ST Game #4

Game Date: March 2, 2008
Rangers 8, Royals 7 / Box Score
Royals Spring Training Record: 1-3

I like Brian Bannister's thought process regarding the three runs he gave up yesterday in three innings of work. He went in with a goal of pitching to contact, and he did that, without walking anybody. Then he said: "I'm not sharp yet. My pitch that should be on the corner was a couple of inches over the plate today. That's why we’re here for a month before we go play for real." This is just one of the many reasons I've been saying that wins and losses in Spring Training don't mean anything. Everybody is working on something to prepare for the regular season. They aren't thinking about winning and losing. They are thinking about execution and what they need to do to be ready for Opening Day.

It was nice to see Kyle Davies give up just one earned run in three innings of work. And Luke Hochevar pitched two more scoreless innings. In the end though, Joel Peralta gave up three runs and coughed up the lead. I like the fact that our four pitchers didn't walk anybody. We also didn't strike out many (3), which could mean that most of our staff has the same mentality that Bannister does right now--just pitch to contact and refine pitches as camp progresses.

David DeJesus is having quite a spring at the plate. He was 2-for-2 with 2 RBI and a walk. He's hitting .800 through the first four games. Ross Gload was 2-for-3 with an RBI. And the Royals ended up with 10 hits and five walks, striking out just four times.

On the defensive side, Mark Teahen lost a fly ball in the sun in left field which led to a leadoff double in the second inning. That could happen to anybody, and Mark has plenty of time to get used to his new position, but I've been thinking about our defensive alignment and it seems to me that we too many guys playing out of position, or at least, not in their best position. What if we moved Mark Teahen back to third on a permanent basis, while moving Alex Gordon across the diamond to first, making Billy Butler the full-time DH, and making Ross Gload the full-time left fielder? In my opinion, Teahen is a better fielding third baseman than Gordon, Gordon is far better defensively than anybody else we have at first, Butler would be free to concentrate on what he does best--hit, and Gload would be adequate in left field. This would make us stronger defensively since nobody would be playing out of position (with the possible exception of Gload), and we’d have solid backups in Ryan Shealy, Esteban German, and Shane Costa. What do you think?

This afternoon, the Royals play the White Sox. John Bale goes against John Danks. We'll want to be watching Jorge De La Rosa, who is scheduled to come in after Bale since this will be his first appearance of the spring. And the Royals are hoping to get Yasuhiko Yabuta into the game as well.