Road Reflections | CHI, KC

Chicago was about as bad as it gets...
Three games, three heart-breaking losses, all by one-run (in fact, all but one of the games on this road trip were decided by one run, and that one by two).  To twist the knife a bit more, two were walk-offs and one was in the 8th.  RRS continued to struggle, Doug and Jason continued to shine.  While the bullpen's lapse was a bit concerning, the late surge by the offense in two of the three games was encouraging.  As for the "D", despite a couple of errors, there were five DP's turned.

Back on track in KC...
Felix took his first loss, but still put up a quality start (maybe not to "Felix quality", but quality nonetheless).  Ian's line wasn't great, but the way in which he was able to escape self-induced trouble was pretty impressive.  RRS was on his way to a solid start, looking good for five innings, but couldn't finish things in the 6th - apparently, April is not his month.  As for the rest of the pitching staff, right back up on that horse, er,  mound they got.  The pen as a whole pen recovered pretty darn well from their debacle on the South Side - pitching 8 scoreless innings in KC and the DA notched two more saves (of the one-run variety).  The offense, while certainly far from potent, showed a little spunk, especially in the last game, bunching some runs to go ahead early, losing the lead and then scratching out a run late to win.

Regarding Jose...
Something occurred to me the other day.  Many are concerned, understandably so, about the offense and there's already be quite a lot of mention about Jose ... his lack of patience, etc. This is nothing new and he's typically a slow starter.  The thing that struck me was the lack of concern about something that many had a fair amount of trepidation about going into the season... how would he perform at his new position?  Well, so far, question answered - in spades!  He has not only performed adequately, he has embraced the change and seems very comfortable in his new home at the hot corner.  Considering the shoes he had to fill, this is excellent, if seldom mentioned, news.

Milty = Mr Happy...
Some good signs from MB ... he was out of commission in Chicago, but back in action in KC and contributing.  Some nice gestures with the fans as well - like when he tried to toss a ball to a Mariner fan above the M's dugout in KC, but a Royals fan interviened and caught the ball - he went into the dugout, got another ball and personally handed it to the fan.  Love it.