Yeaaaaaaaaaaa!
A perfect way for the first win of the season to end. Kila Ka'aihue is one of the few reasons to care about this team right now, and he just delivered in the most dramatic way possible. Longtime readers will know that we've been BIG Kila fans around here for quite some time. He's had an up and down Major League career thus far, one that had lacked a defining moment like this. Ken Harvey wasn't very good, didn't play that long, and I can rattle off like six different plays from his time as a Royal. Now, Kila has one.
I guess that was a mistake pitch that he blasted over the wall, right? Just a AAA bat, right?
The other good news from tonight is that Jeff Francis turned in a very good start, a 7 IP 1 run allowed performance reminiscent of his days as an above average pitcher for the Rockies. Francis walked just one, avoided too many hits, and even struck out four batters.
The Royals then followed that up with two scoreless innings of relief work (Tejeda and Soria), which set the stage of Ka'aihue's blast. The Spring Training speculation that the Royals might have an effective bullpen, thus far, looks well founded.
But really, tonight is about Kila. That was a Major League Moment.