Former Royals on Opening Day
Royals fans may have had to wait an extra twenty four hours for the first pitch of the season, but that didn't mean a few of our old favorites weren't involved in the pageantry of Opening Day.
- Carlos Beltran went 1-4 (single) and was charged with an error. It seems like he was never a Royal...
- Glendon Rusch pitched two innings for the Rockies and played a large role in their loss to Arizona.
- Billy Buckner pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings for Arizona. Why couldn't Dayton have realized he was from Georgia before it was too late?
- Dougie had a pinch-hit strikeout for the Dodgers. Joe Torre's class and grace was unaffected.
- Joey Gathright played some late game defense for the Cubs, although Pinella's handling of the move was a little weird.
- Jason Smith -- love his pop off the bench -- grounded out to end the Cubs-Astros game, killing a minor rally.
- Mike Sweeney went 0-4 for the Mariners in their Minnesotan triumph. He did give Ken Griffey one heckuva high-five though.
- Mark Ellis (partial credit) went 0-3 against the Angels.
- Information on Ken Harvey, Terrence Long, Michael Tucker, Calvin Pickering, David Howard and Joe Vitiello was not available at press time.
So, your pitching totals are 3.1 innings (2 runs allowed) and 1-13 at the plate, with a single and no walks.
The legacy continues.
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13 comments
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Comments
Don't forget
that Jermaine Dye didn’t do anything today, either!
by RoyalChief8569 on Apr 7, 2009 12:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Billy Buckner
Thankfully most liked the trade at the time, but some bemoaned how the Royals gave up a good #4 SP with potential to be better than that. Then he was unimpressive last year and now he’s about the 6th man in their bullpen. Just another middle reliever. Given the fact that he’s essentially a two-pitch pitcher (including a no better than average fastball), it really looks like he’ll never be more than a middle reliever. But trading him did force the Royals to break the bank and spend $640K on Doug Waechter. Ouch, that hurts.
The immoderate moderator
by NYRoyal on Apr 7, 2009 12:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
when I saw that he was a diamondback last year, I edited out the Waechter comment
I thought he was a december casualty this year, but apparently not
by royalsreview on Apr 7, 2009 12:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Royals traded him for Callaspo last offseason
The immoderate moderator
by NYRoyal on Apr 7, 2009 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He is certainly no JP Howell
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
by RoyalsRetro on Apr 7, 2009 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Indeed he is not
Some trades work out. Some don’t. Moore gets the credit and blame for both.
The immoderate moderator
by NYRoyal on Apr 8, 2009 4:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Don't forget Greggggggg Zaun, Endy Chavez, Mark Ellis, Miguel Batista, and Kiko Calero
Zaun and Chavez both 1-4 with a run scored in their team’s wins.
Ellis went 0-3 off of All-Star Joe Saunders and co.
Batista threw a scoreless ninth for Seattle, and although Calero didn’t ever pitch for the Royals, he did spent seven seasons toiling in the KC minor league system.
by Fernando Vina School of Linguistics on Apr 7, 2009 1:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
guilty as charged
I paused on Zaun and Calero, but then couldn’t remember if they had been royals or not
had no idea on batista
by royalsreview on Apr 7, 2009 1:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
With so many pieces of crap
making their way through our toilet bowl, how do you remember the floaters, sinkers, and ghosts?
by AxDxMx on Apr 7, 2009 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Good to see Calero back
He had injury and suckiness problems last year. I’ve always been a fan of his, even back to his Royals days.
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
by RoyalsRetro on Apr 7, 2009 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Esteban German was released by the Cubs a few days ago.
That made me a bit sad.
WTF! Jason Smith made the Astros opening day roster? Don’t they know about him yet? Houston, the new Kansas City.
www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage
by James Quinn on Apr 7, 2009 7:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

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![Fresh on the heels of my award-winning 2008 Royals O-Swing Percentage Graph, here is a graph the O-Swing (percentage of pitches swung at outside of the strike zone) for all the teams of the AL Central from 2005-2008 by year, also compared to the MLB average. Remember -- this is for hitters, so lower is better.
(Maybe I [or someone else, of course] will do something like this for pitchers next week).
The results speak for themselvs, I guess, but they are saying all sorts of things. Discuss and enjoy!
For a larger version, click here (opens in new tab/window).
Consider this a humble appendix to the "Secrets of the AL Central" series.
All data via FanGraphs, of course.](http://cdn0.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/31963/file_small.jpg)










