***Official Kansas City Royals @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Game Thread (4/10)***

[alnorth]

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
KC (4-0)	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	4	9	0
LAA (2-2)	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	7	2

Win, (1-0) Jason Vargas 6IP 2R 2ER 1BB 3K 1HR
Hold, (1) Jason Frasor 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 2K
Hold, (2) Kelvin Herrera 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K
Save, (1) Wade Davis 1IP 0R 0ER 1BB 3K

VS.



Loss, (0-1) Hector Santiago 5⅓IP 3R 3ER 1BB 4K 1HR
Vinnie Pestano 1⅔IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K
Jose Alvarez ⅔IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K
Mike Morin ⅓IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K
Fernando Salas ⅓IP 1R 1ER 1BB 0K
Cesar Ramos ⅔IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K

Home Runs

KC

Kendrys Morales, (1) - Top 6th solo shot to left

LAA

David Freese, (2) - Bottom 6th solo shot to center

AL Central

Final: DET 8, CLE 4
Final: MIN 6, CWS 0

Starting Lineups

KC

1. Alcides Escobar, SS
2. Mike Moustakas, 3B
3. Lorenzo Cain, CF
4. Eric Hosmer, 1B
5. Kendrys Morales, DH
6. Alex Gordon, LF
7. Alex Rios, RF
8. Salvador Perez, C
9. Omar Infante, 2B

LAA

1. Kole Calhoun, RF
2. Mike Trout, CF
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. David Freese, 3B
5. C.J. Cron, DH
6. Erick Aybar, SS
7. Chris Iannetta, C
8. Collin Cowgill, LF
8. Matt Joyce, ph/LF
9. Johnny Giavotella, 2B

[Hootie]

Ellsbury just showcased that arm! Looked like Johnny Damon out there.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by tk13

It's on MLB Network.

Got it. Appreciate it.

[KChiefs1]

7 hour game.

[Hootie]

It also looks, so far, that we may make it a few months this year without having to fire a hitting coach, which is nice

[Coach]

And the Yanks got a runner on 1st....

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

It also looks, so far, that we may make it a few months this year without having to fire a hitting coach, which is nice

FIRE THE.... umm.... hmm.....

I'm running out of options to fire someone....

[Coach]

And Boston finally wins it.

[tk13]

And they have to play again in 10 hours and 50 minutes.

[Three7s]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

I agree. But Holland has 2 pitches, basically. You can guess and get lucky with Holland easier than Davis.

Davis?

He has a nasty curve, a filthy cutter, and an elite fastball. I mean, I've watched about 70 outings of just pure misery from the hitters. They have no clue. 97 MPH fastballs right down the middle get punch outs because they have no idea what to expect on any count.

Davis is the best reliever in baseball if you ask me. Not just the AL. He's not even fair.

I know Holland has the 4-seamer, the slider, and the splitter. Both of his breaking pitches are pretty similar, but the key is that they move towards opposite sides of the plate at the same velocity. Probably pretty tough for the hitter to pick up the spin on it.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by The God Hypothesis

was just thinking that - this feels different

This is different. This team is legit. They've shown they won't shrink on the biggest stage. They have numerous All Stars, and one of the best bullpens anyone's seen in a long time.

The path of least resistance right now is for them to most likely make the playoffs, maybe win the division unless the Tigers go bananas. That was never the case for the 2003 team 4 games into the season. Only that team's miracle start had us all hoping they could hold it together.

This team needs things to go wrong for them to not succeed.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by bsroyals54

Lets give props to the butthurt Orioles fan last year for giving us the now treasured "Cyborgs"

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

Kelvin: 3 IP 2 H 0 BB 0 ER 3 K's
Wade: 3 IP 1 H 1 BB 0 ER 5 K's
Holland: 2 IP 0 H 0 BB 0 ER 2 K's

Cyborg Totals through 4 games:

8 IP
3 Hits
1 Walk
0 ER
10 K's

Royals Bullpen Totals:

11 IP
5 Hits
2 Walks
0 ER
14 K's

uh ... did we break it?

We don't even know how good these guys can be yet. It's like a really good player, who's become great - who then has a breakout to the upside from there. Like Justin Houston last year. Or George Brett in the late 70s.

The thing is - PECOTA might predict a regression to the mean, and that is right more often than not. But, the eyeball test is an important component that isn't going to show up in stat models. We all saw what Herrera and Davis looked like tonight. There is no regression going on. The Angels knew it too. You could see it on their faces.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

K now it's Alex Gordon's turn to go deep. He's in a funk and is healing a wrist so it may take a while...but he's due up to take one over the fence.

The player I'm worried about the least getting into some kind of psychological funk is Gordon.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

We don't even know how good these guys can be yet. It's like a really good player, who's become great - who then has a breakout to the upside from there. Like Justin Houston last year. Or George Brett in the late 70s.

The thing is - PECOTA might predict a regression to the mean, and that is right more often than not. But, the eyeball test is an important component that isn't going to show up in stat models. We all saw what Herrera and Davis looked like tonight. There is no regression going on. The Angels knew it too. You could see it on their faces.

Exactly.

The "eye test" is still important, too. And by that measure, there's nothing fluky about what any of the Big 3 did last year.

[milkman]

Duncan, I'd like to know your thoughts on Kendrys Morales.