After a mini-sweep in Cleveland the Royals are once again positioned to inch closer to the magical .500 mark, but desperately need tonight's game to do so. Win, and it's 15-16, lose, and there's a seemingly larger than warranted fall to 14-17. I don't know, perhaps no one is as interested in this minor details as I am.
At the end of yesterday's game thread, NyRoyal, I believe, pointed out that the AL Central standings are now almost fully upside-down from what many would have predicted: Cleveland and Detroit at the bottom, the Twins and White Sox fighting it out for first, and the Royals somewhere in the middle.
Tonight, Brett Tomko (6.26 ERA) makes his sixth start of the season against the Angels, a squad that he couldn't quite control in a 5-3 loss last month. If Tomko can last two innings tonight, he'll go over 1700 innings pitched on his career (career ERA 4.64). So keep that in mind as you watch the game. Tomko is currently 31st amongst active pitchers in innings pitched, and could very well pass Freddy Garcia tonight for 30th.
The Angels counter with Ervin "Magic" Santana (2.48 ERA).
Expect many Angel-rific baserunning blunders tonight at the K. You know Hillman's gotta represent in front of the cool kids from SoCal.