A Victory and Some Offense
After being shutout 3 out of their last 4 games, the Royals' offense broke out of its slump. David DeJesus was the star of the day, going 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs and a walk. Not only has DeJesus done a good job of getting on base, he's done a good job of driving in runners. He's in a close third to Sweeney and Brown for the team lead in RBIs with 35. The Royals' youth drove in 7 of the Royals' 8 runs.
It's amazing how little the offense has done since Sweeney has returned. Sweeney also hasn't hit a home run since early May (to an extent because he's been on the DL so much). It's been a week since the Royals hit a home run. This team doesn't have much pop in the lineup and that will be something that needs to be addressed during the offseason.
Carrasco struggled today. He gave up 10 hits (3 doubles and 1 home run). Carrasco was leaving his curveball up in the strike zone and Seattle made him pay for it. But, the Royals beat up on Meche and Carrasco picked up his fourth victory and now has a 4-3 record. The bullpen did a pretty good job. Sisco allowed an inherited runner score and gave up a run. Sisco pitched well in June, although he had a noticeable drop in his strikeout rate, with just 5 K's in 9 1/3 IP. Wood got a double play to bail Sisco out. Gobble pitched a scoreless eighth and struck out 1 batter. I'm still not sold on Gobble because of his control, but his stuff is good. MacDougal picked up his 10th save and has done a great job since taking over the closer's role. MacDougal's control has been much better this year and he can still ring up batters with his great slider.
With Affeldt possibly returning Thursday, a pitcher will likely be sent back down. My guess is that it will be Nunez. He's clearly not ready to pitch in the big leagues. Affeldt hasn't been great in his rehab assignments. Tonight he gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run in 1 inning. Affeldt has now pitched more innings in rehab assignments at Omaha than he has pitched for the big league team. I'm not sure what the Royals are going to do with Affeldt. He's been mentioned in a lot of trade rumors. If the Royals can get a power-hitting corner OF (or power-hitting anything for that matter) for Affeldt, that would be a good move. We have plenty of good arms in the bullpen and MacDougal seems to have won the closer's role for the immediate future, so Affeldt seems expendable. Affeldt is still pretty much an unknown. He's a lefty with 94-97 mph FB and a very good curveball. There aren't too many of those around, so a lot of teams would be willing to give him a chance.
It's amazing how little the offense has done since Sweeney has returned. Sweeney also hasn't hit a home run since early May (to an extent because he's been on the DL so much). It's been a week since the Royals hit a home run. This team doesn't have much pop in the lineup and that will be something that needs to be addressed during the offseason.
Carrasco struggled today. He gave up 10 hits (3 doubles and 1 home run). Carrasco was leaving his curveball up in the strike zone and Seattle made him pay for it. But, the Royals beat up on Meche and Carrasco picked up his fourth victory and now has a 4-3 record. The bullpen did a pretty good job. Sisco allowed an inherited runner score and gave up a run. Sisco pitched well in June, although he had a noticeable drop in his strikeout rate, with just 5 K's in 9 1/3 IP. Wood got a double play to bail Sisco out. Gobble pitched a scoreless eighth and struck out 1 batter. I'm still not sold on Gobble because of his control, but his stuff is good. MacDougal picked up his 10th save and has done a great job since taking over the closer's role. MacDougal's control has been much better this year and he can still ring up batters with his great slider.
With Affeldt possibly returning Thursday, a pitcher will likely be sent back down. My guess is that it will be Nunez. He's clearly not ready to pitch in the big leagues. Affeldt hasn't been great in his rehab assignments. Tonight he gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run in 1 inning. Affeldt has now pitched more innings in rehab assignments at Omaha than he has pitched for the big league team. I'm not sure what the Royals are going to do with Affeldt. He's been mentioned in a lot of trade rumors. If the Royals can get a power-hitting corner OF (or power-hitting anything for that matter) for Affeldt, that would be a good move. We have plenty of good arms in the bullpen and MacDougal seems to have won the closer's role for the immediate future, so Affeldt seems expendable. Affeldt is still pretty much an unknown. He's a lefty with 94-97 mph FB and a very good curveball. There aren't too many of those around, so a lot of teams would be willing to give him a chance.
posted by SoonerRoyal at 9:24 PM
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