****Official Royals Vs. White Sox OPENING DAY Gamthread 4/6****
 

Ok folks, the wait is finally over. Time to defend the pennant and it all starts now. Newly rich Yordano takes the bump, Moose is batting 2nd, and #Yosted is no longer a bad thing (He gets the benefit of the doubt for at least a week on lineup and sac bunt usage)

#LetsthrowdefendingALchampsFire




Lets do this shit!

Fart nuggets.

Big Smoke reporting for duty.

Insomnia is a bitch. I might fall asleep by 3 this afternoon at this rate. :(

I'm in. Getting my Royals gear on now and headed out shortly. Damn, have to work till noon first. Go Royals!

In

I need to do this as well

In! Let's go White Sox!!! Good luck guys

I'm DVRing the game today. Boo work, hooray MLB Extra Innings. Gonna try to stay away from scores lol.

Brother and I are getting ready to head that way. It will both of ours first opening day game.

ballz deep!

**** off!

1st win of 92 comes today boys

Got my gear on and ready for OD! Can't wait to see the ALC flag flying at the K.

In

I am sooo bummed. I really want to be there today to see that banner raised. Haven't given up hope yet, got some feelers out for a ticket. I'm not too optimistic though.

I will be traveling home from Tampa today, so I may miss the whole game. Sucks!

Is this game being streamed online anywhere?

Office is shutting down at 2. Smoker is already going and we've got a couple kegs of the good stuff on the way. Should be awesome!

LET'S DO THIS!

I always watch them here: http://www.strikeout.co/

In.

Is it game time yet?

Seems like a lifetime ago that I was sitting in the stands for game 7. I hope the attitude they had at the end of the year is still there. The belief they cannot be beat was strong.

On my way to the K.

Hope we start out the year with a win!!

Go Royals!!

In

It's things like this that make me wish I was still in KC. Enjoy yourselves and listen for someone cheering from the north!

My nipples explode with delight!

I'm going to need more Neosporin.

Woohoo! Someone came through with a ticket. In a suite no less!

Wish I was there in person. I'll be cheering from work!

So in. Everyone where I live is wearing their Phillies gear but not looking especially happy about seeing another 100 loss team & I'm out wearing my Royals jersey shirt with 'He Hate Me' letterplate feeling so good.

in

In. Have to work today but this is why God invented Slingbox!

Not gonna lie, I woke up with a hard on. Leaving for the stadium. The road BACK to the playoffs start now.

In+. Rain, rain, stay away....at least for today!

Just keep any stray Chisox fans away from the coaching boxes....

Beat that White Sox ass. Stomp on the entire Central division this year, fellas.

I like to think that father and son methhead team had a moment of clarity that led to them pissing themselves watching two dozen pro athletes charge at them with justifiable bad intentions on their brains. Frankly I thought Berroa and Sweeney were going to kill one of the two idiots...

I'm in this thing let go Royals!

ROFL go sox!

So how long until ya start bitching about Yost?

Sixth inning, today

And I'm glad Konerko is finally retired. That guy just murdered us over the years.

What time are lineups released?

They're both released I believe

https://mobile.twitter.com/whitesox/...08532728573954


Both lineups. I'm not good at embedding tweets sorry.

**** YOU YOST

Moose batting 2ndLMAO

Ok, seriously, why is Moose in the two hole and Gordon batting sixth? Still an issue with his wrist?

Moose in the 2 hole really?

LOL. What a stupid lineup. Go Royals!

What would it matter? 2nd or 6th, doing either or should have nothing to do with Gordon's wrist.

What the **** is Yost doing? Honest to god, the guy can't get out of his own way sometimes. There is no reason to ever ever ever bat Moustakas 2nd. I mean NEVER. Lets knowingly try to get Moose more at bats than Gordon in today's game today. Seems reasonable Ned.

LOL, ****ing Yost, man

http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploa.../09/sb3hn4.gif

Dr. Ned thinks it will help Moose break out.

Go to World Series, get Yosted before first pitch of the next season.

And then he will call the fans on twitter morons when Moose goes 1-4 and Gordon goes 0-3. And he'll be like, see I'm soo smart duuh dee duuhh deee

Come on Yost, you are better than this. I mean really, you are.

Moose in the 2 hole makes sense while Gordon finishes healing. Limits the extreme shift with a man on base, can't leave 3rd open for him to drop a bunt down.

I got to tell you, traditionally, you'd want a guy who makes good contact (put the ball in play), and has at least slightly above average speed. Which one of those characteristics does Moose display?

Too early to complain about this stuff on opening day, but it's a head-scratcher for sure.

Hawk Harrelson on air heart attack. Make it happen boys!

No it doesn't. If Gordon is still "healing" then don't play him. The end.

80% of Gordon is better than 100% of Moose at the plate.

Absolutely.

http://www.foxsports.com/kansas-city...ustakas-040515

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Royals manager Ned Yost said Sunday that Mike Moustakas would hit second for Kansas City in 2015.

Moustakas, a career .236 hitter, has never started in the No. 2 hole in his four-year major league career. He appeared there once in 2012 as a late-game replacement.

Yost said Moustakas' solid spring (.333/.394/.517 with 11 RBIs), coupled with a potential confidence boost from hitting at the top, makes him "a perfect fit for that two-hole."

Moustakas said hitting second would be "a fun challenge."

"The one thing I am is a baseball player," he said. "In that No. 2 hole, you gotta be a baseball player and adapt to circumstances, and I think I do a pretty good job of that."

That means Alex Gordon, who had hit second for most of the spring, will drop in the order, likely to sixth or seventh.

"When you're looking at the spring that Moose had, and you're looking at Alex and you're looking at Moose, Alex is going to be the same guy," Yost said. "But this little confidence boost, to go along with all the hard work and the effort that he put forth, (is) something that could carry (Moustakas) through the first half of the season, offensively."

Kansas City will have an unorthodox lineup to start the season, with Alcides Escobar leading off, Moustakas hitting second, Lorenzo Cain in the No. 3 hole and Eric Hosmer following him. Escobar's career on-base percentage is .299 and Moustakas' is .290. Cain and Hosmer, meanwhile, combined for 14 home runs in 2014.

Yost said moving Moustakas to the second spot reminded him of 2011, when he shifted Gordon to the No. 3 hole and watched as Gordon slashed .303/.376/.502 with 23 home runs. Gordon spent the first month and a half hitting third before leading off for the majority of the season.

This has to do with Ned not respecting OBP stats. OBP is about as important a stat as you can find for a 2 hole hitter, IMO.

Even if he is easing Gordon back into the 2-hole over time, I'd still have Hos, Cain or Infante batting in the 2 spot over Moose.

Guess your cleanup hitters can't clean up if Moose is on the bench and there's nothing to clean up lol.

The 2 hitter is the new 3 hitter. Should be your best all-around hitter. Someone who can hit for average and power, runs the bases well, and can work the count.

That's Alex Gordon. It's an incredibly simple decision. Don't know why Yost has such a hard time making it, especially now that Morales and Rios offer some more experienced insurance in the 5 and 6 spots.

Screw this wait. I wish we had our normal 1:05 first pitch.

We haven't even seen the first pitch, and Ned has already screwed up!

I like Moose at 2nd. I don't think you guys will ever understand how mental baseball is and I like the fact Ned is giving Moose a nice vote of confidence. I bet it pays off big time. Big time.

Usually the most simple solution is the right one. Keep it simple stupid.

Bold prediction: Moose gets a bunt base hit today.

F*** any team from Chicago!

I do.

I'd get on board with this thought if they hadn't already given him about 7,183 votes of confidence already over the course of several years, and he did nothing with them.

Thank God the Yankees are on ESPN. I was worrying that the country would miss their first pitch. No need to put the AL Champions on the leadoff game or anything.

:facepalm:

I am actually okay with switching Moose & Gordo - let Alex work himself in since he barely got a ST, and let's see how Moose responds to being given greater responsibility. Was the postseason a turning point, or an aberration. Still, I agree with others that Moose still doesn't look like your prototypical 2 hole guy. So, yeah, Yost is gonna Yost, and we will be left scratching our heads- or wanting to rip our hair out in frustration sometimes.

Time to get an idea if you are going to look at committing $ to keeping Moose around for the future or if 3b is open for competition.

Alex, of course isn't going to be at the 6 hole regularly, but last year he never had the numbers and consistency to establish the best spot for him in the order. I honestly don't know what spot in the order will be the best fit for the team as of yet. If he plays like his did 2 seasons ago, sure, 2 in the order works fine. Alex last year was a lot more of a roller coaster of productivity.

We have a good idea, but I honestly don't think you can definitively say he should be a lock for x in the order.
Clearly, 6 isn't the spot and if it is then he's having a terrible start to the regular season.

Point being, it's 1 game out of 162, and Alex isn't not 100% with a full Spring under his belt. Extenuating circumstances doesn't mean it's the end of the world.

1) Escobar
2) Gordon
3) Cain
4) Hosmer
5) Rios
6) Morales
7) Perez
8) Moose
9) Infante/Colon

ROCKET SCIENCE

See, I would think it would do absolutely the opposite. Lets spotlight a guy, who struggled like hell last year. Make him the focus of attention. Putting the pressure off & letting a guy get confidence, to me would be letting him bat 7th 8th or 9th.

x2

This is just Ned being Ned. Like I said before, it's far too early to bitch about this stuff on Opening Day. I just struggle seeing shit like this that should be so obvious to the Manager. I hope that his unconventional "gut-feel for his players" works out.