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

[SPchief]

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!

[C3HIEF3S]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

Yesterday rocked. The K is such a special place. Couldn't have asked for a better outcome on opening day. Moose looked good in the 2-hole. Hope he can keep it up. Shit my pants when I saw Ace throw his glove in pain. From my seat, I couldn't tell wtf was going on. I was thinking an arm issue. RELIEVED it was a thumb/hand cramp.

All in all, a great day. Oh, and **** YOU HAWK!

The entire stadium went silent when that happened. As Ryan said, it was a frightening sight to see, just glad he's alright.

[FringeNC]

Has Morales ever walked three times in a game in his career before? If he suddenly learned the strike zone over the winter, he'll have a monster year.

[Abba-Dabba]

On FSKC. Gotta watch, again.

[kcfanXIII]

I thought Moose looked like a totally different ball player then previous years. That oppo HR was so good to see.

I was trying to complete a text to a buddy between pitches when Yo got hurt. I saw the pitch, then looked at my phone. When I looked up, he was on the ground. I couldn't figure out what happened.

I loved seeing the Royals beat the hell out of the team all the experts were picking to win the division. I don't think any team in baseball wants to play the Royals right now. They are picking up where they left off, and they definitely got better.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

So the Sux allowed some SB, made some errors, had a runner picked off 1B, threw a WP to score a runner, gave up a couple HR, and had bad relief pitching that walked the based loaded in a 4-1 game. But at least Abreu homered?

That game exposed a lot of their weaknesses.

1) Their defense is not very good outside of Eaton in CF and Alexei Ramirez at SS (who is really just OK). The Johnson kid at 2B appears to be a big downgrade from Gordan Beckham defensively. Abreu, Cabrera, Garcia are real weaknesses defensively (Melky looked awful in LF).

2) Jeff Samardzija is just not that great of a SP. He's a quality starter, but he isn't this second-tier ace that so many made him out to be over the past few years.

3) Their bullpen is better at the backend, but middle relief is still going to be a real issue for the White Sox.

4) Robin Ventura is still an ignoramus. I'm not sure why he stuck with Samardzija so long, or why he went to his shitty long men, but the guy is one of - if not THE - worst managers in baseball. I mean, this is the guy who once intentionally walked Jeff Francoeur TWICE in the same series.
3)

[Saul Good]

Are we as good or better at every starting position when comparing yesterday's lineup with last year's opening day lineup? I have to think we are.

[DMAC]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Are we as good or better at every starting position when comparing yesterday's lineup with last year's opening day lineup? I have to think we are.

Absolutely. If they stay healthy all season:

[Hootie]

the only thing we're going to miss is Shields. Period.

...and this year, we know right away what we have in Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera.

and Rios and Morales are potentially HUGE upgrades.

and I know everyone keeps making fun of me, but the 'swagger' and postseason confidence are going to be huge for guys like Cain / Hosmer and Moose. Just huge.

and Salvy looked nice and fresh he needs more off days this year. A lot more.

[kcfanXIII]

One of the things being overlooked in the talk about samardzija hitting Cain is Gordon's hard slide shortly after. The Sox had a chance at a double play, but Gordon slid hard into second, cleat first and took out the second baseman (might have been the SS, not sure.) It was a definite "**** you guys" moment, and no one is talking about it.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

the only thing we're going to miss is Shields. Period.

...and this year, we know right away what we have in Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera.

and Rios and Morales are potentially HUGE upgrades.

and I know everyone keeps making fun of me, but the 'swagger' and postseason confidence are going to be huge for guys like Cain / Hosmer and Moose. Just huge.

and Salvy looked nice and fresh he needs more off days this year. A lot more.

Yep. Sal caught 146 games last year. That's ****ing insane. He should be limited to 130 (actually would to see him closer to 125) games MAX, and let him DH some with Morales.

[Great Expectations]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

the only thing we're going to miss is Shields. Period.

...and this year, we know right away what we have in Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera.

and Rios and Morales are potentially HUGE upgrades.

and I know everyone keeps making fun of me, but the 'swagger' and postseason confidence are going to be huge for guys like Cain / Hosmer and Moose. Just huge.

and Salvy looked nice and fresh he needs more off days this year. A lot more.

You aint never lie

[CoMoChief]

Man if this team starts hitting......i dont even know what to say other than this team will be really ****in hard to beat.

I said this after the WS...but I'll say it again. I think this team has had that taste of success and know what it takes now to win playoff baseball. All of that minor league "hype" is now out the window and these guys are full of confidence now knowing they can win and win often in this league to get to the game's biggest stage. Confidence can do a lot in the batter's box. That and plate discipline. Although Royals didn't face Sale, they faced a good strikeout pitcher. And if yesterday was any indication at all, even after one game, that this team has found the strike zone and are FINALLY swinging at good pitches...then watch the **** out AL.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

the only thing we're going to miss is Shields. Period.

...and this year, we know right away what we have in Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera.

and Rios and Morales are potentially HUGE upgrades.

and I know everyone keeps making fun of me, but the 'swagger' and postseason confidence are going to be huge for guys like Cain / Hosmer and Moose. Just huge.

and Salvy looked nice and fresh he needs more off days this year. A lot more.

Moose just needs to have a strong month of April. He really does seem to press to get his numbers up. If he just relaxes and plays ball, I still think he can be a useful bat.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Moose just needs to have a strong month of April. He really does seem to press to get his numbers up. If he just relaxes and plays ball, I still think he can be a useful bat.

Hard to tell being at the game, but other than his first AB, he looked damn good yesterday. He just seemed to have his timing down better. Maybe Hoot's is correct. Maybe it is a confidence/swagger thing that will lift him up. Here's hoping!

[Saul Good]

Looking back at the box score, we gave up 5 hits and 2 walks. We also turned 3 double plays and didn't make any errors...plus we picked off a runner and didn't allow a stolen base. We can win a lot of games when we only allow 7 runners to reach base and erase 4 of them.

Also, 7 of our runs we're scored with 2 outs.