PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Game Notes

Published on August 29, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


AUGUST 29, 2008, 7:05 p.m.: OMAHA ROYALS (61-79) at Iowa (81-57)

HOME: 30-42 (45-27 in '07) AWAY: 31-37 (28-44 in '07) vs. Iowa: 2-10 (10-6 in '07)

TONIGHT: The Royals visit Principal Park in Des Moines, taking on the Iowa Cubs at 7:05 p.m. It's the opener of a season-ending, 4-game series. Omaha is coming off a 5-4 home stand. Iowa has dominated the season series, winning 10 of the 1st 12 meetings. The pre-game show airs at 6:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: The Royals dropped their home finale, falling to New Orleans 11-5. The Zephyrs banged banged out 16 hits to earn a split of the 4-game series, with Valentino Pascucci going 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, a home run and 4 RBI. Trot Nixon's 2-run homer in the 4th gave New Orleans a 7-4 lead and chased Omaha starter Tyler Lumsden (3-13), who allowed 7 runs on 8 hits over 3.1 innings. Jose Santiago (1-1), who pitched for Omaha in 1999 and 2000, got the win. In 3.0 innings of relief, he gave up 1 run on 2 hits.

ROYALS REPORT: The Royals.wound up taking 11 of 16 games from New Orleans in 2008. However, Valentino Pascucci did a lot of damage against Omaha. He was 9-for-17 with 2 home runs and 9 RBI in the just-completed series. In the season series, Pascucci smacked 4 homers and had 13 RBI. *** The Royals finished 30-42 at Rosenblatt this season. The just-completed 5-4 home stand was just the 3rd winning home stand of the year and the 1st since April 19-27, when the Royals went 4-3 vs. New Orleans and Nashville. After going 9-5 in their 1st 14 home games this year, the Royals were 21-37 the rest of the way. *** Last night's crowd of 9,976 pushed the Royals' season attendance to 349,376. It marked the Triple-A club's largest season total since 2001, when 359,038 fans came through Rosenblatt's turnstiles - in 3 more home dates than this year. Due to bad weather this spring, the Royals wound up jamming 72 home games into 65 home dates in 2008. It marked the fewest number of home dates in a year since 1999, when Mother Nature allowed the Royals to play on just 64 dates at home. The Royals' 2008 average attendance of 5,375 fans per game - which currently ranks 10th in the 16-team PCL - was the club's best mark since the 2000 season, when an average of 6,084 fans per game turned out. *** KC today named their Minor League Pitchers and Players of the Year for each of their affiliates. Reliever Devon Lowery was named as Omaha's Pitcher of the Year, while outfielder Mitch Maier was named as the O-Royals' Player of the Year. Lowery is 1-1 with a 1.88 ERA and 5 saves in 30 appearances out of Omaha's bullpen. The 25-year old right-hander has hurled 14.2 straight scoreless innings over his last 9 appearances. Maier hit .316 for Omaha, with 24 doubles, 9 home runs, 41 RBI, 57 runs scored and 12 stolen bases, before being recalled by KC on July 24. *** Kila Ka'aihue, named today by KC as the Player of the Year for Double-A Northwest Arkansas, belted his 10th home run last night in just his 29th Triple-A contest. Ka'aihue's 36 round-trippers on the season are tied for 4th-most in the minors. He leads all full-season minor leaguers in walks (101) and on-base percentage (.460) and is 2nd in slugging (.634). *** Josh Labandeira, whose 1st hit for the Royals was a home run on August 4th in his 4th game with the team, hit his 2nd homer last night in his 24th contest. His 3 hits on the night were a season high in 49 games between Omaha and Durham. *** Brayan Pena has hit in 12 straight games. It's his longest hitting streak of the year and is tied for the 3rd-longest for a Royal this season. During the streak, he's hitting .364 (16-for-44) with 2 homers and 7 RBI. *** Chris Lubanski was a late scratch from last night's starting lineup due to a problem with his vision. On the home stand, he hit .462 (12-for-26), with 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs and 6 RBI. *** Lumsden went 0-9 with a 9.82 ERA at Rosenblatt in 2008. He's 3-4 with a 4.78 ERA on the road. *** Brett Bigler went 0-for-4 Thursday night, halting his hit string at 4 games. He's still hitting .325 in 13 games.

STARTERS: LH Neal Musser (2-5, 4.44) vs. LH J.R. Mathes (8-52, 4.31)

Musser makes his 3rd start (35th appearance) of the season with Omaha. The lefty, who turned 28 years old on Monday, made his 2nd start for Omaha since May 29, 2006 on Tuesday vs. New Orleans. He was not involved in the decision as the Royals were thumped 14-4 (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K). It was his 4th appearance since being activated from the disabled list. Musser was placed on the DL July 12. He made 3 starts for the Arizona League Royals this month, going 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA (1 ER in 2.2 IP) and was added back to Omaha's roster on August 18. In 3 relief outings vs. Iowa this season, Musser is 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA. His only appearance with KC this year came on May 28, when he pitched a hitless inning vs. Minnesota, walking 1. Musser was a dominant reliever for Omaha last season. He did not allow an earned run over his 1st 45.2 Triple-A innings through August 10, 2007. He wound up going 4-1 with a 0.49 ERA and 8 saves in 32 appearances for Omaha, allowing just 32 hits and 11 walks in 55.1 innings, with 47 strikeouts. In 17 games over several stints with KC last year - his 1st season in the big leagues - he was 0-1 with a 4.38 ERA. He fractured his right hand on September 10 and missed the remainder of the 2007 season. In 2006, Musser was sent to Double-A Wichita following his May 29 start for Omaha. He made 11 more starts for the Wranglers, before being converted to a reliever and posting a 2-0 record with a 2.49 ERA and saves in 7 appearances. Musser was signed by KC as a minor league free agent on May 24, 2006 after being released by the Diamondbacks. He was originally selected by the Mets in the 2nd round of the 1999 draft out of Benton Central High in Oxford, Indiana.

PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:

Sat., 7:05 p.m.: LH John Bale (0-2, 9.31) vs. RH Mitch Atkins (7-1, 4.56)

Sun., 1:35 p.m.: RH Roman Colon (5-5, 4.64) vs. RH Mike Burns (8-12, 4.75)

Mon., 1:35 p.m.: LH Dusty Hughes (3-2, 4.59) vs. LH Jason Stanford (3-0, 4.22)

Check out the Omaha Storm Chasers Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 29, 2008


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