Teahen celebrates return to 3rd with 5 hits as Gordon hits the DL..

Tonight was one of those nights when (almost) everything goes right.  The starter had a quality start, everyone in the lineup had at least 2 hits except for DDJ, and well, the bullpen wasn't great, but we won the game.  Obviously Gil didn't have a perfect game, as the Rangers had plenty of baserunners, but he was able to pitch 6 shutout innings, and I'll never turn down that from my starter.  He also recorded 6 strikeouts, giving him 18 strikeouts in 20 innings.  Gil leads the AL with those 18 strikeouts, not too bad.

The Royals take over first place in the AL Central as they improve their record to 6-4 on the season.  Even more impressive, they have scored 11 more runs than they have allowed (43:32).  A sign which validates their above .500 record.

I said everyone but DDJ had two hits, well Coco didn't, he only had one, but that one hit was a HR.  Coco is now batting a ridiculous .235/.409/.647 on the season.  Remember when I said Coco would be the Royals best hitter this season?  Yeah, I wasn't kidding..

But Coco's game today didn't come close to our HoG, Mr. Teabag.

Hitter of the Game

Mark Teahen had one of the best games of his career tonight, as he was 5-6 with 3 runs and an RBI.  Teahen was a triple short of the cycle as he counted a HR, a 2B and 3 singles amongst his 5 hits.  Teahen will be playing 3B for the next few months as Alex Gordon recovers from his hip surgery, so look for Teahen to step it up at the plate as he settles in to his natural position.

Pitcher of the Game

Gotta be Gil.  Meche pitched 6 scoreless innings allowing 6 hits, none of which went for extra bases.  Gil struck out 6 batters and walked just 2, increasing his K:BB ratio to 18:4, very nice.

As I said earlier, Alex Gordon is expected to miss the next 2 or 3 months, as he had successful hip surgery in Vail, Colorado earlier today.  Mark Teahen will fill in at third for him, and Mitch Maier was recalled from AAA and will probably see some time in the OF while Guillen is still hurt, which will be for another week or so.  It will be interesting to see what roster moves get made once Guillen comes back from the DL.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow Zack tries to maintain his league leading 0.00 ERA, as he'll face Kevin Millwood in a 7:05 central time start.

Kyle Davies, Boy Wonder..

wow.. just wow.

I totally did not see this game coming today.  Maybe it was the fact that I've read too many scouting reports on John Danks entitled "future ace" or maybe it was the fact that a player with one extra base hit was starting in RF for us today, reminiscent of the bad ol' days.  But none of that matters when Kyle Davies goes out and pitches like he did today.  And honestly, Danks was almost as good.  Today's game was one of the best pitching duels I think I've ever seen the Royals been involved in.  In fact, this whole series was one of the lowest scoring series I can remember the Royals being a part of.  Then again, last year's opening series the Royals allowed just 5 runs in 3 games to the Detroit Tigers.  While the Tigers did not end up the beast many of us thought they would be, everyone was very excited about Meche, Bannister, and Greinke's games then too.

I'm not saying that the performances of the last three days should be discounted, as strikeouts have been up and walks and hits have been down, I'm just saying let's keep a level head before anointing the Royals the proverbial AL Central "crown".

Something that impressed me was that even though Joakim gave up a run to make it 2-1 and clearly didn't have his best command, he still fought through and closed it out for a Royals victory.  Impressive.

Coco Crisp will be the hitter of the game today, as it's hard to find a more important batter.  Coco was 2-3 with 2 walks, a double, a two run game winning home run and no strikeouts.  He drove in 2 and scored 1 run.  Impressive.

Kyle Davies is the pitcher of the game today, obviously.  Davies had electric stuff, and to my recollection didn't even throw his curveball until the 4th inning, and it seemed to me his curve was one of his best pitches today.

Some beef I have with Trey is that Coco was once again trying to bunt over Mike Aviles.  Look, I realize the game is close and a few runs will probably win it, but stats prove that trading an out for moving up a base almost NEVER increase your chance of scoring one run or multiple runs.  The fact of the matter is, you should basically never sac bunt in the AL.  Especially when the bunter is one of your better hitters, and the runner (Callaspo) is slow enough that he wouldn't automatically score on any hit from 2nd base even with 2 outs.

Please, no more bunting!

The Royals and Ponson take on the Yankees tomorrow, while I'm excited to see how the Royals do against Pettite, as they tore up lefties pretty well last year, I'm anything but excited to see Tex and the boys tee off on Sucky Ponson.. ugh!

Thanks for reading.

Stars aligned for Teahen to take off??

Well, after another short hiatus I'm back.  I guess I should warn everyone that throughout the season I may miss a few days due to my somewhat unpredictable schedule.  Rest assured, however, that I will always be back and should be able to catch up the PoG and HoG award winners for the games that I missed.  Speaking of the PoG and HoG, you should notice a new table on the main page with a list of all the HoGs and PoGs that I will update all year long.

Anyway, let's look what's gone on since I last posted!

The Royals fell 4-2 on Tuesday, with 3 of those runs coming from a shot by Jim Thome.  Personally, I was distraught when Meche wasn't run back out to pitch the 8th after he only had 91 pitches in the 7th (this was a pitcher who led the league in pitches last year), but I was even more distraught when Hillman left Farnsworth (the king of giving up HR.. or at the least the Prince to Joel Peralta's King) in to face one of the best HR hitters of all time.  Farnsworth throws hard and straight, Thome hits hard straight balls a long ways..  Bad combo.  I fully expected Hillman to put in Mahay or Soria or even Cruz in after Farnsworth K'd the righty Quentin.  It just didn't make much sense to me for Farns to stay in.  But by not posting yesterday I mostly missed out on this discussion so I'll let bygones be bygones.   Anyway, there were only two pitchers yesterday and one ended up with an ERA of 9, the other ended up with an ERA under 2.  For those reasons I'll anoint Gil Meche as the first PoG.  As for hitters, I'll name the only player to drive in a run (he drove in 2) to be the HoG.  Gil Meche and Alex Gordon, if those two players are the most important for a lot of games this year I expect we'll do pretty well.

As for today's game, I felt like it was a slightly worse game for the Royals than yesterday, even though they won.  The offense was slightly less patient and the pitching was slightly less good.  Don't get me wrong, it was a great game.  In fact, I think one of the most important plays of April happened this game.  In the 8th inning, Mark Teahen ranged far to his right and scooped a ball up on the run and threw out Dewayne Wise.  While Mark Grudz probably would have made this look routine even with his reduced range, I was pretty impressed.  I know it's early, but so far Mark Teahen has not been embarrassing at 2nd base.  Listening to his interview today on 810 with Soren Petro, he makes me want to believe that playing 2nd base is something he will work even harder at than learning the OF.  This is because it is something he enjoys.  Mark Teahen will probably never have the career he could have had if the Royals had drafted Ryan Braun and moved him to the OF while keeping Teahen at 3B.  But that doesn't have to be a bad thing.  Teahen is only 27 this season, and while he may not be that pull hitter everyone wants him to be, by playing 2B and having Kevin Seitzer as a pitching coach, I really feel like the stars are in line for Teahen to have another breakout year.  He may not do this by hitting for a ton of power, but look for a player who will hit for around .290 with a lot of doubles, a lot of walks, less strikeouts, and around 15 home runs.  Maybe a player similar to Jose Lopez with a few more walks?  That may be something to hope for.  Probably not as good defensively as Jose, however.

Anyway, the PoG of today's game has to be Zack Greinke.  Greinke looked like good ol' vintage Zack.  I had hoped he could get through 7 innings, but let's be honest, in today's world 6 innings of shutout ball and 3 hits is pretty good for a starting pitcher.  Add in the fact you're pitching AT the home of one of the better offenses in the league, and he had a downright great performance.  The hitter of the game will be Mike Aviles.  Mike had a nice bounceback day after going 0-4 in his '09 debut yesterday.  Mike was the only Royal to score a run, as he scored both of the runs today.  He also started the only double play of the game.

Another thing I just remembered that somewhat irks me is the sac bunt that Crisp had to lay down today.  I know Hillman used to manage in Japan, but c'mon!  There simply isn't a Tony Pena Jr. in the starting lineup (hopefull there won't be in ANY starting lineup this season!)  The Royals lineup is clearly aligned for offense, otherwise Gload will still be here and playing 1B, Bloomquist would be playing 2B Guillen would be the DH with Teahen in the OF.  But, that's not the case, the lineup is catered to offense, so let them hit!  What irked me even more was there was a wild pitch to move Aviles to 2B while Crisp was trying to bunt.  Did Trey decide to then let Crisp swing away with a 2-0 count?  NO.  He made Crisp bunt Aviles over to 3rd.  Ouch.  This is the leadoff hitter we're talking about.  A player capable of 35 doubles and 15 home runs, not to mention a .300 average.  And we're bunting over to 3rd with no outs..  Really?

This nonsense has to stop!

On the plus side, there haven't really been any baserunning gaffs yet, and no stolen bases, so that's a good sign.  (I think only Crisp and Teahen should be green-lighted on the basepaths.. everyone else is probably too much of a liability.  And I'm not saying Teahen is as good at stealing as Crisp, I just think he is as smart on the basepaths as any other player in the majors, so the trust should be there to allow him to know when to run and when not to run.)

Anyway, the game tomorrow starts at 1:05 p.m. with Kyle Davies taking on John Danks.  Should be another pitcher's duel.. (or so we hope!)

Thanks for reading!

p.s. I picked 77 in the poll question..

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.

Why Alex Gordon will be Mr. Royal in 2009..

Well, with no game today there's little Royals news.  I'm fine with this because I have all the more opportunity to delve into a mini-series I'll be doing called the "Breakout candidate of the year".  I'll do a candidate for the infielders, one for the outfielders and one each for the starters and relievers as well.

Today I'll start off with my breakout candidate amongst the infielders, none other than Alex Gordon.  

The pressure put upon Alex Gordon from the moment the average fan started researching the 2005 draft is well documented.  Not only is Alex from a city less than 3 hours away from Kansas City, you needn't look any further than Alex's younger brother, Brett, named of course after George Brett, to understand how his whole life has been centered around the Royals.  In the same way that Derek Jeter is "Mr. Yankee", Alex Gordon is "Mr. Royal".

Let's step back for a minute and take a look at Alex Gordon's career path.  In 2005, Alex was a junior at the University of Nebraska.  Alex had his best success during his Junior season, posting a ridiculous .372/.518/.715 line with 19 home runs in 273 at bats.  Alex did 38 times but also walked 63 times.  He also was hit by a pitch 16 times, for his third straight season in double digits.  I think all of these numbers are important.  The sheer fact that Alex, very well knowing he was competing for a top 5 draft pick, let himself get hit by a pitch 16 times is very representative of his playing style.  Alex isn't flashy, he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, he just goes out and does his job.

After his junior year, Alex was taken 2nd overall by the Kansas City Royals.  Alex was selected behind Justin Upton, who was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks.  It's important to remember, however, that the 2005 draft was the year of the 3rd baseman, as 3 college 3rd baseman were selected in the first 5 picks of the draft.  Selected 4th overall by the newly named and relocated Washington Nationals was Ryan Zimmerman out of the University of Virgina.  And selected directly after Zimmerman was 3B Ryan Braun out of the University of Miami (FL.).  I find it interesting that the Nationals also selected a "home town" player.  I'm not sure if it was by choice or if they simply believed they were taking the best player overall, but I think it's important to remember.

Well, to do a career comparison of these three players right now might be a bit unfair, but it's worth noting that Gordon is easily the least accomplished of the three.  Sure, Zimmerman has had a bit of injury problems (so has Gordon), and Ryan Braun has moved off of third base and into the outfield for defensive concerns, but let's be honest, wouldn't having Braun in LF and Teahen at 3B be better than Gordon at 3B and Teahen on the bench?  I'd like to think so.  

Braun has won the NL ROY award, a Silver Slugger award, has participated in a Home Run Derby, and has been an starter in an All Star game.  Zimmerman has finished 2nd in the ROY voting.

Okay, well the past is the past, and hindsight is 20/20.  But we have Alex Gordon, and I think that isn't all that bad.  For one thing, having a home town kid with a great story has increased interest in the Royals.  Buuuut, having a player hit 71 home runs in his first 2 seasons would probably increase interest (and winning) a lot more.  Anyway, we have Alex Gordon so let's go with that.  Let's look at how he was developed.  Alex skipped all minor league levels and went straight to AA. (Brilliant!).  Alex did play the whole season in AA in 2006, which is important, in my opinion.  In 130 games Alex posted a .325/.427/.588 line with 101 RBI and 29 home runs, clearly dominating his league (although still not slugging .600).  Alex clearly proved that he was ready for AAA.  However, in 2007, Alex was awarded the starting 3B job for the Royals out of Spring Training.  Big mistake.

Not only did giving Alex the 3B job in 2007 cause Mark Teahen to move to the OF, it also severely hampered Alex's development.  The sad thing was that the exact same rushing process had happened to Mark Teahen just 2 years earlier.  Mark was all set to spend a whole season in AAA finishing his development in 2005 when Chris Truby (who?) broke his hand in Spring Training, all but dooming Mark to being mis-developed.

See, I think development is very important to a player's career.  It is important for him to fail and succeed at each level in order to learn what he must do to succeed at the highest level.  If you take a player with gobs of talent but a whole in his swing and thrust him from one great year in AA to the Majors when he is fresh out of college where he was named the best college player in the land, you are all but condemning him to failure.

There is a certain clause in this contract, however.  If that player has so much talent then he might be able to fight through the failure and thrive in the majors for a long time.  Mark Teahen was able to fight through his early failures and have one good half season, and two very average/below average seasons after that.  Alex Gordon, however, still has a chance at stardom.

Let's take a look at where we are so far.  Alex Gordon was voted the best college player in 2005.  He was selected before the two Ryans, and after success at AA in his first season of pro ball he was rushed to the big leagues despite: A. not having seen one pitch at the AAA level, B. having an incumbent 3rd baseman who was coming off a season in which he was one of the better AL hitters in the 2nd half and C. having rushed the previously mentioned incumbent just 2 years earlier to his detriment.  

So here it is, Opening Day 2007 and the bases are loaded, no outs.  Curt Schilling and his splitter are on the mound and Alex Gordon walks up to bat amidst a standing ovation.  Alex fights off some pitches and works a full count.  He fouls off some nasty pitches and then.. strikes out swinging.  As he saunters back to the dugout the whole crowd feels a little more than a little disappointed, a feeling they were trying to get rid of, being fans of the worst franchise in baseball for the last 15 years or so and everything.

This is always going to be a memorable moment for Royals fans in Mr. Royal's career, however, it doesn't have to be the most important one.  Would Alex Gordon's career to this point be different if he had hit a first pitch home run in that at bat instead of striking out?  Maybe, but probably not.  Alex still was rushed to the big leagues and still needed time to develop.  

2007 was a year that saw Alex hit very poorly out of the gate, and right before he was getting ready to get sent down to AAA, he turned it on.  

Alex hit just .173 in April and .195 in May, but he turned it around to post a .327/.383/.500 line in June.  Something interesting about these averages is the BABIP that go along with them.  In April, for instance, Alex had just a .240 BABIP, very low.  In May it was just .239.  But in June and August, his two best months that year, Alex had a BABIP of .372 and .338, respectively.  Just something to keep in mind.

Alex finished his rookie campaign with a line of .247/.314/.411, including an OPS+ of 87.  Not bad for a defensive whiz SS, but unacceptable for a top of the draft, power hitting 3B.  The one saving grace of Alex's rookie year was that he was by all accounts, very above average defensively.

In 2008, Alex was better, as most would have expected and hoped.  In the first half of the season Alex hit .253/.334/.407, not great, but very much better than his rookie year (except for slugging, of course).  However, in the second half of the season Alex went on a tear, hitting .277/.392/.496 in 41 games.  Sure, he went down with injury in the middle of his hot streak, but I think that 41 games and 167 plate appearances are enough to have at least a little bit of hope.  The most encouraging thing about Alex's hot streak is that it probably is not his peak performance.  I don't think anyone would be completely surprised if Alex posted a .280/.415/.575 line at some point in his career.  Those are numbers that far exceed how he performed in the second half of last season.  

The point is, Alex, unlike Mark Teahen, is always going to have a chance for stardom.  Alex and Mark do have a lot of things in common, they are similar defensively at 3b, they both like to take walks and are prone to striking out, but they also have one big difference, and that is their hitting style.  Mark Teahen's at his best when he is driving pitches that are out over the plate the other way.  Alex Gordon has a problem with getting to pitches that are out over the plate very often.  Alex Gordon is at his best when he is pulling pitches that are inside and driving pitches the other way when they are out over the plate.  Neither Gordon or Teahen will probably ever hit for a high average, as they both have giant holes in their swings (Gordon's is out over the plate and down, Teahen's is in and down).  But if at some point either of them can learn to cover the plate better I think they both could succeed.

Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into a story about Mark Teahen, we're talking Alex Gordon, Mr. Royal.  No offense, George Brett.  

As a synopsis, this is why I think Alex Gordon will have a breakout season in 2009:

He was clearly rushed from the moment he was drafted, both in the minors and to the big leagues.

He has the skill set (power, walks, defense) that enable him to be a superstar.

He has a good background and the drive to succeed for this franchise (something VERY few players have).

All of us Royals fans REALLY REALLY want him to do well!

The moral of the story is that this is not a make or break year for Alex Gordon, the Royals have too much invested in him and he has improved from his first year to his second.  However, I do think that a step forward is much more likely than a step back at this point, and if Alex can focus on doing well each at bat, the sky's the limit for him.

Thanks for reading.

Editor's Note:

The Dutch team just knocked the DR out of the WBC.. Nice.

Super Mario wins it in the bottom of the 9th..

Really short post tonight as I have to be up at 4:45 in the morning tomorrow.. urg..

Game

The Royals battled back and forth with the Texas Rangers, eventually scoring the 8th and winning run in the bottom of the 9th off a Mario Lisson bases loaded single.  Also, Gil Meche pitched well in his "B" game start.

Hitter of the Game

It's hard to look past Mario Lisson as the hitter of the game.  Lisson was 2-2 with 2 RBI and a run.  Lisson also knocked in the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth with a bases loaded single.  Also notable: Coco Crisp, who went 0-0 with 2 walks and a sacrifice fly.  (keep taking those walks, Coco!)

Pitcher of the Game

Heath Phillips had an excellent start, throwing three scoreless innings with 1 strikeout and 1 walk, giving up just 1 hit.  However, I'm going to give the pitcher of the game award to Joel Peralta who struck out the side in the 8th inning.

Overview

The offense drew 7 walks against 7 strikeouts (finally), and managed 8 runs off of 11 hits.  The offense managed 4 XBH, 3 doubles (Gordon, Corey Smith, Mitch Maier), and one home run (Mike Jacobs).  Matt Wright made the only error.  The pitchers walked 6 while striking out 10.  The pitchers allowed 7 runs (6 earned) on 10 hits including 2 home runs.

Tomorrow

The Indians will host the Royals tomorrow.  First pitch will be at 2:05 Central time.  Kyle Davies gets the nod for the Royals, and Horacio Ramirez will also see some innings.

Sorry for the short posts lately, I should be able to get back into doing some good write-ups next week.  Thanks as always for reading.

Losing to the Rangers sucks.. oh and it's the eve of the WBC.

Losing to the Rangers sucks, but at least the games don't ACTUALLY count.

The Game

The games are beginning to resemble real games more and more as only 4 pitchers pitched today.  Brian Bannister and Luke Hochevar each saw 3 innings of work, with Banny giving up 2 runs and the Hooch giving up none.  Dan Cortes and Yasuhiko Yabuta each saw an inning of work each, Yabuta didn't give up a run but Cortes gave up a 3 run big fly to Rangers 'spect Justin Smoak after walking 2.  Offensively, the Royals only mustered one run each in the 5th, 7th and 8th innings.  The Royals ended up losing to Kevin Millwood and the Rangers 5 to 3.

The Offense

The Royals hitters mustered just three runs on 6 hits today.  The only XBH were a double from Crisp and a homer from Gordon.  Brayan Pena did have a stolen base.  I guess he runs well for a catcher.  Ha.  Once again, the Royals only drew 2 walks (Tommy Murphy and Brayan Pena) but only struck out 5 times, but left 6 runners on base.  The Royals defense turned 3 double plays.

The Pitching

The Royals pitching wasn't awful today.  They gave up 5 runs on just 6 hits, tallying 6 strikeouts against 3 walks.  The Rangers only left 1 runner on base as a team, so they obviously got pretty lucky, or did very well with runners on base, depending on how you view it.  (luck!)

Hitter of the Game

Alex Gordon hit his 2nd home run in as many days, but I'm gonna give the hitter of the game award to Coco Crisp.  Coco had as many RBIs as Gordon (1), but had twice as many hits (2).  Coco had 2 hits, including a double, and one RBI.  He also struck out once.  Coco's average this spring rests at .400 after today's action.

Pitcher of the Game

Luke Hochevar gets the pitcher of the game award hands down.  Luke pitched 3 scoreless innings today, surrendering just 2 hits (both singles), while striking out 2 and walking none.  Luke's ERA this spring training is 3.60, and after today's outing, so is Brian Bannister's.

Tomorrow

The Royals do not have a scheduled game tomorrow.

WBC

The WBC starts tomorrow, with China taking on Japan and Chinese-Taipei taking on Korea.  Both games are scheduled to start at 3:30 AM central time, and can be viewed on ESPN 2, or on www.worldbaseballclassic.com .  I realize there is not much excitement around here for this event, and I find that disappointing.  The WBC has the potential to be like the Olympics if we allow it to be.  It also has the chance to improve the quality of the MLB, due to the increased interest in baseball worldwide.  I genuinely hope this WBC will help grow interest both in the US and around the world.

I'll call it now, I believe that Team USA will win this WBC.  I realize they've been hit hard with injuries, but we definitely have a better team than we did in 05, and I feel like the players really are gonna play with a chip on their shoulder, plus a lot of other significant teams have lost really good players, so the injury bug has bitten everyone, pretty much.  My pick for the runner up is Japan.

Leave comments on your pick for winner and runner-up.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Another Tie?!?!

Well, the last play I was able to hear today was John Buck unleashing a home run over the left field fence.  I had to turn off the car and walk into class right after that, but I felt pretty confident the Royals would be able to hold on to their lead.. so much for what I know.

The Royals went on to give up two runs each in the 7th and 8th innings via Kyle Farnsworth and Jimmy Gobble, tying the Cleveland Indians 9-9 today.

Hitters

Although the Royals managed to score 9 runs, their hitters were pretty disappointing, in my opinion.  They had 13 hits but drew just 2 walks (both by Mike Jacobs, go figure..) and struck out 9 times.  I realize this team has a lot of starters at the WBC, but 9 Ks to 2 BBs isn't just unacceptable, it's really bad.  The one positive coming from the strikeouts was that 2 of them were from an 0-3 Gload, who *fingers crossed* will manage to suck so bad he won't make the team out of Spring Training.  John Buck had a a double to go along with his home run and was 2-3.

Pitchers

As a group, the Royals pitchers were bad, you never want to have a team ERA of 9.  However, they did manage 12 strikeouts, which is encouraging.  They also surrendered 5 walks, which is discouraging, but not too bad if you're getting 12 strikeouts.  Greinke gave up 2 home runs, which is disappointing, as he had an excellent first outing, but I'll give him a free pass because it is ST.  Roman Colon had another scoreless outing, which brings him up to 3 scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk.  It's looking more and more like he might make the team.

Hitter of the Game

The hitter of the game award today goes to Alex Gordon.  Alex was 2 for 3 and hit a grand slam, totaling 4 RBI and 1 run.  Alex is hitting .250/.357/.583 so far this spring.  I realize it's early but if can keep that production up it would be a good building block off of the second half of last season when he hit .277/.392/.496 in 41 games.

Pitcher of the Game

The pitcher of the game award goes to Joel Peralta, who logged a scoreless inning, striking out 2 and walking none while giving up just a single.  Joel hasn't had a good spring so far, and was very susceptible to the home run last season, but he's still a fairly reliable veteran who should be stashed in AAA in case he doesn't make the club.  I'm more than confident he'll have some solid major league innings this season, once again.

Tomorrow

Brian Bannister will face off against Kevin Millwood and the Rangers tomorrow in Surprise.  He will be followed up by Luke Hochevar, no word yet on the other scheduled pitchers.  First pitch will be at 2:05 central time.

Notes

The Royals finished signing the rest of the non-arb. eligible players on their 40 man roster today, namely; Mitch Maier, Billy Butler and Mike Aviles.  No real news there, and it's interesting that Aviles agreed to the deal while not even in camp (he's at the PR WBC camp).  Further proof that he really isn't involved in the process at all (at least late in the process).  This isn't necessarily true though, because he could have agreed last week sometime and they were just waiting for one of the other three to finish up because the Royals wanted to announce the signings at the same time.. Who knows.

Thanks as always for reading.