Ervin Santana threw four excellent innings against Tampa Bay in May but the game was never official due to rain/snow falling in Kansas City which lead to the game being called. Photo Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Series Preview –

The Rays are 4-4 and are coming off losing two of three against the Red Sox at the Trop which includes a marathon 14 inning game on Monday. In the teams met April 30-May 2 with the final game being called due to a snow storm with the Royals leading in the fourth. This is the only trip to the Trop KC will make in 2013 which has been a house of horror since the Rays entered the league in 1998.

Probable Pitching Matchups –

Thursday, June 13 (6:10 pm): Ervin Santana (4-5, 2.99) v. Jeremy Hellickson (4-2, 5.18)
- Santana couldn’t get cooperation from mother nature when he through against Tampa in May leading when the snow came and game was lost
- The Magic Man is 5-6 with a 5.47 ERA in his career against TB
Friday, June 14 (6:10 pm): Luis Mendoza (1-3, 4.19) v. Matt Moore (8-2, 3.78)
- The Dozer threw seven scoreless innings on Sunday against Houston allowing just four hits
- Mendoza is 1-1 away from the K with his lone win coming in Anaheim a month ago (5/13)
Saturday, June 15 (3:10 pm): Jeremy Guthrie (7-3, 3.60) v. Alex Cobb (6-2, 2.95)
- Guthrie picked up the win against Detroit on Monday going 6.1 innings in a 3-2 win
- He’s won his last two starts after losing three of his four previous starts
Sunday, June 16 (12:40 pm): Wade Davis (3-5, 5.37) v. Roberto Hernandez (4-6, 4.91)
- Threw well against the Tigers going 6.2 innings but picked up his second straight no-decision
- Davis last won a game May 15 at Anaheim against the Angels

2013 Results –  

The Royals won 8-2 and 9-8 on April 30/May 1 when the teams met the series finale was “snowed” out in the fourth inning so the teams will meet again. James Shields and Bruce Chen picked up wins in the two game sweep.

TV/Radio –             

All four games can be seen on Fox Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler on the call, Joel Goldberg and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery will be on the pre/postgame show. Fans can listen to Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart on 610 Sports Radio all four games as well.

2013 Schedule/Results v. Rays – KC leads 2-0

April 30-May 2, Kauffman Stadium – Kansas City won 8-2 and 9-8 with game three being snowed out
June 13-16 – Tropicana Field

Game Notes –
Kansas City
Tampa Bay

James Shields and the Royals open a three game series against his old team the Rays on Tuesday night. Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Kings of Kauffman – At 12-13 what’s been the number one issue for the Rays? 

Rays Colored Glasses – If there’s one number that the Rays have to address, that’s their 3.79 team ERA, just 8th in the American League. The Rays’ pitching staff has been very streaky all year, tossing 5 shutouts but also allowing 6 or more runs six times. The keys to fixing that are going to be David Price and Roberto Hernandez.

Price finally got his first win yesterday, but his ERA still stands at 5.21 despite a 35-9 K-BB ratio as he has allowed a crazy 6 home runs in 38 IP (1.4 HR/9). Price has been good his last two times out, but the Rays need him to get back to being that ace pitcher he has been for them the past few years. If he can do that, pairing him with the untouchable Matt Moore will leave opposing teams shaking in their boots.

Hernandez, on the other hand, has just a 4.66 career ERA so his 5.28 mark this year isn’t so surprising, but he has looked electric, managing a 30-10 K-BB in 30.2 IP with a strikeout rate not too far off from double his career average as the Rays have altered his pitch usage to utilize his great changeup more often. But Hernandez has to become more consistent throughout his outings and find a way to get his results in line with his stuff. There’s reason for optimism, but that means nothing if Hernandez doesn’t start putting some solid starts together.

In the bullpen, the major concerns is Jake McGee, who is striking out batters like no tomorrow (14.0 K/9) but allowing far too many walks and home runs on his way to just a 6.48 ERA. That’s a sharp contrast from his 1.95 ERA from last season. McGee has been relying too heavily on his fastball in big spots and Rays have to get him right as well.

The offense is always a concern for the Rays as well, but they’ve gotten solid contribution all over the place and adding in Luke Scott will only make things better. If there’s one player the Rays have to get going, it’s Yunel Escobar, who has hit just .164 in 80 PA’s. He will return from a hamstring injury for Game 1 of the Rays-Royals series.

KOK – Tampa Bay is 8-4 at the Trop while just 4-9 away? Any reason for this oddity 25 games into the season?

RCG – Watching the team, I don’t think there has really been any difference and it really has just been a matter of the Rays just happening to be playing poorly on the road and well at home. That’s illustrated best by the fact that the Rays’ team OPS at home is better than away (.725 vs. .686) something shocking giving how tough a ballpark they play in, while their pitching staff has been just about as good, managing a 3.50 ERA and a 3.90 FIP at home and a 4.07 ERA and a 4.10 FIP on the road. The Rays have really just been basically the same team everywhere and one tough road trip in Texas, Boston, and Baltimore and a great home stand versus the Yankees and A’s are making the difference seem a lot more than it should be. It’s early in the season, and by the end of it all I’ll be shocked if the Rays’ home and away records aren’t remarkably similar.

KOK – Have fans been wondering when Wil Myers will be freed with how James Shields and Wade Davis have done so far?

RCG – Everyone is talking about Wil Myers, but I don’t think anyone cares about Shields and Davis anymore. Both of them, especially Shields, were great for the Rays, but they were also easily replaceable because the Rays just have so much pitching. It’s a real possibility that the Rays could lose Shields and Davis yet still have a significantly better starting rotation with Matt Moore, Alex Cobb, and Jeremy Hellickson looking vastly improved in the early goings.

Back to Myers, he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire at Triple-A, not hitting for much power, and most Rays fans have just accepted that he’s probably not coming up until June. The Rays’ offense has not been that bad, all things considered, and while Myers will be a big boost to the Rays when he comes up, if keeping him at Triple-A makes him a better player in the long-term, Rays fans are fine leaving him there as long as it takes.

KOK – Who are the pitchers that KC can expect to see this week at the K?

RCG – The Royals are lucky enough to miss both Matt Moore and David Price, but it will certainly not be smooth sailing for them as they take on Alex Cobb, Jeremy Hellickson, and Roberto Hernandez.

Cobb, 25, has been incredible to begin the year, going 3-1 with a 1.82 ERA, but I don’t believe he has looked as good as the numbers would indicate. He attacks hitters with a heavy sinker, but the issue with him has always been missing bats. He throws an excellent split-change, but the key for him is his curveball. Cobb has been throwing a lot to begin at-bats and a decent amount with two strikes, but I don’t think it’s that great of a pitch and I expect the league to adjust soon. Will that happen before or after the Rays leave Kansas City?

Hellickson is a pitcher who has elicited much debate between the traditionalists and the sabermetricians the past couple years, but this is the season where they all agree that he’s a very good pitcher. Hellickson’s ERA is just 4.31 in his first five starts, but he’s pitching like a completely different pitcher right now. In his last three starts, Hellickson, a pitcher who has struck out just 6.2 batters per 9 innings in  his career, has struck out 23 while walking just 6 in his last 3 starts spanning 20 IP. And that isn’t just an aberration–Hellickson has made a major breakthrough. Hellickson’s bread-and-butter has always been his fastball and changeup, but this season, he has added his curveball as a third plus pitch, and that gives him a real chance to become a true number two starter. Hellickson will obviously still have his struggles, especially when his fastball command is off, but he’s emerging as a really good pitcher and just maybe one of the best in baseball.

And then there’s the enigma, Hernandez. As we talked about above, Hernandez can befuddle hitters with his electric arsenal but has been missing way too often over the heart of the plate. Hernandez has two really good pitches in his sinker and changeup and another solid one in his slider, but often his sinker moves so much that he doesn’t know where it’s going, and when he misses he gets hit hard. If Hernandez can be a little more consistent, he has the ability to be a rock-solid innings-eating 4th or 5th starter. No matter how Hernandez does for the Royals, there will be a few swings from Kansas City hitters about as ugly as you’ll see. The question is whether those will be canceled out by his mistakes.

Pitching Match-ups and game times –

Tuesday: Alex Cobb (3-1, 1.82) v. James Shields (1-2, 3.09), 7:10 pm
Wednesday: Jeremy Hellickson (1-2, 4.31) v. Luis Mendoza (0-1, 5.14), 7:10 pm
Thursday: Roberto Hernandez (1-4, 5.28) v. Ervin Santana (3-1, 2.00), 1:10 pm

Aug 10, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA: Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Elliot Johnson (9) catches a line drive hit by Minnesota Twins right fielder Ben Revere (not pictured) in the seventh inning at Target Field. The Rays won 12-6. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals have been vocal about wanting a shortstop option to backup Alcides Escobar should he get hurt, and Johnson has spent the majority of his time there as a big leaguer. He can also play second base, third base and has played in the outfield before.

He’s a switch hitter who hasn’t hit at the big league level, but he’s been better than replacement level in his time the last two seasons. At 28 (he’ll turn 29 in a month), Johnson doesn’t offer a lot of upside, but he’s worthy of a bench spot. To add to his fielding versatility, he’s a switch-hitter who’s better from the left side.

Johnson has shown some power in the minors, can take a walk on occasion, but has struck out a quarter of the time as a big leaguer. He stole 18 bases last year in 24 attempts (after reaching base 99 times), so there’s some speed here as well. Already the speculation creeps in – will he be in the mix for the starting second base job? Does he make the team over Miguel Tejada? WITH Tejada? What about Johnny Giavotella? What about Irving Falu? (Likely done, as Dave Lesky suggests and I’d tend to agree.)

What’s interesting is that feasibly Reid Brignac could have been an option as the PTBNL and the Royals passed on him. As we’ve covered previously, Brignac was a long-time top prospect in the Rays organization but hasn’t hit over the past two seasons. Tampa may not have made him available (but after designating him, I don’t think that’d be the case) or, most likely, the Royals didn’t trust his bat to come around.

To make room on the 40 man roster, the Royals moved Felipe Paulino to the 60 day disabled list. He’s eligible to come off on June 1, but after Tommy John Surgery last July, he’ll probably still have another month at least at that point until he’s ready to return.

Sources tell me and @jonmorosi that #Royals may be at critical stage in decision on whether to trade Myers for an SP such as #Rays’ Shields.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 6, 2012

No further explanation of what “critical stage” means. No further explanation of if an offer had been made.

Myers at the plate. (Photo: Minda Haas)

Wil Myers is a top five overall prospect. He’s a potential superstar in the middle of the order. Yes, he’s just a prospect, but that “just” is a pretty darn good prospect. That seems to be the main idea behind why some are fully in support – not just accepting, begrudgingly or otherwise – but actively hoping for.

Why the outrage? Well here’s my take. Myers, once he debuts, will have at least six seasons of team control. At least two of those will be very cost-effective seasons before he reaches arbitration. If the Royals time it right (waiting about two or three weeks), they can get five months of Wil Myers in 2013 and six full years after. Most scouts and evaluators see Myers as a middle of the order bat, capable of 25-30 homers. He’s always been considered one of the best at judging the strike zone in the minors, and, at 21 years old, could have the best sense of the strike zone on the team, second only to Alex Gordon and Billy Butler. He can hit for power and for average.

That’s a very good player.

True, he may never reach that potential. He may struggle early and take some time to develop as a big leaguer. That’s part of the risk and can’t be ignored. He struck out 140 times last year, well above his prior high in a season. He’s new to the outfield and may become an average big league right fielder at best. He’s not a speedster though he runs well. A good amount of his value is in his bat (though not quite like Billy Butler, and there’s still a chance Myers can be a good outfielder and steal 10+ bases a year).

Now James Shields is a very good pitcher. He’s been one of my favorites for a long time. I snag him every year in rotisserie baseball leagues because he throws a lot of innings, strikes out a lot of batters and doesn’t walk too many. I’m not saying he isn’t good. He definitely is.

October 2, 2012; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher James Shields (33) throws a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

But the problem is that Shields is under contract for only two more years.

The Royals won 72 games last year. James Shields doesn’t take them to 88. He may not take them to 84. He would improve the rotation, but it’s not as if the Royals were two games away and needed one more arm to push them over. They’re still working on the rebuilding and development side. Definitely on the upswing, but not there yet.

Some say it’s worth making the move if your team wins a World Series or gets into the playoffs even. While that would be amazing and I couldn’t be upset about it (that’d be crazy), again, it’s not as if Shields takes this team over and makes them challenge Detroit right away. There’s a chance, sure, but it’s still a flimsy proposition. Myers doesn’t make that difference up either, but here’s the key part of the move that I don’t like.

2013: Royals see improvement with James Shields in the rotation. Jeff Francoeur plays right field. Wil Myers (potentially) challenges for Rookie of the Year

2014: Jeff Francoeur is gone. James Shields sits atop an improved Royals rotation, a year older and 230 innings farther along. Wil Myers is (potentially) still rolling. The Royals have ______ in right field.

2015: Jeff Francoeur is gone. James Shields is gone. Wil Myers is gone.

The Royals give themselves a two year window to “win now” with Shields in that case, and maybe it works. Fantastic if so. But the alternatives aren’t too bad out on the market either. The Royals were connected to Anibal Sanchez again this afternoon, almost as strongly connected to him as they’ve been all offseason. If the Royals can take on Shields’s salary of an additional $9 million right now, why not take on Sanchez at $14 or 15 million? Adding Shields puts the Royals at an estimated $75 million. Is that so far from $80 million? Okay, then find a way to move Luke Hochevar or Bruce Chen and that’s $4.5 million right there – back at the same level you would have been with Shields.

Or sign Brandon McCarthy for $10 million over two years if he’s interested. You have the same improved rotation for a two year window, but keep Myers.

Or Shaun Marcum. Or Ryan Dempster. Or trade a smaller batch of prospects for Bud Norris. Or Jonathan Niese.

There are other options.

If the deal was to take on Matt Moore, the loss of Myers is okay, because Moore is signed through 2019 if all options are exercised. It’s feasible to say that Myers could be signed to an extension at some point that could put him in a similar position of buying out his first two years of free agency. The Royals also give themselves more shots to cash in on the trade. With Shields, they’d only have two seasons to make it happen. With Moore, they’d have more opportunities. And if the Rays don’t give him up? Fine. Don’t answer the phone when Andrew Friedman calls back.

The kicker, though, is that Bob Dutton and Jon Heyman both think that it would take MORE than just Wil Myers to get James Shields. There’s no idea of how much more, but to me, even the idea of more is getting absurd. Even more reason to pass.

There can be a tendency to overvalue prospects. I like Jason Adam. We’ve talked to him on the podcast often and he’s a good kid. But many other teams have a tall righty who throws 92-93 with good makeup and who projects as a #3 or #4, so making him untouchable is a bit silly. Every team has that live armed pitcher they hope can be a starter but may be a better back-end reliever. But we might overdo it on the Yordano Ventura hype. It happens. The curse of familiarity, maybe. We know the names, we follow their progress and it gets us thinking of better days. But they’re both top 10 prospects in the organization and they do have value.

But when a prospect is truly elite. When every expert and publication puts that player at the top of their prospect lists, when the stats and scouts agree, that player isn’t just a prospect anymore.

According to Jeff Passan, Royals officials are meeting right now to discuss the ideas. We’ll see how they decide.

Kings of Kauffman - Tampa Bay is 8-2 over its last 10 including a 4-game sweep of the Angels in Anaheim, is this all having Evan Longoria in the line-up or more to it?

Robbie Knopf- The Rays are not 8-2 in their last 10 purely because of Evan Longoria‘s play. Heck, he’s not even hitting that well yet, posting a .265/.316/.471 line with 2 homers, 8 RBI, and 12 strikeouts versus 3 walks over that stretch. But his presence has been huge. Adding him to the lineup makes it look a lot scarier. It allows the Rays to slot players in lineup spots where they’re comfortable instead of shuffling players all over the place. And then there’s the fact that the Rays know that they have their leader back, they have the player who has taken this team on his back before. Now they can just relax, contribute what they can and know that now they don’t have to overcompensate. Oh, and by the way, the Rays have allowed just 2.77 runs per game during this stretch. The pitching has been great all year, and now that the lineup is finally up to par, the Rays have the potential to win a lot of games.

Luke Hochevar threw a complete game shutout when he faced the Rays back in June, he'll start Tuesday at the Trop. Photo Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

KOK – Do Rays fans feel they can catch the Yankees given this current run and capture the AL East?

RK – This is a team that overcame a 9-game deficit in September of last season to make the playoffs. 5 games out with 42 games to go is a deficit that the Rays are confident they can overcome. Everyone knows that the Yankees are a great team. The Orioles are right behind the Rays and refuse to fade away. But no one in the AL can parallel the Rays’ pitching and the Rays know that if they can continue this offensive surge or anything near it, they have the ability to beat anyone in baseball. This is a team that some experts picked for the World Series, and one of those experts happens to be Joe Maddon. The Rays may have the highest upside of any team in baseball given their incredible starting pitching, bullpen, revived defense, and the flashes of excellence from the lineup. Rays fans believe that the sky is the limit for this team. They just hope that the Rays’ lineup can continue playing well to give them a chance.

KOK – Why does Tampa Bay seem to be better on the road (eight games over away from the Trop) than in St. Pete (five games over at home)?

RK – That Rays are undeniably better on the road. The Rays got off to an incredible 13-1 start at home, and that skews their home record. Since May 5th, they’re just 19-26. Part of that is definitely Longoria being out, part of it is that Tropicana Field is just a tough place to play.  Between the empty seats and just how annoying the stadium is in general, no one wants to play at Tropicana Field. But then you have to consider that Tropicana Field is a significant pitcher’s ballpark, which doesn’t help the Rays very much because their pitching is great anyway. The Rays’ hitters get to see much better hitter’s parks on the road which has led to better performance overall. The Rays have been able to establish a home field advantage before, especially when the stadium has been filled, and hopefully that will happen the rest of the season. But so far this season, they’ve definitely been more comfortable on the road

KOK – Is David Price one of the AL Cy Young/MVP favorites given how he’s pitched this season and helped keep the Rays afloat given the injuries?

RK – Price absolutely has to be one of the favorites for the AL Cy Young. By conventional measures, he’s leading the league in wins with 16 and in ERA at 2.39, and he’s 6th in strikeouts and innings pitched. In 24 starts, he has thrown 20 quality starts and allowed more than 3 earned runs just twice. If you want to get into a little sabermetrics he’s 3rd in FIP at 3.16, striking out 8.8 per 9 innings, walking just 2.8, and allowing 0.7 homers per 9 without being overly lucky. His 3.16 xFIP, yes, the same as his FIP, leads the AL. He has just gone out every 5th day and dominated. Price finished second in the Cy Young voting in 2010 and he has been significantly better this year. There are plenty of worthy candidates, but Price has to be right among the top two or three names on the list.

Probable Starters this week (All Times Central) –

Monday 6:10 pm, Will Smith (4-4, 5.09) v. Jeremy Hellickson (7-8, 3.39)

Tuesday 6:10 pm, Luke Hochevar (7-11, 5.24) v. David Price (16-4, 2.39)

Wednesday 12:10 pm, Luis Mendoza (7-8, 4.26) v. James Shields (11-7, 4.03)

Head over to Rays Colored Glasses for the other half of the series Q&A

I don’t need to insult your baseball intelligence by telling you that currently three division winners and the next best record goes to the playoffs in each league as the wildcard. Since this looks like it will go into effect in a matter of hours, the timing might actually be perfect.

Can the Royals compete for the division title in 2012? I think the reasonable fan would say why not before taking the time to say, “things need to shake right and the starting pitching needs to perform better than expected.” I think it’s realistic to say the Detroit Tigers will probably win the division title with all they’ve done this offseason along with the fact they have the defending AL MVP/Cy Young winner toeing the rubber every fifth day.

Back to the topic at hand.  Creating a second wildcard increases the chances that teams like the Royals could get into the playoffs.  History has told us in the wildcard era, anything is possible. The Kansas Cities, Cleveland and Toronto’s of the American League now will have a chance to make the playoffs like the top tier AL clubs of New York, Boston, Detroit, Texas, Los Angeles and Tampa Bay.

The extra spot will give the secondary clubs more hope than just the one spot guaranteed in previous seasons. Sure this will probably be more interesting to watch in the National League where everyone seems more bunched up in than in the AL, but KC fans have extra hope on the eve of the season.

Let me explain why I’m not a fan of this act by the commish. It feels like it will help the little guys having an extra spot available to make the playoffs, which is great since we support a small market team in the Royals. More seasons than not, though, this second wildcard spot benefits the AL east.

Baseball has enough of an image problem of catering to the bigger markets.  This will almost guarantee that the Yankees and Red Sox will be in the playoffs on a yearly basis. I think most would agree that dollar signs clouded some owner’s thoughts when this idea was floated. Sure you’ll have the extra TV one-game playoff and the addition of another team sounds great, but how great will something be that only benefits a small number?

Back to the positive thoughts, that when this happens it will be another opportunity for the Royals to end the drought that has existed since 1985. I don’t want to put a number of games that will be needed to win the second wildcard, but maybe I’ve looked the wrong way at this because Kansas City will play in a division that isn’t that strong.

I might not like the idea of a second wildcard, but as a fan of this franchise every opportunity to reach the postseason should be welcomed.

If someone can take Kyle Farnsworth, Joel Peralta and Juan Cruz and head to the playoffs, well, he’s probably deserving.

For those interested…Ned Yost finished 9th in the voting, which was conducted by writers from all of FanSided’s MLB sites.  To check out the full final vote, Blaine Blontz at Call to the Pen has the full rundown at the link below:

Clipped from: calltothepen.com (share this clip)

Chris Dwyer destroys some high-A batters.

And that’s just what happened. Something big. The Royals’ farm system was ranked number one overall by Baseball America and Keith Law. It was widely expected to happen, but it’s sort of a surreal feeling that it actually came to pass. When you start reading about what that ranking has meant for past teams, it starts to hit you that it could be something huge.

And it should be. Every team with the best farm system (as ranked by Baseball America) from 2001-2010 went to the playoffs, League Championship Series, or World Series within five years. That means that by January of 2016, the Royals should have at least one playoff appearance. That means a winning record (this isn’t the NFL, come on) and at least a second place finish in the division. That means success like I’ve barely known in my lifetime. That might even mean that Rob Neyer becomes a fan again.

That’s all well and good, but isn’t there the slightest bit of concern that this isn’t as locked-in as the past would suggest? With Dayton Moore’s track history of questionable major league signings in mind, I started looking into what acquisitions those successful teams had to make in order to get where they were. This is what I found.
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The Kansas City Royals are 23-27, in 4th place in the AL Central, and 5.5 games back of the division leading Detroit Tigers.  They are 2-8 in their last 10, 15-15 at home, and 8-12 on the road.

Team Rankings:

The Pitching Matchups:
6/2 RHP-Kyle Davies (2-4, 5.09) vs. RHP-Andy Sonnanstine (3-5, 7.66)
6/3 RHP-TBA vs. RHP-Jeff Niemann (4-4, 4.44)
6/4 RHP-Gil Meche (2-5, 4.33) vs. RHP-James Shields (4-4, 3.53)

The Rays may be 25-28 but they are a much better team than their record would suggest.  Their expected W-L record is 29-24 which would have them at the top of the AL East.

We know the names from last year’s World Series team; Crawford, Longoria, Carlos Pena, and B.J. Upton. C arl Crawford leads all of baseball with 30 SB and he will certainly pad that total against the Royals.  Evan Longoria leads all of baseball with 55 RBI.  Carlos Pena is tied for 2nd in all of baseball with 17 HR.  B.J. Upton has struggled this season, but playing against the Royals has been the elixir for many players to get things going over the last several weeks.

Former Royals 1st round draft pick, J.P. Howell has a 2.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 3.44 SO/BB in 25.2 innings this season.  He’s a 26 year old LHP putting together his 2nd straight stellar season in the Rays bullpen and would look really good in a Royals jersey right about now.  At the time he was traded for Joey Gathright, I thought it was a good move for the Royals.  But if he stayed with Kansas City he probably would never become what he is now.  The Royals would not have had the foresight to make him a reliever, nor would have been patient, like the Rays were, during his struggles in the 2006 & 2007 seasons.  Howell is another example why we need to be patient with Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, and Billy Butler.

The Royals won’t have to face Matt Garza in the series but the Rays won’t have to face Greinke.  I am interested to see if there is a noticeable improvement in the team due to Soria’s return from the DL.  The Royals might also benefit from Ponson and Buck heading to the DL via theory of addition by subtraction.  Since I was sure they were better than the White Sox and they proceeded to get swept, I don’t know if the Royals are going to win any of these games.  Where things stand today, just playing solid fundamental baseball and being competitive in all 3 games would make this a step in the right direction.