Royals Authority

Sweeping Away The Rockies

By Craig Brown | June 25th, 2008

How fun is this interleague crap? I feel like I should send Bud Selig a cookie gram or something to thank him. And to think, I was against all this AL vs. NL chicanery when it all began about 10 years ago.

Luke Hochevar retired 24 hitters on Wednesday - 17 of them were cut down ground balls.

Exactly the kind of performance you like to see from your sinker ball pitcher.

It was a triumph for Hochevar who needed only 95 pitches to complete a career-high eight innings.

The Kansas City Royals, winners of 10 of their last 11, are now officially the hottest team in baseball. I can honestly say that I did not think I would be typing a sentence like that at the end of May as Brett Tomko was busy locking down the Royals twelfth consecutive loss.

But things have changed since then. For starters, the Royals are playing the National League. They have now won 12 of 15 interleague games.

But the starting pitching has really stepped up their game. Hochevar’s start on Wednesday was the latest in a string of strong performances.

Simply put, Hochevar was in command all night. A spot of trouble popped up in the second inning when the Rockies started the inning with back to back singles. But a double play ground out (of course) was just a momentary reprieve. Chris Iannetta drove a double off the wall in right center to bring home a run. An infield single followed and it seemed like the wheels were ready to fall off. But Hochevar steadied and retired Willy Taveras.

It was a nice escape from Hochevar in that six men came to the plate, but Colorado could manage only a single run. The best part of that inning was Hochevar needed only 17 pitches to work his way through that minefield.

I have to say, there’s something fun watching another team exhibit hacktastic tendencies. We’re so used to the Royals swinging early and often, that it kind of freaks you out when the opposition is the same way.

An aside - That first inning for the Royals was kind of brutal. David DeJesus was hit by an 0-2 pitch (more on that in a moment) leading off the inning. Mike Aviles then hit the second pitch he saw for a double play and Alex Gordon followed with a first pitch swing and a fly out. In other words, the Royals had a runner on base and did Aaron Cook a huge favor by making three outs on six pitches.

Anyway, back to Hochevar. Coming into Wednesday’s game, Hochevar’s GB/FB ratio was 1.66. He’s allowing fly balls roughly 32% of all balls put into play. With the Royals infield defense behind him, he should be successful. His hit rate of 9.6 H/9 IP is pretty good, but could (and probably should) be better.

But the hits haven’t been the issue - it’s been the walks. Before last night’s start, Hochevar had a walk rate of 4.4 BB/9 IP, which is way too high. However, over Hochevar’s last four starts, he’s completely cut down on the free pass. He’s walked just four batters over his last 25.2 innings.

His last four starts:
25.2 IP, 30 H, 13 SO, 4 BB, 3.51 ERA

He had a little hiccup in his previous start which was against San Francisco last weekend where he walked two in less than five innings. Still, taken as a whole, that’s an impressive stretch.

Some random thoughts:

– DeJesus getting hit by the pitch in the first was not a retaliatory strike from Cook and the Rockies. It was a breaking ball that Cook wanted inside, but went just a little too far inside.

I know there was a lot of debate here yesterday about what would happen. I’m glad that it was Smilin’ Dave at the plate and not Surly Jose or Mean Miguel. DeJesus didn’t even look at Cook and with reason… It clearly was a mistake. But in this day of misguided machismo, there are some players who take umbrage at getting hit no matter what the situation. I’m not saying that Guillen and Olivo would have charged the mound or engaged in an epic staredown. But I am saying I’m glad that we didn’t have to find out what they would have done.

Anyway, Cook is the Rockies ace. No way would he jeopardize his start for a little payback in what appears to be a personal beef.

– Does anyone have a problem with John Buck running from second on a 3-2 pitch to Alberto Callaspo (there was a runner on first as well) in the fourth? Callaspo struck out swinging and Buck was thrown out for an inning-ending double play.

Percentage wise, it’s a decent play. Callaspo makes contact 95% of the time he swings the bat. And prior to that at bat, he had whiffed just eight times in 107 plate appearances. And the pitcher Cook strikes out just 4.3 hitters per 9. I said it was a decent play, percentage wise. Check that. It’s a stone cold lock that Cook will either throw ball four or Callaspo will at least get his bat on the ball.

Of course, Callspo goes down swinging. Now, where did I put my Powerball ticket?

– Ross Freakin’ Gload went 3-3 with a double, a run scored and two RBI. In other words, he was the offense. He’s started the Royals last 11 games and is hitting .333 over that stretch with two doubles and a home run. His OBP during that time is .364.

I’m just making notes here.

– Buck threw out a base stealer! In my neighborhood, church bells rang.

– If Joakim Soria doesn’t make the All-Star team, I’ll make it my mission to carpet bomb every Red Sox blog in existence. (Terry Francona is the AL manager, so by extension I hold all Red Sox fans - which incidentally is an entire nation - accountable. It’s not fair, but it’s the best I can do.)

Seriously, this guy is hands down the best closer in the league. It’s no contest.

Those curve balls he was breaking off were just so filthy, it was like watching baseball porn. And the X-Mo of the release of his curveball on his strikeout of Garret Atkins was the money shot.

Either way you look at it, it was a thing of beauty.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 8:44 pm 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.

16 Responses to “Sweeping Away The Rockies”

Ryan Brown says:

June 25th, 2008 at 9:14 pm

“Baseball porn” is the best line I’ve read in forever. It may be the euphoria of winning 10 of 11, or the 6 Miller Lite tallboys I consumed during the game…but that was damn funny.

RB
Mark LaFlamme says:

June 25th, 2008 at 10:27 pm

Who deserves a stress free sweep more than we do? Anyone who stuck with the Royals through the Fenway no-hitter and all that followed ought to be given choice of seats at Kauffman and free beer to boot. We suffer through agonies like that in hopes of hot streaks like this. The “lowly” should be coming out of every sports writer’s lexicon by now. Cleveland has the swampy botton of the central all to themselves. The White Sox are choking on everything that comes their way.
Hot damn, I’ve been in a good mood lately. I almost never weep anymore and I’ve stopped shooting heroin into my eyeballs. Drinks are on me, people. I’ll see you in St. Lou.
Jay Soell says:

June 25th, 2008 at 11:40 pm

I am stunned at how many hitters just sit there and take strike 1 from Soria. The Cards did it in all 3 of his saves there and we saw the Rockies tonight. Every hitter should know by now the guy comes out and throws strikes and that first pitch is almost always a fastball. Is he truly that deceptive?? But these hitters don’t even swing at the pitch even if they are a bit fooled.

Soria is phenomenal. And once you are down in the count it is over. I wonder what his out ratio is once he gets ahead of a hitter.

Got to give up to Luke. Great start worthy of a #1 pick. And a great rebound from last Friday.

We be out of the Central Cellar for at least a few days! Though I temper my excitement, it is still sweet to open the paper and see a single digit number in the GB column…and it is almost July!
Ewing says:

June 26th, 2008 at 3:53 am

Random thoughts…

Remember Chris Berman’s saying about Chris Carter….all he does is score touchdowns. Well, I guess we can say that about our Royals now….all they do is win.

Mark - I hope you haven’t made the trip to St. Louis yet because the games are in KC.

I’ve thought for a long time that it would be a milestone for the Royals when they go from one undeserving all-star selection to two deserving all-star selections. I wouldn’t worry about Soria. He’s got to be a lock. Perhaps Grienke, Guillen or even DeJesus could get selected as well. I do realize that the whole “lowly” Royals reputation will work against us on this. While unfair in the micro, perhaps this is just penance for our years in a baseball wasteland.

Indian fans must being going nuts. Talk about disappointing!
steve y says:

June 26th, 2008 at 3:55 am

Is anyone hearing anything about possible trades, I can’t imagine that we could get any really good prospects for anyone we are willing to trade but at least we could clear up some space. Grud must like KC to do his back thing right when he could have been looking pretty good for us to do our Matt Stairs trade and get a De La Rosa or someone like that in return (which did not turn out to bad when we were able to trade him for Bean Ramirez). Might be nice to move Gload to open up a spot for Billy Batter, but not sure if GMDM feels so strongly about defense that he wants to keep Ross. Sure would be nice in the second half to open up a spot to see if we have any more Aviles down there in Omaha, maybe one of our outfielders, I just don’t see Gathright having any kind of decent Win Share for us. Go Royals, so nice to see DeJesus come into his own, and for the starters (some of them) to start to round out.
kcghost says:

June 26th, 2008 at 6:32 am

Gosh, winning feels so good even if you are beating up on the Little Sisters of the Poor. Nice job by Hochevar going 8 innings on just 95 pitches. Soria is just a monster.

It would sure be nice to see Greinke and Soria locked up for a year or two of the free agency life.
Bye-Bye Balboni says:

June 26th, 2008 at 7:22 am

The baseball porn and X-mo money shot was far and away one of the best lines I’ve read in a baseball blog. Laugh-out-loud funny, yet so true…
Ben Holeton says:

June 26th, 2008 at 7:24 am

Those curve balls he was breaking off were just so filthy, it was like watching baseball porn. And the X-Mo of the release of his curveball on his strikeout of Garret Atkins was the money shot.

Pure poetry…You can’t get this kind of writing on ESPN
benfunke says:

June 26th, 2008 at 7:40 am

Jay — shhh…you might be on to something. After 1 or 2 strikes batters are hitting .088 and .059 (respectively) against Soria, versus .150 overall. But first-pitch hitters are 5 for 9. Let’s hope opposing hitters aren’t paying attention. (Also interesting that after a full count, hitters are 1 for 16 (.063).)

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=28688
benfunke says:

June 26th, 2008 at 7:44 am

So the Buck caught-stealing play was definitely a hit and run? Did Gload go to second, because it sounded like maybe he didn’t? Do we know if such plays are put on by Hillman, or if maybe the third base coach (Luis Silverio, I presume) might call it on his own?
Clark Fosler says:

June 26th, 2008 at 9:12 am

The Buck caught stealing was on a 3-2 pitch with Hillman putting the runners in motion. I’m certain those sorts of calls are made by Hillman and not his base coaches.
WWH Mustaine says:

June 26th, 2008 at 9:39 am

JoSo (think it’ll catch on? No?) is ridiculous. If he doesn’t make the All-Star team, they should quit playing the damn thing.
UKJoe says:

June 26th, 2008 at 11:28 am

So, I heard what I think is by far the best nickname for Soria..
The Mexicutioner.. fitting, no?? Anyway mull it over.
Ryan says:

June 26th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

I still like “Rule 9.” He’s a Rule 5 draft pick and he literally rules the ninth.
Patek to Rojas to Mayberry says:

June 26th, 2008 at 6:39 pm

I’m still partial to Buddy Bell’s term “Mexican tough” for some reason. But “Mexicutioner” is very clever and has a much better ring to it.
Patek to Rojas to Mayberry says:

June 26th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

benfunke - Speaking of Silverio…

Baaaaawb Davis keeps referring to this nonexistent guy named “Silvario”. He’s called him “Silvario” consistently all season long. I can’t understand how he’s allowed to keep making the same mistake. When Denny Matthews mentions the third base coach’s name, is Baaaaawb even listening? Doesn’t he notice that Denny pronounces it differently? Doesn’t he realize that at least one of them is mispronouncing the man’s name? Why doesn’t someone (Silverio himself, maybe) say something to Davis? Geez…this moron drives me up the frickin’ wall.

I can’t get the games on TV. Please, Royals, send Lefebvre back to radio and return Baaaaawb to TV so I don’t have to listen to him.

THE AUTHOR

Craig Brown

Info | Links

MVN - Most Valuable Network

MLB Headlines