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I know that Dayton Moore has demanded more wins from his club as the season gets closer to the finish line. That's all well and good, except wins at this point don't seem to matter too much. When your strength as an organization is in drafting, why screw with your draft position by picking up wins? That's so Royals.
What will keep me watching now are the individual performances.
I was enthralled by the Billy Butler cycle watch on Thursday. Compelling baseball in a season that has provided anything but. The guy hit a triple. His first triple since September 1, 2009. That alone is newsworthy.
And after three plate appearances, the guy needed a single. It didn't happen.
That wasn't the first time in Royals history that happened.
Butler's feat was the ninth time a Royal collected a double, triple and home run in a game, yet fell a single short of the cycle.
The full list:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | 1B | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billy Butler | 2012-08-09 | KCR | BAL | W 8-2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Alex Gordon | 2011-06-21 | KCR | ARI | L 2-7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Alex Gordon | 2007-07-26 | KCR | NYY | W 7-0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Raul Ibanez | 2002-06-25 | KCR | DET | W 8-6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Steve Balboni | 1984-07-23 (1) | KCR | TOR | W 9-8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Hal McRae | 1979-09-10 (1) | KCR | MIN | W 6-5 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | George Brett | 1978-09-27 | KCR | SEA | L 2-4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Hal McRae | 1977-05-28 | KCR | BOS | L 12-17 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | George Brett | 1976-06-13 | KCR | BAL | W 8-4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |