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[warthog]

Posted on Tue, Mar. 29, 2011
Royals beat White Sox 3-2 and win the Cactus League crown
By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star

SURPRISE, Ariz. | Rookie lefty Tim Collins closed out his spring in style Tuesday afternoon by pitching around a gift leadoff triple that represented the tying run in the eighth inning.

Collins’ escape act enabled the Royals to win the Cactus League title by holding on for a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Surprise Stadium.

The Royals finished 20-10-1 by winning their last six spring games. They won the Cactus crown later in the day when Colorado dropped to 20-11 by losing 7-2 to Seattle.

“Great spring,” manager Ned Yost said. “You come in and your whole goal is to play .500 and play consistent (sound baseball). We’ve gone way above that.”

The spring finale turned around in the eighth inning after the White Sox put the tying run at third base when center fielder Jarrod Dyson muffed Ryan Hamme’s leadoff drive near the warning track.

It was scored a triple.

“Stuff like that happens,” Collins said. “I know that Dyson is usually going to make that play 10 times out of 10. I just had to bear down and get the next three guys out.”

Collins responded by nabbing Trayce Thompson’s sharp hopper back to the mound for the first out. Collins then struck out Greg Paiml and Brent Lillibridge.

Kanekoa Texeira then closed out the victory with a one-two-three ninth inning.

The White Sox jumped to a 1-0 lead on Adam Dunn’s two-out homer in the first inning, but the Royals answered with a three-run second that included a two-run homer by Brayan Peña.

Lefty starter Bruce Chen gave up one run and four hits in five innings. Jeremy Jeffress allowed one run in a wobbly sixth before Aaron Crow, Collins and Texeira shut the door over the final three innings.

Arms race

Jeffress made the club despite closing the spring with a series of rocky performances.

He nearly squandered a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning by surrendering a single and three walks — and throwing a wild pitch. He limited the damage to one run by striking out Michael Restovich with the bases loaded.

“Jeremy is still a little inconsistent with his command,” manager Ned Yost said, “but his stuff is so good. We knew that going in, and we wanted to take a strong-armed guy in our bullpen.

“He’s like Robby (Tejeda) was a couple of years ago – but not quite to the extent that Robby (lacked) command. Robby threw the ball everywhere. When Jeremy misses, he doesn’t miss by much most of the time.

“A little refinement here and there, and he could be banging strikes real consistently.”

Stat wrap

Billy Butler finished with more steals than Alcides Escobar (three to two), but Escobar had more home runs (five to three).

Etc.

The Royals and their stadium food provider, Aramark, are asking fans to choose Kauffman Stadium’s signature sandwich in a choice of two finalists:

•Royal Pork T: A crispy pork tenderloin with caramelized onions, fried pickle chips, and Kansas City barbecue sauce.

•KC Ribeye Stack: A char-grilled ribeye with cheddar cheese, apple wood bacon, sautéed mushrooms, a crispy onion ring, lettuce, tomato on a fresh potato bun. It comes with choice of Kansas City smoky and Gold barbecue sauces.

Fans can vote online at www.royals.com/sandwich. Votes can also be cast through the first half of the season at the Hot Corner Grill inside Kauffman Stadium.

The winning sandwich will be determined by online voting and total sandwiches sold. Results will be announced after the All-Star Break, and the winning sandwich will remain on the menu for the rest of the season.

http://www.kansascit...-as-royals.html

[RazorChief]

And they haven't been eliminated from contention for the regular season yet as well.

[HG]

RazorChief, on 30 March 2011 - 10:42 AM, said:

And they haven't been eliminated from contention for the regular season yet as well.

Wow. So late in the season ?

[AssKickingBoots]

I suppose my prayers for a championship coming to KC should have been more specific.

[Dom]

It's a waiting year. The fruits of a productive year will likely start changing next year. By 2012 watch out!