Tagged: Royals

Hillman suspended one game for explosion at umpire

Royals manager Trey Hillman won’t be managing his club in Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Tigers.

Hillman was suspended for one game by Major League Baseball for inappropriate actions during Monday’s game and was to serve the suspension on Wednesday.

The suspension was levied for Hillman’s animated argument with plate umpire Paul Emmel in the eighth inning of the Memorial Day game with the Tigers.

Hillman was ejected for comments from the dugout as Emmel called out Willie Bloomquist on strikes. The face-to-face confrontation went until Hillman inadvertently spit in Emmel’s eye, causing the umpire to back away. Crew chief Bill Hohn finally intervened and Hillman left the field.

Later Hillman said he was only trying to keep Bloomquist from being ejected for his comments, forcing the Royals to use catcher Miguel Olivo on the infield. Olivo was only on the position player left on the Royals’ bench.

The suspension was announced by Bob Watson, MLB’s vice president of on-field operations.

–Dick Kaegel

Luis Hernandez gets a shot at short

Trey Hillman said he’d mix Luis Hernandez into the shortstop picture while Mike Aviles recovers from his aching right forearm. Sure enough, there was Hernandez in the lineup on Tuesday night against the Tigers instead of Willie Bloomquist.

After Bloomquist hustled to a crucial double on Sunday against the Cardinals, Hillman had him back in the lineup against a tough right-hander, Justin Verlander, on Monday.

“I was hoping he could play on that momentum a little bit against a very good right-handed pitcher. It didn’t work out way,” Hillman said.

Bloomquist struck out both times against Verlander and fanned a third time against Zach Miner. Bloomquist is batting .349 against left-handers but just .244 against right-handers. So Hillman went with Hernandez, a switch-hitter, against righty Edwin Jackson.

“I’d like to see Hernandez a little bit more. There’s less than 200 Major League at-bats to get a numbers read on him. We like the way he can manipulate the bat a little bit as far as bat control and we’ll see how he does,” Hillman said.

Hernandez, who started last season as the Orioles’ regular shortstop but then lost the job, is regarded as an excellent fielder.

“Tremendous, he’s got great hands, knows where to be. Good baseball player. Doesn’t panic,” Hillman said.

Since coming up from Omaha, Hernandez had just eight at-bats with one hit before this start.

–Dick Kaegel

Hochevar optioned; Aviles, Tejeda on disabled list

Right-hander Luke Hochevar, who took the loss for the Royals on Saturday against the Cardinals, was optioned to Triple-A Omaha as the club made a total of six roster moves following the game.

Shortstop Mike Aviles and reliever Robinson Tejeda were placed on the 15-day disabled list.

The Royals added pitchers John Bale and Roman Colon and infielder Tug Hulett, all recalled from Omaha. Bale had been on an injury rehabilitation assignment.

Aviles has a strained right forearm and Tejeda has tendinitis of the right rotator cuff.

–Dick Kaegel

Royals expect Friday nights game to be played

Despite threatening weather, Royals management expects Friday night’s game to be played. A sellout crowd for the game against the Orioles is expected.

Mike Swanson, vice president of communications and broadcasting, said heavy rain is anticipated in the area of Kauffman Stadium but forecasts are for the weather to break around the 7:10 p.m. CT game time.

The Royals also announced that the 400 Dri-Duck Fountain Seats for the game are sold out. The club began selling the seats at 2:50 p.m. CT instead of the usual 4 p.m. because of the threatening weather. All the $7 seats were sold within 25 minutes. A few scattered single reserved seats and $7 standing room remain available.

— Dick Kaegel

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Soria goes on DL; Hochevar recalled to start

The Royals placed closer Joakim Soria on the 15-day disabled list after Sunday’s game at Anaheim because of lingering soreness in his right shoulder.

Pitcher Luke Hochevar was recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take Soria’s place on the roster and Sidney Ponson’s place in the starting rotation. Hochevar will start on Tuesday night at Oakland, moving Ponson into the bullpen.

Hochevar has a 5-0 record in starts for Omaha with a 0.90 ERA.

There was no immediate estimate on how long Soria might be sidelined. He last pitched on Thursday against Seattle in a rocky but successful 29-pitch outing. His DL stay is retroactive to Friday.

Soria has appeared in just eight of the Royals’ 30 games. He had seven saves in seven chances, a 1-0 record, a 2.08 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings.

–Dick Kaegel 

Soria situation will be worth watching

It’ll be interesting to see how this Joakim Soria scenario plays out. Is he just rusty or is he just a little stiff or is there something really wrong?

That was the question left hanging after his ragged and rugged but successful save on Thursday against the Mariners.

Looking like the Soria of old, he got two quick outs but then got mired in a 29-pitch process that didn’t end until a run was in and Ichiro Suzuki rapped into a force-out with the bases loaded.

Just 13 of those pitches were strikes and the Kansas City Star’s Sam Mellinger did some statistical mining and found that was just the second time in two seasons Soria has thrown more balls than strikes. Also: only the third time that he’s allowed four baserunners and the fourth time he’s walked two while pitching an inning or less.

Soria, of course, is saying that he’s just fine. Manager Trey Hillman is saying he was just rusty. But he had stayed away from Soria for a couple of days because of that stiffness. Anyway, all the wariness goes back to that April week in Texas and Cleveland when he pitched only once and the Royals didn’t reveal his right shoulder was giving him trouble.

So stay tuned on this one.

— Dick Kaegel

Zack dealing quite nicely with new-found celebrity

It’s good to see Zack Greinke enjoying his new-found celebrity, even in a quiet way.

When Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Month for April, he was genuinely pleased and happily discussed the honor with reporters. As you know by now, Zack doesn’t court publicity and can get along just fine without it. But he’s been going along with the hubbub with the smoothness of a real pro.

Mike Swanson, the Royals’ PR veep, is watching over Zack so the exposure is limited. He doesn’t like to do talk radio or sit-down TV interviews, much like Randy Johnson whom Swanson handled when both men were with the Diamondbacks.

When it was pointed out that Greinke had the third-lowest ERA, 0.40, of any pitcher that got off to a 6-0 start, the names of the previous two did not throw him off. He knew about Fernando Valenzuela, 6-0 and 0.33 in 1981, and even Walter Johnson, 6-0 and 0.35 in 1913.

Walter Johnson?

“Yeah, he was probably a pretty good pitcher,” Greinke said. “Christy Mathewson was probably my favorite, though. He just seemed more like a pitcher and Walter Johnson was just domination.”

So, you see, Zack has been doing a little reading. He knew Matty was the thinking man’s pitcher. Maybe he read Matty’s book, “Pitching in a Pinch.”

OK, probably not.

But Zack likes to look at the past and gains inspiration from some sports figures.

“In baseball, really just Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. And then Michael Jordan is probably my favorite of all time. And like Walter Payton,” he said. “I like the hard-working guys or at least they say they’re hard-working. Larry Bird, I just like guys who train all-year round and dedicate themselves to the game.”

–Dick Kaegel

 

Will Zack attract more fans to Kauffman?

You’ve got to hand it to Zack Greinke for not being big-headed. He can’t quite believe that folks are going to come to Kauffman Stadium just to see him pitch.

He electrified a sellout crowd last Friday night with a brilliant 6-1 victory over the Tigers, his second straight complete-game victory. He’s leading the league not only with four victories but with that can’t-be-any-better 0.00 ERA and, oh yes, those 36 strikeouts.

He’s still got a string of 43 innings without giving up an earned run, even though that error-caused run scored the other night. He’s got the ability to throw a 98-mph fastball and a 62-mph curve with equally devastating results.

Beyond that, he’s got that boyish grin and good looks, a refreshingly quirky outlook on life, great intelligence and a genuine respect for the fans. And everyone knows how he overcame some personal issues and took a firm grip on his great talent and potential.

All things considered, he could become the first pitcher since the days of Bret Saberhagen or David Cone to be a real box-office draw for the Royals. Last Friday night, it was Fireworks Friday (although those were postponed because of high wind) and Buck Night, attractions that certainly swelled the crowd.

We’ll get a better read when Greinke pitches on Wednesday night at Kauffman against the Blue Jays. The only “extra” is it’s College Night Happy Hour with cheap seats and concessions for high schoolers and collegians.

The biggest attraction is young Zack Greinke.

–Dick Kaegel

Hillman covered up Soria injury to protect the team

After the TV cameras and microphones went off on Friday afternoon, I asked manager Trey Hillman about the Royals’ decision to keep Joakim Soria’s injury under cover.

“So you didn’t tell us because you didn’t want the other teams to know, basically?”

“Correct,” he responded and then asked to go off the record. Therefore I cannot tell you what he said.

Yet it’s interesting that he could have taken that opportunity to publicly further justify the decision, amplifying his on-record remarks about keeping Soria’s shoulder stiffness secret so the Royals’ opponents would not know he was unavailable to pitch. But he did not, in effect sticking his chin out and letting the critics take a punch if they wanted.

The Royals did not believe Soria’s stiffness was severe enough for him to go on the disabled list but they did not want the Rangers and then the Indians to know he might not be ready to pitch, thereby allowing the enemy to plan accordingly. So Hillman did not use Soria’s problem as a reason, for example, of going with Kyle Farnsworth in the ninth inning when he gave up the game-ending homer to Texas’ Michael Young. Or to explain why Soria had not pitched over a six-game, eight-day stretch.

Hillman was willing to take the bullets for hiding the injury because in doing so, he felt he was doing the best thing for the Royals. He played tricks with the truth, certainly, but I really can’t censure him for that. Why tip off the opposition that your premier closer is unavailable?

–Dick Kaegel