No, this is not a homer call. For the record yet once again I am not a Royals fan. I am a Cardinals guy and always have been. But residing in mid missouri I have a ton of Royals coverage thrown at me. I think long term the ship has sailed for this Kansas City team as we all know it. Because of the mediocre state of the division and everyone still waiting for the Tribe to take off and hide, the Royals are at least still sniffing the post season and have at least been still playing relevant games. That could not be said for many years at this stage of the season. But of course the Royals blew their loser image to pieces with a pair of World Series appearances that resulted in one ring. But because of the state of the division GM Dayton Moore was not quite sure of whether it was in the organizations best interests to be buyers or sellers in the tade market. He was, is in limbo. Here is the deal. They have several key players in their contract years. Of course that list starts with Eric Hosmer who is the local face of the team. There is considerable pressure on Moore to ink Hosmer to a long time deal. Eric has made it pretty clear the Royals will get no home team discount. Hard to blame the guy. But it does not stop with Hosmer. Also on that list is Moose, Escobar, (who is see departing), Lorenzo Cain and pitcher Jason Vargas. That is a lot of payroll for a team scuffling along.
But as we look at this one individual game we also have a Tigers team that is falling well below expectations they had entering the season. That loss on wednesday was a punch to the gut for this club losing the way they did. I expect a close game but I do expect Duffy to come up with a good start and I always trust the Royals pen more than that Tigers pen. No, the Royals pen is not the shut down machine that helped carry them to two Series appearances but I just have very little regard for the Tigers pen. Seen it implode too many times. I expect Joe Public to like the Tigers and Fulmer here. I don't agree. I will put out the Royals at home here as a free selection. Many thanks as always guys and best of luck to all of us. Enjoy the game.