Comments on Rany on the Royals: Zack Stat Pack: Start #6.

I love how great Greinke is pitching - he is reall...

2009-05-06T14:12:00.000-05:00

I love how great Greinke is pitching - he is really fun to watch. I know Rany is not intending to "blame" the players for Greinke not doing even better. It would be nice for him to get some of those individual accomplishments.

But, if we are to "blame" the team for anything, I wish they would provide some better run support to Meche. I realize at lot of that is just the way luck

Walks baby, walks!

2009-05-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

Walks baby, walks!

As usual, your latest subtitle for the blog was a ...

2009-05-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

As usual, your latest subtitle for the blog was a home run. They are consistently as outstanding as your posts.

WOW, just wow. This team has a different attitude...

2009-05-06T07:59:00.000-05:00

WOW, just wow. This team has a different attitude...they don't give up. I hate to admit it, but I had serious doubts (multiple times throughout the game) that the Royals would win this one. Fans attitudes will slowly shift too if they keep this up. And ELEVEN WALKS?!! Holy Smokes!!

-KC fan in Beantown

"Now I know why he wants Olivo as his personal cat...

2009-05-06T03:08:00.000-05:00

"Now I know why he wants Olivo as his personal catcher - so he can buzz the inside of the plate all he wants and if anyone has a problem with it, they'll have to go through Olivo first."

Could Olivo run fast enough to protect them? What is it's like Scott Podsednik? Okay, bad example since Zack would Sweeney his butt...but you get the point.

I'm sorry but I'm lost...why is the Mitch Williams...

2009-05-06T01:39:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry but I'm lost...why is the Mitch Williams thing so bad?

The division is going to be close. Can a team not go 82-80 but in finish in last place and about 3 games out? Is that so impossible?

It would be nice for him to offer more insight and maybe that's what I'm missing out on.

Broom, baby, broom!! Add this one to the list of ...

2009-05-06T00:19:00.000-05:00

Broom, baby, broom!!

Add this one to the list of games we never would have won in the last five years. That makes three - in four days!!

Only 2 pitchers in history have won their first 6 ...

2009-05-05T16:40:00.000-05:00

Only 2 pitchers in history have won their first 6 starts with an ERA .40 or less. They are Walter Johnson and some Fernando guy from 1980. Just saw this on PTI

Hey, Rany... Everyone's still focusing on our "ba...

2009-05-05T14:46:00.000-05:00

Hey, Rany...

Everyone's still focusing on our "bad offense," but check this: since those opening five games of the season where they only scored 8 runs, the good guys are scoring 5.43 runs a game. That, over 162 games, would be 879 runs.

Obviously, 21 games isn't much of a sample, and certain folks are going to gently float back to earth (or crash like lead balloons), but..

I guess I'll include the top 5 in the AL acutally:...

2009-05-05T14:28:00.000-05:00

I guess I'll include the top 5 in the AL acutally:

Greinke - 1,173
Dallas Braden - 212
Erik Bedard - 178
Scott Richmond - 176
Tim Wakefield - 174

Wow.

In response to Devon - Greinke's ERA+ after his fi...

2009-05-05T14:26:00.000-05:00

In response to Devon - Greinke's ERA+ after his first 6 starts sits at 1,173. Wow. Http://royalreportcard.blogspot.com

@anonymous, 1:14pm, I think you have to pursue th...

2009-05-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

@anonymous, 1:14pm,

I think you have to pursue the player with the most marginal value over whoever he replaces. Ben Sheets would look great in a Royals uniform. A rotation of Greinke, Meche, Sheets, Davies, Bannister/Hochevar (whichever proves they deserve it) might be the best in baseball. Even though our pitching is much better than our hitting as a whole, I think it'll be harder to

I know this is way too early, but if the Royals ar...

2009-05-05T13:14:00.000-05:00

I know this is way too early, but if the Royals are in position to acquire someone at the trading deadline, should it be pitching or hitting? Is there any statistical evidence that shows acquiring pitchers vs. hitters is more successful?

Right. I think of Gordon right now as being a trad...

2009-05-05T13:13:00.000-05:00

Right. I think of Gordon right now as being a trading deadline acquisition if we can hang in there until then. So DMGM can spend his time looking for different pieces.

Ooh, an ERA over 1!! I guess that means he would ...

2009-05-05T12:28:00.000-05:00

Ooh, an ERA over 1!! I guess that means he would suck? :)

I'm not going to over analyze why Greinke has been so dominant, I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts! Which will hopefully be another 10 years at least!

Gordon's return should help our offense, not hurt ...

2009-05-05T11:53:00.000-05:00

Gordon's return should help our offense, not hurt it. However, it will be interesting to see what effect his return will have on the lineup.

All these people writing and claiming that Greinke is "lucky" remind me of what people used to say about Sandy Koufax. "He's the luckiest pitcher in baseball. Whenever he pitches, the other team doesn't score."

Open question: Does the return of Alex Gordon hur...

2009-05-05T11:14:00.000-05:00

Open question: Does the return of Alex Gordon hurt our already-limited production?

Now I know why he wants Olivo as his personal catc...

2009-05-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

Now I know why he wants Olivo as his personal catcher - so he can buzz the inside of the plate all he wants and if anyone has a problem with it, they'll have to go through Olivo first.

with all due respect to the other royals pitchers ...

2009-05-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

with all due respect to the other royals pitchers in the past, i think greinke has better stuff than all of them.

He reminds me of a young Dwight Gooden. Not that I have any stats to back that up, but just how he was dominate, and as a baseball fan you just wanted to see him pitch.

I was at the game last night and greinke just domi...

2009-05-05T10:39:00.000-05:00

I was at the game last night and greinke just dominated the Sox. The new park is gorgeous!

my favorite Zack memory (so far) was a broken bat ...

2009-05-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

my favorite Zack memory (so far) was a broken bat he got on a check swing last year, where his fastball, riding in on a RH hitter, nearly knocked the poor guy off his feet while also breaking his bat in two. can't remember who it was (maybe white sox? konerko?), but it was awesome.

Did anybody see John Kruk Sunday evening on Sportc...

2009-05-05T08:07:00.000-05:00

Did anybody see John Kruk Sunday evening on Sportcenter? He was talking about the Blue Jays vs. the Orioles, and how they were swinging at the first pitch of many at-bats. He loved it.

Get this: he said "I don't understand these theories of 'you need to take a walk'....unless you have speed, why walk?"

I couldn't believe my f**king ears. It was worse than Mitch Williams

Yeah, I don't know if you could call it luck, but ...

2009-05-05T07:02:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I don't know if you could call it luck, but at the same time, his performance with runnners on base has to come back down to earth.

I mean, consider after Blalock's triple. The next guy hits a sharp ground ball to Teahen at third, which held the runner. We had the defense back, so a ground ball anywhere else on the diamond except back to Zack scores a run there.

Or

@joel: It's not clear cut that a pitcher's perfor...

2009-05-05T04:02:00.000-05:00

@joel:

It's not clear cut that a pitcher's performance with RISP will regress toward his bases-empty performance. Indeed, Zack has pretty obviously been changing tactics when he has gotten into jams--pitching more for strikeouts and away from contact. I'm not sure it makes sense to attribute a difference between his overall BAA and his BAA with RISP purely to "luck".

That third shutout you talk about is the one again...

2009-05-05T02:53:00.000-05:00

That third shutout you talk about is the one against the Tigers where he gave up one unearned run. That takes the shutout away and keeps it at two. JoPo is right.