Kansas City Royals

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It’s almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more. With their desired lineup intact for the first time in 40 games, the Atlanta Braves offense turned it up a notch in their 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jason Heyward, who just returned from the disabled list on Thursday after undergoing an emergency appendectomy in Colorado last month, reached base three times to help set the table. Justin Upton then cleared it in the sixth, cracking his third career grand slam off Paco Rodriguez. ”As soon as he took that swing, I knew that ball was going to be out of the ballpark,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. ”That was one of the prettiest swings I’ve seen put on a baseball.’ After traveling an estimated 461 feet, we’re sure the baseball agreed with Gonzalez’s assessment. It was Upton’s tenth homer — out of 14 — to travel over 420 feet this season. He’s averaging 427 feet on all of his home runs, which is the most for any players with more than five. Just awesome, game-changing power. As we’re about to learn, though, the Diamondbacks aren’t exactly lacking that type of player despite trading Upton during the offseason. But boy how nice would it be to have two of them? Good as Goldy : How about the start for Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt? After going 4 for 5 with two more home runs and 4 RBIs in the D-Backs 9-2 win over the Marlins on Friday night, the 25-year-old slugger is up to .338 on the season with 12 big flys and 35 driven in. Only Upton has more homers in the National League with his 14. Goldschmidt is also second in RBIs to Brandon Phillips. An all-star bid seems more likely with each passing day. Hiroki Special: For the fifth time since the beginning of the 2012 season, Hiroki Kuroda gave the New York Yankees eight plus innings of scoreless baseball. Only Felix Hernandez has more during that time with eight. Kuroda didn’t have much room for error on this night as Mark Buehrle nearly matched him through six innings. New York did manage single runs in the first and fifth, and then finally broke it open with a three spot in the seventh to lock up their 5-0 win. Rosales strikes again! And this time… it counts! After hitting a game-tying home in Cleveland last week that was incorrectly ruled (despite a review) a double, Adam Rosales left no doubt on Friday. His eighth inning solo home run was the difference in Oakland’s 2-1 victory over James Shield and the Royals. ”I think I was pretty sure about that one,” Rosales said with an ear-to-ear grin. ”It felt good to get over that hump. Every ballfield I went to, they all were saying, ‘Oh, it was a homer,’ or you talk to family and friends and like, ‘Yeah, it was a homer.’ So, now they’ll be talking about something else. They’ll talk about a real homer.” And more importantly, a real win. MORE SCORES Mets 3, Cubs 2: Matt Harvey gets the win on the hill and the game-winning RBI at the plate. He’s already 5-0. Phillies 5, Reds 3: Philly gets two in the eighth after bullpen blows lead for Cliff Lee. Pirates 5, Astros 4: The Astros lose in the most Astros way possible. Indians 6, Mariners 3 (10 inn.): Three-run, walk-off home run by Jason Kipnis sends Indians fans home happy. Your browser does not support iframes. Rays 12, Orioles 10: Camouflaged Rays strike early and often, then hold on as O’s rally for six runs in eighth. Red Sox 3, Twins 2 (10 inn.): Boston steals another game late on the road. Jonny Gomes’ sac fly in the tenth is the difference. Tigers 2, Rangers 1: The pitching duel scheduled for Thursday arrived one day late. Cardinals 7, Brewers 6: David Freese’s long-awaited first home run in 2013 was a grand slam. That helped St. Louis overcome two

James Shields looked like the true ace the Royals meant to acquire, going eight innings, tying a season high with nine strikeouts, walking just one, and sprinkling six hits and just two runs. But by old school conventional logic, James Shields was a loser because he just didn't have THE WILL TO WIN tonight, as his efforts led to a 2-1 Royals loss. The Royals managed just five hits of offense all night. They had just three runners in scoring position all night. Of the seven baserunners they had all night, one was erased on a double play, and one was picked off in a terrible baserunning gaffe by Eric Hosmer. The team was rather punchless. The new guy - David Lough - was one of the the only bats to show up tonight, collecting two hits including the only RBI for the Royals. He drove home Salvador Perez in the third, although Lough was nearly caught at second when he inexplicably tried to take an extra base on a shallow blooper to Coco Crisp. Isn't Rusty Kuntz supposed to be our base-running guru? Lorenzo Cain also had a pair of walks. He leads the team in on-base percentage, so let's hit him sixth, after Eric Hosmer. Coach Ned, obviously stung by the criticism that he pulled James too early in his Chicago start a few weeks ago, left Shields to close this game out, and Shields gave up solo home runs to Josh Donaldson in the seventh (on a pretty decent pitch down and in) and Adam Rosales in the eighth (left it up and Rosales blasted it). The Royals are going to get solo-homered to death this year. Shields ended up with 122 pitches for the night. He is now 2-4 with a 2.45 ERA. What a loser. Poll How many wins will James Shields end up with in 2013? Over 16 13-15 10-12 Under 10 5 votes | Results

It was a tough night in the KC Royals organization, as all four full season minor league affiliates lost. Omaha lost to visiting Las Vegas, 7-3. The two teams combined to hit five homeruns. Will Smith took the loss, as he allowed four runs on six hits, two walks, and two hit batters over six innings. Adam Moore and Willy Taveras each collected two hits and hit a solo homerun. Taveras also tripled (yet did not score). He even had an outfield assist. *In roster news, Blaine Boyer was let go so he could play in Japan. Atahualpa Severino was activated from the DL. He allowed an unearned run in his one inning of work. NW Arkansas lost their sixth straight game, as they finished up their road trip with a 5-2 loss in Tulsa. They picked up six hits, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and hit into three double plays. Noel Arguelles lost his seventh game of the season, as he allowed four runs (three earned) over five innings. Three of those runs came via the long ball. The Naturals scored their runs in the 7th inning and only picked up one hit. The first run came via an error and the second via a sac fly. John Lamb Wilmington was pounded late, as they lost at home to Myrtle Beach, 12-0. Even with all the runs scoring, the game was still only a little over two and a half hours. John Lamb had another sub-par start, as he allowed six runs on seven hits over six-plus innings. On the positive side, he struck out eight and did not walk a batter. He also settled down after the Pelicans’ four-run first and the final two runs scored after he was pulled from the game. Four of the six hits he allowed came in the first, including a three-run homerun. The Blue Rocks offense collected six hits, two from Alex Hudak (who batted ninth). They went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Lexington lost on the road to West Virginia, 3-1. The game started in a delay (1 hour and 33 minutes). Both teams scored single runs in the first inning, before the Power scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. The Legends collected just two hits, a Nick Cuckovich single in the second and a Fred Ford single in the sixth. Colin Rodgers only lasted 4.2 innings in the start. He allowed one run on five hits and two walks. Ali Williams took the loss, as he allowed the go ahead run in the sixth (1.1IP, 3H, R, BB, 0K). Daniel Hernandez pitched the final two innings and allowed a run (it was only the second time this season he had allowed runs).

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Athletics left-hander Brett Anderson could miss up to six weeks after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right foot. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Kansas City Royals News

Big Game James goes to the hill and should expect another 1-0 game because (a) Oakland is a pitcher's park (b) Jarrod Parker was a pretty good pitcher last year (but has struggled this year); and (c) Jeff Francoeur is not in the starting lineup and how do you expect to score runs without the heart and soul of your team? On the plus side, the A's pitching staff has a 6.69 ERA over the last week and the club has dropped 20 of its last 31 games. A rundown of their club: Coco Crisp (remember him? No homo) leads the team with a .914 OPS due to some uncharacteristic pop. He has five home runs already, even though he has only reached double digits in dingers three times in his career with a high of 16. Jed Lowrie has appeared in 40 of Oakland's 42 games. I think that is a career high for him (kidding). The A's have nine hitters who are in double digits in walks and a tenth who has nine walks (Yoenis Cespedes). The Royals have four hitters with more than seven walks this year. Remember who Oakland used to be a slow, base-clogging team? They've swiped 26 bases this year, good for sixth in the league, and have been caught just six times, good for an 81% success rate. Josh Reddick, who had a sensational 2012, is having a miserable 2012. His OPS is .516, and he's hitting just .129/.282/.194 over his last 12 games. Of course, that .282 OBA is still better than the .258 OBA Jeff Francoeur has posted for the entire season. Daric Barton is back in the big leagues and still not hitting. In seven games, he's "hitting" .111/.200/.278. Just three years ago the guy led the league in walks. Since then he hasn't posted an OPS over .635. When Jarrod Parker faces Mike Moustakas, it will be the battle of 2007 first round picks. Parker was selected ninth (by the Diamondbacks), seven slots behind Moose. Moose barely edges him in WAR in their young careers 3.9 to 3.6. Let's win this one for Jason Grimsley. For Mike Sweeney. For Luis Ordaz. For all those 2002 Royals that were humiliated by their portrayal in the movie "Moneyball." This one's for you boys. Poll The film "Moneyball" was.... A tremendous film worthy of Oscar nomination A really good movie, but not worth of an Oscar nomination A movie with flaws, but overall fun to watch A pretty disappointing film considering the talent involved A complete trainwreck 12 votes | Results

The Royals continue their West Coast swing by heading up to Oakland to face the Athletics this weekend. The A's have been celebrated by not only the stat community but by Michael Lewis, who wrote the bestselling book "Moneyball", published in 2003 and made into a smash Oscar-nominated Hollywood film in 2011. Just ten years later, the Royals seem to have gotten around to reading it, and perhaps understanding the book's core concepts. While the main theme of the book was about finding inefficiencies in the market, one of the spokes holding up that theme was the idea that outs are sacred. Getting on-base was the only way to avoid outs, so that should be the primary goal of every hitter, whether it be through a hit, a walk, or catcher's interference. Get. On. Base. The Royals organizational philosophy, even going back to their successful heyday, has been to get the ball in play, make something happen, be aggressive. Walks are passive. Put the onus on the other team. Let's look at how the Royals and Athletics have ranked in "Moneyball" categories since the strike. Kansas City Royals Oakland Athletics Walks OBA SLG Runs Walks OBA SLG Runs 1995 13th 12th 14th 14th 4th 9th 7th 8th 1996 12th 12th 14th 14th 7th 10th 6th 10th 1997 9th 10th 12th 12th 2nd 8th 7th 11th 1998 12th 12th 11th 13th 2nd 9th 12th 9th 1999 10th 8th 10th 7th 1st 4th 8th 4th 2000 14th 8th 11th 5th 2nd 3rd 5th 3rd 2001 14th 14th 10th 10th 1st 3rd 5th 4th 2002 8th 10th 12th 11th 3rd 5th 7th 8th 2003 9th 6th 7th 4th 4th 10th 8th 9th 2004 13th 13th 13th 11th 3rd 5th 7th 9th 2005 12th 13th 12th 12th 3rd 5th 10th 6th 2006 10th 11th 14th 12th 2nd 7th 13th 9th 2007 13th 13th 14th 13th 2nd 6th 11th 11th 2008 14th 12th 12th 12th 4th 13th 14th 14th 2009 13th 13th 12th 13th 10th 11th 14th 9th 2010 9th 8th 9th 10th 7th 9th 12th 11th 2011 11th 5th 5th 6th 6th 12th 12th 12th 2012 14th 8th 10th 12th 4th 12th 9th 8th 2013 15th 9th 10th 12th 1st 6th 12th

After taking two-of-three from the Angels the Royals head up the coast for the second leg of the current nine game road trip. This is the first of two times the teams will see one another with a three game series at the K in July. Series Preview – The Royals alternated wins in Anaheim while taking the series against the Halos and are 20-17 this season. Oakland is finishing a six game home stand which began with dropping two-of-three against Texas earlier this week. Probable Pitching Matchups – Friday, May 17 (9:07 pm): James Shields (2-3, 3.04) v. Jarrod Parker (2-5, 6.39) - Shields is coming off a tough loss last Saturday against the Yankees at the K - His career record against the A’s is 5-3 with a 4.08 ERA and is 2-2 in Oakland Saturday, May 18 (8:07 pm): Ervin Santana (3-2, 2.79) v. Tommy Milone (3-5, 3.71) - Santana is sitting on 99 careers wins - In his career he’s 6-1 at the Coliseum with a 2.08 ERA in 12 outings (10 starts) Sunday, May 19 (3:07 pm): Luis Mendoza (1-2, 6.00) v. A.J. Griffin (4-3, 3.48) - Last time out Mendoza picked up his first win of 2013 at Los Angeles - The Dozer went six innings for the third time this season on Monday while striking out six Angels 2012 Results – Kansas City won the season series 5-4 against Oakland in 2012 in what was a close series, KC outscored the A’s 22-20 in nine meetings. The Athletics held a 2-1 lead when the teams played at the Coliseum in the lone trip the Royals made to the Bay Area both losses were by a run. Fans will remember the series finale going 12 innings and Jonathan Broxton being unable to protect the lead. TV/Radio – All three games are on Fox Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler on the call with Joel Goldberg hosting the pre and post game. On 610 Sports Radio will be Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart. 2013 Schedule v. Athletics – May 17-19, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum July 5-7, Kauffman Stadium Team Game Notes – Kansas City Oakland

Since I'm bored at work and it's 4pm on Friday, I figured I'd make a post for lineup theories, wishes, gripes, "situations", etc... I am not very knowledgeable about baseball, but I am learning. So, I took a little bit of time to look up the triple slash numbers and a few other stats for the Royals regulars in an effort to come up with a line-up that I would consider "ideal." I learned a few things along the way: 1. There are four Royals who can hit. Everyone else seems to suck. 2. In spite of being "the best hitter" on the squad, Alex Gordon has struck out A LOT this year. 3. Moose is absolutely awful at the dish. 4. Getz is worse. Anyhow, here is my proposed lineup and I'll follow each entry with some reasoning. As a preface, I looked at triple slash numbers, strikeouts, walks and stolen bases. Additionally, I used the preconcieved notions about the players that I've formed after watching approximately 50 innings of the Royals this year. I did not include Chris Getz or Jeff "Frenchy the frenchman" Francouer because they are bad and they shouldn't be getting regular PA's. Luckily, there are other dudes on the squad that have gotten some playing time in spite of the front office's obsession with underproducing players. 1. Lorenzo Cain - Why this guy is not leading off is a mystery to me. I believe it's because LOCain doesn't "seem" like a typical leadoff hitter. However, this dude has the second best triple slash line on the squad in addition to six stolen bases and ten walks. Not too shabby. 2. Alcides Escobar - I had four different hitters in the two hole before I settled on Alcides. This, I'll admit, is a decision based more on my perception of him than his numbers. The real problem with putting any other Royal in this slot is that not many of them run the bases well. Escobar appears to have decent situational hitting and does well on the basepaths. He's got 8 stolen bases and 7 walks. 3. Alex Gordon - Well, if he can't bat leadoff, he should hit third. The dude is slugging .525 right now and, while he's struck out 35 times already this year, he's a good bet to make some contact and move the runners over. With Lorenzo and/or Alcides on base, he'll probably pile on the rbizz. 4. Billy Butler - I would love to have put Big Bacon in the two-hole, but he'd clog up the basepaths with his slowness awesomeness. If only he were faster. He's walkd 21 tiems this year to 22 strikeouts. This is probably inflating his OBP a little, but we know that he's a great hitter. I debated with myself a lot about whether he should go four or five, but I ultimately chose four because he's a better bet to get on base than the next dude... 5. Salvador Perez - He's the third best hitter on the squad right now (with more than a certain number of PAs) and I'd hit him in the five-spot to protect Butler. I think a good case could be made for moving Escobar down and Billy and Salvador up because, like, they are way better hitters, but Perez is more of a power guy and strikes out a lot. He's walked thrice so far this year. 6. Eric Hosmer - He's got "okay" numbers, but not for a first baseperson. He needs to start hitting. He's sixth because he's hitting better than the other shitty hitters on the squad rigth now. 7. Mike Moustakas - This dude is not hitting at all. He's been bad since the 2012 ASG and needs to get demoted. If he's on the squad, I'm hitting him here, I guess... 8. Elliot Johnson - Johnson gets stuck down here because, though his triple slash line says he's doing better than Hos, I fully expect him to regress. He's basically Zetg Sirhc with a slightly better bat. I wish Giavotella was called up so that I could have put him in the lineup. This may as well be the second baseperson's spot. 9. Jarrod Dyson - This is where I will put poor Jarrod. There are several reasons for this. First being that he will probably be able to get on base for the top of the order and I feel like writing

The Kansas City Royals placed center fielder Jarrod Dyson on the 15-day disabled list on Friday because of a sprained right ankle. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Kansas City Royals News

It's not a platoon, damnit. Both Jeff Francoeur and Chris Getz have seen their playing time reduced in the last week. You can't help but be shocked that these two have been drags on run scoring production. I mean, if we only had a stat that could tell us these two aren't that good when it comes to swinging the bat. But I digress. So while Jarrod Dyson and Elliot Johnson have seen their names on the lineup card with a little more frequency of late, we're not seeing a platoon situation. That's according to the man who fills out the lineup himself, Frank Ned Yost. Quoth the Yost: "I could play Francoeur on Friday against a right-hander, then it's not a platton. I'm going day to day right now." Fine. Be that way. Since the Great Lineup Shakeup of 2013 took place on May 9, the Royals have played seven games. Francoeur has appeared in four of those contests. Twice he was in the lineup against a right handed starter. He started against Freddy Garcia in Baltimore on the 9th and against Hiroki Kuroda of the Yankees on the 12th. I loathe Pitcher vs. Batter stats as much as the first inning bunt, but worming my way into the mind of Yost, I found that Francoeur has five hits in 14 at bats against Kuroda and three hits - one home run - in 10 at bats against Garcia. Interesting. Sadly, my hypothesis doesn't hold water. Against Joe Blanton - a pitcher Francoeur sat against this week - he has six hits in 14 at bats. Damnit, Frank! So even with Yost's threat to play Francoeur on Friday, we truly haven't seen a platoon in the strictest sense. We've seen a manager who is limiting playing time. He's been holding Francoeur out against some - not all - right-handers. Granted, it's not enough, but it's a start. Although I worry that when Francoeur is still hitting around .220/.250/.300 in a month, the party line will be he wasn't able to get consistent reps in the lineup because Dyson was so damn good. (As I write this, word comes that Dyson is on the DL, with David Lough coming up as his replacement. I can only hope Yost sticks to his guns and gives Lough the playing time that would have gone to Dyson over the next few weeks. But you know he won't. Damn.) Meanwhile you have Getz. Remember how it was fun when he hit his home run in Atlanta? How we joked when, for a moment, he was leading the team in slugging percentage? Yeah. That's over. Since going yard, Getz has four hits - all singles - in 47 plate appearances. In the game of arbitrary endpoints, that's a slash line of .093/.152/.093. Ick. For his career, Getz doesn't really have a platoon split. He's pretty deficient no matter what hand the pitcher uses. Last year was really the first time he held an edge over a right-handed pitcher versus a lefty. He's not really a platoon candidate. But in the last seven games, he's been in the lineup twice. Once was against Garcia in Baltimore. (That game was more about moving the pieces of the lineup while the band played. Yost didn't start shifting guys in and out until the next day against the Yankees.) The other game was against Blanton to open the series in Anaheim. That was the night of the Royals 19 hit attack. Getz was 0-5 with two strikeouts. OK. Who cares what Yost calls it? In the last week, he's removed dead weight from the Royals lineup on a semi-regular basis. At this point, I'll take it if Johnson and Dyson (or Lough) are marginal upgrades. As long as I don't have to watch Francoeur swing at the first pitch and Getz ground out, I'll take it.