This Beat Goes On

I mean, they're the Royals, but a sweep is a sweep, especially when it is of the 4-game variety.  The Royals just  opted to bunt a lot and run their way in to the ground, and it didn't hurt that the only decent pitchers that the Royals have can be found in the bullpen.

Anyway, Kelly Johnson had himself a real bastard of a game last night, with a homerun, two walks, and a real defensive gem.  I hope the butthead that left a comment on this post saw that game (though Hill has 0.5WAR already this year, compared to KJ's 0.7, sooo....).  (The .gif is a quick look if you somehow missed it (courtesy of fangraphs, via blue jay hunter).  Anyway, that's a Zaunhead.

I thought that Brandon Morrow looked good not great, but I think his evolution in to a guy who doesn't strike out 10 guys per game isn't quite finished yet.  Morrow got 12 groundball outs, striking out only 3, but walking just one.  I'll gladly trade the strikeouts for fewer homeruns allowed, but obviously if he's only striking out 4 guys per 9, the walkrate has to drop as well.  He's probably been unlucky this year as far as homeruns go, but it's been three starts and his profile as a pitcher has changed a little bit (more curves, fewer 4-seamers, etc), so we might have to give him a bit of time to get used to himself.

So yeah, 4-game sweep, albeit against a team who has lost like 11 straight games or something.  Next up is Baltimore, and uh, how about we get a better effort this time?

Stuff
Sergio Santos saw a doctor yesterday, and the news was about as expected.  The MRI showed nothing broken or messed up, but just inflammation in the shoulder. He'll be shut down for 10-14 days, which means he should be gone for about 3 weeks total, give or take, after everything is said and done with regards to building back up endurance and rehab stints in the minors and whatnot.  I'm not quite sure if three weeks is long enough to Francisco Cordero to suck hard enough to lose his closer role or not, but I'm guessing I'll be pretty frustrated with this dude before too long.

John Farrell was on the Jeff Blair show yesterday morning.  I've yet to listen to this, so I don't really know what to expect, but here it is.  Related, Jon Morosi was on the same show on the 20th.  I also haven't listened to that yet, but it's probably worth a listen, and is certainly worth linking.

Jair Jurrjens got sent down to AAA Gwinnet after his disaster of a start to the season.  Jurrjens was part of several trade rumors this offseason, and I know that more than one person on my twitter feed was calling for AA to go out and get him.  Jurrjens, of course, stinks and is finally regressing to a performance that better represents his rate stats.

Fangraphs has a quick look at Shaun Marcum and his bevy of offspeed junk.