April 7, 2017
Got the news yesterday that Zachary Quate has a partially torn labrum. He's going to miss up to 3 months. What a lovely way to start the season. Well, time to see what Carlos Perez can do in the big leagues! Today, we begin a series with the Kansas City Royals. It's still hard for me to view the Royals as actual contenders, but they have come a long way in recent years. They still have trouble competing against the AL's elite, but they've actually been finishing with winning records, and even made the playoffs in 2014, led by Jose Flores and his career .320 batting average. Before the season, they also picked up Jordan Walden, the former shut-down closer of the Angels. We're going to want to be ahead BEFORE the 9th inning if we hope to get some W's.
Well, Price started out really good, notching a bunch of K's. But he also plunked 3 batters, which likely didn't help him much, and I wound up pulling him from the game much too late to make a difference. The good news is, being down 6-0 in the 8th gave me an excuse to put Carlos Perez into the game. He did pretty darn good for his first Major League experience: his control was a little shaky (likely nerves), but he didn't allow a hit in a full two innings. The offense came alive late in the game, including a home run by Seitzer... would have been nice to see that earlier, though. We also got our first taste of Jordan Walden, who got all three outs in the 9th on just 7 pitches. Meanwhile, Desmond Jennings has yet to get a hit this year. I'm contemplating starting Drew Vettleson soon, but we'll give it another game or two. Leonys Martin has been playing such good defense in Left Field that I'm hesitant to move him out of that position.