Preseason Favorites

Now that the Royals are facing slightly more pedestrian pitching, I think a truer form of what we can expect to see is on display. Sure, the Royals are not going to put up ten-spots on the board every day, but this team would seem able to get to lesser pitchers, like Fausto Carmona*.

*Perhaps Royals fans would like to console themselves with the idea that Fausto is actually good, but Carmona's control has absolutely abandoned him. For someone without the ability to overpower hitters** (even in his solid 2007 campaign, he struck out a mere 137 batters in 215 innings), control issues are insanely destructive, and 2008 saw those issues come to the fore, walking more batters (70) than he struck out (58) in his 120 innings. Even his FIP in his impressive 2007 season indicated a high degree of luck was involved in his success, as it sat at 3.94 while he managed an ERA of 3.06. His BABIP in 2007 only supported that, as his .281 BABIP in 2007 corrected itself in 2008 (.297), which just happened to coincide with an astronomical rise in ERA and WHIP--5.44 and 1.62, respectively. Even his FIP of 4.89 in 2008 suggests mediocrity and not simply bad luck was largely responsible for his substantial backslide. Maybe his control returns, but that did not look to be the case this evening.

**See: Zack Greinke this evening, whose control was not always there, but he still managed zero runs allowed because of his domination when it mattered.

Carmona struggled with control all night, and the Royals were actually very patient, earning four walks, working counts full left and right, and driving his pitch count up to 106 through five innings. Unlike with Greinke (whose pitch count rose as he struggled with location, but at no point seemed especially hittable, as his nine strikeouts in five innings would support), Carmona was forced to work for every out. It seemed like Coco Crisp was especially diligent in his duty to get on base, drawing two walks off of Carmona, fouling off pitch after pitch until he got something he could let by.

The Royals patient approach at the plate led to a three-run first, and it was smooth sailing from there.

More importantly, the seemingly universal preseason favorites in the Central, the Indians, would appear to have fairly major issues with their pitching staff, which I certainly thought to be the case from Jump Street, as they were relying on Cliff Lee and a bunch of also-rans--and Cliff Lee was a year removed from being less than an also-ran. The Indians' solution to this glaring deficiency in the offseason was to bring in Carl Pavano to flesh out the rotation. Seriously? It didn't work for the Yankees in a very public way. (Note to Cleveland brass: You are not the Red Sox. You do not have the luxury of taking a chance on a pitcher or two, hoping for a rebound while your staff consists of almost-weres and has-beens. Trust me, I'm a Royals fan.) You should have signed another one of Alyssa Milano's exes if you wanted a chance to see her because she has long since forgotten about your new oft-injured third starter who requested to have a DL signifier stitched onto his jersey.

Maybe the Carl Pavano-led Indians prove me wrong, but I'd be surprised.

Back to the Royals, though, I hope these two control-challenged outings from Soria are merely byproducts of the cold and having to wear sleeves. That seems to have been the common denominator, but I don't know if I can take many more of these rocky ninths, but ultimately, he has Mexicuted nonetheless.

How about that slow curve, Jhonny?