The title of this post alone says enough.
The guy no one expected anything of. The guy who was tossed aside by the Royals (the Royals!). The guy who entered the game with a 22.50 earned-run average. The guy is Kyle Snyder, and he pitched a -- dare I say it? -- great game yesterday.
Snyder lowered his ERA from a "I should be pitching in the Sally League" 22.50 to a "I'd the ace of the Royals' staff" 10.29 ERA. Snyder went five innings -- it was conservative on Terry Francona's part because Snyder had only thrown 67 pitches. He gave up three earned runs, two of them coming on solo shots. And he allowed only four hits, which is quite impressive.
But the thing I was most impressed with was his control. Many, many times he would start the hitter off 0-2 and try to get him to chase -- and they did. Snyder struck out six and walked not one batter. Talk about impressive!
All the stats considered, I can't find a Matt Clement start from this season that is hands down better than Snyder's start yesterday. Maybe this game would count. Clement went six innings, gave up one run on two hits and four walks but also struck out three -- against Toronto, no less.
I think Snyder has earned at least one more start. Like I was hinting at, he's no worse than Clement -- atleast for now he isn't. It's nice to see Curt Schilling is by his side, also. They were saying yesterday how Schilling has worked out with Snyder in Arizona in the past.
What's with the bullpen? One day they look like they should be pitching for a high school JV team, the next I mistaked them for the Chicago White Sox (Javier Lopez, ya know?). Jermaine Van Buren (who was sent to Pawtucket today; Craig Hansen called up), Lopez, Rudy Seanez and Mike Timlin combined for four innings of scoreless ball. The four of them allowed only three hits, a walk and struck out three.
Maybe -- just maybe -- we can keep this strong bullpen alive and see what they can do.