Royals Rumblings - News for September 23, 2024
The last week of the season.
Matt Quatraro was frustrated at the winless week for the Royals.
“It’s an easy narrative to say, well, it’s a bad week,” Quatraro said. “But so what? We have another week and it can be a good week. We have to attack it one day at a time. You can’t look forward to next weekend or trying to get into the playoffs. You’ve got to win the game in front of you.”
Vahe Gregorian compares Matt Quatraro’s Royals to the 2014 Royals that had their backs up against the wall.
“If it was, ‘Oh, tomorrow we’ll play better,’” he said, snapping his fingers for emphasis, “we would have done that a long time ago. (But) you’ve got to pitch better. You’ve got to run the bases better. You’ve got to hit better.”
After a slight pause, he added, “You’ve got to relax more. You’ve got to take some of the pressure off for yourself and understand that no one person is going to change the outcome of every game.
“You have to be a team. And that’s why we’re in the spot we’re in, because we’ve put a good team of guys together.”
In the midst of adversity, hitting coach Alec Zumwalt shared a Winston Churchill quote on Twitter.
Anne Rogers talks to the Royals about their inability to hit with runners in scoring position.
In order to help out the pitching and get to the postseason, the Royals need to find ways to scratch across some runs, find their confidence again and get back to the kind of offense they’ve shown all year.
“It’s easy to press, and I feel like as a team that’s what we’re doing right now,” outfielder MJ Melendez said. “But we just [need to] kind of get back to the basics. We’ve had good at-bats all year.”
She writes that Michael Lorenzen could return this week.
Lorenzen had two simulated innings, while Smith had one in his first time facing hitters since being sidelined on Aug. 26. Lorenzen, who strained his hamstring on Aug. 27, has pitched in two rehab outings but exited his last one on Sept. 13 with a trainer.
“Very encouraging,” manager Matt Quatraro said of the live sessions on Saturday. “I think Lorenzen looked completely healthy. We would look for signs of him favoring his leg, but he did not look like that at all. I know he felt good leading up to this, so that was encouraging. Same with Will. He’s been throwing bullpens, so hopefully this is a big step.”
The Red Sox sweep the Twins in a doubleheader, putting Minnesota a game behind Detroit and Kansas City.
The Reds fire manager David Bell.
The Rangers are eliminated from contention, meaning baseball will not have a repeat champion for the 24th consecutive season.
Baseball’s biggest second-half disappointments.
Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez exits Sunday’s game with a knee contusion.
Aaron Judge hits home run #55.
The White Sox tie the record for most losses in a season since 1900.
Jordan Hicks is out for the year, just one out shy of reaching an $83k incentive.
Boston’s Rafael Devers will miss the final week of the season.
The Nationals demote All-Star CJ Abrams after he was out all night at at casino.
Umpire Larry Vanover is retiring after 30 years.
What do the Cubs need to compete in 2025?
A Diamondbacks executive blasts a stadium renovation proposal that doesn’t include public funding.
The Connecticut Sun steamroll the Indiana Fever in Caitlin Clark’s playoff debut.
The new Champions League format is a win for fans.
Americans are driving even more than they did before the pandemic.
The rise and decline of the celebrity video-greeting app Cameo.
The 25 best episodes of The West Wing, ranked.
Your song of the day is John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band with On the Dark Side.