Game 151: Seattle @ Kansas City

Game Date: September 16, 2008
Royals 6, Mariners 3 / Box Score
WP: Duckworth (3-1), LP: Morrow (2-4), SV: Soria (39)
Royal Home Runs: Buck (9), DeJesus (11), Shealy (5)
Royals Record: 67-84

It's amazing what a five game winning streak can  do, isn't it? The Royals have been so streaky all year, that it would be hard to describe this season. But if they could end the year on a high note by winning the majority of their final eleven games, it would probably be enough to make most fans dream a little about next year.

The lineup looks so different with a healthy Ryan Shealy in the middle of it. And I like Mike Aviles hitting third as well. The Royals hit three home runs last night; Shealy hit his fifth since coming up from Omaha on September 2 and he made a nice play over at first base on a bad throw from Alex Gordon.

Brandon Duckworth won his third game since coming up from Omaha on August 24 by allowing just two earned runs on five hits and two walks in six innings. His fastball had a lot of life to it and it moved all over the place. 

Jose Guillen was a late scratch and after the game Trey Hillman said, "I just made a late managerial decision to not play him." When a reporter asked him if Guillen was hurt, Hillman repeated himself, and then went a little further by saying, "The rest of it will stay in-house, from me, at least. I just decided it was best not to play him." Later, when contacted by telephone, Guillen said he was sick. Does Hillman's answer sound at all like that could be true--or is this yet another incident we can add to Guillen's list of screw ups?

Tonight, Gil Meche (11-11, 4.14) will go up against Ryan Rowland-Smith (4-2, 3.65). Meche is 1-1 in his career against the Mariners with a 5.01 ERA in 23.1 IP. Rowland-Smith is 0-0 against the Royals with a 5.79 ERA in 4.2 IP.