Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Uh-oh

I mentioned the other day that if Mike Wood pitched against Omaha this week, it would be hard to root against him. Guess who is slated to pitch for Oklahoma tonight! (Hint: It is in fact Mike Wood.)

-I'm bummed that I missed last night's KC game. It's great to see the team able to come from behind and come through in the clutch like they have been in the last 10 or so games. And I love John Buck:

"Rather than here were go again, it was now we are going to get the job done."


That is exactly the attitude I want to see. Rather than getting flustered and resigning themselves to lose again, this year's team is able to push harder and make wins happen. I'm still concerned about the team's tendancy to hit into double plays -- they apparently did that four times last night -- but I think that's something that will start to disappear as hitters gain confidence and the team continues to build.

-Now, I'd like to put up some random Royals stats, because the team holds a lot of not-so-hot numbers in the league, and I'm sick of hearing about those. So instead, we'll look at some happier numbers:

David DeJesus - 5th in the Majors in runs, 1st in the AL in at-bats and total plate appearances.
Tony Pena Jr - 3rd in the Majors in triples
Alex Gordon - NOT 1st in the AL in strikeouts (he's down to a reasonably distant 4th)
No Royals players are in the AL's top 20 in caught stealing
Three KC pitchers have a 1.000 OBP, which includes Joel Peralta's 2-run double late in Sunday's crazy game against the Rockies, which leaves him with a healthy (AL-leading) slugging percentage of 2.000.
Predictably, Alex Gordon leads the AL in getting hit by pitches. Mark Grudzielanek is also in the AL's top 10 in that category.

-The Omaha Royals have been enjoying a burst of power hitting the last two days. Craig Brazell had 2 home runs Monday night, followed by 2 more last night. Mike Aviles of all people also hit 2 of them last night, both of which were well over 400 feet (I think they were 417.5 and 423, but don't quote me on that). They've won the first two games against the Oklahoma Redhawks, and have two more in the series before taking on New Orleans over the weekend.

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