Cresting after last night's improbable victory, the Kansas City Royals look to win consecutive games for the first time in over two weeks tonight at the K. On the mound, fans will be treated to an Aaron Sele (6-7, 4.71 ERA) vs. Runelvys Hernandez (5-9, 4.79 ERA) matchup that promises thrills galore.
Regarding last night's 8-run outburst, I'm simply not sure how exactly it happened. The middle of the Royals' lineup (Gotay through Teahen) went a combined 1-17 with two walks and a GIDP (Stairs). Luckily, the Royals were able to bunch hits together in the 2nd, which made all the difference; but, if you played last night's game 100 times with the same level of performance, I'm not sure the Royals win more than 25 or 30 games.
D.J. Carrasco didn't quite live up to the staff "ace" label thats been thrown around, but he was solid, if unspectacular: 5.1 IP, 10H, 2BB and 5ER. Continuing a strange trend of effectiveness, the bullpen shut down the Mariners, combining for 3.2 innings of 4H, 0BB, 1ER ball. Jimmy Gobble, just a season removed from two consecutive years of historically low k-rates, now has 7 strikeouts in 7.1 innings pitched this season. If Gobble's capable of maintaining a k-rate even 2/3rds as good as he's doing in relief, then theres really no reason that he shouldn't be granted a start or two. I'm not sure whats different now-- with Gobble or with this organization -- from the last two seasons, when Gobble was handed 35 starts. If anything, the pitching staff may be worse and Gobble may be a little better...
Or, it could just be a fluky 7 innings.
Finally, it was nice to see Berroa have a decent game, and given all the flack he's taken, its only fair to applaud his positive efforts this time. His two-out triple in the 3rd was gigantic, and thanks to a 2-4 day, we can all hope for another week or so that a hot-streak/re-awakening can begin.
