The nine runs were the most the Royals have scored this season.  Mark Grudzielanek returned from five games off with a back ailment and banged three doubles and a single. Mark Teahen ripped a two-run triple in the eighth inning to seal the win and finished with three RBIs.

Royals' starter Brett Tomko was knocked out in the fourth inning after surrendering five runs, but the bullpen was able to shut down the Rangers.

Four relievers were brought into the mix with Ron Mahay getting the win relieving Tomko, Jimmy Gobble, Ramon Ramirez and Joakim Soria, all combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

						1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9				R		H		E
				NYY (4-5)		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0				0		7		0
				KC (6-2)		0		0		0		0		2		2		0		0		X				4		8		0
			W: Z. Greinke (2-0, 0.60); L: K. Farnsworth (0-1, 5.06); SV: J. Gobble (1) HR: KC: J. Buck (1).

KANSAS CITY -- There was joy in Mudville. Mighty KC did not strike out.

Zack Greinke and the Kansas City Royals slogged through mud and rain to dunk the New York Yankees, 4-0, on Wednesday night, as 19,007 fans huddled under umbrellas, plastic gear and the overhangs at Kauffman Stadium.

Greinke held the Yankees to six hits in eight innings, and the Royals' hot start reached 6-2.

In the constant rain, there were mud-caked uniforms, soggy gloves and heavy footing. Yet the game, and Greinke, kept grinding on, inning after inning.

"The field was in bad shape, but we were playing in it like that already, and it wasn't like it was that much worse than the inning before," Greinke said.

The threat of rain prompted Yankees manager Joe Girardi to scratch Ian Kennedy as his starting pitcher. Instead, he decided to start the game with relievers and use Kennedy after a rain delay, if there was one.

Royals manager Trey Hillman was informed about the pitching change about 10 minutes before game time and told his players in the dugout.

"I didn't see any panic in anyone -- I understood why Joe chose to go that way with the weather situation tonight," Hillman said.

Despite the gloomy weather forecast, he decided to stay with Greinke.

"From a managerial standpoint, you sit there and ask yourself if you did the right thing, and you really don't know until a few hours later," Hillman said. "I'm glad we stuck with our starter, and Zack pitched outstanding."

Not that it was easy.

Rain began falling in the second inning, and radar reports looked ominous. In fact, the steady rain never stopped, and the grounds crew kept pouring a drying compound onto infield puddles.

Brian Bruney started for the Yankees and worked two innings. Then came Billy Traber for one inning. Kyle Farnsworth followed him and gave up a booming blast in the fifth.

John Buck peered through the raindrops and drove Farnsworth's first pitch of the inning over the left-center-field wall. It banged into the back wall of the waterfall and plopped, appropriately, into the pool. The drive was estimated at 439 feet.

"It's tough to see, so if you get a pitch, jump on it," Buck said. "That was my approach today. He came after me, and luckily, I made good contact."

The Royals sloshed on. Joey Gathright put down a bunt single, and Mark Grudzielanek walked. Gathright was a muddy out trying to steal third base, but Mark Teahen walked and Jose Guillen lined an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

The hit was only the fifth in 32 at-bats for the slumping Guillen.

In the sixth, with rain still falling but no delay in effect, Girardi summoned the sidetracked Kennedy to the mound. He immediately gave up two runs as Alex Gordon walked, Ross Gload pounded an RBI double, Buck singled and Tony Pena hit a run-scoring groundout.

Greinke got tougher as he went along. Through eight innings, he had thrown 107 pitches and was willing to finish up.

"I believe he could have probably finished the game, but I just don't think it's the prudent thing to do in your second start in these conditions," Hillman said.

Out of the bullpen came Yasuhiko Yabuta, the Japanese import. He got an out, but Alex Rodriguez lined a single off the glove of Pena, the shortstop, and countryman Hideki Matsui walked.

With lefty slugger Jason Giambi holding a bat, Hillman waved for lefty Jimmy Gobble.

"In that situation, coming in to face Giambi, I knew I had to put a slider in a good spot because he can beat you with one pitch, or at least get the game a lot closer," Gobble said.

The strategy worked perfectly, as Giambi hit a towering infield popout. Gobble struck out Jose Molina, and he had a save.

So the Royals stood at 6-2 in the American League Central.

"Did the White Sox win tonight?" Billy Butler asked.

The answer was no.

"That means we're in sole possession of first place," Butler with a beaming smile.

Yep, somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout. It's right here in Mudville.

1. The Royals are playing very well

2. Pitching is the key

3. Grienke looks good

4. Pitching has been fabulous

5. In case there is any doubt, pitching is the key.

So we have established that pitching is a key component. I believe that sucess breeds success. It will be interesting and kind of a nail biter when John Bale, matches up with Andy Petite.

Middel relief is doing an EXCELLENT job so far for powder blue, Thus the Royals atop the division 6-2.

I imagine that they are going to drop this one, however they are showing some promise and even occasional power, with the likes of Buck nailing one out of the park in not so great conditions at the old "K" last night.

I gotta get me some tickets.................................................

Go Blue, see you on T.V. tonight

On a chilly nasty, almost fall like season opener the Royals played some small ball in order to regain themselves.

The only worry for me, is the inconsistency of Guillen, Pena Jr, and John Buck, which is not getting off to good starts.

Guillen had his opps, but didnt come through

Joakim Soria comes in in the 9th inning, Flys out Melky,Flys out Damon, and with the fans on there feet, Cabrera, grounds to German,

In front of a capacity,renovated Royals stadium, The Royals hung in there ground it out and wins

All pitchers combined struck out a total of 11 hitters, including A-Rod 4 times, Not bad I say.

So Yes, All in All, off to a great start for the Royals, sitting at 5-2, and winning 5-2 today, there is not a town that would not be proud of there team.

Butler is going to be a perennial favorite of the Royals, very soon, with a great start. He wore that Twins astro turf out in center field, with 2 doubles and a single. All this and he has the power to hit at least 40 over the fence.

Butler is going to be the future hero of the Royals, for a long time to come.

Today we reintroduced ourselves to Dennis Reyes, although I don't think there is any particular love loss, as a former Royal, its good to see him still pitching.

Royals were ahead 3-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, and Soria came in after Gobble, and Nunez shut them down in the 8th.

Up comes Morneau, and down on strikes,  Next Delmon Young sees the pitcher whiff him for the 2nd strikeout, the Jason Kubel makes it 3 strikeouts, strik out the side.

Again, nice job for the pitching staff. Soria, whiffs the side, and the bullpen is doing a wonderful job, again.

Royals come home 4-2. What a great job

A win today cancelled out the 3 game sweep. I am personally glad to see them win this rubber game

No worries yet, I hope.

It says alot that we even got out of there with 1 win, but all three really makes for excitement here in Kansas city.

The Royals have the jump start that they needed and the pitching has been really solid averaging less than 3 runs per game.

Good Stuff Guys

DETROIT (AP)--The Kansas City Royals were supposed to provide a perfect launching pad for the Detroit Tigers highly touted offense.

The Royals pitchers did not cooperate, and the Tigers failed to launch.Zack Greinke had another outstanding pitching performance for Kansas City, allowing one run in seven innings as the Royals finished off a season-opening sweep with a 4-1 win on Thursday.

The Tigers and their $138.7 million payroll managed five runs in the series, including just one in the final 21 innings.

"We stunk," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We look like we're just going up there and giving at-bats away without any purpose. The manager's responsible for the preparation and the performance of the club, and right now, we don't look very prepared.

"We just look like dead."

Detroit is hitting .206 with 24 strikeouts in three games.

Here is the Wrap

This win, and I know we are so fresh in the season, is the ticket for K.C. Fans, the reason I say this is that we have been the perennial loser for so long in April. This April, should be a great start on a long awaited comeback for the team that oh so needs it.

Here is the story

DETROIT -- Brian Bannister came up with the perfect thing to give the powerful lineup boasted by the Detroit Tigers.

Nothing.

Bannister pitched seven shutout innings against the Tigers on Wednesday and the Royals' bullpen finished up in a three-hit, 4-0 victory as 32,348 fans watched at sunny Comerica Park.

Leo Nunez and Joakim Soria each tossed a scoreless inning to give the Royals a second straight win over the highly-hyped Tigers. This is the first time since 2003 that the Royals have started the season with two wins. Maybe it's an omen: that '03 club won its first nine games and spent much of the season in first place.

All three Tigers hits were singles by leadoff batter Edgar Renteria. Which means that Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, Gary Sheffield and Co. had exactly zero.

"As a staff now, we know they have a lot of expectations, and we want to put a lot of pressure on them early in the season and just establish that we can play with them," Bannister said.

OK, then, that's been established.

Bannister gave up two of Renteria's singles, one to lead off the first inning and one to start the fourth. Neither hit led to anything. In fact, Bannister issued no walks and faced just 22 batters in his seven innings -- one over the minimum.

Bannister said his approach was pretty simple.

"I have good control, and I try and just mix it up," he said. "Pitch in, pitch out, pitch hard, pitch soft. Just pitch out there. It's hard to see on TV sometimes, but I'm really changing a lot of stuff each time."

Certainly there was virtually nothing on which to fault him.

"He got a couple out over the plate and got some foul balls on those that actually helped him out in the count a couple of times," manager Trey Hillman said. "They weren't able to square it up.

"Mr. Renteria had a good day, obviously, but other than that, Banny was in control and did a great job."

So too, for a while, did Tigers starter Kenny Rogers.

The Royals kept folding against The Gambler. For three innings, he held them helpless, nine up and nine down.

Joey Gathright finally got an infield single to open the fourth, but the game remained scoreless through the fifth.

Three doubles in the Royals' sixth changed that. Mark Grudzielanek doubled down the right-field line. After a second out, Jose Guillen doubled inside the left-field line, notching his first hit and his first RBI as a Royal.

Billy Butler belted another double to deep center and Guillen came home for a 2-0 lead.

"When you can drive in runs with two outs, you're going to be a pretty dad-gummed good team," Butler said.

In fact, all four runs scored after two were out.

The Royals added two runs in the eighth against reliever Zach Miner. Gathright led off with a double, Grudzielanek walked and, after two strikeouts, Butler and Teahen each had an RBI single.

Butler was out in a rundown after rounding second base, but the Royals were up, 4-0.

This was Bannister's day.

"When big league pitchers make big league pitches, they get people out," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "He made more big league pitches today."

Rogers was equally impressed.

"He was great," Rogers said. "Our lineup's very good, but he pitched fantastic. Outpitched me by far. He's fun to watch. ... He pitches. He doesn't throw. He's out there moving the ball around quite a bit and changing speeds. That's what it takes."

Bannister really didn't expect to go out for the eighth inning after throwing 85 pitches, 53 of them strikes.

"We haven't gone that far yet in Spring Training yet or anything, and I have so much confidence in our bullpen," he said. "Noonie threw great the other day and so did Soria, and it's fun to just hand the ball to those guys and just have them finish it for you."

The victory comes on top of Monday's 11-inning, 5-4 victory in which Gil Meche, Brett Tomko, Nunez and Soria combined to harness the menacing lineup.

"Our pitching's been unbelievable the first two games," Butler said. "Banny threw unbelievable. I was just sitting there impressed with every pitch he threw. I mean that's a big pick-me-up when we don't do anything for him in the first five."

Hillman is already 2-0 in his new venue, managing in the U.S. after all those years in Japan. He's beaten the mighty Tigers twice. The Royals are two games over .500 for the first time since April 11, 2004, when they were 4-2.

Pretty easy, huh, skip?

"No, it's definitely not the time to get cocky," Hillman said. "Actually it's just the reverse. It's time to stay humble. We've got to face a very good pitcher and a very good lineup again tomorrow."

Here are the #s of the 4-0 win

 

Kansas City AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Gathright, CF 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 .250 Grudzielanek, 2B 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 .571 Gordon, 3B 4 0 0 0 0 3 4 .111 Guillen, RF 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 .125 Butler, DH 4 0 2 2 0 0 2 .333 Teahen, LF 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 .286 Gload, 1B 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .286 Buck, C 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .222 Pena, SS 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .111 Totals 33 4 8 4 3 8 13   BATTING 2B: Grudzielanek (1, Rogers), Guillen (1, Rogers), Butler (1, Rogers), Gathright (1, Miner). TB: Gathright 3; Grudzielanek 2; Guillen 2; Butler 3; Teahen; Gload. RBI: Guillen (1), Butler 2 (2), Teahen (1). 2-out RBI: Guillen; Butler 2; Teahen. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Butler; Teahen. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING CS: Gload (1, 2nd base by Bazardo/Rodriguez). FIELDING DP: 2 (Gordon-Grudzielanek-Gload, Pena-Grudzielanek-Gload).		Detroit AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Renteria, SS 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 .444 Polanco, 2B 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 Sheffield, DH 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 Ordonez, RF 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .250 Cabrera, 3B 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .125 Guillen, 1B 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 .429 Rodriguez, C 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .125 Jones, J, LF 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 Inge, CF 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 .167 Totals 28 0 3 0 1 8 7   BATTING TB: Renteria 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Ordonez. GIDP: Sheffield; Rodriguez. Team LOB: 2. FIELDING Outfield assists: Inge (Butler at 3rd base). DP: (Rodriguez-Polanco).
Kansas City IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Bannister (W, 1-0) 7.0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0.00 Nunez 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.00 Soria 1.0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0.00		Detroit IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Rogers (L, 0-1) 6.0 5 2 2 1 4 0 3.00 Miner 2.0 3 2 2 1 3 0 9.00 Bazardo 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
WP: Rogers, Miner. Pitches-strikes: Bannister 85-53, Nunez 11-5, Soria 23-16, Rogers 87-54, Miner 34-18, Bazardo 11-4. Ground outs-fly outs: Bannister 8-9, Nunez 2-0, Soria 0-0, Rogers 9-5, Miner 0-2, Bazardo 1-0. Batters faced: Bannister 22, Nunez 3, Soria 4, Rogers 24, Miner 9, Bazardo 3. Umpires: HP: Chuck Meriwether. 1B: Adrian Johnson. 2B: Bill Welke. 3B: Tim Welke. Weather: 51 degrees, sunny. Wind: 2 mph, R to L. T: 2:31. Att: 32,348. Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner

The Royals are pushing the envelope running the bases, Gil Meche had an OK outing especially with the high powered offense of the Tigers, All In All, a great opening day victory.

Grudz neve sat down, he was on the bases everytime he got up, Gordon slams his first home run, in what was a boring game for the royals until then.

Verlander however was terrific, with good command, with the plate umpire being very much a friend of the pitcher. We did get to him, or Gordon did, anyway,

The Royals slide in the 1-0 mark by winning this 5-4,

The Tigers are so strong offensively, the Royals should cherish this one.There is no break from the lineup as opposing pitchers are concerned. However Meche worked through trouble from time to time, Nunez had alot of action on his fastballs, and worked fast,

Here are the Totals

						1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9				R		H		E
				KC (1-0)		0		0		0		0		0		2		2		0		0				5		10		0
				DET (0-1)		0		1		0		1		1		0		0		1		0				4		10		1
			10 11                                 0 1                                 0 0
	W: L. Nunez (1-0, 0.00); L: D. Bautista (0-1, 4.50); SV: J. Soria (1) HR: KC: A. Gordon (1). DET: M. Cabrera (1), C. Guillen (1).

The 26-year old Ramirez struggled with an elbow injury in 2007 after being voted the Rockies' Rookie of the Year in 2006, when he was 4-3 with a 3.46 ERA in 61 appearances out of the bullpen, establishing Rockies' rookie reliever records in ERA and strikeouts (61). That same year, he was the Rockies' nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award. Last year, he was 2-2 with an 8.31 ERA in 22 relief outings for Colorado and 4-0 with a 2.28 ERA in 25 appearances with Triple-A Colorado Springs. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder has had his troubles in the thin air of Coors Field, but is 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA (33.1 IP, 26 H, 4 ER) in 37 appearances on the road. He began his Major League career with 15.1 consecutive scoreless innings.

Originally signed as an outfielder in 1996, he converted to pitcher and spent the 2002 season with Hiroshima in the Japanese Central League. The Yankees acquired him the following season before the Rockies traded for him and pitcher Eduardo Sierra in exchange for Shawn Chacon on July 28, 2005.

Born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Ramirez now resides in Los Limones.

The Skinny on Ramon.

Pitching Stats: Next Stats >> SEASON TEAM W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HBP BB SO 2006     Colorado Rockies 4 3 3.46 61 0 0 0 0 2 67.2 58 28 26 5 1 27 61 2007     Colorado Rockies 2 2 8.31 22 0 0 0 0 0 17.1 21 16 16 2 1 6 15 Career Totals 6 5 4.45 83 0 0 0 0 2 85.0 79 44 42 7 2 33 76

It looks like Kansas city is taking another calculated risk with a pitcher, I appears that its another good risk. At least there are plenty of higher grade pitchers that can be situational. Dayton Moore has it right and he is obviously focusing on premier or at least bargain mid to high level pitching. Good work.

Here is the blurb as to why the Rockies traded, Ramirez to the Royals

"TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Rockies traded right-handed reliever Ramon Ramirez to the Royals on Wednesday for a player to be named.

The deal could open a spot on the Opening Day roster for one of two pitchers. Non-roster left-hander Micah Bowie has pitched well this spring (2.38 ERA, eight strikeouts and four walks in 10 appearances). Right-hander Ryan Speier, who performed well in late 2007, has a 3.60 ERA and seven strikeouts and two walks in 10 appearances."

I don't know the ends and outs in Baseball. but it looks like the Royals got the better end of the deal, at least for now.

In other moves, the Royals traded outfielder Justin Huber to the Padres for a player to be named, released non-roster pitcher Brian Lawrence and reassigned non-roster catcher Ken Huckaby to the Minor League camp.

That became apparent on Wednesday when left-hander Jorge De La Rosa was designated for assignment and right-hander Kyle Davies was optioned to Triple-A Omaha. They were the last remaining contenders for the jobs.

So we are set for pitchers, You can easily tell that there is an upgrade in pitching, Davies to the minors (I never understood that move last year anyway) Jorge Gone. This is good for the Royals to be replacing staples last year.

Can't wait for the "K"

This whole steroid thing needs to go away, MLB has sent there message LOUD and CLEAR.

Jose Canseco says in his new book that he introduced Alex Rodriguez to a steroids distributor and that A-Rod pursued Canseco’s wife, according to the Web site of freelance writer Joe Lavin.

Lavin says on the Web site that he obtained the book, “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball,” on Monday from a bookstore in Cambridge, Mass. The book is due to be released April 1.

Lavin writes Canseco’s book discusses A-Rod, Roger Clemens and Magglio Ordonez

He says Canseco claimed he didn’t inject Rodriguez but “introduced Alex to a known supplier of steroids.” Lavin also says “Canseco claims that A-Rod was trying to sleep with Canseco’s wife.”

“I really, absolutely, have no reaction,” Rodriguez said Tuesday when asked about the claim relating to the steroids distributor. As far as the allegation regarding Canseco’s wife, Rodriguez responded:

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

Canseco writes about the infamous June 1998 party at his house. Brian McNamee, Clemens’ former trainer, has said Clemens spoke with Canseco at the barbecue and soon after approached the trainer about using performance-enhancing drugs. According to Lavin, Canseco wrote that Clemens did not attend

"We have spent alot of time on this off season, and although I do not condone this, I believe everyone has got there point across  here"  Now the are some suspensions that have been handed down, and some testimonies that have been heard. Its over, for the love of the game, let it be over.