Craziest Game in Royals History!!
09/28/2011
The Royals(102-54) last road game of the season will certainly go down in the history books as one of the wildest games ever and possibly in the NABL also.
With just 7 games left in the season the Royals were in Baltimore to finish up a three game set after losing their previous two games to the Orioles. "I just wanted the guys to finish the season on a high note." said
Manager DeLeon. "I had no idea it would be this much fun though."
The game included an ejection, nine errors which included two catcher interference calls, seven home runs with two Royals players hitting two each and a combined 32 men left on base.
The Royals accounted for six of the seven home runs tonight with
William Young and
Melvin Colmenares having two each.
Rudolph Shaeffer and
Gene Marguez also went yard. It was the 14th and 15th time this season a Royals player has had a multi-home run game. For Young it was his third and Melvin's second.
With the 30 year-old Young likely to be let go after the season, the Royals are enjoying his services for the last few days. He was acquired in 2006 from the Orioles in a trade but with diminishing skills all signs point to the Royals cutting him to avoid a high arbitration number.
For the year Young has hit .247/.306/.434 in 267 AB's and has hit 14 home runs, drove in 49 runs but has struck out 75 times in 71 games.
"I have certainly enjoyed my time in Kansas City but its a business and I understand that. They have not told me one way or the other but I read the papers and I know whats going on. Does not matter to me one way or the other. I know I can get another job." stated Young.
Even though the Royals won the game 13-5 the one bit of worrisome news was the performance of
Joe Blanton. He did go six innings and gave up four hits with two runs, none of the earned. Now he was not helped out by his defense much last night but he seemed to lack his usual spot on control.
He only struck out three batters last night, his worst performance of the year and also walked three batters. His first game of the season with matching walks and strikeout numbers. He did improve to 18-3 for the season but with only one start left before the playoffs, the Royal faithfuls are hoping for a dominant performance and then a dominating playoff run.
Now we all know the Royals are in the playoffs but what about the other teams in the league. In the AL East the Blue Jays(91-65) lead the Orioles(90-65) by a half game with Toronto having six games left and the Orioles having seven. The Orioles also lead the Wild Card race by 7.5 games over the Devil Rays(83-73) so the Blue Jays and Orioles should be in the playoffs no matter what happens.
In the AL West the Texas Rangers(80-75) lead the Oakland Athletics(73-82) by seven games and their magic number is down to one. So in the American League your playoff teams should be the Royals, Blue Jays, Rangers and Orioles.
In the National League the NL East was won by the Florida Marlins(93-63), the Pittsburgh Pirates(95-60) won the NL Central and the NL West is still up for grabs. Currently the Giants(91-65) lead the Padres(93-65) by a half game with six and seven games to play respectively. The Padres do lead the Wild Card race by six over the Dodgers(84-71) so if everything works out these teams will be in the playoffs for the National League; the Marlins, Pirates, Giants and Padres.
The Royals are headed home for their last six home games versus the White Sox and Red Sox. What a fitting ending to a season since these are shoes the Royals have never worn before. Lets go Royals!!!