With a win tonight and a White Sox loss the Royals can pass the Southsiders in the win column, a fairly shocking fact considering the Royals finished 43 games behind the Sox in 2005, and 28 behind in 2006. Granted, the Sox have played five fewer games not that anyone at South Side Sox would care much. Additionally, a Royals victory will raise their home record to a slightly less horrible 15-23 at the K. Without goals, we can be sure, we have nothing to fall back on.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Royals hope to make Vanden Hurk miss home.
But what fascinates me most about tonight's game is that the Marlins starter, Rick Vanden Hurk (1-2, 8.61 ERA) hails from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Signed by the Marlins at age 17, Vanden Hurk has mostly struggled this season, although he did take a no-hitter into the 7th against the Braves a fortnight ago. Apparently he's nicknamed the Holland Hammer, although I wish he would just go by his given name of Henricus. For more on Eindhoven, click here.
The Royals counter with Jorge de la Rosa (4-6, 4.73 ERA). I'll be gone again for tonight's game -- good luck charm I hope -- since I'll be here.