I went to the game tonight: May 28, 10th game

by slayor on May 29, 2008 12:21 AM EDT

in a row.

The game started well enough.

Greinke was super duper nasty. His line did him no justice, I was in the lower level and he was absolutely filthy. The 3 runs were soft, he deserved such a better fate.

Gathright looked good with the bunts, our singles based offense was clicking on every cylinder.

Then the ninth inning happened. Everybody in the ballpark expected a win. When the inning started, my friend asked me why Gload was in RF instead of Teahen. This disturbed me. Then they pulled Ramirez, who wasn't exactly getting pounded for Peralta.

Then the game was over. I have never attended a more crushing defeat in any sporting event, ever. You could literally feel the air being sucked out of the stadium in the ninth inning, you could hear the profanity in the stands. I left the game with a headache and just have to ask myself:

Has anything really changed?

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i really wanna see the replay of the 9th inning...

I’m not sure if Ramirez should have been pulled not myself.

I don’t think anyone thought another long losing streak like this was possible going into the season.

Wow.

by Freneau on May 29, 2008 1:06 AM EDT reply actions

I wouldn't of pulled him.

He needed one more out. Has he given up a home run all year? All Peralta has done is give up bombs. It made no sense.

winning records follow good bullpens

by slayor on May 29, 2008 1:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh, and for what it's worth.

When Hillman went to get Ramirez, I leaned over to my friend and said this is a rookie manager hitting the panic button. And I was right. Bringing in Peralta was a move done out of pure panic, showing absolutely zero confidence in a guy who has been one of our best relievers all year. Hillman in the past 2 games has made some awful managerial decisions. Is the loss his fault? No, but he sure isn’t helping things.

winning records follow good bullpens

by slayor on May 29, 2008 1:13 AM EDT reply actions

Why wasn't Soria in?

It was a save situation right? I mean the tying run was at the plate so it had to have been.

Thats one of the times where its an ” I dont give a f*ck” situation. I don’t care if hes been used recently. At some point hes gonna have to go above and beyond what is normal.

This is unacceptable. I thought Hillman was going to galvanize this team, but instead we have gotten God quotes and the same perpetual managerial idiocy that permeates baseball.

Accidentally not thedude925 anymore. I do hate this new name.

by wildthang on May 29, 2008 1:32 AM EDT reply actions

According to Bob Dutton

Soria wasn’t available because of his 31-pitch outing the previous night.

by DarthYoshi on May 29, 2008 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions

31 pitches holy hell

lock him in a freezer with ice on his arm and send him to the hospital for a precautionary MRI and a brain scan.

Hes a pitcher, hes been doing it his whole life. There are times when its ok to push guys a little bit. Last night was definitely one of those times.

Accidentally not thedude925 anymore. I do hate this new name.

by wildthang on May 29, 2008 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I wouldn't go that far

but I do think it is ironic if Hillman is all of the sudden concerned about the pitch counts of his closer after being apparently unconcerned over the pitch counts of his starters so far.

by DarthYoshi on May 29, 2008 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree that I wanted Soria too

If he gets hurt, though, because of overuse then it could jeopardize the season/future. Yes, I know it’s unlikely he gets hurt trying to get one out, but, you really never know.

by I need more Esteban on May 29, 2008 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions

One other thing

While Ramirez was not getting “pounded”, he obviously didn’t have his best stuff last night.

With one out in the 9th, here is what happened:

- J. Kubel singled to right center
- D. Young struck out swinging
- J. Kubel to second on wild pitch
- M. Lamb singled to right, J. Kubel scored
- B. Harris singled to right, M. Lamb to second
—C. Gomez singled to center, M. Lamb scored, B. Harris to second

It’s hard to believe that anyone thinks that is a very good line. I think the move to switch pitchers was a fine one. 3 singles in a row to the bottom of the twins order, not very good. While I would’ve loved to have the switch be to someone else, having read some of the bullpen availabilities this morning, I’m not as angry as I was last night. I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting numb at this point…

by I need more Esteban on May 29, 2008 10:47 AM EDT reply actions

Not to mention Gload's awesome gritty defense in right field

too bad they wouldn’t let Hillman switch him and Teahen to get them in their regular positions, huh.

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by Matt Klaassen on May 29, 2008 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Easy to second guess now

But Peralta with his struggles is probably not who I would have put in. Ron Mahay has been pretty solid all season and was probably available.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on May 29, 2008 11:15 AM EDT reply actions

To answer RR:

I watched the game, and honestly, only two of the four singles off Ramirez were hit hard. There was the soft flyball to rightfield that Gload cound’t reach, and a 4 hopper perfectly placed up the middle by Gomez.

As I’ve posted elsewhere, sorta hard to think that Ramirez would yield 3 more singles before he recorded one more out.

Also, going to Peralta to START the inning would have been fine too – look at what he did:

HR
out
HR
out
out
out

I think Hillman may have panicked a bit here, but I’m willing to wait and see if he learns from his mistake. I think he will. I don’t have any rational reason to prove he will, other than blind faith.

by loyal2sdad on May 29, 2008 2:17 PM EDT reply actions