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Joakim Soria Makes #4 of the Best Closers of 2010

homerunheyer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:10:28 +0000

Four out of the top five closers come as no surprise. The shocker is number one, he has always been known as a good relief pitcher, but I don’t think anyone expected him to be the top closer of 2010 so far this year.

4. Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals: It is true, one of the worst teams in baseball has the fourth best closer in the league. The question is how long will the Royals be able to hold on to Soria? Soria has been one of the best closers in the league over the past three seasons, but it sometimes goes unnoticed because the Royals are never in contention. Soria was just chosen to go to the all-star game for the second time in his career. This season Soria is leading the league in saves with 24. The Royals have only won 38 games this season, so soria has closed out 24 of their 38 wins, which is pretty impressive. Soria has never had more than four blown saves in a season. This season he has two, so he is on pace to stay under that mark once again. Out of the top five closers Soria has the highest ERA at 2.41, which really isn’t that bad, but if it was lower he could possibly be number one on this list. Soria is known as a finesse closer, instead of blowing batters away, Soria throws an assortment of pitches that paint the black. Soria has 42 strikeouts so far this season and is on pace to have the most strikeouts in his career at around 80 by the end of the season. It’s too bad that Soria is just wasting his talent away in Kansas City, once he becomes a free agent he will be picked up by a good team. At only 26-years-old Soria still has a long career ahead of him.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Jose Guillen Makes #2 of the Best Designated Hitters of 2010

homerunheyer — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:47:38 +0000

There are only nine everyday DH’s in the American League. DH is a position and will not be left out. Out of the nine DH’s, five of them really stand out as premier hitters that are contributing to their team in a big way.

2. Jose Guillen, Kansas City Royals: Guillen stands alone as the only player on the Royals with power. Guillen is another prototypical DH hitter. Guillen’s career average is .272 and he usually averages around 20-25 home runs a year when he’s on. This year Guillen is hitting .282 with 13 home runs and 47 RBI’s. Guillen is hitting a little better than usual, but it doesn’t really matter because the Royals aren’t going anywhere. Guillen is the second best DH on a second to last team. The problem with Guillen is his hot temper, many good teams will not touch Guillen because they don’t want to mess up their team chemistry. Guillen is on pace to have one of his best years ever and is distinguishing himself as one of the best DH’s in the league.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Struggling Royals fire Hillman

GameSetMatch — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:23:27 +0000

Even as the losses piled up, Trey Hillman never lost the respect of his players or the Kansas City Royals’ management.

It was evident in the way the Royals allowed him to manage one last game, in the tears that filled general manager Dayton Moore’s eyes as he spoke about the man he hired to rebuild a struggling franchise.

Those losses were just too hard to overlook.

The Royals needed a change and, tough as it was, Hillman had to take the fall.

Hillman became the first manager to get fired this season, bowing out with a graceful exit and a win in his final game on Thursday.

Former Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost will move from the front office to replace Hillman in the dugout for the remainder of the season.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Hochevar fights battle between good and awful

GameSetMatch — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:12:54 +0000

Before you even ask, yes — Luke Hochevar’s bruised left ankle is fine.

At least that’s what Hochevar, who starts for the Royals tonight against Detroit, has been saying since he was hit by a line drive in his last outing, an exhibition loss to Texas on Friday.

“It’s not even an issue,” Hochevar said after Monday’s 8-4 loss to Detroit at Kauffman Stadium. “I haven’t felt it since I got hit. There’s no swelling, no bruising.”

It’s a good thing the ankle is the least of his concerns right now. This is clearly a big year for Hochevar, and the last thing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft needs is a distraction. He’s trying to get off to a strong start and put a disappointing 2009 season behind him.

Click here to read the full article – By TEREZ A. PAYLOR of The Kansas City Star

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Trio of three-run taters leads KC to rout

GameSetMatch — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:11:45 +0000

Say, wait a minute. Maybe having the Detroit Tigers for the 2010 Opening Day opponent is a good idea for the Royals after all. The Tigers have become tame tabbies for the Royals.

Alberto Callaspo, David DeJesus and Miguel Olivo each belted a three-run homer as the Royals stomped the Tigers, 11-1, in front of 20,442 fans on Tuesday night at Comerica Park. It was Kansas City’s seventh victory in the past eight games — and four of them have come over the guys wearing the old English “D.”

Royals right-hander Robinson Tejeda went five innings for his second consecutive win over the Tigers and got four scoreless innings of backing from the bullpen.

Click here to read the full article – By Dick Kaegel of MLB.com

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Soria looks old-school with six-out save

GameSetMatch — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:35:54 +0000

It took Joakim Soria to halt another meltdown by the Royals’ bullpen on Tuesday night. Soria pitched the final two innings for the save as the Royals held on for a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics, their first win in four tries this season at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Kyle Davies pitched six solid innings to get the win.

“It wasn’t easy,” acting manager John Gibbons said. “You tip your hat to Soria. He’s done that for us a few times this year now. That’s why he’s one of the elite closers in the game. He’s got that knack.”

This was Soria’s 21st save and marked the fourth time in his last seven successes that he’d had to pitch two innings to do it.

“Like one of those old-time closers,” Gibbons said.

Click here to read the full article – By Dick Kaegel of MLB.com

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Guillen activated off disabled list

GameSetMatch — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:26:57 +0000

Just as he predicted, Royals outfielder Jose Guillen came off the 15-day disabled list prior to Tuesday night’s 4-3 win over the Athletics. Guillen was not in the starting lineup, but acting manager John Gibbons used him as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and he struck out.

“He should be ready to go,” Gibbons said. “He ran around pretty good yesterday and did a lot of things, so we thought we’d give him today to regroup and then throw him in there tomorrow.”

Guillen is likely to be the designated hitter in Wednesday afternoon’s game against the A’s.

Guillen has been out since July 23 with a ligament tear in his right knee. He had a .245 average, nine home runs and 40 RBIs in 79 games before his trip to the DL.

Click here to read the full article – By Dick Kaegel of MLB.com

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Royals evaluating catcher options

GameSetMatch — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:25:48 +0000

John Buck sat in the Royals’ clubhouse Tuesday and talked a little bit about his season.

Playing for the first time in almost a week Monday, Buck went for 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and two RBIs.

But Buck wasn’t in the lineup Tuesday. Buck has played just once in the past six games and just eight times in August.

There’s a reason for this.

Trey Hillman is juggling playing time between three catchers — Buck, Miguel Olivo and Brayan Pena. It’s an evaluation process, Hillman says. But it does mean fewer at-bats for all three players.

Click here to read the full article – By Rustin Dodd of MLB.com

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