Watching (or rather reading about) the Royals score six in the top of the 12th as I type... Might the Royals be closing in on a series victory in the desert?
The big story in Royals land is still the debut of J.P. Howell however, as the kid led our boys to their 20th victory last night, posting a 4H, 1ER, 2BB, 8K line in the process. Yes, you read that correctly, EIGHT strikeouts. At this pace, he'll lead the team by his third start. The Royals bullpen performed adequately for the game's final four innings, including another good performance by Affeldt, who's ERA is now down to 3.12.
Amazingly, our boys scored 8 runs despite Angel Berroa's 0-6 performance, and a 0-5 game by Teahen that I was sure would have led to a Super Joe appearance late. Of course, the lineup core from DeJesus to Gotay went 15-23 with a walk, so it didn't quite matter. By the way, scrap-heap pickup Emil Brown is now the proud owner of a .277/.352/.480 line (i.e. Ken Harvey in his wildest dreams).
IT'S A FINAL: Royals 9, D'Backs 4!!
What a completely strange game... you don't see teams trade runs in the 10th and 11th innings very often, and frankly I'm shocked that a) the Royals won, b) the Royals scored 9 runs. Umm, look at that lineup 1-9 and tell me how that happened??
Lost in the extra-innings deluge is the outstanding effort by Royals Review Idol D.J. Carrasco: 6IP, 1ER, 1BB, 3K. D.J.'s ERA is now at 2.33 in 38.2 innings, which is pretty freaking good. He won't make the All-Star Team ("This time it counts!") but with 2 more good starts he might be worth a selection, as he'll certainly have done more good than, say, some closer with 15 saves; MacDougal, circa 2003, we're looking at you.
Wow, the Royals have won 21 games and continue to play well under Buddy Bell... At what point is it safe to turn off the cynicism and begin to enjoy things.
Current Worst Team Standings:
KC- 21 wins
Tampa- 21 wins
Colorado- 21 wins
This is when the announcer says, "These teams don't like each other very much."