Holy ship! 37 BB's in 6 consecutive games against losing teams in DET & WSH?!?!?!? Let's face it: they're very fortunate that they only lost 4 of those games.
That's definitely one way for a pitching staff to keep their team firmly ensconced in last place, no matter how bad the rest of their division is.
Monday's pitching performance was extremely impressive and fun to watch but it doesn't erase what happened in the previous six games.
Thanks for the recap David. Didn’t watch a single game all weekend. Doesn’t look like I missed too much from Fri-Sunday…but yesterday would have been a good one. I haven’t seen Meyers throw yet. I’ll have a make a point to get eyes on his next start. I’m not sure what to make of him…doesn’t sound like you are either. But anyone who puts up good number I’ve got to at least see what they’ve got. Maybe he can help get them through this year.
Actually the weekend was pretty exciting. Fast-paced comeback on Friday, but it was a Lyles start so they’re legally not allowed to win. Saturday was whatever but nice to see them get it done late Sunday. I honestly whiffed on the weekend in review. Wasn’t avoiding it! Just been off work for awhile and then the holiday and I had no clue what day it was. Whoops.
I’m keeping a very close eye on how they come out of their little two game break. If they go with Lyles, well, it’s what I expect but if they skip him, that would be interesting to me.
It may have been Memorial Day, but I'm guessing the Cardinals thought it was Halloween with Michael M(a)yers on the mound haunting them. It was a far cry from his first ML start with them several years ago.
Speaking of several years ago: it was May 30, 2013, 10 years ago tonight, that the Royals, losers of eight straight, were trailing the Cardinals in the ninth inning in what what Michael Wacha's first ML start. They homered to tie it (I think Francoeur), and then loaded the bases with nobody out. And then it rained...and rained...and rained...and rained...4 1/2 hours later, they resumed the game, the Royals scored two more, and they won it, 4-2. They actually lost three of their next four after that, but from there they kinda took off (63-44 in their last 107 games, I think).
That was one of my favorite nights from the pre-championship memories. I remember trying so hard not to fall asleep before the game ended after 3. It was also George Brett and Pedro Grifol’s first game as hitting coaches.
For a brief 1 1/2 year period, Mike Mayers was a somewhat trusted member of the LAA bullpen. After coming through the minors as a SP, and failing at the MLB level, he attributed his success in the pen to developing a cutter. Is this still part of his pitch mix? Doesn't sound like it. Regardless it does show a guy willing to learn and tinker with his pitch mix to get MLB hitters out. I'm not expecting greatness, but aside from the first start, he's a guy that at least throws strikes, and he's definitely earned the opportunity on a thin thin pitching staff.
Personally I don't blame Quartraro for sticking with him.
He’s shelved the cutter some. It was getting crushed a couple years ago. But he threw a few yesterday. Wouldn’t surprise me too much if he reworks it a little and tries it again. I’m guessing he’ll want a bit more job security before he does that.
Listening to the Kaufman corner podcast. The Royals didn’t have a single prospect on this top 109 list a guy put together? Has Cross literally already fallen off the board from last draft? Yowza
Kiley McDaniel didn’t like the Cross pick from the start. I don’t think he was ever on his list. My opinion is there is are some people who knock a prospect down if they’re with the Royals, which is an earned designation and something they need to break free of but also something that needs to be remembered. Keith Law is an example of someone who I think did that (consciously or not) and has been converted, at least with the offensive development. From what I’m hearing, I think the pitching side will be harder to dismiss soon too.
Well, I always take these with a grain of salt to begin with. But it would seem a little personal….as I don’t care what organization you are. You would have at least one guy from each organization. And don’t get me wrong, one isn’t good…but still…numbers wise.
I don't want to say that prospect lists aren't valuable because they are, but I also think there's a much smaller gap once you get past somewhere like 60-65 to around 175 than people realize and at that point, it's personal preference.
I enjoyed your assessment of the managers decision to leave the pitcher in...or not. Hopefully we can focus more on that aspect of the game as this team starts to come together.
It was unfortunate how it turned out, but I liked him leaving Mayers in. What with how the Royals need starters I say, lets leave him in for a 3rd time around.
Some time ago we discussed the fact that Pratto was overselective at the plate, causing him to take strikes and putting him in pitcher's counts quite frequently.
He'll still take the occasional called third strike but to my untrained eye it appears that he's doing quite a bit less of that overselective thing since he came back up from Omaha. Your thoughts, David?
He’s actually swinging less but swinging outside the zone WAY less. And he’s making more contact when he swings so it’s less noticeable when he does take.
Holy ship! 37 BB's in 6 consecutive games against losing teams in DET & WSH?!?!?!? Let's face it: they're very fortunate that they only lost 4 of those games.
That's definitely one way for a pitching staff to keep their team firmly ensconced in last place, no matter how bad the rest of their division is.
Monday's pitching performance was extremely impressive and fun to watch but it doesn't erase what happened in the previous six games.
Thanks for the recap David. Didn’t watch a single game all weekend. Doesn’t look like I missed too much from Fri-Sunday…but yesterday would have been a good one. I haven’t seen Meyers throw yet. I’ll have a make a point to get eyes on his next start. I’m not sure what to make of him…doesn’t sound like you are either. But anyone who puts up good number I’ve got to at least see what they’ve got. Maybe he can help get them through this year.
Actually the weekend was pretty exciting. Fast-paced comeback on Friday, but it was a Lyles start so they’re legally not allowed to win. Saturday was whatever but nice to see them get it done late Sunday. I honestly whiffed on the weekend in review. Wasn’t avoiding it! Just been off work for awhile and then the holiday and I had no clue what day it was. Whoops.
It will be hard to have a couple of weeks when the pitching and hitting get in synch as long as you have Jordan Lyles pitching 3 times.
I’m keeping a very close eye on how they come out of their little two game break. If they go with Lyles, well, it’s what I expect but if they skip him, that would be interesting to me.
It may have been Memorial Day, but I'm guessing the Cardinals thought it was Halloween with Michael M(a)yers on the mound haunting them. It was a far cry from his first ML start with them several years ago.
Speaking of several years ago: it was May 30, 2013, 10 years ago tonight, that the Royals, losers of eight straight, were trailing the Cardinals in the ninth inning in what what Michael Wacha's first ML start. They homered to tie it (I think Francoeur), and then loaded the bases with nobody out. And then it rained...and rained...and rained...and rained...4 1/2 hours later, they resumed the game, the Royals scored two more, and they won it, 4-2. They actually lost three of their next four after that, but from there they kinda took off (63-44 in their last 107 games, I think).
I guess my memory sorta failed me. They took the lead before the rain, and the bases were still loaded with nobody out.
That was one of my favorite nights from the pre-championship memories. I remember trying so hard not to fall asleep before the game ended after 3. It was also George Brett and Pedro Grifol’s first game as hitting coaches.
...and here I thought I was the only one who was a big enough baseball lunatic to see the end of that game!
For a brief 1 1/2 year period, Mike Mayers was a somewhat trusted member of the LAA bullpen. After coming through the minors as a SP, and failing at the MLB level, he attributed his success in the pen to developing a cutter. Is this still part of his pitch mix? Doesn't sound like it. Regardless it does show a guy willing to learn and tinker with his pitch mix to get MLB hitters out. I'm not expecting greatness, but aside from the first start, he's a guy that at least throws strikes, and he's definitely earned the opportunity on a thin thin pitching staff.
Personally I don't blame Quartraro for sticking with him.
He’s shelved the cutter some. It was getting crushed a couple years ago. But he threw a few yesterday. Wouldn’t surprise me too much if he reworks it a little and tries it again. I’m guessing he’ll want a bit more job security before he does that.
Listening to the Kaufman corner podcast. The Royals didn’t have a single prospect on this top 109 list a guy put together? Has Cross literally already fallen off the board from last draft? Yowza
Kiley McDaniel didn’t like the Cross pick from the start. I don’t think he was ever on his list. My opinion is there is are some people who knock a prospect down if they’re with the Royals, which is an earned designation and something they need to break free of but also something that needs to be remembered. Keith Law is an example of someone who I think did that (consciously or not) and has been converted, at least with the offensive development. From what I’m hearing, I think the pitching side will be harder to dismiss soon too.
Well, I always take these with a grain of salt to begin with. But it would seem a little personal….as I don’t care what organization you are. You would have at least one guy from each organization. And don’t get me wrong, one isn’t good…but still…numbers wise.
I don't want to say that prospect lists aren't valuable because they are, but I also think there's a much smaller gap once you get past somewhere like 60-65 to around 175 than people realize and at that point, it's personal preference.
I enjoyed your assessment of the managers decision to leave the pitcher in...or not. Hopefully we can focus more on that aspect of the game as this team starts to come together.
It was unfortunate how it turned out, but I liked him leaving Mayers in. What with how the Royals need starters I say, lets leave him in for a 3rd time around.
I can only hope Mayer is Larry Gura part 2. KC could use a break like that for sure!
Some time ago we discussed the fact that Pratto was overselective at the plate, causing him to take strikes and putting him in pitcher's counts quite frequently.
He'll still take the occasional called third strike but to my untrained eye it appears that he's doing quite a bit less of that overselective thing since he came back up from Omaha. Your thoughts, David?
He’s actually swinging less but swinging outside the zone WAY less. And he’s making more contact when he swings so it’s less noticeable when he does take.
Jake Eisenberg seems pretty confident that Lyles will start on Friday. Disappointing. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I hope he's wrong.
He’s confident because that’s what Q said would happen this afternoon.