Spring Training Lineups: New Blogs and Chats

For those of you looking for even more insider info on the Royals, we’ve got a couple of new outlets for you to explore…

From the Booth: The newest member of the Royals broadcasting team is wasting no time in getting to know the fans. Steve Stewart, who joins Denny and Bob Davis in the radio booth this season, will be blogging about his first year following the Royals. Steve’s “From the Booth” blog launched today, so drop in and extend a Kansas City welcome: http://stevestewart.mlblogs.com/.

In Focus with Brian Bannister: Banny is taking a different approach to interacting with you all by doing a mailbag-style chat twice a month throughout the season on royals.com. Fans can visit royals.com/infocus or email a question directly to infocus@royals.com. Banny mentioned this in the latest Royals Relay Chat. By the way, if you missed the chat, check out the full transcript here.

For those of you wondering about the “In Focus” reference…along with his outstanding work on the mound during his rookie season, Brian is also pretty well known for his outstanding work behind the camera. Although, he’s taking a breather from photography to focus on pitching, “In Focus” is a shout out to the right-hander’s other passion. Credit for the clever name goes to Royals marketing guru Curt Nelson. Not bad, right?

More on Banny: The right-hander got in some extra innings today in AAA game down in Surprise, Ariz. Although he didn’t face too many Major Leaguers, the extended throwing session is all part of the process for being up to par when the season starts.

Onto the Big League Field: Today’s 3:05 p.m (CST) game is against the Los Angeles Angels. Luke Hochevar takes the mound for the Royals, still looking to make a strong bid to crack the rotation. Here’s the rest of the Royals lineup…

DeJesus – CF
Callaspo – 2B
Gordon – 3B
Guillen – RF
Gload – DH
Shealy – 1B
Maier – LF
Olivo – C
Pena, Jr. – SS

Hochevar – P