Series Preview - Royals at Red Sox

Hello. I'm Matt and I like to preview series. Italics are enticing, no? Enjoy!

Series Notes

• I'm fairly certain you'd be more shocked to find a small family of gophers living in Rollie Fingers' mustache than to hear the Royals are in last place. Of course both are true. Other than the Fight'n Showalters the Royals have the worst record in the American League. 
• The Red Sox have the best record in the American League and the second best record in baseball, one and a half games behind the Philadelphia Phillies. The Royals are 21 games behind the Red Sox.
• According to recent research, 12% of Royals fans trust the process, 17% are suspicious of the process, and 71% are pretty sure the process is cheating on them.
  
• The Royals offense is undergoing a bit of a resurgence, led by Alex Gordon and his band, the Unsustainable BABIPs. (They're available for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.) Gordon is for the first time producing some of the results that were expected of him when he was the second overall choice in the '05 draft. Gordon has been up and down between AAA and the Royals for a few years now but this year the light has finally gone on, as he's hitting .302/.370/.475. Or has it? [Dun dun DUN!]
  
• Next week the Royals may look like a different team. That would be because they may actually be one. With the trade deadline around the corner (make a right at the statue of Benito Mussolini in drag, down the hallway and through the door marked "Moose Only") the Royals have a number of players on the block. Being on the block is much less painful than it used to be. Melky Cabrera, every Yankee fans favorite mediocre player, and Jeff Francoeur being the most prominent on the hitting side.
  
• Rumors have connected Francoeur to the Red Sox which allows me to make this statement: Noooooooooo...[falls down a well]
  

Individual game notes after the jump!

Game 1 Notes

- Kyle Davies is John Lackey without the upside. Davies sports a 1-9 record and a 7.32 ERA this season, BUT! In his last three starts Davies is 0-3 with a 6.91 ERA. So he's getting better.

- Speaking of getting better, Jon Lester is returning to the mound. Oh happy day! Lester last saw a mound in mid February but saw his shadow and then there were six more weeks of back injuries. 

- Lester vs. KC: 4-1, 1.22 ERA in 37 IP.

- If Dustin Pedroia gets a hit in this game, it'll bring his hitting streak to 22 games. This will eclipse the longest hitting streak in team history, held by Harry "Donkey" McScrote who hit in 21 straight for the 1743 Boston Scarlett Stockings. No no no, the actual longest Red Sox hitting streak is held by the honorable Dom DiMaggio who hit in 34 straight in 1949.

Game 2 Notes

- Ball four. Andrew Miller has just walked you.

- The secret to Danny Duffy's success is walking lots of people. Also, giving up lots of hits. As he characterizes it, "here it is, blast the ever lov'n hell out of it."

- Ball four. Andrew Miller has just walked your uncle Harold

- Through the magical powers of Ned Yost, the Royals have out-performed their pythagorean projected record by -4!

- Your aunt Bernice just took Andrew Miller off the Monster.

Game 3 Notes

- Did you know? It's easier to count the teams Bruce Chen hasn't pitched for than the ones he has.

- Did you know? That isn't true! Chen has pitched for ten teams in sixteen years so it's kinda not sorta untrue, if you know what I mean.

- If you don't count John Lackeys bad starts he's been really good. I kid, but, and this is the part you won't believe, in Lackey's last three starts he's 3-0 with a 1.86 ERA and 18 Ks in 19.1 innings.

- Bruce Chen threw for the 2003 Red Sox. In 12.1 innings he gave up four homers.

Game 4 Notes

- Know when you read a word over and over and pronounce it in your head a certain way, then you hear it pronounced for the first time and realize how lucky you were that you didn't ever have to actually say the word around anyone you know because you were so so off? I was kinda that way with Luke Hochevar's name. I believe it's pronounced Ho-shaver but in my head I was pronouncing it Smith.

- Speaking of Smith, er, Hochevar, Four pieces of information. 1) He was the first overall pick of the 2006 draft. 2) For his career to date, he has accumulated -0.4 bWAR. 3) He was picked ahead of the following players:

Evan Longoria
Clayton Kershaw
Tim Lincecum
Andrew Miller (who just walked you again)
Daniel Bard

4) Whoops.