More on 2010 for the Omaha Royals. In a previous post I talked about possible lineups for Omaha. I must talk now about David Lough. Lough picked up the Northwest Arkansas player of the year award. At age 23, it would seem that he is due for a callup to Triple A or even a spring audition for Kansas City. For the sake of argument, let us say that Lough will start in Omaha. He would compete with Chris Lubanski and Jordan Parraz. However, in Omaha, you also had Cory Aldridge who can play RF. Further, you have Chris Raines, Jr. who more than likely would not make the cut in this competition. Also, there is Scott Thorman but he can play other positions. With this competition, I would say the outfield in Omaha in 2010 would be Lubanski, Parraz, and Lough. Meaning that Aldridge would be dealt or even released.
In Kansas City, you have these outfielders Jose Guillen, Josh Anderson, David DeJesus, Mitch Maier, and Coco Crisp. I would think think that Parraz and Lough would have shots at one of these jobs. It is even possible that Anderson would be sent down or traded. Surely with Anderson and Aldridge traded, the Royals could get some sort of option at second or short. If the Royals let Guillen go after 2010 I would think that either Parraz or Lough would end up with the job, which might eventually make the Royals win five or six more games than they do now. Of course, that is all up to Dayton Moore, isn’t it?
Lenny DiNardo pitched five innings for the Kansas City Royals against Detroit today, allowing only two runs. DiNardo had this to say about the outing, “”I got the ground balls when I needed to and the defense behind me made some really great plays. They were great back there.”
Alex Gordon, who was in Omaha until the end of the AAA, homered in the game. Hopefully, he can keep healthy to salvage a semblance of a season.
News later after the game gave cause that DiNardo’s start, a chance to give star Zach Greinke some rest, may not be the last of this year. It appears that Gil Meche may very well be done for the year with his shoulder. Bannister will go to New York for a second opinion on his shoulder issues. If both of these pitchers are done for the remainder of the year, DiNardo and Chen, who also pitched in Omaha, might finish the year as part of the starting rotation in Kansas City.
Hopefully, these two can give the Royals a better end to a very trying season. The problem is it won’t be easy. The rest of their schedule is as follows: three games against the Indians, three with the Tigers, three with Chicago, four with the Red Sox, three with the Twins, three with the Yankees, and three with the Twins (22 games). Out of those teams only the White Sox and Indians have records below .500, with the Twins right at .500. With six games against the Twins, the Royals could decide if the Twinkies will win the divsion or stay home. With Kansas City watching the postseason on television, there is nothing to lose.
Already we know that Luis Hernandez, Dusty Hughes, Victor Marte, and Carlos Rosa have already been cal
led up by Kansas City. Of course, Alex Gordon will be back with the parent team once the AAA season ends on Monday.
However, that leaves another question. According to the Kansas City Star, Hillman plans to rest Greinke on Thursday. The paper mentions Lenny DiNardo getting the start Thursday against Detroit. It also says that it could be another pitcher. I don’t know who else would get the nod on Thursday. Unless, the Royals take a risk and try to have Chris Chavez or Gilbert De La Vera start. It would be interesting to see what these two could do. They did well in Omaha, but didn’t have enough starts to really assess what they could do. I suppose the Royals could also see what Tony Pena, Jr. could do for them. Pena, Jr. just recently threw three scoreless innings on Sunday. Originally, Pena Jr. was a shortstop and recently converted to pitching.
Either way, it would be nice if the Royals could win enough games to not have 100 losses this season. Perhaps, the new crop of promotions may stem the bleeding enough to let the Kansas City team end the season on some kind of positive note to take into spring for its fans.
Omaha Royals look like a different team tonight. After three innings, they have ten hits and six runs. Alex Gordon has been on base twice with a hit and a walk.
Bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth for Alex Gordon. He flied out to left, but scored the runner from third. The at-bat before was a strikeout. With Ka’aihue’s single it is now 8-4 Oroys. Omaha is certainly playing the spoiler’s role. We score another on a wild pitch. Aldridge scores on a ground out to first. Ten runs for the Omaha Royals.
I guess this is as good a time as any to talk about the 2010 Omaha Royals. Here is the lineup that I would put on the field:
C J.R. House
1B Kila Ka’aihue
2B Mario Lisson
SS Luis Hernandez
3B Scott Thorman
LF Chris Lubanski
CF Tim Raines, Jr.
RF Jordan Parraz.
UT Tug Hulett
Pitching
Lenny DiNardo
Chris Hayes
Dusty Hughes
Heath Phillips
Ray Liotta
Gilbert De La Vara
Other players
Cody Clark C
Ben Tschepikow Is it possible that we could see him sometime next year in Omaha? One can only hope that next year will be better for the upper levels of the Royals frachise. If we’re really lucky we might even see Hosmer or Moustakas. Of course, if this happens it will be interesting to see what happens with Kansas City’s infield corners.
Corn wins “the Steaks Race,” after beer and steak drag each other down.
Bottom of the sixth. High pop-up by Lubanski. Lightning showing far beyond right field. Hope we can finish this game before too long. Reno has a no-hitter for six innings.
Right now we have the bungee pull on the field. First person to get five balls in the basket wins. Remind anyone of that Saturday night live skit with Mike Meyers and Nicole Kidman? Rain’s here. Rains here. That brings the fans into the concourses.
Error and a walk break up the perfect game bid for the Reno Aces. New pitcher for Reno, Jason Urquidez, allowed the walk. Rainbow in right field. A run has come in. Dinardo has allowed six hits.
Finally, House breaks up the no-hitter. No runs, and one hit.
Victor Marte up to pitch in the top of the ninth.
I’m sure I’ve pointed this out before, but why not try Dinardo, Marte, and Hayes down in KC? Use them as one out guys or as one inning guys. Rain has long passed. It was just announced there will be no running the bases tonight.
Well, this is a rough test of what a night game might do to Oroys attendance. I almost think such a trial would need to go on for a month before it could be deemed feasible.
Raines Jr.s’ batting average has dipped like Obama’s approval rating lately. He’s down below .210. We’ll see if he dips below the Mendoza line.
Pop fly by Hulett ends the game. Aces win 1-0.
Hulett homers to leftfield. Omaha Royals up 1-0 after one inning.
The steak wins “the Steaks Race.”
Bottom of the ninth, Perkins of the Cubs loads the bases for Lubanski. His sacrifice fly scores House. 4-2, Cubs.
Parraz singles to left. Ka’iahue scores. 4-3 Cubs.
Force out scores Thorman. 4-4.
Lisson steals second.
Raines, Jr. singles to right, scoring Lisson. Royals win 5-4 and win the series three games to one.
Four couples were married on the field and a funeral was given away. And no, Andie MacDowell and Hugh Grant were not there.
Jordan Parraz, recently promoted from AA Northwest Arkansas, has yet to get a hit. He has one RBI and nothing else. Parraz had a nice catch in the third. Parraz had recently come off the disabled list, so perhaps he’s still trying to rehab a bit.
Dinardo and Marte have given Omaha eight shutout innings tonight. I don’t see what the harm would be to bring them up to Kansas City. Of course, it would hurt the Royals, but I’m sure we could bring someone up from Northwest Arkansas or demote someone from KC. The big club has to find someone to shut down batters for two or three innings until Soria comes up.
For Omaha, I suppose it is time to look to 2010. It will be interesting to see what Parraz can do in Omaha. I think it would be nice to have some middle infielders with a bit better plate discipline and better range on defense. It would also be good to try to find a catcher who is better at throwing out runners on second and who has more power and plate discipline. I guess this is more of a long Christmas list than anything. Of course, the big league club is in much the same position.
Of course, Northwest Arkansas and Wilmington have winning records, so hopefully as those guys down there are ready, perhaps it will have a trickle up effect. We can only hope that 2010 is sight better than this year at all levels.
Tonight we face Casey Fossum. He has a high leg kick delivery like Feller, but that’s really where the comparison ends. He’s already had three runs scored on him by the Oroys. At 31, his best chance to get back to “the Show” is probably as a reliever. Of course, not with the stuff he’s showing tonight. Already walking two, it doesn’t look good.
Of course, Duckworth has allowed three runs also, 3-3 after two.
Metcalf homers. 4-3 Oroys.
5-3, Oroys. We haven’t looked that bad in this game, but it’s not over yet. Of course, the Cubs are 8-18 when playing the first game of a series.
Holland, just up from AA Northwest Arkansas, gives up a home run to Griffin. Homer to right field makes it 5-4. What is it that Yogi said about over?
Well, the Oroys win. Final out to Parraz in right field. How about that?
Well, last night was a bit messy, with the Oroys losing 11-6 to Memphis. Tonight, our fielders actually look crisp. Mitch Maier, back from Omaha, starts the Omaha half of the first with a hit.
I’d really like to see what percentage of runners that Omaha catchers have thrown out this year. I’m going to say it’s in the 30 percentile. This lineup tonight for Omaha has three lefties, three righties, and three switch hitters. I think that Maier has looked good at the plate and in the field tonight.
Bottom of the sixth, we’ve scored four runs in the inning.
It’s never a bad night when you have Disco Hayes submarining on the hill.
Royals win 5-3. I like this lineup.
Steak again wins the “Steaks Race.”
Yes, this year is the 20th anniversary of Field of Dreams. Anyone notice the flaws?
Yes, there’s the obvious Ray Liotta talks like a guy from Jersey, not a drawling South Carolinian. He bats right, Jackson batted left.
Here’s the rest: The A’s logo on the uniform of the other ghost team are green. The real A’s were blue.
The Yankees uniform of John Kinsella is nowhere to be found.
Does anyone believe that Ray could have put up this field without bankrupting himself after the first season. I can’t believe their savings would have covered all that. Remember, he doesn’t see Shoeless Joe until after Christmas. I think that Ray’s bankrupt by Christmas. By spring, it’s all corn and no field. And why doesn’t Ray know about rotating crops? Really, Ray may not know a crop but I can’t believe that Ray would be ignorant about crop rotation. It doesn’t matter, maybe they’re planting soybeans after the field is plowed over. The only other way to get around the rotation might be having cows there in the fall. Didn’t see that. Also, can’t believe that believe that they aren’t a little more diversified in their farming.
By the way, why does the family dress like they’re living in town and not on the farm?
Also, when Ray and Shoeless Joe are talking about the lights, I don’t buy it. Joe Jackson lived long enough to see lights in the majors.
Anyway, watch it again and again. It’s worth it and who knows what you’ll see.