Normally, a road trip to Kansas City isn't cause for concern. Normally, it's "Goin' to Kansas City. Kansas City, here I come." But the weather is supposed to be downright Floridian out there for the next couple of days. The Royals just split a series with the White Sox and are in a feisty mood (Olivo was hit by a pitch during today's game and picked a fight about it.) And the last time they played Boston it didn't go very well for them: Lester no-hit them in the first game of the series, Colon and Masterson both beat them, and in the final game of the series, the Royals pitching staff gave up two grand slams. It's not the perfect recipe for success for a team with the road-woes that the Sox have had.
Throwing tomorrow is Gil Meche (and Clay has his work cut out for him.) Meche throws a nice low-nineties sinker that gets a lot of ground ball outs. He also comes back with a decent fastball to get a lot of strike outs. Command has been an issue in the past but the walks are down this season. He pitched well against the Sox on May 20. In seven innings, he gave up only two runs on five hits. He walked only two but struck out eight. Interestingly, his most recent outing (against Oakland) had the exact same pitching line. Lefties and righties hit him about evenly but he walks more righties. He seems to start out strong but then start to become fatigued deeper into the game.
Brian Bannister takes the ball in the second game of the series. He throws a low nineties fastball, a really good high eighties cutter, and a big, swooping curve ball. Command and, consequently, walks have been a problem for him. If his command isn't spot on, he becomes hittable. He threw against the Sox on May 22. He gave up seven runs on twelve hits (including a grand slam to JD Drew-Lowell also hit a grand slam in the game off Gobble.) Lefties have hit him at a .300 clip and righties have gotten to him for an average of .274.
Luke Hochevar took the loss in Lester's no-hitter. He pitches on Wednesday. He's a big righty rookie who throws a mid-nineties four seam fastball and a low-nineties sinker. He is also in possession of a low-eighties change up, a curve ball, and a slider. His curve ball is his best breaking pitch and he uses the slider as his out-pitch. At the start of the season he was walking a lot of guys, giving up quite a few hits, but also getting a lot of strike outs. Lately, it seems that the walks and strike outs are down but he's still getting hit. Against Boston, on May 19, he went six innings and gave up seven runs on five hits (including a two-run home run to Jason Varitek.) In that outing he walked six and struck out two. From what we saw of him he seems to be pretty easy to run on-Pedroia stole second and Ellsbury later stole second and third in the same Pedie at bat. Lefties have a grand old time against him but he's not too shabby for righties to hit either.
Starting short stop Tony Pena, while a pretty good pitcher, is having a dismal season at the plate. But they still seem to be running him out there despite the fact that their backup short stop, Mike Aviles, is possibly their best hitter (for what it's worth, he's not so hot defensively.) David Dejesus also swings a nice bat for them. Mark Grudzielanek, gold-glove-winner and maker-of-few-errors at second base, and Joey Gathright, stealer-of-bases and outfield-assisting-centerfielder, are on the disabled list. Jose Guillen leads the team with fifteen home runs and Alex Gordon is behind him with twelve. Alex Gordon has a team-leading nine errors at third base.
No comments:
Post a Comment