Royals Hold On to Defeat White Sox

Game Date: September 1, 2006
Game Score: Royals 7, White Sox 5 / Box Score
WP: Hernandez (5–8), LP: Contreras (11–7), SV: Nelson (5)
Royal Home Runs: Teahen (18)
Royals Record: 50-86

Fifty wins is hardly a reason to celebrate—unless of course you wanted to show up the many naysayers who thought that your team might not even hit forty earlier in the season. Remember that? The Royals were being compared to the 1962 New York Mets—a team that went 40–162. We’ve hardly turned the corner, but given that we are 11–5 in the last month against teams in playoff contention, maybe we have reason to be optimistic. But, getting better for the long haul still comes down to consistent pitching.

For only the second time in 16 starts, Runelvys Hernandez has strung two good starts back to back. Following up with his shutout in Toronto last Saturday, Hernandez shut down the White Sox last night—giving up one earned run on five hits in six innings. Unfortunately, now that Hernandez appears to be getting on track, Jimmy Gobble is struggling in relief. Last night, after Hernandez left with a 7–1 lead, Gobble gave up three earned runs in 1.1 innings. Joe Nelson didn’t look good either as he attempted to close out the game. He walked three guys before finally nailing down the save. But at least he isn’t continually blowing games like Burgos was.

The Royals took advantage of three errors by the White Sox in the fourth inning and they jumped out to a 7–0 lead. David DeJesus was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Mark Teahen was 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBI. And Ryan Shealy was 2-for-4.

With only 26 games remaining in the season, many of which are against playoff contending teams, I’d like to see the Royals find a way to get to 60 wins. They’d only have to .384 ball (10–16) the rest of the season to pull it off. They are 19–30 since the break (.387), so 60 wins seems realistic. And 60 doesn’t sound nearly as bad as 58 or 59.

Tonight, Odalis Perez (1–2, 5.73) goes against Mark Buehrle (11–11, 4.71). Perez is 0–2 in his career against the White Sox with a 6.75 ERA. Buehrle is 14–6 with a 3.22 against the Royals.

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