Fighting for a Big League Spot:

Let’s start with Mark Teahen. I am starting with Teahen because ideally the organization probably doesn’t want to play 3+ million a year for a guy who will be serving as a utility man. Teahen is bigger than the prototypical second basemen and I’d be very surprised if he showed the ability to play an average second base, however, Teahen has already successfully transitioned to right field from third, and then to left so it may be unwise to bet against him. I am not going to hold my breath though.

Next there is free agent acquisition Willie Bloomquist. Bloomquist for seven years served as a utility man for the Mariners in a Craig Counsell type mold and it wasn’t til last season that he showed an above average ability to get on base (.377 OBP compared to a career .322 OBP). I think Bloomquist would best serve this team in a utility role and not as an everyday starter. But part of me expects him to somehow win the starting job by May, and become Ross Gload part 2.

Finally we get to Alberto Callaspo. Callaspo in my mind has the most potential to be a solid everyday second basemen, however the guy just can’t seem to get his act together. After being traded to Kansas City after a domestic dispute, he was removed from the team last season due to reported alcohol related issues. Then to make matters worse Callaspo was late to acquire his visa, and as a result was the last to report to camp this spring. If Teahen can’t cut it at second, I would prefer Callaspo be given the starting job entering the season.

Pinch Fillers:

Tug Hulett was recently claimed off waivers from the Mariners. He has some promise and in the minors has posted a strong average, on base percentage and slugging percentage throughout his career. If a man goes down on the big league club, I expect to see Hulett get the call.

Keep Your Eye On:

Johnny Giavotella: For whatever reason Giavotella has had my eye from the start. Last season he was drafted in the second round, and the promptly reported to Low A Burlington of the Midwest League where he flirted with a .300 batting average all season long. Giavotella is rated as the 11th best prospect in the Royals organization according to Baseball America and appears to be on a fast track due to the lack of depth at second base in the organization. I expect Giavotella to rise quickly through the system and if all goes well could make it to Kansas City sometime in 2010. Unfortunately Giavotella is the only prospect in the minors that really excited me as a future second basemen.

Meche of course took the loss and is now 10-10 on the season. One Meche left the game, Joel Peralta gave up two hits and three runs while Robinson Tejeda also gave up a run out of the bullpen. Those three pitchers simply did not get the job done on Monday night.

The four Royals runs were scored on three singles and a groundout fielders choice as the Royals played small ball and never really had a huge inning. Alberto Callaspo, David DeJesus, and Ross Gload had the rbi singles while John Buck had the rbi on the groundout.

Royals Baseball Blog

Aviles bad throw was not the only defensive play that cost the Royals. Joey Gathright lost a ball in centerfield that dropped amd scored a run. Miguel Olivo made a pretty horrendous error by dropping the ball after tagging out a runner at home. No it was’nt a ball jarring collision at home that caused Olivo to drop the ball, he just dropped it. But the Royals lost this one not entirely because of these mistakes but more because they could never really put anything together. They never had a rally the whole game. In the 7th inning it looked like a rally was beggining but on a run scoring hit Olivo was sent home by 3rd base coach Luis Silverio. Olivo was thrown out by a mile by Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina.

Billy Butler was called up from triple-A Omaha today before the game but was not in the line up on saturday night. After struggling at the major league level recently Butler was sent down and hit very well. Alberto Callaspo was placed on the 15 day DL after he was arrested for running a red light late at night and was charged with a DUI. It is unknown whether the arrest has anything to do with the arrest.

Brian Bannister pitched for the Royals against Eric Hurley. Bannister did not have a great game but did well enough to keep the Royals in the game. The first home run for the Rangers was a three run homer by Duran, the next batter was Ian Kinsler who went back-to-back on a solo home run. He went 7 innings and gave up 4 earned runs on 2 home runs. Hurley also gave up 4 earned runs in 6 innings and 2 home runs. Joakim Soria came in for the 9th inning and got 1 strikeout and the save for the Royals.

Other than the runs in the 8th the Royals scored 4 runs off of home runs. Alex Gordon had a two run shot in the 1st that landed in the fountains in  right field. Mike Aviles went deep for his first career home run, it was also a two run home run.

In the first inning Jose Guillen hit a two run home run to left field, where the wind was blowing out. The Yankees got a run back as a ball hit by Jason Giambi to second baseman Alberto Callaspo, who was playing in shallow right field had the ball bounce off of the grass and over his head. The Royals came back and put up three more runs to give them a 5-1 lead. Brian Bannister had appeared to look pretty good up until this point in the fourth inning when the Royals gave up 5 runs. After the game had been tied up at six Jose Guillen steped up to the plate with 3 RBI’s already on the day and the bases loaded. Guillen then hit his second home run of the game, a grand slam, giving him 7 RBI’s for the game. The Royals then blew the lead they had and gave up the winning hit to former Royal Johnny Damon in the ninth that got a run home.

It’s really tough to watch the Royals have the best offensive game of the season and still lose. The Royals have shown what makes them a losing team in this series. Yesterday when the pitching only gave up 1 run, the hitting was only able to produce 2 runs. Even though they got the win yesterday they missed some chances to score. And today when we are able to actually produce a lot of runs (which almost never happens) the pitching gives up 12 runs. Imagine how Jose Guillen would feel now. He has a career game with a grand slam and still loses. It is embarassing to lose a game that a player has 7 RBI’s in.