Royals have dangerous pitching

In the morning roundup I touched on how good Kansas City Ace Zack Greinke has been this season, but Gil Meche and Kyle Davies shouldn't be over looked as well.  

Kansas City Star writer Sam Mellinger examines the MGD factor in his Royals blog. No its not some college drinking game. MGD stands for Meche, Greinke, Davies and compares the the pitchers numbers with the top three of previous play off teams. They are judged by ERA and ERA+.

So here's your aggregate MGD performance so far:

5-0, 1.69 ERA, 58 2/3 IP, 48 H, 65 K (!), 17 BB, 1.108 WHIP, and an ERA+ that, thanks to Zack, is still undeterminable (Editors note: Greinke is yet to allow a run, earned or unearned). If you remember, in the first MGD post we ran a very rough formula to find that recent playoff teams had their best three starting pitchers average an ERA+ of about 125. So far, the Royals are 7-2 when MGD starts.

Greinke:
3-0, 0.00 ERA, 20 IP, 16 H, 26 K, 5 BB, 1.050 WHIP

Meche:
1-0, 2.25 ERA, 20 IP, 19 H, 18 K, 4 BB, 1.150 WHIP, 211 ERA+. Royals are 2-1 when he starts.

Davies:
1-0, 2.89 ERA, 18 2/3 IP, 13 H, 21 K, 8 BB, 1.125 WHIP, 164 ERA+. Royals are 2-1 when he starts.

Of the three, the Indians will face Meche in the series finale Thursday afternoon. They get four and five starters: Sidney Ponson and Horacio Ramirez instead. 

Ponson's numbers:

0-1, 4.50 ERA, 12 IP, 6 runs, 12 H, 8 K, 6 BB, 1.50 WHIP

Ramirez:

0-1, 11.12 ERA, 5.2 IP,7  runs, 12 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 2.65 WHIP

Although it won't make a difference for this series, the four and five starters could soon be replaced by Luke Hochevar and Brian Bannister, according to the Kansas City Star. 

Hochevar sparkles

It’s getting harder for the Royals to keep right-hander Luke Hochevar at Class AAA Omaha after his latest performance: one run and five hits in eight innings Monday in a 7-2 victory over Albuquerque.

Hochevar improved to 3-0 through three starts and lowered his ERA to 1.89. He also threw 72 strikes in 107 pitches.

What about Banny?

Right-hander Brian Bannister pitched just two innings _ two shutout innings _ Sunday in a pre-determined decision in Omaha’s 3-0 victory over Albuquerque. Such limits often precede a trade or a recall to the big leagues, but the Royals have yet to make any such announcement.

For now, Bannister is listed as Omaha’s projected starter Friday at Oklahoma City. He has pitched nine shutout innings in his last two starts after getting roughed up in his first outing for five runs and nine hits in four innings.