Up and Coming

Gil Meche started but struggled, giving up four runs in five innings but the team got solid outings from former starter Zack Greinke and rookie reliever Joakim Soria, who has been outstanding in his debut season for the club. Cleveland starter C.C. Sabathia struggled as well as the youthful Royals had no problem getting hits off of him, amassing 11 in his seven innings pitched. The Tribe made a charge against Meche after being down 5-0, but they couldn’t pull it off against the strong Royals bullpen.

One of the big stars for the Royals was outfielder Billy Butler, who has been on fire as of late. At only 21 years old, Billy Butler is still a very young ball player and only in his rookie season. He’s sure not playing like a rookie though with the recent hot streak he’s been on.

When the Royals beat the playoff-contending Cleveland Indians on Saturday, Butler found himself right in the middle of the action as per usual, and highly instrumental in the win (despite getting nailed for wandering off third). With a 3 for 5 outing and 2 RBI, the kid from Orange Park, Florida is fighting his way into the AL Rookie of the Year debate.

Over his past 11 games, Butler has gone 16 for 39 for an average of .410, raising his previous average from .268 to .315, and his OBP from .288 to .347. The power numbers are coming too, with Butler hitting 2 homers and 11 RBI during this stretch.

Butler’s strike out to walk ratio isn’t all that impressive yet, mainly because he doesn’t walk much, not because he strikes out too often. He does provide some badly needed pop in the middle of the Royals lineup though, and should team with Alex Gordon, to give the Royals a strong 1-2 punch the in the heart of their lineup for years to come.

Dropping Like It's Hot

One of the biggest series of the season so far kicked off on Tuesday with the Cleveland Indians heading to Detroit to take on The Tigers in the first of a three game series. With Paul Byrd taking the mound, the Indians won yet again, for the 6th game in a row and pushed their AL Central lead to 3 games, as they took down the Tigers 5-4 in 11 innings.

The game winning run came off of the Tigers newest acquisition, Jose Capellan in the 11th as Casey Blake hit a solo home run to give the Indians the lead for good. Indians closer Joe Borowski got his 25th save for the team as he continues to be a strong, solidifying presence at the back-end of the bullpen.

The Indians got some clutch work from their top reliever and one of the best in baseball this season, Rafael Betancourt, who gave the Indians 2 scoreless IP dropping his impressively low ERA even further to 1.19 on the year. Compared to last season, the Indians bullpen has been an answer to prayer for the Indians front office, performing on a far more consistent basis, as shown by the fact that the Indians are so hot right now and leading their extremely tough division.

On the other side of the diamond, the Tigers are still having issues and are falling dangerously behind the streaking Tribe. The Tigers have now dropped 7 of their past 9 at home in Comerica, and could really use another hot streak. Despite the arrival of Capellan, another reliever or two is likely on the way to Motown to try and help salvage the fledgling Tigers bullpen.

If they can’t bring in the help, they’d better hope that Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney can make their way back to the bullpen here soon, as Cleveland isn’t showing any signs of weakness as they pump up the gap. With two games left in this series, the Indians could be up by 5 by the end of this series, not the way Jim Leyland wanted to hit the All-Star break.