An Eventful Weekend

First of all, the Royals did a fine job earning a road series split this weekend, capped by their first shutout of the season (albeit with four pitchers). They weren't especially competitive in games 2 and 3, and their bullpen floundered badly in game 2 (and was fairly shaky yesterday despite giving up no runs), but those are minor grievances. With this team, you take the small victories.

I don't have much to say about the brawl, other than generally speaking they're not very interesting. Elvys was certainly trying to brushback or hit Guillen with that second pitch, though I highly doubt he was trying to hit him in the head. Guillen had every reason to be upset, and despite Elvys' protestations he should be suspended.

I was most interested, though, in the behavior or Kyle Farnsworth. Why did he go after Affeldt? Is there some kind of personal history there (highly doubtful), or did Affeldt say something that set him off (even more doubtful)? No, I just think Farnsworth is a testosterone-laden thug who was looking for someone to tackle, and Affeldt was an easy target, standing alone and off to the side. Farnsworth should receive the longest suspension; his actions were completely unprovoked and their only purpose were to cause harm to another player.

-- Mike MacDougal's demons are starting to get the best of him. Yesterday marked the fifth straight appearance in which he's allowed baserunners, but thus far he's escaped unscatched. The silver lining is that he's learning to battle and keep his focus when he's not going well, but eventually this is going to catch up to him. Here's hoping he'll be putting fans for another team on edge in a couple of weeks.

-- Jeremy Affeldt, despite receiving a small amount of sympathy for being at the business end of a Kyle Farnsworth tackle, continues to annoy the hell out of me for pitching sequences like this:

Single
Wild pitch
Walk
Wild pitch
Line drive double play

Face it folks, Jeremy Affeldt is just not very good. He's a flake on the mound. Its time to drop the wishful thinking and recognize Affeldt for what he is: a tremendously talented headcase who will never fulfill his promise (reminds me a bit of his newly minted nemesis, Kyle Farnsworth). I REALLY hope AB can trade him to a desperate GM for a nice prospect.

UPDATES:

1) I really need to start editing my posts more carefully, and/or hire an editor.
2) Jayson Stark said in an ESPN.com chat that Jeremy Affeldt is the best set-up man available. He must be thinking of another Jeremy Affeldt.