Monday, March 26, 2007

Greinke Named No. 3 Starter

Game Date: March 25, 2007
Brewers 7, Royals 6 / Box Score
Royals Spring Training Record: 9-14

After the game yesterday, Buddy Bell announced that Zack Greinke had won a spot in the Royals’ rotation. He’ll be the number three guy since Luke Hudson will probably start the season on the DL. Greinke will be behind Gil Meche and Odalis Perez. Jorge De La Rosa is slotted as the number four guy. The final spot is between Brian Bannister and Brandon Duckworth.

Yesterday, Greinke threw five innings and gave up just one earned run on four hits and one walk. He struck out seven. With an ERA of 3.32 this spring, Greinke is showing signs of becoming the pitcher we’d hoped for a couple of seasons ago. When Hudson and Elarton come back, Greinke will probably be moved down to the number five slot, and I like his chances going against the back end of other teams’ rotations.

The game yesterday had a bit of everything. Joey Gathright hit an inside the park home run. Mark Teahen lost a ball in the sun and it dropped in for an RBI double. Tony Pena Jr. made two errors, including a throwing error that cost the Royals two runs. And former Royal Tony Graffanino was ejected for yelling at home plate umpire Travis Reininger from the bench over a called third strike.

At the plate, Alex Gonzalez was 2-for-2 and raised his average to .462. And John Buck was 2-for-3 raising his average to .360.

The Royals play the Padres tonight. Mark Grudzielanek is scheduled to make his first appearance in a game since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on March 5.

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