The hapless Royals play host to the hapful A's tonight, as the two teams finally meet for the first time all season. Historically, the A's have played well in Kansas City. Unfortunately for the Royals, they haven't, posting a 23-29 home record that only looks good in comparison to their road record of 15-41.
KC sends 21-year old Zack Greinke to the mound. The highly touted Greinke is the least run-supported pitcher in the American League, which partially explains his 3-13 record. Greinke has also struggled in his own right since opening the season with six solid weeks of pitching. Overall, left-handed batters are hitting .337 against Zack for the year, which is enough to make anyone a bit Greinke. The A's counter with Kirk Saarloos, fresh off his complete game almost-shutout of the Tigers. In his last 9 starts, Saarloos is 6-2 with a 3.78 ERA, and Kirk has now gone at least 5 innings in 16 consecutive starts.
Today's "fun fact" is downright eerie. Check out the similarity:
Dan Johnson, 2005:
.319 AVG, .396 OBP, .524 SLG, 1 HR per 23.1 AB
Erubiel Durazo, 2004:
.321 AVG, .396 OBP, .523 SLG, 1 HR per 23.2 AB
Today's starting lineups:
Kendall
Swisher
Crosby
Chavez
Johnson
Kielty
Payton
Melhuse
Scutaro
DeJesus
Long
Sweeney
Stairs
Brown
Teahen
Berroa
Buck
Murphy
EDITOR'S NOTE - Earlier today, Blez put up a thread (below) regarding AN's Community Guidelines, and related new procedures for community monitoring. If you have not seen this thread, please make sure to look at it, as the new system is now in effect.