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For eleven days and eleven games, the Baltimore Orioles were on the west coast of the United States and I was in Europe, six hours ahead of east coast time. So needless to say, I am really, really looking forward to this baseball game. And I'll be in attendance! Section 338, row 2 if you want to say hi.
So, about the actual game. You can read Vuff's excellent series preview here for the breakdown of all three games, but for this game here is what you need to know.
Ervin Santana is starting for the Royals, who have been playing well so far this season. Santana was traded to the Royals from the Angels in the off season after a very disappointing 2012, but so far this season he has been very good. In five starts so far this season, Santana has pitched six innings once, seven innings twice, and eight innings twice. Since allowing four runs in his first start of the season, he has yet to allow more than two in any of his last four. He is currently sporting an ERA of 2.00 and a K/BB of 31/5. What I'm saying is, he's been good.
Countering Santana is Wei-Yin Chen, thus destroying my hope yet again of a Chen vs. (Bruce) Chen matchup in a series against the Royals. Chen (that's Wei-Yin, not Bruce), is coming off of his worst start of the season, so hopefully he'll be bounced back and ready to lock it down. No Royal has more than six plate appearances against Chen, so no use looking at that. As for KC's lineup this season, most of them aren't doing so well. "Most of them" doesn't include Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, or Lorenzo Cain. Lorenzo Cain sounds like the name of a soap opera character.
Hey! Check out who's playing third base for the Royals! Our old friend.
Let's Go O's!