Although short-sighted analysis would have suggested otherwise, St. Louis Cardinals centerfielder Jon Jay and third baseman David Freese weren’t going to struggle at the plate forever.

Cardinals fans quickly became anxious about both players in April as Jay struggled to a .213 batting average, and Freese was even worse at .163 as he returned from an oblique injury he suffered in spring training.

But Jay is now hitting .273, including four homeruns while playing very solid defense, and Freese has bumped his average up to .211 heading into play Saturday, including a grand slam for his first homerun of the season in the first inning Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Plus, each is likely to improve from here.

Jay is a career .298 hitter, and Freese has a career average of .289 and averages 16 homeruns per season.

Sometimes players simply get off to bad starts. That’s no reason to wish for centerfield prospect Oscar Taveras to take Jay’s job or for the Cardinals to trade Freese.

Sure, neither Jay nor Freese are likely going to be All-Stars this season and neither figures to have the much potential to be a Most Valuable Player candidate in their careers, but they are vital pieces of the Cardinals’ team.

For example, the Cardinals had a 15-11 record in April while Jay and Freese struggled. That’s good, and bullpen problems played a large role in at least four of those losses, but the Cardinals also got minimal production from their centerfield and third base positions, which are traditionally two of the most important offensive positions on the team.

Once the calendar turned to May, the Cardinals went on an 11-3 surge as Jay and Freese started to hit the ball better.

Jay’s improvement came from adjustments in his swing. He has always been a singles hitter, but his approach at the plate included a lot of movement in his hands. That allows ample opportunity for his timing to get messed up and creates a lot of unnecessary movement.

But Jay made the required adjustments. He now holds the bat up straighter in his stance and has a more direct approach to the ball. And now he looks like a hitter who could bat .300, which is the type of batter Cardinals fans remember from Jay’s first three seasons with the team.

Freese’s development has been a little slower. He did have a five-game hitting streak last week but had only one hit in each of those games. However, he’s been recovering from the oblique injury, and those types of injuries tend to linger, not to mention the twisting motion required to hit puts stress directly on the injury part of his body.

In any case, the signs of progress from both players are welcome for the Cardinals, and they could help power the team through an extended stretch of winning baseball.

The Cardinals entered play Saturday with a 27-14 record, the best in Major League Baseball, and that could get even better because of the team’s upcoming schedule.

The Cardinals beat up on non-divisional opponents in the current home stand by winning five of seven games against the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets. Now they’ll head to the West Coast to play the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, who had a combined record of 35-46 heading into play Saturday and were the bottom two teams in the National League West Division.

The Cardinals already had a strong team with consistently great performances by their starting rotation and sections of their lineup hitting well, but they could continue to contend for the best team in baseball title throughout the summer if players such as Jay and Freese join the run-production party as the weather warms up.

All it took was smart, steady work, and a little bit of patience.

When the St. Louis Cardinals waged their annual war with injuries last season as Allen Craig and Lance Berkman went on the disabled list within weeks of each other in May, the Cardinals needed a replacement, and their first choice was minor leaguer Matt Adams.

Adams looked the part. He’s 6-foot-3-inches tall, weighs 260 pounds and hit 82 homeruns in his four years in the minor leagues while compiling a .318 batting average. But that wasn’t the player who showed up in the Cardinals lineup in 2012. Adams hit .244 with two homeruns and 13 RBIs in his 27-game stay with the big-league club.

So where was this power potential that made him the Cardinals first choice to fill-in while two players with power bats sat on the disabled list? Apparently it had left Adams’ right elbow.

Adams and the Cardinals didn’t know it at the time, but he had been hampered by a bone spur in his elbow and eventually had surgery to repair it last season after the Cardinals sent him back to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

And it turns out that injury made a huge difference because the 2013 version of Adams is much more in line with the stories of his powerful approach to hitting and why the Cardinals considered him a top prospect..

Adams crushed the ball throughout spring training. He hit three homeruns and led the team with 17 RBIs in 28 games. He has carried that success into the regular season so far, and at times carried the team.

He got the Cardinals their first extra-base hit of the three-game series last weekend against the San Francisco Giants when he hit a two-run, ground-rule double into right-centerfield in the fourth inning Sunday against Giants ace Matt Cain. He also carried his hot bat into the Cardinals first home series of the season, a three-game set with the division-rival Cincinnati Reds.

The Cardinals trailed the Reds 1-0 in the sixth inning Tuesday against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo, who to that point in the game had not allowed a hitter to reach base. But Adams, who entered the game as a pinch hitter, waited on one of Arroyo’s trademark slow breaking balls and crushed it into the rightfield seats for a two-run homer.

Then he did the same thing in the sixth inning Wednesday against Reds pitcher Homer Bailey as the Cardinals cruised to a 10-0 win behind a stellar complete-game performance by starter Jake Westbrook.

Adams is in such a groove right now he has the look of a hitter who could hit almost any pitch out of the ballpark. He is getting healthy cuts on pitches he misses, and most of his foul balls have been smashed into the seats down the rightfield line.

That’s the type of hitter the Cardinals management saw in the minor leagues, and it’s the type of hitter who will likely play a very important role for the team throughout the season.

Craig is still the starting first baseman, and he is in no danger of losing that job. But Craig will also have to play rightfield on a fairly regular basis to give 35-year-old Carlos Beltran enough days off to make it through the season, and that could give Adams enough opportunities to be a large part of the Cardinals offense this season.

Even if he is primarily used in a bench role, it’s always nice to have a player who’s hitting over .600 ready to take an important at-bat late in a ballgame.

Sure, Adams won’t continue to hit .600 or better throughout the season, but the Cardinals now have a power hitter who can change the tone of a game immediately.

The Cardinals thought Adams could provide that aspect of the game when he came up in 2012. Now they know he can in 2013.

Stan “The Man” Musial was unquestionably the greatest player to ever wear a St. Louis Cardinals uniform, but he was also one of the greatest people to wear any kind of sports uniform.

Musial died Saturday at age 92, and for the next several days many tributes will highlight his work on and off the field. He deserves every single one of them.

Musial was a great baseball player, no doubt, but he was also a unique person in the world of sports.

Sometimes that word is used to describe interesting personalities who do things that aren’t normal. For example, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych would talk to the baseball while pitching for the Detroit Tigers in the late 1970s.

Fidrych, and the many characters who speckle the sports landscape are unique in that sense, but Musial was unique because he was just good — at everything.

Musial had a career .331 batting average, he hit a franchise-record 475 homeruns, he was named to 24 All-Star teams, he won three Most Valuable Player awards and three world championships, and he set the National League record for hits at the time with 3,630. Remarkably, he got exactly 1,315 of those hits during home games and 1,315 on the road.

That symmetry is fitting for Musial because he never seemed to do anything wrong on or off the field.

He did, of course. He’s only human. But he was never involved in a scandal, he served his country as a member of the Navy during World War II, he was unquestionably loyal to his team and family, and he didn’t get caught in the trappings of fame that entangle so many athletes. That’s partly why he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, the highest honor for an American civilian.

It would be easy to use examples of Musial’s life as an opportunity to take shots at current athletes who have over-inflated egos and get into all sorts of trouble, but Musial’s greatness stands above celebrity athletes past and present.

Nobody has ever talked about how Musial was a tough son-of-a-gun who would run someone over regardless of circumstances, as Ty Cobb or Pete Rose might. People also don’t talk about Musial as someone who had a need to say something outrageous to the media just so his name would be in the newspaper the next day.

No one ever said those things about Musial because he simply didn’t do them, and that largely explains why Cardinals fans adored him so much. He combined greatness on the field with greatness off of it.

It’s been a rough year in sports heroes. JoePaterno, who had a reputation nearly as clean as Musial, died in January 2012, but not before his reputation was destroyed when reports said he didn’t pursue allegations of sexual misconduct by his defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.

Cardinals fans know how it feels to have a revered sports figure’s reputation go from nearly perfect to uncaring, at best. Albert Pujols,perhaps the best Cardinals player since Musial, left the franchise last year after 11 seasons to sign a megadeal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Musial’s life stands in stark contrast to all of those other famous figures. He had the chance to leave the Cardinals after the 1946 season. At that point in his career, Musial had spent five seasons with the Cardinals and had already been named to three All-Star teams and won two MVP awards.

A Mexican professional baseball league offered him $125,000 for five years, but Musial didn’t leave to take the money. He was only making $13,500 with the Cardinals, but he stayed and played the remainder of his 22-year career in St. Louis.

The inscription on Musial’s statue outside Busch Stadium says, in the words of former commissioner Ford C. Frick, “Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior. Here stands baseball’s perfect knight.”

No human is actually perfect, much less baseball players, but Musial might be have been as close as anyone who ever put on a baseball uniform.

A deer, supposedly without a red nose, nearly ruined Christmas for David Freese, the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans.

Freese crashed into a tree Friday afternoon near St. Louis after he swerved to avoid a deer on the road. Folks in the St. Louis area know how prevalent deer are in the area, especially during this time of the year, and many probably know someone who has hit a deer or have hit one themselves.

Freese was uninjured in the crash, which gives the Cardinals another blessing to be thankful for in the days following Thanksgiving. Freese has been one of the stars of the Cardinals lineup the past two seasons, particularly in the playoffs.

Freese hit .297 with 10 homeruns and 55 RBIs in 97 games during the 2011 season as he battled back from a broken hand he suffered by a hit-by-pitch in May against the Atlanta Braves. He came back strong and was the Cardinals hero in the postseason, where he hit .390 with five homers and 21 RBIs, the last number being a postseason record.

In 2012, Freese hit .293 with 20 homeruns and 79 RBIs, and he played in 144 games, the first season he hadn’t been hampered by injuries.

Those numbers would figure to only increase as he grows into his role as the Cardinals’ everyday third baseman, but that all could’ve been quickly dismissed if the results of his car wreck hadn’t been so positive. Thankfully, the only thing hurt in the crash was his black 2011 Range Rover. Maybe that could give hime reason to ask for a few more dollars in his arbitration hearings this offseason. (Don’t overreact folks, it’s a joke.)

While Freese’s health is certainly the most important element of this situation, the crash could’ve had a significant impact on the Cardinals offseason and 2013 plans if Freese had been hurt. All of a sudden Matt Carpenter would’ve likely been in line to be the starting third baseman instead of trying out for the second base job in spring training.

That would’ve left the Cardinals extremely thing in the middle infield positions, which have been the primary concern so far this offseason. Rafael Furcal would have to be healthy, or Pete Kozma would have to continue his amazing play from late in the 2012 season. Skip Schumaker and Daniel Descalso would have to platoon for another season at second base.

That’s essentially the lineup the Cardinals used to get within one win of the World Series, but many people would like to see the Cardinals bring in a free agent or trade for a player who would be considered an upgrade over the team’s current middle infielders.

Regardless of how all that would’ve worked out, Freese is OK, and that’s the most important aspect of the entire situation. He has had previous car-related incidents, including a crash in January 2009 when he injured his feet as he slid off of a ice-covered road. He’s also had three alcohol-related incidents, the most recent in 2009, but alcohol had nothing to do with Friday’s crash, just a wandering deer.

Hopefully the next time Freese sees a deer it’s attached to a sleigh on top of his house.

The St. Louis Cardinals knew they had an old team heading into the 2012 season, and injuries or players wearing down in the course of the regular season were the team’s most likely downfall. The Cardinals have sustained injuries throughout the season, but now fatigue is doing its best to take down the team

Shortstop Rafeal Furcal tore a ligament in his right elbow Aug. 30 in Washington after dealing with back problems for weeks, outfielder Matt Holliday was sidelined much of the last week with a sore back and outfielder Carlos Beltran has flat out stopped hitting.

Beltran had been among the league leaders in homeruns and RBIs for much of the season, but he has hit .165 in the last month with two homeruns and eight RBIs. He is now fifth in the National League with 28 homeruns, 10 behind leader Ryan Braun, and eighth in RBIs with 86.

Maybe Beltran’s knee is causing him more serious issues than he lets on, but either way the Cardinals have lost a very important bat in the middle of their lineup. With Beltran’s slump, Holliday’s back problems and Berkman trying to come back from a stay on the disabled list, the Cardinals no longer have a scary heart of the order.

Unfortunately, these issues couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Cardinals were able to survive early season injuries to Berkman, Allen Craig, Skip Schumaker and Matt Carpenter without losing too much ground in the standings.

That likely won’t be possible now. The Cincinnati Reds are running away with the National League Central Division and could be headed to 100 wins. The Cardinals still hold the second wild-card spot, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates remain well within striking distance. Both teams were 1.5 games behind the Cardinals heading into play Saturday.

Manager Mike Matheny could be an easy target for a team that is wearing out near the end of the season, but there isn’t much he could do about these issues. He made sure starters got days off often at the beginning of the season, and he actually received criticism for not playing his best lineup often enough. The problem is the team just wasn’t built with much room for injuries and fatigue.

The Cardinals Opening Day lineup featured six players who are now 30 years or older. A team that old has to receive a fair amount of luck to make it through an entire season without dealing with many injury problems.

The Cardinals certainly haven’t received much luck in that department, but it also shouldn’t surprise everyone when the offense struggles. Sure, a team that leads the league in hitting shouldn’t go four straight games without scoring an earned run, as the Cardinals did Aug. 28-31 against the Pirates and Nationals, but it would also be unrealistic to think the offense would continue to churn out five or more runs a game nearly every night.

Despite the recent struggles, life is still pretty good for the Cardinals. They entered play Saturday in the second wild-card spot and 4.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the top wild-card position.

Plus, the upcoming schedule is favorable. The Cardinals have just four of their next 18 games against teams with a winning record, although all but five of those games are on the road. Still, this upcoming stretch might give the Cardinals a chance to get well for a final push toward the playoffs. They are going to need it.

The St. Louis Cardinals trailed the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 heading into the sixth inning of Friday’s game, one that marked the beginning of a vital series for both teams. Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn did not make it out of the third inning and the Reds were poised to extend their lead in the NL Central to eight games.

Then came the sixth inning.

The Cardinals offense busted loose for six runs, including back-to-back homeruns by Allen Craig and Yadier Molina, to take an 8-5 lead.

The Cardinals held onto that lead for the rest of the game and won an extremely important game that begins a 13-game stretch against the Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals. That win also set them up to have a shot at winning the NL Central by cutting the Reds lead to six games.

The most impressive part of Friday’s game, and the part that should give Cardinals fans optimism for September, is that the Cardinals were able to come from behind against their rivals and the team with the second-best record in Major League Baseball.

Complaints about all aspects of the Cardinals have erupted in the last two weeks as the team went 6-7 before sweeping the Houston Astros Tuesday through Thursday. The offense wasn’t scoring consistently enough, the bullpen couldn’t hold a lead and the complaints could go on and on. They likely will after Lynn’s start as people panic that Lynn will fall apart down the stretch.

However, the Cardinals came back from the dead Friday to beat the division-leading Reds. That game could be the watershed moment for this Cardinals team. That win had all the looks of an experienced ballclub that knows how to win. Many teams would’ve conceded the game with Reds starter Mat Latos throwing well and a terrific bullpen to follow.

Instead, the Cardinals put their heads down and salvaged a game that looked to be over when manager Mike Matheny had to call Joe Kelly to the mound in the third inning. Some people might say that was a panic move, but it might end up being on of Matheny’s best decisions of the season. Kelly threw three innings of relief and got the win.

The only unfortunate part of Kelly’s performance is that it will spark debate about who to have in the fifth spot in the rotation. Jaime Garcia is back from shoulder problems and pitched eight beautiful innings last Sunday against the Pirates, but it also created a situation where the Cardinals went from two solid back-of-the-rotation pitchers to uncertainty if they have any pitcher good enough for the fifth spot.

That situation will surely work itself out. The offense saved Lynn on Friday and perhaps an extra few days of rest wouldn’t hurt, but both Lynn and Kelly are good pitchers who are going to help the team a heck of a lot more often than they Will Hurt it.

Now, before we paint too rosy of a picture, the Cardinals fell to the Reds 8-2 Saturday and still sit seven games out of the division lead, although they do currently hold the second wild-card spot. However, if the Cardinals can hang close up until the final week of the season, they play the Reds Oct. 1-3 in St. Louis. That could be one very fun series if the division title is not yet decided.

And if that happens, remember Friday as day the Cardinals came from behind and started their full pursuit on the Reds for the division lead.

The St. Louis Cardinals lost a huge part of their offense when Albert Pujols signed a 10-year, $240-million deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but that also forced the team to build a more balanced lineup. Now every spot in the order consistently pushes across enough runs to put the Cardinals atop the NL Central as April comes to a close.

But, the margin for error is much slimmer without Pujols. There were times during the last decade when Pujols basically won an entire game with his bat. If it was a close game late, Cardinals fans always felt like the team had a chance to win as long as Pujols got another at-bat.

That’s no longer the case. The 2012 Cardinals have to string together multiple hits to score runs in bunches, but they have done surprisingly well to start the season. From shortstop Rafeal Furcal to centerfielder Jon Jay, each part of the lineup is contributing to give the Cardinals a .278 team batting average, which is the best in the National League.

Hopefully, the increased responsibility on each spot in the order will make this team more slump-proof than previous Cardinals teams. Pujols could mask a bunch of deficiencies in a lineup, but there were times when he would be the only hitter consistently producing runs. So far this season, Cardinals hitters have done an excellent job of picking each other up and getting base hits to keep the line moving.

For example, the Cardinals smashed the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night with 13 runs, but they didn’t particularly smash the ball. Instead, the Cardinals laced together 15 hits, and only four went for extra bases with no homeruns.

I’m not saying the Cardinals can’t hit homers. They sit second in the National League with 24 homeruns, but they also have the consistency to manufacture runs without the long ball. That, combined with the excellent starting pitching the team is getting from its starting rotation, could make the Cardinals quite a force during the course of the season in the National League.

All of those offensive topics are even sweeter considering Pujols is still searching for his first homerun as an Angel, going 21 games to start the season without a homer.

In fact, the Cardinals likely have the most complete team in the division despite preseason concerns that the Cincinnati Reds might have more firepower. The Reds’ pitching staff has some significant holes.

Johnny Cueto has been fantastic to lead the staff with a 3-0 record and 1.39 ERA, but he is the only starter in the Reds rotation to have more than one win. Mat Latos, Mike Leake, Bronson Arroyo and Homer Bailey have a combined 3-7 record with a 4.65 ERA.

The Cardinals rotation, by contrast, has an ERA of 2.81, and that’s while carrying Adam Wainwright’s 7.32 ERA.

Cardinals fans could not have realistically expected a better first month to the season, and fortunately there is plenty to be excited about over the course of the next five months.

The St. Louis Cardinals confirmed Thursday that Yadier Molina will be the franchise’s catcher for at least the next five seasons, marking the second time the team has kept the best defensive player in the game.

The Cardinals signed Molina to a $75 million contract extension that will keep him in St. Louis until at least 2017. However, unlike most big-money contracts dished out around the league these days, Molina will receive the bulk of that money because of his glove, not his bat.

Molina’s deal also harkens back to the 1980s when the Cardinals paid a shortstop named Ozzie Smith to often-miraculously cover the middle of the infield. Smith never made more than $3.5 million in a single year, but that is more because of the different eras than because of talent. From 1978 to 1996, $3.5 million was still considered a lot of money, especially for someone with a .262 career batting average.

During his career, Smith reshaped how defensive players were valued. He averaged just two homeruns during his 19-year career, but he saved countless runs with his dazzling glovework.

Sure, other eras also had terrific defensive players, but Smith made defense exciting to watch. The crowd at Busch Stadium would actually cheer when a ball was hit toward Smith’s shortstop position because there was a pretty good chance it might be the most memorable moment of the game.

Molina is the same way behind the plate. He’s not the first catcher to receive a big contract. Catchers such as Joe Mauer, Jorge Posada and Mike Piazza also received huge paydays, but the difference between those catchers and Molina is how well they hit. Each of the three previously mentioned players were paid because of what they could do standing next to the plate more than what they could do behind it.

That’s not the case with Molina. He has a .274 career batting average and hits about nine homeruns each season. But, he leads a pitching staff as well as anybody and has gunned down 44 percent of the baserunners who dare to try and steal second base when Molina is in the game.

Molina gets a similar reaction at Busch Stadium III when he throws out a baserunner as Smith did at Busch Stadium II for making a diving play or leaping grab.

Defense is often undervalued in Major League Baseball. Teams pay more for homerun hitters because the stats are more black and white. A batting average will show how good a hitter is, but fielding percentage is much more subjective and misses a large part of the defensive game. Sure, there are new defensive sabermetrics coming out each year, but defense is still tougher to value than offense.

Given the holes in the statistics, defensive prowess must be defined by observation. Regardless of how many baserunners Molina throws out, the intangibles he brings to the field are vital to the success of the team. He is the lynchpin that holds the team together, even more so than Pujols when he was a Cardinal.

Smith was the same way. He played on all three of the Cardinals World Series teams in the 1980s and provided stability at one of the most important positions on the field.

Cardinals fans should appreciate watching Molina play defense. It is an art form that is often overlooked until it is gone.
Defense will likely never be valued as much as offense, but players such as Molina and Smith show that terrific defense wins a lot of ballgames, and quite a few championships, as well.

Another year is in the books for the Kansas City Royals.

They had ups and downs, highs and lows, and many, many growing pains.

2011 was judged a success from many within the organization, and more outside of the organization. Having a record of 71-91 isn’t normally looked at as a good thing. However, the progress made by the young players on this squad is more than anyone could have hoped for at the beginning of the year.

With that being said, it’s time to hand out some awards:

Best Player
The award for Best Player isn’t an easy one to give out for the 2011 Royals. Several players had stellar seasons, especially the top 5 hitters in the Royals lineup (Alex Gordon, Melky Cabrera, Billy Butler, Eric Hosmer, and Jeff Franceour). Each of those players had at least 18 Homeruns, 78 RBI’s, a .285 average, and a .799 On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS). With the exception of Hosmer, who was called up a month into the season, they all had at least 44 doubles.

At the end of the day, I have to give the award to Alex Gordon. He said he was going to “dominate” after the 2010 season, and he did not disappoint.

Gordon put up career highs in HR’s (23), Doubles (45), RBI’s (87), Runs Scored (101), and Batting Average (.303). He did all of this from the leadoff position for most of the year, which was a brand new spot for him in the batting order.

Not only did Gordon have a career year with his bat, he also got it done with his glove. This was the first full season of playing Left Field for Gordon in his career, but you would have never known with how smoothly he did it.

He recorded an MLB-best 20 outfield assists, which also set the Royals’ franchise record. He only committed 3 errors all season and his .991 fielding percentage was tops for American League Left Fielders.

Overall, Gordon’s numbers on both offense and defense were too much to ignore when selecting the Royals’ Best Player. He should also be considered for a Gold Glove this year and perhaps the A.L. Comeback Player of the year.

Honorable Mentions: 2)Hosmer 3)Butler 4)Cabrera 5)Francoeur

Best Pitcher
A lot of people will surely disagree with my choice for the Best Pitcher on the 2011 Royals: Luke Hochevar.

Of course, Bruce Chen was the fan favorite and had the Royals’ best win total (12) and ERA (3.77) among starting pitchers. He also battled injuries early in the season. Joakim Soria had a decent year notching 28 but he also had 7 blown saves. Aaron Crow was the Royals’ representative at the All-Star Game, but faded after the break. Greg Holland turned out to be the best bullpen arm and was the guy who the Royals used as their “fireman” throughout the season. However, I had to go with Hochevar for a couple different reasons.

Hochevar’s numbers weren’t anything special, but his Post-All Star Break numbers showed that he finally figured something out. He improved greatly throughout the season and gave Royals fans a look at a good Number 3 (maybe a Number 2) starter in the rotation.

Before the break, Hochevar went 5-8 with a 5.46 ERA. After the break, he was 6-3 with a 3.52 ERA. His numbers in all aspects were much better after the break and he rarely had the “big inning” that fans were accustomed to seeing at the beginning of the year. Also, he lasted 6 innings or more 11 times in his 12 starts post-break.

When Ned Yost gave Hochevar the ball for Opening Day, he showed a ton of confidence in the 27-(now 28)-year-old. He wanted Hoch to be the leader of the rotation and, in my mind, he was for the entire year. If you wanted somebody to give you the absolute best chance to win, with the best “stuff,” it had to be Hochevar.

Honorable Mentions: 2)Chen 3)Holland 4)Felipe Paulino 5)Soria

Rookie of the Year
I’m going to go ahead and rename this one as “Rookie of the Year-Not Named Eric Hosmer.” Obviously, Hosmer wins this award for the Royals. Hands-down. No vote needed. He is one of the top candidates to win A.L. Rookie of the year, and should in the minds of every Royals fan out there.

Hosmer’s final numbers look like this: 19 HR’s, 27 Doubles, 78 RBI’s, 66 Runs Scored, 11 Stolen Bases, .293 Batting Average, and .799 (OPS).

Stud. Absolute stud. Everybody knows about him and how good he his, so let’s get to the “Rookie of the Year-Not Named Eric Hosmer.”

For this award, I have to go with Greg Holland.

There were a lot of good choices for this award just like all the others. Mike Moustakas’ last couple months were what fans were ready to see when he was called up in early June. His power finally came around in the last month of the season, but it wasn’t quite enough to give him this award.

Aaron Crow’s ridiculous start to the season was overshadowed by his struggles after the All-Star break. Tim Collins and Louis Coleman were good, but inconsistent throughout the season. Johnny Giavotella and Salvador Perez made an instant impact when they were called up, but they didn’t play enough to solidify themselves as candidates for this award. (Although Perez’s offense and defense were much better than expected).

In the end, it had to be Greg Holland. If there was one pitcher you had to pick to get one out this year, it would have to be Holland. When any other young bullpen arm would come into the game, most fans had to be at least a little nervous that run might be given up. Not with Holland. I felt more comfortable every time he was on the mound than any other reliever.

He finished with a 1.80 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 60 innings pitched. If he can keep this up next year, he could become an even more important of the pitching staff.

Honorable Mentions: 2)Moustakas 3)Crow 4)Perez 5)Giavotella

Play of the Year

Jeff Francoeur, Jeff Francoeur, Jeff Francoeur. Right?

When you think of the Royals’ top plays this year, you think of Francoeur. His cannon of an arm was second to none in the Majors this year.

However, with all of Frenchy’s awesome defensive plays, Alcides Escobar has been greatly overshadowed. Maybe it’s because we were spoiled all year by Escobar’s unreal defensive prowess. Maybe it’s because of Frenchy’s constant smile that makes him look like a 10-year-old playing in Little League.

Those two guys would be the main attraction in the Royals Top 10 plays of the year.

For the best of the best, I have to give this award to FrencHy Gunning down Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers at 3^rd base on August 7^th. On this play,l Francoeur had to run to his left, field a base hit, square up his body towards 3^rd and make the throw. He did all of those things and the throw was on a line right to Mike Moustakas’ glove. The Royals were up 4 to 3 and instead of having runners at 1^st and 3^rd with one out, the Tigers then had a runner at 1^st with two outs. Unreal.

Honorable Mentions:

2)Alcides Escobar’s diving stop and throw on former Royal Alberto Callaspo on June 1^st. Escobar robbed Callaspo with a dive deep in the hole between 3^rd and short. He got up, made the throw, and Hosmer made an incredible scoop on a double hop. The score was 0-0 in the top of the 8^th with 2 outs and the bases loaded.

3)Francoeur makes the rare 9-3 putout against the A’s on September 7^th.

4)Francoeur robs Dustin Ackley of a homerun on September 9^th. Frenchy climbed the wall, and made the catch with his back towards homeplate.

5)Giavotella to Escobar to Hosmer for the double play against the A’s on September 5^th. Gio dove to his left, caught the ball on one hop, threw it to Escobar who caught it bare handed, and made the throw to hosmer for the 4-6-3 double play.

Game of the Year
Again, there are a ton of choices for this award. At the beginning of the year, it seemed like the Royals’ first 20 wins came on walk-offs. During the middle of the year, the team was struggling but still fighting back to win games. At the end of the year, the Royals had their 2012 lineup in full effect and showed flashes of greatness.

My Game of the Year Award goes to Royals vs. Rays on July 23^rd 2011.

The Royals fought back from a 2-0 and 4-2 deficit to win the game 5-4 in 10 innings.

This game was Mike Moustakas’ breakout game as he went 2-3 with a double and 3 of the Royals’ 5 RBI’s.

Down 4-3 in the bottom of the 9^th, the Royals were facing Kyle Farnsworth. Farnsworth pitched for the Royals the previous two years and was not loved by fans, to say the least. Down to their last out, the Royals had Alex Gordon coming up to the plate with Alcides Escobar on 1^st. Gordon doubled to deep right center to score Escobar and hand Farnsworth his 4^th blown save. It was really nice for fans to watch Farnsworth melt down like he did so many times for the Royals.

Then came the top of the 10^th. Aaron Crow came in, walked two batters, and was pulled from the game. Soria came in and gave up a single to load the bases. With no outs, everyone in Kauffman Stadium was nervous about what would happen next.

Soria, who was shaky all season, got a comebacker and two strikeouts to get out of the jam. The score was still 4-4 going into the bottom of the 10^th.

With Mike Aviles on first base, Eric Hosmer smacked a double to deep left center. Aviles got on his horse and scored all the way from first.

This game was the game of the year because of:

A)Rallying back from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits

B)Alex Gordon with the game-tying double with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9^th against Kyle Farnsworth

C)Soria getting out of a no-out bases-loaded jam

D)Hosmer with the walk-off double in extras

Honorable Mentions:

2) Royals 2, Angels 0 June 1^st

Butler with a walk-off HR, Escobar saves the game with his glove in the 8^th

3) Royals 7, White Sox 6 September 16^th

Bullpen blows 3-run lead, Hosmer walk-off double

4) Royals 2, Twins 1 July 15^th

Hosmer game-winning 2-run HR in the top of the 9^th

5) Royals 3, Red Sox 1 (F/14) July 25^th

Great pitching all night from 6 Royals pitchers, Mike Aviles with the botched squeeze bunt over Adrian Gonzalez’s head to score Hosmer in the 14^th

That does it for this year’s awards. Each one of these was difficult to pick and an argument can be made for each pick.

The best thing about these awards is that there were so many great players, plays, and games this year. In past years, awards would be much easier to hand out because of the lack of talent and passion that has plagued the Royals before.

2011 was the start to a new era in Royals baseball. The entire organization has taken a step forward so look forward to next year’s awards being even tougher to pick.

Please share your thoughts and let us know who your awards would go to.

New number. New position. New life.

What a ride it has been so far for Alex Gordon.

From being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 draft, to being the Royals’ best player in 2011, Gordon has faced some extreme lows and some (recent) extreme highs.

He started his career as the most popular player on the Royals after being labeled the “next George Brett” right out of college. He kept the majority of his popularity after hitting 15 homeruns and 60 RBI’s in his rookie season. However, there were questions about his overall approach at the plate because of his .247 average and his 137 to 41 K to BB ratio.

A number change in 2008, from 7 to 4, didn’t bring any changes to his play on the diamond. His offensive numbers were almost identical and his defense raised some concerns after having 16 errors with a .955 fielding percentage.

Gordon’s numbers in 2009 and 2010 were much worse while he was dealing with injuries and a position change. Some fans gave up on Gordon and thought of him as another bust.

Slow development is not what Royals’ fans were told to expect. He was supposed to come in and turn the club around. He was supposed to carry the team to relevancy right away.

As everyone knows, those things did not happen.

This year was the perfect chance for Gordon to start from scratch. The Brett comparisons and hype from being a No. 2 overall pick were gone. Hosmer and Moustakas were the new names fans were looking at to carry the team to the next level. Billy Butler held onto his crown as Kansas City’s “Fan Favorite.”

Gordon was merely an afterthought in most fans’ minds. For once, he could go out and play baseball without facing such scrutiny every time he struck out.

He started the season flying under the radar, but it didn’t take him much time to turn that around.

He has been Mr. Consistency for the Royals all year offensively, and defensively. His popularity amongst fans is back to where it was his rookie year. He has completely reinvented himself.

Alex Gordon 2.0 has been in effect during the entire 2011 season.

In 2006, nobody could have imagined Gordon as the Royals’ starting left fielder hitting in the leadoff spot. He was supposed to be a power-hitting third baseman knocking in runs from the three-hole.

He has gone from a 22-year-old kid facing an immense amount of pressure, to a 27-year-old man who has figured out the ropes of the majors.

This complete 180 degree turn that Gordon has gone through is not at all a bad thing.

With 27 games remaining, Gordon has career highs in Runs (87), Hits (160), Doubles (40), Homeruns (19), BA (.305), OBP (.378), SLG (.506), and OPS (.884).

His defense has been nothing short of remarkable as well. He only has two outfield errors on the season and has an MLB-best 20 outfield assists.

His numbers have put Royals fans back on his side. The last two years Kauffman Stadium was scattered with “boo’s” every time his name was called. This year he gets the biggest ovation of any of the Royals’ players.

He came up just short in the MLB’s Final All-Star Vote, and probably should have been the Royals’ representative anyway.

The Royals’ organization has also shown their appreciation of what Gordon has done this year. They held Ballot Punch Parties to encourage fans to vote him into the All-Star game and named him the winner of the “Heart and Hustle Award.” They are also offering $4 tickets to this Sunday’s game versus the Indians to honor his breakout season.

Gordon was in the perfect situation coming into this year and seized what could have been his last opportunity with the Royals. He proved what he is capable of and everyone is taking heed.

He is only guaranteed to be with the Royals through next season. Hopefully the Royals are able to lock him up for years to come.

The Alex Gordon of 2006-2010 wouldn’t be hearing much talk about a contract extension…but Alex Gordon 2.0 definitely is.