I may be crazy because I know that TPJ had some nice defensive plays tonight. But please tell me that for the rest of the time we don't have Gordon and Guillen we will have Maier and Callaspo instead of TPJ and Callaspo. I understand that maybe Maier wasn't in KC yet or he was unable to play for some other reason, but on all levels Maier is a much much better player that TPJ, and I don't even necessarily think that Maier is above replacement-level. That is simply a testament to how bad TPJ is with the bat.
Anyway, run saving defensive plays from players who shouldn't be on our team aside, I thought tonight was a really good game. The hitters only managed 5 hits, but I felt like we really worked the count a lot better. It showed up in the box score as the hitters drew 5 walks against 6 strikeouts, a ratio I can live with from the whole team. Greinke commanded the game from the first batter. The strike zone was slightly large, but fairly consistent throughout the night.
Teahen had a clutch RBI single on a 1-2 count in the first inning that I felt was really important because it reminded me of how Teahen hits when he is on. The pitch was boring in on him and was low out of the zone but Teahen kept his hands in and stayed back and was able to drive the inside pitch back up the middle into centerfield. Billy Butler had a huge double right after which drove in DDJ.
The one thing I did notice is that Mike Aviles needs to start working the walk more if he wants to stay in the 2 hole. I have been a fan of Mike's for at least the last 3 years, but I always figured his walk total would move up as he got older. He almost reminds me of Angel Berroa in the sense that he is looking to hit anything that is hittable instead of looking to hit pitches that he can drive. I'm not down on him, but it's just something to look out for.
We'll go with Mike Jacobs today. The offense was spread out today as no one drove in or scored more than 1 run, and no one even had more than one hit. Mike Jacobs did have a long solo home run however, and he also took a walk. If Mike Jacobs hit a home run and took a walk every game, he would be the best player in all of baseball. Aim for the stars, Mike.
Pitcher of the Game
Gotta go with Donald Zackary Greinke on this one. The Zack-Attack pitched 5 scoreless innings with 9 (count them, 9) strikeouts. He did have 2 walks, which is just fine when you K 9 hitters. Greinke did give up 6 hits, and 8 baserunners in 5 innings is starting to push the limits of where you want to be, but all in all, Greinke was awesome tonight. The only thing he'll have to work on is not Meche-ing himself by throwing too many pitches. He may get back to pitching to contact except for when he needs a K so he can get deeper into games. Nice.
Tomorrow
Carl Pavano will match up with Kyle Davies as the Royals host the Indians tomorrow. First pitch is at 6:10 central time.
Question for all of the readers -
I've been considering adding a section in my posts where I take a look at the minor league games, probably not all of them because that would take forever, but I might be able to write a paragraph on a game or a particular player or two, possibly a "prospect watch" section or something similar.. any opinions on this? Please leave any ideas/advice in the comments section. Thanks for reading!
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