Sweeney Comes Up Big

What a bizarre game. Jose Lima took a five run lead and a no-hitter into the sixth inning and before the inning was over, the Indians tied the game at five. But just as the Royals have done all year, they kept battling—even when the momentum seemed to put on the opposing team's uniform.

Mike Sweeney hit two home runs. The second one was the game winner in the eighth inning. It's hard to imagine the Kansas City Royals without Mike Sweeney. When the game is on the line, you just know that he's going to do what it takes to win.



And for the first time this season, the Royals have a two-game winning streak. It's nice to win the series, but it would be even nicer to get over the no-series-sweep-in-the-last-70-series hump. Going that long without a series sweep almost doesn't seem possible, does it?

Ambiorix Burgos picked up his first major league save. He certainly seems to have the temperament for the closer's role.

"It's not difficult, like you guys say, to be a closer," Burgos said.

I guess we'll have to see how he feels after he's blown his first save, but he doesn't seem to be easily intimated and he appears quite willing to challenge hitters. Both major pluses.

Let's talk a little about the rotation. Here are the statistics for the starting pitchers in April:

The Starters

Starters	Starts	ERA	Runs	Runs/Start	W-L	Quality Starts
Lima	5	6.40	16	3.2	0-2	1
Hernandez	5	5.06	17	3.4	1-3	1
Greinke	5	3.65	7	1.4	0-2	2
Bautista	5	4.55	25	5.0	2-1	3
Anderson	4	7.54	22	5.5	1-2	2

Lima: Not exactly putting up numbers you would expect from your ace. He's showing signs of turning things around, but continually seems susceptible to the big inning—usually the first. The Royals aren't giving him a lot of run support, but with only 1 quality start and an ERA over 6.00, he doesn't have anybody to blame but himself for his poor record.

Hernandez: Very similar start to Lima's. He's not getting a lot of run support, but his ERA is bad and he only has 1 quality start to date.

Greinke: Has looked like the ace, posting a respectable ERA. Hasn't won a game yet, but with 1.4 runs per game of support, it's easy to see why. Greinke eventually has a chance to be the first legitimate Royals Cy Young contender since David Cone and baseball people in Kansas City often mention his name in the same sentence with Bret Saberhagen—probably justifiably so. Time will tell.

Bautista: Had one bad outing and several good outings—including 3 quality starts. If Pena can get Bautista to go along with Buck's pitch selections, Bautista could turn in a fine season. He's getting a lot of run support though, so we'll have to see what happens when the Royals aren't scoring 5 runs per game when he starts.

Anderson: New delivery, same poor results. One wonders if we'll ever see the 2003 version of Brian Anderson again. With an ERA over 7.00, things aren't looking up for Brian.

Tomorrow is an off day. The Royals travel to Chicago to open a new series against the White Sox on Tuesday. Brian Anderson (1-2, 7.54) goes against Mark Buehrle (3-1, 3.89). Let's see if we can extend the winning streak to 3.