The Royals starting rotation is in complete disarray. The Royals asked Kyle Snyder to drive to KC from Omaha to make the start Thursday night. Snyder was a high draft pick for the Royals, but he has struggled with injuries over the years.
Snyder pitched well in the first, and the Royals staked him to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Ranger's starter Cameron Loe wasn't fooling anybody and the Royals were able to string together several well hit singles to jump to the early lead. The Rangers came back with 3 runs in the second inning.
The real trouble began in the third with two outs when third baseman Mark Teahen booted an easy grounder. Sndyer had struck out the first two batters, but Teahen stayed back on a slow roller, then at the last minute trid to backhand the ball and wasn't able to field it cleanly. After that error, which should have ended the inning, the Rangers came alive. Snyder didn't survive the inning and Jeremy Affldt didn't fare much better. The Rangers scored 8 runs, taking a seemingly insurmountable 11-4 lead.
Surprisingly, the Royals did to the Rangers what had been done to them so many times this season: they came right back. They were able to score four runs in the bottom of the third to pull with four. At this point, the game was already two hours old and we were only through three innings.
The Royals' bats stayed hot throughout the game and they were able to score in the fourth and fifth innings to chip away at the lead. Heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Royals trailed 11-10.
Then the fireworks came. Matt Stairs had the big blow - a towering three run homerun that almost hit a passing 747. The Royals scored 6 and led 16-11. The Rangers were able to score one more, but the Royals held on for a wild victory.
It was quite a beginning to the Dayton Moore era. Moore officially took the reins of the Royals Thursday. He was introduced at a somewhat tense press conference earlier in the day. Instead of focusing on the future and what Moore had in mind for the Royals, the media instead pounded David and Dan Glass about how the firing of Allard Baird took place and whether they meddle in baseball decisions. Moore was probably wonder what he had gotten himself into.
The Bell Curve
Actual Record 15-42
Expected Record 16-41
Runs Scored 231
Runs Allowed 370
Projected Record 43-119
Pythagorean Record 46-116
Pythagorean Winning% 0.28
Let's go get 'em
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