Series Six - Kansas City Royals vs. Cleveland Indians - April 18, 19, 20, 21

["Boobie" Gibson]

CLEVELAND INDIANS (13-5), (6-3) AWAY
vs.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS (11-7), (8-5) HOME


Monday, April 18 8:10 PM - W

CLE - Carlos Carrasco (1-1) 4.85 ERA
vs.
KC - Kyle Davies (1-1) 9.00 ERA

Tuesday, April 19 8:10 PM - L

CLE - Jeanmar Gomez (0-1) 10.38 ERA
vs.
KC - Bruce Chen (2-0) 2.37 ERA

Wednesday, April 20 8:10 PM - W

CLE - Justin Masterson (4-0) 1.71 ERA
vs.
KC - Luke Hochevar (2-1) 4.21 ERA

Thursday, April 21 8:10 PM

CLE - Josh Tomlin (3-0) 2.75 ERA
vs.
KC - Sean O'Sullivan (1-1) 5.00 ERA

Projected line-ups

CLEVELAND INDIANS

1. Grady Sizemore CF - .357
2. Asdrubal Cabrera SS - .284
3. Shin-Soo Choo RF - .214
4. Carlos Santana C - .210
5. Travis Hafner DH - .351
6. Orlando Cabrera 2B - .257
7. Michael Brantley LF - .328
8. Matt LaPorta 1B - .259
9. Jack Hannahan 3B - .240

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

1. Mike Aviles 2B
2. Melky Cabrera CF
3. Alex Gordon LF
4. Billy Butler DH
5. Kila Ka'aihue 1B
6. Jeff Francoeur RF
7. Wilson Betemit 3B
8. Matt Treanor C
9. Alcides Escobar SS

 

["Boobie" Gibson]

Initial thoughts? How the hell are the Royals 10-5....................

 

[Pyro]

We will take 3 out of the 4.

 

[aislepathlight]

Can anyone pass out some knowledge about Jeanmar Gomez?

 

[Chris]

Can anyone pass out some knowledge about Jeanmar Gomez?

Well, he did pitch for us last year.

 

[jerzy234]

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[Gimme Some Mo]

Well, since it looks like Grady is our leadoff hitter, where do we hit Brantley? I know most say hit him 9th so he is like "another leadoff guy."

I would hit him 7th. My reasoning is simple. I would rather have him hitting with guys on base than I would LaPorta and/or Hannahan. There will be more RBI opportunities for him hitting 7th than there would be if he hits 9th.

This is also why I wanted Grady to hit 6th. His HR and double today could have caused much more damage if he was hitting 6th instead of 1st. There aren't going to be very many opportunities for Grady to drive in runs with Hannahan and LaPorta hitting 8th and 9th (which could be a good reason to hit Brantley 9th). If Grady hit 6th, he would have plenty more RBI chances with Choo, Santana, and Hafner hitting in front of him.

 

[tedginnjr]

Am I the only one wondering how KC is 10-5 when they have one starter with an ERA under 4 in this series?

 

[czvo]

Initial thoughts? How the hell are the Royals 10-5....................

As a Royals fan, I've had trouble figuring that out myself. Even a couple weeks in, who would have thought the Indians and Royals would be the top 2 teams in the division? I'll be pulling for KC, but if they can't win the division (which they won't), then I hope Cleveland can pull it off. I've always liked Cleveland. They're the only team in the division I don't dislike.

 

[Pyro]

As a Royals fan, I've had trouble figuring that out myself. Even a couple weeks in, who would have thought the Indians and Royals would be the top 2 teams in the division? I'll be pulling for KC, but if they can't win the division (which they won't), then I hope Cleveland can pull it off. I've always liked Cleveland. They're the only team in the division I don't dislike.

That's because the Indians and the Royals aren't cocky assholes like the 3 other teams.

 

[Gimme Some Mo]

That's because the Indians and the Royals aren't cocky assholes like the 3 other teams.

I don't mind the Twins either.

Can't stand the Sox and Tigers though.

Royals have been good because they have a few guys that are hitting out of their minds right now.....

Alex Gordon (.365)
Francoeur (.328)
Butler (.352)
Betemit (.371)

^^ That has a much smaller chance of being maintained all season than our starting pitching continuing to pitch this well does.

 

[Pyro]

Nah, Twins think they are all that because they have been winning lately.

 

[jonmchugh]

Well, since it looks like Grady is our leadoff hitter, where do we hit Brantley? I know most say hit him 9th so he is like "another leadoff guy."

I would hit him 7th. My reasoning is simple. I would rather have him hitting with guys on base than I would LaPorta and/or Hannahan. There will be more RBI opportunities for him hitting 7th than there would be if he hits 9th.

This is also why I wanted Grady to hit 6th. His HR and double today could have caused much more damage if he was hitting 6th instead of 1st. There aren't going to be very many opportunities for Grady to drive in runs with Hannahan and LaPorta hitting 8th and 9th (which could be a good reason to hit Brantley 9th). If Grady hit 6th, he would have plenty more RBI chances with Choo, Santana, and Hafner hitting in front of him.

i agree with you 100%. While it was great to see Grady get that dinger and double today, he needs to be batting lower in the lineup. 7th would be ideal behind Pronk who's been off to a good start. I just don't get it. I was listening to Chris Fedor today and he said the same thing. Brantley has been doing good so far this year and Grady is not your typical lead-off hitter.

 

["Boobie" Gibson]

I don't mind the Twins either.

Can't stand the Sox and Tigers though.

Royals have been good because they have a few guys that are hitting out of their minds right now.....

Alex Gordon (.365)
Francoeur (.328)
Butler (.352)
Betemit (.371)

^^ That has a much smaller chance of being maintained all season than our starting pitching continuing to pitch this well does.

Eh, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler will hit well this season. Gordon definitely won't hit for that high of an average, but I expect both of them to have solid seasons. Francoeur and Betemit? Probably not...

 

["Boobie" Gibson]

Well, since it looks like Grady is our leadoff hitter, where do we hit Brantley? I know most say hit him 9th so he is like "another leadoff guy."

I would hit him 7th. My reasoning is simple. I would rather have him hitting with guys on base than I would LaPorta and/or Hannahan. There will be more RBI opportunities for him hitting 7th than there would be if he hits 9th.

This is also why I wanted Grady to hit 6th. His HR and double today could have caused much more damage if he was hitting 6th instead of 1st. There aren't going to be very many opportunities for Grady to drive in runs with Hannahan and LaPorta hitting 8th and 9th (which could be a good reason to hit Brantley 9th). If Grady hit 6th, he would have plenty more RBI chances with Choo, Santana, and Hafner hitting in front of him.

1. Grady 9. Brantley

Grady is a better player than Brantley, although Brantley is doing very well so far. Grady is significantly faster than Brantley, although Brantley has decent speed. It's like when any player on any team goes down with an injury, they are never going to lose their spot because of an injury. They are going to lose their spot because of THEIR play, not somebody else's. Brantley will be on base quite often for Grady, and it will really bring up the production from the bottom of our lineup. Grady DOES strike out a lot, which to me is a big deal, but he also hits a lot of lead-off HR's to get things going.

I'm not just saying that because he hit a HR today, but there have been numerous occasions in the past where he has taken the pitcher deep on the first AB of the game. That really gets the team fired up.

i agree with you 100%. While it was great to see Grady get that dinger and double today, he needs to be batting lower in the lineup. 7th would be ideal behind Pronk who's been off to a good start. I just don't get it. I was listening to Chris Fedor today and he said the same thing. Brantley has been doing good so far this year and Grady is not your typical lead-off hitter.

Wait, why does he NEED to be batting lower? Again, Grady strikes out a lot which is a problem, but that's really the only downfall of having him as your lead-off hitter.

---

Bottom line is, guys, Grady is our lead-off hitter and he is going to be our lead-off hitter. We could talk about this for days upon days, but there really is no point...

Unless Acta comes out with the lineup tomorrow and Brantley is hitting #1, there is really no point in discussing it IMO.