Royals Rumblings - News for May 20, 2024

Vinnie buttons up.

Vinnie Pasquantino had a big triple on Sunday in a rare pinch-hit appearance.

“I’m always thinking triple out of the box,” Pasquantino quipped. “I’m always digging for three. Whenever I hit a ground ball, especially, I’m always thinking three.

“I looked over at [third base coach] Vance [Wilson] at third base, and he was waving the runner in front of me home, so I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to give this a shot.’”

Pete Grathoff writes the Royals are off to a great start.

“We will go day by day, you know?” Perez said. “Hopefully this thing continues that way. ... I’ve told you guys before that in the big leagues, you have to prepare yourself to make it to the playoffs. Everyone has to think that way. If you don’t think that way, you’re in the wrong sport.

It’s the Royals’ second-best 48-game start to a season, trailing only the 1976 Royals (30-18). The Royals swept the Athletics for the first time since June 26-28, 2015, in Oakland.

Salvy’s old teammates are impressed he keeps ticking.

His former teammates are both impressed and rooting for him and the Royals to keep up the great play. “He’s a guy that went from catching 140 to 150 something games a year and everybody’s saying, ‘Hey, that’s not gonna last, you can’t do that,’” Hosmer said Thursday.

“And he was just so determined to continue to do that, because he love playing the game. So super proud of him and he’s gotten better and better, which is something that’s mind blowing to really see, what he’s accomplished and how much better he’s gotten.”

Seth Lugo kept the strikeouts coming in a win on Saturday, writes Jaylon Thompson.

He got early strikes with his slurve, sweeper and slider. The pitches kept the Athletics off balance. The slurve garnered 11 swings, per Baseball Savant.

“I feel like I made a lot of good pitches, you know, and made a few mistakes,” Lugo said. “I was a little frustrated as a starter and disappointed not getting through six (innings). I feel like that’s my job. I’m happy with the win and happy that the bullpen pitched as well as they did.”

Vinnie Pasquantino started hitting after Matt Quatraro told him to button up his jersey, writes Anne Rogers.

“I’m currently batting .500 with only one button down instead of two,” Pasquantino said. “We’ll see what happens going forward. We’ll see what accessory changes there could be. But yeah, it was mostly the button being buttoned.

“That’s called good managing. I don’t think enough credit is given to managers in moments like that. Spotting out the little things. He’s a quiet guy, but when it’s time, he’ll let you know.”

The 2014 Royals reunited over the weekend, but there was one notable absence - Yordano Ventura, who died in 2017.

“When we lost Yordano when we did, it was tough to swallow, you know, especially him being a lot younger,” Hosmer said. “He was one of the first guys that I really got to start that leadership role with and I saw a lot of big time improvements for not only him on the field, but as a person. So yeah, it’s tough not having him here.”

Craig Brown argues the Royals need to start acting like a contender, which means making some changes.

Bringing up Waters and Mann allows Matt Quatraro to continue to rotate his outfielders. Dairon Blanco can continue his role as a pinch runner/late inning defensive replacement/spot starter. Kyle Isbel gets a stay, despite his current production where he’s hitting just .212/.252/.336 with a 66 OPS+ because as we could see from the bWAR chart above, the defense brings plenty of value.

And then Renfroe is still in the mix as well. Yes, I can hear your displeasure from here.

Kris Bubic will continue his rehab assignment at Northwest Arkansas.

Former Royals minor leaguer Colby Schultz allegedly placed bets on baseball with Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter’s bookie.

Tom Tischinski, a Kansas City native who played catcher for the Twins, died at the age of 79.

Shota Imanaga has the lowest ERA for any pitcher in his first nine career starts.

The Rays acquire former Royals reliever Richard Lovelady.

Is the window of contention closing on the Toronto Blue Jays?

Tanner Houck is discussing a contract extension with the Red Sox.

Should umpires have access to what pitchers and catchers are saying on Pitchcom?

Oleksandr Usyk defeats Tyson Fury to become undisputed heavyweight champion.

Manchester City wins their fourth consecutive Premier League title.

OnlyFans customers think they’re chatting with models, but its actually low-wage workers.

Restaurant sales are down, so they are looking to deals to lure back customers.

Inside the wacky world of the Westminster Dog Show.

Your song of the day is Prince & The Revolution with Raspberry Beret.