Gift wrapped

Indians 5, Royals 4
W-Betancourt (1-2), L-Grimsley (1-1), S-Riske (2)
Royals Season Record: 5 Wins, 9 Loses

As Denny Matthews said after the game today, the Royals gave this one away. The Indians scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to win 5-4, spoiling a great outing by Jeremy Affeldt who gave up only two hits and no earned runs in seven innings of work.

Jason Grimsley was as wild as all get out in the eighth inning, walking two and giving up three earned runs. This is Grimsley's second straight outing where he has exhibited such wildness and now we have reason to be concerned about him. Hopefully pitching coach John Cumberland pulls him aside and figures out what is wrong before he takes the mound again.

For some reason, Pena did not have anybody warming up behind Grimsley. Last year, when MacDougal struggled, he didn't hesitate to warm up Leskanic behind Mac. Maybe he wanted to show Grimsley that he was confident in him, but after losing so many games this early in the season, he needs to be more concerned about winning games than hurting somebody's ego.

D.J. Carrasco warmed up in a hurry and then came in to blow the save giving up two hits and allowing all three inherited runners to score.

This one is going to hurt for a while.

Andres Blanco tripled today but was shaky in the field again, dropping one ball for an error and making another bad throw to first base that Harvey made a good play on and scooped out of the dirt.

Mike Sweeney was scratched from the lineup just before game time with a sore wrist. No word on how serious it is.

Tomorrow night we have Apes (0-1, 15.00 ERA) going up against Lohse (1-2, 7.88 ERA). Go get 'em Apes.

Looks like I'll be making my first trip to the K next week for the Rangers series. I'll be taking photos and posting them here. So, check back.