Pipeline Realtime -- Royals-Twins liveblog

6:55 -- Five minutes to game time with the Royals going for 4-0.....that feels good to type. Lineups are in and it's the same-old, same-old for KC and Trey Hillman. After watching Buddy Bell tinker with the lineup constantly to the tune of 142 batting orders in 2006 and 141 in 2007, my brain doesn't know how to handle the same lineup 4 games in a row. I'd like to see Callaspo getting some playing time, but you can't argue with the results thus far.

7:01 -- I gotta say I much prefer the FSN presentation to the RSTN one from years' past, which basically looked like public access TV. I also heartily support the move of Ryan Lefebvre into the booth with Split, altho it takes away from the Lefebvre-Matthews radio team. Bob Davis drove me nuts on the TV side.

7:05 -- showing highlights of the Scott Baker near-perfect game from last year. I'd place a pretty hefty bet he isn't getting close tonight.

7:15 -- the killer Gs are back -- Gathright, Grudz, Gordon, Guillen with Gload a couple spots down in the order. Speed kills -- Gathright bunts for a hit to start the game. There goes your perfect game, Baker. So close..... Joey then gets a four-step jump on Baker to steal second only to see Grudz foul off a pitch. Joey tries again and doesn't get as good a jump and makes it pretty easy. He's easily full speed by his second step, which is amazing to see. Grudz follows with an infield single and the Royals are in bizness. Gordon fails to cash in on the opportunity by flying out to short left as Gathright doesn't run on Del Young.

7:22 -- Jose Guillen works a long AB after falling behind 0-2 to work it to 2-2 but slaps a chopper up the middle that scores Gathright on a FC. Grudz smartly holds to help force the throw to first, even though I thought the Twins 2B should have just flipped it to second to still try to get the DP. Whatever. 1-0 Royals. Brings up Billy Billy Billy Butler, who's due for a longball.

7:25 -- After fighting off about 15 (it seems, really it's 5 or 6) two-strike pitches, Butler singles up the middle to score Grudz but runs into an out at second to thwart the rally. That's the yin and yang of Butler -- an RBI base hit and an out on the basepaths. Billy giveth and Billy taketh away. 2-0 Royals after a half-inning.

7:35 -- Now it's the moment of truth for John Bale. Was the strong spring just a product of spring training, or was it the real deal? Rookie potential stud-to-be Carlos Gomez pulls a Gathright and bunts for a single to start the game. I demand they put the game on hold right now and have Gathright and Gomez run a 100-meter dash against each other. Loser doesn't bunt or steal the rest of the game. Gomez is damn fast, tho. He proves it by stealing a base as, even if he's two steps slower, he still makes it as Buck's throw is high and off the bag at second. Joe Mauer drives him home with a single and it's 2-1 Royals before Bale's first out. Mike Cuddyer follows with an infield single as TPJ's long cross-body throw can't get to Gload on time. The Twins are now the ones in business.

7:36 -- I should add they're in business without hitting a ball especially hard yet, but the Royals didn't get a hard hit either. Morneau grounds to TPJ and Grudz gets taken out hard by Cuddyer but converts the DP to bail Bale out for now. Bale saws off Del Young, who grounds out to first and we're on to the 2nd.

7:46 -- They split screen Gathright and Gomez and I'm convinced Gomez is faster. He's a righty and got down to first at basically the same time Gathright did from the left side. Split, to his credit, does point this out. Teahen gets the Royals started again with a double down the first base line and my excitement for the Royals outweighs my sorrow that I have Baker in a fantasy league and he's not looking too sharp thus far. Gload flies out to deep center and Teahen advances to third as at least the out was somewhat productive. Now it's on to the weak part of the order -- Buck and TPJ. Buck, as in the last game I badmouthed his bat, makes me shut up with a hard single to left to bring Teahen home. 3-1 Royals. TPJ is up and I smell an inning-ending DP. Let's see....

7:52 -- Nope, Pena flies out to right. It's still an out. Gathright whiffs on some high heat and Baker has more than 40 pitches thru 2. Time for a quick dinner break and I'll be back in a little bit.

8:15 -- We're back and well fed in the stately Pipeline manse and, in the absence, we had two dull half-innings and now a 2-run Minnesota 3rd. We also had our first semi-gruesome injury as Cuddyer dove into a headfirst slide into Gordon's legs at third and came up with an apparent finger injury. He leaves the game but the Twins get out of the inning with the game tied at 3.

8:20 -- We had a commercial for the new "CrownVision" HD scoreboard at the K and it got me more excited for the April 12 game I plan to attend to also see the powder blues return. That's a nice double whammy there. Butler lines out to start the Royals 4th and the Royals are up and down in 6 pitches. Way to make Baker keep working.

8:31 -- Bale hasn't been overwhelming thus far. Mike Lamb doubles past Gload to start the 4th and moves to third on a sac bunt. Adam Everett squeezes him home and it's 4-3 Twins. I love to see the squeeze play and it's hardly ever used. That was a good play, well executed. Carlos Gomez gets another infield hit, as it's evident any delay in the ball getting to a fielder, or vice versa, is gonna end up with Gomez at first. He again cruises into second base on a steal, this time without a Buck throw. I'm putting it down right now -- he's gonna steal 100 this year. Mauer grounds out and it's on to the 5th.

8:37 -- We have an "RSTN moment" as the feed returns from the Metrodome showing the bleachers down the line with no sound for about 20 seconds. Then Split chimes in and it's back to FSN. Buck hits a weak fly ball for the first out, then Pena Ks after getting the count to 3-1. Gathright grounds out to second and the Royal offense has made a 180-degree turn from the first 2 frames. 4-3 Twins still.

8:45 -- Jason Kubel reaches to lead off the 5th but Morneau grounds back to Bale for a DP with Gload making a nice dig on an ungood throw by TPJ. Del Young follows with a flyout to right to end the inning.

8:53 -- Grudzielanek rocks the home plate umpire with a foul ball off the facemask and then lines a single to right with 1 out in the Royals' 6th. Jose Guillen also rocks a pitch, but right to the Twins 2B, who doubles Grudz off first to end the threat. Baker has rebounded nicely from those first two innings.

8:58 -- Speaking of guys like Baker who are on my fantasy team, I now have Reds rookie pitcher Johnny Cueto in three of my four leagues, which I'll be excited about until Dusty Baker blows out his elbow and shoulder by July. Getting back to the game, Bale gets a K to start the 6th. I said before he hasn't been overwhelming but he hasn't been bad tonight. The Twins have gotten a lot of slappy hits and manufactured some runs. He gets out of the inning without damage and we're on to the 7th.

9:04 -- I run upstairs to tuck my youngest daughter into bed and get back in time to see Ross Gload line a 2-out single to left. Del Young has a nice arm out there and holds him to 1. I figured there might be one down when I got back down, but the Royals are running out of outs quickly. They need some late inning magic to keep the undefeated streak alive. Buck is up, which gives me little hope of magic in the 7th, but the Twins fear the Buck, so bring in Pat Neshek.

9:08 -- Neshek is owning Buck to get it to 0-2, then breaks his bat in a weak grounder back to the mound to end the inning.

9:25 -- Everett breaks his bat for out 1 in the bottom of the 7th. Seems like there have been a lot of broken bats tonight -- all three pitchers in the game have sawed guys off. Gomez hits a ball to the gap and off the bat I think triple but Gathright runs it down quickly and holds him to a 1-out double. That's it for Bale and in comes Jimmy Gobble for his '08 debut vs. Joe Mauer. A long AB includes Gobble trying to hold Gomez close to the bag at second but eventually striking out Mauer on a nice pitch. He throws that same slider to start Jason Kubel, who replaced Cuddyer, and ends up striking out Kubel to douse the mild threat.

9:30 -- Hey, it's Alberto Callaspo coming in for TPJ! He's not very patient, tho, as he grounds out on his first pitch on a sharp hit to short. Gathright hits a weak fly to left for out 2 and Neshek gets Grudz looking as the Royals go down meekly in the 8th.

9:40 -- Gobble finishes off a good first outing with his third K as he had the Twins off balance. Now Ramon Ramirez is coming in to face the righty portion of the lineup. Ramirez gets Young to fly out to right and then throws a nasty pitch to strike out Craig Monroe. It's showdown time -- Joe Nathan versus the heart of the Royals order in the 9th.

9:50 -- Gordon fouls out to third to start the 9th, then Guillen grounds out to Nick Punto at third, and Billy Butler is the Royals' last hope. Nathan doesn't give him much to start off as the count runs to 3-0 but it comes back to 3-2. Butler hits a grounder just outside the third base line to fight one off and then hits a nice line drive single over the second baseman's head to keep the Royals alive. Hillman pinch-runs with German and it's down to Mark Teahen. Teahen waves at the first pitch for strike 1.....takes ball 1.....takes ball 2 low and away, just off the corner....takes ball 3 almost in the dirt....takes strike 2 on the low outside corner to run it full.....and takes strike 3 on a close pitch on the outer half to end it. Damn. I'm sure Teahen trusts his zone judgment there but I say if it's close you've gotta swing. At least fight it off if you can.


So the 162-0 dream is over....ha ha. 3-1 isn't bad, tho. The Royals started off hot but cooled considerably after the 2nd. That was a pretty well-pitched game by both sides, and the squeeze play ended up making the difference. The Royals can go for 2 out of 3 starting tomorrow with Meche on the mound. For what it's worth, they're 0-2 in Pipeline liveblog games, so maybe I should stop. It's been fun. Until later.....