Game XLIV Thread: The Royals of Kansas City at the Highlanders of New York

In an early game following a night of travel, the Royals travel to [new] Yankee Stadium to face the Highlanders in a Memorial Day tilt that the whole world will be watching.

Pitching for the Royals will be Jeremy Guthrie, who started the season in a bit of a funk but has settled down in his last three starts. Over his last 18.1 IP, Guthrie has allowed just 4 ER. Of course he's struck out just seven in that time, but he's also walked just three. Whether the Yankees will fall in line behind the Tigers, Rangers, and Reds in the latest victims of Guthrie pitching to contact and letting the defense behind him do the heavy lifting or they do damage early and often is yet to be seen.

These will be the Highlanders today:

Eovaldi and the #Yankees open up a 3-game set with the Royals on #MemorialDay. http://t.co/FTBDYhxBwz pic.twitter.com/fEk8hoZyaX

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 25, 2015

Nathan Eovaldi will throw for the Yankees. Eovaldi is essentially the Yankees' Yordano Ventura. He is heavily reliant upon a very hard fastball--he is tied for the highest average on his fastball velocity with Ventura and Boston's Joe Kelly at 95.9 MPH--but much like Ventura, the velocity does not necessarily equate to strikeouts, as they rank 59th and 60th in K/9. Of course, Ventura has the advantage of playing home games at Kauffman Stadium and is the beneficiary of having the best defense in baseball behind him, so Eovaldi's ERA, BABIP, and HR/9 could all reasonably be expected to be higher than Ventura's.

Eovaldi will face the following Murderer's Row:

Today's #Royals lineup at Yanks at 12:05 CT on @ESPN, @FSKansasCity, @MLBTV & @610SportsKC. http://t.co/yuxQYD6USf pic.twitter.com/nUgZ581SWl

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 25, 2015

Happy Memorial Day.

There can be only one.