Todays Reasons Why Trey Hillman Must Be Fired

The Royals continue to win in spite of their manager. Continuing a season long tradition of making decisions that contradict the statements made by Trey Hillman, Trey Hillman shuffles away with his lineup. Now that the Royals no longer have 3 catchers, playing both of his catchers in the same lineup leaves him hamstrung in the later innings. Pinch hitting for his DH, John Buck, means that Mike Jacobs is on the hook to catch should an injury occcur. Pinch Hitting for Miguel Olivo means he looses his DH for the rest of the slugfest that was the Royals 10-7 win Saturday night.

This conondrum does not explain why Trey Hillman refused to hit for Pena JR in the 10th. Unacceptable to allow the Royals all time worst offensive player to hit in that situation with both Teahen and Jacobs ready and waiting. Why did he not hit for Pena? Two possible reasons in my mind; first the Royals don't believe Willie Bloomquist can really play shortstop and therefore they needed Pena to stay in the game, second, Trey Hillman doesn't know how to win baseball games. On the first possibility, if they really don't intend to let Bloomquist play shortstop the entire season, then why is he on the roster? On the second option, Trey Hillman must learn that his ego has no bearing on the outcome of the game, and it must be put out of mind when making decisions. Yes, perhaps he went to the defensive subs a bit too early in an offensive game, but I think had he swallowed his ego and hit for Pena, no one would have questioned him on that move.

Also fun to watch last night was the use of Ron Mahay as a LH specialist, which we know from listening to Trey Hillman, he is not.

Washburn Recap

They will get better.
They have to get better.
And when they do, look out.

After Last nights 98-79 exhibition win over Washburn there are many lessons to be learned for both fans and players. We as fans must recognize that it takes time to learn, that basketball is hard, and that high school coaching sucks. We must look at these new players and in them see the failings of the AAU system that dominates youth basketball and prevents these players from learning the fundamentals that make the game great.

As for the team, I am sure Coach Self has a long list of items that he believes need the attention of his team in their upcoming practices. I know that he has been preaching ball control, team defense and good shot selection in practice. I know that he has told them over and over that college basketball is a different world than anything they have done before, that it is harder and that the opponents are better than anything they have seen before. After last night, I imagine some of the eyes are open and the players are hopefully more willing to believe what they are being told. After all, that was Washburn in November, not North Carolina in March.

That being said, lets talk about individual performances, starting with the faces we know and leading into the ones we don’t.

Sherron Collins continues to play to level of his surroundings. Guarding Derrick Rose in the title game, he showed how good he can be, how fast he is and how strong. He controlled the tempo, handled the ball without turnovers, made smart passes and took good shots. On the floor with D-2 guys and freshman, he played like a street ball star who had too many free Starbucks on Election Day. Dribbling so fast he lost his balance, rushing passes to ill-prepared teammates, gambling himself out of defensive position. This we cannot have. He must be the leader. He must be the calming center, the veteran who can say to the others “I have done this before, follow me” That job cannot be left vacant.
Grade for Last night C

Cole Aldrich looks like the same guy from last year. I was hoping to see a bigger stronger Cole. I wanted a more aggressive, physical Cole. I am not disappointed in the mental errors, that is a by-product of his dramatic increase in minutes. But physically, he does not show the improvement I had hoped to see.
Grade B

Tyrel Reed would have played more last year, if not for his injury. He shows no signs of slowing down. Great shot selection, good defense, smart passing, just a solid game all around.
Grade A-

Brady Morningstar must have spent his entire red shirt year running shuttle drills. How do you get that quick, that quickly? Don’t get me wrong, he’s not Sherron quick. But do you remember how slow he was? Same player, just faster.
Grade A-


Connor Teahen found something valuable to do on the court besides shoot a three. He also found that being more active and on the court more often means you have a chance to make more mistakes. Perhaps if he continues to develop he could become a Brady Morningstar type contributor by the end of the year.
Grade B-

Everyone else grades out at a D. Turnovers, bad shots, bad fouls, lazy defense, and mental errors. Typical of Freshman? Sure, but remember, if these guys, this new class, if they learn to play the fundamentals, if they go back and drill with my 8th grade coach and play error – free basketball, if they find a way to do that they will make everyone forget Mario and Brandon and Darrell and Julian and Sacha. If.

Comparison Shopping

Jayson Werth is on the verge of winning a World Series. Mark Teahen is on the verge of getting traded. That’s about the only difference between the two players. Oh, and Teahen plays two more defensive positions at a high level.
So, how do the Phillies win it all with Werth, and the Royals are playing the blame game with Teahen? The answer is Ryan Howard. And Jimmy Rollins. And in a round about way, David Ortiz.

How so?

Statiscally speaking, Mark Teahen and Jayson Werth are nearly exact copies of one another through their first 500 career games. (Werth is at 460 career, Tea is at 532) Werth has more homeruns, Tea more Doubles and triples. In another comparison I discovered that the first 2 full seasons of Alex Gordon and J.D. Drew were distinctly similar. So, the question becomes, why are the Royals not better? They have the clones of Jayson Werth and J.D. Drew, plus the uniquely talented David Dejesus. Why not more runs, why not a better offense?

No boppers. No Ryan Howard, No David Ortiz. No MVP shortstop scoring all those runs. It all comes back to talent, and the Royals do not have enough. They are missing one key element from their offensive lineup. That’s a phrase that can be applied to both teams at the Truman Sports Complex. In Football no team can contend without a top-shelf quarterback. Even if he doesn’t throw for 300 a game, a quarterback drives the rest of the offense and controls what the defense must do to prepare for the rest of the team on each play. A true slugger, an offensive force, drives the batting order and effects what pitches are thrown to every other batter in the order. He impacts the game in a way no other non-pitcher does. Look at what Manny Ramirez did to the Dodger lineup this past fall. Or the effect Albert Pujols had on the otherwise pedestrian Cardinal Lineup.
The Royals are considering trading Teahen for a similar player, maybe 2. They have discussed trading a power arm from the minor leagues for the next Crash Davis, a minor league homerun guy. Why? Why get rid of pieces of the puzzle when you can see where they would fit on a successful team. The Phillies actively pursued Werth because they knew he would fit a role on a successful team. Of course they also had Pat Burrell, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard already in their lineup.

So who is the guy? Who will be the man for the Royals? Billy Butler? Mike Moustakas? I don’t know, but I know they need to find him soon.

Longing

The first thing I did when I moved out of my parent’s house was to start my own Sports Illustrated subscription. The second thing I did was turn on the power.
This past month was the first month of my life with no S.I. My parents have read it my entire lifetime, and so have I. When that last issue came, and I said to my wife that I would be fine if we let it go for a while, I really didn’t thing it would be an issue. I was wrong.
I reach for it daily, I long for it at night when she tucks in with the latest Nicholas Sparks. I have alternatives, sure. Car and Driver, The Kansas City Star, even the internet have filled the gaps, but not completely. I grabbed an issue of S.I. at the gym today, and instantly realized I can go no longer. Tough economy or not, I need. My S.I.
I think my wife will understand, even if we have to turn off the power.

Honeymoon.

Zero expectations. That is usually a comment saved for long-terrible programs, new coaching staffs and Baylor. You don’t often here it applied to the National Champions. But that is exactly what Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks are looking at this year. No expectations. They don’t have to win the conference, they don’t have to go deep in the tournament, they don’t need another Elite 8 or Final Four appearance to satisfy the fan base. The fans are going to enjoy this one. 20 years ago, NCAA sanctions, a departing coach and a swarm of uncertainty sapped the fun out of KU’s 1988 National Championship.

In November of 1988 KU was hit with NCAA sanctions that prohibited its participation in the 1989 NCAA tournament, making KU the first NCAA basketball champion that would be barred from defending its title.

With those memories still haunting the minds of many long time Jayhawks, the brief period of uncertainty following the 2008 national title must have felt like Déjà vu. One Coach Self re-committed himself fully to Lawrence, the cloud was lifted and the fans were able to relish in victory like never before.

The departure of all but one major contributor (Junior guard Sherron Collins) from last year’s squad has given Coach Self’s Jayhawks a full-scale honeymoon period. Every stumble along the path, every tough loss, every poor performance will be answered with the same replies from KU’s faithful. “We got our title, these kids are just starting.” “Wait till these guys are juniors like Mario”. It just doesn’t matter. The banner hangs high, the pride soars to the rafters, but the expectations have never been lower. For one year anyway.

Its been a while

I take long breaks from this place quite often, but this time I had a good reason. His name is Owen.
I am planning to return to regular posting starting with the next post.
Should be fun.


AO

B.Rush

If that Brandon Rush is here to stay for March, we are on our way to the Final Four, and he is on his way to the top ten of the draft.
He dominated the game. In a quite way, as the commentators say.
He took only 13 shots, 3 more than he had taken against Nebraska.
But he made nine. Including 5 of 8 from 3, leaving him 4-4 from the inside on a variety of runners and put backs. He was not a rebounding force, yeilding only 2, but in typical Rush fashion he elimanited his counterpart from A&M's offenense.
Toss in a 5-5 from the line and it was by far the best performance by a KU gaurd in recent memory.
Lets hope it continues.