the road trip too...
KCGHOST
06-10-2008, 08:02 AM
Who would have thought at the beginning of the season we would be 10-3 against the Yanks and Tigers and still on pace to lose 100 games??
royalsfaninmaine
06-11-2008, 05:12 AM
That is quite a stat with the Yanks and Tigers. Seems amazing actually.
Then you look at games like last night's (Tue) and certainly the losing of a hundred games is no surprise and you wonder how they could have beaten either of those two teams once, let alone 7 times...
Shame to waste such a good start by Meche. He deserved to get the win in that game. But, thanks to the bullpen and the defense he gets no decision. These kinds of losses are the most frustrating. You know they should win the game, but then a series of bad things happens and it is all done.
I understand errors occur and so it is just going to happen some nights, but still, it kills you. They still need bullpen help obviously as guys like Tomko and Yabuta just don't seem to be able to get it done at all. You have to be able to hold on a 4 or 5 run lead and they just can't seem to do it. We saw that against the Yanks too.
Well, I guess there is tonight's game Davies is 2-0 and hopefully they'll get the offense going again.
Stray Cat
06-22-2008, 07:19 AM
Hope the Royals beat the Giants again. :gt
Imgran
06-22-2008, 03:24 PM
Hope the Royals beat the Giants again. :gt
Boy, did you ever get your wish. What a rally!
Stray Cat
06-28-2008, 08:48 AM
They beat the Red Birds will Albert in the line up. :gt
Imgran
07-01-2008, 05:23 AM
Fourth place.
KCGHOST
07-01-2008, 06:31 AM
For the second year in a row the Royals just mugged the NL. Let's hope can continue with some of that momentum when we return to major league play.
raysnbran
07-03-2008, 05:42 PM
My son is taking me to the Rays-Royals game on the 4th of July as a belated Fathers Day gift, KC Ghost. Any fans planning a road trip to St Pete this weekend? :dance
Stray Cat
07-08-2008, 06:21 AM
The Royals are out of the cellar. After the All Star break lets see if they can
move up! :gt:highfive:
Stray Cat
07-12-2008, 06:52 PM
Great game, DeJesus hits a walk off home run to win. And Grudzielanek gets his 2,000 hit!
:highfive: :bowdown: :clapping :gt :hyper:
Stray Cat
07-25-2008, 02:25 PM
Royals beat the Rays after losing badly to the Tigers. :eek:
Stray Cat
07-31-2008, 06:35 AM
Win 50! :highfive::gt
KCGHOST
07-31-2008, 08:43 AM
For the life of me I can't see how this team is winning games. They have a lame line-up and suspect pitching.
Stray Cat
08-01-2008, 06:25 AM
For the life of me I can't see how this team is winning games. They have a lame line-up and suspect pitching.
John Buck shaved his head? :confused:
Stray Cat
08-05-2008, 06:05 AM
Royals beat the Red Sox, exciting 9th inning with bases loaded and
they still win. :eek::highfive::applaud::clapping:gt
Stray Cat
08-14-2008, 06:47 AM
Darn, in the cellar again. Can't catch a break! :eek: :noidea:confused::banghead:
cavalier1968
08-24-2008, 07:12 AM
The Royals are off to a nice start do to fairly good starting pitching and lights out relief pitching in games Nomo doesn't appear in. There are some storms clouds out there, though. The offense had been pitiful due to the usual suspects: lack of plate discipline, a paucity of power hitting, and very little clutch hitting. The defense is suspect and the base running has been atrocious.
All-in-all we have to be thrilled with a 9-7 start and the performances of Bannister, Greinke, Nunez, and Soria. Teahen, Butler, and Gordon all have an OPS above .840. Amongst the remaining players with 25+ PA's no one has a an OPS anywhere near the league average. The team's SLG of .375 is 25 points below the league average.
The Boys in Blue are going to have to start hitting because it is impossible for this pitching staff to maintain this level of productivity.
Ol Buddy Bell isnt looking like a dumb bag of hammers now eh?
Cav
Mattingly
04-09-2009, 11:58 PM
Unstickying.