Bannister effectively wild and wildy effective..

Well it was definitely a good game tonight, although it was pretty weird, as well.  I've never seen a game in which a pitcher has been so dominant when pitching so poorly.  Brian Bannister had only 53 strikes in 103 pitches and yet threw 7 innings giving up just one run on one hit.  He did walk six and strike out two and the game was weird all the way around.  David Purcey struck out just three Royals after being a big time strikeout pitcher in his other starts this season.

Guillen went yardski twice and Miguel hit a home run to center field.  Bloomquist's line ended up 1/2 with 2 walks and a sac fly.  His only hit was a triple.  Coco had another walk.  Teahen had 3 of the hardest hit balls of the game and was 0-3 with a walk.  The Royals as a team took 8 walks, which is encouraging.

Overall it was a fun game, although it was rainy and a bit cold, I had a great time.  The stadium looks awesome and it really feels like a major league ballpark now.  Hopefully I'll be able to upload my pictures sometime tomorrow and get them posted.

Hitter of the Game

Has to be Jose Guillen.  Jose was 3-4 with 2 home runs, 2 runs scored, 3 RBI, no walks and no strikeouts.  Jose was really impressive today as both of his HRs were no doubters and had to be on a night like tonight with the way the weather was.

Pitcher of the Game

This will be the only time this season a pitcher with 6 walks gets the PoG award, but Banny earned it tonight.  He was effectively wild and wildly effective, giving up just one hit in 7 innings, walking six and striking out two.  It was encouraging to see Banny be effective even without his best control, or even his better control, which he blamed on the weather and the wetness of the ball.

Tomorrow

Gil Meche will face Scott Richmond in a 7:10 start.  The Royals will again try and climb back into a tie with Detroit for first place as Detroit is now 11-8 while the Royals are 10-9.

Minor League Notables

The O-Royals offense got to Rangers Super-Prospect Neftali Feliz today, getting 5 runs (although all 5 were unearned) in 2.2 innings off of 3 hits and 4 walks.  The O-Royals won 8-1 over OKC in a game that was called after 7 innings.

Chris Lubanski had 2 more hits, going 2/3 with a double and a walk.  He drove in 2 runs and scored 1 himself.

Luke Hochevar threw 6 innings giving up 1 unearned run on 4 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out 7 and threw 96 pitches.  His ERA is now 1.44 this young season.

Jose Bonilla, the young catcher for the Burlington Bees hit his first home run of the season tonight.  On the game he was 1/3 with 2 rbi and a run scored.

Thanks as always for reading.