Puerto Rico shocked the world by advancing to the World Baseball Classic finals (set for Tuesday night at 8pm ET on MLB Network).

First, they advanced out of Pool C over Venezuela with the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico again advanced with the DR to the semifinals with a win over the USA.

Then on Sunday night in San Francisco (after playing in Miami on Saturday), they upset two-time WBC champ Japan, 3-1.

Former KC Royals were a huge reason why.

Mario Santiago, who pitched in the Royals farm system until 2011, started and was brilliant until being taken out as a precaution with elbow soreness. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth. He only allowed two hits over 4.1 scoreless innings.

Mike Aviles drove in the first run in the first inning on a single to centerfield. That scored current Royal minor leaguer Irving Falu, who walked. Falu has been playing GREAT defense at second base.

Aviles picked up another hit in the 7th inning and scored on Alex Rios’ two-run home run that put Puerto Rico up 3-0. Carlos Beltran walked in the first and singled in the sixth.

In the second WBC semifinal, it was current Royals who had big parts to the victory for the Dominican Republic.

Miguel Tejada singled and scored the Dominican Republic’s fourth run in the 5th inning.

In the sixth, Kelvin Herrera entered in relief of starter Edinson Volquez after the Dominican Republic had just taken a 4-1 lead. Herrera allowed a two out double, but struck out Andruw Jones to end the inning. In the seventh, he struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches. With two outs, Herrera walked a batter before striking out the next to end the inning (and end his chance of pitching in the finals).

The DR enacted revenge against the Netherlands in 2013, the team who beat them twice in 2009. Can the DR beat Puerto Rico for the third time? Or can Puerto Rico steal a victory and win the whole thing?

Whoever wins, at least one current Royal will take home the WBC trophy.

 vs. 

After splitting their home series against the NY Yankees, the KC Royals now welcome the Boston Red Sox to town. There is some good and bad to this three-game series.

The good: the Red Sox are coming off a 17 inning loss. They were swept at home by Baltimore in which two of the games went into extra innings. That means their bullpen has been overworked.

The bad: the Red Sox have been better on the road (7-6) and have to be mad about being swept.

The Royals are also welcoming back former teammate Mike Aviles to town (he was traded last year).

Monday: Felix Doubront (1-1, 5.19 ERA) @ Jonathan Sanchez (1-1, 5.24 ERA)

Doubront has been a strikeout pitcher (30 in 26 innings), but those strikeouts have risen his pitch count, causing shorter outings (four innings in his last start). The lefty, who the Red Sox finally gave a chance to this season, had pitched well prior to his last start.

Sanchez‘ last start was his best of the 2012 season, but he still has yet to reach the sixth inning. The Royals will need him to stay aggressive with his fastball and show better command.

Tuesday: Daniel Bard (2-3, 4.38 ERA) @ Danny Duffy (2-2, 3.57 ERA)

It’s hard to judge Bard‘s transition to the rotation this early, but he’s had two good starts and two bad one’s. He has gone at least five innings in all four of his starts.

Duffy has been solid all season, though he has struggled with his command. Last season, he faced the Red Sox twice (one bad, one good).

Wednesday: Jon Lester (1-2, 4.62 ERA) @ Bruce Chen (0-4, 4.98 ERA)

Yet another start for Chen where he will be opposed by a premier lefty. Lester has struggled with his command in 2012 (17 walks in 37 innings). He faced the Royals twice in 2011 and gave up just two runs in 11.1 innings.

Chen has been roughed up in his last two starts and is looking to get back on track (and also pick up his first win in 2012). He faced the Red Sox once in 2011 and gave up ten runs on ten hits in just four innings.

*For more on the Red Sox, check out Fenway Fatales.

In two of the three games against the NY Yankees, the same part of the KC Royals order (the bottom three) faced Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the 9th inning. Tonight against Boston Red Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon, two of the same three hitters that faced Mo faced Papelbon. They had the same meager result.

Rookie second baseman Johnny Giavotella, the one that did not face Mo earlier in the week, had a long at-bat against Papelbon (nine pitches) before he grounded out. The next two hitters, Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas (both rookies), both struck out against Papelbon (on just six pitches) to end the game. Down by one run, maybe you pinch-hit for one of the rookies (ie Brayan Pena or Chris Getz)?

Royals starter Luke Hochevar battled all night long against the Red Sox, but kept the team in the game. The Red Sox had runners in scoring position against Hochevar in every inning but the 6th (his last inning). In the top of the 2nd inning, Jason Varitek delivered an RBI single, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double by left fielder Alex Gordon to end the inning. In the top of the 3rd inning, Dustin Pedroia delivered a two-run single.

Red Sox starter Josh Beckett also battled through his start. The Royals jumped on the board in the bottom of the first inning on Billy Butler’s sac fly. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Beckett immediately gave up the lead his offense gave him. Gordon hit a two-run homerun to tie the game at 3-3.

The Red Sox had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 4th inning after Carl Crawford singled to lead off the inning. He stole second and third base with one out before Hochevar walked Varitek. Mike Aviles flied out to centerfield and Melky Cabrera threw Crawford out at the plate to end the inning.

The Red Sox did take the lead in the top of the 5th inning. Pedroia drove in Jed Lowrie with an RBI single to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead, though Pedroia was thrown out at second base to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning, the Royals had a chance to tie the game as Moose singled and was sacrificed to second base. However Beckett struck out Gordon and got Melky to fly out to end the inning.

Once the two teams’ bullpens entered the game, the offenses were shut down. Blake Wood allowed a hit in 1.2 innings while Tim Collins walked a batter before finishing off the 8th inning. Aaron Crow pitched a perfect 9th inning and threw just seven pitches for the Royals. Daniel Bard allowed a hit in the 8th inning and Papelbon retired the side in order in the bottom of the 9th to earn the save for the Red Sox.

*Red Sox prospect Ryan Lavarnway made his Major League debut, but went 0-for-4 in the game.

**Former Royal Mike Aviles got the start at shortstop and went 1-for-4.

Looking ahead to the rest of the series, Andrew Miller (4-1, 5.40 ERA) of the Red Sox will face Jeff Francis (4-13, 4.76 ERA) on Friday night. On Saturday night, veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (6-5, 4.90 ERA) will start for the Red Sox against Felipe Paulino (1-5, 3.76 ERA). Watching the Royals rookies face Wakefield should be interesting to see. In the finale on Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox will throw Jon Lester (12-6, 3.22 ERA). The Royals have yet to name a starter (it would be rookie Danny Duffy’s turn in the rotation).

Rumor has it (per the Royals Twitter page) that the KC Royals have traded utility man Mike Aviles to the Boston Red Sox for two players. Aviles was promoted back up to the big league when the Royals traded Wilson Betemit to the Detroit Tigers on July 21st. Since returning to the Royals, Aviles has played in six games, going 5-for-16. His best game was against the Red Sox on July 26th when he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs.

So what are the Royals getting in return? Another utility man in Yamaico Navarro and a pitcher Kendal Volz. Navarro has been considered a Red Sox top prospect for a few years, but hasn’t quite reached his potential. Some cite maturity issues. Navarro made his 2011 debut with the Red Sox on July 2nd. He is 8-for-37 this season in the big leagues, with his best two games coming against the Royals (3-for-8 with two runs scored and an RBI).

I had the chance to see Volz when the Salem Red Sox were in Wilmington back at the end of June. In his relief outing against the Blue Rocks, he struck out five in a row. The 6’5, 225 pound right-hander out of Baylor was still pitching out of Salem’s bullpen at the time of the trade. He is 2-3 with a 3.33 ERA in 31 appearances (51.1 innings). Volz has struck out 56 while holding opponents to a .222 average.

So good-bye Mike and the boys will be seeing you in August when the Red Sox arrive in Kansas City (August 18-21).

After a 2hr and 21 minute rain delay, the KC Royals and Boston Red Sox finally got underway at Fenway Park. When the extra-inning affair FINALLY ended it was well into the middle of the night (it was close to a four and a half hour game).

It took a squeeze bunt from the Royals Mike Aviles for them to pull out the victory. Eric Hosmer doubled to lead off the top of the 14th inning off Red Sox reliever Randy Williams. Jeff Francoeur followed with a single to put runners at the corners. That is when Aviles laid down the squeeze bunt to score Hosmer to break the 1-1 tie (Aviles was thrown out at first base as he popped the bunt over Adrian Gonzalez’ head). Brayan Pena followed with a single, again putting runners at the corners. Alcides Escobar followed with a sac fly to give the Royals a 3-1 lead.

Royals closer Joakim Soria worked around Josh Reddick‘s one-out double to record the save (he struck out the side).

By the time the game ended, you forgot how solid the starting pitchers were. Kyle Davies allowed one run on five hits over six innings. His pitch-count for the second straight outing kept him from going deeper. Reddick delivered a two-out RBI double in the 2nd inning that gave the Red Sox the early 1-0 lead. Jon Lester from the Red Sox returned from the DL and allowed just one run on seven hits over 5.1 innings. The Royals tied the game up at 1-1 in the top of the 6th inning on Billy Butler’s RBI double.

The game could have ended with a Red Sox walk-off victory, especially in extra innings. They had three chances with a runner at third base and less than two outs. In the bottom of the 12th, Reddick led off the inning with a single off Royals reliever Louis Coleman. With one out, Coleman’s errant pickoff throw sent Reddick all the way to third base. That led to the Red Sox botched squeeze play. Coleman threw a pitch inside to Marco Scutaro that he bailed out on as Reddick was running down the third base line. Reddick was thrown out. Scutaro then singled, but was thrown out by Alex Gordon trying to stretch it into a double to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 13th inning, Jacoby Ellsbury walked to lead off the inning. Adrian Gonzalez singled with one out, moving Ellsbury to third base. Coleman escaped damage as he got Yamaico Navarro to pop up and David Ortiz to ground out to end the inning.

You know it’s July when the MLB All-Star Game is finished for like five minutes and it is announced that the Milwaukee Brewers had acquired closer Francisco “KRod” Rodriguez from the NY Mets for two players to be named later. The Brewers were tied for first place in the National League Central with the St. Louis Cardinals at the time of the deal. The Mets have been a pleasant surprise this season, but are still looking to purge salary.

Now that the KC Royals are in last place in the American League Central and have the AL’s worst record (they are battling with the Baltimore Orioles for it), expect a few (especially veteran) players to be traded to contenders. The Royals dealing began on Wednesday, as utility man Wilson Betemit was traded within the division to the Detroit Tigers (he is expected to start for them at third base). His fill-in on the Royals roster is Mike Aviles.

Come August 1^st, who will still be sporting a Royals uniform? I don’t have a crystal ball, but I will look at some players that could be saying good-bye (whether they want to leave or not). Who do you think the Royals will deal?

» Continue reading “Who Will be Next to Go from the Royals?”

Just when I was working on a trading deadline post to get up on here tomorrow, the KC Royals began the dealings a little early.

Wednesday afternoon, they traded utility fielder Wilson Betemit to their divisional foe, the Detroit Tigers. Ever since the promotion of rookie third baseman Mike Moustakas, Betemit has been riding the pine more than playing (he has played in just nine games since Moose’s June 10th promotion). At that time, Betemit was hitting .289 (he’s hitting .281 right now).

Making the deal puts current Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge’s future in jeopardy (he is the longest tenured Tiger but has struggled at the plate and with mono).

Betemit is expected to join the Tigers on Thursday in Minnesota.

“He’s going to be hitting at the bottom of the lineup, so it’s a spot where all of a sudden you have a guy like that down below that can add, from an offensive perspective, we feel good about that,” Tigers GM Dave Dombrowki said.

Mike Aviles was recalled from Triple-A Omaha to replace Betemit on the Royals roster.

What did the Royals receive, you ask? Well, two minor leaguers who were not high in the Tigers prospect rankings and both were in Single-A.

Antonio Cruz, a left-handed pitcher, had been pitching the entire season with the West Michagan Whitecaps in the Midwest League. The 19-year old is 2-6 with a 3.11 ERA in 22 games (10 starts). Since the Whitecaps are hosting the Kane County Cougars tonight (the Royals Low-A affiliate), Cruz will just switch clubhouses and uniforms.

Julio Rodriguez, a catcher, had been playing for the Lakeland Flying Tigers in the Florida State League. The 20-year old was hitting .283 with 11 doubles, one homerun, 27 RBIs, and 20 runs scored in 66 games. He is expected to join the Wilmington Blue Rocks and become the team’s youngest player.

*In other news, the KC Ribeye Stack was voted as Kauffman Stadium’s Signature Sandwich. The sandwich received 63% of the fans vote and will be featured at Hot Corner Grills throughout the rest of the season. The char-grilled ribeye is topped with cheddar cheese, applewood bacon, sauteed mushrooms, a crispy onion ring, lettuce, tomato, with Kansas City smoky and Gold barbeque sauces on a potato bun.

It was another rough night for the KC Royals full-season minor league affiliates. Three of the four took pretty big losses.

The Omaha Storm Chasers were the lone team to pick up a win on Saturday night. That was aided by a SIX run bottom of the 5th inning as they beat the New Orleans Zephyrs 9-5. In the 5th against Zephyrs starter Sean West, Jarrod Dyson and Johnny Giavotella walked with one out. After a coaching visit, Mike Aviles delivered a two-run double (one of his three hits) and Clint Robinson followed with an RBI single (one of his two hits). That was all for West and Frank Mata came on in relief. Lorenzo Cain greeted him with an RBI single and David Lough followed with an RBI triple. Irving Falu drove in Lough with a sac fly before Mata got Manny Pina to fly out to end the inning. That big inning made a winner of Sean O’Sullivan, who allowed four runs on seven hits over seven innings.

Chris Dwyer had yet another rough outing on Saturday for the NW Arkansas Naturals. He allowed five runs on five hits and five walks over 5.1 innings. Dwyer threw 96 pitches, just 50 for strikes. Jamie Romak continues to hit and hit for power, as he went 2-for-4 with his 14th homerun of the season. It was interesting in the bottom of the 9th inning. Nick Francis appeared to foul a ball off his foot, but the Springfield Cardinals fielded the ball and the umpires ruled Francis out. Both Naturals hitting coach Terry Bradshaw and manager Brian Polberg were ejected upon arguing the call. Jake Odorizzi will be making his home debut for the Naturals on Sunday.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks lost 3-out-of-4 to the visiting Frederick Keys and fell further behind in the Carolina League standings. Blue Rocks starter Tyler Sample allowed five runs on eight hits over five innings. He struck out the side in the first inning, but struggled from then on. The Blue Rocks were just 2-for-14 against Keys starter Ryohei Tanaka and the bullpen. Carlo Testa and Joey Lewis had two hits each in the loss. The Blue Rocks have off on Sunday as they make their way to Myrtle Beach.

The Kane County Cougars pitching staff took a beating on Saturday nights as three pitchers allowed nine runs on 12 hits in their 9-3 loss to the Great Lakes Loons. The Cougars did collect ten hits in the game, but were just 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Brian Fletcher went 3-for-3 and Angel Franco and Juan Graterol each collected two hits in the loss.

The KC Royals signed their 21st round pick, catcher Kenny Swab from Virginia. If you watched the College World Series, you may remember seeing him patrolling centerfield for the Cavaliers (where he pretty much played over the final two months of their season). Not sure where he’ll be assigned, but it may take him a bit to re-adjust to catching.

From what many said that were in attendance for his start, Omaha Storm Chasers starter Mike Montgomery pitched the best that he has all season on Friday night. It was much needed as he has struggled mightily for the most part this season. Through 6.2 innings, Montgomery gave up just two hits while walking three. He struck out seven in his scoreless outing. He faced off against Albuquerque All-Star (and former big leaguer) Dana Eveland. The Storm Chasers got to Eveland in the 3rd inning when Mike Aviles hit a grand slam. Aviles, David Lough, and Joaquin Arias had two hits in Omaha’s 6-0 victory.

What dogs the big league Royals has begun to dog the Royals minor league affiliates. Despite outhitting San Antonio 11-10, the NW Arkansas Naturals lost to the Missions 4-1. They were just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Every Naturals starter had a hit except Anthony Seratelli, as Derrick Robinson, Wil Myers, and Nick Francis collected two each.

Salem's Ryan Pressly

For most of his outing, the Wilmington Blue Rocks were baffled by Salem Red Sox starter Ryan Pressly. They had just one hit against him until the 7th inning (a Nick Van Stratten first inning single), yet led 1-0 (they scored in the 5th without courtesy of a hit). In the 7th with one out, John Whittleman drove in the Blue Rocks second run of the game on a single to right field. After a pitching change, Tim Ferguson drove in the Blue Rocks third and final run. The Red Sox had plenty of chance against Blue Rocks starter Justin Marks and the bullpen, but stranded 13 runners. Marks walked three in the 5th to load the bases but struck out Miles Head to end the inning. He came up again in the 7th (this time against reliever Tyler Sample) with runners at the corners, but grounded out to end the inning. The Blue Rocks held on for the 3-0 win (quotes and photos to come).

The Kane County Cougars held a 4-0 lead after four innings, but the Beloit Snappers stormed back to win 6-4. They scored three runs in the top of the 8th inning to take the lead for good. The Cougars collected just a walk against two Snappers relievers over the final five innings after chasing starter AJ Achter. The Cougars scored all their runs via the homerun ball from both Cheslor Cuthbert and Travis Jones.

» Continue reading “Royals Friday Minors Recap with Blue Rocks Coverage”

Sorry for the delay in the KC Royals minor league recap for Saturday. I was in Baltimore for the Reds-O’s game and didn’t get home until after 1am.

Here’s the recap in case you haven’t already heard:

Kyle Davies made another rehab start for the Omaha Storm Chasers (will that finally be his last?). The game between Omaha and the Memphis Redbirds was a pitcher’s duel between Davies and Maikel Cleto (who was just sent back from the big league club). Cleto struck out nine over 7.1 innings and allowed just four hits (two to Mike Aviles). Aviles also accounted for Omaha’s only run, a solo homerun in the bottom of the first to lead off the inning. Davies allowed two runs (in the top of the 3rd) on four hits over seven innings. Both runs scored on throwing errors. Like Cleto he struck out nine and did not walk a batter.

Despite a solid pitching performance from Chris Dwyer, the NW Arkansas Naturals couldn’t muster any runs against Trevor Reckling or the Arkansas Travelers bullpen (despite having chances as they collected five hits, walked eight times, and stole six bases). Dwyer allowed one run on just four hits while striking out five. The Travelers scored single runs in the bottom of the 6th and 7th innings (though the run against Naturals reliever Kevin Chapman in the 7th was unearned).

Like the Naturals, the Wilmington Blue Rocks received a solid pitching performance from Jake Odorizzi. And like the Naturals, the Blue Rocks couldn’t score any runs against Aaron Shafer and the Lynchburg Hillcats bullpen. Odorizzi allowed one run on three hits over six innings. The Blue Rocks bullpen imploded to allow five runs on seven hits over three innings. The Blue Rocks collected just three hits on the night.

Brian Fletcher of the Kane County Cougars drove in seven RBIs and hit two homeruns in their 11-5 victory over the host Peoria Chiefs. It was his first two homer game and he set a new career-high in RBIs. It was a long game for the Cougars, as the game started in a delay and they had another 2.5 hour delay in the 4th inning. Fellow 2010 draft pick Brett Eibner went 3-for-5 with a homerun