SB Nation User Blog: NHZ

55-71

NHZ — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:47:00 -0000

No loss ever feels good, even when you play with the grit of a Ross Gload type, but this one stings where it hurts. Gil Meche was absolutely stellar after allowing three runs early, two of which go in the "unearned" bin. All told, Meche gave up only two hits, walked one, and struck out nine over seven innings. His ERA (yes I know ERA isn't that great of a stat, believe me) was lowered to 4.01 in the process. That's an impressive feat given how he started this season and this game. Unfortunately, Ramon Ramirez and Joakim Soria couldn't hold the lead. That's probably the only time this year we've seen that sentence, which doesn't make this loss hurt less. Off the top of my head, only "the Twins game" tops this one in terms of bullpen meltdowns. Fans always remember the close losses and forget the blowouts...yadda yadda yadda, but when you get an effort like this one out of Meche, it's one of hell of a game to shake off. To the bullet points:

We haven't been swept yet. Isn't that looking on the bright side? Greinke goes tomorrow in a 12:05 EST getaway day game that I'll miss entirely. Cheer Zack on, people. We could really use a win.
Pumpkinhead Fulchino recorded as many outs as Soria did: one. Fulchino succeeded in lowering his ERA to 9.90.
Royals relievers in this game combined for one inning, four walks, three hits allowed, and two dingers surrendered. Ugly.
Mike Aviles should be intentionally walked by any unfortunate lefty who has to face him. He went 3-for-4 today and was the only Royal with a multihit game.
Beer, anyone?

55-68

NHZ — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:24:14 -0000

And so we return triumphantly to last place.

After everything that happened in that game, somehow you just knew that it would come down to Brett Gardner versus Jeff Fulchino. Blah blah blah some other stuff about how painful extra inning losses like this one are. Some rational thoughts:

I really don't hate Trey Hillman, but if Soria was avaiable it's hard to stomach the fact that we lost an extra innings game without him appearing. I hope Hillman learns from his mistakes.
That said, Joel Peralta and Robinson Tejeda both pitched well
Our offense is not good at hitting baseballs well.
Zack Greinke was very, very, very great today. Too bad the defense caved.
Alex Gordon hit a home run and had two walks. Mark Teahen had tow hits. Mike Aviles went 0-for-6. Is it OPPOSITE DAY?!?!

After a game that thrilling, the rest of the night will be an anticlimax.

PS: it's okay, Hosmer signed. At least we are not fans of the Washington Nationals.

Game 123 Overflow Thread

NHZ — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:34:07 -0000

Our beloved Royals and the big market oppressor known as the Yankees are tied 2-2 and headed for extra innings. Zack pitched great, Gordon homered, and we fielded like a minor b little league team on valium in the 7th. And I missed it. Hooray.

Game One Billion Overflow Thread

NHZ — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:19:11 -0000

The Royals are down 3-2 in the sixth, and Jo-El has come in to save the day after another "meh" outing by Hiram. Jose Guillen is so clutch that he doesn't even have to shift when he drives a stick.

True. Blue. Tradition.

Jenn Sterger hired by the New York Jets

NHZ — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:38:44 -0000

Jenn Sterger hired by the New York Jets

I mean, I know we're totally over her now that we have Pam (I watched a lot of Office Season 4 today and...wow), but I think Jenn would want us to know that she's doing well without us. I mean, we can still be friends, right?

Teixeira hears pleas of Orioles fans

NHZ — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:17:58 -0000

Teixeira hears pleas of Orioles fans

Link is to an mlb.com article where it's mentioned that Teixeira considers Baltimore a possible free agent destination. No, there's not much substance here since the guy's clearly trying to say "all the right things," but I thought I'd link it here anyway. I'd be interested if you guys think there's a legit shot at the O's making a run at signing him...I know it'd go against a conventional rebuilding program but if the O's can get him for 4 or 5 years it might make sense.

Game 112 Overflow Overflow Thread

NHZ — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:31:03 -0000

The Royals are up 12-2 in the seventh. Our offense is doing its best impression of actual major league offense yet again. There was an exciting brawl that I missed and AJ got punched so that's good. Greinke was good and got tossed out of the game for retaliating.

Good day. Party on.

Trading Deadline Extravganza Overflow Thread

NHZ — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:17:43 -0000

A little less sixteen candles, a little more 'touch me.'

It's overflow thread time, mainly because I spent about half-an-hour learning how to use the bizarre and useless 'sarcasm font.' In the hopes of contributing something today, let me follow up on Will's earlier points:

I've heard nothing about DDJ-to-the-Cubs rumors beyond the usual mlbtraderumors-level stuff. Here's hoping David sticks around, because we'd be taking a big step backward in CF if we lost him.
Ken Rosenthal is a dork. More importantly, he's often factually inaccurate. Trust at your own risk.
If Mahay can be traded for Jason Donald, then why would we go after Brandon Moss instead? Thoughts on this? If the Phillies are still in the fold, I'd go for their offer.
The White Sox DID do something after all, the merit of which is debatable.
Everybody loves Will Ohman. Therefore, everyone should love Ron Mahay. I can't wait until we get Matt Wieters for him.
Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is a Yankee. He's a good band-aid for the wound of losing Posada, but then there's the fact that it's really annoying that some people insist on calling him "Pudge." Nicknaming Ivan Rodriguez "Pudge" was like nicknaming Jake Plummer "Jake the Snake"...I'm not buying it.
The Marlins-Pirates-Red Sox potential deal involving Manny Ramirez and Jason Bay and gosh knows who else is apparently close to dead, though the Jays are making noise too. Who knows why? Not me.
We now have two and a half hours until the "moment of truth."
Bud Selig is still a cretin, just in case anyone forgot that particular tidbit of information.
The movie "Doomsday" is stupid and can't hold a candle to any of the movies it rips off.

Party on.

The Dodgers acquire Blake to save their season

NHZ — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:26:15 -0000

The Dodgers acquire Blake to save their season

Okay, let me try this one again. For the Tribe, it's clearly retooling time as they get set to see if it's next year or beyond that they're going to wait for. The younger prospect that they acquired in this deall looks like a good return.

For the Dodgers...Blake seems a little redundant. But then, redundant veteran players make Ned Colletti happy. To be fair, Blake's a good supersub who can play 3B or the outfield with equal "adequacy" and who has some pop. What with the thoroughly mediocre NL West, clearly this is the key acquisition for their world series run.

Game 104 Overflow Thread

NHZ — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:17:08 -0000

In this game, we have the best hit:home run ratio in the history of baseball. This season just keeps getting better and better. We've also committed two errors today, so we've currently got the awesome even H-R-E thing going. I predict a seven run eighth that will ruin all of this precious symmetry and cause us to lose due to negative style points.