Another One Run Loss

The Royals dropped another one run game last night, losing to the White Sox 6-5. In the 39 one-run games that the Royals have played in this season, they are 13-26. It feels more like 3-36, doesn't it?

Lima couldn't locate his pitches in the first couple of innings and the Royals were down 5-0 in a hurry. He finally found a groove in the third inning and kept the Royals in the game. After scoring a run in the sixth inning, Buck hit a two run shot in the 7th and Emil Brown hit one in the 9th. Unfortunately, Paul Konerko hit a home run off of Affeldt in the 7th inning and it ended up being the deciding run.

Mike Sweeney made his return to the line up after missing more than a week with back problems. And we have a few more new faces on the team with the September call ups.

Andres Blanco was called up and he's going to get a shot at playing second base for the rest of the season. I think it's a good move. Actually, I'd like to see him get a shot at beating out Berroa, but that's not going to happen. Blanco has a great glove. His offense seems to be a question mark for team management, but he did hit .317 for the Royals last year in the 19 games he played. His career minor league average is .260, so the Royals have a legitimate concern…although, looking at the batting averages of people like Ruben Gotay (.227) and Donnie Murphy (.182), Blanco looks like Frank White in comparison.

The Royals also added Kyle Snyder to the roster and relief pitcher Chris Demaria. Demaria had a combined 5-3 record with 20 saves and a 2.16 ERA in 57 games in Wichita and High Desert. What I like about him most is his 89 strikeouts and 12 walks in 75 IP. Maybe he can show our pitching staff a thing or two about throwing strikes.

Calving Pickering was designated for assignment yesterday and it looks like his days in Royal Blue are over. I find that a bit odd, considering he made the 25-man roster out of Spring Training. We either made a horrible mistake in that evaluation or we're making one now. I tend to believe we made the mistake in Spring Training, which would be understandable since Tony Pena was still the manager.

Tonight, Mike Wood (4-5, 3.84) goes against Jose Contreras (10-7, 4.06) in Chicago.