Ponson, Number Four Starter

If there is one thing that you can expect from a Sidney Ponson start, it is that you should prepare for the unexpected. Despite hanging a breaking ball to Brandon Inge early which was promptly deposited over the fence, Ponson had great movement on his pitches today. He worked efficiently against the respected Tigers lineup, allowing six hits and zero walks in eight innings pitched. Yes, he gave up three earned runs, but he really only got hit hard on the Inge homer. Ponson exited after the eighth having thrown 101 pitches, in the process striking out seven while throwing a mere 28 balls.

Had the Royals managed a modicum of offense today, Ponson would have gotten the win he deserved. Instead, finding themselves facing the third sinkerballer in three days, the Royals struggled to score runs, despite drawing six walks. Much of that had to do with the four hits the Royals managed against the Tigers staff, three against Galarraga and one a solo shot off of Fernando Rodney by the previously ice-cold Mike Aviles.

The Royals offense simply is not scoring enough runs to win consistently. This weekend they also had the misfortune of facing pitchers heavily reliant upon sinking two-seamers* with the wind blowing out. Ponson, also a sinkerballer, performed well today and the wind effect was marginalized as a result, but flyball pitcher Kyle Davies got hit very hard, surrendering two two-run shots in his start. While the Royals had a shot this afternoon, Davies's flyball tendencies left the meager Royals offense without a puncher's chance.

*Great pregame with Frank White, by the way. As a result of the HD-less nature of some of the recent Royals broadcasts, I've been watching some of the opposition's broadcasts out of HD-dependence. Frank White is worlds better than the other color commentators out there. Rick Manning in particular seems shockingly ill-informed, knowing very little about the other teams, and the Indians are in-division. He has repeatedly referred to Kyle Davies as Kyle Davis, which is simply ridiculous, and he asserted that Hochevar didn't pitch well enough in spring training to earn a spot over Horacio Ramirez. The Hochevar bit I can understand because who really gives a damn about Spring Training stats and you have to talk a lot over the course of a broadcast, but "Davis"? He can read the roster sheet, right?

I would imagine the wind won't be blowing as hard later in the summer as the jet stream moves further north neutralizing weather systems fairly significantly, but early signs post renovation are sort of scary for Davies if this wind creeps up again on the day of one of his starts.