Royals Rumblings - News for September 26, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for September 26, 2016

The comeback win on Saturday meant a lot to the Royals.

They blared their victory soundtrack, and Jarrod Dyson danced, and Kendrys Morales savored his 30th homer of the season. And when the celebration was over, when the Royals had officially ended a four-game losing streak with a ferocious comeback in a 7-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers, left-handed pitcher Danny Duffy leaned back in a leather chair on the near side of the room.

“That was sick,” he said aloud, to no one in particular. “We needed that.”

Whit Merrifield fell just a home run short of the cycle on Sunday, while playing first base.

"We're finally going to get some power at that position," Merrifield joked to a reporter....

But Merrifield did get to hit like Hosmer.

"Everyone knows that's why I was there today," Merrifield deadpanned. "Give us a little power and a little defense."

Lee Judge explains why Danny Duffy’s slider didn’t work on Friday.

Pitching can be frustrating because all it takes is a miniscule change in mechanics and everything goes ka-blooey. For instance: let your arm drop just a fraction as you deliver a pitch and now your hand is on the side of the ball, not the top. That means a slider will lose downward movement and stay flat, which means it’s a heckuva lot easier to hit.

So whatever went wrong on Friday night it resulted in Duffy’s slider missing, in his own words, “arm-side up.” That means a back-foot slider was now a hanging slider and hittable.

John Viril at Kings of Kauffman notes how the loss of Lorenzo Cain was huge for the Royals this year.

Lorenzo Cain’s injury has proved to be a crippling blow to the Kansas City Royals. KC is 58-45 with Cain in the lineup and 20-30 without. Overall, Kansas City is 8-11 in September. That’s a pretty stark difference. The KC Royals scored an average of 4.17 runs per game with Cain, and a mere 3.98 runs per game without him.

That doesn’t look like a huge drop-off. But, it’s the difference between a team that could score just enough runs per game to win, and one that has suffered a string of one run defeats in September. The KC Royals went 2-7 in one run games since Cain’s August 30 injury.

Kendrys Morales becomes the first Royals hitter to reach 30 home runs in a season since Jermaine Dye in 2000.

Eric Hosmer reflects on his friendship with the late Jose Fernandez.

Vin Scully gets the perfect send-off to end his career.

The Giants are showing why teams overpay for closers.

The Pirates are trying to extend pitcher Ivan Nova to a long-term contract.

How the American League Cy Young contenders have been at inducing weak contact.

John Sickels has his end of the year Top 100 prospect list with absolutely no Royals.

So who won the Moneyball revolution?

Zack Greinke is probably done for the year after swelling was revealed in his shoulder.

Why LSU finally fired coach Les Miles after 12 seasons.

RIP golf legend Arnold Palmer.

Snapchat will release $130 sunglasses with a built-in camera.

Sinister clowns are scaring people in numerous states.

An oral history of the debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000.

Your song of the day is They Might Be Giants with Birdhouse in Your Soul.