The fate of Royals-Phillies will be dramatically determined today in Kansas City, with each team taking one of the initial two games by 4-run margins. On the heels of a dispiriting 4-0 loss on Saturday afternoon, the Royals should be especially anxious to start playing ball again.
The Phillies send the 75 year-old Jamie Moyer (5-4, 4.08 ERA) to the mound, with Moyer making his 32nd career start against the Royals. In those 31 previous starts, Moyer is 14-8 with a 3.32 ERA. Of course, he's been playing since 1986, so that matchup stat doesn't really tell us much, even less than those things ever do.
For the Royals, Jorge de la Rosa (4-6, 4.60 ERA) is the man on a mission. Last week, Rosey lost a legitimate "tough luck" game, falling to C.C. Sabathia and the Indians 1-0 in Cleveland. Lets see how Jorge responds to Meche's 8K performance yesterday... he likely doesn't want to fall too far behind Gil for the team lead.
Well, actually he doesn't care, but... I care, I care somewhat.
The Phillies are bad, the Royals rule!!!