Halos + Royals = 40 hits and 30 runs.. and why Horacio Ramirez should be in AAA..

The Angels and the Royals combined for 40 hits and 30 runs today.  Wow, clearly it was a bad day to be a pitcher, but is Horacio Ramirez seriously a "lock" for the rotation?  He has been the epitome of awful this spring.  In 14 innings and 4 starts (5 appearances) Horacio is 1-2 with a 10.29 ERA.

We know that Meche and Greinke will both make the rotation.  Davies and Hochevar both have been excellent (or at least "very good") this spring, so in a perfect world (my world) they both make the rotation as well.  That means that Horacio and Bannister (and Sir Sidney, I guess) are up for the final rotation spots.  As bad as Banny has been this spring, Horacio has been worse.

Banny and Horacio both have 4 starts.  Horacio has an extra relief appearance so he leads the innings pitched category 14 to 12.2.  However, Horacio has allowed 31 hits and 4 walks in those 14 innings, for a WHIP of 2.50, which is unheard of.  Bannister has given up "just" 17 hits and 4 walks for a WHIP of 1.66.  Still bad, but "bad" is always better than "unheard of".  Banny and Horacio both have equal K/BB rates, so we'll call that a wash.  Neither of them has been able to strike anyone out though, which is discouraging.

The one stat Horacio has on his side is ground outs to air outs.  Ramirez has a 3.88 GO/AO ratio, which is actually quite good.  Banny on the other hand has a 1.40 GO/AO ratio on the other hand.  One other interesting side note, Ramirez has allowed 5 steals on him this spring, while no batters have been caught stealing.  No one has attempted a steal on Bannister yet.  

I think I've mentioned before that I hate "errors".  Because I hate "errors" (both "errors" on the field, and "errors" the concept) I think that "ERA" isn't as useful as Run Average, which is simply how many runs, earned or otherwise, a pitcher allows over 9 innings.  Horacio Ramirez's Run Average is at an atrocious 14.14, meaning he allows 14 runs per nine innings.  Absolutely awful.  The whole point to this argument that while it may be a nice luxury to have a lefty in the rotation, when the lefty is getting yanked in the 2nd or 3nd inning every game, you're just putting too much stress on your bullpen.

That's why I think the rotation should fill out as such:

Gil Meche
Zack Greinke

Kyle Davies

Luke Hochevar

Brian Bannister

Who's with me?

Hitter of the Game

Miguel Olivo mashed two home runs today as he went 2-5 with one strikeout.  Miguel drove in 2 runs and scored 2 more himself.  Miguel is hitting .354 on the spring.

Pitcher of the Game

He was the only pitcher not to give up a run today, in fact he hasn't given up a run all spring.  Lenny DiNardo earns the pitcher of the game award today.  Lenny Pitched a scoreless 8th inning, allowing two singles and striking out one while walking none.

Tomorrow

The Royals will travel to Peoria to face the Padres tomorrow.  Kyle Davies will look to bounce back from his worst start of the spring as he faces off against Chris Young.  Also scheduled to pitch for the Royals is Doug Waechter, Joakim Soria, and Heath Phillips.