Pregame
Thanks again to Tony_O who picked up the slack and ran a game thread over in the FanPosts section last night. We had some power issues last night, which left me sans internet for most of yesterday afternoon and through last night. But we're back!
Looking to avoid a sweep at home, Kansas City is sending out Gil Meche. Meche is coming off four consecutive quality starts, and is the owner of 14 on the season. He's been better overall since leaving the Mariners, mainly due to decreased walk and home run rates. Usually he'll walk a pair, but if he isn't able to locate his fastball and is forced to deal more breaking balls he will work longer counts, and in those situations you never know what can happen. His ground ball/fly ball ratios are pretty close to 1:1
Scott Baker will try to close out the sweep for the Twins, who hasn't been on his game recently. He owns one quality start in his last five, and because he's a bit weaker on the road than he is at home, we could be in for a bumpy afternoon. On the other hand, it's been a while since we've truly seen Baker clicking on all cylinders, which means he might be due. I'd like to see him go seven innings this afternoon, shutting down the Royals and allowing only a run or two.
Versus a right-handed pitcher, the Twins will likely send out: Span (RF), Punto (2B), Redmond (C), Morneau (1B), Kubel (DH), Young (LF), Buscher (3B), Everett (SS), Gomez (CF)
For the revamping Royals versus Scott Baker I'll predict: Aviles (SS), DeJesus (CF), Teahen (RF), Guillen (DH), Butler (1B), Gordon (3B), Buck (C), Gload (LF), German (2B)