Royals made it six straight and move to 8-1 with wins over the Braves and Yankees on Sunday.
We managed to avoid the rain until the bottom of the sixth in game two and finished up in a downpour in the top of the 7th.
Game 1 with the Braves was a close game right until the end and the Royals had the advantage of fresh legs against a Braves team coming off a victory over the Jays. Both Atwell and Gougler pitched well and the game moved swiftly. Braves struck for one in the first and Royals answered with 4 to go up 4-1. Braves cut it to 4-3 on a Steve Schaeffer bomb in the 4th or the 5th. Braves started the 6th with two straight singles but an illegal bat reversed the second single and sent the runner back to first with one out on the board and the Royals ended the inning without any damage. The Royals sent a runner to third in the bottom of the 6th where he remained the rest of the inning. The Braves then started the top of the 7th with a double. The next batter bounced back to the pitcher who was able to catch the runner on 2nd on his way to 3rd and the Royals successfully executed the rundown for the first out then fired to get the batter who was trying to get to 2nd during the rundown effectively ending the threat.
A brief shower between games and game two against the Yankees started off with a run in the top half by the Yankees followed by 4 in the bottom half by the Royals. Another two runs built the lead to 6-1 before the Yankees picked away and cut it to 6-4 around the 5th inning. Royals answered with 3 in the bottom half to build a 9-4 lead going into the 7th. A leadoff double (i think it was a double) followed by two more hits were then followed by a shot to the fence which was run down and two crisp throws nailed the batter at second for the first out. Two more outs and that was it for the action and the game ended at 9-6 +- as the skies opened up and everyone ran for shelter.
-- Edited by johnc on Monday 14th of July 2014 07:41:53 AM
... shelter came in for form of our cars and we drove off with the Giants-Black Sox being rained out.
In the 55 Division. which plays weekdays, 21 of the 47 scheduled games have been rained out so far this year. Last year, we had a stretch in which 17 of 22 scheduled games were PPD. and ended the season with 24 games PPD.
Braves started the 6th with two straight singles but an illegal bat reversed the second single and sent the runner back to first with one out on the board
-- Edited by johnc on Monday 14th of July 2014 07:41:53 AM
Hey John,
Nice write up, just curious what the deal was with the bat - I know different divisions have different rules and 45+ is pretty lenient on what can be used, so this piqued my curiosity.
Braves started the 6th with two straight singles but an illegal bat reversed the second single and sent the runner back to first with one out on the board
-- Edited by johnc on Monday 14th of July 2014 07:41:53 AM
Hey John,
Nice write up, just curious what the deal was with the bat - I know different divisions have different rules and 45+ is pretty lenient on what can be used, so this piqued my curiosity.
Thanks, Tim "T Paul" Burns 33+ Reds, 45+ Shaskys
The bat itself would have been legal but it was damaged. There was a big hunk of wood missing .... something along the lines of a four inch long by two inch wide chunk had broken off.
There were mixed feelings on our side about whether we should have made an issue out of it ..... but at the bottom of it all is the question of whether the damage may have weakened the bat and increased the chance of it breaking and creating a safety issue. I suppose the missing wood could have made it lighter as well. I did hear a Braves player said it was their own fault and they should have known better.
It was the only ugly part of an otherwise really good, competitive game.
-- Edited by johnc on Monday 14th of July 2014 10:20:22 AM
I would like to clarify the "illegal bat" issue. My player foul tipped a ball off the cup on the end of his new Rake bat a few weeks ago. It broke a small chunk off the back side of the bat but did not have any effect on the bat's performance. He certainly gained no competitive advantage in using the bat. There was definitely no intent on the part of the player to circumvent any rules.
So that brings us to the "safety" concern that was cited. It was brought to our attention that certain Royals players were aware of the chip on the bat but did not report it or say anything about it to the umpires or to me until after he had the key single putting a runner into scoring position in a one run ballgame. Had the concern truly been for safety, then it should and would have been brought up before he used the bat. Obviously it was kept in their pocket for exactly this scenario; a bush league move in my opinion.
I know there were mixed feelings from the Royals players about them making an issue of this and I appreciate those of you who expressed this to me after the game. Congrats to a great Royals squad for winning a well played game. Also credit to the umpires for making the only call they could on the issue once they were informed.
But this game could possibly have ended with a different result had this incident not occurred. The next batter hit a sac fly after a stolen base advancing the remaining runner to third. That sac fly could have tied the game had that runner stolen third instead of second. Who knows what happens after that in extra innings.
I know that most players don't want an otherwise good ballgame tainted by this type of gamesmanship; they'd much rather win or lose on the field.
The George Brett pine tar incident is very similar to this one in spirit, and Lee McPhail overturned that one.
I want to say hats off to a undermanned Yankees Team for a hard fought game. After going down 4-1 after the first inning and 6-1 after 3. We fought back to make it 6-4 then the Royals want up 9 -4. We got 2 back in the 7th to lose 9 - 6. Not mention in the article was a good pitching performance by Royals pitcher Eric Samarija he went all 7 innings and a timely Homerun by John Corrigan. For the Yankees John Kalinski 2 RBI's John haff a double and 2 runs scored, and Rick Caruso 3 for 3, 2 runs scored. Can't wait to face them again in the playoffs.
So that brings us to the "safety" concern that was cited. It was brought to our attention that certain Royals players were aware of the chip on the bat but did not report it or say anything about it to the umpires or to me until after he had the key single putting a runner into scoring position in a one run ballgame. Had the concern truly been for safety, then it should and would have been brought up before he used the bat.
I know that most players don't want an otherwise good ballgame tainted by this type of gamesmanship; they'd much rather win or lose on the field.
The George Brett pine tar incident is very similar to this one in spirit, and Lee McPhail overturned that one.
Steve S
Braves
Hard to argue with you Steve (and i can argue with almost anyone about anything ) .... your point about safety is 100% valid. I guess sometimes the desire to win gets the best of us .... and it's times like this that i don't miss managing and really enjoy just running out onto the field and playing
You guys now have some added motivation when we meet again.
) .... your point about safety is 100% valid. I guess sometimes the desire to win gets the best of us .... and it's times like this that i don't miss managing and really enjoy just running out onto the field and playing
