With those three games in Minnesota done, we stand a chance to make some real headway in the division.

17 of our next 25 games are AT HOME! Of those 17 home games 11 are against the AL Central.

Here's the breakdown:

CHISOX: 5

Detroit: 3

Cleveland: 3

Out of division home games:

Baltimore: 4

Seattle: 2

We sure can't seem to beat Cleveland lately. They get on my nerves too.

We're 3 - 3 against them this year.

I disagree with that. Sat there two fridays ago and you could see just fine in section 210. It's right where the cameras are.

MLB Network last night was all over KC,at one point one of the guys even said something like,"I know we're talking about the Royals a lot tonight but what a story so far."

That was so good to hear.

Rany is pretty good today.


http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/

LMAO

I love that guy.

Here is a comment by a Rany poster.

Devon said...Oh, you'll love this. Back almost a week ago, I saw this coming and did some stat checking.

As of right now, Greinke has this stat line 30 days into the season:

6-0, 0.40 ERA, 54 K's in 45 IP.

Here's the only other times a Royal won 6 games in the first 30 days of a season....

Appier was 6-1, 1.92 ERA, and 58 K's in 56 1/3. Appier ended '95 at 15-10 over 31 total starts...so he was only 9-9 with a poor 4.66 ERA after his hot start.

Saberhagen started off 6-0, 1.59 ERA, in 1987's first month...but then goes 12-10 with a 3.80 ERA for the rest of the year.

Splittorff had a great start in 1973's first month...5-1, 2.72 ERA... but he also dives into a 4.33 ERA & 15-10 to finish out the year (20-11 & 3.98 combined). Not really good numbers in '73....only a 102 ERA+ for the season after such a great start.

There's nothing else to compare Greinke's start to, in Royals history. But if history holds any weight here, it says Greinke will become about a .500 pitcher and his ERA will balloon after about his 7th or 8th start.

I'm hopin' history has as much effect on Zack Greinke as the Tigers offense. (he's actually 9-4 with a 2.86 ERA lifetime against them, not to mention his embarrassing them back on Apr 24)

He could be the 1st Royal to win 25 games...and if he does that, there'll probably be a lot of talk about him heading for 30.

Either way, as of now, he's already 1/3 of the way to one of the 12 best Royals pitchers win totals in the 23 years since after the '85 World Series.

And here's a listing of the 10 winningest Royals pitchers from 1986 - 5/04/2009 (which is everyone with more than 39 wins in that span). Greinke's already 9th in that list, and he could end the season 5th on this list.

One more thought. He's the 5th winningest Royal pitcher through seasonal age 25....Saberhagan (92), Gubicza (69), Appier & Busby (59), Gordon (56), Greinke (40 and counting).

Royalpug said...To save you some trouble Rany:
Top 3 pitchers to win first 6 games with lowest ERA:

1981 Fernando Valenzuela 0.33
1913 Walter Johnson 0.35
2009 Zack Greinke 0.40

Some other notables:

2009 Zack Greinke 0.40
2008 Cliff Lee 0.81 (won CY Award)
2000 Randy Johnson 0.93 (won CY Award)
1997 Pedro Martinez 0.79 (won CY Award)
1991 Roger Clemens 0.73 (won CY Award)

Zack's is probably the most impressive because he obviously pitched in a much more offensively prolific area.

http://www.kansascity.com/stargazing/story/1179068.html

Guy Fieri imposter interviewed during Royals telecast

Not to take away from Zack Greinke’s masterful shutout, but a Guy Fieri imposter was interviewed on-air last night during Fox Sports Net’s broadcast of the Royals game.

Guy Fieri, for those who don’t know, is the Food Network host of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." He travels the country visiting these places. He has been to Kansas City before.

A call to PR person Rebecca Brooks confirmed it: It wasn’t Guy!

The imposter gave interviewer Joel Goldberg’s questions short, rude, one-word answers. He was acting like he wanted no part of the interview. He took a phone call during the interview. It was no doubt from his buddy Cletus, who said something like “hey, Buford, I see you on TV!”

My wife’s first reaction was “he looks awful!” It sounded nothing like Fieri. I have seen Fieri in the crowd at various sporting events before, though.

I was determined to never watch his show again, but at least it wasn’t really him. If you know who it was, shoot me an email.

I've always considered the real Fieri to be something of an imposter too, though. Until he visits Columbia's Broadway Diner and orders a "Stretch," I don't consider his show to be legit.

| Eric Winkler, ewinkler@kcstar.com

I looked back a few pages and didn't see this, but it appears Alex Gordon is ahead of schedule on his recovery. Hopefully his swing recovers as quickly as his hip is.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4138004

Just a heads up...

Coco Crisp is appearing on a live chat today at 2:00 PM. Access the chat from the Royals home page.

Where is today's game thread?!?

al! al! Thread time!

Worried about Davies tonight. He's been going the opposite direction lately.

His curve ball hangs like it's on a tee.

That's his biggest issue.

With all the buzz around Greinke, you guys bring up a good point. Davies is probably the key for us. We know what Zack is, and can almost always count on Gil for good starts. If Davies can deal like he did early on, we're in great shape. If not, we'll have to struggle through it a lot more and put more wear and tear on the 'pen. I really think Davies is the key to our success. Hope he gets it done against a frustrated White Sox offense.

By the end of the year, I could see Davies being the #5.

Bannister and Hoch being the 4/5 or 5/4.