This is Take Two of this entry – our lovely (read: Piece of *&!%* garbage) blogging software decided to completely erase everything I had written, and the photos I had inserted.
At the Major League level, the Royals are awful at getting on base. They rank 3rd-to-last in all of the Majors in OBP, and dead-last in the American League. At the Triple-A level, Kila Ka’aihue is the opposite of awful at getting on base. He’s among the league leaders in OBP (even though some call this season a “struggle” or a “disappointment”), and leads the league with 80 walks.
The Omaha Royals club record for walks is 82. Could tonight be the night Kila overtakes that record? He already has 19 multi-walk games, including last night, so it is possible.
Last night’s 5-0 win over the Iowa Cubs was Omaha’s 14th shutout, which leads the PCL by far. Despite having the PCL’s worst winning percentage, The O-Royals have six more shutouts than the next-closest team, and have only been shut out twice themselves. (This strange stat is wreaking havoc on their Pythag….) According to Kevin McNabb’s always-informative game notes, Lenny DiNardo has been involved in five of the team’s shutouts – four as a starter and once in relief.
DiNardo (pictured above) somehow kept Iowa off the board through six innings, despite givng up eight hits and a walk. He threw 86 pitches and struck out four I-Cubs on the way to his 7th win. Victor Marte and Doug Waechter closed the game out.
I was anxious to see Jordan Parraz play in person after missing his Triple-A debut Tuesday night. His first at-bat came with the bases loaded and two out in the 1st inning, and he struck out swinging on three pitches. He ended up 0-4 with two strikeouts, but made one acrobatic catch in right field. Here he is swinging out of his shoes in that first AB:
If you’re in Omaha, come to the game tonight at 7:05 to see if Ka’aihue can get those two more walks, or if Parraz will collect his first hit at this level. And since it’s Thursday, you could also enjoy $1 beers and/or soft drinks. See you there?
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1 comment
Devon Young
July 30, 2009 at 10:13 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
So….the Royals aren’t recalling Kila ’cause his BA is .260, even tho he’s on base at a .400 clip. That is exactly why I’m slowly turning into a Twins fan. I may be loyal, but I just can’t be a fan of stupidity.