Hey guys, we know by now Bannister and Greinke have the "Who's Got the Lowest ERA?" game going. While that friendly competition may lead to problems like tonight, (where I bet some part of Greinke wanted to complete the game because Bannister did) it also leads to quotes like this [courtesy the KC Star]:

“One thing I noticed when Bannister was pitching,” Greinke said, “is he kept the ball down really well. When he misses over the plate, he doesn’t miss thigh-thigh. He misses at the knees or shins. That’s what I focused on this time.”

I think Greinke paying attention to/getting pitching tips from Bannister can only be a good thing. Can we imagine how Bannister's brain might help ZG pitch better? I can't think of a better pitcher for Zach to emulate in terms of control, efficiency, and game-planning.

I'm also thinking: we know Bannister reads stat blogs and the like. If we can put together some solid stat analysis on him or Greinke, maybe Brian can pass it along for us? I think this could be a really awesome way for us to help the Royals. For example, there's been a lot of debate about pitch counts the last few games. Someone should compile the debate into a succinct form and try to get Brian's attention about it. He could refute it if he wants, offer his take on it, or take it into consideration AND pass the knowledge onto Zach/McClure. At the very least, we would get some interesting takes on the debate from the pitcher himself. What do people think? I think we have the brains around to pull it off, but it is very late and I might be imagining this is possible.

Now if we can only get Hochevar involved somehow . . .