Tale of Two Innings

Yes, it was the best of times and the worst of times for the Royals tonight but the best of times won out in a 12-8 win over the Twins tonight. J.P. Howell proved once again he's due for more seasoning with a horrible outing as he didn't make it thru 2 innings. The Twins scored 4 without breaking much of a sweat but then a funny thing happened -- the Royals came back. David DeJesus cracked a 2-run homer and Sweeney kept the hit machine going and the Royals tied it up in the 2nd. Of course, as KC goes, the Twins pulled back ahead with 2 in the 4th off Ryan Jensen but then the 6th inning hit and so did the Royals. Despite some horrible umpiring including a missed call a child could have made at first base, the Royals pounded out 6 runs on 6 hits and an error to take a 10-6 lead. Minnesota had to make it interesting as Royal Killer Luis Rivas had his first three extra-base hits of the season, including a 2-run double in the 8th. Then another rare thing happened.....the Royals got some insurance with 2 in the 8th courtesy Mark Teahen and Angel Berroa. MacDougal came in and got into, and out of, a hairy situation in the 9th and it was over.

Sweeney went nuts for a 5-for-6 night and, if not for a ground out in the 8th, was on a major hit streak of 8 straight hits (although nothing bigger than a double, but I'm not dumping on his hitting). Teahen and DeJesus threw in 3-hit nights, DeJesus and Sweeney had 3-RBI nights, Berroa had another multi-hit game as his BA gradually curves up from its former Buck-esque slide. Brown, Long and Gotay had 2-hit games, too, and Buck threw in a double for his hit and 2 of the team's 6 walks -- another seemingly rare feat. Basically, everyone swung the bat well tonight. Nunez, Sisco and MacDougal had decent nights on the mound although the same can't be said for Howell, Jensen or Jimmy Gobble. Most of everything clicked for KC tonight. Wish that happened every game.

Tomorrow it's D.J. vs. Carlos Silva as the Royals go for the series win. It'd be nice to have over Minnesota.