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Royals Rumblings - News for September 30, 2014
Rany Jazayerli has a special column with the Star and offers a mea culpa on his criticism of the James Shields trade.
The ultimate legacy of the trade rests in part on what happens tonight. The Royals got Big Game James to pitch in exactly this kind of Big Game. Maybe it’s not fair to judge the trade on the results of a single game, but it’s no less fair than having your season hang in the balance of a single game, and those are the rules. If the Royals had beaten the Tigers one more time, they’d be through to the ALDS already. Instead, they have to put their fate in what happens tonight....
Even a former critic like myself has to acknowledge that The Trade has worked exactly the way the Royals expected it to. Dayton Moore was right. I was wrong. I’ll have to console myself this evening from the stands at Kauffman Stadium. There’s a playoff game going on there, you know.
FOX Sports' Jon Morosi breaks down the Royals and A's and predicts the Royals will be victorious.
1. Starting lineup
As has been discussed at length, the A's lost their offensive identity when they dealt Yoenis Cespedes to Boston in the Jon Lester trade. But the ineffectiveness of catalyst Coco Crisp has been an equally significant factor; Crisp has an on-base percentage of just .272 since the All-Star break. Derek Norris and Brandon Moss have regressed in the second half, as well.
The Royals still lack middle-of-the-lineup thunder, but they've benefited from the emergence of complementary players: Nori Aoki, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar are hitting as well now as they have all year, and Eric Hosmer had a strong September after returning from the disabled list. The Royals also have multiple stolen-base threats, which should benefit them during the postseason.
EDGE: Royals
Whoa, really?
Joey Nowak of MLB.com also provides a position-by-position breakdown of the game.
David Lesky of Pine Tar Press admits the 2014 Royals proved him wrong about a lot of things.
I said Ned Yost would never be the manager of a playoff team.
I said Dayton Moore would never build a playoff team.
I said the James Shields trade was understandable, but it was silly because he didn’t make the team good enough to make the playoffs.
I said this particular Royals team was done about 14 different times.
I said Danny Duffy was probably better suited as a reliever.
I said Lorenzo Cain couldn’t stay healthy.
I said Nori Aoki was a disaster and needed to be replaced.
I was wrong about all of these things, and I couldn’t be happier.
No surprise, Friday's clincher against the White Sox set a ratings record for Fox Sports Kansas City.
The Royals-White Sox game, a 3-1 win that put Kansas City in the postseason for the first time since 1985, averaged a 13.6 household rating in the Kansas City market, according to Nielsen Media Research. The game peaked at a 17.7 rating/166,000 households in the ninth inning. It was the highest-rated program of the day in Kansas City, and FOX Sports Kansas City's prime time (7-10 p.m.) rating more than doubled that of second-place KCTV-CBS.
Dick Kaegel talks to Dayton Moore with some hard-hitting questions on his runaway success.
MLB.com: How much credit for the success of this team goes to the Glass family?
Moore: Mr. (David) Glass and Dan (Glass) have supported everything that we've set out to do. They've been very patient with our baseball operations, and I'm hoping that we can pull this off and make them proud.
Some Royals enjoyed the Chiefs Monday Night Football game last night.
Moose, Big Game James, @BillyButlerKC and Holland rooting on the @KCChiefs. #MNF #TakeTheCrown pic.twitter.com/yAFnL2DsiL
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) September 30, 2014
Cool Chiefs shirt, Moose.
MLB has announced the umpiring crew for the Royals-Athletics Wild Card Game. It will be Gerry Davis (crew chief), James Hoye, Dan Iassogna, Bill Miller, Todd Tichenor, and Bill Welke.
Benjamin Hoffman at the New York Times looks at the rise of the dominant middle reliever, led by Royals reliever Wade Davis.
Former Royals catcher A.J. Hinch has been named manager of the Astros, joining Bud Black (Padres), Clint Hurdle (Pirates), and Bob Melvin (Athletics) as former Royals currently managing in the big leagues. Sorry Kirk Gibson.
WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US NEYER?
USA Today covers how Royals fans are adjusting to the new experience of a post-season appearance.
The Sporting News ranks stadiums of teams still in the post-season and ranks Kauffman Stadium fourth.
They also have the top "must-read" Twitter follows for each of the playoff teams. We're just so honored to be included on the same list as Lee Judge (@leejudge8).
The Wall Street Journal says the Royals are the least hateable team left playing baseball, while the Cardinals are the most hateable.
RBI Baseball on Nintendo with the 2014 Playoff teams.
The Chiefs had a big win last night. Read all about it at Arrowhead Pride. Kansas City also set the stadium noise record which is up there with the "Billy Butler consecutive series with a base-hit" record in terms of importance.
Its 80 degrees outside, which must mean hockey season is around the corner. Here's your SB Nation NHL Preview.
Vox.com has "Confessions from an Internet Troll". It includes posting "GLOAD WILL EXPLODE" every few minutes.
Is Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice" a comic masterpiece?
Your song of the day, by request, is "Tonight We Ride" by Tom Russell.