Two straight comebacks leave the Royals alone atop the Central..

Sorry there wasn't a post on Saturday, I was too busy turning 21..

I did catch a chunk of the game though, and all I can say is that the Royals gave me my favorite birthday present this year in the form of a W!  Coupled with Sunday's comeback stunner, the Royals are 14-11 and alone in first place in the central.  They are also in pretty good condition to move further ahead as the pitching matchups for the 2 game Chi-Sox series looks like this:

Bartolo Colon vs. Zack Greinke

Gavin Floyd vs. Kyle Davies

You have to love facing a teams 2 worst starters (probably) with 2 of your best 3 starters.  

Anyway, as I said, Saturday was my birthday, and I was excited that the Royals managed a win.  The Royals really aren't that good on my birthday.  In the 21 years that I have been alive, (and a Royals fan), the Royals have had 17 games on my birthday.  In those games the Royals are 7-10.  I guess that really isn't that awful considering how many years the Royals have been awful during that span.

The Royals impressed me to no end on saturday with their patience at the plate, even against a team that rarely makes mistakes.  The Royals drew 5 walks against 5 strikeouts.  Not great, but acceptable, especially in a win.

And again today, while the Royals drew just 3 walks against 5 strikeouts, they still did a good job of not giving up.  Jose Guillen's long ball really changed the game, but only the half inning before Meche had given up 2 more runs, had he not done this, Guillen's long ball would have given them the lead.  They fought and clawed back to the top.  It's a horrible cliche, but it stands true.  Good teams find ways to win these kinds of games, bad teams find ways to lose them.

Let's look at the award winners

Hitter of the Game

Sat - Willie Bloomquist, believe it or not.  Willie was 3-5 with a BB and K on saturday.  He hit his first home run of the season, stole 2 bases, drove in a run and scored 2 more.  Willie has impressed me so far this season.  He's actually not been bad.

Sun - It's gotta be Jose Guillen.  Guillen changed the game.  While Bloomy and Teahen had broken up the no hitter right before him, Guillen broke up the shutout and basically turned Baker's bid for a no hitter into a 6 ip 5 er affair.  Not bad.  Guillen was 2-3 with a BB, 4 RBI, 1 run and no strikeouts.  His two hits both when for extra bases, one was a double and the other was a home run.

Pitcher of the Game

Sat - It's gotta be Soria - Joakim the Dream pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up just 1 hit and striking out 1 while walking none.  Joakim picked up his first win of the year.

Sun - I'll go with Jamey Wright, who picked up his 3rd hold of the year.  Jamey pitched a perfect 8th inning, striking out 2.  Jamey's ERA is at 1.72 so far this season.

Callaspo - Bert Reynolds has been absolutely awesome this year and is now hitting .380/.432/.570.  Just thought I'd bring that up..

Tomorrow - The Royals are playing the Chi Sox and Greinke will take on Bartolo Colon.  I'll be at the game and I plan on taking more pictures.  Maybe I'll actually post them this time, we'll see..

Minor League Notables - 

The Bees won 1-0 in 10 innings today on the back of Blaine Hardy and Brian Casey's strong pitching performances.  (they were the only pitchers used in the game.  They combined for 10 innings, 6 hits, 7 strikeouts, and 3 walks, no runs.  Nice.)

Wilmington was postponed

Northwest Arkansas was postponed

Omaha was postponed

Exciting.

Thanks as always for reading!