Live Game Notes — Royals 5 at Jays 7
Live Game Notes — Royals 5 at Jays 7
A mere 15,218 showed up to a game that would have been rained out without a dome but those in attendance saw a great game.
The starting pitchers both got through the order once without any bleeding. The second time around for Chacin the Royals got to him and he was lucky that there were not more runs scored. The Royals were crushing the ball all over the field but luckily often right at a Blue Jays fielder. Chacin was done after 5 IP and got the win.
Royals starter Jorge De La Rosa also got off to a great start, at one point in the third inning he had thrown 41 pitches and only 9 of them for balls. Buddy Bell may have left him in too long (I thought) but when the Royals bullpen was on parade I can see why. Todd Wellemeyer should be on a plane back to AAA after three terrible outings. His ERA is at 12 and his WHIP is almost 3.00. He is not a homegrown rookie either he and is in his fifth season in the Majors.
The Royals lineup is in disarray. David DeJesus seems to be the best hitter. Mike Sweeney was on the bench and Reggie Sanders was the DH. Only 3 regulars are hitting above the Mendoza Line. With 8 hits against Blue Jays pitching the ‘Big Three’ accounted for 5 of those hits.
Of special note, highly touted rookie Alex Gordon coming off one of the best MiL seasons ever has had an abominable first week to his ML career. He has a miserable line of .103/.188/.207. His OBP is decievingly high as he has been HBP three times but has yet to draw his first pass. He has struck out a third on his times at bat including a K in every game so far this season. He was able to hit a home run in Tuesday nights game against Josh Towers and managed a single last night as well as his specialty HBP. However, he was picked off at a crucial time in the 6th inning by Casey Janssen for the third out. He also bobbled a grounder in the second inning with two out which let in a run. The play was originally scored a E-5 but was changed for reasons I am unsure of. Pity, I would suspect.
The Blue Jays tandem of Frasor and Ryan were in fine form last night. When Janssen got in trouble in the 7th, Gibbons went to Frasor (who has scrapped his curveball and is sticking with his dynamite heater) who induced a groundball only to be dropped by Royce Clayton. Fielding was the Achillies Heel of the Jays last year and luckily Frasor was able to induce another grounder in which he handled himself for the third out. The Jays 4 errors on Tuesday night cost them the game and Clayton’s untimely error could have cost them again. But hey, this is Kansas City, I am sure the Yanks or Red Sox would have made them pay.
Frasor stuck out the side in the 8th and the Royals didn’t have a prayer against Bo Junior in the 9th.
As for the Jays lineup they have been hitting and producing runs but the middle of the order have not been knocking in runs. Wells, Thomas, Glaus have driven in 15 runs collectively and all trail Reed Johnson, Aaron Hill and Greg Zaun for the team lead. If this keeps up, which I don’t think it will, Gibbon’s is going to have to juggle the lineup. It is great they can get on base but depending on the 6,7,8 batters to knock in the likes of Frank Thomas is not right.
Anyways, it looks like to be a long season in KC. Look for more Blue Jays reports this weekend when the Jays host the AL Champ Detroit Tigers.
April 12, 2007
If Clayton continues to stink up the joint defensivly, what would you do? Move Hill around (I wouldn’t), throw Smith/McDonald or a called up Adams in there or trade for a SS?
Also, I’m starting to get a little concerned with the reliance upon the bullpen early in ballgames. I know Gibby loves to use the pen but come on! It’s working out so far, but as we all know, it’s a 162 game season.
Caution: Dirty Pro-Rate Ahead
Frasor: 101 Games
Ryan: 81 Games
Janssen: 81 Games
Downs: 81 Games
Marcum: 61 Games
Last season Ryan was the only one over 60 games (65). I know that Leauge will be back at some point but this is going to need to change quick or we’ll see another late fade from this club. The real question is, what to do about the starting staff? Halladay is an injury risk, so they should curb his innings, same with AJ (not to mention inconsistancy), and the bottom three straight out suck. If Janssen & Marcum are moved, it will create a big hole in the pen.
What to do, what to do…
April 12, 2007
I agree the pen has been overworked to this point. And I am not a fan of Gibbons in his pitcher use but Frasor will not pitch 101 games and Ryan will not pitch 80. You know this. But they will need Frasor to pitch 60+ and League to come back and pitch a pro rated 60+.
I think what we see is what we get from Chacin this year, the long ball is his big worry and he won’t eat up innings but he doesn’t walk players so his WHIP should be reasonable. If you ask Gibby if he would like to shoot out the lights everynight he would say yes and the Jays could beat most teams in the long ball category. Jays should be able to win 7-5 night in and night out.
I worry more about Burnett, in his two outings he has had a months worth of bases-loaded situations and he was very lucky against KC on Monday but the Tigers crushed him. Both starts (I was at the one in Det) he couldn’t find the strike zone. Against KC he wasn’t able to get an easy pop out or bear down and get a K like a good pitcher will do. It was a blast of a drive that Overbay was able to turn into a double play. If that gets by him, like it easily could have, it is a three run double and the game is different. In Detroit he wasn’t able to retire a single Tiger in 3+ bases loaded situations. .
I think the Jays pitching staff has great flexibility and this should account for some of the lack of talent. With Brendan League in the minors and his return expected this should allow Gibbons to put Marcum or Janssen into the rotation. As you say the back 3 suck, so putting one or both of these would-be starters into the rotation isn’t going to weaken the starting 5. I don’t expect anything from Towers, Ricciadi and Gibbons both have said he is on a very short leash and his performance on Tuesday won’t lessen their worries.
Halladay is the leader, he has to pitch 220+ innings if the Jays are going to be successful.
Another worry I have, I should have put this in my article, is the communication between Wells and Rios. Rios seems to think he can catch every ball hit to RF or RC. Instead of taking the ball on a hop the ball rolls slowly to the fence with Rios and Wells in pursuit. Also, Wells should let Rios field any fly that he can get his hands on. Rios has a stronger arm and opponents scouting reports should have runners being very cautious when anything is in his hands. Twice I saw Rios stand idle while Wells makes a catch and Royals advance.
Those, with the Big Three’s lack of RBIs are my biggest worries.
April 12, 2007
To anwser your question, I would not call up Russ Adams. Clayton is your man this year. If his defense gets to be a real problem, I would put John MacDonald in as a defensive replacemnet in the later innings. I would do this even if his defense isn’t terrible. Personally I can take one JohnnyMac AB per game but 3 or 4 hurts the gut.