KCRag Forum

pash wrote:With three more knocks today, Moose is hitting .330. A good article by Jeff Passan on his transformation at the plate:

Yahoo Sports: How Mike Moustakas learned to stop worrying and beat the shift

And Hoch is back. He threw one prefect inning, striking out two, in today's win. Did anybody see him pitch? My DVR missed it due to the rain delay. ...

He looked good - only faced three. Hit 94 with his fastball. Threw a few nice curve balls. His control seemed good.

Royals practically never on in Texas and not in the news much yet - maybe that changes in the playoffs. So my view is biased by the stats a bit.

Hitting looks great this year and with Rios coming back, it only gets better. Hosmer starting to look like the second coming of George Brett.

But the starting pitching? I am a bit concerned about the depth of our rotation. Is that concern warranted? With the exception of Volquez, everyone has an ERA upwards of 5.00 except Young who has only thrown 28 innings. What's the outlook for the rest of the season?

I think the starting pitching is where the Royals really miss Shields.

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This is one area they are just going to have to "manage". They'll rely heavily on their bullpen, which could be a problem by the end of the season. Don't be surprised to see moves if things don't improve, particularly if they start to fade in the standing. No need to panic when you're in first.

Only the Rockies have fewer quality starts than the Royals.

got one today. good outing by volquez leads to our first shutout of the season.

26-14! best 40 game start in franchise history, and we all know this team has plenty of room to improve. 30,000+ fans on a rainy wednesday night against a team 9 games back in their division. This is going to be a fun summer!

Last season was such a strange season because we just didn't feel that good for a huge portion of it. We squeaked into the playoffs and caught fire late. This season is something unique, since all of the fair-weather fans are on board, a number of people who had lost interest in baseball for years are now interested again, and we are doing things that are insanely improbable. This isn't your typical first place AL team at all (1st place in division, in the AL), and that is pretty cool to follow. Also, the Royals absolutely needed to not face-plant after getting people to pay attention again. I don't agree with how Ned Yost makes decisions, and I take issue with a number of Dayton Moore's moves, but I'm fine with being wrong if their right gets us to the pennant again (I'll still complain to high heaven when Yost leaves Duffy in at 97 pitches after giving up consecutive hits with 2 outs in the 5th of a tie game). Here's to a continuation of the improbable and a reshaping of the game.

BTW, the Royals have the #3 OBP in baseball. How did this team get to that place? We are just average at base-stealing to date, so it is interesting how we have changed identity so quickly. The moral of the story is, I guess, that Billy Butler leaves, and our base-stealing goes way down.

BRRRAAAAPPPPP


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the unwashed hordes from st. louis are massing in a westbound column.


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HERE WE GO...just...fingers crossed that there arent any rainouts...the last time i was at the K it was a soak-sopping rainout mess.

watch out for that guy.

Incredible. As soon as I make a post voicing concerns over the starting pitching, the Royals go on a 4 game win streak giving up only 1 run during the stretch - 3 shutouts. I like Young's stats - a <1.00 ERA is almost unheard of for a starter. Is this guy not in the regular rotation? He seems to start very seldom.

Not yet. He's 36 and faded last year at the end. I think the Royals would like to save him, but if Duffy doesn't snap out of it, Yost might not have choice.

He's been filling in while Vargas is injured. His stats look pretty good, but Cardinals were getting on base early and often for much of last night's game. He seemed fairly lucky to keep a solid hitting team blanked for six, at least to my eye--he was frequently one mistake away from giving up at least one and often two or more. Looking at his 2014 season, I don't think they'll let him start the rest of the season or anything, but if Duffy ends up having to go down to Omaha and figure it out for a while, I imagine he could cover that before going back to long relief. I just don't want him wearing out his arm like seemingly happened last year. Given the young and occasionally shaky nature of the top of the rotation, it's good to have a guy in the bullpen who can throw a whole bunch of innings... just hopefully infrequently.

mean wrote:He's been filling in while Vargas is injured. His stats look pretty good, but Cardinals were getting on base early and often for much of last night's game. He seemed fairly lucky to keep a solid hitting team blanked for six, at least to my eye--he was frequently one mistake away from giving up at least one and often two or more. Looking at his 2014 season, I don't think they'll let him start the rest of the season or anything, but if Duffy ends up having to go down to Omaha and figure it out for a while, I imagine he could cover that before going back to long relief. I just don't want him wearing out his arm like seemingly happened last year. Given the young and occasionally shaky nature of the top of the rotation, it's good to have a guy in the bullpen who can throw a whole bunch of innings... just hopefully infrequently.

Oh - so Young is not so young. I heard of him very little last year but I didn't start following the Royals in earnest until late in the season. Still, with the Royal's bullpen, you'd think 5 innings as a starter would be plenty every 4-5th start- seems we don't even have to resort to the Davis, Herrera, Holland trio all that much right now.

Don't forget Hochevar. It's an embarrassment of riches in the bullpen without even mentioning Frasor or Madson, who have both been quite good. The offense is what's been really surprising though. #2 in runs scored in all of baseball without being able to hit home runs? Didn't see that coming. I'm sure the saber guys out there will say regression is inevitable, and maybe it is, but holy crap it's been startling to see how Moose and Hosmer have caught fire... like they were supposed to a couple years ago. I don't know what it is. Just confidence I guess, and not letting the pressure of being crowned saviors of a long-suffering franchise mess with their minds because, well, the suffering seems to be over. For now, anyway. As a Royals fan, I have to think this can't be sustainable. Surely the 20-game losing streak is coming, right?

Sure as hell doesn't look like it, though.

Just noticed they have struck out fewer times than any other team in baseball, too, by a reasonable margin. Most teams are over 300 (Cubs over 400!). Royals with 225. Wacky world of baseball.

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I hope today isn't the day Young gets punished for having a habit of letting guys get on.

i just saw on espn that if the all-star game was held today, the AL team would have SEVEN royals starting the game (assuming no commissioner interference). that's hilarious. i mean, it's totally ridiculous, but come on... that's hilarious.