The sweep is complete. And now the Royals are on to bigger things. Like Giant things. Sorry, we had to throw at least one cheesy Giants joke in here and, we apologize, there may be more.

Tonight is the Kansas City Sky Show which is being co-hosted by 99.7 The Boulevard. It’s going to be the largest fireworks show in Kansas City history. To give some perspective, the Marketing Department said it will be five times as large as the Royals regular Friday Night Fireworks Spectacular, which as all of you know, is typically really spectacular. They are planning on 30 minutes, on-field pyrotechnics and special CrownVision videos. Should be fun and get people really in the mood for the Fourth of July

But back to the sweep, and for that let’s go around the horn…

First
Zack Greinke threw seven innings yesterday and it was the sixth consecutive “quality” start for the Royals (all five starters have posted a win over those six games with Greinke getting a no decision last Friday when the Royals lost 1-0 in the 10th.) Greinke gave up only two hits to the Cardinals. Unfortunately, Rick Ankiel made him pay for a mistake in the fourth. But Greinke shut the Redbirds down, giving up only one other hit, walking just one and striking out seven.

The rotation has a 1.91 ERA in the last 6 games, allowing just 9 runs in 42 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting just .216 and have struck out 33 times in the six-game streak. Ankiel’s homer yesterday is the only one they’ve allowed over the last week. With pitching like that, it’s no surprise we’ve won 5 in a row and 6 of 7.
      

Second
Tonight’s starter Luke Hochevar began the Royals current five-game winning streak last Saturday. Hochevar, the Royals’ top pick in 2006, is looking to even out his record, as he’s currently 4-5 this season. But all four wins have come against some big names. For his first career win, he beat the owner of the second best ERA in the A.L., Shawn Marcum. C.C. Sabathia, last year’s A.L. Cy Young winner was his second victim. Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander was the next to fall. And then Luke beat the Big Unit, future Hall-of-Famer Randy Johnson.

That foursome has a combined 451 career wins… Hochevar has four, but counting.

Short
It’s no surprise the Royals have hit 25 of their season total 51 homers in the last 18 games and have gone 10-8 in that span… All three of the Royals’ wins in St. Louis featured homers in the eighth inning or later with a two-run blast by Mark Teahen yesterday, a pair of homers by Alex Gordon and David DeJesus on Wednesday and a game-winner by Mike Aviles in the series opener…The Royals are 7-2 against the National League this season with 9 interleague games remaining – all at Kauffman…From Manager Trey Hillman’s pre-game press conference: Joakim Soria’s availability, after recording saves the last three days is a game time decision.

Third
Don’t forget about the other two great promotions this weekend with the Alex Gordon Bobblehead and the Salute to the Negro Leagues Day on Sunday when the Royals will be giving out Kansas City Monarchs caps.
The Royals will be dressed as the Monarchs and the Giants will become the San Francisco Seals. The day will also feature a Negro Leagues event outside the stadium with former Negro Leaguers on hand to sign autographs.

It’s going be a Giant weekend in Kansas City…We had to do it.

Tonight’s Lineup
DeJesus LF
Aviles SS
Gordon 3B
Guillen DH
Grudzielanek 2B
Teahen RF
Olivo C
Gload 1B
Gathright CF
Hochevar P
 
Here’s the Royals Official Game Notes. Please note the previous post about the sellout tonight at the K.

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