Royals name their crappy rotation, as well as finalize their 11 man pitching staff..

The Royals beat the Colorado Rockies 6-5 today, as they fought through another attempted blown save by Joakim the Dream (I think he's been spending way too much time around Sidney and Horacio lately).  

Meche made his final start of the preseason today as he pitched 4 shaky innings.  Although he only gave up 1 run, he did walk 4 colorado hitters while striking out just 2.  Meche did give up just 3 hits, so while he didn't have his best control (probably not even his "better" control) he still wasn't very hittable.  Definitely a good sign.  The pitchers en masse were not awful, though Soria had his second bad outing in a row.  The pitchers allowed 5 runs on 9 hits while striking out 6 while walking 5.  The hitters were better, but still not great.  They did score 6 runs on 11 hits, but drew just 3 walks against 7 strikeouts, numbers I'd still like to see them improve upon.  They did have 7 extra base hits, and 6 were for home runs, which is nice.

Hitter of the Game

Mark Teahen once again earns the hitter of the game award, although it could have gone to any number of home run hitters, Teahen was the best of them all today, I think.  Mark was 2-4 with 1 RBI, 1 run scored and 1 home run.  After today's game, and with one remaining, Teahen is tied for 3rd in the nation in home runs (7) and is first in slugging percentage (1.000).  Not bad for a second baseman.

Pitcher of the Game

Doug Waechter will be the pitcher of the game for today.  He bounced back from his previous poor outings with 2 perfect innings, striking out one Rockie (Rocky?).  Doug apparently has pitched well enough this spring to make the final cut as the 11 pitchers the Royals are going to start the season with have been named, but more on that later.

Tomorrow

The Royals have the last game of their Cactus League pre-season tomorrow.  They will face the Texas Rangers as Hosucky Ramirez will face Scott Feldman.  The Royals will then travel to Texas to play the Rangers two more times, once on Friday and then again on Saturday in Arlington.

Well, it looks like the rotation is set.  Not only that, but the entire pitching staff is set as well.  All signs point towards the Royals opening the season with 11 pitchers, which has been their standard procedure for the last few seasons.  It looks like the pitching staff will look like the following, at least for the first few weeks or so:

Rotation:

Gil Meche

Zack Greinke

Kyle Davies

Sucky Ponson

Hosucky Ramirez

'Pen:

Doug Waechter

Robinson Tejada

Ron Mahay

Kyle Farnsworth

Juan Cruz

Joakim the Dream

Overall, I'm quite frustrated, and I have been ever since learning that Hosucky and Sucky Ponson are both going to be in the rotation.  Not only that, but Sucky Ponson even gets to start the Home Opener against the Yankees, so the first game in the "New" Kauffman Stadium will be a 20-5 shellacking.  Awesome.

Look, I understand the reasoning for Hochevar and Banny to get sent down, and I'm not wholly opposed to those moves.  But DM, you've been here 3 freaking years and the Royals are still sending out pitchers who don't deserve to be the 25th man on a roster, let alone starting the home opener for your ball club.  I mean honestly, I'd rather see Matt Wright in the rotation than Hosucky or Sucky Ponson.  At least you might catch lightning in a bottle with him.  Ponson and Ramirez are both retreads who haven't seen success in half a decade.  It's pathetic and frustrating, and frankly, I don't care to write about it anymore.

Thanks for reading.

Sidney Ponson and Mac Suzuki say what?!

Well apparently the Royals have signed Sidney Ponson to a minor league deal and are close on a deal with pitcher Mac Suzuki.  Interesting, but hopefully we won't see either of them in the majors next year.

To recap the game, the Royals tied the Rockies 9-9 today after 10 innings.  It was easily Kyle Davies worst start of the spring as he allowed 5 runs in 3 innings on 6 hits and 3 walks.  Davies wasn't as bad as the Rox starter however, as Jimenez allowed 8 runs in 4.2 innings on 6 hits and 3 walks.

The offense banged out 9 hits and drew 4 walks against 5 strikeouts and 4 of those 9 hits went for extra bases.  The pitching on the other hand coughed up 13 hits, 7 of which went for extra bases.  The pitchers struck out 8 Rockies but walked 7.  

Hitter of the game

Miguel Olivo will be the hitter of the game for today, as he went 2-4 with a home run and a double.  Olivo drew a walk and did not strike out.  He scored 2 runs and drove in 4.  His spring average sits at .353.

Pitcher of the game

I'll make Devin Lowery the pitcher of the game for today.  Devin pitched a perfect 10th inning, striking out one batter.  Devin has yet to allow a run this spring.

Tomorrow

The Royals have their first night game of the spring as they host the Seattle Mariners tomorrow for an 8:05 Central time start.  It will be one of two televised games this spring on FSN.  Zack Greinke gets the nod for the Royals against Jarrod Washburn of the M's.  Tune in around 7:30 (I imagine) for pregame.

What do Ponson and Suzuki mean?

Very little, in my opinion.  When I was first thinking of a post today I was considering writing about how I thought they were bad signings because the money could have been spent elsewhere.  But clearer thinking prevailed and I realized that the money probably amounts to nothing, and who knows if the contracts are even guaranteed.  After all, Ponson did pitch pretty well in the WBC, posting a 4 ERA in 9 innings with just a 1.22 WHIP.  Overall, the Ponson signing really doesn't matter much, and I think it is clearly just a safety move in case our pitching falls apart or gets injured.  Having pitchers like Ponson and Duckworth stashed in AAA can ONLY be a good thing come the dog days of summer.

Having said that, they're not really moves I'm excited about, but I'm not disappointed either.  Come July, we might not even remember this contract at all.

Only time will tell.

Thanks again for reading.