I'm done explaining baseball to anyone this year, but apparently this is what it's like to be a bad team. You lose the game that you could have won, you lose the game you don't deserve to win, but every once in a while you play a game where you do deserve to win. And, apparently, Thursday night was one of those games.
The Royals have one of the best young lineups in baseball. Billy Butler, of course, but Jeff Franceour, Alex Gordon and of course Eric Hosmer make it really difficult to not expect great things from the Royals over the next few years. But apparently they're still the goold old little brother Royals, at least sometimes, because in this one they were hosed by the Twins' triple-A affiliate.
Denard Span and Michael Cuddyer each delivered in last night's victory, but the list of players who have either been or should be in Rochester and played list night is a long one. Alexi Casilla, Ben Revere, Rene Rivera, Matt Tolbert, Alex Burnett, and of course Anthony Swarzak. And that doesn't even cover the guys who have just been plain old terrible this season (cough, Jose Mijares, cough).
Swarzak didn't beat himself. He pitched six innings and allowed seven hits, but he only walked a pair and avoided the long ball. His defense was error-less on the night. That's about all you can ask for.
Studs
Swarzak, Span, Cuddyer
Duds
I like the idea of not picking nits. Twins won, that's enough.