Affeldt Shuts Down Indians

Behind another strong effort from Jeremy Affeldt, the Royals won their second straight game against the Indians yesterday. Affeldt gave up one earned run in 5.1 innings. He threw 94 pitches, which is more than I'd like to see in just five innings of work, but he rarely nibbled. Indian hitters worked the count, but Affeldt wasn't afraid to go after guys. He struck out six and in addition to spotting his fastball early in the count, and then changing speeds nicely with his curveball, he was also able to locate his cutter. And finally, on April 23, a Royal starter has a win.

Reggie Sanders got another day off (which again is an odd thing to me considering that today is an off day), and we had guys playing out of position again on defense, but we found a way to win anyway. Graffanino started at third and played adequately in the field (he also went 3-for-4 at the plate). Esteban German made a nice grab in center—especially for a guy who has never played the outfield before this season. He may turn out to be a valuable guy to have on our bench. Considering the fact that he's hitting .429 average right now, he'll probably see more playing time than originally anticipated.

As much as I've harped on Berroa this season, I've got to give him credit for playing a huge role in our 5-1 victory on Sunday. He was 4-for-4, and made a couple of great plays at shortstop—one of which was a marvelous diving stab to his right in the final inning that he converted into a double play to end the game. And after blowing Affeldt's last outing in Chicago by booting a ball, Berroa picked up Affeldt this time.

Mientkiewicz, who Bell penciled in as the clean up guy, continued to hit, going 2-for-4. And he made several more outstanding plays at first base on poor throws from infielders. He's turning out to be more valuable than I would have ever imagined.

Elmer Dessens had another excellent outing, going 2.1 innings and giving up no runs.

I don't have a ton of great photos from either game this weekend, but I'll post a few of them later today.

Tomorrow, we start a new series with the Twinkies by sending Scott Elarton (0-4, 4.07) against Kyle Lohse (1-1, 11.57). Let's see if we can extend the streak to three games.