Kansas City Royals Preview

Well the Royals took 2 out 3 games from the ChiSox last series, and had many positives to talk about. The most important of those being the PITCHING!! Meche, Greinke, Davies, all had tremendous starts, combining for 31 strike-outs so far. Soria and Cruz looked great, as did Ron Mahay. Other things to note are the great defensive plays from David DeJesus and the rest of the D. Now on to the negatives. The Royals have left too many on base so far, and need more offense in the middle of the line-up. Mike Jacobs hasn't produced anything as of yet, so we will see if he can hit his stride. The big question from the first game is what was Trey Hillman thinking putting Kyle Farnsworth in, and taking out Gil Meche, only to have Jim Thome launch a three-run bomb to put the White Sox ahead. Personally, I think it was the right call. You can't be too sure with how cold it was out there how your pitchers are doing and it's better to be safe than sorry. It shouldn't have been left on Farnsworth's shoulders when we left 11 runners on base and no scoring. That's done and over with and we now have the Yankees to look forward to the next 3 days. Friday's the Home Opener, and a newly renovated Kauffman Stadium awaits the Royals.

Game 1
Friday April 10, 2009 at 3:10pm CT vs. New York Yankees
KC Sidney Ponson (0-0), with an '08 ERA of 5.04 vs. NYY Andy Pettitte (0-0)

Game 2
Saturday April 11, 2009 at 6:10pm CT vs. New York Yankees
KC Horacio Ramirez (0-0), an '08 ERA of 4.34 vs. NYY CC Sabathia (0-1)

Game 3
Sunday April 12, 2009 at 1:10 CT vs. New York Yankees
KC Gil Meche (0-0), vs. NYY Joba Chamberlain (0-0)

As mentioned before, the Royals will be home, in a newly renovated stadium with the final touches being put on yesterday and today, and a sold-out crowd looks to be on-hand. I am predicting a series sweep from the Royals with great action from the bullpen and solid hitting.