Kila Ka'aihue Is Just Missing Pitches, No Biggie

The Royals incumbent first baseman, Kila Ka'aihue (I pronounce it very quickly like I do worcestershire so people don't realize I'm an imbecile who doesn't know how to say words), is off to a bit of a rough start in 2011. I mean, he's not getting DFA'd or anything but it's still not pretty. Kila is hitting .188/.293/.297 and it can't help his confidence knowing that Eric Hosmer is breathing down his neck. But my man Kila doesn't sweat the small stuff, he's good...

“My approach is fine,” Ka’aihue insisted. “My swing is fine. The counts I’m putting myself in are good. I’m just missing pitches. It’s that simple.

“Once I stop missing them and finding some holes, I’ll be fine. My two hits (Wednesday) night weren’t the hardest-hit balls. They just found holes. I just need a little more of that.”

See? A few more cups of rum for Jobu and that batting average should skyrocket to the .215 neighborhood. Kila didn't produce much last season either dropping a .217/.307/.394 line over 206 plate appearances. At 27-years-old, he doesn't have a whole lot of time to get it going. The Royals locked up Billy Butler who is incapable of wearing a baseball glove and Hosmer is only fit for first base and should be ready soon.

This leaves Kila with two options as far as I can see.

1. Stop missing pitches. It sounds simple enough but when I tried that when I was 10 my strikeout rate doubled and my batting average fell from .083 to .006. So it isn't as easy as Coach Dan made it seem.

2. Look good in black and yellow. You're going to be a Pirate soon.

Shot Of The Night

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Shot of the night is late because I've been fighting with insurance people all morning. And I couldn't write it last night because of all the drunken arguing I was doing. I'm pretty sure I had a Barry Bonds debate with a piece of lawn furniture. Last night's shot of the night was The Gold, The Bad, and The Ugly: 1 1/2 oz Kahlua® coffee liqueur, 1 oz Bailey's® Irish cream, fill with milk, 1 1/2 oz Goldschlager® cinnamon schnapps and it's mainly in honor of Trevor Cahill.

The Gold
The A's 22-year-old All Star pitcher threw a complete game shutout. He gave up more walks (4) than hits (3). Cahill is having a great year on paper with an 11-4 record and 2.72 ERA. But his .206 BABIP and 4.18 xFIP suggest he's not actually quite this good.

The Bad
While Cahill shutout the Royals in real baseball, I'm confident I could shut that lineup out in Wiffle Ball. If I had m good riser working that day. When you're lineup starts with Chris Getz and Jason Kendall, you know you're in for a rough day. Kila Ka'aihue: 0-1. Wilson Betemit: 1-2.

The Ugly
Brian Bannister. I really like Brian Bannister but he's not a good pitcher. He went 5 innings and surrendered 5 runs on 7 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4. Banny has embraced sabermetrics more than any other player in the MLB. So maybe he can take some comfort in knowing that his xFIP (4.85) suggests he's not as terrible as his ERA (5.95) implies.

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Archi Cianfrocco and he's here to remind you about the Seibu Lions.

Well kids, I'm in charge again which can only mean two things: Jobu is late and the Angels are up first.

Angels 4, Rangers 1. Jered Weaver out dueled Cliff Lee to give me just a little hope that the Angels can still make the playoffs. Weaver went 7 innings and gave up 1 unearned run while striking out 7. Then Fernando Rodney and Brian Fuentes somehow managed to get through 2 innings without giving up a run. Lee, of course, pitched all 8 innings for the Rangers but allowed 4 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks. Weird. The Angels play the Rangers in 7 of their last 14. So you're sayin there's a chance.

Giants 2, Dodgers 0. Matt Cain out dueled Clayton Kershaw. New Dodgers Scott Podsednik, Ryan Theriot and Octavio Dotel all pitched in for the Dodger loss. Blog favorite Buster Posey disappointingly went 0-3 with a walk.

Royals 5, Orioles 4. The more I look at these teams the more I think I was wrong at the beginning of the year. I thought the O's were developing into a nice young team. Now I think the Royals have the more immediate brighter future. Hosmer and Moustakas are on their way and Kila Ka'aihue just got called up. Plus they have Wilson Betemit. Crazy stuff from this game included Bruce Chen getting the win and Alex Gordan hitting a home run.

Astros 5, Brewers 2. The new look Astros starring Humberto Quintero just keep winning. The Astros finally gave up and decided to rebuild and have won 5 in a row. Former Cardinals/A's/Blue Jays prospect Brett Wallace went 1-2.