UP TO DATE IN KANSAS CITY

They are really getting up the hopes of Joe P. (and Rob N. and Rany J.) in Kansas City right now.

How's that? The Royals pulled out a come-from-behind win against the White Sox this afternoon, rallying for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie before pushing over the winning run in the tenth to win, 6-5.

Marvin Hudson: "Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it, Getzie..."
Chris Getz: "Yup, three lifetime HRs, three intentional walks."
Ned Yost: "Hell, that's three more IBBs than I had in my whole career!"

(We do have to wonder, though, just what was going through Pale Hose skipper Robin Ventura's mind in that bottom of the tenth, when he intentionally walked light-hitting second baseman Chris Getz (??!) to ostensibly set up a two-out force play, only to watch reliever Brian Omogrosso--just recalled from the minors--lose the strike zone to George Kottaras, surrendering an unintentional walk to load the bases.

Omogrosso, trying to get something over for a strike, then served up a hittable pitch to Alex Gordon, who singled in the winning run.

Someone please send the following note to Robin: less is more. Don't get too tactical with a guy like Getz, for Crissakes! The one thing that the well-traveled Kottaras can do is take pitches, and that's just what he did, passing along the inning to someone--Gordon--who can really hit. That red "L" goes on your forehead, Mr. V.)

The Royals are now 17-10, which is their best first sixth of the season since 2003, when they started 18-9. That was also the last year in which they finished over .500.

Interestingly, this is a team that has rarely started well out of the box: that 18-9 start in '03 was the best "first sixth" in franchise history. They've started 17-10 only two times previously--in 1973 (eventual finish: 88-74) and in 1989 (eventual finish: 92-70).

If Alcides keeps this up for another
year, they just might name a
restaurant after him...

The powder-blue kids have a flame-throwing bullpen, starters who are in varying stages of defying gravity, they are getting inspired play right now from CF Lorenzo Cain (who probably can't keep it up) and SS Alcides Escobar (who probably can). They are 10-4 in close games, 11-5 against sub-.500 teams, and 10-4 at home (where they've yet to play a .500+ team).

The next fortnight will provide a much better idea of whether what we've seen thus far can be sustained deep into the season. After one more with the (very) Pale Hose, KC will see three .500+ teams (O's, Yankees, A's) with a trip to Anaheim to play the underachieving Angels. If they play .500 ball through that stretch, then we might all begin to think that their retooled starting staff can stay in the top half of the league.

You know what we say here, so say it in unison: stay tuned.