2009 Kansas City Royals season
[2] Interleague opponents included the St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates.
[2] The Royals looked to improve on their 2008 record of 75–87 and sought their first playoff appearance since 1985, as manager Trey Hillman returned for his second season with Kansas City.
[8] Bob McClure (pitching), Rusty Kuntz (first base), and John Mizerock (bullpen) were all retained to complete the six-man staff.
[3] The Boston Globe reported that the Royals had "serious discussions" concerning a trade of RHP Zack Greinke to the Atlanta Braves for OF Jeff Francoeur.
[16] Reports about Kansas City's purported interest in Francoeur also surfaced weeks before the Winter Meetings but there had been no concrete evidence that the Royals pursued such a deal.
[16] Moore showed a reluctance to trade Greinke or outfielders Mark Teahen and David DeJesus, all of whom were attached to rumors throughout the off-season.
[24] In November, the Royals acquired CF Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for RP Ramón Ramírez.
[25] In December, the Royals did not tender contracts to OF Joey Gathright, LHP John Bale, RHP Jairo Cuevas, and 2B Jason Smith.
[1] The Royals lost the first game of the season after Kyle Farnsworth gave up a game-losing, three-run homer to Chicago's Jim Thome.
On that day, 3B Alex Gordon was placed on the disabled list and was ruled out for at least two months after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip.
[34] After trailing 5–3 in the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers tied the game at 5 by the ninth inning after Royals set up pitchers Ron Mahay and Jamie Wright allowed two runs.
[34][35] Texas' Michael Young hit a game-winning leadoff home run off of reliever Kyle Farnsworth's second pitch of the inning.
[36] Bannister and Jamie Wright pitched eight shut-out innings before closer Joakim Soria returned from an eight-day hiatus to close out the 2–0 victory.
[37] Zack Greinke's scoreless innings streak ended at 38 when an unearned run was scored after an errant throw by Mike Avilés in a 6–1 Royals victory over the Detroit Tigers.
[39] The last Kansas City player to appear in an in-season cover was back on June 12, 1989, when SI featured outfielder Bo Jackson.
Zack Greinke's eighth start of the season was delayed by two and half hours of rainfall, but the Royals still won the game 8–1 against the Baltimore Orioles.
[54] After optioning three players (Mike Avilés, Luke Hochevar, and Robinson Tejeda) to the inactive roster,[55] Kansas City won the final game 3–2 and regained a .500 record on the season.
By the end of the month, the Royals began to slip from the top of their division standings in the American League Central, especially following a three-game sweep by the Chicago White Sox left the team with a 23–27 record.
They lost their eighth game in a row on June 5 at Toronto, but broke the losing streak the next day thanks to a strong performance from Luke Hochevar.
Crow attended the University of Missouri, was born in nearby Topeka, Kansas, and was a longtime Royals fan prior to being selected with the team.
