After the last three victories, this is destined to be our ultimate letdown game. Left-handed
Jimmy Gobble is on the mound for the
Regal Ones, and while he's not our arch-nemesis like tomorrow's starter
Jeremy Affeldt, we're streaky against left-handed pitching. And we've got the pentultimate in streaky pitchers,
Schizophrenic Jorge DePaula, on the mound. Like I said, this is destined to be a letdown.
Shakespeare once said that our destiny is not in the stars, but in ourselves. The Old Bard may have been an overrated plaigariser, but that's a fine, fine quote. And it's true, darn it. We prove it by getting a two-out threat in the top of the first against
The Turkey of Pitching, with
Mags Ordonez and
The Big Hurt each drawing walks. But
Joe "
What Inspired Me To Bat Him Fifth?"
Crede grounds a two-one changeup right back to
Gobble, and the walks go for nothing. Somewhere, John Kruk is smiling.
Jorge DePaula looks merely like the average back-of-the-rotation guy that he is in the first, giving up a couple of liners but just one baserunner, and a bounce out to second by
Marty Cordova puts a zero on the board. All is well.
Jeremy Reed lines a one-out single in the second and pilfers second base after
Juan Uribe (
surprise?) botches a hit-and-run, but we can't capitalise.
David Bell singles to lead off the
Kansas City half of the inning, but
Tike Redman hits into an inning-ending, 'round-the-horn rally killer, and we're running on a parallel with
K.C. through the first two frames.
Fly outs and a general lack of solid contact contribute to
Gobble setting down the top of our order in order in the third.
DePaula has no trouble with the bottom two in
Kansas City's order,
Phillips and
Gobble, but
Henry Mateo knocks a two-out single, and with his speed (
15 steals), that's a veritable threat. So I yell at
DePaula to be cautious, and I guess he hears me, because he tosses a couple of pitchouts and throws over to first about 20 times before he finally concentrates on the hitter,
Rich Thompson, who bounces to second to end the inning.
Both sides manage one baserunner in the next frame, but the whiffs pile up as both pitchers tally their fourth 'K' in the fourth. The pitcher's duel continues on to the fifth inning.
I hoped to segue this with a "but it ends in the top half", or something similar, but things are rarely so definitive. Still, a leadoff single by
Juan Uribe gives us a baserunner, and after a sacrifice by
DePaula and four pitch walk
to
Hacktastic Julio, we've got two men on and only one out for
D.Y.. I have a brief desire to punch the '6' button for a double steal, but as a wise man once told me, "
let your hitters hit". I do, and
D.Y. comes through with a single to left that leads to some perfect baseball drama.
Juan Uribe rounding third and seeing the wild, waving, windmilling arm of Dan Pasqua coaching third.
Marty Cordova charging the ball bouncing through the neatly mowed grass and bringing all of his momentum back and then forward with the throw.
Chad Moeller blocking home plate, holding his glove up waiting for the throw. A flash and an instant later, it's all a memory, and
Uribe's safe and both runners have moved up, so we've got two more men in scoring position. I suppose I wouldn't've been quite so descriptive had
Uribe been gunned out, but it's all good. It's good even as
Magglio Ordonez fouls out on the next pitch, and better when
Frank Thomas comes through with a two-out, two-run single to left to make it 3-0.
Gobble makes way for
David Sanders after that, and
Joe Crede ends the inning with a ground out to third. But that pitcher's duel is safely, like
Uribe's $78,624 Slide a memory.
It's not in
DePaula's mind, though, and that's just fine by me.
Good Jorge gives up a one-out double to
Brandon Phillips in the bottom of the fifth, but a strike out of
Big-Headed Kevin Mench and a ground out to second by
Henry Mateo quickly put an end to any delusions of a comeback for
Royals' fans, at least for now.
Chad Paronto pitches a perfect sixth for
Kansas City, a relief to me because
DePaula was due up fourth. Of course, any thoughts of pinch-hitting for him were moved when I caught a glimpse of his pitch count -
56. That's through five innings. Wow.
But it goes up -- way up -- in the sixth. However, it looks as it'll be rather irrelevant as
DePaula begins the inning by using his pitching skills to retire
Rich Thompson (
a backwards 'K') and his fielding skills to retire
Mike Sweeney (
a stop of a hard-hit shot back through the box and strong throw to first). But after those two outs are recorded, everything goes awry. A simple ground ball to short by
Marty Cordova turns into
Julio Lugo's fourteenth error of the season, and a 12-pitch at-bat to
David Bell ends with a lined single to left. Suddenly, through no real fault of his own,
DePaula's facing
Chad Moeller, representing the tying run.
Moeller goes with a 1-0 fastball on the outside half, and
Magglio Ordonez's excellent effort to cut it off doesn't prevent two runs from scoring or
Moeller from ending up with a two-bagger. Suddenly, it's 3-2, but I stick with
DePaula, even as
Takatsu and
Gallo warm up. And
Tike Redman makes me regret it, hitting a long shot that rebounds off the wall and rattles around in right-center. He ends up with a triple to his credit, and
Moeller scores to tie the game.
Still I stick with
DePaula, but I end up pulling him after the next batter. And that's because
Brandon Phillips whacks a double off the wall, making our lead but a distant memory. In comes LOOGY
Mike Gallo to face pinch-hitter
Matt Stairs, but the veteran outfielder draws a walk.
Gallo runs the count to 2-0 on the next batter,
Henry Mateo, but he pops up a changeup to finally, finally, finally end the inning. Time to come from behind.
Shawn Camp comes in for the seventh and gives up a liner to
Brad Fullmer, pinch-hitting, and a hard bouncer to
D.Y.. But only the latter goes for a base hit, and with two outs, the threat is minimal.
Magglio Ordonez quickly falls in an 0-2 hole and grounds out to end the inning, and we're down to six outs.
Shingo Takatsu comes in for the seventh, puts a couple of guys on, and proceeds to give up a two-run triple to
Marty Cordova. Frustrated, unsure of what to do with the 'pen, and tired as heck, I hit the simulate button to see that the improbable comeback never materialised. But we're still 3-1 in our last four!
CHW 3 KC 6
WP: C. Paronto (2-2) - scoreless sixth
LP: J. DePaula (2-6) - 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R,
0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (
no, he wasn't at his sharpest, but catch the frigging ball, julio!)
S: B. Schmack (12)
Game Ball Goes To... DePaula, since I'm tired of him getting saddled with lousy secondary support. 2-6? His 3.74 ERA leads the team.
Craig