A Hair Off Square   custom cards

The Royals lost on opening day 4-2 to a very tough Jared Weaver and won 2-1 on April 1st on a Kila Ka’aihue walk-off home run. These games had several significant moments but I will choose a couple to talk about that may have been missed.

Opening Day had two events that I would like to briefly mention:

1. Jeff Francoeur throws out Jeff Mathis of the Angles in a close game at home. Everybody comments on Frenchy’s great throw, which it was, but the most impressive part to me was Royals newcomer Matt Treanor hanging on to the ball and absorbing a ferocious hit from Mathis. Treanor has been a Royal for less than a week and had a play on opening day that in my opinion was extremely important. I have seen several catchers have that ball knocked out and it was a huge play to keep the Royals in the game even though the game ended in a loss.

2. Pinch running will be a very important part of the 2011 Royals. I believe it was the 8th inning when Yost pinch ran Mitch Maier before Jarrod Dyson, I don’t know why Dyson wasn’t the first player off the bench. My issue is that Dyson pinch ran right behind Maier, which is great to have speed on the bases since he was the go-ahead run at the time. They didn’t score, any of them. In the 9th inning Matt Treanor singles and is on first as a very important runner with nobody but Brayan Pena to pinch run for him which isn’t a whole lot better. If Dyson or Maier is still available it could have been vitally important. It didn’t matter as things worked out but it easily could have been a factor.

The April 1st game will be remembered as the Kila Ka’aihue walk-off game. Rightfully so. The one thing I want to mention is the brilliant performance turned in but Jeff Francis, the Royals starting pitcher. His line: 7 innings, 1 Run, 5 hits, 1 walk. If he can pitch similar to this he will keep the Royals in a lot of games this year that other starters won’t.

I love Yost’s move of putting Soria in to pitch the top of the 9th to give Ka’aihue the chance to do what he did. Too many managers think “It could be a save situation tomorrow, I better keep him fresh.” YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME, right Herm Edwards?