Sox - Royals Preview

Can you say "Must Sweep"? The Red Sox need to beat up on the Royals this week, and they throw the right starters out there to do it. Jon Lester (3.59 ERA) vs. RHP Luke Hudson (4.67) tonight, followed by Josh Beckett (5.00) vs. LHP Jorge De La Rosa (8.59) tomorrow and Curt Schilling (3.78) vs. LHP Mark Redman (5.38) on Thursday.

Here's a look at the Royals' top hitters and pitchers by VORP:

Player             AVG      OBP     SLG    VORP
Mark Teahen        .275    .353    .507    17.2
David Dejesus      .297    .371    .449    14.8
Esteban German     .318    .428    .376    11.6
Mark Grudzielanek  .286    .328    .392    10.0
Emil Brown         .285    .347    .433    8.4

Player          IP     BB9    SO9    RA     VORP
Jimmy Gobble    66.3   3.39   7.73   4.75   10.2
Joe Nelson      25.3   3.20   7.11   2.84   9.4
Joel Peralta    48.7   2.77   6.29   4.44   9.3
Mark Redman    110.3   3.51   3.83   5.47   8.0
Elmer Dessens   54.0   2.17   6.00   5.17   5.8

On July 21, the Sox had a 3 1/2-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East. The next day would have been Wakefield's regular start, but he'd been placed on the DL. The Sox started Kason Gabbard that day, and the Sox lost that afternoon and the next day as well. That started a 6-9 stretch that has dropped them two games behind the Yankees in the division. They also are tied for the wild-card lead with the White Sox and are a half-game ahead of the Twins.

While Boston visits KC, followed by a series at home against Baltimore, Chicago plays the Yankees and then the Tigers. The shoe's on the other foot the following week, however, as Boston plays New York and Detroit while Chicago has a 4 game series against KC.