Seriously, Ponson Opening Day?

by Big Guy on Apr 6, 2009 10:34 PM EDT

I understand why he's the 4th starter and all. I'm not even as fired up as RR is about it. He'll fail out and never be heard from again and Hoch will be up in May.

That said, the Royals have a responsibility not to start our home season with Ponson getting blasted by the Yankees at the home opener. Probably the most attended series of the entire season and the KC faithful are going to watch them trot out Ponson and Ho Ram? Talk about a PR nightmare. They should be trying to hide as many of those guys' starts as they can on road games. So much for not needing a 5th starter until mid-April.

Sit out Meche and let Greinke start tomorrow. Skip Greinke and let him start on Friday. Even flip SP with Davies. Whatever they have to do not to appear like they've already thrown up the white flag in the second series of the year.

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It's important who the 4th starter is. It is irrelevant who starts the home opener

A manager needs to put his best rotation together and start the season with his best so that you maximize the chance to get the most starts out of your best starters. If that means the 4th or 5th SP starts the home opener, then so be it. What will give the Royals good, meaningful PR which will increase fan interest, ticket sales and TV ratings is winning more games, period.

So having Ponson as the #4 starter isn’t a good decision. But having the #4 SP start the team’s fourth game is a good decision.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2009 10:38 PM EDT reply actions

Ponson will OWN the Yankers.

The General Theory of Royaltivity

by kabrink on Apr 6, 2009 11:13 PM EDT reply actions

I guess anything can happen

If Lee, C.C., Verlander and Liriano can all get torched, then Ponson can make a good start. It could happen.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2009 11:31 PM EDT up reply actions

let's not forget that he

wasn’t terrible with the Rangers last year…after he got booted was a different story however. Oh, and Teahen was good for like a month in 2006 once…

The Snozberries taste like Snozberries

by labbadabba on Apr 6, 2009 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions

(duck)

NYR is going to start throwing things at you now.

The General Theory of Royaltivity

by kabrink on Apr 6, 2009 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't need to

The numbers speak for themselves. ;)

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2009 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I love what he did in the WBC

the bottom line is, he’s ready

by Freneau on Apr 7, 2009 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

+10

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 7, 2009 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Can we get an article on this in time for the home opener?

I think this has potential

realistically speaking

by slayor on Apr 7, 2009 1:19 AM EDT up reply actions

I wonder how much the Yankees-angle is playing into this... there has been a lot of angst over this

look, I am less excited about Ponson than anyone, and I realize it is opening day (kinda)

still, I wonder how much the old inferiority complex re: the yankees and the payroll issues are coloring this more

if he was starting this game against, say, the white sox, it wouldn’t be such a big deal

i’m not even sure the yankees will have such a good lineup this year

by Freneau on Apr 7, 2009 12:09 AM EDT reply actions

A-Rod was their only good hitter

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by Matt Klaassen on Apr 7, 2009 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Good point.

The ghost of Chris Chambliss haunts us still.

by hunter s. royal on Apr 7, 2009 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions

+2.7

by BrRoyal on Apr 7, 2009 8:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Wow, Ponson's the #4 starter?

On opening day, you say? Let’s discuss it!

Sincerely,

two weeks ago

I hereby resign from this post.

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Apr 7, 2009 1:03 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

I think I'm actually more miffed by Greinke not starting on day 1

by Freneau on Apr 7, 2009 1:14 AM EDT reply actions

I wish we were playing most any other team in the home opener.

This series will be well attended no matter the team and the Yankees always draw large crowds. If we flipped the series with the Indians then our first week of home games would all have near sell outs. Instead the Yankees will sell out and the Indians will get a half full stadium. Actually I wish our first game was in warm weather stupid schedulers putting opening day in cold weather stadiums. Didn’t they learn anything from last year with all the postponements.

by TXroyal on Apr 7, 2009 6:29 AM EDT reply actions

I actually expect Ponson to pitch well on opening day

+ the following one or two games. Fans will get excited about the 2 or 3 good starts.

He will then tank horribly and be removed from the rotation after 6 terrible starts.

by Top Ramen on Apr 7, 2009 1:42 PM EDT reply actions

It only takes a few weeks of being good to convince some fans you're good

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by Matt Klaassen on Apr 7, 2009 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions

And of course the inverse (or is it converse?) of that is true as well. For most fans, what the player has done very recently is about all that matters. Players can go from horrible to great to horrible again all in the span of a month.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 8, 2009 12:00 AM EDT up reply actions

I'd give a bigger reply

but not you’ve reminded me that inverse/converse/correllary/whatever is something I learned precisely in a logic class in undergrad, and now I just feel old and stupid.

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by Matt Klaassen on Apr 8, 2009 1:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Inverse, reverse, obverse and converse

These words should all be replaced with words that don’t have the same suffix. They are too similar to sound that much alike. Whoever invented this language needs to be flogged with an unabridged OED.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 8, 2009 1:13 AM EDT up reply actions