PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Game Notes

Published on April 7, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


APRIL 7, 2008, 6:35 p.m.: OMAHA ROYALS (2-2) vs. Round Rock Express (3-1)

HOME: 2-2 (45-27 in ‘07) AWAY: 0-0 (28-44 in '07) vs. Round Rock: 0-0 (9-9 in '07)

TONIGHT: The Royals host Round Rock in the opener of a 4-game series at Rosenblatt Stadium, with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. Enjoy $1 Hot Dogs, courtesy of 89.7 The River! It's the 2nd of 3 Hit the Books games this season - over 16,000 school kids in 43 elementary schools signed up for the program, which rewards them for reading four books with two tickets to the game, presented by the Nebraska College Savings Program. Air-time is 6:15 p.m. on News Talk 1420-AM KOTK and at www.Oroyals.com.

SUNDAY: The Royals banged out 15 hits, including 3 home runs, in a 12-5 whipping of Albuquerque to earn a split of the season-opening, 4-game series. Ryan Shealy blasted a 3-run homer in the 1st inning, Matt Tupman hit a solo shot in the 2nd and Chris Lubanski delivered a 2-run tater in the 6th. The 3 homers were among 11 hits yielded by Isotopes starter Daniel Barone (0-1) in 5.1 innings. He was charged with 8 runs, all but 1 of them earned. Roberto Giron (1-1) rebounded from taking a loss on Saturday night by firing 3.1 innings of hitless relief, striking out 7 of the 10 batters he faced.

ROYALS REPORT: Royals batters have collected 46 hits in the 1st 4 games. Omaha's team batting average is .338, 2nd in the PCL. The Royals' 6 home runs are tied for 2nd-best in the league. *** Shealy had 4 RBI Sunday, giving the Royals 1B/DH 6 RBI on the season, which ranks 3rd in the PCL. *** Tupman's home run came in his 1st at-bat of the season. He joined Omaha yesterday after opening the season as a backup catcher with KC, but had not seen any game action with the parent club. The 28-year old catcher had hit just 1 home run in 372 at-bats with Omaha over the past 2 seasons. It was just the 12th round-tripper for Tupman in 1,754 professional at-bats. *** Damon Hollins was 2-for-4, scored 3 runs and picked up his team-leading 6th walk yesterday. Hollins' .556 on-base percentage ranks 5th in the PCL. *** The only Royal to go hitless on Sunday was Shane Costa, who had hit safely in each of the 1st 3 games this season and batted .333 in 111 Triple-A games over the past 2 seasons. *** Lubanski, who hit 6 home runs in 168 at-bats with Omaha the 2nd half of 2007, has homered in back-to-back games and his 2 home runs ties him for the team lead with Shealy. Lubanski is hitting .385 (5-for-13) after the 1st 4 contests this season, after hitting just .208 in his 1st action at Triple-A last year. *** Giron on Sunday became the 1st Royals pitcher to strike out 5 consecutive batters since Eddie Yarnall did it in a game on May 15, 2006 vs. Colorado Springs. From July 1, 2007 to the end of last season, Giron posted a 1.51 ERA and compiled 50 strikeouts in 41.2 innings. *** Neal Musser will not repeat his incredible run of last year, at least not to start the season. Musser began 2007 with a 45.2 innings streak of not allowing an earned run. He had 1.0 inning in the books this season before giving up a home run yesterday to Albuquerque's John Gall. *** It appeared during the game that Angel Berroa's errorless games streak had ended when he was charged with an E in the 1st inning. The official scorer changed the call to a hit after the game, extending Berroa's streak to 53 consecutive Triple-A games without a miscue. Berroa has hit in all 4 tilts this season, going 5-for-15 (.333) with 2 RBI and 4 runs scored. *** Mitch Maier missed his 2nd straight game Sunday with a sore wrist.

THE FIELD STAFF: Mike Jirschele is managing Omaha for a 6th consecutive season and 9th overall, having also skippered the club from 1995-1997. In eleven seasons as a minor league manager, "Jirsch's" teams have posted a record of 768-712 (.519). His eight Omaha clubs have gone a combined 555-596 (.482). He was selected to manage the Pacific Coast League All-Star team in the 2006 Triple-A All-Star Game. Tom Burgmeier returns for a 3rd season as Omaha's pitching coach. Burgmeier pitched for Omaha from 1970-1973 and enjoyed a 17-year big league career, compiling a career record of 79-55 with a 3.23 ERA and 102 saves. Terry Bradshaw, who was an outfielder with Omaha in 1998, rejoins the team for a 5th season as its hitting coach - his 9th season as a hitting coach in KC's organization. Drew Van Dam joins the Royals organization as Omaha's trainer and Justin Annin is back for season #2 as Omaha's strength coach.

STARTERS: RH Chad Reineke (NR) vs. LH Mike Maroth (NR)

Maroth makes his 1st start of the season, after being signed by KC as a minor league free agent on February 13. The 30-year old lefty spent most of the past 6 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, before being traded to St. Louis midway through last season. In 2007, Maroth became just the 3rd pitcher in Major League history to start games for both of the previous World Series participants, joining Joe Bush in 1926 (PIT/WASH) and Sal Maglie, who did it in 1955 (NYG/CLE) and 1957 (BKY/NYY). Maroth opened last season with Detroit, going 5-2 with a 5.06 ERS in 13 starts. He was traded to St. Louis in exchange for RHP Chris Lambert on June 22 and was 0-5 with a 10.66 ERA in 14 games (7 starts) for the Cardinals. He also pitched briefly for the Cards' Triple-A club at Memphis, going 1-0 with an 8.31 ERA in 2 games. Maroth missed a large part of the 2006 season, after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his left elbow on June 2. He won a career-high 14 games for the Tigers in 2005. In 2003, Maroth led the A.L. with 21 losses, becoming the 1st pitcher to lose at least 20 games since Oakland's Brian Kingman lost 20 during the 1980 season. He was originally selected by the Red Sox in the 3rd round of the 1998 draft out of the University of Central Florida, where he pitched for 3 seasons. The Tigers acquired him from Boston in exchange for RHP Bryce Florie on July 31, 1999.

PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:

Tue., 6:35: LH Josh Muecke (1-0, 1.80) vs. LH Jorge De La Rosa (NR)

Wed., 6:35: RH Jack Cassell (0-1, 7.20) vs. RH Luke Hochevar (0-1, 4.76)

Thur., 11:05: RH Runelvys Hernandez (0-0, 15.43) vs. RH Kyle Davies (0-0, 3.00)

Check out the Omaha Storm Chasers Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 7, 2008


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