Wide Open

April 24th, 2015 at 1:03 AM ^

OP isn't exaggerating. The Royals had incidents their opening series of the season against the White Sox, tried to pick a fight with Mike Trout (who is Mike Trout), and had another dustup last series with the A's.

I really want to like the Royals, and some of these fights they may not have started, but it's a disturbing pattern at best. At a minimum they just ticked off 3 different teams in 3 weeks.

Yinka Double Dare

April 24th, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^

And Yordano Ventura has been at the center of three of those. He was the one who yelled at Trout, he plunked Lawrie intentionally, and he started the crap last night. He got fined after the Lawrie thing, so he's definitely getting suspended for this incident, and I suspect a strong warning from the commish's office that next time it's going to be double digit games suspension. 

Jack Hammer

April 24th, 2015 at 1:07 AM ^

Ventura wants to be Pedro and throw Zimmer to the ground by his melon.  But unfortunately Zimmer is already underground so Lil' Pedro is trying to fight with anyone who looks at him funny.

ST3

April 24th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^

Yordano can mouth off all he wants and it's his teammates that get plunked in retaliation. I actually sometimes like the DH because watching pitchers hit is painful, but I also like the strategy involved in the NL. One tweak I would make to the DH is that if his team's pitcher hits a batter, the next time the DH comes up, the pitcher has to bat. Maybe then asshats like Ventura wouldn't be so quick to throw at guys. If you make a mistake and hit a guy, the other team should realize that and they won't try to plunk you.

ak47

April 24th, 2015 at 7:48 AM ^

I'm no fan of the royals, they were annoying like this last year too but at least two of the fights were not on them. The A's might have the most assholes on their team besides the blue jays and the fight came after an incredibly dirty slide that could have broken a leg. If you try to injure someone you have getting a ball thrown at you coming.

This one, don't know what the lead up was but someone yelling fuck you is a pretty short fuse to go off on.

The Dirty Nil

April 24th, 2015 at 8:01 AM ^

I don't think Lowrie intended to hurt him. It was a really bad play and bad decision, but if you actually saw the play and his reaction afterward, it's apparent that it wasn't meant to be dirty. They were teammates for a while. Also, the whole situation should've been over after Saturday, but the Royals started throwing at hitters again on Sunday. Fuck the Royals.

ST3

April 24th, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^

If I'm not mistaken, he's a middle infielder. The way to deal with him is to slide hard into him, not with intent to injure, but to send a message that it goes both ways and if you are going to play like an idiot, you'll be treated like an idiot.

Eric Byrnes defended the slide and said he was safe, but the thing is, if he had slid into the bag, he would have been obviously safe instead of probably safe after multiple viewings. His lead foot was a foot from the bag and it was his back leg that caught the bag. If he hits the bag with that front foot, he's safe. The other thing is that he was trying to break up a double play on a play where there was no chance of a double play. That's just stupid and dangerous for no reason.

IB6UB9

April 24th, 2015 at 8:11 AM ^

It is nice to read the objectivity in this thread as I was concerned there might be a slight bias against the Royals as they compete with the Tigers for the best record in baseball.  Fortunately the posters of MGoBlog never take on a mob mentality.

IB6UB9

April 24th, 2015 at 8:54 AM ^

Put down the pitchfork Gaston.

Although the Royals will miss Sheilds presence in the clubhouse and Ventura might need some time to understand he has to remain cool while defending his players Baseball's unwritten code requires your pitcher to maintain order from the mound.  The Royal's are doing nothing worng in defending each other and if anything this is bringing the clubhouse together.

Last nights jawing was brought on by the White Sox and although Ventura needs to enforce without losing his cool the issues that have resulted in out of the ordinary bench clearing have been more often the opponent then the Royals.

Having spent the better of 20 years as a doormat the posters in this thread are as annoyed as the rest of the American League that the Royals are carrying over the success from last year.  When Alex Rios comes back this team could be much better then last year.

 

Stupid Flanders

April 24th, 2015 at 9:30 AM ^

Didn't Ventura start the incident with Trout and this one with the White Sox?  It seems like he gets mad when he grooves a pitch right down the middle and the batter lines it back at him...