Game thread 149 – Royals at Phillies

The Royals fell back to .500 with last night’s loss, their fifth in six games. Their playoff hopes are all but over, but with two weeks remaining, the team can seek to finish with more wins than losses for only the sixth time this century. Players will be seeking to prove they’re ready for opportunities next season, as well, whether in Kansas City or elsewhere.

Ryan Bergert, tonight’s starter, is one such player seeking to improve his odds of winning an Opening Day rotation spot in KC with a bounce-back effort after a weak start Monday night in Cleveland. It was his first dud of the season, whether with Kansas City or San Diego, but the Royals project to have a stacked rotation next year, and, barring trades, players who would easily be other teams’ opening week starters and perhaps Opening Day starters could find themselves in Omaha for the Royals.

Taijuan Walker will start for the Phillies. He had an awful season for the Phillies last year, in the second year of a four-year deal he signed to join the Phillies. He even spent a chunk of time in the bullpen last year and this year as the Phillies tried to figure out how to get value from him. He has largely lost his ability to get strikeouts since he signed the deal, but he’s somewhat reduced his walks this year to give his team a fighting chance in the games he pitches, even if he’s unlikely to carry them himself. Walker did make a start against the Royals last year and gave up six runs in only three innings to take the Phillies’ only loss against KC.

Jac Caglianone will get the night off, giving up his lineup spot to Carter Jensen. The Royals still refuse to use both players in the lineup at the same time despite the fact that when they did so last Saturday, they scored as many runs in that one game as they have in the six since. Also, as noted above, the competitive part of the season is over, and the Royals should really be getting a jump start on auditions for next year’s team. Will Carter and Cags be ready to take on larger roles next season? Guess we’re not going to find out this year.