Clutch Groundouts
Written by Craig Brown   
Wednesday, 02 September 2009 00:00
Does anyone really care about this team anymore?  That’s not meant to be rhetorical.  It’s a serious question.  Aside from Zack Greinke starts every fifth day, is there reason to watch? 

I ask these questions and yet, here I am, close to midnight, watching this crap.  Again.

Billy Butler remains the only reason to watch the Royals when they’re at bat.  The only reason.  How about a standup triple?  That was outstanding.  Credit to him for busting it to second for what was an obvious double.  Butler isn’t exactly Usain Bolt, but he was motoring hard when he went around first, and when the ball took an advantageous carom off the center field wall, he had his triple.  Would you be surprised if I told you that was his first triple in over 1,000 plate appearances?

Of course, Butler was on third with one out and Mike Jacobs couldn’t get a fly ball to get him home.  Then Alberto Callaspo grounded out as well.  Figures.  At this stage in the season, it would be more surprising if the Royals actually got the runner home from third with less than two outs. 

The next scoring opportunity came in the sixth when the Royals loaded the bases with nobody out.  Bases loaded.  Nobody out.

And up steps Mike Jacobs. 

Jeeeeeeeeezzzzzz.

He grounds into a fielders choice.

Thankfully, Callaspo is something of a professional hitter, so he’s able to make the A’s pay with a two-run single.

Watching the Royals and the A’s try to generate offense is tiring.

After Callaspo’s RBIs, the only issue left to settle was the nightly text message vote.  Tuesday’s question was, “Who was the best Royal outfielder of the 2000’s?”  The choices were Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran, David DeJesus and Jermaine Dye.  DeJesus won the vote with something like 36%.  Huh?  That’s not only the wrong answer, I would submit it’s the worst possible choice of the four.

Crazy.

Do you think John Gibbons had a vote?  The guy seems hell bent to get his money’s worth while he’s in charge.  Four pitchers in the seventh?  And all four put at least one runner on base!  Yet somehow the Royals escaped the inning allowing only a single run.

I did not stick around for the eighth.  Sometimes, you just have to know when to say when.



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Comments

avatar Jon
0
 
 
Gibbons will be the manager for the Royals opening day 2010. I would rather have a manager use four pitchers to try to get out of an inning than use the Hillman approach and let one guy struggle thru the whole inning while giving up 4 or 5 runs.
Wednesday 02 September 2009, 03:22
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avatar kcghost
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Considering Jacobs has ZERO sac hits of any variety this year maybe you were setting the bar too high on your hope he might hit a sac fly. With a slash line of .231/.301/.713 Jacobs is simply a rally killer.
Wednesday 02 September 2009, 03:50
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avatar dls357
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Holy Cow, he does not have any sac flies this year. That is incredible.

P.S. I presume you mean that his OPS is .713, not his slugging pct.

Wednesday 02 September 2009, 05:45
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avatar GordonB
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As for Butler, he's had a few knocks as being a selfish player - but his 3B shows counters that -- he's got to hit a reasonable number of 2Bs to hit 50 (and join that elite club of ALL HOFers who have done that by his same age), yet the big slow guy busts to a 3B when a 2B would have been better for him personally.

Also, I am rooting for the Royals to lose now -- lets see a whole new cast of characters starting everyday after the Sept call ups -- its a win win - the young guys get some experience, and likely help us to the Number 1 pick (we oughta see Pena Jr. in the BP, Kiaahue playing every day, Bianchi getting a lot a September ABs... etc...)
Wednesday 02 September 2009, 18:07
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avatar Wow
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Did anyone else get their 2010 Renewal notice this week? How much nerve does it take to send out Renewals when this club is on it's way to losing 100 games?
Thursday 03 September 2009, 07:14
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avatar notdtw
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I can't believe you all have stopped trusting The Process.

Love,
Dayton
Thursday 03 September 2009, 07:43
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avatar gbewing
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Gibbons is managing? Obviously I've quit watching- why? Is Sabr trey on a pilgrimage espousing faith based managing to the massess -The Royals Way!
Thursday 03 September 2009, 10:08
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avatar devil_fingers
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David DeJesus is arguably better as a Royals OFer than Jermaine Dye (obviously, he's a better player at the current time). Oh, and he's also reboudned at the plate (good thing Dayton brought guys like him in!).

From baseballproject ion dot com's historical WAR

Jermaine Dye as a Royal:

1997: -0.8
1998: -0.6
1999: 4.3
2000: 4.7
2001: 0.7

Total: 8.3

David DeJesus
2003: -0.2 (9 PA)
2004: 1.0
2005: 4.4
2006: 3.5
2007: 3.3
2008: 3.7

Total: 15.7

Dye had the best season out of the two of them (in a shorter KC career), but DDJ more than holds his own.
Saturday 05 September 2009, 17:43
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