Sorry for the long silence. I've been in the throes of a move and those forces of pseudo-relocation have conspired with a veritable fuckload of work to effectively sideline my output across these internets. While I've begun to attempt to catch up over at Inconsiderate Prick, nothing has been completed there either.
As far as the Royals are concerned, well, I hadn't seen a Royals game in almost a month until a few nights ago. The first Royals action I saw was the end of that blow-out at the hands of the Indians a few nights back. If it needed any solidification, this game drove home the point that a month away from the Royals wasn't a bad thing for me.
Over the course of the past month, Kila Ka'aihue and Alex Gordon have yet to live to the hopes we had upon their recall. From all accounts and the limited action I've seen, it would appear as though Kila is probably pressing. If there were an at-bat that would serve as a perfect microcosm for that conclusion, it would be his at-bat against Darren Oliver in the ninth inning of Tuesday night's game. With Wilson Betemit having led off the ninth with a double, Kila ended up reaching on three pitches out of the zone to strike out swinging. On replay the FoxTrax (or whatever the hell it's called on FoxSports Southwest), Oliver missed outside on every pitch of the at-bat, yet Ka'aihue turned an walk into a strike out by not exercising his discerning ocular muscles.
But the Kila Monster's struggles are not what brought me back, and I think you probably know this...
It was announced today that Jason Kendall is getting shut down for the rest of the season to have his torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder surgically repaired. I think I share the sentiment of most of the readers here when I say, thank fucking Christ.
Say what you will about Yuniesky Betancourt (and I've said plenty), but I don't think there's a Royal I hate more than Jason Kendall. While I'd like to think that I'm not one who publicly relishes the suffering of others, the fucking punishment that Jason Kendall inflicted on Royals fans day in and day out was so grotesque Amnesty International was going to have to be called in if the status quo were held for much longer. I know I'm not the only one who's happy about this development, so I refuse to feel bad about my unbridled joy.
What the injury means is that Lucas May is one of what looks to be three September call-ups. May, you will remember, was one of the prospects the Royals got in return for Scott Podsednik. While I am a bit suspect of his Major League-readiness, I also doubt that his development is vital to the future of the franchise. He has been in Triple-A all year, splitting time between Albuquerque and Omaha, so I guess there's no time like the present to see what he's got.
This also, of course, means that Brayan Peña should get to see some more consistent time behind the dish without the No-Bat Iron Man in his way. There is no way this cannot be better. Peña's skills (or at least his output) at the plate have been stunted this year by the erratic playing time he has gotten.
Give me a day in which I can tune in and see either Peña or May instead of Jason Kendall, and I'm a happy camper.
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