Around the Kingdom: Billy Butler, Eric Hosmer, Jamaal Charles. Eric Kronberg

The Royals finished up their series in Tampa Bay with a dramatic 5-4 win before heading to Detroit for a 4-game showdown before the All-Star break.

Kansas City has been long overdue for a win like this one—which also won the series 2-1 for the Royals. Not only did they pull a 9th inning comeback, they did it with a 3-run home run from Salvador Perez. Talk about “out of character”.

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Billy Butler‘s demotion and Eric Hosmer‘s retention at no. 2 in the lineup reflects an odd disparity in how the two struggling sluggers have been treated by the team.

Alex Gordon missed Wednesday’s game with an MRI on this right wrist, and Jason Vargas had an emergency appendectomy—meaning he could miss a few weeks. This isn’t exactly the way the Royals want to go into their big series with the Tigers.

The injury bug just wasn’t limited to Kauffman Stadium. Sporting KC lost goalkeeper Eric Kronberg for two months after he fractured his hand in Wednesday’s practice. Andy Grueneberg, in his first year with Sporting after 8 years wtih the Columbus Crew, will take his place.

The Chiefs open their training camp in exactly two weeks from today. Jamaal Charles also had some good news when the NFL Network named him as the 8th best player in the NFL according to their player survey.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

Royals Authority – Clark Foster writes about manager Ned Yost‘s decision to use Francisley Bueno in Tuesday’s game
Kings of Kauffman – Ed Connealy asserts that tension between Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer might be a good thing for the Royals:

"Sam Mellinger wrote an interesting column about this Hosmer/Butler dichotomy. When asked about his lineup demotion, Butler passively called out Hosmer. “Somebody’s got to be that guy, and it’s sending a message to the rest of the guys. I can take it. I guess I’m a mentally tough guy. He could do it to somebody else, but I think he knows how I’ll take it.”"

Royals Review – Tyler Drenon argues that the A’s recent deal for Jeff Samardzija is nothing like the Shields/Myers trade:

"Having Samardzija in their rotation for what is all but certain to be a playoff run is much more sensible than betting your best prospect — and a few other valuable pieces — on a team coming off of a 72-90 finish in 2012. That’s what Moore did, of course, and it is decidedly not the same as Billy Beane‘s decision to trade Addison Russell and others for not one, but two starting pitchers that can start games for his club in a playoff series. Remember, Jason Hammel was also shipped to Oakland in the deal."

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Arrowhead Addict – Austin Pitts writes about the Jamaal Charles/Andy Reid pairing in year two
Arrowhead Pride – Two key plays from 2013 that show the importance of good safety play:

"Chiefs defensive coordiantor Bob Sutton needs to figure out why he had safeties gambling as much as they were last season, and how to prevent the same thing from happening this year. Otherwise, the guys who are supposed to be protecting the defense from “danger, risk, or injury” are going to continue to be the cause of that very thing more often than not."

SPORTING KC

Kansas City Star – Sporting goalkeeper Eric Kronberg breaks his hand in practice

MISSOURI TIGERS

MUTIGERS.com – C Evan Boehm named to Rimington Trophy watch list:

"Boehm has been a mainstay on the Tigers’ offensive line since he arrived in Columbia as a freshman in 2012, a season in which he started all 12 games at left guard and earned First Team Freshman All-America recognition from College Football News. He made the move to center during spring drills in 2013."

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

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Around the Kingdom: Billy Bulter, Eric Hosmer, Jamaal Charles. Eric Kronberg

By John Viril | Jul 10, 2014