Shelled in Chicago

Jose Lima looked awful tonight in Chicago. He was supposed to be matched up against Orlando Hernandez, but Hernandez was put on the DL, so the Royals caught a break and went up against rookie Brandon McCarthy. Unfortunately the rookie held his own against Lima. Neither pitched well.

Lima gave up 7 R, 10 H in 4 IP. After giving up hits to Podsednik and Iguchi to start the game, Lima struck out Frank Thomas, but then fell behind Paul Konerko 3-1. The next pitch put the White Sox up 3-0 when Konerko hammered a 3-run home run to left field.

Unfortunately Ryan Jensen wasn't good either when he relieved Lima. Jermaine Dye, the first hitter that Jensen faced, hit a solo shot to begin the fifth inning. Jensen gave up 3 R in 1 1/3 IP before being forced out of the game.

To the Royals credit, they fought back several times—actually tying the game at 8-8. Graffanino, filling in at first base, went 2-for-3 and is locked in at the plate. Teahen picked up 3 RBI, going 1-for-4. Buck and Gotay hit back to back home runs in the sixth inning. Gotay went 2-for-4 and was much more patient tonight—going deep into the count.

The only offensive negative was Angel Berroa again. In his five plate appearances he was behind 1-2, 1-2, 0-2, 1-2, and 0-2. It's a miracle that he ended up 1-for 5. How can Bell justify putting a guy like Berroa at the top of the order who simply refuses to show patience at the plate? He's a total hack—Alfonso Soriano without the impressive numbers.

Contrast Berroa's plate appearances to Emil Brown's tonight. In Brown's five plate appearances, he worked the count to 3-2, 1-2, 3-2, 3-0, and 1-1. He was 1-for-3 and drew 2 BB.

As good as the Royals were offensively tonight, 8 runs wasn't enough. The White Sox pounded out 17 hits and it just doesn't look like we've got the arms to get these guys out. I guess we'll find out over the next two days.

The Royals send Zack Greinke (1-7, 5.97) against John Garland (11-2, 3.61) tomorrow night.