Baseball – Page 29 – North Platte Post Archive

Royals Play Pat Hand; Orioles Add Matusz for ALCS

Posted on October 10, 2014

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Kansas City Royals will enter the AL Championship Series with the same 25-man roster they used in a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels.

Manager Ned Yost has an 11-man pitching staff, six outfielders, five infielders, designated hitter Billy Butler and catchers Salvador Perez and Erik Kratz.

Baltimore’s roster, as expected, does not include suspended first baseman Chris Davis.

The Orioles have an 11-man pitching staff that includes left-handed reliever Brian Matusz. He replaced Ubaldo Jimenez, who was part of Baltimore’s roster for the ALDS.

That was the only change in manager Buck Showalter’s roster.

Game 1 is scheduled for Friday night, weather permitting.

FS1 to Air Alternate Telecast of NLCS Game 1

Posted on October 10, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Fans will be able to watch an alternate telecast of Game 1 of the NL Championship Series focused on sabermetrics.

The main broadcast of Saturday’s opener between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will be on Fox. Cable channel Fox Sports 1 will also show it, with extended replays and statistical analysis of batter-pitcher matchups, umpiring tendencies and defensive shifts.

Kevin Burkhardt will call the game from the studio alongside Gabe Kapler, CJ Nitkowski, Rob Neyer and San Diego Padres manager Bud Black. The broadcast will sometimes use a “double box” to show the commentators and live action at the same time.

FS1 will air the main coverage of five of the last six NLCS games, with Fox showing only a possible Game 6.

Butler, Gordon Relish Royals’ Postseason Success

Posted on October 8, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — They endured it together, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. All those years with 90 losses, the managerial changes and youth movements and empty seats come late September.

Empty seats in July and August, too.

They were supposed to be the two players who led the Kansas City Royals back to the playoffs. Butler was the standout high school prospect who couldn’t run well and struggled with his glove, but my, how he could hit. And Gordon was the best player in college baseball when the Royals plucked him out of Nebraska, a sure-fire All-Star one day.

Well, that day has finally arrived. After seven years of building and rebuilding, Butler and Gordon are reveling in the Royals’ first postseason appearance since 1985.

“For the fans, 30 years without feels like a lifetime. It’s an eternity to me,” Butler said. “Kansas City deserves everything they’re getting and we want to give it to them.”

The Royals open the best-of-seven AL Championship Series on Friday night in Baltimore having already given thousands of fans plenty of postseason thrills.

There was the 12-inning walk-off win over Oakland in the wild-card game at Kauffman Stadium. There was the pair of 11-inning wins against the Angels in Los Angeles. And there was the clinching game back in Kansas City, an 8-3 romp that kicked off a citywide party.

Butler and Gordon have been gleefully in the midst of it all.

“This is personal for us,” Butler said. “It started all the way back when we got drafted. That’s what they envisioned when they drafted us. Going through some bad times, I’ve been with this team for 10 years, building toward this.”

It’s been a challenging road filled with pitfalls and potholes, and more than once it looked as though neither Butler nor Gordon would see the fruits of their labor.

Butler established himself as a solid hitter early in his career, but his limited ability on the base paths and in the field hampered his value. Butler finally made an All-Star game in 2012, when it was played in Kansas City, but the past couple of seasons have been a struggle.

He was hitting just .235 in late-May, a disaster by his lofty standards. And late in the season, Butler found himself sitting on the bench for critical games in a pennant chase.

Of course, he would rise to the occasion when the postseason rolled around.

Butler had a pair of hits in the victory over the A’s. And while he went 0 for 9 against the Angels, he managed three walks and even stole a base, his first in two years.

“We’ve believed in Billy all along,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

The same could be said of Gordon, the second overall pick in the 2005 draft — one year after Butler went in the first round. He was rushed to the majors two years later as the heir to George Brett at third base and soon fizzled out, spending the next couple years vacillating between the majors and minors while trying out a variety of positions.

He finally stuck when he landed in left field, and in 2011 hit .303 and earned the first of three consecutive gold gloves. He made his first All-Star game last year, and his second this season, when he hit .266 with 19 homers and again played a masterful left field.

Gordon atoned for a 0-for-5 performance against Oakland by beating up the Angels, going 3 for 10 with a pair of doubles and scoring twice. It was his bases-loaded double in the first inning of Game 3 on Sunday night that spurred the Royals to the series clincher.

“Gordo, hands-down leader of this ballclub,” third baseman Mike Moustakas said. “For him to go out there in a huge situation like that, after we’re down one, drive in three runs, it just gave us so much confidence going into the rest of that game.”

Gordon has slowly evolved into the face of the franchise, yet he’s a reluctant star who speaks quietly but carries a big stick. He rarely gets too excitable, nor does he ever get too down. And when he is asked about his personal performance this postseason, he quickly defers the credit to general manager Dayton Moore for sticking with him all these years.

“Dayton has done a great job molding this team to where it is now,” Gordon said. “He really got the right pieces in through the draft and through the trade with James Shields and Wade Davis. Things are really starting to come together. Give a lot of credit to Dayton.”

Give a lot of credit to Butler and Gordon, too.

“We’re about now,” Gordon said. “It’s been a struggle, but we’re here now. It doesn’t matter who does it as long as someone does it and we get the win.”

Huskers Invite Fans to Red-White Series

Posted on October 8, 2014

Lincoln – The Nebraska baseball is set to conclude fall practice next week when it hosts its annual Red-White Series, starting on Sunday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. The series continues on Monday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. and concludes on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Noon. Admission is free all three days and concession stands will be open with a limited selection.

Gates will open two hours prior to first pitch for Sunday’s game, while the gates will open 90 minutes prior to first pitch on Monday and Tuesday. Season tickets for the 2015 season will be available for purchase all three days.

Each day a special event will be planned at Hawks Field, including:

Sunday: Baseball Team Meet and Greet
4 p.m. – Gates open at Haymarket Park
4:30 p.m. – 2015 Nebraska Baseball Team Introductions
4:40 p.m. – Autograph session begins
5:30 p.m. – 2015 Nebraska Baseball Team takes the field for batting practice
6 p.m. – First Pitch of Game 1 Red/White Fall Series

Monday: $1 Hotdogs and $1 Pepsi
The first 1,000 fans will be able to purchase $1 hotdogs (limit 2) and Pepsi products will be served in the concession stand for $1 during the entire game.

Tuesday: Costume Contest
Players will play the game in Halloween costumes. The player with the best costume will win an award, voted on by fans.

O’Dowd Leaves as Rockies Longtime GM

Posted on October 8, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd and senior vice president Bill Geivett (gy-VET’) are leaving the front office after the team turned in a fourth straight losing season.

Jeff Bridich (BRID’ich) is taking over as the new GM.

O’Dowd spent 15 seasons in charge of the Rockies, the highlight of which was an appearance in the 2007 World Series, where the team was swept by Boston. His power dwindled in recent years with the rise of Geivett, who was promoted to senior vice present of baseball operations in August 2012. He had an office next to manager Walt Weiss in the clubhouse.

The Rockies finished 66-96 and 28 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

Bridich has been the team’s senior director of player development since 2011.

Qualifying Offer for Free Agents Set at $15.3M

Posted on October 7, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — The price of qualifying offers for eligible free agents has risen to $15.3 million from $14.1 million.

The 8.5 percent increase was finalized Tuesday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association. It is up from $13.3 million after the 2012 season, the first of the new system.

Baseball’s labor contract sets the price at the average of the 125 highest contracts by average annual value.

A club has until 5 p.m. Eastern time on the fifth day following the World Series to make a qualifying offer and a player has until 5 p.m. EST on the 12th day after the World Series to accept it. An offer can only be made to a free agent who was with the team for the entire system.

If a player rejects a qualifying offer and signs a major league contract with another club before the June amateur draft, his former team would receive a draft pick as compensation at the end of the first round.

The club signing that player loses its first-round pick in the following amateur draft, unless that pick is among the top 10, in which case the club signing that player loses its next-highest pick.

None of the 22 qualifying offers made after the last two seasons was accepted.

Huskers Unveil 2015 Baseball Schedule

Posted on October 7, 2014

Lincoln – Coming off a 41-win season and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, Head Coach Darin Erstad will continue to challenge the Nebraska baseball team in 2015 as it works to reach its ultimate goal of playing in Omaha at the College World Series.

The Huskers are set to play 56 games in 2015, including 27 games at Hawks Field. The Huskers will play 15 games against teams that qualified for the 2014 NCAA Tournament, including a Big Ten road series at Super Regional qualifier Maryland and a three-game home series against College World Series qualifier Texas.

The Huskers will spend the first four weeks of the season on the road, playing a total of 13 games. NU then returns to Hawks Field for 16 straight homes games, including a pair of midweek series with Indiana State and Cal State Fullerton, along with weekend series against Michigan, Florida Gulf Coast and Texas.

Nebraska will play eight Big Ten Conference series, including home sets with Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State and Purdue, while traveling to Maryland, Iowa, Northwestern and Illinois. The Huskers will not play Indiana, Rutgers, Penn State or Michigan State during the 2015 regular season.

The 2015 season kicks off in Las Vegas, Nev., on Friday, Feb. 13, at Earl E. Wilson Baseball Stadium when the Huskers open a three-game series against the UNLV Rebels. NU returns to the southwest region the following weekend when they play BYU in Peoria, Ariz., in a four-game series that opens on Thursday, Feb. 19. The squads will play a doubleheader on Friday and then wrap of the series on Saturday.

Nebraska then travels to Los Angeles, Calif., for a three-game series with the Loyola Marymount Lions that starts on Friday, Feb. 27. The only other time the two teams met was during the 1988 season, also in Los Angeles.

Nebraska’s fourth-straight road trip to start the season will be to Houston, Texas, where the Huskers will compete at the 15th annual Houston College Classic. Held at Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros, the Huskers open the tournament on Friday, March 6 against former Big 12 foe and now SEC member Texas A&M. NU then takes on a Hawaii on Saturday before meeting another SEC squad on Sunday in LSU. The 2015 event will mark Nebraska’s first appearance at the Houston College Classic, and it will mark the 17th time the Huskers have played in a non-conference tournament in the state of Texas since the 2000.

After playing 13 games on the road, Nebraska hosts its home opener on Tuesday, March 10, when the Northern Colorado Bears come to Lincoln. After a pair of games with the Bears, the Huskers host Florida Gulf Coast for a three-game series that starts on Friday, March 13. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Huskers and Eagles.

Nebraska’s 16-game homestand continues on Tuesday, March 17 when the Indiana State Sycamores travel to Hawks Field for a midweek series. Nebraska then opens Big Ten play on Friday, March 20 with a three-game series against the Michigan Wolverines.

The Huskers will stay in Lincoln during Spring Break and will have a challenging week. The Cal State Fullerton Titans, who knocked the Huskers out of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, will be in Lincoln on Tuesday, March 24 and Wednesday, March 25, before Texas travels to Hawks Field for a weekend series that starts on Friday, March 27. It will be the Longhorns’ first trip to Lincoln since 2011, the Huskers’ finals season in the Big 12 Conference.

The homestand comes to an end on Tuesday, March 31 when the Huskers host the Creighton Bluejays for the first of three meetings throughout the season between the two programs.

The month of April starts with a trip to Werner Park, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers, where the Huskers will meet Nebraska-Omaha on April 1. Nebraska then makes its first conference road trip of the year when it heads to College Park, Md., for a three-game series against Big Ten newcomer Maryland.

Following a midweek game in Manhattan, Kan., on Tuesday, April 7, the Huskers host Minnesota for a three-game conference series starting on Friday, April 10. The Huskers then travel to Omaha on Tuesday, April 14 for a meeting with Creighton before returning home for five straight games.

Nebraska completes its season series against Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday, April 15 before hosting Ohio State for a three-game series that starts on Friday, April 17. It will be the third-straight season that the Buckeyes have played a conference series in Lincoln. The short homestand comes to an end on Tuesday, April 21 with a visit from Kansas State.

The Huskers then play seven-straight games away from Hawks Field, starting with a three-game conference series at Iowa starting on Friday, April. 24. It will mark the third-straight season the Huskers have traveled to Iowa City, Iowa, during league play. The Huskers then play their final of three games against Creighton at TD Ameritrade Park onTuesday, April 28, before opening the month of May with a conference series against Northwestern that starts on Friday, May 1 in Evanston, Ill.

Nebraska hosts its final regular-season home games of the year starting on Saturday, May 9, when the Purdue Boilermakers come to Lincoln for a three-game series that runsSaturday through Monday.

The regular-season comes to a close in Champaigne, Ill., with a three-game series against Illinois that starts on Thursday, May 14.

The 2015 Big Ten Baseball Tournament is scheduled to run from Wednesday, May 20 through Sunday, May 24 and will take place in Minneapolis, Minn., at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. Target Field played host to the 2013 Big Ten Baseball Tournament, with the Huskers falling in the championship game to Indiana.

Royals Beat Angels 8-3 to Finish Off ALDS Sweep

Posted on October 6, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alex Gordon hit a bases-clearing double in the first inning, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas each homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-3 on Sunday night to finish a sweep of their AL Division Series.

Back in the playoffs for the first time since 1985, the wild-card Royals will face the Orioles in the AL Championship Series beginning Friday night in Baltimore. Kansas City went 4-3 against the O’s this year.

The Royals’ James Shields allowed homers to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols over six otherwise solid innings. C.J. Wilson failed to escape the first for Los Angeles, giving up all three runs on Gordon’s tone-setting double.

The Angels are the second team in the divisional era to have the majors’ best record and get swept from the playoffs. The Yankees were also swept by the Royals in 1980 ALCS.

Army Vet Throws 1st Pitch Like Grenade Before NLDS

Posted on October 4, 2014October 4, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army veteran wounded in Iraq made a unique ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 of the NL Division Series, crawling toward the mound and then lobbing the baseball as if it were a grenade.

Retired vet Brian Keaton walked onto the grass before getting on his stomach and crawling several feet at Nationals Park on Saturday. He threw the ball with his left hand from behind the mound and the toss bounced home.

The crowd cheered loudly before San Francisco played Washington.

According to the Nationals, Keaton was wounded in a bomb explosion. The team said he spent 3 1-2 years at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center recovering from a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Keaton walked into right field for a bear hug with Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon before the toss. As he left the field, Keaton embraced Nationals manager Matt Williams, pitcher Doug Fister and shortstop Ian Desmond.

Run-Run-Run Royals Could Knock Out Mighty Angels

Posted on October 4, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals, that scrappy run-run-run team quickly endearing itself to baseball purists, is proving small ball works on the game’s biggest stage.

After a wild win over Oakland in its first playoff game in nearly three decades, the Royals — who finished last by a wide margin in home runs this season — are just one win away from sweeping the mighty, power-hitting Los Angeles Angels.

Their best-of-five Divisional Series shifts to Kansas City on Sunday.

The Royals will be sending their ace, James Shields, to the mound at Kauffman Stadium, where he last started Tuesday night in that dramatic win over the A’s.

It will be up to C.J. Wilson to try to keep the Angels alive.