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How come pitchers aren’t allowed slumps?
By JEFFREY FLANAGANThe Kansas City Star
If you think about it, when a hitter gets into a one-for-30 rut, it’s simply called a slump. He’ll snap out of it, right?
But when a pitcher has three or four bad games in a row, three things need to happen: That pitcher should be sent down to the minors, traded or just plain released.
“It’s true. You’re not really provided the same forgiveness,” Royals right-hander Brain Bannister said. “It’s probably not fair.”
Royals right-hander Zack Greinke agreed (naturally): “You really don’t even hear the words pitcher and slump together like you do with hitters. Pitchers kind of ‘lose it’ for a while. There’s no slump.”
But Greinke said he understands the reasoning.
“Everything kind of begins and ends with the pitcher,” Greinke said. “With the pitcher, it’s pretty much a guaranteed loss if you don’t have it. With a hitter, you just go 0 for 4, and that probably won’t lose the game. But a bad start by the pitcher will be a loss.”
A Royals pitcher probably never would have survived the type of slump Jose Guillen went through in April and May.
“But someone like (Guillen) is allowed that,” Greinke said. “Maybe it’s a true, too, that you’re allowed slumps depending on how established you are. A guy just coming up isn’t going to be allowed a slump like that or he’s sent out. Guillen is established in the league.”
St. John and UMKCWHB morning talker Steven St. John will be the color analyst for UMKC basketball games, joining new play-by-play voice Steven Davis. Davis replaced WHB’s Danny Clinkscale, who was let go by UMKC after seven seasons.
Hmmm. Did Clinkscale, who obviously wasn’t too pleased with his removal, have a problem with a colleague such as St. John jumping into the UMKC booth?
“No, not at all,” Clinkscale said. “I’m happy for (St. John). He went to school there. He’s excited about this opportunity. He’s taking the analyst job, which wasn’t my job anyway.”
Get me someone!
Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre was just chatting with Dayton Moore the other day when Moore pulled out his cell phone and seemingly started to make a call, then slowly walked off.
Lefebvre joked, “It’s like that scene from ‘Christmas Vacation’ with Chevy Chase. Chevy is with his boss in a room, and there’s an awkward pause and his boss grabs his phone and tells his secretary ‘Get me someone! Anyone! And get me someone else while I’m waiting.’
“Hey, I can take a hint.”