As the 2014 World Series comes to a conclusion, what would baseball be if we didn't start looking at who might change teams after it's over. MLB hasn't even handed out the award let alone given the shine time to fade.
The Giants seem to have the most to lose with Pablo Sandoval, Jake Peavy, Ryan Vogelsong, Sergio Romo and Michael Morse all eligible for free agency. Without knowing the intent of management it can be assumed that the Giants would most like to have Sandoval and Romo back along with Vogelsong...at the right price.
The Royals, on the other hand, have James Shields, Josh Willingham, Norichika Aoki, Raul Ibanez and possibly Billy Butler, who may be too rich for the Royals to pick up his option for 2015. Willingham and Ibanez were in season pickups that haven't contributed much to the postseason and with the play of Jarrod Dyson in center and Lorenzo Cain's outstanding play in right, Aoki may very well not be offered a contract.
That leaves James Shields. Shields is a very valuable piece of the Royals team that made the playoffs this season, but there are a number of teams that need pitching and have deep pockets. The Royals may not be able to afford Shields either.
Dave Skretta of the AP, writing for Yahoo Sports has an interesting take on both team's free agency woes with this article.
W.D. Barr's unique perspective on what's important in the world of Mexican Baseball!
Showing posts with label James Shields. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Shields. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Giants Take 3-2 Series Lead On Bumgarner's Shutout
The San Francisco Giants head to Kansas City with a 3-2 lead in the World Series. Madison Bumgarner threw a beauty of a game, a complete game 4 hit shutout.
This was the first World Series complete game shutout since Josh Beckett, pitching for the Florida Marlins in 2003, shutout the NY Yankees in the series clinching 6th game.
Hunter Pence got things going for the Giants in the bottom of the 2nd with a lead off single. Brandon Belt's sacrifice bunt got past James Shields for an infield single that put runners at first and second with no outs. Travis Ishakawa flew out to center to move the runners up a base. Brandon Crawford grounded out to second as Pence scored. The Giants had all the runs they would need with Bumgarner on the mound, a 1-0 lead.
With Shields still pitching for the Royals in the 4th, Pablo Sandoval singled to lead off the inning. Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt both struck out, but Travis Ishakawa singled to get Sandoval to second and Brandon Crawford singled to drive in Sandoval for the 2-0 Giants lead.
The Giants broke the game open in the bottom of the 8th. Kelvin Herrera, on in relief, gave up consecutive singles to Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence. Wade Davis relieved Herrera. Juan Perez greeted Davis with a full count double that scored Sandoval and Pence. Perez went to third on a throwing error by Alcides Escobar. Brandon Crawford's single plated Perez and the Giants' lead grew to 5-0.
Bumgarner set the Royals down in order in the top of the 9th to pick up his second win of this World Series. In his last 4 World Series starts, Bumgarner is 4-0 with a 0.29 ERA.
The number 7 and 8 hitters in the San Francisco lineup went 5 for 8 with 5 RBIs and a run scored last night.
Game 6 of the 2014 will be in Kansas City on Tuesday night.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Royals Take Game 1 of ALCS with Extra Inning Win in Baltimore
The Kansas City Royals, in this postseason, have doubled the rate at which they hit home runs during the regular season. Almost 4% of their at bats have resulted in home runs.
Coming into this postseason no Royal hitter had ever hit a go ahead home run in extra innings. These Royals have done it three times. Alcides Escobar homered last night. He had only 3 HRs in 500+ at bats during the regular season.
Why all the talk about home runs. The Royals didn't hit many HRs during the season. They won the small ball way. They won with speed on the basepaths, good bunting, timely hitting and good pitching.
Alex Gordon of the Royals had this to say about the power surge, "We know we're capable of hitting home runs. We didn't do it during the regular season, but it doesn't really matter. This is the postseason and we're starting to swing the bats better now."
After 162 regular season games it's nice to know the Royals are finally warming up.
Kansas City threatened to walk away with game 1 early when they scored 4 runs in the top of the third. With one out, Alcides Escobar sent a Chris Tillman 0-2 pitch over the wall in left for a 1-0 lead. Norichika Aoki singled to left and Lorenzo Cain drew a four pitch walk. Billy Butler beat out an infield single to load the bases. Alex Gordon then worked the count full before doubling to right to clear the bases and drive in 3 of his 4 runs on the night. The Ryals led 4-0 after their half of the 3rd.
Baltimore got a run back in the bottom of the 3rd. Nick Markakis doubled off of James Shields. Adam Jones singled to drive in Markakis to narrow the lead to 4-1.
In the top of the 5th, Lorenzo Cain hit a lead off double to right. Cain moved to third on an Eric Hosmer ground out to second. Tommy Hunter relieved Orioles starter Chris Tillman and Billy Butler hit a sac fly to center to score Cain for the 5-1 lead.
Baltimore came roaring back off Shields in the bottom of the 5th. Nick Markakis singled to left and Alejandro De Aza singled to right. Adam Jones hit into a fielder's choice that got Markakis at third. Nelson Cruz doubled to score De Aza and the Orioles had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Steve Pearce walked to load the bases. After JJ Hardy struck out, Ryan Flaherty singled to drive in Jones and Cruz and the lead was now 5-4.
Brandon Finnegan replaced Shields to start the bottom of the 6th. Lead off hitter Jonathan Schoop waited out an 8 pitch walk. Nick Markakis singled and the Orioles had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Alejandro De Aza reached on an infield single to score Schoop and that would be all for Finnegan. Kelvin Herrera replaced Finnegan and got Adams to hit into a fielder's choice and Nelson Cruz to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, but the Orioles had tied the game at 5.
The scored remained knotted at 5 until the top of the 10th. Darren O'Day in relief of Zach Britton gave up a lead off home run to Alex Gordon and walked Salvador Perez. Buck Showalter replaced O'Day with Brian Matusz. Mike Moustakas worked the count to 2-2 before parking a Matusz pitch into the bleachers in right center.. the Royals had an 8-5 lead through 9 1/2 innings.
Greg Holland came in for the Royals to close out the victory. He quickly got two outs then Ryan Flaherty singled. Jimmy Paredes, hitting for Nick Hundley, walked. Delmon Young, pinch hitting for Jonathan Schoop, singled to score Flaherty. The Royals lead was down to 8-6. Holland got Nick Markakis to ground out to second to preserve the Royals 4th extra inning victory in their last 5 games.
Wade davis picked up the win for Kansas City while Dan O'Day took the loss for the Orioles. Greg Holland recorded the save.
Coming into this postseason no Royal hitter had ever hit a go ahead home run in extra innings. These Royals have done it three times. Alcides Escobar homered last night. He had only 3 HRs in 500+ at bats during the regular season.
Why all the talk about home runs. The Royals didn't hit many HRs during the season. They won the small ball way. They won with speed on the basepaths, good bunting, timely hitting and good pitching.
Alex Gordon of the Royals had this to say about the power surge, "We know we're capable of hitting home runs. We didn't do it during the regular season, but it doesn't really matter. This is the postseason and we're starting to swing the bats better now."
After 162 regular season games it's nice to know the Royals are finally warming up.
Kansas City threatened to walk away with game 1 early when they scored 4 runs in the top of the third. With one out, Alcides Escobar sent a Chris Tillman 0-2 pitch over the wall in left for a 1-0 lead. Norichika Aoki singled to left and Lorenzo Cain drew a four pitch walk. Billy Butler beat out an infield single to load the bases. Alex Gordon then worked the count full before doubling to right to clear the bases and drive in 3 of his 4 runs on the night. The Ryals led 4-0 after their half of the 3rd.
Baltimore got a run back in the bottom of the 3rd. Nick Markakis doubled off of James Shields. Adam Jones singled to drive in Markakis to narrow the lead to 4-1.
In the top of the 5th, Lorenzo Cain hit a lead off double to right. Cain moved to third on an Eric Hosmer ground out to second. Tommy Hunter relieved Orioles starter Chris Tillman and Billy Butler hit a sac fly to center to score Cain for the 5-1 lead.
Baltimore came roaring back off Shields in the bottom of the 5th. Nick Markakis singled to left and Alejandro De Aza singled to right. Adam Jones hit into a fielder's choice that got Markakis at third. Nelson Cruz doubled to score De Aza and the Orioles had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Steve Pearce walked to load the bases. After JJ Hardy struck out, Ryan Flaherty singled to drive in Jones and Cruz and the lead was now 5-4.
Brandon Finnegan replaced Shields to start the bottom of the 6th. Lead off hitter Jonathan Schoop waited out an 8 pitch walk. Nick Markakis singled and the Orioles had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Alejandro De Aza reached on an infield single to score Schoop and that would be all for Finnegan. Kelvin Herrera replaced Finnegan and got Adams to hit into a fielder's choice and Nelson Cruz to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, but the Orioles had tied the game at 5.
The scored remained knotted at 5 until the top of the 10th. Darren O'Day in relief of Zach Britton gave up a lead off home run to Alex Gordon and walked Salvador Perez. Buck Showalter replaced O'Day with Brian Matusz. Mike Moustakas worked the count to 2-2 before parking a Matusz pitch into the bleachers in right center.. the Royals had an 8-5 lead through 9 1/2 innings.
Greg Holland came in for the Royals to close out the victory. He quickly got two outs then Ryan Flaherty singled. Jimmy Paredes, hitting for Nick Hundley, walked. Delmon Young, pinch hitting for Jonathan Schoop, singled to score Flaherty. The Royals lead was down to 8-6. Holland got Nick Markakis to ground out to second to preserve the Royals 4th extra inning victory in their last 5 games.
Wade davis picked up the win for Kansas City while Dan O'Day took the loss for the Orioles. Greg Holland recorded the save.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Royals Take "Wild" Card Win Over Athletics
The 2014 Kansas City Royals brought excitement back to their fans last night with a thrilling 12 inning, 9-8 win over the Oakland Athletics.
Thrilling because the game was only the second game in MLB history, in a winner-take-all situation, that lasted 12 or more innings. The last one was the 1924 World Series 7th game between the NY Giants and the Washington Senators. Thrilling because the Royals stole 7 bases to tie the 1907 Chicago Cubs and the 1975 Cincinnati Reds for the most thefts in playoff game history. Thrilling because the A's became the third team in MLB history to score 8 runs in a win or go home scenario and lose, the last team being the 1960 Yankees who lost to the Pirates on Bill Mazeroski's now famous home run. But most of all thrilling because the Royals had not been to the playoffs in any form since 1985.
The game was billed as a pitchers duel between Jon Lester of the A's and James Shields of the Royals. Through 5 innings it was pretty much that. Shields gave up 2 runs in the first before settling down and Lester gave back one run in the bottom of the inning. The Royals had men on 1st and 3rd with two outs in the bottom of that 1st inning when Billy Butler, for some reason, found himself caught off 1st and during the ensuing rundown Eric Hosmer was thrown out at home to get Lester out of the inning.
KC scored two runs in the third as Mike Moustakas singled, advanced to third on a sacrifice and a ground out and scored on a double by Lorenzo Cain. Cain would score on a single by Hosmer and the Royals led for the first time 3-2.
In the top of the 6th, Shields put the first two runners on and Royals manager Ned Yost brought in the rookie reliever, Yordano Ventura, to face Brandon Moss who had homered in the first to drive in the A's two runs. Ventura promptly gave up Moss' second home run of the night, a 3 run blast that travelled 432' and gave the A's a 5-3 lead.
Moss became the first Oakland player to hit 2 home runs and drive in 5 runs in a playoff game. Gene Tenace of the A's hit home runs in his first two at bats against the Reds in the 1972 World Series but only drove in 3 runs.
Derek Norris and Coco Crisp drove in the fouth and fifth runs of the inning to increase the Oakland lead to 7-3. At this point the game seemed out of reach and the Royals fans, who had been so boisterous in the beginning, were quieted. Jon Lester was in a groove and retired 12 in a row before Omar Infante reached first on a dribbler up the first base line in the bottom of the 7th.
The Kansas City relief pitchers, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, kept the A's scoreless giving time for the Royal's bats to come alive in the 8th. Billy Butler and Lorenzo Cain had RBI singles and Eric Hosmer scored on a wild pitch by Luke Gregerson. The Royals had narrowed the gap to 7-6.
Closer Greg Holland, for the Royals, came on to pitch the ninth. He got the first two outs and then walked the bases full. One of those walks was intentional. Holland worked out of the jam by getting Josh Reddick to fly out to right.
In the ninth, Josh Willingham, pinch hitting for Mike Moustakas, singled and was replaced by pinch runner Jarrod Dyson. Alcides Escobar sacrificed Dyson to second and Dyson stole third. Norichika Aoki then hit a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game at 7.
While Oakland was unable to mount a scoring threat in the next two innings, Kansas City had runners on third in both the 10th and the 11th but failed to score.
Brandon Finnegan, on for his third inning of relief for the Royals, walked Josh Reddick to start the 12th. Jed Lowrie moved Reddick to second with a sacrifice bunt. Jason Frasor replaced Finnegan. Frasor threw a wild pitch that moved Reddick to third and then gave up a single to pinch hitter Alberto Calaspo that put Oakland back into the lead at 8-7.
Lorenzo Cain led off the Royals 12th with a weak grounder to first for the 1st out. Eric Hosmer then drilled a ball off the wall in left center for a triple. Two feet higher and the game would have been tied. Christian Colon then hit a high chopper to third for an infield single that scored Hosmer to tie the game at 8. Fernando Abad relieved Dan Otero and got Alex Gordon to foul out to third for the second out. Jason Hammel, a starting pitcher all year for the A's, relieved Abad. Colon then stole second setting up the game winning hit by Salvador Perez. Perez sent a hard shot past the third baseman that scored Colon and the Royals advance to face the Angels with a 9-8 victory.
Dan Otero took the loss for Oakland while Jason Frasor picked up the win in relief for the Royals.
It wasn't the best looking win of the year for the Royals but it sure was their most important one. They now move to LA to take on the Angels on Thursday the 2nd of October.
Thrilling because the game was only the second game in MLB history, in a winner-take-all situation, that lasted 12 or more innings. The last one was the 1924 World Series 7th game between the NY Giants and the Washington Senators. Thrilling because the Royals stole 7 bases to tie the 1907 Chicago Cubs and the 1975 Cincinnati Reds for the most thefts in playoff game history. Thrilling because the A's became the third team in MLB history to score 8 runs in a win or go home scenario and lose, the last team being the 1960 Yankees who lost to the Pirates on Bill Mazeroski's now famous home run. But most of all thrilling because the Royals had not been to the playoffs in any form since 1985.
The game was billed as a pitchers duel between Jon Lester of the A's and James Shields of the Royals. Through 5 innings it was pretty much that. Shields gave up 2 runs in the first before settling down and Lester gave back one run in the bottom of the inning. The Royals had men on 1st and 3rd with two outs in the bottom of that 1st inning when Billy Butler, for some reason, found himself caught off 1st and during the ensuing rundown Eric Hosmer was thrown out at home to get Lester out of the inning.
KC scored two runs in the third as Mike Moustakas singled, advanced to third on a sacrifice and a ground out and scored on a double by Lorenzo Cain. Cain would score on a single by Hosmer and the Royals led for the first time 3-2.
In the top of the 6th, Shields put the first two runners on and Royals manager Ned Yost brought in the rookie reliever, Yordano Ventura, to face Brandon Moss who had homered in the first to drive in the A's two runs. Ventura promptly gave up Moss' second home run of the night, a 3 run blast that travelled 432' and gave the A's a 5-3 lead.
Moss became the first Oakland player to hit 2 home runs and drive in 5 runs in a playoff game. Gene Tenace of the A's hit home runs in his first two at bats against the Reds in the 1972 World Series but only drove in 3 runs.
Derek Norris and Coco Crisp drove in the fouth and fifth runs of the inning to increase the Oakland lead to 7-3. At this point the game seemed out of reach and the Royals fans, who had been so boisterous in the beginning, were quieted. Jon Lester was in a groove and retired 12 in a row before Omar Infante reached first on a dribbler up the first base line in the bottom of the 7th.
The Kansas City relief pitchers, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, kept the A's scoreless giving time for the Royal's bats to come alive in the 8th. Billy Butler and Lorenzo Cain had RBI singles and Eric Hosmer scored on a wild pitch by Luke Gregerson. The Royals had narrowed the gap to 7-6.
Closer Greg Holland, for the Royals, came on to pitch the ninth. He got the first two outs and then walked the bases full. One of those walks was intentional. Holland worked out of the jam by getting Josh Reddick to fly out to right.
In the ninth, Josh Willingham, pinch hitting for Mike Moustakas, singled and was replaced by pinch runner Jarrod Dyson. Alcides Escobar sacrificed Dyson to second and Dyson stole third. Norichika Aoki then hit a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game at 7.
While Oakland was unable to mount a scoring threat in the next two innings, Kansas City had runners on third in both the 10th and the 11th but failed to score.
Brandon Finnegan, on for his third inning of relief for the Royals, walked Josh Reddick to start the 12th. Jed Lowrie moved Reddick to second with a sacrifice bunt. Jason Frasor replaced Finnegan. Frasor threw a wild pitch that moved Reddick to third and then gave up a single to pinch hitter Alberto Calaspo that put Oakland back into the lead at 8-7.
Lorenzo Cain led off the Royals 12th with a weak grounder to first for the 1st out. Eric Hosmer then drilled a ball off the wall in left center for a triple. Two feet higher and the game would have been tied. Christian Colon then hit a high chopper to third for an infield single that scored Hosmer to tie the game at 8. Fernando Abad relieved Dan Otero and got Alex Gordon to foul out to third for the second out. Jason Hammel, a starting pitcher all year for the A's, relieved Abad. Colon then stole second setting up the game winning hit by Salvador Perez. Perez sent a hard shot past the third baseman that scored Colon and the Royals advance to face the Angels with a 9-8 victory.
Dan Otero took the loss for Oakland while Jason Frasor picked up the win in relief for the Royals.
It wasn't the best looking win of the year for the Royals but it sure was their most important one. They now move to LA to take on the Angels on Thursday the 2nd of October.
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