Meche's ERA Dips Below 2.00

Game Date: May 14, 2007
Royals 2, A's 1 / Box Score
WP: Gobble (2-1), LP: Duchscherer (3-3), SV: Soria (7)
Royal Home Runs: Buck (6)
Royals Record: 13-26

Kevin Appier won 169 games in his career and he had a career 3.74 ERA. For those of you who are too young to remember, Apes was nearly as dominant as Gil Meche has been so far this season. But with the possible exception of Paul Byrd's 17-11 season in 2002 with the Royals, we haven't seen a starter around here like Meche since Apes. Of course, Appier did it for nearly a decade, and who knows whether Meche can keep this up, but for now it feels good to have a legitimate ace, doesn't it? 

He tossed seven innings yesterday against Haren and didn't give up an earned run--lowering his ERA to 1.91. He got out of trouble in the first (after giving up a lead off triple), second (he got a ground ball double play to end the inning), and seventh (after Mark Teahen misplayed a ball and Mark Ellis ended up a third--then Teahen threw him out at home) and he kept us in the game.

During the offseason, I kept saying that I hoped the Royals would sign a couple of innings eaters--guys like Jeff Suppan. Those are the types of guys who keep you in ball games and give you a chance to win--even against a top notch starter like Dan Haren. That's exactly what happened last night. Meche kept us in the game long enough for John Buck to hit a two run home run, and give us a 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth.

Brandon Duckworth, Jimmy Gobble, and Joakim Soria did their part. Well, actually Duckworth struggled and he walked the first two guys he faced, but Gobble picked him up. And Soria found a way to shut the door on the A's, even though he gave up a run.

We missed some opportunities to score early. The first one came when Shane Costa struck out with the bases loaded and one out in the first inning. In fact, he struck three times last night. I like Costa. I think he plays the game the right way. He hustles, he doesn't over-swing, and he accepts his role on the team. But why in the world did Bell have him hitting fifth, behind Sweeney? The way John Buck is swinging the bat right now, he'd be a better fit there. Even Esteban German would be a better fit there.

We missed another scoring opportunity in the seventh when we had runners at the corner with one out. John Buck hit a ball to Eric Chavez who threw out German at home. Buck needs to find a way to get the ball in the air, deep enough to score the run in that situation. But again, the advantage to having Meche on the mound was that he kept us in the game long enough to give us another chance to score. And we did.

Tonight, Brian Bannister (0-2, 4.60) will go against Joe Kennedy (1-2, 2.83). Bannister has never faced the A's. Kennedy is 3-0 against the Royals with a 4.33 ERA.