Royals Rumblings - News for August 29, 2022

Michael A. Taylor was part of a big offensive day at the plate on Sunday in a 15-7 win.

“I’ve dealt with timing issues, I feel like my swing kind of got away from me a little bit, seeing length in my swing that wasn’t there earlier,” Taylor said. So just trying to get back to the drills that I believe in and the things that are going to help.

“Whenever you can get a couple of knocks, it always takes a little bit of the pressure off.”

Nick Pratto broke an 0-for-21 slump with a home run over the weekend.

“You know they’re going to get through it at some point,” manager Mike Matheny said. “What is it that’s going to be the key to doing that? I love it when I see our guys start to drive the ball the other way. … And then Nick was able to [pull] the home run. It was a beautiful swing.

“But most of the time, less is more to get you back into a good swing path and good swing thought. I’m sure he was just happy to get that off his shoulders, and now he can just go hit.”

Kris Bubic didn’t have his good stuff on Friday in a 13-5 loss.

Bubic, who has lost his last three starts, said his changeup was “flat” and lacked its typical depth. He got just one swing-and-miss on his changeup in the outing, and the balls that were put in play had an average exit velocity of 98.1 mph. “You’ve just got to work hard to locate it a little bit better,” Bubic said.

“I think if you know the pitch isn’t coming out of your hand the way you want it to, you’ve got to really execute it. You’ve got to executive it almost ten times better than what you think you should be able to. Those are adjustments you sometimes make in games and sometimes, for whatever reason, aren’t able to on certain nights.”

Daniel Lynch had some mixed results on Saturday.

“I think it kind of all just came down to my fastball command,” Lynch said. “I felt like all my other pitches were pretty good tonight, especially my slider. I just wasn’t really commanding the fastball that well. I felt like we had a good plan. I was aggressive, had a good attack plan. I just wasn’t necessarily executing fastballs very well.”

Lynch said he’d made a recent minor adjustment to his slider grip after noticing a difference in his bullpen sessions.

David Laurila of Fangraphs talked to Whit Merrifield about which of his former teammates deserved more attention.

“Most of the roster is guys playing their first year in the big leagues,” replied Merrifield, who was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline. “So maybe Scott Barlow? He’s their closer and probably should have been on the All-Star team the last couple of years. His numbers have been as good as anybody’s, and he’s always pitching in the highest-leverage situations. Scotty is one of the elite relievers in the game.”

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter looks at whether Mike Matheny will be back next year.

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman wonders why the Royals didn’t call up Sam Freeman.

The New York Mets retire Willie Mays’ No. 24 jersey in Old-Timers’ Day surprise.

Patrick Corbin breaks a streak of 43 Nationals games in a row without a starting pitcher getting a win.

The Brewers are contending, so why is the team suffering so much of a drop in attendance?

What records could the Dodgers break this year?

Are Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt the best infield combo ever?

Ichiro Suzuki is inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame.

The Kyodo News catches up with former Royals manager Trey Hillman.

Ball collector Zack Hample whines about having to follow the rules at Coors Field.

Hawaii wins its fourth Little League World Series title.

A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card sells for $12.6 million, shattering a record.

Rory McIlroy rallies from a six-shot deficit to win the Tour Championship.

Patrick Mahomes is ranked #8 in the NFL top 100.

Carbon dioxide removal will need a code of conduct standard.

NASA’s latest moon mission is the dawn of a new space age.

The winners of the 2022 MTV VMAs.

Your song of the day is Atmosphere with The Best Day.