Offensive explosion

I mentioned in my last post the common theory that good pitching beats good hitting and that is what played out last night as Gil Meche tossed six shutout innings. Texas came in averaging nearly eight runs a game and were held to only three (all of which came when the game was no longer in doubt) that came off Waechter and HoRam (more on him later), Juan Cruz and Joakim Soria they are not.

But there is also the matter of bad hitting beating bad pitching, KC entered the game averaging 3.44 runs a game and hung a dozen on the Rangers pitching staff (which came into the game with a 6.49 ERA). The twelve runs currently represent 28% of their season total, which speaks to how bad their offense was and how bad Texas pitching is. Their team OPS+ went from 75 to 93 - nothing heals an ailing offense like Rangers pitching.

Coco Crisp (.235/.409/.647) and Mike Jacobs (.290/.371/.710) continue to impress me. It is encouraging to see Crisp taking his leadoff duties so seriously, ten walks in ten games, yeah I'll take that. The batting average will go up so it may be possible for him to sustain that OBP when his walk rate decreases (and it will, he's not going to walk 162 times). Jacobs has big time power and Balboni's team record of 36 home runs is in grave and immediate danger. I really don't care if Jacobs strikes out 150 times as long as he keeps his OBP north of .325 and keeps hitting bombs.

John Buck and Miguel Olivo both have 21 PA' on the season and the differences couldn't be more glaring. Buck (1.476 OPS) is hitting over his head while Olivo (.333 OPS, 13 K's) is swinging at pitches over his head. The decision to bring back Olivo was a bad one but to anoint him the starter was even worse.

The Royals are going to miss Gordon but one good thing that will result is they are finally forced into seeing what they have in Callaspo. I covered this in a little more detail at Baseball Digest.

It was encouraging to HoRam give up three hits and a run in his inning of work last night, that marked his second relief appearance in which he has struggled. He was signed in the offseason and given 1.8 million dollars due to his 24 innings of relief with KC last season so if he struggles in that role this year they may be less apt to return him to the rotation when the schedule calls for a fifth starter. Here's hoping  they do the right thing.