The Royals hope to avoid falling 30 games under .500 and avoid being swept by Texas tonight at the K. The Rangers send the strangely named Kameron Loe (3-5, 4.48 ERA) to the mound in his first career start against the Royals. In two previous relief outings Loe tossed two single scoreless innings. The Royals counter with... with... with... Kyle Snyder (career ERA 5.64). Why? Well, why the hell not? Makes about as much sense as anything else, and considering someone has to start the game, it might as well be Snyder.
This will be Snyder's third tour of duty with the Royals -- 15 starts in 2003, 3 starts & 10 relief appearances in 2005 -- and hopefully he can build on the semi-adequacy he displayed during the Royals magical 83-79 2003.
As Grudz69 points out in the diaries the Royals, at best have a bunch of #5 starters at this point, with Snyder only the latest bit of flotsam to wear the blue and white. Ugg. Hopefully Kyle can mimic Keppel's low-watt success and lead the team to a victory or two. This team has some serious work to do if they want to get out of the history book.
In other news, the major news continues to be Jason Grimsley and his various crimes against humanity. Once again, Will Carrol, author of The Juice hits the steroid issue on the head,
When I heard the Jason Grimsley story on Tuesday afternoon, the first thing that came to mind was...no, the first is unprintable. The second thing that came to mind was "good people are going to get sucked into this." Logic escapes the performance-enhancement zone with perfect consistency. No one cares that some have been busted--some twice or three times--but everyone is told that Barry Bonds is baseball's Antichrist. No one cares that more pitchers have tested positive than hitters since tests became public record--and that even before, hitters weren't getting the advantages credited them. The home runs some tried to take away due to steroids might need a couple tacked on for the juiced-up pitchers they faced. "Give us more speculation!" the public cries. "Feed us a big name that we can wail and gnash our teeth. Feed us someone we once worshipped and let us melt down his Hall of Fame plaque as an offering to the sainted Ruth and Maris. If Barry Bonds used and Jason Grimsley used, then everyone in between must have used, right?"Amen.Wrong. For every one of you that called for testing, you were right to do so. HGH (human growth hormone) and other recombinant versions of naturally occurring chemicals are the next shadow the game will confront, this time with no easy solution, no test on the horizon, and no shady chemist to blame. My position, both before and after writing "The Juice," was not strong enough and I acknowledge that. But by calling for testing, you must then accept the results and only the results. That leaves us with the moral grey areas, such as Jason Grimsley having not tested positive since results came public.
Lastly, as we look forward to tonight's game, checkout Grimsleyfan's diary entry on Buddisimo Bell's lineup choices. Just terrible stuff, but exactly what we've come to expect from ole' Buddy. Did you notice that Sanders has 9 walks against 44 Ks?? Looks like the signs of a guy who's cooked to me.
Lets hope the Royals can rise up and get a win tonight. Post up with your in game comments here.