Royals Come from Behind

The 11-7 win last night was not exactly what I had in mind when I said that the veterans needed to step up and the Royals needed to play a fundamentally sound game, but a win is a win and who would have expected us to come from behind after trailing by six runs early?

Jeremy Affeldt was overthrowing in the first inning and everything was up. The first six guys reached base and before he ever got an out, he'd given up five runs. But then, he settled down—probably because he was tired—and he found a rhythm. He gave up another run in the third, but he had much better control by then. After the Royals posted a five-spot in the fourth inning to put them within one run of the White Sox, oddly, Bell removed Affeldt from the game. He'd only thrown 79 pitches—which is a ridiculous number after four innings, but after settling down, and after the Royals fought their way back into the game, you would have thought that Affeldt would have been able to pitch another inning or two.

Mike Wood came on in relief and gave up another run to put the Royals down by two. But the Royals came up with two runs in the bottom half of the inning and we had a new ball game. And you could sense that the Royals were going to pull it out. Garland couldn't find his control and the Royals hit his mistakes. Before he got the hook, Garland gave up 9 ER and 10 H in 5.1 IP.

Elmer Dessens came on in relief of Wood and looked as flawless as he did in the spring. Looks like he's going to be quite a find.

A number of Royals had a big night at the plate. Mark Grudzielanek was 2-for-4 with 3 runs scored. Mike Sweeney was 1-for-3 with 2 BB. Reggie Sanders was 2-for-4 with 1 RBI. Emil Brown was 2-for-4 with 1 RBI. Angel Berroa was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. And John Buck had a huge night plugging the gap twice and going 2-for-3 with 2 RBI.

This team can score runs. Now we need to figure out a way to keep the other team from scoring so many. With Mark Redman pitching well on a rehab assignment in Wichita a couple of nights ago, he appears to be ready to join the rotation. And I'll be interested to see how Runelvys Hernandez does in his first start for Omaha tomorrow. Supposedly he's lost quite a bit of weight and is moving closer to being ready to join the rotation in Kansas City. If both guys are healthy and on their game, they would be a nice addition to a rotation that is in dire need of help.

This afternoon, the Royals send Denny Bautista to the mound. He'll go against newly acquired Javier Vazquez for the Sox.

Angel Berroa BB Watch: 3 games played without any walks.