8-7 : Greinke Takes the Mound

A nice bit about Zack's scoreless inning streak from The Hardball Times. It shows just how important having strike out pitchers is. Greinke has given up some hard-hit balls, but his ability to miss bats means those base runners don't end up getting very far.

We'll see if he can keep the streak alive tonight against the Tigers.

clipped from www.hardballtimes.com When looking at line drive rate, Greinke trails only Cliff Lee (35 percent) in the American League. Hitters are getting good wood on the ball, and as we would expect, most of those line drives appear to be falling for hits. So how has Greinke been so successful? First, he’s not allowing too many balls to be put into play to begin with. For the year, he’s faced 80 batters and with 26 strikeouts, five walks and one hit batter, just 60 percent of all hitters have made the defense work behind him. Then, once hitters reach base, Greinke is really bearing down. In 38 plate appearances with runners on, Greinke has allowed only four hits—a .111 batting average. Five times, runners have been on third base with fewer than two outs. In those rare occasions, with his opponents needing only a fly ball to plate a run, Greinke has been dominant, striking out four of the five hitters and inducing a weak ground ball to third from the other.

Tony Gonzalez Traded

This makes me sad.

It makes me sad because Gonzalez will still be a productive player in the NFL and is a known quantity compared to a draft pick.

It makes me more sad because he's the last guy left who I really connect to as a fan of the Chiefs. Matt Cassel and Dwayne Bowe may be Montana and Rice for the next five years, but Tony, Trent and Priest were the guys I spent most of my time rooting for over the last ten years.

It has been hard to follow the Chiefs since Vermeil left, and I suppose a complete shake-up is called for, but it will be hard to let this one go. I will be a fan of the Atlana Falcons this year. Until they play the Chiefs.

As Seinfeld said, in the end, we just root for laundry.

clipped from www.kansascity.com Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez has never won a playoff game, and he has made his wishes clear that he wanted to play for a team that could contend for a championship. Gonzalez got what he wanted on Thursday as the Chiefs worked out a deal with the Falcons. But general manager Scott Pioli said the Chiefs weren’t shopping their 10-time Pro Bowler.

7-5 : The Smart Guy is Back

Since manager Trey Hillman seems to have no intellectual ability when it comes to managing a bullpen, the Royals have brought up right-handed pitcher Brian Bannister to help with in-game decision making.

Oh, and he'll start on Wednesday against the Indians.

Bannister had a rough go of it in 2008, when the league talent caught up with his smarts. Here's hoping that a refresher course in AAA has given him some new tricks to try out on the big kids.

clipped from www.kansascity.com Bannister, 28, was 9-16 with a 5.76 ERA last season in 32 starts and lost his job in the rotation by continuing to pitch poorly in spring training. He struggled in his first start at Omaha but pitched seven shutout innings April 14 at Round Rock.

7-4 : Greinke Dominates

4 years for $38 Million is starting to look like a steal.

Aside from a few mercy runs in Friday's game, the Royals have completely shut down the Rangers in Arlington, which is no small feat. Greinke was masterful, and good for Hillman to let him finish the game even after a runner got on base in the ninth.

Talk about Cy Young awards is always premature before the season starts, and it's still a little early, but the Kid has to start showing up on the radar soon.

clipped from www.kansascity.com Greinke delivered the best game of his career with a seven-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory at the Ballpark in Arlington. He improved to 3-0, took over the American League lead in strikeouts and, still, has not allowed a run this season.

Royals Place Gordon on DL

The diagnosis is a cartilage tear in his right hip, which doesn't sound good. Gordon has had a slow start to the season, but his expected progress was to be a huge part of the Royals contending this season.

The decision to hang on to Mark Teahen looks wiser with this move. The second base experiment will continue to be put on hold and Mitch Maier will take over as the fourth outfielder.

clipped from sports.yahoo.com The Royals plan to recall outfielder Mitch Maier from Triple-A Omaha to fill Gordon’s spot on the roster. The 26-year-old Maier has hit .370 with two homers and nine RBIs through six games in the minor leagues.

3-3: Slow Rollers and High Heat

The Royals lost the series but may have turned a corner by finally scoring some runs on Sunday in a win over the Yankees. Fielding prowess was not on display as both teams botched routine plays to give up leads.

It's interesting to me that the scoring "outburst" occurred with Butler, Gordon and Guillen out of the lineup. Though, Butler did draw a key walk in a pinch-hitting appearance.

It was nice to see John Buck get some good wood on the ball and show a little fire. It's early in the season and while the team doesn't need to dominate, it would be nice to avoid a long losing streak.

.500 after the White Sox and Yankees? I'll take it. Bring on the Tribe.

2-1 : Davies Throws a Few More Zeroes on the Board

That grumbling you hear from the rest of the division might have something to do with the fact the Royals starting pictures haven't allowed a run since the second inning of the season.

Kyle Davies kept up the good mojo by blanking the White Sox for seven innings. Ron Mahay got his chance in the eight inning and Soria closed things out, despite making it a little interesting.

Manager Trey Hillman deserves some credit as well for pinch-hitting Alberto Callaspo for Willie Bloomquist against the tough Chicago bullpen. Not only did Callaspo have a left-right advantage, but he can also, um... well, hit.

Let's enjoy this one before Sir Sidney Ponson introduces his fastball to the Yankee's bats tomorrow.

clipped from www.kansascity.com Alberto Callaspo started the winning rally with a one-out double against Jenks into the right-center gap. Crisp followed by pulling a first-pitch fastball over the right-field wall.

1-1 : Pitching Wins Championships

And close games in the Chicago cold.

Grienke, Cruz & Soria. Done and done and done.

Mike Jacobs took a walk (on pace for 82!) and the best hitter from last season is still batting ninth. Mike Aviles scored both runs, getting on base ahead of the guys at the top of the lineup. So, one of Trey Hillman's moves is working.

Kyle Farnsworth was unavailable, as he was still searching for the spot where Thome's ball landed.

Royals Add Some Pop to Omaha Roster

Dayton Moore added some insurance for Alex Gordon today.

Travis Metcalf may not be a superstar, but he's a nice pick up from the Rangers. A quick look at his minor league stats shows that Metcalf struggles in his first year at a new level before adjusting. This will be his second full year at AAA.

These are his numbers from two short stints in the majors:
2007 - 255/307/435 in 181 PAs
2008 - 232/279/589 in 61 PAs

Here are the numbers I think matter:
2007 - .308 batting average on balls in play
2008 - .179 batting average on balls in play

That is some bad, bad luck in 2008. Small sample size makes the numbers worse than they would be over a full season, but it seems to me that a little regression to the mean would give the Royals a back up third baseman who can bang a few homers if given the opportunity.

clipped from sports.yahoo.com CHICAGO (AP)—The Kansas City Royals claimed third baseman Travis Metcalf on waivers from the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Metcalf, 26, was added to the Royals’ 40-man roster and assigned to Triple-A Omaha. The University of Kansas product batted .249 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs in 217 at-bats with the Rangers over the last two seasons.

0-1 : Farnsworth does what Farnsworth does

The Royals lose to the White Sox on opening day.

The post title could just as easily be Jim Thome does what Jim Thome does. A lot of digital ink will be spilled on the fact that manager Trey Hillman left Kyle Farnsworth -- he of the 2.2 HR/9 ratio last year -- in to face the guy who has more long balls against the Royals than any other player.

Watching the game, I can't really argue with the decision. Farnsworth made Carlos Quentin look silly in the at bat prior and let's not kid ourselves, Thome could just as easily hit that jack off of any relief pitcher and nobody would be surprised.

Now, signing Farnsworth in the first place? That question can't be answered because of one bad pitch to a future hall of famer. But, I've got my doubts.

clipped from www.kansascity.com “As soon as (Farnsworth) struck Quentin out,” Hillman said, “I sat Mahay down because I was planning, if Kyle was throwing strikes, to leave him in. Ronnie has never been a left-handed specialist…It was just a matter of location.” The location turned out to be 400 feet away from the plate. It was Thome’s 542nd career homer, which ranks 14th on baseball’s all-time list.