Hernandez Hit Hard

Game Date: July 31, 2006
Game Score: White Sox 8, Royals 4 / Box Score
WP: Contreras (10-3), LP: Hernandez (2-6)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 37-68

I kept waiting for Bell to throw in the towel. Runelvys Hernandez was getting beat down so far that he may never recover. But Bell let the beating continue—maybe to prove a point about Hernandez’s poor conditioning, or maybe, since Bell’s options were limited, he wanted to see if Runelvys had what it takes to fight his way out of trouble. Whatever the case, it didn’t work.

Hernandez gave up three runs in the first inning on three hits, two walks, and two balks. And then the White Sox brought out the whupping stick and hit three home runs over the next two innings off Hernandez. Alex Cintron, Jermaine Dye, and Joe Crede all went yard. Hernandez’s fastball had almost no life to it. His velocity was up in the 92-93 mph range, but it just didn’t move and his control was awful. He paid the price. His ERA now stands at 7.88 and I can’t help but wonder if maybe the Runelvys Hernandez experiment is about to come to an end in Kansas City.

Unfortunately, Hernandez put the Royals so deep in the hole that they couldn’t get back out of it. They got some good swings against Contreras (who had a ton of life on his fastball). Grudzielanek and Brown both had two hits off of him. Mark Teahen walked twice against him. But they never could come up with the big hit when they needed it. In the second inning, with one out and two runs in, Gathright grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. In the second inning, with two outs and the bases loaded, Shane Costa popped up to third. If we could have taken advantage of one of those situations, the outcome might have been different.

Tonight, our line up should look a little more solid. Newly acquired first baseman Ryan Shealy will surely be playing first. And Reggie Sanders is set to return. Scott Dohmann showed up at Kauffman Stadium last night during the game, so he should be available if necessary tonight. And of course, Odalis Perez takes the mound for the first time in Royal blue. Should be a fun game to watch.

Perez is 4-4 with a 6.83 ERA. He’ll face Mark Buehrle who is 9-9 with a 4.81 ERA. Buehrle has made a career out of facing the Royals. He’s 13-6 against us lifetime with 3.24 ERA.