As If Tampa Wasn’t Enough, Here’s K.C.

When writing my preview of the Tampa series, my general sentiment was that we’d win two, but a sweep would be nice (I actually used the term “must-sweep”….). I thought we’d get to their pitchers (which we did) and put some runs on the board (which we did). But I forgot that our pitching is….how should I say this….inconsistent. And not only are they inconsistent, sometimes they’re just plain bad. At any rate, here’s what I said regarding our keys to winning that series:

“The keys to winning this series are, first and foremost, to strike Tampa’s pitchers hard and early. If the O’s put them out of the game by scoring runs or even draining them by prolonging innings and fouling-off balls, they can make them more vulnerable.”

And the Orioles did just that. In three games versus Tampa, the O’s scored 23 runs and had 65 base-runners (on 48 hits). But (sorry, back to our pitching) the D-Rays basically matched us and scored 29 runs and had 46 base-runners (on 35 hits) so our offensive onslaught was essentially a wash.

All this in the unsuspecting series with the Devil Rays….

Anyways, I don’t think it’s worth scrutinizing that series. It was an aberration for both teams; it’s so rare that both of any two clubs average, in a three-game series, 18 base-runners and 14 hits per game. And it’s rare that a starter as bad as Russ Ortiz actually starts — but that’s a whole other issue (he was demoted to the bullpen). So congrats to both teams’ hitters — all of you put on magnificent performances! But the pitching was equivalent to a Juggs machine lobbing ‘meat balls’ at 60 mph….

Okay, so what’s my point here? Well, the O’s are off today as they head to Kansas City to take on another bad team in the Royals. The difference between K.C. and Tampa? Tampa can hit. K.C. can….uh, they….well….okay, K.C. may as well be playing in the Pacific Coast League or something because they’re simply horrendous.

The Royals are the only team in the American League with no players with 10 or more homers. Their leading batter is questionable; veterans Mark Grudzelanik and Doug Mientkiewicz (believe it or not, I spelled both names right without reference!) are having solid years at the plate, yet they severely lack power numbers with their combined eight homers (four each). Reggie Sanders and promising young third baseman Mark Teahen lead the team with nine homers each. And Esteban German and David DeJesus are both showing they can hit and have great plate discipline at their young ages.

But there’s no one there who really scares opposing teams. In fact, as a team, the Royals struggle against the upcoming Orioles starters. Versus Tuesday’s starter, Kris Benson, the Royals are batting a combined .196/.235/.278 with only 19 hits and two homers in 97 ABs. Not surprisingly, no Royal has yet to face Wednesday’s starter, Adam Loewen, and the fact that the K.C. hitters have yet to see any of the young southpaw’s stuff will make matters even worse for them. Finally, Thursday’s starter, Rodrigo Lopez, has seen some success against K.C., as well. The Royals are batting .284/.333/.526 against him — not a bad line at all — unless you eliminate Mike Sweeny and Matt Stairs‘ solid numbers against him….then things get bad for the Royals.

Nonetheless, all these numbers don’t mean much at all when the teams take the field. Poor execution and lack of concentration by the pitchers will lead to runs no matter who it is. But still, the O’s pitchers need to come out and pitch some great games because this series is as easy as it’s going to get.

As far as K.C.’s pitchers go, I think we all know where they stand. Other than the D-Rays and the anemic Athletics’ offenses, the Royals are dead last in the AL in runs scored. And their 577 runs allowed is the worst in the entire league (FYI, the O’s 561 runs allowed puts them right ahead of K.C. for second-worst).

But recently, the Royals pitchers have performed well. In 10 of their last 11 games, the Royals have allowed six or less runs and just last week, they lost two amazing games to the Red Sox 1-0 on consecutive nights. “All-star” pitcher Mark Redman, who played very mediocre baseball in the first half, has done well as of late; he suffered his first loss in seven decisions against the Red Sox on Wednesday. Redman allowed one run and seven hits over eight innings. He struck out nine batters and did not walk a single batter on the day.

However, on the season, the pitching has been bad. With the exception of four pitchers with less than 16.1 innings of work, no Royals pitcher has an ERA less than 4.50. Redman leads the team in wins with six. Wednesday’s starter, Jimmy Gobble, leads the team with 50 Ks. And Scott Elarton, the team leader in innings pitched with 114.2 (Redman is a close second with 95.0), just went on the DL; that may not be too bad, though, since Elarton’s 49 Ks and 52 walks aren’t too savory a statistic.

So you can clearly see we’re dealing with a very, very bad team here. However, if we don’t show up to dominate them and sweep this series, I honestly think the rest of 2006 will be a very rough road. After all, what else do the O’s have to play for other than pride and a paycheck? Well, making the Yanks, Sox, and Jays’ playoff dreams more bleak would be a start….

Here are your match-ups for Baltimore @ Kansas City:

Tuesday: Kris Benson (9-9, 4.72) vs Mark Redman (6-5, 5.02)

Wednesday: Adam Loewen (0-2, 7.09) vs Jimmy Gobble (3-3, 4.88)

Thursday: Rodrigo Lopez (6-11, 6.73) vs Runelvys Hernandez (2-4, 6.75)

There you go! Let’s just hope our guys come out and beat this team to a pulp….because the O’s sure as hell need that kind of a picker-upper. Recap tomorrow, maybe I’ll squeeze something in around mid-afternoon….