Reason No. 7,439 why the Royals are the Royals

The Mariners and Royals were tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the 11th in Thursday's get-away game at Kauffman Stadium.

Billy Butler, whose nickname on Baseball Reference is "Country Breakfast" meaning this was probably the last time I'll be visiting Billy Butler's BR page, is scheduled to hit with the potential winning run at first and one out.

Butler had been having another good season in a career full of good seasons - .285/.375/.418 coming in - and with 24 doubles and 14 home runs there was a decent chance he'd be able to drive in the winning run, or perhaps just get that runner to third with less than two outs. Instead, KC manager Ned Yost decided to pinch-hit with Pedro Ciriaco, whose nickname is "Doesn't Deserve Breakfast".

Ciriaco had been claimed off waivers from San Diego on July 16 after hitting .226 (26-for-115) for Boston and the Padres.

Apparently, THIS was the time to get the Pedro Ciriaco in KC Era™ underway. Chance Ruffin was out of the Seattle pen to make his first appearance since 2011.

"Finally, Ruffin vs. Ciriaco!"

- Baseball historian Darren Durly


Ruffin got the better of Ciriaco in their first match up, getting a three-pitch strike out. Kansas City wouldn't score in the inning.

Oh, almost forgot to mention one other thing about Butler: in his first five plate appearances he had gone 5-for-5.

Jeff Francoeur's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Jeff Francoeur is on his way to the best season of his career since 2007 when he seemed to be a pretty good player. But he never figured out how to walk more than 6% of the time while striking out every 5 plate appearances. Despite that though, this is Frenchy's first golden sombrero with the Royals which shouldn't be a surprise if you knew the Royals routinely finish in the bottom 5 of team strike outs.

But last night, Francoeur couldn't help swinging and missing and for that, I thank him...

Top 1st: Francoeur struck out swinging against Gio Gonzalez. 3 pitches, all swinging. That's how I imagine I would strike out against a major league pitcher. Except my eyes would be closed and I'd be standing 8 feet or so away from the plate.

Top 3rd: Francoeur struck out swinging against Gonzalez. He worked a full count but dude just loves to swing.

Top 7th: Francoeur struck out swinging against Joey Devine. Hey look, former Braves teammates.

Top 9th: Francoeur struck out swinging against Grant Balfour. Yep, he wasn't even close to striking out looking.

He's Coming... Eric Hosmer Edition

I have a tendency to get a little overexcited when it comes to prospect call-ups but Eric Hosmer is kind of a big deal. Hosmer ranked fifth on Keith Law's Top 100 list coming into the 2011 season. Law's top two (Mike Trout, Bryce Harper) won't play in the majors this season, number three Domonic Brown was a little exposed during his time in Philadelphia last season and is currently hurt and number four Jesus Montero's bat is ready but there is no spot for him in the Yankees lineup. So Hosmer is basically the top prospect we can expect to make his major league debut this year and have a chance to contribute.

The timing is a little curious unless the Royals have decided the Indians aren't for real (which very well might be) and think they can make a run for the AL Central this season. Otherwise, the Royals could have left Hosmer raking in AAA for another month to prevent him from becoming a Super Two. Which he is almost guaranteed to be unless he doesn't hit for some reason and doesn't stick on the MLB roster. For the Royals, this means Hosmer would be eligible for a fourth year of arbitration which would/could cost the Royals upwards of $10M before he hits free agency.

But the move was made and it's not hard to see why the Royals swapped out Kila Ka'aihue for Hosmer. In 118 plate appearances at AAA, Hosmer is hitting .439/.525/.582 with three home runs. He's not exactly crushing the ball though. The kid is hitting a ton of singles. He has only eight extra base hits and a .143 ISO. His BABIP is also .500 so that .439 BA might not be an accurate representation. Everyone still expects Hosmer to hit and hit right away and who am I to argue with everyone?

There are exciting time ahead in Kansas City. With the Royals only 4.5 games out of first, who's to say that 2011 isn't as good a year as any to be hopeful? The division isn't very good and they have more help on the way. Which is good because I do think it's just a matter of time before Jeff Francoeur turns back into a pumpkin.

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.

Soria Looks To Replace Mexicutioner Nickname

Royals closer extraordinaire Joakim Soria made a request (on Twitter, where else?) for a nickname change from the awesome "Mexicutioner" to something more positive. While I doubt people are confusing Soria with some drug kingpin's genocidal assassin, his reasoning for the nickname change is rather noble...

Statistics also show a sharp escalation in the murders. Mexican authorities estimate the death count last year topped 15,000.

“It is sad when you see your country like that,” Soria said, “and that nickname is a negative to the kids in Mexico. There’s too much violence. It’s really bad.

“I know I can’t really do anything about it, but the mind-set needs to change. People follow me in Mexico.”

Soria believes that when people in Mexico see the nickname on TV that "it's a bad thing." Okay, fine. I just don't think nicknames are that persuasive. When Mark McGwire was crushing homers, I didn't go out and add 50 pounds by eating McDonald's. Soria doesn't even really seem to want a nickname anyway...

Soria has no preference for a new nickname; he is only lukewarm, in fact, to the idea of one.

“I never compare myself to Mariano (Rivera) and Trevor Hoffman,” he said, “but they don’t have a nickname. The only name that matters for Mariano is Mariano. He doesn’t need a nickname.

“I don’t compare to him, but I want to follow him in the way he has a great career.”

Well, Mo does, in fact, have one of the greatest nicknames in the history of baseball. Unless we stopped referring to him as "The Hammer of God" and I never got the memo.

All right, let's see what we can do about a new nickname.

"The Meximelt"
"Chalupa Supreme"
"Volcano Burrito"
"Baja Gordita"
"Crunchwrap"
"Caramel Apple Empanada"
"Diet Pepsi"

*This post was sponsored by Taco Bell. I'm finding new ways to sell out everyday*

Yuni Betancourt And Pitcher Traded To Brewers

I'm still trying to process the move that Kansas City made late last night. I mean, surely this is the year Yuniesky Betancourt breaks the 25 walks barrier. But the Royals decided to build a package around him and sent him to Milwaukee for fellow short stop Alcides Escobar and three Brewers' prospects. Congratulations are in order to blogger Jim Breen of Bernie's Crew for breaking the story yesterday. I broke a news story once and, damn, it felt good. But enough about me, let's get to the trade.

What in means for the Royals
The Royals upgrade their short stop position by trading for an actual short stop. Escobar is great in the field but is still a work in progress at the dish. As brain cramping as it is to imagine, Escobar couldn't even out on base percentage Yuni last season tying him with a walk refusing .288 OBP. Escobar just turned 24 so Royals fans can be at least a little optimistic about some room for growth and can take comfort in the fact they'll no longer be running out a traffic cone in the field.

The Royals also get the Brewers number one prospect in RHP Jake Odorizzi. Odorizzi was the Brewers top prospect for roughly a week after Milwaukee sent Brett Lawrie to Toronto. Toolsy center fielder Lorenzo Cain is the only other confirmed prospect in the package. Early reports had RHP Jeremy Jeffress in the deal but he's now apparently been replaced with the famous PTBNL. That could potentially be good news for the Royals since Jeffress projects as a reliever and already has a 100 game suspension under his belt.

What it means for the Brewers
The Brewers continue to gut their farm system in an effort to go all in for Prince Fielder's last season in Milwaukee before he packs up all the cheese he can and files for free agency. The Brewers are getting $2 million which is what it would cost to buy out Yuni's contract just in case they find an elderly lady in the stands with better range at short stop.

The Brewers will also acquire Zack Greinke pending a physical. Grink? Am I saying it right?