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Royals play well, smell even better

 
Lorenzo Cain, switched to AT&T Park’s tricky rightfield, catches a fly ball by Travis Ishikawa to end the second.
Lorenzo Cain, switched to AT&T Park’s tricky rightfield, catches a fly ball by Travis Ishikawa to end the second.
Published Oct. 25, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO — Salvador Perez is a player who doesn't want to make a stink.

The Royals' upbeat All-Star catcher wore Victoria's Secret perfume late in the 2013 season; teammate Alcides Escobar sprayed some on him, and Perez had a four-hit game.

"We won. We celebrated. I asked him, where did you buy that?" Perez recalled this week. "I need to buy some, maybe to wear for the rest of my life."

He stuck with the smell of success and switched this year to 212 Men by Carolina Herrera cologne. Escobar buys it for him, and Perez has gone through three bottles.

"The weirder the team, the better the team, usually," Royals OF Raul Ibanez said. "We've got a lot of weird stuff that goes on in here."

Perez said San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval, Detroit's Victor Martinez and Texas' Prince Fielder are among the players who have remarked about his baseball bouquet. Detroit's Miguel Cabrera asked where he could get some for himself.

"I think (umpire) Jerry Meals told me: 'Salvy, you smell good,' " Perez said. "We sweat. We've got the gear. We stink."

And the strange scent of Perez and Escobar has become part of Kansas City's identity. "I know they're sweet smelling on the bench, that's for sure," manager Ned Yost said. "That's one of the more unusual ones. But it's been effective, so it works for them."

Still, not everyone has taken notice of the olfactory addition to the diamond.

"I don't go around smelling catcher's armpits," Joe West, the majors' senior umpire, said before breaking into laughter.

RELIEVER 'EMBARRASSED': Giants RH reliever Hunter Strickland knows how bad it looked when he initiated a confrontation with Perez during Wednesday's Game 2. "I'm embarrassed. I'm not going to deny it," said Strickland, who allowed extra-base hits to both batters he faced — a two-run double to Perez and a two-run homer to Omar Infante — in the Royals' 7-2 victory. "I've got a lot of respect for those guys over there. It happened and I can't take it back. There's a lot of emotion going on but you've got to control it."

OUTFIELD SHIFT: The Royals moved Lorenzo Cain from centerfield to right Friday to boost defense in one of AT&T Park's trickiest positions. Usual RF Nori Aoki did not start, while Jarrod Dyson started in center and batted eighth. "We've made a couple adjustments," manager Ned Yost said. "It was out of necessity. With this vast outfield, we had to put our best defense out there." Alex Gordon, who batted sixth in Games 1 and 2 this week at Kauffman Stadium, moved into the No. 2 hole as the Royals lost their DH — Billy Butler — in the NL ballpark.

Marlins fan will return: Laurence Leavy, who declined the Royals' offer to sit in a suite so his orange Marlins jersey wouldn't be visible in the front row behind home plate during Game 1 at Kauffman Stadium, said he already had a ticket for Games 6 and 7 back in Kansas City. "I should be in the same spot, which won't make Royals happy," the South Florida attorney, 58, said, "but I don't care."

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Clemente Award: Retiring White Sox star Paul Konerko and Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins were co-winners of MLB's Roberto Clemente Award, for contributions on and off the field. Konerko assists foster children in Illinois. Rollins provides tickets to disadvantaged children.