Royals Authority

Deja Vu All Over Again

By Craig Brown | May 21st, 2008

If you watched last night’s game and didn’t get some serious flashbacks, you haven’t been paying attention.

First, there was Gil Meche throwing seven solid innings and getting no (well the Royals did score one run) support.

Last night he struck out a season high eight batters and posted a Game Score of 65 which was his second highest point total of the season - He had a 73 after going seven shutout innings against Cleveland earlier this month.

The problem was the second where the Sox picked up a pair of singles and then Meche walked Jason Varitek to load the bases. A sac fly and ground rule double later and that was all the Red Sox would need against the Royals.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the diamond, Justin Masterson was matching Meche pitch for pitch. In fact, Masterson also posted a Game Score of 65. But one difference that stands out is that Masterson needed 91 pitches to get through 6.1 innings while Meche needed 119 to complete seven. I know I wrote the article last week about the Royals approach at the plate not being the problem, but stuff like this begins to piss me off.

Masterson was making his second big league start - his first was almost a month ago. Don’t you think the Royals could have done a better job of making this kid work for the outs? In between his starts he’s throwing at Double-Freakin’-A where he has a 4.23 ERA. Move this entire Royals team to Wilmington.

I will give props to Alex Gordon who went 3-3 with a walk. He’s now hitting .293/.366/.455 with an OPS+ of 123. That makes me happy. Jose Guillen must have lost his player of the week trophy because his oh for his last seven with four strikeouts. Is there any way we can have more than one hot bat in the lineup at once?

Anyway, back to Meche and his lack of support. It’s really kind of the same old, same old where the Royals are now scoring 2.97 runs per start for Meche. He’s made 10 starts and his offense has scored two or fewer runs in half of those. I guess if there’s a positive in this it’s the fact Meche has thrown quite a few stinkers himself this year so the lack of offense hasn’t really cost him.

Onto the second part of my flashbacks…

Anyone remember July 17 through July 19 in 2006?

That was the three game set at Fenway where the Royals were swept. They lost the first game 5-4 after leading 4-0 going into the bottom of the seventh. The next night, they were one-hit by Jon Lester over eight innings (I’m beginning to hate that guy) and lost 1-0. And then the next night, they again lost 1-0 as Josh Beckett held them to four hits over eight.

That series frustrated me at the time (and obviously has been stuck in my brain) because it could have been the Royals that got the sweep, but their lack of offense killed them. Kind of a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same.

A no-hitter and another one run loss in 2008 and maybe you can understand why I was feeling like I took the brown acid at Woodstock. If Wavy Gravy is pitching for Boston tonight…

Actually, it’s Bartolo Colon. He’s making his first big league start after getting injured but he stayed in shape during his rehab by beating Runelvys Hernandez in a competitive eating contest. In other words, this is a guy primed to pitch seven shutout innings against the hitless wonders known as the Kansas City Royals.

I’m not sure I’ll even watch the game tonight. Maybe I’ll read Sylvia Plath… after watching the Royals swing the bat the last two nights, I need the pick-me-up.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 7:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Responses to “Deja Vu All Over Again”

jbopp says:

May 21st, 2008 at 7:47 am

Competitive Eating Contest earned a smirk.

We’re currently 9-9 for May and 3.5 games out of first, still pacing 2 games behind the magically depressing 2003 season. We need 26 wins by 05-27-08 to meet or beat that pace.

I think if we’re going to take one (or even two) from Bean Town, it’s gotta be tonight. We have to find a way to crush that damn ball.

With a huge homestand coming up against two division rivals, only to be followed up with a road trip against another one…we need to pick up wins where we can.

Royals!
Gordon says:

May 21st, 2008 at 7:48 am

I remember…because I was there! I’ve now seen Lester spin two absolute GEMS against my beloved Royals, plus Masterson’s great game. I’ve not yet seen them win at Fenway. Hopefully tonight will break my curse.
Doug says:

May 21st, 2008 at 8:05 am

It was real frustrating watching a AA spot starter call-up absolutely put the clamps on us; pathetic.

As for Guillen; he has not hit well historically at Fenway. He’s hitting .189/.259/.311 in 74 AB’s. His eyeballs must get real wide looking at the Monster.
Mark LaFlamme says:

May 21st, 2008 at 8:06 am

You and me both, Gordon. If things don’t go well, I’ll be the one running on the field demanding to pinch hit. My Christ, we need the next two.
steve y says:

May 21st, 2008 at 8:40 am

Why can’t I follow a sport where my team wins every night, these guys go from looking like they are turning the corner into the next phase of hopelessness, maybe that is what a young developing team is supposed to do, I at least hope that GMDM is paying attention to our blogs (and the games of course) so that he can accurately evaluate what we have and what we need. Good to see Meche look like the good Meche of last year, would be better if the hitters did not revert to how they supported him last year. Does anyone have a good link into good thinking about the upcoming draft, whom the Royals should take, are likely to take, etc. Great blog, excellent lead articles and comments consistently, thank you all.
Zack Daddy says:

May 21st, 2008 at 8:54 am

AAAAAAAAAAARGH! Maybe we should bury a jersey of George Brett under the pitching mount at Fenway. We gotta do something. Maybe the answer to our offense comes in three letters…H…G…H…
Mike Williams says:

May 21st, 2008 at 9:11 am

You can add Kason Gabbard shutting us out last season to your list.

Despite all of that, the Royals have been way more competitive vs the Red Sox than they have against the Yankees the last several season…
AusSteveW says:

May 21st, 2008 at 9:19 am

I think tonight MIGHT BE Tomko’s last start for the Royals depending on how he does. Especially if Kyle Davies has ANOTHER good game for Omaha tonight. He (Davies) has some good stats in the Minors that look like they may translate to the Bigs. Has anyone actually SEEN Davies pitch this year? If so, what were your impressions? Another good arm that was brought in by GMDM that I am HOPING will be a success for the Royals!

And, just for the record, no matter what Tomko does tonight, I am not advocating throwing him under the bus (release), but I could see him going to the ‘pen and Peralta being sent down. Or maybe a trade of a pitcher or two for some offense. What do you all think?

Go Royals!!! C-ya, AusSteveW

Of course, now Tomko will pitch great and Davies will shelled. Oh well, that is ok with me too. lol
Zack Daddy says:

May 21st, 2008 at 9:48 am

Steve, I like the idea of Tomko in the bullpen as a long reliever. I agree about Peralta being on a short leash. Yabuta, too, although he’s been pitching better of late. Sure is nice to have legitimate pitching options in the minors unlike years of the past.
Gene says:

May 21st, 2008 at 4:59 pm

AusSteve- I’m not 100% but I think Peralta is out of options to the minors. Yet, agreed that I think Davies deserves a shot over Tomko. Personally I think the plan was to move Tomko to the ‘pen whenever Davies earned his shot. And, it seems Davies has done what he needed to do.

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