Why can't the Royals be the new Twins? How do they do it? We have a better offense and starting pitching this year, so how are they sooo good? The Royals headed up to take a look at the brand-spankin-new Target field this past weekend and but for Alberto Callaspo's power stroke were reminded of how NOT the Twins the Royals are. Here are the notes from this past weekend...
Slider no worky...
Roman Colon was the bullpen's first casualty/scapegoat and though you have to congratulate the Royals on stepping up and making a move you really wonder what was the thinking that made Colon the first to go and not Mendoza; who based on stats, years of service to the club and last name should logically have been the first to go. Josh Rupe has been good so far and appears to have been the right call-up, by the way here is Trey on just why Rupe was the Chosen One...
“He does a good job of monitoring the running game. He’s athletic. He holds runners well with a good pick move. He gets off the mound fast. Hopefully, his stuff will play out.”
Seriously, Trey mentions the all important set-up man pick-off move as the reason for Rupe's call-up and yes Trey HOPEFULLY the stuff will play out
He's Back...
Thanks to a little boo-boo to Chris Getz we get to see Alex Gordon take another crack at that break-out season everyone has been waiting to see. Putting Getz on the DL also allows to the Royals to avoid any further tough decisions about their 25 man roster i.e., getting rid of another middle reliever.
It couldn't last...
John Parrish took his hitless, scoreless and effectiveness streak into 7th inning of the game on Saturday in Minnesota and it ended right there. He gave up a run, two hits and took the loss in the latest bullpen failure. He's no longer blameless.
Gil & Grienke...
These two produced a pair of borderline scary starts. First Zach goes out on Friday and does his best wild thing impersonation by lasting only 5 innings mainly because of 5 walks and then gives a ranting explanation about why this happened that would make even the most loyal fan a little worried that there may be a chink in his armor. Gil follows this up on Saturday by giving up a 5-run second inning that almost made fans give-up, then he miraculously held it together to pitch 6 innings and give us some hope that maybe he just needed a couple of warm-up starts to get his groove back.
Power Surge...
The offense continues to be surprising as Callaspo and Ankiel both had two homer games and all four of the hrs came in important spots in the game; Callaspo carried the team to a sweep-avoiding win on Sunday and Ankiel did his best to give the Royals a chance on Saturday (it didn't work in the end but...).
Visiting old friends...
Now its time for the team to get out their passports and cross the border into Toronto to say hi to old teammate John Buck as the Royals battle the Blue Jays to see if they can't win a series and get to that all important .500 mark.
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