Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Game 43 – 5/23/2006

Tigers 8, Royals 5

The Royals were finally able to get to Kenny Rogers, who in the past has had great success against the Royals. Mark Grudzielanek hit two homeruns against Rogers and the Royals were able to jump out to a 4-0 lead.

Runelvys Hernandez got the start and pitched just 5.1 innings. I heard Ryan Lefebvre say on the broadcast that of the 43 games the Royals have played this season, only 26 times has the starter gotten through the sixth inning. I’m curious what the league average is, but at first glance, that doesn’t seem like a very good statistic.

It’s not like there is one particular aspect that is going bad and that can be easily fixed. Elmer Dessens, who earlier this season was unhittable, gave up 3 runs and the lead when he pitched in the eighth.

The Kansas City Star today had a chart comparing the Royals’ last four managers and their longest losing streaks:

Buddy Bell .342
Tony Pena .410
Tony Muser .424
Bob Boone .468

Buddy Bell has managed the Royals to the worst losing streaks in franchise history: 19 games, and 11 games twice this season. When David Glass promised “significant changes” earlier this season, he did indicate that he didn’t think it was a problem with the manager. Most Royals fans would disagree, and the above stats support the argument that Buddy Bell may not be the right guy for this job. Let’s not forget Bell’s ugly exit from his previous managerial jobs. When he left Detroit, he was making comments about how the payroll was too low and that he didn’t want to baby sit a bunch of young kids. What did Bell think he was getting into in Kansas City?


The Bell Curve
Actual Record 10-33
Expected Record 12-31
Runs Scored 159
Runs Allowed 267
Projected Record 38-124
Pythagorean Record 43-119
Pythagorean Winning% 0.261

Let's go get 'em

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