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The Royals try to continue their late season resurgence and play spoiler in the playoff race as they take on the hated Sox once again. Winners of 10 of 16 in the month of August, Kansas City begins life after Getz by sending the venerable Bruce Chen to the mound.
Chen, 8-10 with a 5.56 ERA, held the White Sox to two runs over 6.2 innings just 11 days ago, but has been tagged for 39 runs in just 55 innings over his last ten starts. He'll be opposed by Jake Peavy, 9-9 with a 3.04 ERA, who has allowed just 7.5 hits per 9 innings this season.
With Chen pitching, we will likely see Brayan Pena behind the plate (I'm writing this in the early afternoon and lineups have not yet been released). As such, Ned Yost will almost certainly wait until Sunday to, for the first time all year, trot out the lineup he envision at the beginning of spring training.
This marks the beginning of what may be Johnny Giavotella's last chance. While obliterating AAA pitching for the better part of two seasons, Johnny has shown little of that pop at the major league level. If he hits well in this 40 game trial do you believe in him? If he flails at air, as Giavotella has in the past, are you done giving him chances? Perhaps even more importantly, will you wince every time a ground ball heads in Johnny's general direction?