Royals outlast rain delay to beat O's and snap 6 game skid..

Zack Greinke probably threw his worst game of the year tonight.  He gave up 1 run over 7 innings on 6 hits and 2 walks while only striking out 6.  When that's your ace's worst start of the season 35+ games in, you're doing pretty well.  Tonight's win puts the Royals in first place by percentage points over the Detroit Tigers and the rest of the AL Central.  Woo.

Short post, so let's get right into it..

Hitter of the Game

The offense was pretty solid tonight and the award could go to quite a few hitters.. Olivo drove in 3 and homered, Jacobs homered, and Mark Teahen had 3 hits.  But it was Jose Guillen who reallly broke the game open with a 2 RBI single in the first inning.  Those 2 runs would prove to be enough as Greinke was pitching, so I'll go with Jose as the hitter of the game award winner.

Pitcher of the Game

Zack Greinke continued his quest to start the All Star game tonight, as he went 7 innings allowing 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.  His ERA is "UP" to 0.60 on the season.  Sick.

Tomorrow

Kyle Davies will take on Rich Hill and the Orioles tomorrow in a 6:10 p.m. start.  Davies looks to build off his last start when he went 6+ innings and gave up just 1 run against the Angels last Sunday.

Minor League Notables

Kila Ka'aihue hit a home run tonight for Omaha.  He was 1-4 with a walk, an RBI and 2 runs scored.

Chris Nicoll struck out 4 in 2 perfect innings for AA Northwest Arkansas.

John Bale made an appearance for AA Northwest Arkansas as well, throwing a scoreless inning.  He gave up 0 hits and walked 1 and struck 1 out.  His ERA is at 2.45 in 4 appearances for AA.

After a slow start Jamar Walton has his batting average up to .296 after a 2-4 performance tonight.  He did not strikeout or walk.  Look out for Jamar, we signed him midway through last season and I think he has enough potential to be a pretty good sleeper prospect, he is 23 so he's a tad old for his level, but keep an eye out for him anyway.

Danny Duffy pitched 5 solid innings tonight, allowing just 1 run.  He struck out 3, walked 1 and allowed 4 hits.

Blaine Hardy started tonight for A Burlington Bees.  He threw 5 innings of 1 run ball, allowing 4 hits and walking 2 batters.  He struck out 4.  His ERA is at 2.67 on the season.

Thanks for reading!

Bannister effectively wild and wildy effective..

Well it was definitely a good game tonight, although it was pretty weird, as well.  I've never seen a game in which a pitcher has been so dominant when pitching so poorly.  Brian Bannister had only 53 strikes in 103 pitches and yet threw 7 innings giving up just one run on one hit.  He did walk six and strike out two and the game was weird all the way around.  David Purcey struck out just three Royals after being a big time strikeout pitcher in his other starts this season.

Guillen went yardski twice and Miguel hit a home run to center field.  Bloomquist's line ended up 1/2 with 2 walks and a sac fly.  His only hit was a triple.  Coco had another walk.  Teahen had 3 of the hardest hit balls of the game and was 0-3 with a walk.  The Royals as a team took 8 walks, which is encouraging.

Overall it was a fun game, although it was rainy and a bit cold, I had a great time.  The stadium looks awesome and it really feels like a major league ballpark now.  Hopefully I'll be able to upload my pictures sometime tomorrow and get them posted.

Hitter of the Game

Has to be Jose Guillen.  Jose was 3-4 with 2 home runs, 2 runs scored, 3 RBI, no walks and no strikeouts.  Jose was really impressive today as both of his HRs were no doubters and had to be on a night like tonight with the way the weather was.

Pitcher of the Game

This will be the only time this season a pitcher with 6 walks gets the PoG award, but Banny earned it tonight.  He was effectively wild and wildly effective, giving up just one hit in 7 innings, walking six and striking out two.  It was encouraging to see Banny be effective even without his best control, or even his better control, which he blamed on the weather and the wetness of the ball.

Tomorrow

Gil Meche will face Scott Richmond in a 7:10 start.  The Royals will again try and climb back into a tie with Detroit for first place as Detroit is now 11-8 while the Royals are 10-9.

Minor League Notables

The O-Royals offense got to Rangers Super-Prospect Neftali Feliz today, getting 5 runs (although all 5 were unearned) in 2.2 innings off of 3 hits and 4 walks.  The O-Royals won 8-1 over OKC in a game that was called after 7 innings.

Chris Lubanski had 2 more hits, going 2/3 with a double and a walk.  He drove in 2 runs and scored 1 himself.

Luke Hochevar threw 6 innings giving up 1 unearned run on 4 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out 7 and threw 96 pitches.  His ERA is now 1.44 this young season.

Jose Bonilla, the young catcher for the Burlington Bees hit his first home run of the season tonight.  On the game he was 1/3 with 2 rbi and a run scored.

Thanks as always for reading.

Halos + Royals = 40 hits and 30 runs.. and why Horacio Ramirez should be in AAA..

The Angels and the Royals combined for 40 hits and 30 runs today.  Wow, clearly it was a bad day to be a pitcher, but is Horacio Ramirez seriously a "lock" for the rotation?  He has been the epitome of awful this spring.  In 14 innings and 4 starts (5 appearances) Horacio is 1-2 with a 10.29 ERA.

We know that Meche and Greinke will both make the rotation.  Davies and Hochevar both have been excellent (or at least "very good") this spring, so in a perfect world (my world) they both make the rotation as well.  That means that Horacio and Bannister (and Sir Sidney, I guess) are up for the final rotation spots.  As bad as Banny has been this spring, Horacio has been worse.

Banny and Horacio both have 4 starts.  Horacio has an extra relief appearance so he leads the innings pitched category 14 to 12.2.  However, Horacio has allowed 31 hits and 4 walks in those 14 innings, for a WHIP of 2.50, which is unheard of.  Bannister has given up "just" 17 hits and 4 walks for a WHIP of 1.66.  Still bad, but "bad" is always better than "unheard of".  Banny and Horacio both have equal K/BB rates, so we'll call that a wash.  Neither of them has been able to strike anyone out though, which is discouraging.

The one stat Horacio has on his side is ground outs to air outs.  Ramirez has a 3.88 GO/AO ratio, which is actually quite good.  Banny on the other hand has a 1.40 GO/AO ratio on the other hand.  One other interesting side note, Ramirez has allowed 5 steals on him this spring, while no batters have been caught stealing.  No one has attempted a steal on Bannister yet.  

I think I've mentioned before that I hate "errors".  Because I hate "errors" (both "errors" on the field, and "errors" the concept) I think that "ERA" isn't as useful as Run Average, which is simply how many runs, earned or otherwise, a pitcher allows over 9 innings.  Horacio Ramirez's Run Average is at an atrocious 14.14, meaning he allows 14 runs per nine innings.  Absolutely awful.  The whole point to this argument that while it may be a nice luxury to have a lefty in the rotation, when the lefty is getting yanked in the 2nd or 3nd inning every game, you're just putting too much stress on your bullpen.

That's why I think the rotation should fill out as such:

Gil Meche
Zack Greinke

Kyle Davies

Luke Hochevar

Brian Bannister

Who's with me?

Hitter of the Game

Miguel Olivo mashed two home runs today as he went 2-5 with one strikeout.  Miguel drove in 2 runs and scored 2 more himself.  Miguel is hitting .354 on the spring.

Pitcher of the Game

He was the only pitcher not to give up a run today, in fact he hasn't given up a run all spring.  Lenny DiNardo earns the pitcher of the game award today.  Lenny Pitched a scoreless 8th inning, allowing two singles and striking out one while walking none.

Tomorrow

The Royals will travel to Peoria to face the Padres tomorrow.  Kyle Davies will look to bounce back from his worst start of the spring as he faces off against Chris Young.  Also scheduled to pitch for the Royals is Doug Waechter, Joakim Soria, and Heath Phillips.

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.

Jose Lima's Brother and Mark "Gold Glove" Teahen..

Well, as the night draws to a close, it takes with it the excitement of opening day of the Cactus League.  

The Game

I was only able to hear about the first 4 or so innings of the game today before I had to go to work, and boy did it start off lousy. The Royals managed to give up 6 runs in the first inning, half of them coming due to Teahen's errant throw on a botched double play.  The good guys did manage to scrape a run in the 2nd inning off of a Billy Butler solo shot with 1 out against Anna Benson's husband.  However, they gave up 3 more runs in the bottom of the 2nd including back to back home runs followed by a triple, all off of Brandon Duckworth.  The Royals did manage to get back 4 runs in the 3rd inning, 3 of them coming off of a monster home run by Mike Jacobs to right field.  There was no more scoring until the 7th inning when the Rangers pushed 1 run over the plate.  They got 2 more in the 8th before the Royals added 2 more in the top of the 9th.  Add it all up and you get a 12-7 win by the Rangers.  Not exactly what you're looking for in the first game of Spring Training, but much better than 12-0.  The Royals muscled up today and hit 4 home runs (Butler, Jacobs, Olivo, Maier) as well as draw 6 walks, and for that, I am proud. 

Mark Teahen

On the first ball hit near him Mark Teahen tried to flip to the SS covering 2B for an attempt at a double play.  The only problem was that he threw the ball into LF instead.  It took all I could not to immediately give up on him as a middle infielder at that point in time.  Granted, I couldn't actually see the throw and it may have not been as bad as it sounded, so I decided to give Mark the benefit of the doubt and withhold judgement.  Then, a few plays later Mark dives for a ball and it goes under his glove.  At that point I was frustrated.  Then Mark makes a poor throw on a double play attempt and booted an easy ground ball for another error.  Other than that, he did just fine in the field.  I'm not ready to give up on him as a 2nd baseman just yet, because as he pointed out, the year Grudz won a gold glove he made 3 errors in his first Spring Training game.  Let's hope Mark gets it together though.

Jose Lima's brother?

Teahen wasn't alone in his quest for suckiness, however, as Horacio Ramirez was nipping at his heels the whole ride there.  Horacio faced 10 batters in 2/3 of an inning, recording one strikeout and giving up 6 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits including a home run to Hank Blalock.  Sure, Horacio wasn't helped out by his defense, but by all accounts he was leaving everything up in the strike zone, which in Arizona in Spring Training is a big no-no.  We'll see how he bounces back next start, however.

Olivo Injury

Miguel Olivo took a foul tip off the back of his right hand.  Olivo stayed in the game, also hitting a home run.  He caught four innings total.  X-rays after the game were negative, and he isn't expected to miss any time.

Batter of the Game

I originally wanted to give the batter of the game to Billy Butler, seeing as he was the only Royal with 2 hits, including a HR.  However, I decided Mike Jacobs would be the better choice, as he had a monster 3 run shot, and hopefully this love will get him to listen to me when I tell him it's okay to walk.  (to first base, that is)  So congratulations, Mike, you're the official RRC batter of the game.

Pitcher of the Game

This choice was easy for me, half because he was the only pitcher to go two innings without giving up a run, and secondly because I'm really rooting for him to make this team.  The first RRC pitcher of the game goes to Lenny DiNardo, he of the Italian heritage.  Lenny pitched two scoreless innings, including 1 hit and striking out the last two batters he faced.  Not bad for your first action in spring training, though at this point, most people argue the pitchers are ahead of the hitters. (Though that didn't seem the case today, for either squad)

Tomorrow's Game

Tomorrow the Royals play host to the Rangers (they were the visitors today.)  The game is scheduled to start at 2:05 CT, and will be broadcast on 610 AM KCSP again.  Kyle Davies gets the nod against Kevin Millwood.  Also scheduled to pitch for the Royals are Heath Phillips, Julio Pimental, Tim Hamulack, Matt Wright, and Carlos Rosa.  I'm much more excited for the pitching tomorrow than I was today.  Kyle Davies, Matt Wright, Julio Pimental, and Carlos Rosa are all young players who I hope do well.  Matt Wright deserved a shot in September last year, in my opinion, but was unable to get it.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading.  Look for another update tomorrow.