The Devil Rays can now feel the Royals breathing down their neck thanks to a glorious 4-1 victory on Friday night in Florida.
Paced by the best outing of Brian Bannister's (1-3, 3.89 ERA) life, the Royals snagged win number 20 before a stunned Tampa crowd. Bannister finished with a Game Score of 80, leaving him just outside the Top Ten Pitched Games in the AL this season. By way of comparison, Mark Buehrle's no-hitter was a 94, while King Felix's April 11 one-hitter at Fenway was an 89. So yea, 80 is pretty good.
Too bad that evil punk Scott Kazmir didn't see things that way:
I guess after Arod destroyed our national innocence comments like this will become more and more common.
Tonight were blessed with a dream matchup, as Odalis Perez (2-5, 5.61 ERA) takes on Edwin Jackson (0-6, 7.12 ERA). I can't wait until the day comes when Jackson is wearing a Royals uniform, because we all know its inevitable, just like Beltran ending up in New York, the Federal Government's betrayal of the Cherokees and the superiority of the UK version of a Johnny Hates Jazz video to our own efforts.