Saturday

Greinke shines in 2006 debut...Keppel very good as well


Zack Greinke was outstanding on Friday.

Zack Greinke on Friday was excellent in his first start of the season for Wichita, as he picked up a victory over the San Antonio Missions after tossing five strong innings. Working on a pitch count of 65-70 pitches, Greinke surrendered only four hits and a walk while allowing one earned run, and he didn't seem to have any trouble with his command. The one run he gave up was very soft, coming by way of a hit batter, an weak infield single, and a broken bat flare to center.

Admittedly, the Missions are the worst offensive club in the Texas League, but we couldn't be any more encouraged by Greinke's outing. He can only spend 20 days in Wichita on his rehab assignment, and if he continues to pitch like this, he should be back in KC within the next couple of weeks. Right now, he's expected to make 1-3 more starts for Wichita, but it's been reported that he could return to the Royals after his next start.

  • The Royals game, unfortunately, didn't go quite as well. Jamie Moyer owns KC, and it was no different today, as he shut out the Royals on just two hits. The game's only bright spot today was the rotation debut of Bobby Keppel, who took the loss despite throwing 6.2 very solid innings. He surrendered six hits and a walk while striking out four, with the only damage coming on back-to-back solo home runs in the seventh inning by Jose Lopez and Raul Ibanez. Jeremy Affeldt entered the game in relief, and in one inning of work, he finally managed to get his ERA over 8.00.

    The Royals try again tomorrow, as Seth Etherton will look to build upon his solid Royals debut while opposing Joel Pineiro. Pineiro is the type of pitcher who scares RC, so we're not sure what to expect.


  • As planned, RC this morning drove to Chapel Hill, NC, to catch an NCAA baseball regional tournament and to get one last look at Andrew Miller before Tuesday's draft. The weather tonight was lousy, and once we learned that Miller wasn't scheduled to start (which, ummm, would have been some easily obtained and very handy information), we decided to skip the opening matchups while opting instead to listen to Wichita's game. Miller is scheduled to pitch tomorrow (Saturday), so we should have a report and some photos ready for you sometime tomorrow night.

    Also, be sure to tune in on Tuesday, as RC will host a live draft tracker throughout the day, complete with as much information as we can obtain about the Royals' picks. Draft day is our favorite day of the year, and we can't wait to see which players the Royals select.

    Finally, on Sunday morning at 11:25 AM CST, RC will be a guest on "Life's a Pitch," a radio program on Sports Talk Cleveland. We are scheduled to discuss a number of different topics, ranging from draft candidates to the Cleveland Indians' farm system. You can listen to the webcast here, if you're interested in hearing us babble.


  • Finally, we have some news to report about the "big changes" coming to Royals Corner. We signed a contract today, so you can expect an official announcement sometime this weekend, as soon as we are assured that it is OK to do so. Stay tuned!
  • 8 Comments:

    At 6/03/2006 4:33 AM, Blogger Kevin said...

    Can't wait for the official announcement. This is going to be a fun challenge to undertake.

    I'll definitely be tuned in on Sunday morning to listen to babbling, RC style!

     
    At 6/03/2006 5:22 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Even if Andrew Miller pitches a no-hitter on Saturday, I will maintain that I think we should take Hovechar or Lincecum. While Miller may have more command than Lincecum, Lincecum's strikeout totals leave me dreaming about what he could do in our rotation. Miller, on the other hand, looks to still get decent strikeout totals, but I think Lincecum will produce more strikeouts, and hopefully all of those 130 pitch outings didn't hurt him much. I'm sure he'll be kept to 90-100 pitch outings in the minors, anyways. When the draft it said and done, though, and if the Royals have selected Miller No. 1 overall, I can tell you now that I think they did it just to pick the concensus choice. If they do draft Miller, apparently their just afraid of fans thinking we drafted someone who wasn't the best talent available. I know RC will probably never agree with me, but when it's all said and done I think Lincecum will be the better major-league starter.

    Royals Mania

     
    At 6/03/2006 5:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Not to mention, Lincecum also has a lower opponent batting average than anyone else on your list of the top pitchers. I'm telling you guys, Lincecum is the one we should take.........

    Royals Mania

     
    At 6/03/2006 1:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Believer and Husker,

    Although Linecum may actually turn out to be another Roy Oswalt, I think he is more like a right handed Billy Wagner or God forbid another Chad Harville.

    I believe Miller is much more similar to a Mark Mulder and therefore not only the safer pick, he is the ONLY pick the Royals can and should make in this draft.

    Linecum has impressive K/IP and Opp BA numbers, but his K/BB ratio and especially is BB/IP ratios scare the living daylights out of me. We already have plenty of fine power arms for our bullpen (see: Ryan Braun, Burgos, Bautista, MacDougal, Leo Nunez, etc).

    The Royals must come away from this draft with one or two guys that will make it to the top of their rotation in 2-3 years.

    Just think of an '08 rotation of:
    (BIG NAME FA)
    Greinke
    Miller
    (whomever emerges Buckner or Cota?)
    Howell

    That combined with a power bullpen and our emerging young position players should equal success and potential playoff contention.

     
    At 6/03/2006 3:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Just think of an '08 rotation of:

    Zack Greinke
    J.P. Howell
    Tim Lincecum
    Luis Cota or Billy Buckner
    Freddy Garcia(I think FA after 2007)

     
    At 6/03/2006 6:00 PM, Blogger ASMR Review said...

    Anyone know the story on Brian Bass being suspended from the team? The Star says it had something to do with him being angry about being outrighted off the 40 man roster. Why would that piss him off so much? He should be more pissed off about the way he pitched in Omaha this year.

     
    At 6/03/2006 8:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I saw Lincecum pitch last week. He looked great. He struck out 14 in 9 innings. He is very small but uses his whole body when he pitches. I expected to see him throw just gas but he has a great change up and nice curve as well. A lot of people are projecting him as a reliever but I have not reason to think he can't be a starter.

     
    At 6/03/2006 10:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Brian Bass...Officially he had grafitti on his cap during the Wichita game that got televised. But my source told me that the grafitti was seen by a Royals exectutive. The underside of the bill of his cap read, "Fuck the Royals" - believe it or not.

     

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