Millwood Out-duels Elarton

If you want to see the difference between a $12 million a year pitcher versus a $4 million a year pitcher—the game last night at KauffmanStadium was the place to be. Kevin Millwood pitched seven strong innings, only giving up two earned runs and walking one. The Royals manufactured a run against him in the second and Mark Teahen hit a solo home run in the fourth. Besides that, Millwood minimized the damage and the Rangers won 6-2.

Elarton faced a good hitting team and they did what they arepaid to do. Here was Elarton's line: 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1K, in 5.0 IP. He didn't pitch as bad as his line looks, but did throw way too many pitches (96) for only going five innings. Bautista didn't look sharp in relief. He gave up two earned runs in three innings. Affeldt pitched a scoreless ninth.

Seeing Mark Teahen turn on a ball was nice. He seems more relaxed at the plate after ripping Triple-A pitching to shreds. Bell had him hitting eighth in the order last night, probably to help ease Mark back into the majors. But, a third baseman hitting eighth just can't happen for long. We need more production from the position than the eight spot will allow. Hopefully Teahen has things turned around.

As I told you yesterday, Sweeney was in good spirits yesterday. He hugged guys, chatted, and sounded optimistic about his return and about the direction the Royals areheaded. And his presence in the clubhouse seemed to lift everybody's spirit. Of course, we went out and lost the game, but with a new GM coming, and with the addition of Hochevar yesterday, I got the sense that people in the organization are hopeful for the first time in a long time.

I interviewed Bobby Keppel yesterday before the game and I may post it here in the next couple of weeks. Keppel (0-1, 2.70) gets the start tonight against John Koronka (4-3, 4.87).