If Mark Teahen strikes out 4 times but hits a home run, is it a good or a bad game for him..?

If Mark Teahen hits a home run (his 6th of the spring) but strikes out 4 times, is it a good game or a bad game for him?

Thats exactly what happened today, and it's kind of as confusing as the tie the Royals had, their 932nd this spring.. (not really).. 

The Royals tied the Cubbies 8-8 in 10 innings as Davies labored through 5.2 innings but wasn't terrible overall.  Former Notre Dame wideout Jeff Smardzija ate up the Royals in his 1.1 innings with 3 strikeouts, although he did give up an unearned run.  Overall, a bad game for the offense, who drew just 2 walks while striking out 13 times.  The pitching dished out 4 walks against 6 strikeouts, so unacceptable numbers all around.  The pitching gave up 14 hits while the offense had 10 hits.

Hitter of the Game

Alex Gordon's two home run performance makes him the hitter of the game today.  Alex was 2-5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI while striking out once and not walking today.  Both of Alex's HR's came off of Rich Harden, Alex's batting average sits at .323 this spring.

Pitcher of the Game

Kyle Farnsworth gets the pitcher of the game award today as he pitched a perfect 8th inning striking out 2 cubs.  Kyle's ERA stands at 5.40 on the spring.

Tomorrow

Sidney Ponson (ugh) will start against the Oakland Athletics tomorrow at 3:05 at Phoenix Stadium.  Josh Outman will get the nod for the A's.

Mike Aviles Grand Slam caps off 8-3 win as Greinke K's 8..

Recap

The Royals only scored in two innings today, 4 runs each to be exact, and that would be all they needed to beat the Oakland A's in front of a crowd of 5,359.  Josh Outman struggled to get through his 3.1 innings, including giving up a grand slam to SS Mike Aviles before recording any outs in the second inning.  He managed to bounce back and not allow any more runs after that home run, but the damage was done.

Zack Greinke was solid, striking out 8 over his 5 innings of work, although he did face some command issues as he walked two and hit a batter.  The A's managed to get to Zack for 3 runs in the 2nd inning but only 2 were earned after an Alberto Callaspo throwing error ruined a double play that should have ended the inning.  I'm beginning to wonder if Teahen is any worse defensively at 2nd base than Callaspo.

Oh, by the way Teahen hit another HR today, albeit in an intrasquad game.

Hitter of the Game

Mike Aviles and his grand slam garner him the hitter of the game award for today.  Aviles drove in 5 runs total and scored one himself on a 2-3 day at the plate.  Mike did not strike out or walk.  He is hitting .333 this spring.

Pitcher of the Game

Although he gave up the only runs of the game, Zack Greinke will be the pitcher of the game today.  Zack allowed 3 runs (2 earned) over his 5 innings of work today.  He gave up 4 hits, one of which went for extra bases (a Daric Barton triple).  Greinke walked two batters but struck out a total of 8.  Not bad.

Tomorrow

The Royals have another off day on Wednesday and will resume play on Thursday afternoon.