Royals. A's. Live thoughts.

We're working on something bigger, but an afternoon Royals-A's game seems like a good time to throw out a few thoughts.

-- Seriously, when did Nick Swisher start looking like one of the Darrell brothers ("This is my brother Darrell and this is my other brother Darrell"). Or maybe he looks like Silent Bob from the original Clerks.

-- Reliever Todd Wellemeyer just came into the game in the third inning with one on and nobody out (this should tell you how badly this game is going -- the Royals are already down 5-0). Wellemeyer promptly walked the first two hitters. That's not likely to help his 9.69 ERA. I'm telling you, I could never be a manager. I would go to the mound right now and release Todd Wellemeyer. I mean flat out release him. I might even bring out a large sign for the fans that says "DON'T WORRY! I WILL NEVER BRING TODD WELLEMEYER INTO A GAME AGAIN. REALLY."
But see, just when you think you've seen everything: Welleyer strikes out Mark Ellis on a pitch that is about two feet over Ellis' head. "It's going to be tough for a Major League hitter to get on top of that," Royals announcer Paul Splittorff said. He doesn't add that most Major League hitters wouldn't swing at that. Wellemeyer then strikes out Adam Melhuse on a fastball when catcher Jason LaRue was looking for a curve -- the ball smacked right into LaRue's shoulder. And then Wellemeyer forced a fly out to end the threat.
I never could be a manager.

-- I wrote a column about Royals third baseman Alex Gordon today, the basic opinion being that, yes, he's struggling mightily, but lots of young players struggle at first (George Brett, Mike Schmidt, Willie Mays, etc) and in time he will be OK. He's too talented and too together, in my opinion, to flop. Plus, he has a confidence that I think is a real asset for a young play. All the baseball people I talk to tell me the same thing.
That said, I've received many emails and calls from people today who could not possibly disagree more. To put it bluntly, they've given up Alex Gordon already. They think he's cocky. They think he's fundamentally unsound (this is true -- he actually lifts his head on ground balls). And they think his "confidence" is false and fake and very unappealing. "He acts like he's already arrived," one emailer writes. Numerous others seconded the motion.
I'm not entirely surprised -- fans are not supposed to be patient -- but I will say I'm a bit shocked by the venom for a kid playing his first 30 games in the big leagues.

-- Royals do not have a hit through three innings. They have not come close to a hit in three innings. If they don't pick it up through, say, six innings, I'll probably have to hop in my car and head out to the ballpark. We don't need that.

-- They are asking one of the dumbest AFLAC trivia questions ever -- who has the highest fielding percentage for Royals right fielders in a single season. Is there a more worthless statistic that fielding percentage for an outfielder? I'll bet the answer is Al Cowens in 1978.

-- Yesterday, Tony Pena did something I've never seen before. He was on second base, one out, and a short fly ball was hit behind second -- Mark Ellis drited back to catch it. He caught it, no exaggeration, 30 feet behind the bag, no more. Pena then did something incredible -- he tagged up and took like three steps off the bag. Ellis simply tossed it to the pitcher who tagged Pena out, end of inning. It was like something you would see when 9-year-olds play.
One caveat: Pena was almost certainly safe on the play. There is no way the tag got him before he got back to the bag. But Buddy Bell did not argue the play ... and when asked about it afterward, Buddy (to his everlasting credit) said: "I don't argue for stupid baseball."

-- Well, Todd Wellemeyer more than made up for it the next inning. An infield single off his foot, a clean single to right and an Eric Chavez homer -- it's 8-0 Oakland with nobody out in the fourth. Maybe that release wouldn't be a bad idea.

-- Yeah, that's another homer. This one's by Dan Johnson. 9-0 Oakland. That's the second homer hit into fountains today.

-- The AFLAC answer was Cowens, but it was in 1976. I'll give hmself half credit. Trivia questions are an art. Yesterday at the Royals game, the trivia question was -- I'm not joking here -- "What city did the A's play in before they came to Oakland." And not only that -- they offered three choices. That's embarrassing, right?

-- Four innings. No hits. This isn't going to happen right. I'm not going to have to get in my car, am I?

-- And the Royals are in trouble already in the fifth -- 1st and 3rd, one out. The man got on first when Esteban German (playing third) threw a ball in the dirt and Mike Sweeney (playing first) could not come close to scooping the ball out of the dirt. I have a serious question: If you put German at third and Sweeney at first, shouldn't all defensive errors count against the manager? I mean, is it really their fault?

-- Billy Butler may or may not be ready to be in the big leags. But he just got the Royals first hit, so he's a hero in my book. Royals down 10-0 through five. I'm going back to my bigger blog item.