White Sox winner!!

[Kyyle23]

Rienzo had a nice start, Dunn with a bomb, things to discuss

[southsider2k5]

But what about my house?????

[Kyyle23]

But what about my house?????

 

It's gone. We both have nothing left to wager

[GGajewski18]

Rienzo is 4-0 with a 4.00 ERA. That's pretty good out of your number 5 starter. He is definitely earning himself a spot for the rest of the season and into next season maybe.

 

I'd like to see when healthy

 

Sale

Quintana

???

Danks

Rienzo

[Soxfest]

2 wins at KC always nice.

[Señor Ding-Dong]

Another good outing for Rienzo. He's solid and gives his team a chance to win. I can see him sticking as a back of the rotation starter. He's definitely not going anywhere when Sale returns. It'd be really nice if E. Johnson could rediscover his velocity so he could help Rienzo round out the rotation.

 

I missed pretty much all of the 8th and 9th innings because a thunderstorm ruined my signal. We were leading 7-2 when my signal went out, then it was 7-5 when it came back on.

 

Nice game for Conor. I really like him, even with the lack of power from 3B. His defense seems to be improved from last season too.

 

Tumbleweeds looked pretty iffy behind the plate, but he did hit that dinger. He's still hitting over .300.

 

I never wanna see Downs or Francisco again. Francisco should be on the first plane back to Charlotte. Downs should do himself a favor and retire.

 

Let's get the sweep tomorrow.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Señor Ding-Dong

[BigHurt3515]

Maybe I should quit watching? Wasn't able to watch these two games

[caulfield12]

Royals' fans must be out on the cliffs of the Missouri River right now.

 

Losing to a White Sox team without Sale, Abreu and a closer? Twice in a row, at home?

 

 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

This team is pretty damn resilient. 4/5 starters have had some problem or another weather it's health or poor pitching. With all the injuries staying around .500 is a minor miracle. A lot of guys are picking up the slack.

Edited May 21, 2014 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[caulfield12]

This team is pretty damn resilient. 4/5 starters have had some problem or another weather it's health or poor pitching. With al the ijuries staying around .500 is a minor miracle. A lot of guys are picking up the slack.

 

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/20/50361...-as-royals.html

 

That's not to mention all the issues with Nate Jones, Cleto, Donnie Veal, Lindstrom and Scott Downs.

 

Oh, and Frank Francisco now.

 

 

Actually, other than Downs and Francisco, the pen is as solid as it has been all season long. And, at this point, who knows what we get out of Guerra? At least Petricka, Putnam, Belisario and Webb have been good to stellar.

 

Cleto, Veal and Heath are next in line, one would imagine. De Los Santos has been walking too many.

Edited May 21, 2014 by caulfield12

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Those are talent issues . The guys picking up the slack have risen above their level of talent shown last year like Gillaspie, Alexei, Dunn , Beckham and Flowers.

Edited May 21, 2014 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[greg775]

Royals' fans must be out on the cliffs of the Missouri River right now.

 

Losing to a White Sox team without Sale, Abreu and a closer? Twice in a row, at home?

 

That last pitch of the game was awesome. Cain had no chance. Man, what a pitch.

As far as KC fans and KC vs. Chicago ... ha, now that the Royals are expected to beat us, it's harder. Just like when the Sox over and over got owned by an inferior KC team. Funny but I'll take it.

Great win. Figured KC would rally with the Sox bullpen being what it is, but enough good pitches to win it.

[caulfield12]

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/20/50363...hit-better.html

 

Royals don't need "clutch" hitting, they simply need better hitting...debunks the idea of "clutch"

 

 

"Judging" the Royals at kansascity.com (Lee Judge)

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/21/50366...stball-and.html

 

 

 

Adam Dunn crushes a fastball and changes the game

May 21

BY LEE JUDGE

The Kansas City Star

 

"My favorite word in English is 'youneverknow.' "

 

According to the internet, Joaquin Andujar said that and we all know the internet never lies. (Hot women are waiting for our phone calls—I’m sure of it.) The reason I bring this up is because of what happened in the eighth inning of Tuesday night’s game.

 

Aaron Crow came in to pitch the eighth inning of a 4-2 game. The Royals hadn’t done a lot offensively at that point—two runs on five hits—but youneverknow. Aaron gave up a singles to Gordon Beckham and Conor Gillaspie, got a fly ball out and then faced Adam Dunn; the gigantic Chicago first baseman who was born to play Lennie in "Of Mice and Men."

 

But instead of crushing a puppy, Dunn crushed a fastball.

 

A 93 MPH two-seamer, thrown right down the middle. Dunn hit the ball over 420 feet, Lorenzo Cain and the centerfield wall. The score went from 4-2 to 7-2 and at that point, it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference, but youneverknow. You play the game right all the time because you never know when you’re going to make a comeback and that fastball you served up in the eighth inning will prove to be the margin of victory in the ninth. And that’s exactly what happened.

 

The White Sox beat the Royals, 7-6.

 

Would Salvador Perez have made a difference?

 

In the fifth inning starting pitcher Yordano Ventura gave up a 2-1 lead and a Tyler Flowers home run on a hanging curve—the Chicago catcher hit the ball 411 feet. Fair enough, he earned it.

 

But then Chicago scored two more runs that they didn’t earn. With one out Adam Eaton doubled and a wild pitch allowed Eaton to move to third. The runner on third brought the infield in and Gordon Beckham hit a soft liner over Danny Valencia’s head—a ball that would have been caught easily if the infield had been playing back.

 

A second wild pitch let Beckham take second. The Chicago second baseman took third when Conor Gillaspie hit the ball to first baseman Eric Hosmer and then Beckham scored on the third wild pitch of the inning—no wild pitches, no runs score. Brett Hayes was filling in for Perez while Sal rested a bruised hand; would Salvador Perez have made a difference?

 

On the first wild pitch, probably not; Ventura spiked a curve well out in front of home plate and the ball came up so high it hit Hayes in the shoulder. The second wild pitch appeared to be a passed ball—a fastball that never hit the ground before going off Hayes’ mitt—and the third wild pitch was another curve in the dirt. Hayes appeared to do everything right, but the ball still got away from him, so he probably didn’t do everything right.

 

Bottom line: I don’t know if Perez would have made a difference—Ventura was bouncing the ball well out in front of home plate. But you can’t afford to give up two runs that the other team didn’t earn; especially when you lose by one.

 

How the Royals gave up their first run

 

Everyone is looking for patterns and the first guy to recognize one has an advantage. In the first inning catcher Brett Hayes and pitcher Yordano Ventura started every hitter with a fastball. With two down and a runner on third, Dayan Viciedo jumped on that first-pitch fastball, singled and drove the run in.

 

But it’s also worth noting how that run got on third: left-handed Conor Gillaspie was at the plate and right fielder Nori Aoki was playing straight up—in line with second and third base. Ventura was blowing gas in the upper nineties, so the odds of Gillaspie pulling a fastball weren’t great, so he pulled a changeup.

 

A Yordano Ventura changeup is still 88 miles-an-hour, but slow enough for Gillaspie to poke it down into the right-field corner, which meant Aoki had a long run to the ball. Leaving a changeup up in the zone meant the ball was hit to an unprotected part of the field. The Royals paid with one run.

 

Why you should look for similar hitters

 

Pitchers and catchers do not have nine game plans for nine hitters; they tend to pitch similar hitters in similar ways. Chicago’s starting pitcher, Andre Rienzo—who clearly ought to be driving on the Grand Prix circuit, he’s got the right name—threw right-handed Billy Butler cutter after cutter down and away. A cutter is halfway between a fastball and a slider and Rienzo’s was clocked in the upper eighties.

 

If Rienzo hit his spot—down and away—the Royals right-handed hitters would have to hit the ball to the opposite field to have any chance. Pull that down and away slider and you’re going to hit an easy rollover grounder to the left side of the field.

 

So if right-handed Lorenzo Cain was paying attention he might assume he’d be seeing cutters down and away. Here’s exactly what he saw: curveball, cutter, cutter, fastball, curveball, cutter. But instead of trying to hit the ball to right field, Lorenzo was trying to pull the ball. He missed the last cutter by about two feet. I came closer to my ideal weight in my last checkup than Cain came to that cutter in the second inning—and I didn’t come that close to my ideal weight. (I either need to lose 20 pounds or grow six inches.)

 

Danny Valencia, on the other hand, was either paying more attention or just got lucky: he saw a cutter, a curveball and another cutter and drove the second cutter to the opposite field, into the right-center gap for a two-run double.

 

The Mike Moustakas pinch-hit

 

When Mike Moustakas first came to the big leagues I told him he was lucky because he’d never know if people were booing him; boo and Moose sound pretty much the same.

 

When Mike came out to pinch hit in the eighth inning the crowd went off and nobody could tell if they were booing Mike or encouraging him. The score was 7-5, two runners were on and Brett Hayes was due up. Brett has not had a hit this year—he was 0 for 19 coming into this at-bat—so Ned Yost went to his bench and the cupboard was bare.

 

If Yost wasn’t going to let Hayes hit, he had to choose between Moose (a guy who might run into one and give the Royals a lead), Jarrod Dyson (who doesn’t have much power), Francisco Pena (a catcher who has yet to have a major league at-bat) and Salvador Perez (who is sitting out to rest a bruised hand). Moustakas got to two strikes and chased a fastball that was up out of the zone. That resulted in a pop up to third base and was about 200 feet short of being deep enough to drive in Danny Valencia, the runner on third.

 

When should Jarrod Dyson steal?

 

Down 7-5 the Royals staged a two-out rally in the ninth inning; Billy Butler doubled, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on an Alex Gordon single. Then Jarrod Dyson came out to pinch run for Gordon.

 

When Dyson is used as a pinch runner late in a game, the PA announcer might as well say: "Now stealing, Jarrod Dyson." Everybody knows he’s going to run. But that’s one definition of a true base stealer: a guy who can still swipe a bag when everybody knows he’s going to.

 

And most of the time Dyson has to swipe that bag quickly.

 

With two outs, if he hangs first base too long, Jarrod might waste a hit and only go first to third, not second to home. With one out he wants to be on third when the ball is put in play. But if Dyson goes on the first pitch every time, that knowledge will get around; pitchers will attempt pickoffs and managers will try pitchouts. For the stolen base to do any good, Dyson’s got to get on the move quickly. A hitter might take one strike to let Dyson steal a base, but taking two is not advisable. When Jarrod Dyson comes out to pinch run, look for him to steal a base in the first three pitches.

 

Tuesday night Jarrod took off right away, but it did no good; after an instant replay review that confirmed he stole second base and moved the tying run into scoring position, Lorenzo Cain ended the game by striking out on three pitches.

 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/21/50366...l#storylink=cpy

Edited May 21, 2014 by caulfield12

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Rienzo is 4-0 with a 4.00 ERA. That's pretty good out of your number 5 starter. He is definitely earning himself a spot for the rest of the season and into next season maybe.

 

I'd like to see when healthy

 

Sale

Quintana

???

Danks

Rienzo

 

Yeah there's definitely talent in that arm. I see no reason why he shouldn't be in the rotation the rest of year. Hopefully he can prove to be an effective 4/5 starter for years to come.

[witesoxfan]

Royals' fans must be out on the cliffs of the Missouri River right now.

 

Losing to a White Sox team without Sale, Abreu and a closer? Twice in a row, at home?

 

This is baseball and that stuff happens. It's not that big of a deal.

[Balta1701]

Yeah there's definitely talent in that arm. I see no reason why he shouldn't be in the rotation the rest of year. Hopefully he can prove to be an effective 4/5 starter for years to come.

I really think he's got some long-term promise. That big curveball is a nice weapon but with time he's got the setup to learn how to control it better and change speeds on it and that could help him turn into a really solid, middle-of-the-order pitcher.

[clyons]

Mike Adamle said on the 10:00 NBC5 news last night that the Sox won this game 7 -2. That guy is a total no-mind.

[bmags]

This is baseball and that stuff happens. It's not that big of a deal.

 

Meh, my Royal fan friends are pretty down. After all these years of losing and finally this is supposed to be their year and they come out of the gates pretty low.

[witesoxfan]

Meh, my Royal fan friends are pretty down. After all these years of losing and finally this is supposed to be their year and they come out of the gates pretty low.

 

just tell them to

 

[JohnCangelosi]

Dare I say it but Gordon Beckham looks as confident at the plate as he did in 2009 and IMO definitely has his swagger back.

 

[caulfield12]

Whatever Rienzo is, and I don't think he's more than a #5, I have no problem watching him compete every fifth day. He makes me laugh but I love his fire. He's maybe a little overzealous with the fist pumps but at least he's (seemingly) stranding runners consistently.

 

 

The big thing is mixing enough curveballs at lower velocities to go with his slider/cutter/fastball/sinker combination.

 

Because he has a tendency to throw a lot of pitches at roughly the same speed, he needs to have at least one pitch that makes his usual high 80's stuff (and he did throw a few four seamers at 93) look even faster.

 

Seems he has a tendency to either fall in love with his curve or go away from it completely for stretches.

[ptatc]

The big thing is mixing enough curveballs at lower velocities to go with his slider/cutter/fastball/sinker combination.

 

Because he has a tendency to throw a lot of pitches at roughly the same speed, he needs to have at least one pitch that makes his usual high 80's stuff (and he did throw a few four seamers at 93) look even faster.

 

Seems he has a tendency to either fall in love with his curve or go away from it completely for stretches.

The curve is a feel pitch. There are going to be games and times in games he doesn't have it. Those are his bad outings for exactly the reasons you said.

[Rowand44]

Whatever Rienzo is, and I don't think he's more than a #5, I have no problem watching him compete every fifth day. He makes me laugh but I love his fire. He's maybe a little overzealous with the fist pumps but at least he's (seemingly) stranding runners consistently.

I'm not sure if he's a 4 or 5 but whatever it is I do think he's a very capable major league starter. Even if he's just a 5, being that he's so cheap, he's very valuable to us.

[southsider2k5]

Christopher Kamka ‏@ckamka 41m

 

133 pitchers have made 6+ starts this season. The only one whose team is undefeated in his starts is Andre Rienzo (White Sox 6-0)

[bmags]

That means he's better than Tanaka right?