July 3, 2003
KANSAS CITY ROYALS (42-38 - 2nd Place)
KANSAS CITY PITCHING
MONTH RA/G AVG OBP SLG AB/HR AB/2B AB/BB AB/SO
April 4.13 .250 .331 .382 45.2 19.2 8.9 5.7
May 6.10 .299 .351 .481 28.2 16.9 11.9 6.5
June 5.93 .296 .368 .484 30.5 12.5 8.6 7.2
After a nice April in which Kansas City pitchers had the fifth-best ERA in the AL, the pitching staff has been a complete mess since. Kansas City's ERA in both May and June ranked 13th in the 14-team American League, ahead of only Texas both months.
The Royals used 17 pitchers in the month of June, including Albie Lopez, who gave up seven runs 2/3 of an inning against the Twins on June 19th and was released about an hour after the game ended. Lopez has been the worst pitcher in baseball this year. He has a 12.71 ERA in 22.2 innings pitched and has given up 41 hits and 17 walks, good for a .383 batting average and a .464 on-base percentage. Seven of those 41 hits were homers and 12 of them were doubles, leading to a .692 slugging percentage. .383/.464/.692 - in other words, he made every hitter he faced Albert Pujols.
Before getting released, Lopez pitched against seven teams this year. He had an ERA above 10.00 against five of them, including a grotesque 47.25 ERA against the Orioles. Lopez had a 0.00 ERA in seven innings against the Tigers and limited them to a .043 batting average. If you take those innings against Detroit away (and, the way they hit, shouldn't they be in some separate category?), Lopez has an 18.37 ERA in 15.2 innings and opponents hit .476 off him.
Chris George had a 7.56 ERA in June and somehow managed to go 4-1 in six starts. For the season overall, George is 9-5 in 16 starts and has a 6.86 ERA. Meanwhile, those poor guys in Detroit - Mike Maroth, Nate Cornejo, Jeremy Bonderman and Adam Bernero - have started 64 games and pitched 371.1 innings with a 5.06 ERA, and they have combined to win eight games (and lose 41!).
KANSAS CITY HITTING
MONTH RA/G AVG OBP SLG AB/HR AB/2B AB/BB AB/SO
April 5.30 .277 .349 .458 25.3 17.4 10.6 5.5
May 4.52 .250 .314 .385 35.9 23.9 11.4 5.9
June 5.74 .288 .351 .445 37.8 16.6 11.5 6.3
The Royals had an excellent offensive month, despite Mike Sweeney playing in just 15 of the team's 27 games and totaling only 55 at bats. Of course, he hit .364/.470/.600 in those 15 games...
Angel Berroa had a monster month, hitting .327/.383/.592 with five homers, seven doubles and two triples in 98 ABs. That brought his season-totals up to .283/.345/.457, which is very impressive for a guy who hit .215/.277/.360 while fighting through injuries at Triple-A last year. Berroa has been the third-best offensive shortstop in the AL thus far, right behind Nomar and ARod. Depending on whether you like errors or Zone Ratings, his defense has either been pretty good or absolutely horrible. Berroa has committed 19 errors, most in the AL, and has the lowest fielding percentage in the league. His .856 Zone Rating ranks seventh and he has turned the second-most double-plays.
Ken Harvey also had a big June. The rookie DH was hitting .228/.278/.371 at the end of May, but hit .333/.389/.561 in June to bring his season-totals to .258/.310/.425. Michael Tucker (.300/.385/.500), Carlos Beltran (.303/.410/.404), Raul Ibanez (.284/.313/.440), Desi Relaford (.280/.324/.452) and Aaron Guiel (.273/.347/.470) also had nice months.
Fun with paces:
Raul Ibanez - 160 games, 20 homers, 41 doubles, 91 RBIs, 103 runs
Michael Tucker - 144 games, 20 homers, 36 doubles, 6 triples, 83 RBIs, 89 runs
Angel Berroa - 154 games, 16 homers, 36 doubles, 6 triples, 30 walks, 22 HBPs
Mike Sweeney - 126 games, 24 homers, 22 doubles, 101 RBIs, 95 walks, 59 strikeouts
Darrell May - 34 games, 28 starts, 184 innings, 2 wins, 8 losses
Chris George - 32 starts, 170 innings, 75 strikeouts, 75 walks, 34 homers, 18 wins
Jason Grimsley - 88 games, 92 innings, 76 strikeouts, 27 walks, 6 homers, 39 holds
Mike MacDougal - 77 games, 74 innings, 61 strikeouts, 41 walks, 2 homers, 41 saves
Coming up:
7/3-7/6 - Detroit
7/7 - Off Day
7/8-7/10 - @Anaheim
7/11-7/13 - @Texas
The Royals get four with the Tigers and then head West (well, sort of) to face the Angels and Rangers for the first time this season.
