Royals Win Club Record 22nd Spring Game, Make More Roster Moves

Following an impressive 8-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Kansas City Royals made several more roster moves last night. The team optioned outfielder David Lough to Class AAA Omaha and released infielder Xavier Nady and relief pitcher George Sherrill.

The release of Lough comes as a surprise, as the 27-year-old has put together an impressive spring. Lough is 20 for 44 in 24 spring games, and many felt he could be a replacement for the struggling Jeff Francoeur. The team currently plans on having four outfielders on its major league roster: Francoeur, Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson.

Many Kansas City fans have voiced their displeasure with Francoeur, who struggled from the plate last season and has had a poor spring. If the veteran gets off to another slow start this season, Lough could be brought up to replace him. Lough also provides some nice insurance should one of the team’s other infielders suffer an injury.

The decision to release Nady and Sherrill rather than assigning them to the minor leagues makes both veterans free agents, however Kansas City is expected to attempt to re-sign the pair. Sherill is recovering from Tommy John surgery and has yet to pitch this spring. The Royals are hopeful that he could return to game action sometime in May. Nady has battled a foot injury this spring, and saw limited action in 13 games.

The win over the Dodgers gave the Royals a club-record 22nd spring win. Kansas City has been impressive all of spring training, compiling a 22-6-1 record fueled by strong hitting from several young players and impressive pitching from its off-season acquisitions. The team will face the Seattle Mariners at 3:05 p.m. today. Bruce Chen will get the start for Kansas City – his last chance to impress the coaching staff in his battle for the fifth starter spot with Luis Mendoza. Mendoza will be starting for Kansas City on Wednesday.

KCMB Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Royals Spring Training Begins, Competition At Pitcher Heats Up

Royals spring training is officially underway! The team has made several key offseason moves in hopes for contending for the playoffs, and several position battles are taking place that could have a big impact on the upcoming season.

Currently, all eyes are on the pitching rotation, as a battle for the fifth starter’s spot has developed. It appears that Luke Hochevar is an early favorite to land the position, but he will have stiff competition from Bruce Chen and Luis Mendoza. Hochevar has the most upside of the group, and manager Ned Yost is still high on the former top overall pick. However, Chen and Mendoza both had solid seasons in 2012, and while Hochevar occasionally flashes brilliance, he had an ERA north of five last year.

Kansas City has high hopes for its rotation, as the additions of James Shields, Wade Davis and Ervin Santana should provide a much-needed improvement. Royals starting pitchers went 47-69 last season with a 5.01 ERA – good for 26th in the majors. The three new additions will be paired with Jeremy Guthrie, who pitched incredibly well for Kansas City at the end of last season.

If Hochevar wins the fifth starter spot, Chen and Mendoza could be added to the bullpen, which already has several talented pitchers. Mendoza was recently named the MVP of the Caribbean Series while he pitched for Mexico, and Chen has been steady for the entirety of his career in Kansas City. If the Royals ever needed a spot-starter, or if a starter suffered an injury, Mendoza and Chen would both be worthy candidates.

Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino are both recovering from elbow injuries, but the pair could be back sometime around the All-Star break. Duffy and Paulino were starters before getting hurt, and both have pitched well in that role for the Royals.

KCMB Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Royals Shut Out A's - Jeremy Guthrie Continues To Dominate

Almost a month ago, the Royals traded the struggling Jonathan Sanchez for Jeremy Guthrie, a pitcher who was also in the middle of a bad season. At first it appeared that the Royals failed to gain anything from the trade, as Guthrie struggled in his first start in Kansas City. Now, that trade appears to be a steal, as the new Royals pitcher is in the middle of an incredible pitching streak and could become a mainstay in Kansas City’s rotation.

Last night against the A’s, Guthrie completely shut down an Oakland team that has been one of the biggest surprises in baseball this season and is currently fighting for a playoff spot. Guthrie only allowed three singles in seven innings, adding a season-high eight strikeouts to completely dominate Oakland. The Royals would use a hot fifth inning to put the A’s away and wound up winning 5-0, improving the team’s record to 50-65 on the season.

It appears that Guthrie is coming into his own in Kansas City, as the pitcher currently has a 15 inning scoreless streak and three strong consecutive starts. He will be a free agent after this season, but it appears that the team may have plans to resign him and offer him a starting position next year. A change of scenery may have been all that Guthrie needed, and he claims that working with Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland has given his game a significant boost. For the moment, it appears that he has impressed both general manager Dayton Moore and manager Ned Yost, and may be part of the team’s future, even though Kansas City will be getting several talented pitchers back from injury next season.

The Royals face the A’s again tonight at home in the second game of the teams’ three game series. Will Smith (3-4) will start for Kansas City, while Brandon McCarthy (6-3) will start for the A’s. The game starts at 7:10 a.m.

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Walks Once Again Doom Royals In Loss To Angels

The Royals’ pitching staff has struggled all season long, particularly with allowing walks. The team leads the American League with 344 walks this season, and two key walks ended up being difference makers in the team’s 6-3 loss to the LA Angels last night.

Midway through the game, Kansas City was locked in a tight 2-2 draw, thanks to RBIs early in the game from Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain. However, once the sixth inning hit, the Royals’ shaky pitching once again reared its ugly head. Howie Kendrick drew a leadoff walk, and then scored on a single by Maicer Izturis. After the Royals tied the game again when Bryan Pena drove in Eric Hosmer, Kansas City’s Greg Holland sunk the team’s chances with an awful walk in the eighth. The Royals had already gotten two outs in the inning, and Holland faced Peter Bourjos, who entered the at-bat with a measly .223 batting average. Holland walked Bourjos on four straight pitches, and then gave up a three-run single to Kendrys Morales that essentially was the ball game.

The Royals have been walking batters an alarming rate this season, and once it again it came back to haunt them in a crucial situation. Holland’s mistake wasted a decent outing from Chen, who gave up three runs and give hits in 5 1/3 innings. Chen is now 0-2 with a 9.25 ERA in his last five starts, after a hot streak in which he went 7-2 over his previous 10 outings.

Kansas City will face the Angels in LA again tonight at 9:05 p.m. Will Smith (1-3) will start for the Royals, while Garrett Richards (3-1) will take the mound for the Angels.

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Billy Butler's Walk Off Gives Royals Much-Needed Win Over Mariners

After losing four of its first five games since the All Star break, the Royals desperately needed something to give the team hope as it tries to crawl back in contention in the American League. Leave it to the team’s All Star, Billy Butler, to come up huge when the team needed him most. Butler hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth last night, giving the Royals a much needed 8-7 victory over the Mariners. With the win, Kansas City moved to 39-51 on the season, 10.5 games out in the AL Central.

Butler’s heroics saved what could have been a disaster for the Royals, as Kansas City blew a four run lead late in the game thanks to some horrendous pitching from its bullpen. Bruce Chen provided the team with a quality start, and Kansas City’s offense was rolling early thanks to big hits from Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas. The team also got a two run homer from the hot-hitting Lorenzo Cain, who is now 10-20 in the midst of a six game hitting streak. However, after building what seemed to be an insurmountable lead, Kansas City’s Jose Mijares and Aaron Crow gave up three runs in the seventh. Had Butler not saved the day with his walk-off, this would have been an extremely tough loss for Royals fans.

Kansas City’s entire pitching staff struggled all series long, giving up 26 runs over three games and wasting a pretty good offensive series from the Royals. With the troubles on the mound, the Royals have called up lefty Will Smith, who is 3-0 with a 1.30 ERA in his last four starts at Triple-A Omaha. To make room for Smith, the team optioned Ryan Verdugo, who struggled in his major league debut on Tuesday.

Smith will pitch for the Royals today in the team’s final game of its series with the Mariners. He will face Felix Hernandez (7-5). The game will begin at 1:10 p.m. at Kauffman Stadium.

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Royals Swept By Cardinals

Just when the Royals had crawled back into contention and found themselves only a few games out of first place, disaster struck. Kansas City’s starting pitching was dreadful all weekend, and the Royals were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The sweep highlights why Kansas City will once again have a sub .500 season – the Royals simply do not have capable starting pitching. Against St. Louis, the Royals gave up 41 hits and 30 runs over three games. The poor pitching performances wasted a great offensive output from the Royals on Sunday, when Mike Moustakas hit two home runs and both Jeff Francoeur and Billy Butler went yard as well.

Injuries have completely decimated the rotation, forcing the team to start players that really have no business pitching in the major leagues. At the moment, Bruce Chen is the team’s best pitcher who is not on the disabled list, and he is sporting a 4.81 ERA for the season. Chen is who he is, a decent option for a fourth of fifth starter, but he shouldn’t be the Royals best option at this point. Luke Hochevar has made it official that he is never coming close to living up to his first overall draft status as well, meaning that Kansas City is going to have to score a lot of runs night in and night out to have a shot. That is simply too much pressure on the offense, and it appears that it will likely be downhill from here for the rest of the season.

The Royals will try to get back on track tonight, when they start a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Hochevar (4-7) will start for the Royals, while Alex Cobb (3-3) will take the mound for the Rays. Game one is tonight at 7:10 p.m. at Kauffman Stadium.

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Danny Duffy Out For Season With Torn Elbow Ligament

Danny Duffy only lasted 13 pitches into Kansas City's 9-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox before disaster struck for the young pitcher. Duffy tore his left ulnar collateral ligament, and will likely require Tommy John's surgery. This would mean that the young lefty's 2012 season would be over, delivering a crushing blow to the Royals' starting rotation.

Kansas City already lost All-Star closer Joakim Soria to a similar injury on April 3, and now the Royals have lost two of their best arms. Duffy had a 2-2 record this season with a 3.90 ERA, and seemed to be on the verge of becoming one of the better starters in the American League.

The Royals also lost starter Jonathan Sanchez, who was placed on the 15 day disabled list last Wednesday with bicep tendinitis.

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Royals Swept By Indians - Kansas City News

After surviving a tough road trip out west, the Royals returned home to face one of the worst teams in the league and hopefully gain some momentum in its first division matchup of the season. Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong for Kansas City did, and the Royals were swept by the Cleveland Indians.

After an impressive start in his first appearance of the season, Luke Hochevar got absolutely rocked by the Indians in the Royals' home opener. Hochevar allowed seven runs in the first inning alone, and Kansas City fell to Cleveland 8-3. In the second game of the series, Kansas City fell behind 9-2 before eventually tying the game at 9-9 after a furious comeback. The Royals couldn’t keep the momentum going, and Cleveland prevailed in extra innings, 11-9.

It appeared that the Royals were going to salvage game three of the series early, when Kansas City took a 3-0 lead off of the struggling (and recently suspended) Ubaldo Jimenez. Cleveland erased that deficit in a hurry, scoring six runs in the third inning and cruising to a 13-7 victory. That loss dropped the Royals to 3-6 on the season, and Kansas City current sits in fourth place in the AL Central standings.

The entire series was an ugly one for Kansas City. After a fantastic start to the season, the Royals’ starting pitching was terrible all weekend. The Indians officially have Kansas City’s number, and the Royals will have to find a way to start winning more games against division opponents.

Kansas City starts another AL Central series today against the Detroit Tigers. Danny Duffy (1-0) will get the start for the Royals, and will face one of the best pitchers in the game in Detroit’s Justin Verlander (0-1).

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Royals Can't Keep Up With Red Sox

The Royals enjoyed one of their better offensive games of the season, blasting several homers and notching seven runs by the fourth inning. Only problem was, Boston's offense was even better, and Kansas City fell 13-9.

Early on, it appeared that the Royals were en route to a victory. The team jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, and later took a 7-5 lead in the fourth thanks to home runs by Alex Gordon and Billy Butler. However, Boston had a field day from the plate, and used a monster fifth inning to put the game out of reach.

The game was a polor opposite of Monday night's contest, a pitcher's dual that included a 1-1 tie entering the 14th inning. Kansas City was able to win that game despite scoring only one run in nine innings, yet nine runs weren't even close to good enough last night. Baseball can be a funny game sometimes.

Kansas City will play Boston again tonight at 6:10 PM. Bruce Chen (5-3) will get the start for the Royals. Chen only allowed one run over eight innings in his last start, a no decision against the White Sox.

Injuries Force Royals to Move Duffy Up

Injuries to Royals starters Kyle Davies and Bruce Chen have forced Dayton Moore to call up young gun Danny Duffy. Vin Mazzaro was seen as a possible in the rotation, but after his awful outing on Monday, the team had to look elsewhere. In the midst of a 4 game skid and a possible drop out of the division race, the Royals know something must be done with a starting rotation that is second to last in the American league in ERA.

Davies left in the first inning Monday night and went on the 15 day DL before Mazzaro's meltdown. Bruce Chen has been sidelined since last week with a strain in his back, and likely won't see action at Major League level until early June. That leaves Duffy and fellow rookie Nate Adcock to fill the void. Duffy has a 3-1 record this year at AAA Omaha, with a 3.00 ERA and 43 Strikeouts in 36 innings, he has been regarded as a top pitching prospect since being drafted in the 3rd round in 2007.


Nate Adcock was a Rule 5 draftee in the off season and has been excellent out of the bullpen this year for the Royals compiling a 2.08 ERA in 8 appearances. Adcock will likely get the start on Saturday in Davies's spot in the Rotation.

Soria Records 25th Straight Save

As the Royals' dreadful season nears the finish line, one player has stood out all year as a bright spot for the team. Closer Joakim Soria converted his 25th straight save, breaking the old consecutive saves record for the Royals previously set by Jeff Montgomery in 1993. For the season, Soria has converted 32 of 34 chances.

After pitching a no-decision gem last week, Zach Grienke made it clear he was not willing to sit around and wait for the Royals to undertake another rebuilding project. While it is hard to blame Grienke's stance, it will be interesting to see what the off-season brings for Soria. The Royals have traded many of its productive veterans to build for the future, however Soria is still young and could provide a long-term answer at closer or eventually be moved to a starting position.

Given that Soria has not publicly demanded a trade or let his frustrations with the organization known, the Royals should attempt to lock him up for the long haul. Having a dominant closer is a necessity for any competitor, and Soria is one of the best in the game. While the Royals keep rebuilding, at least Kansas City fans can enjoy watching Soria dominate.

Comments?