Hernandez Outstanding in Debut

I'm guessing that not a single pundit in all of baseball thought that Runelvys Hernandez would throw seven shutout innings tonight and only give up two hits after his horrendous outings in Omaha, but somehow he pulled it off. He didn't even walk one hitter. His diving change up looked as good as ever, as evidenced by the 12 ground ball outs he recorded. And with the exception of Joe Mays, our rotation has finally put together a nice little run.

And while our hitting wasn't quite what you'd hope for, it was good enough to get the 3-1 win. Grudzielanek was 3-for-4, including a triple to lead off the fourth inning that set up the Royals first run. Baker pitched us tough, but we finally broke through against him in the sixth inning on a Grudzielanek single, an RBI double by Stairs, and an RBI single by Brown. Now I'm hoping that we can come up big tomorrow and take the series.

Before the game, Mientkiewicz said something in the pre-game show that I thought was profound. He said that when the Royals win a game, the players are giddy in the clubhouse. And when they win a series, even the Kansas City media seems surprised. Mientkiewicz said that a win shouldn't produce giddiness and that home teams ought to win series. In other words, winning should be expected. Our clubhouse has desperately needed a guy like Mientkiewicz for a long time.

Tomorrow afternoon, we're sending Mark Redman (0-0, 4.91) against Johann Santana (0-3, 4.81). I'm planning to make the trip to KC for the game. Hope to see you there.