Off Again

I'm off to the Continental Europe again for a final trip. I'll be back in 2 1/2 weeks, perhaps postly sporadically if I have a spare moment. Hopefully, I'll come back and find that Andrew Miller has been selected by the Royals and some of these "changes" that Mr. Glass has spoken about are taking place. I'll be looking forward to baseball in June, especially with the return of Greinke, Madritsch, and MacDougal.

In other news, Dessens was appointed the team's closer. He's been the Royals' most consistent reliever and he'll probably do a decent job. Hopefully, Burgos can work out his problems and get his job back quickly (two good innings last night).

Hernandez continues to be ineffective after his one great start against Minnesota. Last night's performance of 7 hits, 5 runs, and 3 walks in 3 1/3 innings is a terrible line, although it's an improvement over Joe Mays. Jimmy Gobble pitched well in mop-up duty, striking out 4 in 2 2/3 innings. Gobble deserves another chance to start and with Hernandez pitching poorly, he should get that chance. Mark Redman, who the Pirates happily parted with, hasn't been much better. Hopefully, the return of Greinke and Madritsch gets some quality competition for these spots so we don't have to put up with terrible starting pitching for the rest of the season. But, I wouldn't count on it.