Game 37 - 5/17/2006

Royals 0, Indians 5

According to the trade rumor mill, the Royals have had many chances to trade Jeremy Affeldt. For whatever reason, the Royals didn't pull the trigger. Whether it was Allard Baird or Dan Glass, the Royals decided to hold onto Affeldt.

Affeldt should be a hot commodity. He's a left handed pitcher who can touch the mid-90's with his fast ball and has a devastating curve ball. But injuries and role changes have, apparently, stunted his growth as a dominant pitcher. This season, Affeldt finally convinced the Royals to give him a shot in the rotation. He’s shown flashes of brilliance in his 7 starts. On April 29th, he made a start against the Oakland A’s. The game (and all its stats) was eventually washed out by rain, but he had amassed 6 strike outs in only 3 innings of work. But mostly, Affeldt’s been a disappointment. Affeldt notched a win against the Twins on May 4, but walked 6 and was pitching out of jams most of the night.

The biggest issue with Affeldt this season is walks. Through his seven starts, he’s walked 25 and struck out only 16.

In this game, he walked 6 and struck out only 2. The one pitch he did get over the plate ended up in the right field bleachers – a grand slam to Travis Hafner.

In a continuing trend, the Royals made Jake Westbrook look like Cy Young.

The Bell Curve
Actual Record 10-26
Expected Record 11-25
Runs Scored 138
Runs Allowed 222
Projected Record 45-117
Pythagorean Record 46-116
Pythagorean Winning% 0.278

Let's go get 'em