Another late post.. woops

Yesterday's game is proof that the Royals will be nothing this year if not dramatic.  The Royals again lost due to an error by Trey Hillman, namely that Gil Meche should have NEVER pitched as long as he did.  I was fuming about 24 hours ago, but I've had time to settle down and realize that if Trey keeps this up (personally losing 3 games in the first 15) then he'll be gone by the All star break.  As it stands, the Royals will send Zack Greinke to the mound to extend his franchise record scoreless innings streak against the Detroit Tigers and Rick Porcello.  Interesting matchup, I won't get to watch it until after it's over, unfortunately, because of work, but I promise I'll have another update tonight about the game and I'll include some of our "hot" prospects down in the minors (here's a hint, they're 2 centerfielders).

Hitter of the Game

Alberto Callaspo's RBI double was pretty much the most important hit our offense had, though Mitch Maier was equally important in getting on base and then stealing 2nd.  Either way, Bert Reynolds Callaspo is going to be the hitter of the game award winner.

Pitcher of the Game

Gil Meche ended up with a line of 7.1 ip 5 h 4 r 3 er 7 k 3 bb, which isn't bad, but it should have been even better if Trey knew how to manage his bullpen.  Meche "earned" the loss, but he also earned the pitcher of the game award.

Tomorrow

Which is actually "today", but as I said earlier, Greinke and Porcello face off in the battle of the phenoms.  First pitch is at 7:10.  Today will be one of the best games at the K this year, Fireworks friday, buck night, Greinke pitching, weather nice.  Perfect.  Get out there!

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.

Greinke Ks 9 as Royals KO the Tribe..

I may be crazy because I know that TPJ had some nice defensive plays tonight.  But please tell me that for the rest of the time we don't have Gordon and Guillen we will have Maier and Callaspo instead of TPJ and Callaspo.  I understand that maybe Maier wasn't in KC yet or he was unable to play for some other reason, but on all levels Maier is a much much better player that TPJ, and I don't even necessarily think that Maier is above replacement-level.  That is simply a testament to how bad TPJ is with the bat.  

Anyway, run saving defensive plays from players who shouldn't be on our team aside, I thought tonight was a really good game.  The hitters only managed 5 hits, but I felt like we really worked the count a lot better.  It showed up in the box score as the hitters drew 5 walks against 6 strikeouts, a ratio I can live with from the whole team.  Greinke commanded the game from the first batter.  The strike zone was slightly large, but fairly consistent throughout the night.  

Teahen had a clutch RBI single on a 1-2 count in the first inning that I felt was really important because it reminded me of how Teahen hits when he is on.  The pitch was boring in on him and was low out of the zone but Teahen kept his hands in and stayed back and was able to drive the inside pitch back up the middle into centerfield.  Billy Butler had a huge double right after which drove in DDJ.  

The one thing I did notice is that Mike Aviles needs to start working the walk more if he wants to stay in the 2 hole.  I have been a fan of Mike's for at least the last 3 years, but I always figured his walk total would move up as he got older.  He almost reminds me of Angel Berroa in the sense that he is looking to hit anything that is hittable instead of looking to hit pitches that he can drive.  I'm not down on him, but it's just something to look out for.

Hitter of the Game

We'll go with Mike Jacobs today.  The offense was spread out today as no one drove in or scored more than 1 run, and no one even had more than one hit.  Mike Jacobs did have a long solo home run however, and he also took a walk.  If Mike Jacobs hit a home run and took a walk every game, he would be the best player in all of baseball.  Aim for the stars, Mike.

Pitcher of the Game

Gotta go with Donald Zackary Greinke on this one.  The Zack-Attack pitched 5 scoreless innings with 9 (count them, 9) strikeouts.  He did have 2 walks, which is just fine when you K 9 hitters.  Greinke did give up 6 hits, and 8 baserunners in 5 innings is starting to push the limits of where you want to be, but all in all, Greinke was awesome tonight.  The only thing he'll have to work on is not Meche-ing himself by throwing too many pitches.  He may get back to pitching to contact except for when he needs a K so he can get deeper into games.  Nice.

Tomorrow 

Carl Pavano will match up with Kyle Davies as the Royals host the Indians tomorrow.  First pitch is at 6:10 central time.

Question for all of the readers - 

I've been considering adding a section in my posts where I take a look at the minor league games, probably not all of them because that would take forever, but I might be able to write a paragraph on a game or a particular player or two, possibly a "prospect watch" section or something similar.. any opinions on this?  Please leave any ideas/advice in the comments section.  Thanks for reading!

Does our offense really suck more than Sidney Ponson.. Really??

Well, I guess as long as the outcome was the same I can't be too disappointed, as I did expect the Royals to lose today.  But I'm pretty sure the fact Ponson actually surprised me and kept them in the game was even more frustrating.  Add in the fact that the Yankees only deserved probably 1 or 2 of their 4 runs and it's very very frustrating.  

First off, I thought Alberto Callaspo was the "experienced" second baseman?  Haven't we heard Trey talk a ton about how Bloomquist has the range, Teahen has the bat and Callaspo has the "experience"..  Dude looked like he was confused as all get out today.  Not making the right out, not tagging the runner and just running through the base assuming a force out.. all kinds of madness.

Anyway, Callaspo hate aside, the strikeouts and lack of discipline are killing me.  Pettite easily could have pitched another inning today if he wanted, he was just that efficient.  Sure, the strike zone was big, and I have beef with that, but the Yankees drew more walks and frankly, that pisses me off.  If there's one thing your offense should do it is to strive to draw more walks and get more hits than the other offense.  At a few points I felt like the offense was just swinging at anything that was a strike, instead of working the count and looking for a pitch to drive.  Pathetic.

I'm pretty sure Butler had the only hard hit ball period, and thanks to FSN we didn't even get to see the pitch.  Awesome, very reminiscent of the RSTN days.  The point is, the offense was awful for the 4th day in a row.  1 or 2 runs a game is not going to cut it in the ML, no matter how good MGD (Meche, Greinke, Davies) are going to be this season.  We have got to cut down on the strikeouts and we have to make the other pitcher work.

In other news, Jose Guillen went on the DL today.  Awesome.  It is definitely better than last season when he tried to play through a similar injury, but it always hurts losing your cleanup hitter.  No matter how much I rag on him, I recognize he means a lot to this team.  I am slightly confused though as to why Brayan and Tony Pena are still both on this roster.  Neither of them really does a lot for the bench.  Sure TPJ plays defense, but that's all he does, and Trey has yet to use him in 4 close games yet this year.  Brayan is the real head scratcher though.  I just don't understand the obsession.  He is a backup catcher who can play some in the field.  How'd that work out for JR House?  I understand the intrigue that he can bat from both sides of the plate.. but if he's a crappy hitter (okay, he isn't THAT bad) then it doesn't matter where he likes to swing the bat from, he isn't helping the offense very much.

Point is, I feel like Kila, Shealy, Maier, Costa, etc. would all be much more beneficial to this team than baseball.  Baseball has the most games of any sport that I know of, and players on the bench are going to get starts.  Who would you rather see grab 200 ABs for the Royals this year, Brayan and Tony Pena or Shane Costa and Ryan Shealy?  I thought so..

Jamey Wright will be the pitcher of the game, as he went 2 scoreless striking out 3 and giving up just a hit.  

Billy Butler hit a double, drew the only walk and scored the only run, earning him HoG honors today.

Let's hope the boys turn it around tomorrow against CC.. ugh.. haha.. just kidding, we all know Horacio Ramirez is going to start for the Royals..  Gil Meche will try to prevent the sweep on Sunday.  First pitch tomorrow is at 6:10.. 

Mitch Maier hits an inside the park home run as the Royals trounce the Mariners..

The Royals beat the Mariners 9-2 today in Surprise.  The Royals were down early as Seattle scored one run each in the 2nd and 3rd, but roared back to take the lead for good when they scored 6th in the 4th.  They capped the 9 run day off with 3 more in the bottom of the 8th.

The Offense

The Royals managed 11 hits and 9 runs in 8 innings of work today.  2 of the hits were XBH, both were HRs (Butler, Maier).  The hitters today walked 5 times against 4 strikeouts, getting back to the habit they had earlier this spring of walking more than striking out, an awesome accomplishment as a team.  Brayan Pena was thrown out trying to steal second and Chris Lubanski was picked off of first base.  Mitch Maier made the only error.  

The Pitching

The pitching today gave up 2 runs on 10 hits.  Chris Shelton and Jeff Clement had the lone extra base hits, both doubles.  The pitchers gave up just 2 walks while striking out 13, easily their best numbers in those two categories of the spring.  One note is that Mike Sweeney got the start at DH batting 4th against his old team, Mike went 2-3 with a run and a strikeout.

Hitter of the Game

The hitter of the game award goes to Billy Butler, who smacked a 3 run homerun.  Billy was 1-3 with 1 run and 3 rbi.  Billy's average this spring sits at an even .300.  Other notables were Mitch Maier who had an inside-the-park-homer and David DeJesus who was 2-3 with a run.

Pitcher of the Game

The pitcher of the game award goes to Heath Phillips.  Heath pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing just one single while striking out 3.  Heath's ERA for the spring sits at 1.13 in 8 innings.  Juan Cruz also made his debut today pitching a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Tomorrow

The Royals will host the Chicago White Sox in Surprise tomorrow at 3:05 Central Time tomorrow.  The Sox will start Clayton Richard.  Horacio Ramirez gets the nod for the Royals.  Following the lefty will be Kyle Davies.

Thanks as always for reading.  Expect my candidate for the "breakout candidate of the year" in the outfield tomorrow. 

Why you should give Hoochie Mama another chance..

The Royals only needed one inning of offense to win yesterday.  Today, again, they only got one inning of offense, however they only managed one run in that inning (the third), and fell to the Cubs 9-1 in front of a crowd of 8,987 today. 

Pitching

Brian Bannister was roughed up for 4 runs on 5 hits in 3 innings.  Banny managed just 1 strikeout and walked 2.  Banny gave up 2 XBH, a double to Derrek Lee and a big fly to Alfonso Soriano.  As a team the Royals pitchers struck out 5 and walked just three, but allowed 12 hits, 6 of them going for extra bases.  Every Royals pitcher gave up at least one run, and Kyle Farnsworth's ERA sits at a nice round 15.00.  Yes, the decimal point is in the right place.. 15.00

Offense

Offensively, the Royals managed just 4 hits as Maier, Jacobs, Gload and Butler all singled.  Mitch Maier also had a stolen base.  Jamey Wright had the lone error in the game on an errant pick off attempt.  Despite their recent success, the Royals didn't walk a single time today and struck out 6 times.  Their offense was completely shut down today in what was easily their worst showing so far this spring.

Hitter of the Game

The hitter of the game today was Mitch Maier, who led off and played centerfield today.  Mitch was 1 for 3 with the lone RBI, driving in Ross Gload on a 3rd inning single.  Mitch also stole 2nd base.  Mitch did not walk or strike out and his average this spring is .304 after today's game.

Pitcher of the Game

The pitcher of the game today was Luke Hochevar.  Luke pitched 3 solid innings, giving up 1 run on 2 hits.  Both of those hits did go for extra bases, however.  Luke struck out 2 and walked 1 and after today his spring ERA sits at 3.38.

Tomorrow

The Royals have Tuesday March 10th off, litearlly.  The players have been told to stay away from camp and take the day easy.  Interesting take after an absymal performance.  We'll have to see how it plays out.

No more Estey

In other news, Esteban German was granted free agency today.  As you may recall, German was DFA'd when Juan Cruz was signed and added to the 40 man roster.

Hoochie Mama

When Luke Hochevar was taken with the 40th overall pick in the 2005 draft by the LA Dodgers, it was clear that he had fallen so low because of his price.  When he was selected first overall the very next year, many people believed it was also because he would sign for a little bit less money since he had sat out a year (playing independent baseball).  Luke ended up signing for 5.3 million with the opportunity to make 7 million in his first 3 years.

Still New

Despite being in the Royals system for the last three season, Luke still feels like a very new player to me.  I say that because until last season, he had never started more than 16 games at any one level.  However, last season Luke started 22 for the Royals, posting a 5.51 ERA and a 6-12 record, both very underwhelming.  

Rushed

Looking at Luke's career numbers makes me wonder why he was rushed so much.  Aside from 15 innings of A ball in 2006, Luke has never been dominant, or even good, at any level.  Sure, he started in AAA last season and had a 2.60 ERA in 17.1 innings, but this was after he competed hard for a rotation spot in spring training and was likely far ahead of his AAA competition.  

Give him another chance

While Luke had an awful season last year, including an injury that kept him out of all but 6 starts in the second half of the season, I really feel like he took a step forward.  I think that one of the most important things for a good prospect to do is fail.  And by all accounts, Luke is/was a good prospect, including being the #63 'spect in MLB last season and #32 'spect in MLB in '07.  I don't mean that it is important for a prospect to fail at each level, though I think there is some value in that as well.  But it is very important for a prospect to fail at the big league level, because it teaches them that the work that they have done in the past won't cut it in the big leagues.  Luke must work harder, study harder, try harder than he has ever had to work, study, and try in his life.  

It is this reason that I think Luke has the chance to succeed.  I've poured over the numbers and there really isn't anything there to prove that he will do well at the major league level, other than the fact that he is young and was a great prospect and has great stuff.  This is one time that I will go on my pitching coach instincts and look past the numbers.  I don't have proof that Luke will succeed, except for what I see.  Luke routinely works his sinker around the strike zone, and when his sinker is working, he has the ability to pitch as well as anyone.  He is just inconsistent with his control, much like any young pitcher needing more experience.

Doc Who?

While I'm not sure that Luke will have a breakout season in 2009, I do feel like he has the chance to be very successful in the near future.  If I had to write a line for him, I imagine it would have him going 12-11 with a 4.49 ERA in 29 starts, which is very acceptable.  I feel like Luke's "stuff" is very underrated, however, and I think that maybe in 2 or 3 years, once he gets more experience, he will have the chance to really dominate, maybe similar to another sinkerballer from Denver, Doc Halladay.

Okay, maybe the Roy Halladay comparison is a bit extreme, (okay probably too extreme).  Okay, the Roy Halladay is definitely not fair, but I do have a lot of faith in Luke.  I think people forget that he only has 207 minor league innings of practice, so he might take a while to reach his full potential since he is essentially learning in the big leagues.

Thanks for reading!  Don't forget to vote for who you think will win the WBC in the top left corner!

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.

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.

Mitch Maier and the Royal's first win of 2009..

Today marks the Royals first official unofficial win of 2009.  They played a solid game and beat Texas 7-2.  

Mitch Maier

Mitch Maier was drafted in the first round of the 2003 rule IV draft.  He will most likely start the season in the AAA outfield again this year.  To most people, this makes Mitch a disappointment.  While it is underwhelming that Mitch has not broken into the Royals lineup as the defensive centerfielder and top of the order hitter that most had hoped he would turned into, I feel like the sheer fact that he made it through the Allard Baird era and still has a chance at becoming a major leaguer is a positive in itself.  Mitch, like Mark Teahen, has been jerked around from position to position, in an attempt to create equal depth amongst our hitting prospects in the minors.  Unlike Teahen, he was at least allowed to learn new positions at the minor league level.

Mitch was drafted out of the University of Toledo after a junior year that saw him post a line of .448/.525/.691, all while stealing 29 bases (and being caught just 5 times) and drawing 31 walks against 9 strikeouts in 194 at bats.  Mitch did all this while playing catcher.

After Mitch was drafted in 2003, he played catcher for the first year of his pro career, hitting .350/.403/.507 in 51 games for the AZ Royals.  In 2004, Mitch would be converted to a 3rd baseman.  He spent the next season splitting time between Burlington and Wilmington.  2004 saw the Royals trade Carlos Beltran for Mark Teahen, John Buck, and Mike Wood.  Because Allard Baird was stupid, he immediately converted Maier to an outfielder because Teahen was a third baseman.  Luckily, Maier's work ethic and athleticism has allowed him to excel there, being ranked as the Royals best defensive outfielder in 2007 by Baseball America.

Like Shane Costa, Maier has gone on to show that he has mastered AAA, including hitting .316/.366/.470 for the O Royals in 85 games last season.  Maier also saw some time in KC hitting .286/.316/.319 for the Royals.  While Maier is not a power hitter by any means, he will probably end up with enough muscle to hit around 10 home runs in a full season.  He doesn't draw many walks, but can keep his OBP above .350 as long as he is able to hit at least .290.  Maier's main asset is his superb defense.  He is a capable centerfielder with a good arm and great instincts.  Maier also has plenty of experience in both of the corner of positions, making him as a perfect candidate as a 4th outfielder.

Maier's upside is probably that of a 4th outfielder who sticks around for a season or two and is able to work his way into the lineup as a starter.  Ryan Spilborghs comes to mind as a comparison as far as career path.  Maier will most likely break spring training once again as an O Royal, but come a midseason trade, an injury, or a poor performance, he would be a wonderful replacement stashed in AAA.

The Game

Kyle Davies got off to a great start, including striking out Josh Hamilton on three pitches.  He loaded the bases in the 2nd but managed to get out of it unscathed.  Coco Crisp and John Buck both hit home runs, and Ross Gload hit a 3 run triple.  The Royals pitchers struck out ten and walked just there as their batters walked four times and struck out 8 times.  Josh Hamilton had the only Rangers home run, his second in as many games, with a solo shot off of Joel Peralta in the 5th inning.  The full box score can be found here.

The Prospects

While neither Jose Duarte nor Kila Ka'aihue started, they managed a hit each.  Duarte picked up a run and Kila picked up an RBI.  Julio Pimental and Carlos Rosa both had scoreless outings.  Pimental went two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.  Rosa went one inning, giving up two hits and also striking out two.

Hitter of the Game

Coco Crisp earns hitter of the game honors today.  Coco had a solid game, notching two hits in three at bats, including a long solo shot to centerfield off of Derek Holland.

Pitcher of the Game

Pitcher of the game honors go to Julio Pimental today.  Julio was throwing fire during his two innings, striking out two and allowing just one hit.

Tomorrow's Game

Tomorrow the Royals take on the San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale Stadium at 2:05 p.m. central time.  Randy Johnson will take the mound for the Giants.  Zack Greinke gets the nod for the Royals.  He will be followed by Robinson Tejada, Devon Lowery, Joakim Soria, and Jamey Wright.