By Bob Priddy, Contributing Editor
Everybody is an optimist at spring training. But after the first three weeks of the real baseball world, optimism is in short supply on the western side if the state and is showing faint flickerings on the east side.
(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals have sunk to the bottom of their division, losers of nine of their ten home games before the start of this week. They’re playing .500-ball on the road. But they’ve been away from the unfriendly confines of Kauffman Stadium for only six games.
The Royals tied their last game in the weekend series with the Braves only to give up a run in the ninth to lose 6-5. .
The Royals rank 14th and worse in the majority of offensive categories. Through last night they had led for only one inning in their last seven games.
And they lived up to their credentials in opening the series Monday night against the Rangers. They musted only one hit in a 4-0 loss. Royals pitching was stout, though, and gave the Rangers only four hits in a game that lasted just two hours and two minutes.
(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals are only a half-game away from giving Missouri two teams that are last in their division. The Redbirds salvaged a split with the Pirates during the weekend. The Pirates are 9-7. The cardinals are just the reverse.
Lars Nootbar got back in action during the weekend and made himself felt immediately with a home run. But he now is a fifth outfielder, leaving manager Oliver Marmol with the job of balancing talent and egos in the outfield. Nootbar’s bat might win his additional playing time because Dylan Carlson is hitting only .214 with only one extra-base hit. Nootbar is at .286 but he has been in only three games this year because of a thumb injury.
Marmol also is trying to straighten out a relief pitcher who has been a stark disappointment this year. Marmol says Jordan Hicks is done as a closer for now; he’ll work in low-leverage situations until he regains his former form. Hicks gave up three runs and three hits, including Andew McCutcheon’s two-run homer, in the 10th inning of Saturday’s loss to the Braves, jacking his ERA up to 12.71 in 5 2/3 innings and seven games.
The week started badly last night in the opener fo a series against the Diamondbacks. Pavin Smith’s grand slam homer in a five-run seventh inning powered Arizona to a 6-3 win. Jack Flaherty had pitched well through six but left after pitching to three batters in the seventh. Reliever Andre Pallante gave up Smith’s slam in the seventh and took the loss.
(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St, Louis Battlehawks have to win next weekend to make the XFL playoffs after losing to their playoff challenger, the Seattle Sea Dragons. If they beat the 1-8 Orlando Guardians next weekend, they’re in—and likely to face the Sea Dragons in the first round of the playoffs.
The Sea Dragons beat up on the Battlehawks on the ‘Hawks home floor, 30-12 leaving both teams at 6-3 with one game left. The Hawks beat the Dragons 20-19 in Seattle in week two of the season. The Dragons play the Las Vegas Vipers next weekend. If both teams win, st. Louis has to beat Orlando by 19 points or more than Seattle scores against Vegas. And St. Louis will have to still be league leaders in total points scored against.
After last weekend’s game, St. Louis is 196-174 in points for/against. Seattle is 168-215.
RACING:
(INDYCAR)—Kyle Kirkwood called it “the calmest day I’ve had in two years. That might seem to be a questionable assertion from a man who had just won his first INDYCAR race after struggles last year in which he finished with the second-lowest fulltime driver in the standings and in the first two races of the season when he finished 15th and 27th in the first two races of the year.
But Long Beach was a big turnaround. Kirkwood won his first pole, led 53 of the 80 laps on the street circuit including the last 30 with teammate Romain Grosjean and last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson stalking him.
Kirkwood, who is 24 and in his second season INDYCAR, is the first driver to win from pole position this year. The victory moves him from 20th to 5th in the points standings.
(NASCAR)—NASCAR moves from one of its smallest tracks to its biggest track next weekend. Kyle Larson picked up win number two at Martinsville’s “paper clip” track, so-called bccause of its half-mile with long straightaways and tight turns.
Larson’s team gambled on taking only two tires on the last pit stop, a gamble that paid off as Larson finished more than four seconds ahead of Joey Logano, who fought his way from the last row to second place. The pit stop gamble paid off when Larson came back on the track and led the final 30 laps.
A lot of the attention during the race was focused on Chase Elliott, who missed the last six races with a broken leg. He started 24th in the comeback and finished 10th.
Despite missing six races, Elliott is only 22 points out of 30th place, a not insignificant position. NASCAR rules say a driver who wins a race and is within the top 30 will qualify for the playoffs. The sanctioning body is waiving the part of the rule that requires the driver to be in all 36 points races.
(Photo Credit: INDYCAR)