Royals Go Quietly

Brandon Duckworth might just be a keeper in this rotation. He gave up 2 ER in 5.2 IP—one of which shouldn't have been earned (Costa botched a play in left field in the first inning that wasn't ruled an error). Duckworth walked more guys (3) than I'd like to see, and he threw more pitches (94) than necessary in such a short outing, but given the condition of our rotation, we've got to be happy that we have a guy who has movement on all three of his pitches (fastball, curve ball, and change up). He doesn't throw hard, 87-90 with his fastball, but even his fastball tails quite a bit. The best thing about him is, he seems to understand how to pitch. He's not just throwing pitches and hoping for outs.

Here's what Bell had to say about Duckworth's outing: "I thought it was pretty good. Just from a pitching standpoint, I think he knows what he's really doing out there. He's in and out and I thought he did a great job. I think it was definitely an upgrade.

"I think he did a good job. I just didn't want him to get too deep in the game not being at this level for a while."

Unfortunately, the Royals could only manage one run off Jered Weaver (Jeff's younger brother) and even that wasn't earned. And when Sisco gave up two more runs (what in the world is he still doing in the major leagues with an ERA of 7.81?), we were done. We only managed five hits for the entire game in which we lost 4-1.

Mark Redman (2-4, 6.06) goes against Kelvim Escobar (5-7. 3.72) tonight.