D4Assignment: Big Names, Big Games in AL Wild Card Contest

James Shields and Jon Lester, dueling aces

It has been 29 years since the Kansas City Royals reached the postseason. 1985 saw the Royals win their one and only World Series Championship. (With a little help from umpire Don Denkinger.) Tuesday night, the Royals will host the Oakland A’s in a one game showdown between the two AL Wild Card winners. To the victor go the spoils and a divisional round match up with the Los Angeles Angels. You know where the losers go.

The A’s have been to the playoffs 11 times during the Royals drought, but haven’t been to the World Series since 1990. Their last World Series title, the ninth in franchise history (The first five were won when they called Philadelphia home), came in the “Earthquake series” with the San Francisco Giants.

The Royals were an expansion team in 1969, two years after the A’s departed Kansas City after a 13-season run. The only prior postseason meeting between the two squads came after the strike-shortened 1981 regular season. The Billy Martin-managed A’s swept KC in three straight games before they were swept in three games by the New York Yankees in the ALCS. It was a disappointing end of the season for Kansas City, which lost the World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies one year earlier.

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Omar the Prince Signs With Royals

Infante translates from Spanish to English as the title and rank for the son of the Kings of the Iberian Kingdom. So it was no surprise that Omar Infante agreed to terms Friday with the Kansas City Royals.

What is surprising is that KC was willing to give Infante a four-year deal, something the Yankees (reportedly offered 3-years, $24MM) and other teams refused to do. The cash is expected to be in the neighborhood of $30MM, though the exact amount is not yet known.

Infante won't give you a lot of offense - he has a .721 lifetime OPS - but he gives you the versatility of playing his primary position of second base and can fill in at shortstop and third base. He's also played in more than 100 games in the outfield. The Yankees were intrigued by that versatility, but smartly did not go beyond three years in their offer to the soon-to-be 32-year old.

The Royals will be Infante's fourth organization after he started and ended his pre-KC career in Detroit, with stops in Atlanta and Miami in between. He made his lone (controversial) All-Star appearance in 2010, a year in which he finished with a .321 batting average and a .775 OPS.

Kansas City hopes that Infante's signing can end the merry-go-round of second baseman the Royals have used over the last decade. Oddly, the front office seems to prefer second baseman whose names begin with the letter 'G'.

2013 - Chris Getz, Emilio Bonifacio, Elliot Johnson
2012 - Getz, Johnny Giavotella, Yuniesky Betancourt
2011 - Getz, Giavotella, Mike Aviles
2010 - Getz, Aviles, Alberto Callaspo
2009 - Callaspo
2008 - Callaspo, Mark Grudzielanek, Esteban German
2007 - Grudzielanek, German
2006 - Grudzielanek, German, Graffanino
2005-  Graffanino, Ruben Gotay, Joe McEwing, Denny Hocking
2004 - Graffanino, Gotay, Desi Relaford

Returning to the Scene of the Ouch and Other Injury Related News

Bullpen coach Mike Harkey's face said it all last May.

On May 3 of last year Yankees fans saw something that nearly made them all hurl. It was Mariano Rivera writhing around in agony on the warning track in Kansas City's Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium. Baseball's all-time greatest closer was in the midst of his normal pre-game ritual of shagging fly balls during batting practice when he went down in a heap.

Several minutes later Rivera was carted off the field with a torn ACL in his right knee. Just 25 games into the 2012 season, Rivera's season was over after just nine appearances and five saves. One year and one week later, the Yankees and Rivera are back in Kansas City for a three game series with the Royals.

Rivera underwent surgery in July and successfully rehabbed in time for the start of the 2013 season. At the moment he leads the American League with 13 saves in 15 games pitched. He's struck out 12 and walked just two in 14.1 innings, and allowed three earned runs (1.88). In other words he's having a Mariano Rivera-type season in this, his final season.

Rivera has returned to his pre-game ritual this season, but Joe Girardi has noticed that Rivera doesn't go after baseballs as hard as he used to. He half-jokingly added, "I'm not going to challenge him on it."

Rivera wasn't the only one that had issues in Kansas City last season. Robinson Cano was booed mercilessly after he did not select the Royals' Billy Butler to participate in the 2012 All-Star home run derby. To make matters worse, the game was actually in Kansas City. The fans went too far in my opinion and were pretty damn obnoxious, especially since it was an All-Star event and not the regular season.

Whether or not it affected Cano, the defending champion, was unclear, but he made a very early exit from the contest. Cano can get even by continuing the success he has had against KC - an .839 OPS 7 HR 39 RBI in 60 games.

I'll get back to the injuries in a moment, but first and I mean first, let's talk about the AL East standings on this fine Friday. Right there in the paper, on your internet, on your iPhone app, was the New York Yankees sitting atop the American League East division. Technically, it's a three way tie (NY 20-13, Bal, Bos 21-14) between the Yankees, Orioles, and suddenly floundering Red Sox, but the Yankees have a .006 percentage lead. Boo hiss to one of my favorite sites - baseball-reference.com - which put the standings in alphabetical order. That's not the way it works boys.

Okay, back to the walking wounded- Curtis Granderson went 1-3 Thursday night as a member of the Yankees Triple 'A' Scranton RailRiders. (Months later the team name still stinks.) The plan is for Granderson, who played right field last night, to play all three outfield positions while he completes his rehab from the broken forearm he got in the first Spring Training game of the season.

Eduardo Nunez is feeling better, but still cannot swing a bat due to soreness in his rib cage/oblique area. If the Yankees have to DL Nunez it can be back dated to May 6, which would make him eligible for activation on the 20th of May.

As a precaution the Yankees have brought back the attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez. The utility infielder was a member of the Yankees organization for 2007 and part of 2008. He was acquired from Arizona when the Yankees sent Randy Johnson back to the desert in January, 2007, and then was dealt to the Nationals at the 2008 trade deadline for pitcher Jhonny Nunez. (Nunez was part of the package later sent to Chicago for Nick Swisher.) The Yankees will send a player to be named later or cash to the Chicago Cubs for Gonzalez, who will report to Scranton.

Ivan Nova remains on track to start in one of Monday's doubleheader make up games with the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees will then head to the Bronx for a six game homestand with the Mariners and Blue Jays.

Girardi is optimistic that Joba Chamberlain will be able to return on time when he's eligible to be activated this coming Tuesday. He backed away a little bit from the statement by adding that you never know with oblique injuries.

Tejada Returns to AL With Royals

After sitting out the 2012 season, 38-year old Miguel Tejada has decided to try another comeback and has reportedly signed a deal with the Kansas City Royals.

Tejada says he will earn $1.1MM with the change to win another $400K with incentives. The native of the Dominican Republic played in 91 games in the 2011 season for the San Francisco Giants, but was released in September aftering compiling a .596 OPS. Tejada signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles this past May and hoped to play with the them at the big league level for the third time in his career. But after 36 games in the minors, Tejada had no home runs, 18 RBI, and hit just .259. The Orioles released him in late June.

Tejada won the American League MVP Award while a member of the Oakland A's in 2002. He hit 34 HR, drove in 131 runs, scored 108, and batted .308 while playing in all 162 regular season games. Tejada drove in 100 runs or better in five straight seasons between Oakland and Baltimore. He finished two RBI shy of 100 in 2005 or the streak would have been seven straight seasons.

The reputation of the shortstop/third baseman took a hit in 2009 when he admitted to lying to Congress about HGH and steroid use. Tejada had been mentioned in the Mitchell Report and was named as a suspect steroid user  by Jose Canseco in his 2005 book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big".

Blue Makes Yankees See Red

It was only a matter of time today before Major League Baseball admitted the umpires blew it when they didn't overturn a home run hit by the Kansas City Royals Billy Butler last night. The run was significant in the Royals 5-4 win over the New York Yankees, and while the correct call would not necessarily have meant the Yankees would have won the game (the home run put KC up 4-2 at the time), it was another example of just how poor big league umpiring has become.

Bad calls have been made many times over the years, and it's expected, the umpires are human and therefore fallible. It's easy to remember bad calls over the years- the missed call at first base that cost the 1985 Cardinals the World Series, the Jeffrey Maier incident in the '96 ALCS, and Joe Mauer's double that wasn't a double in the '09 ALDS are among the bad calls in crucial situations. But bad calls and poor judgement are becoming more and more prevalent, whether it cost a pitcher (Armando Galarraga) a perfect game or takes away an at-bat with an erratic ball-strike zone.

But when an umpiring crew cannot get a call right with the use of instant replay it's time to go back to the drawing board. Whether it be a point system where umpires are graded to determine if they get to work in the Major Leagues the follow season or are docked pay based on performance, something has to be done.

After the game Joe Girardi regretted not protesting the game, but there's no point since there's nothing more futile than a baseball protest. It was a futile night all told. The real reason the Yankees lost was a poor performance by starter Bartolo Colon and the failure to take care of offensive threats.

Colon was shaky and deliberate all night. He didn't have his usual positive energy on the mound nor the location of his pitches. Curtis Granderson's 34th home run of the season had helped stake the Yankees to a 2-0 lead, but Colon couldn't hold the Royals down in the 3rd inning. Alex Gordon belted his 15th home run of the season with two aboard to put the Royals on top for good, 3-2. One out later, came Butler's drive to left field that bounced off of the padding atop the wall and back into play. Brett Gardner quickly got the ball back in, but the umpires ruled a home run.

During a long replay review, Butler knew what the right call was and prepared to go back on the field with a double,. Television cameras caught Butler's sheepish grin when the umpires upheld the call and also the fury that no one knew Mariano Rivera was capable of. The Yankees closer barked out at the umpires and had to be quieted down by coach Tony Pena and Girardi so he would not get ejected. Rivera was still angry after the game while speaking with reporters.

The Yankees had a chance in the 9th to at least tie things up against Royals closer Joakim Soria, who has pitched far below his normal excellence this season. The Yankees loaded the bases on a Derek Jeter single and walks to Granderson and Mark Teixeira. That set the stage for a big battle with Robinson Cano, who had delivered a key three run home run the night before. But Soria made a big pitch and got Cano to fly out to left. Though Jeter scored to cut the lead to 5-4, the Yankees were down to their final out.

After a passed ball moved the tying and go ahead runs into scoring position, Soria issued another free pass to Nick Swisher to reload the bases. That brought up the birthday boy Jorge Posada, who turned 40 on Wednesday. This past Saturday Posada delivered twice the bases loaded, putting up six RBI in the process. It wasn't meant to be this time as Posada never got the bat off his shoulder. A 1-0 pitch missed the zone, but was called a strike by home plate ump Chad Fairchild, changing the tenor of the at-bat. Posada eventually looked at a called third strike on a pitch that was border line, but too close to take.

Notes

Prospect Dellin Betances was promoted to Triple-A Scranton.

The Importance Of Being Melky | Baseball Digest

The Importance Of Being Melky | Baseball Digest

It’s not uncommon these days for baseball fans to “fall in love” with minor league prospects. You can obtain updates on their progress just as easily as you can with Major League players. That was not always the case until recently, specifically this wasn’t the case when Melky Cabrera was a New York Yankees farmhand. I followed his career from the early days and saw the potential he showed as he progressed through the Yankees system.

His initial call up to the Majors was an embarrassment- a little fish in a big pond. He couldn’t hit big league pitching and even worse, he looked like an ant trying to cover Yankee Stadium’s spacious centerfield and the adjacent gaps. He eventually worked his way up to a regular position, but performed miserably in 2008 and was sent to the minors. But Cabrera came into the 2009 season with a different attitude and eventually overtook Brett Gardner as the starting centerfielder. It was then that the Melkman began to deliver.

The Yankees had a number of new players and a new tradition, including pie ala A.J. Burnett in the face of any walk-off winning run producer. It began early in the season, April 22nd against Oakland*- a 14-inning affair was decided when Cabrera hit his second home run of the game for a 9-7 victory. On May 24, the Yankees rallied in the 9th against the Philadelphia Phillies and closer Brad Lidge. Down 4-2 entering the inning, the Yankees tied things up and had the winning run on second base. That’s when Cabrera singled to bring home his best buddy, Robinson Cano, with the winner.

Cabrera wasn’t just a walk-off wizard with the eventual champion Yankees, he excelled at the plate when the innings grew late. There was an 8th inning game-winning home run against Texas in June and an RBI single in the same frame to top the Angels in the first game in May. In late and close games, he hit .304 with 19 RBI and a .754 OPS. Though he wasn’t credited with a walk-off salutation, it was his 13th inning grounder in Game 2 of the ALCS that Maicer Izturis threw away to give the Yankees the win.

But the Yankees were not completely happy with Cabrera, most likely because of his relationship/influence on Cano, as well as his tendency to carry too much weight on his six-foot frame. Cabrera was jettisoned to Atlanta after the season and his offense plummeted. His OPS dropped to .671 and he drove in just 42 runs in 509 plate appearances. But the Melkman still had some late inning deliveries in him. An August 2-run single in the 9th inning toppled the Dodgers at Turner Field. In May, Cabrera’s infield single combined with a David Wright error gave the Braves a last inning 3-2 win over the New York Mets.

Cabrera moved on again for the 2011 season after Atlanta released him in October. This season is on average about 20 games old, but Kansas City has quickly learned the lore of “late inning Melky”. Cabrera provided the game winning, 12th inning hit on April 5th to push the Royals’ record to 4-1. Two weeks later, Cabrera threw out the Indians’ Carlos Santana at the plate in the 8th inning to hold the Royals deficit at two. Then in the 9th, he capped off a three run rally with the game winning single. The Melkman had left his calling card once again.

Though he has had an up and down career with the bat, Cabrera has maintained his late inning heroics. His nine walk-off winners since 2006 are the third highest total in Major League baseball (only Andre Ethier (11), and Ryan Zimmerman (10) have more). He may not have a Hall of Fame career, he may be relegated to the bench at some point, but when the game is on the line, fans know that Melky Cabrera can be counted on to set off a celebration.

Rain Moves Yankees Into 1st Place

The Yankees and Red Sox waited 3 1/2 hours before last night's was finally called. (Nice job jerking the fans around even if the fans up there are jerks.)

In the meantime, Bruce Chen of all people pitched a complete 2-hit shutout of the Rays to give the Yankees a half-game lead in the AL East.

The Yankees will play their regularly scheduled game at 4 pm thanks to the bozos at Fox. Andy Pettitte will face Tim Wakefield. The knuckleballer will be filling in for Clay Buchholz, who was scratched due to a sore back.

The nightcap will pit A.J. Burnett against Daisuke Matsuzaka. The game is scheduled to start at 9:05 pm. Again, thanks to the idiots at Fox since the first game doesn't start until 4. The second game will be televised on YES.

This is Burnett's last chance to step up and basically force his way on the ALDS roster. (By the way Bruce Chen has more wins than Burnett.) If it's me, Burnett isn't coming close to being on the ALDS roster.

The Red Sox will also be without Adrian Beltre all weekend. He's gone home to be with his wife who is about to give birth. Since he's a free agent, Boston may have seen Beltre in a Red Sox uniform for hte last time.

Yankees and Rays In Flat Footed Tie

Zack Greinke gave the Yankees a better chance to win the AL East when he dominated the Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-2 Kansas City Royals win. The AL East leaders are both 94-65 with three games left this weekend.

The Yankees begin a series in Boston Friday night with Andy Pettitte facing Daisuke Matsuzaka. A.J. Burnett goes against Clay Buchholz on Saturday and Phil Hughes and John Lackey finish things up on Sunday.

The Rays won 10 of 18 meetings with the Yankees so if the teams finish in a tie the Rays will be the AL East title holders.

Kansas City Here I come

The Yankees owe a big thank you to the KC Royals tonight for reducing their magic number for clinching the AL East to 8.

Tim Wakefield and his bad back couldn't throw strikes (7 BB in 5 IP) and the Royals rallied back from a pair of four run deficits to beat the Red Sox bullpen 12-9.

Break up the Royals

No one outside of Kansas City, and maybe not even there, picked the Royals to win the AL Central. But they're well on their way to a 162-0 season. They beat the Detroit Tigers for the 2nd straight time today, coming Edgar Renteria short of pitching a no-hitter. "Huh?", you ask.

Renteria had all 3 Tigers hits on the day, 2 of them allowed by starter Brian Bannister, who dominated the Tigers through 7 innings in a 4-0 win.

Kenny Rogers pitched well for Detroit, allowing 2 runs in 6 innings, but the Royals reached the Tigers shaky pen for 2 more.

Break up the Royals

No one outside of Kansas City, and maybe not even there, picked the Royals to win the AL Central. But they're well on their way to a 162-0 season. They beat the Detroit Tigers for the 2nd straight time today, coming Edgar Renteria short of pitching a no-hitter. "Huh?", you ask.

Renteria had all 3 Tigers hits on the day, 2 of them allowed by starter Brian Bannister, who dominated the Tigers through 7 innings in a 4-0 win.

Kenny Rogers pitched well for Detroit, allowing 2 runs in 6 innings, but the Royals reached the Tigers shaky pen for 2 more.