It's Finally Over

As relieved as Tony Pena and Allard Baird surely were to see Ken Harvey turn on a pitch in the third inning and plant it in the left field seats for a grand slam home run, I can't help but wonder if they also thought, "Uh oh. Maybe we should have had Harvey in the line up from day one."

Last weekend, I heard the post game show guys discussing the Harvey situation. One of them wondered whether the Royals buried Harvey in Triple-A rather than putting him on the 25-man roster because of Harvey's arbitration status. I have no idea if that idea has any merit, but if Baird pushed for such a thing, he's going to lose respect. I hope it isn't true.

The game this afternoon looked a lot like many other Royals games this season. The Royals loaded the bases in the first inning and failed to score. That goes beyond the "they just can't get a timely hit" criticism to a team who just doesn't execute well.

But in the third inning, the Royals loaded the bases again against Cliff Lee and Mr. April, Ken Harvey, looked the part, slamming his first career grand slam home run. Harvey is on fire right now, picking up hits in his first three at bats this afternoon.

Eli Marrero looked like he knew which pitch was coming every time he came up to the plate. He hit two home runs and picked up another hit to raise his average over the Mendoza line. Angel Berroa had a big day at the plate, matching Marrero's and Harvey's three hits.

Bautista struggled at times, but managed to get through the sixth inning only giving up one run. Sisco pitched a scoreless seventh, even though Angel Berroa let a ball go right through the wickets. Jaime Cerda got in trouble in the eighth inning, giving up a hit and walking two guys to load the bases. How a guy can walk one hitter, let alone two, with an 8-1 lead in the eighth inning is beyond me. But he reached back and struck out Sizemore to end the inning without giving up any runs. MacDougal finished off the Indians in the ninth.

And the losing streak was finally over. How good does that feel? The Royals finished April with a 6-18 record. Now let's see if the Royals can extend their winning ways to what would be their longest winning streak of the season—two games.

Jose Lima (0-2, 6.08) goes against Scott Elarton (0-1, 8.05) tomorrow afternoon. RSTN isn't carrying the game.