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Around the Kingdom: Billy Butler, Brandon Albert, Travis Kelce, Montell Cozart

By John Viril

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Aug 27, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals designated hitter Billy Butler (16) is congratulated by teammates after scoring in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Royals pulled off a much-needed win against Chicago ace Chris Sale, saddling him with only his 4th loss of the season (against 16 wins). In many ways, Wednesday’s 6-2 victory over Sale makes up for Kansas City’s disappointing loss on Tuesday, where their vaunted back end of the bullpen failed to hold a late-inning lead for the first time since June.

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Lorenzo Cain‘s 3-run home run in the 3rd inning makes him the obvious hero, but Nori Aoki had a fabulous series, rapping out 11 hits in 13 at bats.

The win proved to be important, as Kansas City gained  full game on Detroit (who lost 6-4 to the Twins) to pull within a 1/2 game of the A.L. Central. lead. Now, the Royals will only need to win 2 out of 3 games against Detroit this weekend to take over the lead in the A.L. Central, rather than needed a sweep.

The Chiefs face yet another stiff challenge this week with a road game in Miami. Sunday will mark the first time that former Chiefs Brandon Albert will line up against his former team. Andy Reid badly needs to pull out a win to turn the season around. Going 0-3 would be hard to recover from.teaw

The Kansas Jayhawks badly need a win on Saturday against Central Michigan. Head Coach Charlie Weis has even admitted that the game is “critical” after the Jayhawks got blown out 41-3 against Duke in North Carolina. That’s pretty unusual for the 3rd game of the season, but Weis is correct. Lose on Saturday, and it’s hard to imagine Weis’ tenure continuing past this season in Lawrence.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

"One of the longest tenured players on the Royals, it may be strange to think of the team reaching the postseason without Butler. However, it has become clear over the past two weeks that he just is not a part of their plans. Since September 3rd, Butler has played all of four times, going a combined 0-14 with a walk and an RBI. One would think that if Butler was going to be involved in the postseason, he would have received a lot more playing time."

  • Royals Review – breaking down the Royals offense, some odd facts:

"The Royals have a reverse TTOP (Times-through-the-order-penalty). The research goes that as a lineup sees the starting pitcher more, offensive production improves. Google it, if you like. The Royals don’t do that."

  • Royals Authority – Craig Brown doesn’t consider Tuesday’s bullpen failure to have anything to do with Herrera and Davis pitching in the “wrong” inning:

"I don’t buy in to the idea that a major league reliever is so fragile that pitching an inning early causes him to be ineffective.  It should also be noted that two of Davis’ seven previous outings in which he entered the game with runners on base occurred earlier this month and he kept those runners from scoring.  It was a tough situation last night to be sure, but the result was more just a case of the inevitability of baseball than an unfamiliarity of the scenario."

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

  • Arrowhead Addict – Former Chiefs tackle Brandon Albert is thriving in his new digs in Miami:

"Ryan Tannehill’s head of security currently ranks as Pro Football Focus’ (PFF) No. 1 tackle of 2014, allowing only one quarterback hurry and hit—no sacks. Adding to that, he has partaken in 157 snaps, which is tied for third-most among his positional peers."

"It is beyond doubt that Kelce has, in the course of two games, done everything humanly possible to prove he’s exactly what Chiefs fans hoped he was prior to last season. He’s gigantic, he’s fast, he’s physical, he can catch. Basically, he’s a nightmare for opposing defenses in a way that few other tight ends are (even in today’s NFL, where it seems inevitable that a 7-footer will suit up at tight end soon)."

KANSAS JAYHAWKS

"Todd Reesing, Kale Pick, Jordan Webb, Dayne Crist, Jake Heaps and Montell Cozart. Six starting quarterbacks in six season-openers for Kansas University football.Based on how raw Cozart looked Saturday in a 41-3 loss to Duke, next season’s opener against South Dakota State could mean the seventh season in a row with a new starting quarterback."

There you have it KC fans, the news Around the Kingdom.

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