GO ROYALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AllThingsKC]

what happened in 2006 again?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3MU7iFbkXc

[schugg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3MU7iFbkXc

Oh I forgot we played them! 

[StL_Dan]

One of the anchors on Sportsceter has been hammering the other because he alluded that the Royals play in Kansas after making a reference to KU.

That really shouldn't bother people in this forum since, evidently, KU is a "KC" team. 

[StL_Dan]

Uh...

Didn't the Cardinals get that in 2006?

He means KC vs Cards in the 2008 WS. 

[schugg]

That really shouldn't bother people in this forum since, evidently, KU is a "KC" team. 

That was a bad joke.

[phuqueue]

Royals are getting some love on Baseball Tonight.  They did a segment on base stealing and talked about how the teams that have jumped out to fast starts are doing it with the stolen base, and they talked a lot about Joey Gathright in particular.  I'll respectfully disagree about the wisdom of stealing too much, but it's cool to see the Royals getting talked about like that.  A little while later after they did the recap of the game against the Yankees tonight, they talked about how great Greinke has been in his two starts, how Meche, Bannister, and Greinke make up a great trio of starters, and one of them even went so far as to say "The Royals are for real."  I'm not exactly sure how "for real" we can be if our offense doesn't start scoring more than four runs (after all, I hate to say it, but this 2.57 team ERA isn't going to last forever), but it's cool to get some attention like that all the same.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody know the last year the royals stayed above .500 all season long?

The Royals have never been above .500 for an entire season (which isn't that shocking when you consider their dismal record on season openers, 15-25 all time; even when the Royals were good, they were no strangers to slow starts).  But in 2003, I believe they only spent two days under .500.

Does anyone at this point want to try and guess this years record?

For now I'll stick with my original prediction of 76 wins.  These eight games have gone about as well as I could have hoped, but they have only been eight games.  As I mentioned in the predictions thread, the Royals have played close to or even slightly over .500 for long stretches the past two seasons, but in 2006 and 2007, they got off to slow starts in April and May and then also had lackluster finishes in September.  So far they're doing pretty well, and if they can weather the months of April and May (they were under .500 for the month of May even back in 2003), I think they'll have a really serious chance to finish at or possibly above .500.  These first two months have always just killed them, but they've started playing respectable ball in June, albeit too late for it to matter.  They're already playing well above .500 right now, and if they can stay around .500 for these two months, I think they'll do it for the entire year.  That's as close as I'm willing to come at this point to revising my prediction.  It's important to remember that they've had hot streaks like this in each of the past few seasons; even in 2005, they had a stretch where they went 11-4 for 15 games (actually, those were Buddy Bell's first fifteen games as manager).  The important difference is, of course, that previously these hot streaks have come in the middle of seasons that are already lost.  But it's still way too early to say for sure whether the Royals will parlay this hot start into anything more than a few games' improvement in their final record, and a few games' improvement is what I originally predicted.  I think that when we see how this team looks at the beginning of June, we'll know what to expect for the rest of the season.

[AllThingsKC]

That really shouldn't bother people in this forum since, evidently, KU is a "KC" team. 

Just like the Illini is a St. Louis team.  Mizzou can't get love anywhere!    But, that's for another thread... 

And, yeah, that's a bad joke! 

He means KC vs Cards in the 2008 WS. 

Even after winning their first World Series since 1985, Cardinals fans STILL want "revenge" on the Royals???

The only thing worse than being that bitter is having your head coach leave for another school and you're still mad about it 5 years later, even though your team won the National Championship.  But, that's for nother thread... 

[ntbpo]

.

[ntbpo]

Quote:
Even after winning their first World Series since 1985, Cardinals fans STILL want "revenge" on the Royals???

The only thing worse than being that bitter is having your head coach leave for another school and you're still mad about it 5 years later, even though your team won the National Championship.  But, that's for nother thread... 



Holy Shit! Just to clarify I really don't care that much. I had no idea that my "revenge" comment would spur 2-3 pages of remarks. I am very satisfied with our 2006 World Series Championship. I should have been more clear and simply said it would be "neat" if we had a chance to face off in the World Series again.......geeeezzzz.

[mean]

Holy Shit! Just to clarify I really don't care that much. I had no idea that my "revenge" comment would spur 2-3 pages of remarks. I am very satisfied with our 2006 World Series Championship. I should have been more clear and simply said it would be "neat" if we had a chance to face off in the World Series again.......geeeezzzz.

Don't take it personally, you didn't say anything out of line. People around here are very touchy. I think this is because they don't have skin, they're like a walking bunch of exposed nerve endings. And nothing inflames those nerve endings faster than someone from St. Louis saying anything that can even remotely be interpreted in a negative way, even if it is obviously meant as a joke or in fun.

I suggest people from St. Louis only post things like, "Kansas City is awesome!" to avoid complete emotional meltdowns on this forum.

[AllThingsKC]

I suggest people from St. Louis only post things like, "Kansas City is awesome!" to avoid complete emotional meltdowns on this forum.

If only we could get the St. Louis posters to ONLY post nice things about Kansas City, the following will happen:

• The world would be a better place.
• There would be no more global warming.
• There would be no more cancer.
• There would be no more HIV.
• There would be no more war.

Therefore, one can only conclude that it is indeed St. Louis fans who cause global warming, cancer, aids, and war.    &  But, at least the Cardinals are 7-2.   :lol:

Seriously though, another KC/STL World Series would be great, but I don't yet think that the Royals are good enough yet to make it that far. 

[aknowledgeableperson]

it's a perfect example of why steals just aren't really worth it. 

Sounds like the football coach who didn't like the forward pass since it could be intercepted or incomplete.

[WSPanic]

Sounds like the football coach who didn't like the forward pass since it could be intercepted or incomplete.

There are some pretty sound theories out there that illustrate that stealing bases at a rate under 75% is damaging to the ability of the team to score runs.

We're 10/15 right now.

[KansasCityCraka]

With Grudzielanek more than likely not a Royal after this year and Pena Jr. having a horrible start to the season. The Royals obviously need to be looking toward the future. The Royals will try to get younger players so who do you think the Royals could go after before the trade deadline? It could be someone already in the majors, or as far down as someone from AAA clubs. The Royals will need to address both positions.

*Callaspo will more than likely take over one of the spots after this season, or during the season if one gets injured of if Pena keeps struggling.

**The Royals have been trying to get Chin Lung Hu from the Dodgers for awhile now.

[shinatoo]

With Grudzielanek more than likely not a Royal after this year and Pena Jr. having a horrible start to the season. The Royals obviously need to be looking toward the future. The Royals will try to get younger players so who do you think the Royals could go after before the trade deadline? It could be someone already in the majors, or as far down as someone from AAA clubs. The Royals will need to address both positions.

*Callaspo will more than likely take over one of the spots after this season, or during the season if one gets injured of if Pena keeps struggling.

**The Royals have been trying to get Chin Lung Hu from the Dodgers for awhile now.

I don't know that Callaspo's bat makes up for his sub par defensive skills. According to baseball prospectus his glove is equally as bad as Pena's bat. Right now we need gloves more than we need bats. What we really need is upgrades to Bale (gas) and Nomo (match).

[WSPanic]

According to baseball prospectus his glove is equally as bad as Pena's bat.

At 2nd or SS? I'd like to see Callaspo given a chance at 2B - and hopefully and outside solution can be found for Pena. I find it hard to believe that Callaspo can be any worse than German at 2nd. There were a few plays last night (turning pivot on double play and going to his left on a groundball come to mind) where he looked bad. I'd like to try and move him. 

[shinatoo]

At 2nd or SS? I'd like to see Callaspo given a chance at 2B - and hopefully and outside solution can be found for Pena. I find it hard to believe that Callaspo can be any worse than German at 2nd. There were a few plays last night (turning pivot on double play and going to his left on a groundball come to mind) where he looked bad. I'd like to try and move him. 

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of German in general. Probably from last season when we had two Major league third basemen playing 1st and Right and had German at third, but I shouldn't blame him for the skipper being an idiot. Trey shouldn't make that mistake.

The biggest factor will be how fast Mike Moustakis develops. I would be thrilled to have Grud for the rest of this year and part of next if we can get the Moose up here next spring. If Pena is still batting his weight at year end we will need to make a move for a shortstop for 09. I'm willing to wait.

[KCMax]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of German in general. Probably from last season when we had two Major league third basemen playing 1st and Right and had German at third, but I shouldn't blame him for the skipper being an idiot. Trey shouldn't make that mistake.

The biggest factor will be how fast Mike Moustakis develops. I would be thrilled to have Grud for the rest of this year and part of next if we can get the Moose up here next spring. If Pena is still batting his weight at year end we will need to make a move for a shortstop for 09. I'm willing to wait.

Moose won't be around until 2011 at the earliest, and I'll be awfully surprised if he sticks at SS. 2B or RF is more likely.

[beautyfromashes]

I think you'll see a Grudz or DeJesus trade for a good SS prospect. 

[phuqueue]

Sounds like the football coach who didn't like the forward pass since it could be intercepted or incomplete.

Poor analogy.  While the forward pass is one of only two means available to advance the ball on offense, the stolen base is but one of many ways to advance on the basepaths.  It would be impossible to win a game (at least at the college and NFL levels) without ever throwing a forward pass as opposing defenses would just load up against the run, but teams can and have had plenty of success with minimal steals (and, conversely, stealing lots of bases does not always translate into offensive production).

As WSPanic alluded to, there is a lot of research to suggest that the stolen base isn't worth the risks associated with it.  Using data supplied by MLB, statisticians have created run expectation tables, predicting the likelihood of a run scoring in various situations based on how those situations have resulted in the past.  For example, a runner on first with no outs is generally worth about .9 runs.  A runner on second with no outs is worth about 1.2 runs.  So a successful steal of second base with nobody out is worth +.3 runs.  However, nobody on with one out is only about .3 runs, meaning if you get caught, the effect on your team is -.6 runs.  The numbers vary based on how many outs there are, which bases have runners, etc.  As WSPanic mentioned, the break even point for steals in general is about 75%.  If you're successfully stealing 75% of the time, the net effect is the same as if you weren't running at all.  Below 75%, you're actually costing runs and hurting your team.

That isn't to say that you should never steal.  The numbers show what common sense would dictate, that a successful steal does help the team.  The trick is to know when to run and when not to.  Tuesday was a great example of when to run, when you've got a fast player like Gathright or Pena on base facing a catcher with a tired arm in poor weather.  And the Royals ran and they stole five bases and won the game.  I still think they ran too much in that game -- for instance, a slow guy like Ross Gload should never be trying to steal; he successfully stole second when Giambi just couldn't get a throw off at all, but then he pressed his luck (and it was incredibly lucky, Giambi had the ball with plenty of time to throw him out at second) and got thrown out trying to take third.  And then they tried to run on a catcher with a good arm in poor conditions on Wednesday night and predictably had little success.  With strong pitching that kept the Yankees from scoring at all that night, they still won, but as I mentioned at the time, Gathright's CS cost the Royals an additional run.  They're not always going to shut out the league's top offenses, so it's probably best if we don't waste outs and throw away potential runs.  The stolen base certainly has its place in the game, but if you overuse it, you're just asking for trouble.  The Royals themselves are a great example -- in 1996, they stole 195 bases, among the most of any team in the past 15 years, and for their trouble, among American League teams they ranked 14th in runs scored (14th, otherwise known as last).  Disciplined stealing (that is, only trying to steal with appropriate players in appropriate situations) can add an extra something to a strong offense, but it's not going to do much for a team that's not swinging the bats even if you're successful with the steal.