Royals Series 4/1 - 4/3

[sportsfan8703]

Mon 4/1 Kremer vs Wacha(R)

Tue 4/2 Irvin vs Marsh(R)

Weds 4/3 Burnes vs Ragans(L)

Notes 

- On 8/15/23 Wacha went 5 IP 0ER 3H 5K 1BB at SD.

- Don't let Witt beat us.

- Ragans is an emerging SP with TOR potential and he's a lefty.  

[Spy Fox]

14 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

- On 8/15/23 Wacha went 5 IP 0ER 3H 5K 1BB at SD.

Sheesh, this led me to look at Wacha's game logs. Over the last three years we've lost eight straight games he's started against us. Even though we knocked him out early a couple of those times. 

[Just Regular]

I hope we skip Irvin if tomorrow is a wash out.    Big man's day to pitch is big man's day to pitch, and the nicer 5 days of rest will be met by Wednesday.

The little I've seen of Cole Ragans break out mode reminds me of Erik Bedard.

[CynBeth]

We always see to have bad luck against the Royals.

[dystopia]

3 minutes ago, CynBeth said:

We always see to have bad luck against the Royals.

5-1 against them last year. 

They've been mega-hyped this year but I just don't see it. I see a 75 win ceiling for them.

[Frobby]

I think the Royals should be improved over last year.  Witt is a maturing stud and I like Pasquatino a lot.  Their starting pitching is off to a great start.   Still, they were a 56-win team this year and I don’t foresee a .500+ finish for them.  

[MTMan13]

This is a series we absolutely need to take 2/3 in.

Patience vs Wacha will be key - he doesn't pitch that deep into games, doesn't have an elite strikeout rate, but has never walked that many guys.   

[Morgan423]

1 hour ago, dystopia said:

5-1 against them last year. 

They've been mega-hyped this year but I just don't see it. I see a 75 win ceiling for them.

75 wins would be big for them, they've been horrendous in recent years, and that would be about a 20 game year over year improvement.

I know they're hoping to hit on some of their minor league guys.

[dystopia]

19 minutes ago, Morgan423 said:

75 wins would be big for them, they've been horrendous in recent years, and that would be about a 20 game year over year improvement.

I know they're hoping to hit on some of their minor league guys.

You’re not wrong, but I saw a number of pundits saying they could compete for the division which I find laughable. And 75 wins is their ceiling, I’m thinking more like 65-70 wins as the likely outcome. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I think the Royals should be improved over last year.  Witt is a maturing stud and I like Pasquatino a lot.  Their starting pitching is off to a great start.   Still, they were a 56-win team this year and I don’t foresee a .500+ finish for them.  

It isn't likely but it seems you get one or two teams a year that have a big jump or dropoff and the Royals could easily be that team.

[Billy F-Face3]

No facing Greinke! Yay!

[dystopia]

Gonna make a bold prediction and say they get this game in tonight too.

[sportsfan8703]

Witt and Perez with HR already this series. Pasquitino had a big series versus us last year in KC, and it’s obvious we’ve circled him. He could’ve had a double in the game that Santa hawked down. Hopefully, Irvin can neutralize the lefties they trot out there and pitch to the wall. 

We got pretty deep into their pen last night. Their 5th SP is going today. We need to scrape together 9 IP today and let Burnes give the pen a rest tomorrow. 

Edit - Just looked it up and the KC bullpen blew a save and took and L on Sunday. 

Edited April 2 by sportsfan8703

[Just Regular]

It seemed that way watching last night, and the early Stuff+ readouts confirm - Royals Relievers fastballs are the tamest in MLB by a lot in the early going.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&lg=all&qual=y&season=2024&season1=2024&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&type=36&month=0&sortcol=2&sortdir=asc&stats=rel&pagenum=1

Orioles Bats will have a big adjustment pivoting to Cole Ragans, but one of the notables from the announcing booth the first few games has been the guys talking about the pitching machine they have that can broadcast a picture of the next opponent and simulate their stuff.

[interloper]

I don't think we're getting either of these next two games in.