Who needs George Brett when you have Alex Gordon!?

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

2009 Opening Day

The Royals played a hell of a game to start this season, shutting out the Chicago White Sox 4-0.

The story of the night was the pitching of Royals staff ace, Zack Greinke. Greinke went 8 and two thirds innings before giving up a single to Jermaine Dye, he was then pulled in favor of Jimmy Gobble who allowed a single to Ryan Howard but got Nick Swisher to line out to end the game. On the night Greinke went 8 2/3 innings, allowed eight hits, one walk, and struck out nine White Sox batters, including striking out Jason Smith three times in four at bats.

Of his stellar performance Greinke said “Its always good to start out the season on a good note, especially after bombing it so badly in the last month of the ‘08 season. But this is only one game and one win. Hopefully I can pitch like that and we can win every night, but this is still only one game, we’ve got a long way to go and we want to make the playoffs.”

Offensively, Teixeira and Costa each hit home runs, while Teixeira also hit an RBI double and finished the night 2-4 with a homer and three RBI’s. Alex Gordon went 0-5 and struck out once, while Gathright also failed to get a hit, but walked twice in five at bats.

BOXSCORE:

Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Sox
April 2, 2009

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
        Royals (KCR) 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0    4  9  0
     White Sox (CHW) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    0  9  0

KANSAS CITY          ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Gathright (CF)     3  0  2  0  0  0  2  0    .000
D. DeJesus (LF)       4  1  1  2  0  0  1  0    .250
A. Gordon (3B)        5  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
M. Teixeira (1B)      4  2  0  1  1  3  0  0    .500
A. LaRoche (DH)       4  2  0  0  0  0  0  0    .500
S. Costa (RF)         4  1  0  1  1  1  1  0    .250
M. Aviles (SS)        4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .250
J. Buck (C)           4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
A. Callaspo (2B)      4  2  0  0  0  0  2  0    .500
TOTALS               36  9  3  4  2  4  7  0

   2B:  M. Teixeira (1), A. Callaspo (1), D. DeJesus (1)
   HR:  M. Teixeira (1), S. Costa (1)

     KANSAS CITY   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      Z. Greinke  8.2  8  1  0  0  0  9 120   0.00
       J. Gobble  0.1  1  0  0  0  0  0   9   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  9  1  0  0  0  9 129

CHICAGO              ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
C. Getz (DH)          4  1  0  0  0  0  0  1    .250
J. Smith (SS)         4  0  0  0  0  0  3  0    .000
A. Ramirez (2B)       4  2  0  0  0  0  0  0    .500
C. Quentin (LF)       4  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .250
J. Dye (RF)           4  2  0  0  0  0  1  0    .500
R. Howard (1B)        3  1  1  0  0  0  1  0    .333
N. Swisher (CF)       4  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .250
A. Pierzynski (C)     3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
P. Kenmotsu (3B)      3  1  0  0  0  0  2  0    .333
TOTALS               33  9  1  0  0  0  9  1

   2B:  J. Dye (1)
   3B:  P. Kenmotsu (1)
   GIDP:  A. Pierzynski, J. Dye

         CHICAGO   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
    J. Contreras  4.0  6  2  2  4  4  1  67   9.00
        B. Logan  3.0  2  0  0  0  0  4  40   0.00
       J. Egbert  2.0  1  1  0  0  0  2  34   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  9  3  2  4  4  7 141

     WP: Z. Greinke (1-0)
     LP: J. Contreras (0-1)

     Temperature: 88F
     Wind: 6 MPH (in from center)
     Attendance: 43,721
     Time: 2:39

April 3, 2008
Royals 4 - White Sox 1

Jonny Cueto's first Royals start was a complete success, as he went eight innings with eight strikeouts and allowed the White Sox only run. Esteban German was the offensive player of the game, going 3-4 with two runs and an RBI.

WP - Jonny Cueto (1-0)
LP - John Danks (0-1)
SV - Joakim Soria (1)


April 4, 2008
Royals 1 - White Sox 2

A tough luck loss. Bannister pitched eight fantastic innings of two run ball, but Buehrle one upped him pitching eight innings of one run ball, before Jenks came in and shut the door. Our lone run came off a solo home run from Adam LaRoche.

WP - Mark Buehrle (1-0)
LP - Brian Bannister (0-1)
SV - Bobby Jenks (1)


Royals Record: 2-1


NOTE: After this, all updates will be TWO series at a time, as opposed to one like I did here. The reason I only did one for this one was because it was the opening of the season, and because I wanted to come up with some type of format before I really got going too much.

[rockiesfan4ever]

That is one good team. Being able to shut out themselves.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

That is one good team. Being able to shut out themselves.

Good catch, lol. Fixed.

[Slingshot]

GREAT start. I loved the presentation of the players. Keep up the good work.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

GREAT start. I loved the presentation of the players. Keep up the good work.

They took a bit to do, but they were fun and I figured people might like the way I presented them as much as I did.

Originally I wasn't gonna do one for the bench and bullpen, but I thought I should definitely do one for the 'pen because that's a clear strength for the team, and if I was gonna do one for the 'pen then I wasn't gonna leave the bench out because it would make my OCD kick in and bug the hell out of me.

Thanks for reading .

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Just for those people whom have read me before, you know I've always done pretty detailed monthly reports, and that's something that I plan to either cut out altogether, or cutback and do differently.

The re-writing of stats and standings as a list kind of drives me nuts and gets to a point where I really dread and hate doing it, so if I do hang onto it it'll just be a really short synopsis. Something like:

"The Red Sox lead the AL East by three games over the Orioles, while the White Sox are two ahead of the Tigers."

Instead of:

Red Sox 10-3
Orioles 7-6, 3 GB

And so on.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

April 5, 2008
Mariners 3 - Royals 7

Another great outing from a Royals starter. Luke Hochevar goes seven inning, allowing no walks, two runs, and strikes out six. Alex Gordon went 3-5 with a couple ribbies, and John Buck hit his first home run of the season, on the offensive side of the ball.

WP - Luke Hochevar (1-0)
LP - R.A. Dickey (0-1)

Tim Melville's Major League Debut

If this game was any indication, Tim and the Royals organization have a very bright future ahead of them together.

In Tim's first Major League start, first start above A-ball, he threw seven shutout innings, didn't walk a single batter, struck out two hitters, and allowed only five hits, and on 118 pitches. When reached for comment about what he thought of his stuff tonight, Royals catcher John Buck simply stated, "Unbelievable, the kid was absolutely unhittable tonight."

Leo Nunez and Jimmy Gobble pitched the last two innings of the ball game, combining for two strikeouts and one hit allowed.

Offensively Adam LaRoche and Joey Gathright carried the load, with Gathright going 3-5 with two runs and two runs batted in and LaRoche going 2-3 with a walk, three runs, a homer, and two RBI's.

BOXSCORE:

Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals
April 6, 2009

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
      Mariners (SEA) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    0  6  0
        Royals (KCR) 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 x    8  9  0

SEATTLE              ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
I. Suzuki (CF)        4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .182
J. Lopez (2B)         4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .190
A. Beltre (3B)        3  2  0  0  0  0  0  0    .350
N. Johnson (DH)       4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .238
W. Balentien (RF)     4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .250
B. LaHair (1B)        3  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .333
Y. Betancourt (SS)    3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .278
J. Clement (C)        3  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .294
J. Reed (LF)          3  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .333
TOTALS               31  6  0  0  0  0  4  0

   2B:  N. Johnson (3), J. Reed (1)
   HBP:  A. Beltre
   GIDP:  N. Johnson, Y. Betancourt

         SEATTLE   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      M. Batista  3.1  7  2  1  5  5  3  76  13.50
         M. Lowe  2.2  0  0  0  0  0  3  50   0.00
   E. O'Flaherty  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  2   8   7.71
       B. Morrow  0.2  1  3  0  3  3  2  28  12.27
     J. Washburn  0.1  1  0  0  0  0  0  12  12.60
          TOTALS  8.0  9  5  1  8  8 10 174

KANSAS CITY          ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Gathright (CF)     5  3  0  2  0  2  0  0    .409
D. DeJesus (LF)       5  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .250
A. Gordon (3B)        4  1  0  1  0  1  2  0    .286
M. Teixeira (1B)      3  0  1  1  0  0  1  0    .278
A. LaRoche (DH)       3  2  1  3  1  2  0  0    .385
S. Costa (RF)         3  1  0  1  0  1  1  0    .273
T. Pena (SS)          3  0  1  0  0  0  2  0    .286
J. Buck (C)           2  0  2  0  0  0  0  0    .063
E. German (2B)        4  1  0  0  0  1  3  0    .500
TOTALS               32  9  5  8  1  7 10  0

   2B:  A. Gordon (1)
   HR:  A. LaRoche (2)
   HBP:  S. Costa
   GIDP:  A. Gordon

     KANSAS CITY   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
     T. Melville  7.0  5  0  0  0  0  2 118   0.00
       J. Gobble  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  2  13   0.00
        L. Nunez  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  0  19   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  6  0  0  0  0  4 150

     WP: T. Melville (1-0)
     LP: M. Batista (0-1)

     Temperature: 67F
     Wind: 4 MPH (out to center)
     Attendance: 32,320
     Time: 3:18

April 7, 2008
Mariners 4 - Royals 3

Greinke made a solid start, going six innings and allowing four runs, and the 'pen managed to hold down the fort, allowing no runs in three innings, but the offense never really managed to get anything off Silva or the Mariners relievers, despite getting 12 hits. John Duck, Tony Pena, Alex Gordon, and David Dejesus all collected two hits in four at bats, and all but Buck scored a run.

WP - Carlos Silva (1-1)
LP - Zack Greinke (1-1)
SV - J.J. Putz (1)


April 8, 2008
Indians 12 - Royals 3

Cueto's second Royals start was NEARLY as impressive as his first. Cueto allowed six runs, on eight hits and four walks, including two homers (one of them a three run inside-the-park job to Casey Blake), in 4 1/3 innings, and struck out seven, causing his ERA to skyrocket to 5.11. Teixiera went 3-4 and Tony Pena drove in two runs on one hit.

WP - Jake Westbrook (2-0)
LP - Jonny Cueto (1-1)


April 9, 2008
Indians 5 - Royals 4

Bannister pitched a pretty good game, four runs (three earned) in seven innings of work, but Byrd one-upped him, going eight and allowing only two runs. We did manage to get to Indians reliever Rafael Betancourt for two runs in the ninth, but John Buck struck out looking with the game-tying run on base.

WP - Paul Byrd (2-0)
LP - Brian Bannister (0-2)
SV - Rafael Betancourt (2)


April 10, 2008
Indians 0 - Royals 2

Luke Hochevar put out an excellent pitching performance to put a halt to our three game losing streak and to prevent a sweep at the hands of the Indians. Hochevar went eight innings without allowing a run, gave up six hits, one walk, and sent six down on K's. Soria got into a bit of trouble, putting two men in scoring position with only one out, but got out of it to "earn" the save. Jose Guillen hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the second.

WP - Luke Hochevar (2-0)
LP - Cliff Lee (0-2)
SV - Joakim Soria (2)

Royals Record: 5-4 (2.0 GB)

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Now there's a debut! Going in with a bang!

Nicely done so far, but the season is still young. Good luck!

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

April 11, 2008
Rays 2 - Royals 6

Tim Melville's second career start was another successful one. He surrendered only two runs in five and a third innings, while allowing four hits, two walks, and sending six down on K's. LaRoche went 4-5 with two runs and two RBI's, and Mike Aviles also drove in two runs. Leo Nunez pitched the final 3.2 innings to earn the save.

WP - Tim Melville (2-0)
LP - Edwin Jackson (0-2)
SV - Leo Nunez (1)

Greinke K's 13

After being out of baseball for most of '06 and being stuck in the bullpen for most of '07, Greinke's star seems to have been revived with his performance last season and this season.

His star was shining as bright as ever on this night, as he threw one of the best games of his career. He had Rays hitters dumbstruck all night, going 8 2/3 innings, allowing only six hits, no walks, one run, and striking out an amazing 13 batters.

"It was nice to have a good start after struggling a bit my last time out." Greinke said after the game, referring to his six inning, four earned runs allowed start against the Mariners in his last start out.

Yeah, this was a pretty good start.

Tim Hamulack came in to record the last out of the game (damn the pitcher usage AI).

Mike Aviles was the offensive star of the game, driving in three of the team's seven runs, with a 2-4 night in which he hit a double and a triple. Everyone but John Buck and Adam LaRoche collected hits.

BOXSCORE:

Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals
April 12, 2009

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
          Rays (TBD) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    1  6  1
        Royals (KCR) 0 2 1 0 2 0 2 0 x    7 11  0

TAMPA BAY            ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
C. Crawford (LF)      4  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .250
R. Baldelli (CF)      4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .231
B. Upton (2B)         4  1  0  0  0  0  3  0    .380
E. Longoria (3B)      4  2  0  1  0  0  0  0    .289
C. Pena (1B)          4  0  0  0  0  0  3  0    .209
E. Hinske (RF)        3  2  0  0  0  1  0  0    .302
J. Gomes (DH)         3  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .391
S. Riggans (C)        3  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .083
R. Brignac (SS)       3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .286
TOTALS               32  6  0  1  0  1 14  0

   2B:  E. Longoria 2 (3), E. Hinske (2)

       TAMPA BAY   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      J. Niemann  5.2  8  2  0  5  4  5 113   4.73
      S. Dohmann  1.1  2  1  0  2  2  1  31  13.50
      G. Balfour  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  0  22   3.86
          TOTALS  8.0 11  3  0  7  6  6 166

KANSAS CITY          ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Gathright (CF)     5  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .326
D. DeJesus (LF)       5  2  0  0  0  0  1  0    .196
A. Gordon (3B)        3  1  1  3  0  0  1  1    .273
M. Teixeira (1B)      3  1  1  0  0  1  0  0    .359
A. LaRoche (DH)       3  0  1  1  0  1  1  1    .361
S. Costa (RF)         4  2  0  1  0  0  0  0    .258
M. Aviles (SS)        4  2  0  1  0  3  0  0    .296
J. Buck (C)           4  0  0  0  0  1  2  0    .200
E. German (2B)        4  2  0  0  0  0  0  1    .394
TOTALS               35 11  3  7  0  6  6  3

   2B:  M. Aviles (3), D. DeJesus 2 (3), E. German (1)
   3B:  M. Aviles (1)
   HBP:  A. Gordon
   CS:  S. Costa

     KANSAS CITY   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      Z. Greinke  8.2  6  0  0  1  1 13 119   1.93
     T. Hamulack  0.1  0  0  0  0  0  1   7   3.86
          TOTALS  9.0  6  0  0  1  1 14 126

     WP: Z. Greinke (2-1)
     LP: J. Niemann (0-2)

     Temperature: 69F
     Wind: 6 MPH (in from right)
     Attendance: 31,219
     Time: 3:21

April 13, 2008
Rays 4 - Royals 6

Cueto had a decent start, going 6 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits, walking two, and allowing four runs, with four strikeouts. He did give up the lead twice, after the offense put some runs on the board and earned him the lead, however. Adam LaRoche continued his hot hitting, going 3-4 with a homer and 3 RBI's, and raised his batting average to an even .400. On the other side of the spectrum, David Dejesus continues to struggle, with his 1-4 night dropping his batting average to .200.

WP - Ramon Ramirez (1-0)
LP - J.P. Howell (0-2)
SV - Joakim Soria (3)


April 14, 2008
Rays 1 - Royals 6

Brian Bannister helped us complete the sweep over the Rays, with his eight inning, five hit, one walk, one run gem. Alex Gordon slugged a home run and collected a pair of RBI's.

WP - Brian Bannister (1-2)
LP - Scott Kazmir (1-1)


April 15, 2008
Indians 12 - Royals 9

We got our ass kicked by the Indians once again. Luke Hochevar struggled, going only 4 1/3 innings and allowing nine earned runs, causing his ERA to skyrocket from around 1.00 to 5.12. Our single bright spot was John Buck. Buck went 3-4 with two homers and four RBI's.

WP - Jeremy Sowers (1-0)
LP - Luke Hochevar (2-1)
SV - Rafael Betancourt (3)


April 16, 2008
Indians 2 - Royals 9

Tim Melville keeps amazing me. In this start against the division rival Indians he went five innings, allowed seven hits, walked one, struck out seven, and "allowed" one unearned run. Mark Teixeira, Adam LaRoche, and Jose Guillen all homered. Guillen and LaRoche each drove in two runs, while Tex' drove in three.

WP - Tim Melville (3-0)
LP - C.C. Sabathia (0-1)


April 17, 2008
Indians 2 - Royals 3

Greinke pitched another beauty. This time he went eight innings, allowed three hits, two walks, two runs, and struck out seven, on 102 pitches. Alex Gordon went 3-4 with an RBI, and Tex' and Dejesus each drove in runs as well.

WP - Zack Greinke (3-1)
LP - Cliff Lee (0-3)
SV - Joakim Soria (4)

Royals Record: 11-5 (1.0 GB)

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Ok, so I made a little bit of an oopsy.

I was running some test sims to see where I was picking in the draft and who I could expect to be available at my pick. Once I was done with that I re-loaded the file, and apparently after the draft the game auto-saved, meaning that instead of being on April 17th, I'm now on June 7th.

This is still going to continue, I just didn't want who ever is reading to be startled when it magically went from April 17th to June 7th.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

2007 Royals Draft Review

1st Round Pick (#15 Overall) - RF Nate Gazzard (54/97)
17 years old, 6'3", 208 lbs., S/R
56 CON, 67 POW, 62 SPD, 58 EYE
68 ARM, 61 RNG, 68 FLDG, 72 HEA

Gazzard was one of my top options that I was actually expecting to be available at my pick. The thing I most wanted to get in the first round of this draft was a guy with good health, who has a chance to develop into a big-time power hitter, and Gazzard definitely fits that bill. Gazzard hit 12 homers in his senior year of high school, and posted the best line of his high school career, going .392/.474/.866, with those 12 homers, 39 RBI's, and 21 runs, in 28 games. Gazzard does have some health concerns and his defense leaves something to be desired, but he'll be making his money with his bat.


2nd Round Pick (#45 Overall) - LF Lou Nilsson (63/85)
20 years old, 5'11", 195 lbs., R/R
62 CON, 71 POW, 66 SPD, 67 EYE
72 ARM, 67 RNG, 80 FLDG, 74 HEA

Nilsson was another guy a took with high hopes of him becoming a slugging outfielder. Nilsson performed well in his first and only season of college, batting .353/.455/.583, with nine homers, 42 RBI's, and 38 runs in 59 games. Nilsson's got a sweet swing and a decent glove, if he can stay healthy he should be a solid outfielder at the Major League Level, probably sooner rather than later.


3nd Round Pick (#75 Overall) - LF Richie Jarmon (54/80)
18 years old, 6'1", 195 lbs., R/R
55 CON, 69 POW, 56 SPD, 59 EYE
68 ARM, 66 RNG, 64 FLDG, 67 HEA

I drafted this guy, basically hoping that he could become a decent platoon DH or LF if he stays healthy. He posted good numbers his senior year of high school, .376/.476/.684 with eight homers and 25 RBI's, but he has major health problems and no fielding ability whatsoever. I'd be pretty surprised if he even stayed healthy enough to make the Show.


4th Round Pick (#105 Overall) - SP Jamani Smith (50/78)
21 years old, 6'2", 205 lbs., R/R
52 FASTBALL, 52 PALMBALL, 50 HARDCURVE
92 END, 59 CON, 56 POW, 48 MOV
63 DEF, 67 HIT, 73 HEA

This is a kid I think will develop very nicely and could develop into a very good Major League starter. Jamani's junior year, his last year, of college was his best season since his senior year of High School, as he went 8-7, pitched 100 2/3 innings, struck out 84 batters, held opposing hitters to a .200 batting average, and had a very good ERA of 3.04. The odds are against him, but I think Jamani has a good shot to become an at least average starter in this league.


5th Round Pick (#135 Overall) - SP Jose Grisostomo (49/77)
20 years old, 6'0", 195 lbs., L/L
53 FASTBALL, 50 SPLITTER
85 END, 55 CON, 57 POW, 47 MOV
69 DEF, 65 HIT, 64 HEA

I'm honestly not expecting this guy to even get above A ball, and I only selected him because I thought he had a cool last name.


7th Round Pick (#165 Overall) - 1B Davin Lehane (53/72)
17 years old, 5'11", 177 lbs., R/R
57 CON, 65 POW, 64 SPD, 63 EYE
69 ARM, 58 RNG, 62 FLDG, 73 HEA

Again, not expecting anything of this guy, I only picked him because I wanted to get another first basemen in the organization.

[HeraldSports]

looks good, looks like a good team and great job taking a risk on Melville

looking forward to the mass update on how the team did from April to June

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

looks good, looks like a good team and great job taking a risk on Melville

looking forward to the mass update on how the team did from April to June

I didn't even think to do that, I was just gonna pick it up in June and run with it, but that's a good idea, I think I'll go with that.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Ok, here's how its gonna go.

Because I want to get this caught up as soon and as fast as possible, my next update will be on the remaining games from April, then the subsequent one will be on as much of May as I can fit into one update, hopefully all of May, and if I need another one after that it will finish up May. Then I'll pick it up from the draft from there.

I'm hoping to get the end of April done later tonight, but I have some homework I have to get done between then and now, so we'll see.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

April 19, 2008
Royals 2 - Twins 4

Jonny Cueto puts together a decent performance, four runs in 6 1/3 innings, despite allowing a gaudy 10 hits and two homers. He still can't manage to earn his second Royals win, as the offense puts up only two runs, both off the bat of John Buck.

WP - Kevin Slowey (3-0)
LP - Jonny Cueto (1-2)
SV - Joe Nathan (3)


April 20, 2008
Royals 5 - Twins 4

Bannister has a solid start (6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 K's) to earn the win, while the bullpen completely shut the Twins down, going three perfect innings with three K's, between Jimmy Gobble and Joakim Soria. Jose Guillen hit his fourth homer of the season and collected two RBI's, while Esteban German tripled.

WP - Brian Bannister (2-2)
LP - Glen Perkins (0-2)
SV - Joakim Soria (5)


April 21, 2008
Royals 3 - Twins 6

Luke Hochevar had a rough start, six runs, eight hits, and six K's in 5 2/3 innings pitched, and got the loss. Jimmy Gobble and Tim Hamulack pitched shutout baseball for the final 2 1/3 innings of the game, but the offense couldn't muster a come back.

WP - Scott Baker (2-0)
LP - Luke Hochevar (2-2)
SV - Joe Nathan (4)


April 23, 2008
Royals 6 - Angels 2

Greinke had another amazing start, going eight innings, allowing six hits, three walks, two runs, and seven strikeouts, to earn his fourth 'W' so far this season. Alex Gordon hit a solo homer for his one hit of the night, and Dejesus went 2-5 with a homer, but struck out three times as well.

WP - Zack Greinke (4-1)
LP - Kelvim Escobar (1-2)


April 24, 2008
Royals 2 - Angels 3 (13 innings)

Jonny Cueto had a very good start, going 6 2/3 innings with nine hits, three walks, allowed only two runs, and struck out seven batters, but again could not get the victory. Jimmy Gobble pitched 3 1/3 innings in relief, and allowed only one hit while striking out two. The offense was again slow, with the team managing only two runs and eight hits in 13 innings. The winning run came as an infield hit to shortstop by Jeff Mathis.

WP - Jason Bulger (2-0)
LP - Ramon Ramirez (1-1)


April 25, 2008
Royals 3 - Angels 9

Bannister got rocked, going only four innings, allowing nine hits, one walk, and six runs, five of them earned. Leo Nunez didn't pitch any better in relief, going an inning and a third, and allowing three hits, three walks, and three runs. Adam LaRoche had a solo homer, but otherwise the offense was pretty quiet.

WP - Jon Garland (3-1)
LP - Brian Bannister (2-3)


April 26, 2008
Royals 4 - White Sox 5

Hochevar had a solid start this time out, going seven and a third innings and allowing four runs and notching 11 strikeouts, despite allowing eight hits and three walks, but it wasn't enough for the win. Esteban German went 2-4 with two RBI's, as we scored all our runs in the final three innings of the ball game, but still fell just short.

WP - Mark Buehrle (3-2)
LP - Luke Hochevar (2-3)
SV - Bobby Jenks (7)


April 27, 2008
Royals 7 - White Sox 4

Melville continued his solid start to his career, going five innings, allowing four runs, seven hits, and two walks, and striking out six. He did prove to be a little home run prone in this game, as three of the seven hits were four-baggers. Esteban German had another good game, going 3-5 with two RBI's. Alex Gordon also had two RBI's, going 2-4.

WP - Tim Melville (4-0)
LP - John Danks (1-2)
SV - Joakim Soria (6)


April 28, 2008
Royals 7 - White Sox 4

Greinke continues to mature into the ace the Royals hoped he'd be when they first drafted him. This time around he went eight innings, gave up five hits, two walks, two runs, and struck out seven White Sox batters. Offensively, the stars were Jose Guillen and Alex Gordon. Guillen went 4-5 with his fifth and sixth homers of the season, as well as driving in three runs, and Gordon went 2-4, also going yard twice and collecting three RBI's.

WP - Zack Greinke (5-1)
LP - Javier Vazquez (1-3)


April 29, 2008
Tigers 3 - Royals 4

Cueto pitched a great game, but again failed to get a win. Cueto went eight innings, allowed only four hits, one walk, and two runs, and struck out five, but Soria blew it for him, allowing two hits and a run in one inning. Alex Gordon went 2-5 with 2 RBI's, including the walkoff single.

WP - Joakim Soria (1-0)
LP - Aquilino Lopez (0-3)


April 30, 2008
Tigers 3 - Royals 4

Bannister pitched a helluva game, going eight innings and allowing only two runs, but this game followed the same path the last one did. The game remained tied after the end of nine innings, and after Ramon Ramirez allowed a run in extras, the Royals battled back to tie it, and then win it on a Mark Teixeira 12th inning single.

WP - Jimmy Gobble (1-0)
LP - Bobby Seay (0-3)


May 1, 2008
Tigers 2 - Royals 5

Luke Hochevar put together another masterful performance. This time he went eight innings, allowed six hits, one walk, two runs, and struck out eight. Mike Aviles supported him going 3-4 with a homer and 3 ribbies, which would have been enough to win on its own, but Mark Teixeira tacked on a solo homer, and Adam Laroche drove in a run as well.

WP - Luke Hochevar (3-3)
LP - Justin Verlander (2-2)
SV - Ramon Ramirez (1)

Royals Record: 17-10 (1 GB)