Royals Let Down Greinke Again, Lose Again, Again

by Freneau on Sep 5, 2009 10:51 PM EDT

For about a week we all seemed convinced that, yes, Zack would snag the Cy Young Award. Then CC Sabathia won his 16th game. Then Roy Halladay threw a complete game one-hitter against the Yankees. Then the bizarre Rivera for Cy Young campaign began. All Zack did tonight was go eight innings, allowing one unearned run behind eight strikeouts.
Then again, the question needs to be asked: why do we care about these awards anymore? As Dave Cameron writes:

With the invention of the internet (thanks Al!), we don’t need to look back through a list of MVP awards to remember who was good way back when. We have baseball-reference for that. History isn’t recorded in trophies, but in data and stories, and we now have the capability to store a massive amount of both. No matter who wins the AL MVP award this season, we’re going to have a ridiculous amount of information about what happened on the field in 2009, and we’ll be able to show our kids and their kids just how much fun it was to watch Joe Mauer play baseball. The history of the game, as told by us, won’t be changed one iota by how the BBWAA votes in six weeks.

If they want to think that Teixeira was the most important player to his team in the league this year, that’s fine. Most of us probably disagree, and we’re under no obligation to report that as any kind of factual statement. I’ll be telling people that Mauer was the most valuable player in the American League for 2009, and I’ve got a mountain of information to back it up. How other people view the definition of the word value has no real world impact on me.

I think another Royal was just stranded.
Yabuta isn't a good pitcher.
Jamey Wright isn't a good pitcher.
Royals lose again.

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you forgot one thing

Mike Jacobs batting against a LHP because we had nobody on the bench for that situation (Buck is the only catcher on the bench and Callaspo is banged up).

The three-man bench comes through for KC again. It’s great to know that the O-Royals won’t lose their important hitters just so we could have a non-insane bench.

Graduate with a B.S. from the Dayton Moore School of Stats Analysis

by BHWick on Sep 5, 2009 11:05 PM EDT reply actions

The Star said he was available to pinch hit

by BrRoyal on Sep 6, 2009 8:36 AM EDT up reply actions

I did not go

but my wife did and said Yabuta pitched 2 innings? That’s madness.

Kansas City Royals - rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic since 1994.

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Sep 5, 2009 11:16 PM EDT reply actions

you want us to actually USE those relievers who we called up?

they’re not proven veterans like Bale, Colon, or Wright

Graduate with a B.S. from the Dayton Moore School of Stats Analysis

by BHWick on Sep 5, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions

I was at the game.

Once again, the Royals fuck Greinke royally. Why is bloomquist on this team? That is a play you have to make at 2nd base, costs us the game. Just unbelievable, yet totally believable.

by slayor on Sep 5, 2009 11:41 PM EDT reply actions

Jamey Wright isn't a good pitcher?

I heard somebody say he was a talented pitcher having a down year.

by 2X2L on Sep 5, 2009 11:59 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

I’m feeling very confident in saying that the Royals will sell Kila Kaaihue’s contract to Japan. Almost to the point of figuring a date in which it will occur.

Or as I put it on Twitter in response to the debate over what Kila Kaaihue’s nickname would be “I’m gonna leave the task of a nickname for Kaaihue to the Japanese team that acquires him from us”

I’m also feeling like we’re going to sign Bengie Molina

Graduate with a B.S. from the Dayton Moore School of Stats Analysis

by BHWick on Sep 6, 2009 12:10 AM EDT reply actions

Piss on it

We’ll get ’em tomorrow.

by NotAHippie on Sep 6, 2009 12:32 AM EDT reply actions

Trey sez he wants Xaq to rest an extra day or two after the 125 pitches

Because of the high pitch count and all the rigors of the season, Hillman said he’d give Greinke an extra day or two of rest before his next start. That might require a sales pitch.

“Typical Zack fashion, like all our starters, he doesn’t want to miss a start, but he needs a little extra rest,” Hillman said.

A surprisingly logical decision. See, Trey can learn (after blowing out Meche and Bannister’s arms).

by swing and a miss on Sep 6, 2009 12:49 AM EDT reply actions

Or he could have pulled him out of the game after 7 innings

We still had the lead then.

by BrRoyal on Sep 6, 2009 8:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Right, you don’t put the future of your franchise, the one legitimate star we have developed in the last 20 years, at risk in September of a season that was over months ago.

Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.

by ufc4 on Sep 6, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

beltran?

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Sep 6, 2009 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Harvey

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Sep 6, 2009 4:55 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Ahem

All Star Ken Harvey to you.

I will not let his legacy die.

Beltran was never an all star as a Royal. Ergo, Harvey was better in Blue.

by kcbottom9th on Sep 8, 2009 5:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Soria can be summoned for two innings to save Meche's 5 IP, 4 ER wins

but for Greinke after 7 scoreless while he’s pursuing the Cy Young? Nah. Thanks a lot Trey. I estimate his managerial decisions have cost Greinke at least 6 ER and 3 wins this season. But I’m glad they’re going to give Greinke an extra day of rest.

"They’ve got great pitching, great defense, great manager, great hitting and a great bullpen," Greinke said. "They find a way to win."

This quote from Zack about the Angels leaves plenty unsaid about the Royals’ pitching, defense, manager, hitting, and bullpen.

by swing and a miss on Sep 6, 2009 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions

So I take it Soria was unavailable again tonight?

Michelle Malkin, Sarah Palin, Anne Coulter, Michelle Bachman, Elizabeth Hasslebeck...where do all these moderately attractive and immensely silly women come from?

by labbadabba on Sep 6, 2009 12:55 AM EDT reply actions

he threw 1 inning, 2 k's, 10 pitches

aparently he couldnt throw more than 10 pitches though or he’d explode

by slayor on Sep 6, 2009 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions

nah

he’s only available to pitch in tie games, not in situations where the game is on the line.

Graduate with a B.S. from the Dayton Moore School of Stats Analysis

by BHWick on Sep 6, 2009 1:14 AM EDT up reply actions

So Im watching the MLB network replay of the day...

and they showed a clip of one of the guys say “…I had the first pick in the draft and I could draft one pitcher in the AL, Zack Greinke is on my team”

Desperately hoping for Desperate Measures

by averagegatsby on Sep 6, 2009 1:56 AM EDT reply actions

Hillman will be back

Hillman will be back. Hillman will be back. Hillman will be back.
This simple line is going to haunt me all winter.

by LaFLamme on Sep 6, 2009 8:25 AM EDT reply actions

Zack could still win.

His numbers are too good to overlook. I really believe this could be the year that Ws don’t determine the winner. Then again, Sabathia has recovered big time from his slow start. He could have a fantastic last month and run away with it—-higher ERA or no (currently 7th in ERA and SOs). – TL

by timlacy on Sep 6, 2009 12:16 PM EDT reply actions

One Of The

ESPN “experts” (Gammons?) said this morning Zack has to be the favorite. The only other possibility is Rivera in a kind of “lifetime achievement” award. Just one guy’s opinion, but still good to hear.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Sep 6, 2009 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions

You know what a...

…lifetime achievement award for MLB success is? The Hall of Fame. Rivera’s in, so there’s no need for a CY too.

by timlacy on Sep 6, 2009 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Last night's game was sort of a snapshot of the season for me

Xaq pitches 8 shutout innings. An error allows the tying run in. A complete inability to get a timely hit. Shaky relief work. Walks kill us. We lose. This team really does nothing very well right now. Starting pitching has been a strength, but with Meche and Banny nursing sore shoulders, that doesn’t look good either.

What to look forward to? I think a contest to name the first “call-up” to play would be fun. I predict it will be a relief pitcher in a blow out situation.

"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell

by buddyball on Sep 6, 2009 1:52 PM EDT reply actions