Game 140. Goodness. If this season were a week, we'd be at, well, about Friday night.
I hope everyone enjoyed the two recycled posts honoring Terrence/Terrance Long. Hardly anyone was reading Royals Review back in 2005, so I don't have much shame in reposting material from back then. Honestly, there was one hardcore reader back then -- in terms of posting comments, writing diaries, etc. -- and he hasn't even been on the site since 2006. Anyway, on the whole it was a pretty depressing time, it was my first year at Iowa and my mind was an endless catalogue of my failures. Mr. Weatherstone got me through the first year of this site, offering me hope that eventually it would become a beehive of activity. OK, enough self-obsessed blather. Thanks to everyone who joins the party here each game, and thanks to you Mr. Weatherstone, whereever you are now...
Tonight, the Yankees are back in town, just in time for Hispanic Heritage Night at the K, complete with a pre-game concert and free $10 dollar-for-charity "Viva Los Royals" shirts. Actually, I really like those shirts, despite the inherent weirdness of the dual language mode.
The Royals send Gil Meche (7-12, 3.85 ERA) to the mound for his 15th home start of the season. While somewhat overblown and definitely over-emotionalized, Meche has had some tough losses this season, a trend which reached its peak in his last start in Minnesota, when an 11 year old kid named Baker took a perfect game into the 9th inning. Opponent-based split stats are pretty useless, but since the Yankees essentially field a monster lineup every season, its worth noting that Meche's brand of pitching has yielded a decent 4.80 ERA against the Yanks in 11 career starts.
The Yankees counter with Ian Kennedy (1-0, 1.29 ERA), a delightful young man making his second career start.
Lineup Notes: Buddy's giving Jason Smith the start tonight at SS, again derailing TPJ's pursuit of the AL Outs Made Championship. And lookie lookie... a certain guy named Ross is back in the safety of Buddy's metaphorical bosom:
J. Gathright lf
M. Grudzielanek 2b
R. Gload 1b
B. Butler dh
M. Teahen rf
D. DeJesus cf
A. Gordon 3b
J. Smith ss
J. Buck c
I give up.