NewsGuillen hopes to avoid slow start
Kansas City (0-1) at Chicago (1-0), Wednesday, 7:11 p.m. CT
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
04/07/09 5:44 PM ET
Jose Guillen watchers will be assessing his performance in April, not normally a productive month for him. Cold weather and all of that, presumably."It's OK, we can deal with that," Guillen said dismissively.
The numbers tell us that Guillen has batted .254 in the season's first month (March/April) with 25 home runs in his career. Those are his lowest numbers except for, ah-ha, the season's final month (September/October) when the weather is also sometimes chilly and he's the same .254 with 25 homers. In the four warmer months in between, he's done much better.
The temperatures in Chicago are likely to dip toward the low 30s for Wednesday night's second game of the White Sox series. It was so cold and nasty that Monday's Opening Day was postponed until Tuesday.
Now about that cold weather ...
"It's all here," Guillen said, tapping the side of his head. "It doesn't really matter. If you feel like the cold weather is affecting you, then that's the problem. I'm not a negative guy so I don't let it bother me."
Last year, Guillen hit .183 with three homers in the first month but, as he freely admitted later, he reported to Spring Training overweight. He had some leg ailments, too.
Royals manager Trey Hillman sees that as a problem of the past.
"Physically, he's real good. His legs are in much, much better shape than they were at this point last year," Hillman said.
Guillen batted .292 in Spring Training and Hillman was really impressed by his last at-bats of camp.
"Everything that we saw as far as production last year, the physical tools that go along with that, they're all still there and I think it's actually starting in much better shape that we did last year," Hillman said.
And if he has a slow start this April, don't expect any moaning from Guillen.
"I'm not one of those type of guys that's going to complain about cold weather. I just go and deal with it," Guillen said. "I know it's not going to be the same as playing in the warm weather. I just don't like it when guys are making excuses because it's cold weather. It's all baseball, you know. Nine guys out there playing."
Pitching matchupKC: RHP Zack Greinke (13-10, 3.47 ERA in 2008)
Returning to full-time rotation duty after spending most of 2007 in the bullpen, Greinke established himself as extremely dependable in his 32 starts last season. He logged more than 200 innings and struck out 183 while pitching to a 3.47 ERA. Greinke can crank it up to close to 98 mph when he wants to, but he also uses good breaking pitches and changes speeds with sharp control. CWS: RHP Gavin Floyd (17-8, 3.84 ERA in 2008)
Coming on the heels of a breakout season in 2008, the right-handed Floyd moves into the second spot of the starting rotation. He has a 1-3 lifetime record with a 3.62 ERA against the Royals, but also has a 10-6 career mark with a 4.25 ERA at U.S. Cellular Field. Floyd entered the 2008 season with eight career victories in 40 appearances, of which 29 were starts, but led the team with 17 wins in 33 starts. Floyd also held opponents hitless through seven innings twice, coming within two outs of no-hitting the Twins on May 6. His 206 1/3 innings pitched and 145 strikeouts also stood as career highs. Crown points
The postponement of Monday's Opening Day was the fourth in Royals history. The April 2, 1984, opener at Kansas City against the Yankees was postponed. And there were delays in back-to-back seasons at Baltimore, April 1, 1996, and April 1, 1997. April fool! ... Mark Teahen has opened the season at four different positions (3B, RF, LF, 2B) over the past four years. This was topped by just four players who started at different positions in five straight years -- Pete Rose, Tommy Harper, Al Oliver and Paul Molitor. Maybe Teahen should catch next year. ... Last year, the Royals were 6-12 against the White Sox, including 2-7 at U.S. Cellular. Tickets
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• KCSP 610 Up next
• Thursday: Royals (Kyle Davies, 9-7, 4.06 ERA in 2008) at White Sox (Jose Contreras, 7-6, 4.54 ERA in 2008), 1:05 p.m. CT
• Friday: Royals (Sidney Ponson, 8-5, 5.04 ERA in 2008) vs. Yankees (Andy Pettitte, 14-14, 4.54 ERA in 2008), 3:10 p.m. CT
• Saturday: Royals (Horacio Ramirez, 1-4, 4.34 ERA in 2008) vs. Yankees (Joba Chamberlain, 4-3, 2.60 ERA in 2008), 6:10 p.m. CT
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
