Mid Season Breakdown II

The Pitching

Aside from a few hiccups, Scott Elarton and the first month of the bullpen, Royals pitching has been good. Just typing that makes my fingers happy. It has been a long, long time since the Royals have hadany pitching that has kept them in and even given them a chance to win games.

The starting pitching has been decent, well maybe even good, but they're a bit inconsistent. They had a great April, a down May and have been good again in June. So far this season Royals starters have logged 39 quality starts and 25 wins. Last year for the whole season Royals starters only had 47 quality starts

What to say about the bullpen. Aside from a rough April they have been amazing:

Bullpen Win-Loss Record by month

April: 1-6

May: 7-3

June: 3-1

The bullpen has really been behind this winning resurgence from the Royals. You can see by the numbers the starters had a bit of a rough May, but the bullpen was there to pick them up. Lately if you get the ball to the Royals bullpen in the late innings, you can almost count on a win. They have become shutdown...they won't stay this good forever, but it good enough for some wins right now.

Stat Table: Win-Loss/Earned Run Average/Strikeouts/Walks

(...if you click on the table it will get larger)

Starters

Mid Season Awards

The Stopper: Gil Meche, Although Meche has struggled a bit in the last month, you couldn't tell just by looking at the numbers, but every time he takes the mound the Royals have a shot at victory. Also a 3.54 ERA is well worth $11 million, just ask the Dodgers and Jason Schmidt.

Most Improved: Jorge De La Rosa, De La Rosa has great stuff and seems to be figuring out how to pitch. He struggled mightily in June, but before that was really putting up good numbers. His struggles may be because of the amount of innings pitched. Last season he pitched a career high 79 innings and already this season he is a 106. His BB/K ratio is improving lets see how he finishes the season.

Biggest Surprise: Brian Bannister, Scouts said this guy can pitch and he is certainly doing just that. His best month was June, where he was also elected AL Rookie of the Month. Lets see what happens the 2nd half of the season and if the league adjusts to him, but right now he looks like a Dayton Moore steal.

Biggest Disappointment: Zack Greinke, But only a disappointment as a starter. He has really flourished in the bullpen, but I think the Royals gave up on him a bit soon, but he has done so well in the pen, hopefully it gave him his confidence back.

The Bullpen

Mid Season Awards

Slams The Door: David Riske, Riske had a tough April, but after that he has damn near unhittable. His May ERA- 0.00. Consistency is what he has become and that's what he is.

Gives Me a Stroke: Octavio Dotel, I think we all can see he just isn't a closer. Teams just see the ball to well out of his hand and he almost never has a clean inning. I hope he gets traded and they let Greinke try his hand at closer

Biggest Surprise: Joakim Soria, The kid can pitch. He is under-utilized in relief, but don't forget he is still only a Rule V draft pick. His K/BB ratio is 3/1 and did an excellent job as fill in closer earlier this season.

Biggest Disappointment: None...yet

Most Under-Used: Joel Peralta, Peralta is quietly having an excellent season, but it seems like I only notice him when he gives up runs. He, like Soria has a 3K/1BB ratio and is pitching the best he's ever pitched.

The Only Lefty: Jimmy Gobble, I was going to criticize Buddy Bell for only using Gobble against lefties, but then I looked at the numbers. With roughly the same amount of at bats righties are hitting .370 against whereas lefties are hitting .238. Good job Buddy!

The Oddest Stat: Neil Musser, Look at his April line...

I should have split this into 2 sections...its a little long, my bad...Lets hope the Royals pitching keeps it going in the 2nd half.

-b