Indians Series Summary (4/21-4/23)

The Royals won 1 out of 3 against the Cleveland Indians.  They are now 8-7 on the season and are 3-3 against Cleveland on the year.

Tuesday 4/21
Matchup: Aaron Laffey vs. Sidney Ponson
We all knew it was coming.  With a 4.50 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in his first two starts, chances were good that Ponson was going to implode in his third start.  The positive for the Royals was the Indians were sending Aaron Laffey to the mound to oppose Sir Sidney.  Surprisingly Aaron Laffey threw extremely well going 7.0 innings and allowing only 1 run.  Ponson did not fare as well as he failed to get out of the 4th inning.  In 3.1 IP he allowed 8 H, 6 R and 4 BB. The Royals bats made it a game getting 6 hits and 6 runs off the Indians bullpen, but it wasn’t enough as the Royals lost 8-7.  Coco Crisp, David DeJesus, Mark Teahen, and Mike Jacobs all had multi-hit games in the loss.

Wednesday 4/22
Matchup: Cliff Lee vs. Brian Bannister
Putting aside that the Royals could have started Gil Meche in this game on regular rest and the fact Luke Hochevar was 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in Triple-A at the time, the Royals chose to call up Brian Bannister.  You can question the logic of their decision to not skip the 5th starter and also the logic to call up Bannister instead of Hochevar and a few others.  But you can’t argue the logic to get Horacio Ramirez out of the rotation.  After ignoring all the evidence during spring training that Ho-Ram did not belong in the rotation, he has finally been relegated to the bullpen.  You also can’t argue against the results Bannister got on Wednesday night as he led the Royals to a 2-0 win.  In 6.0 innings, BB allowed 4 hits, 2 walks and no runs.  The bullpen also matched Bannister’s pitching.  The pen allowed only 1 hit and 1 walk during their 3 shutout innings.  The offense was just good enough against Cliff Lee led by the multi-hit games of Coco Crisp and Alberto Callaspo.  Starting Bannister may have paid off for Wednesday, but it does not justify the move in the long term.  The back of the rotation is still a major problem for the Royals, but I’ll take it for the one start.

Thursday 4/23
Matchup: Anthony Reyes vs. Gil Meche
For 7.0 innings Meche was as dominant as he had been in his 1st several starts.  The 8th inning was a different story.  For the game Meche pitched 7.1 innings allowing 5 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, no walks and struck out 7.  Mahay came in to relieve Meche and also struggled.  The Royals bats also had an off-day mustering only 5 hits.  Mark Teahen was the only KC hitter to have a multi-hit game.  End result was a 5-2 Royals loss.

Series Impression:
The starting rotation threw 16.2 innings with a 4.86 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and 10 SO.

In 8.1 innings of work the bullpen posted a 3.24 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, and 2 SO.

For the series the Royals hit .276 (27/98) while drawing 10 walks and striking out 19 times.  They left 20 men on base while scoring 11 runs.  In the series they hit 7 2B, 0 3B, and 1 HR.  With runners in scoring position they hit .222 (6/27).

Compared to the Rangers series, the rotation got worse, the bullpen pitched better, and the offense slipped a little bit.  Hitting .276 for a series is perfectly respectable but hitting only 1 home run is not good enough.

Upcoming Series:
After losing the series against the AL Central’s worst team, the Royals host a 3-game series with the Detroit Tigers (8-7) starting on Friday.  For the year, the Tigers have scored 89 runs and allowed 75.  The Royals have scored 61 and allowed 51 runs on the season.
4/24 Rick Porcello (1-1, 3.75) vs. Zack Greinke (3-0, 0.00)
4/25 Zach Miner (1-1, 8.10) vs. Kyle Davies (1-0, 2.89)
4/26 Armando Galarraga (2-0, 1.96) vs. Sidney Ponson (0-2, 7.04)