This entry could just as well be renamed 2009 Organizational Report: Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas, because other than these two there isn’t a lot to talk about as far as third base goes. (As far as I am concerned there shouldn’t need to be.) Alex Gordon will be the starting third basemen for the Kansas City Royals this season, and will most likely be backed up by Mark Teahen and Willie Bloomquist. If the Royals desperately needed to make a callup to Omaha Mario Lisson is perhaps the best of a few options. But let’s talk about Gordon.

There aren’t a lot of prospects who climb their way through the minors with as much hype as Alex Gordon and now that Gordon has arrived in Kansas City most Royals fans would tell you that he has not lived up to that hype. This is a totally different statement than if he has been a good player, or if he has satisfied the fans. I am a fan who is satisfied with Gordon’s production and expect him to continue to improve.

In an injury shortened 2008 Gordon saw a huge rise in his on base percentage from .314 to .351 on an obp starved team it will be critical that Gordon can maintain or even improve on his .351 from a season ago. Also, Gordon saw his slugging percentage rise from .411 to .432 this is still too low for my tastes and it is frustrating because at time it really does seem that Gordon could figure it out and become a masher in the middle of the order.

Gordon’s real problem though is his inability to hit left handed pitching last season he posted a line of .234/.312/.317 against lefties compared to .273/.370/.491 against righties. While some have suggested that the Royals should platoon Gordon in order to take advantage of the split, I would argue that it would be incredibly dumb of the Royals to doom Gordon to a career as a platoon player. It is most advantageous to the Royals that Gordon becomes an all star caliber player and this will only happen if he is facing both lefties and righties on a full time basis. If Gordon can somehow figure out lefties, he could finally begin to live up to that superstar potential.

Gordon also has another interesting split and that is for the second year Gordon’s post all star numbers were much better than his first half numbers. This, for the second straight year, has led Royals fans to believe that the second half is a sign of good things to come. Although, it could simply be that Gordon will be a J.D. Drew type who will always have a better second half than first. I’d like to think that it is a sign of things to come.

First Half: .253/.334/.407

Second Half: .277/.392/.496

So here is another if. IF Gordon can produce for a whole season like he did in the second half of last season, the Royals season could go in a completely different direction. Right now Pecota predicts the Royals to win 74 games this season. However, that does not take into consideration the potential breakout for players like Zack Greinke, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, or to a lesser extent Kyle Davies. If just one of these guys breakout it could mean an additional 3-4 wins. If two or three breakout it could mean playing in October. I’ve got my fingers crossed for the latter.

If no one breaks out this season and a few of the guys underperform, it will mean that yet again the Royals will have finished in the cellar. This would be incredibly frustrating for Royals fans who are beginning to view this season as an opportunity to display all the improvement that this organization has undergone. However, even if the Royals have a disappointing season and only win 70 games or so, there is still a lot to be excited about. I’ve already told you about 2008 first round pick Eric Hosmer, now it is time to learn about the other half of the 70 home runs per year that some scouts project by 2011. That half goes by the name of Mike Moustakas.

Moustakas was the second overall pick of the 2007 draft and just before the rookie signing deadline signed a deal for a $4 million bonus. Moustakas was originally drafted as a short stop, however made the transition to third base midway through last season in Burlington, where he became the first teenager to lead the league in homers since Prince Fielder and led the Bees to a Midwest League Championship. He ended the season with 22 home runs, 71 rbis, 8 stolen bases, a .272 batting average, .337 on base percentage, and a .466 slugging percentage. This all after Moustakas got off to a horrific start where he hit .190 in the cold an Iowa April.

Moustakas who owns the California high school record for home runs in a season (24) and a career (52), was said to have had the best power in the draft since Alex Rodriguez. This is even more impressive considering Moustakas didn’t need to cheat to obtain it (just a joke… sort of). Moustakas is expected to begin 2009 in high class A Wilmington of the Carolina League (notorious for making average pitchers look like future aces, and future all stars look like banjo hitters).

The Kansas City Royals finished up a three game sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a 10-4 blowout on Wednesday night. Hell of a series for the Royals as they wind down the season.

The bottom of the order provided a lot of offense for the Royals as Mitch Maier had three rbi and he was followed by John Buck and Tony Pena Jr. who both had two rbi. Jose Guillen, Alex Gordon, and Joey Gathright provided the other three rbi for the Royals as they had a great game at the plate.

On the mound it was Brian Bannister who picked up the win after throwing six innings. Bannister gave up seven hits but did not allow a run. The only run that the Tigers scored was charged to Kip Wells. Jimmy Gobble and Ron Mahay tossed an inning of relief each as well. Mahay did have problems as he gave up a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Good thing the offense scored so many runs!

The Royals will now be off on Thursday and then take on the Minnesota Twins for the final series of the weekend.

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It was a great series for the Kansas City Royals as they swept the Seattle Mariners in a four game series. They finished up the sweep with a 12-0 victory on Thursday afternoon. It was a dominating performance out of the pitching staff as well as the offense.

Left-hander Zack Greinke tossed the first seven innings of the game and only allowed two hits while improving his record to 12-10. Greinke now has a 3.59 ERA for the season. Jimmy Gobble and Joel Peralta each pitched an inning of relief after Greinke was taken out of the game.

Mike Aviles led the team at the plate with a three-run home run and three rbi’s. He was then followed by Alex Gordon and Mitch Maier with two rbi each. Up next was David DeJesus, Joey Gathright, Ryan Shealy, and Mark Teahen with one rbi each.

Great series for the Royals who will now play the Chicago White Sox in a weekend series. The Royals can spoiler as the White Sox are in a battle with the Twins for the division.

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The Kansas City Royals were up 5-0 to the Chicago White but then the White Sox came back to beat the Royals by the score of 7-6 on Wednesday evening.  These are the type of games that the Royals need to win if they want to ever be competitive.  Good teams find a way to win, not a way to lose…

Brian Bannister tossed 6 2/3 innings while giving up four hits and five runs to get a no decision in the game.  Bannister was hurt by the home run ball as he served up two of them in the game.  Robinson Tejeda gave up two runs while only recording two outs to take the loss in the game.  Tejeda is now 0-2 on the season.

John Buck had a rbi sac fly and a solo home run in the game to have two rbi.  Ross Gload also had a two run single to finish with two rbi in the game.  Alex Gordon had the other rbi which game in the first inning on a rbi single.  The Royals also scored one run in a Jose Guillen double play in the first inning.

The Royals will now have to win on Thursay to avoid the sweep by the White Sox.   I don’t think they will get the job done however.  Royals Blog

The Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox played 13 innings on Tuesday night and it was the White Sox that came away with the 8-7 victory.  After the Royals tied things up in the 11th inning with two runs, they gave up a run in the 13th inning and were unable to tie the game once again and fell to the White Sox.

Orlando Cabrera hit a rbi double in the 13th inning off of Robinson Tejeda who took the loss for the Royals.  Tejada is now 0-1 on the season.  Horacio Ramirez gave up two runs in the 11th inning for the Royals as well.  Starting pitcher Kyle Davies pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up nine hits and three runs.  Joe Crede did take Davies deep for a solo home run in the game for the only long ball of the night.  Ramon Ramirez gave up two more runs as he pitched 1 2/3 innings after Davies left the game.  The pitching staff just didn’t have it on Tuesday night.

The Royals were led by David DeJesus and Mike Aviles at the plate as both players had two rbi each in the game.  Alex Gordon, Miguel Olivo, and Esteban German all had one rbi each.  Aviles and Gordon were the two players with a rbi in the 11th inning that extended the game even further.

The Royals will now try to tie the series up at 1-1 with a victory on Wednesday.  Royals Blog

The Royals pulled off a 6-5 win over the Texas Rangers in the eighth inning. Going into the bottom of the eighth the Royals were down 5-4. Alberto Callaspo reached on a single and that brought Alex Gordon up to bat. Alex hit a double that landed right on the right field foul line. Frank Fransisco pitching for the Rangers threw a wild pitch over Jose Guillen’s head in the next at-bat that pinch runner Tony Pena Jr. scored on. Pena went right away and looked like he would be out after the ball bounced strait off the backstop to Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, luckily for the Royals, Saltalamacchia slipped and was not able to make a throw home. Gordon also made it to third on the play. Jose Guillen hit a fly ballto right center field that Gordon tagged up on. The throw home looked like it would be in time but Gordon dove just out of the way of the tag.

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.

The Royals win tonight by the score of 2-1.  Kyle Davies pitched a very good game going 6 2/3 innings. He did’nt allow the first run until the 7th inning. Joakim Soria came in and got the win, striking out two in the 9th.

It is great to beat the Yankee’s but it’s tough to win game’s when you only score 2 runs. Some of the offense that the Royals did get came from shortstop Mike Aviles, who had two doubles on the night. Aviles had his first major league hit in New York tonight, where he grew up and had family and friends at the game. It was good to see Aviles in the lineup after he had been called up last week and only played in one game. Maybe after showing some offense he will get some more playing time.

Alex Gordon has really fallen into a slump recently. He went 0 for 4 tonight and has been struggling for awhile now. He is essential in the Royals scoring runs. It hurts that while Teahen has been playing so well on this road trip, Alex Gordon played just as bad. There have been some streaky hitters this year and the Royals can’t seem to get everyone hitting well at the same time.

Also, today during the game the Royals were able to trade the 2003 AL rookie of the year Angel Berroa to the Dodgers. The Dodgers did not give up much, only 21 year old Juan Rivera, who was hitting .241 in single-A. Most likely the Royals were just trying to dump Berroa’s salary to sign the draft picks that they picked up.

The Kansas City Royals lost to the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night by the score of 5-0.  I think the Royals were still thinking about last nights game when they blew the lead and ended up losing in ten innings.  The Royals really need to move on and hopefully win some games this weekend.

Luke Hochevar threw 5 1/3 innings while giving up nine hits and all five runs to take the loss.  Hochevar did not have his best stuff and it really showed against the Twins who roughed him up.

Ron Mahay, Yasuhiko Yabuta, and Neal Musser all pitched out of the bullpen and all did a pretty good job even though they gave up hits.  The key for a relief pitcher is to not let runs score, and they did not allow a run to score so good job.

Alex Gordon had a rbi double in the ninth inning.  That was about the highlight of the game for Royals.

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What a disappoint way to lose a game as the Kansas City Royals blew a five run lead in the ninth inning and then gave up a run in the tenth inning as they lost to the Minnesota Twins 9-8 on Wednesday night.

Joel Peralta gave up the game tying home run in the ninth inning to Craig Monroe and then gave up the game winning home run to Justin Morneau in the tenth inning as he took the loss for the Royals.

I suppose we can put some of that blame on Ramon Ramirez as well as he was accounted for four runs in the ninth inning. He was the one that got the Royals in the jam to begin with.  What a waste of a good start my Zack Greinke threw eight innings and only allowed five hits and three runs.

Miguel Olivo led the Royals with two rbi and then four other players had one rbi in the game.  David DeJesus, Joey Gathright, Alex Gordon, and Jose Guillen all had one rbi in the game.

Pretty much it was a tough loss for the Royals who pretty much had the game wrapped up.  Hopefully it doesn’t hurt them in the mental aspect of the game.  Royals Blog

The Kansas City Royals offense once again struggled but atleast they were not out hit lol.  The Royals lost to the Boston Red Sox by the score of 2-1 on Tuesday night as they were able to come up with five hits after being no hit on Monday night.

Gil Meche tossed seven innings and only gave up five hits and two runs against the great Red Sox offense.  Meche pitched pretty good but took home the loss which dropped his record to 3-6 on the season.  Ramon Ramirez pitched the eighth inning and did not allow a run.

The one run the Royals were able to come up with came in the seventh inning when John Buck singled in Mark Teahen.  Alex Gordon did got 3-3 and had a walk in the game as he is starting to swing the bat better.

The Royals will try to get a win against the Red Sox on Wednesday as they play the third game of a four game series.  Royals Blog