White Sox Destroy Royals With Homers

Whooo boy, the quicker we can get through this, the better.  The Royals ran into a buzzsaw, as the White Sox have been a buzzsaw lately.  Did you know Chicago was 22-29 at one point?  They’re 49-38 now, a 37-9 record over that span.  That’s unreal.

Anthony Lerew tried his best to fill the shoes of Zack Greinke, who’d been scratched due to shoulder discomfort earlier in the day.  And, well, he got through the first inning alright.  He gave up a sacrifice fly for a run in the second inning.  Then in the third inning, all hell broke loose.

Lerew gave up four homers in a disastrous third inning before Ned Yost mercifully pulled him for Kanekoa Texeira.

The Royals tried to sneak back in, scoring twice in both the fourth and fifth innings to make it 8-5 and even had David DeJesus up with two on as the tying run with nobody out. But a double play killed the momentum and Billy Butler struck out to end the threat. From there, the White Sox kept piling on, getting a no doubt grand slam from Carlos Quentin in the bottom of the sixth.

Games like this happen, but the Royals have four days to think about it. After sweeping Seattle and going on a 10-3 stretch, things looked good – maybe not playoff good, but “winning mentality” good. Does this series set them back now? Does it finally put the Royals into selling mode after the All-Star break? Jose Guillen hit a two run homer in the game, giving him 15 on the year. He still holds trade value, though it’s still limited by his inability to cover much ground in the outfield. But there shouldn’t be any more silly stories about how the Royals need to keep him just in case.

The Royals have four days off to think about this game and series. They can either stew over it and might run into a losing streak after the break, or they can follow the sports adage of having a short memory.

On Friday, the Royals return to Kansas City to face Oakland, and Zack Greinke is scheduled to start, so we’ll get an answer as to the severity of his shoulder discomfort. If he misses that start…say hello to Bruce Chen, Royals ace. Yikes.

Stars of the Game
Jose Guillen, 2-3, HR, 2 RBI
Scott Podsednik, 2-4, RBI
Billy Butler, 2-4, 2 RS

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