2013 KANSAS CITY ROYALS SPRING TRAINING NOTES Los Angeles Angels (3-9-2) @ Kansas City Royals (12-1-1) Sunday, March 10, 2013 ROYALS GET GROOVE BACK IN SCOTTSDALE--The Royals, after their first loss of the spring Thursday and a pair of truncated washouts on Friday, put together perhaps their best all-around effort of the spring thus far at Scottsdale Stadium yesterday, pounding the defending champion Giants, 13-2...even before impressive 21-year-old righty Yordano Ventura took the mound, he had a 6-run cushion to work with as KC sent 10 men to the plate in the top of the first...the Boys in Blue bats continued to add on, plating two in the second, three more in the fourth and then one each in the fifth and sixth...Johnny Giavotella (3-for-4) and Brett Hayes (2-for-4) each drove in 4 runs while Billy Butler added 3 safeties to the Royals’ 20-hit attack...the aforementioned Ventura did not allow a hit thru 3.0 dominant innings and the Giants didn’t record their first hit until the sixth. DEFICITS STILL SCARCE THROUGH FIRST TWO-PLUS WEEKS--To say the first two-plus weeks of the spring season have gone well for the Royals would be a vast understatement, as Kansas City has barely faced a deficit...the Royals saw a stretch of 37 consecutive innings that the club either lead or was tied snapped on Thursday in the loss to Seattle...the Royals, overall, have been behind for only 13 of the 126 innings the club has played to this point. Upcoming Probables VS. HALOS--Today is the first of two spring meetings between these two old A.L. West rivals...the Royals will make a return trip to Diablo Stadium on March 22. Today vs. Los Angeles Angels @ Surprise Stadium (1:05) Luke Hochevar, Bruce Chen (L), Aaron Crow, OFFENSE CONTINUES TO HUM--The Royals continue to lead all 30 MLB clubs Francisley Bueno (L), Michael Mariot with a .341 average, 28 points higher than the next closest club, Oakland, at .313... vs. KC is fourth in baseball with 95 runs scored and third in runs/game at 6.79... Tommy Hanson, Brad Mills (L), David Carpenter, Michael Kohn individually, Mike Moustakas (.481) is tied for second in the Cactus League in batting...David Lough (.565, 13-for-23) and Moose are tied fourth in hits with 13. Monday: Off Day in Major League camp PITCHING REMAINS ON TOP AS WELL--Kansas City’s pitching staff enters Tuesday vs. Oakland Athletics @ Phoenix Muni Stadium (1:05) today with the best team spring ERA among all 30 big league clubs with a 3.36 mark James Shields, Greg Holland, J.C. Gutierrez, Donnie Joseph (L), through the first 14 games...the Rays sit in second at 3.85...KC’s starters, in very Everett Teaford (L), Louis Coleman abbreviated work as they continue to build up their endurance, have a 2.43 ERA vs. (33.1 IP, 9 ER), second in MLB, while the relievers have an MLB-best 3.69 mark (92.2 Tommy Milone (L), Jerry Blevins (L), Ryan Cook, Chris Resop, IP, 38 ER)...yesterday’s starter Yordano Ventura is third among qualified Cactus Pat Neshek, Jordan Norberto (L) League hurlers with a 2.08 ERA. Wednesday vs. Seattle Mariners @ Surprise Stadium (1:05) WBC ROYALS UPDATES--The WBC began in earnest on Thursday in the Western Ervin Santana, Guillermo Moscoso, Aaron Crow, Nate Adcock, Hemisphere...yesterday, Miguel Tejada (1-for-4, BB), started at third and hit second Dan Wheeler, Brian Sanches, Blaine Boyer in the Dominicans 6-3 win over Spain, clinching a spot in Miami for the second vs. round...Irving Falu was 0-for-5 with a run as Puerto Rico also advanced with a 6-3 TBA win over Salvy Perez’ (1-for-4, 2B, run) Venezuelan side, who was eliminated... Eric Hosmer went 0-for-4 at USA defeated Italy, 6-2...Perez is expected back in Royals camp on Tuesday. ROYALS ON WBC ROSTERS--The Royals have nine members of their organization playing for their respective countries after Wednesday’s announcement that first baseman Eric Hosmer was added to Team USA...Hos joins lefty Tim Collins on the Stars and Stripes...pitchers Kelvin Herrera and Atahualpa Severino is joined by infielder Miguel Tejada and PR dinosaur Mike Swanson on the Dominican Republic squad, catcher Salvador Perez plays for Venezuela, pitcher Luis Mendoza is representing Mexico, infielder Irving Falu plays for Puerto Rico and minor league outfielder Paulo Orlando hit .167 (2-for-12) for Brazil, who was eliminated in the first round. FIRST CUT IN THE BOOKS--The Royals moved six players to minor league camp on Friday with the option of Noel Arguelles (lhp) to Northwest Arkansas...Kansas City also assigned the following to minor league camp: Sugar Ray Marimon (rhp), Ryan Verdugo (lhp), Manuel Pina (L), Julio Rodriguez (c) and Luis Durango (of)...the moves put the Royals at 55 active players in camp, not counting righthander Felipe Paulino who is on the 60-day D.L. as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. ON THE HORIZON--Kansas City will enjoy its second of three off days of the spring tomorrow before hitting the road to Phoenix Muni for an afternoon affair with the Athletics on Tuesday...the Mariners come calling on Wednesday before KC takes a trip down 303 (assuming construction cooperates) to play the Tribe on Thursday...the “work week” is wrapped up with a day-night split-squad Friday as KC hosts the Padres at 1:05 and then travels to Glendale for a 7:05 contest against the Dodgers...the Royals will then travel to Mesa for a meeting with the Cubs Saturday before hosting the White Sox a week from today in Surprise. SPRING WORK--Kansas City is 12-1-1 in the early going this year...the Royals have an all-time exhibition record of 604-557 with 34 ties for a .520 winning pct...since coming to Arizona in 2003, Kansas City has posted a 174-134 mark with 14 ties for a .565 mark...the Royals spent their first 34 seasons training in Florida, starting in Fort Myers (1969-87), followed by a 15-year stint in Baseball City (1988-2002). NEW LOOK SCHEDULE IN 2013--With the Houston Astros joining the American League West this season, the 2013 slate has taken on a new look...the most obvious change is that with 15 teams in each league, an interleague game must take place every day of the season...for the Royals interleague work will commence early when Kansas City visits Philadelphia on the opening weekend of the season for a 3-game set at Citizens Bank Park on April 5-7...it will be Philly’s home opener for 2013...the Royals, and the rest of baseball, will play 20 interleague games this year, up from the 18 that had taken place in previous seasons...Kansas City’s concentration this year will be on the National League East, with the Braves, Nationals and Marlins visiting Kauffman Stadium this summer, which for Atlanta will be the first time ever since interleague play began in 1997...the Royals will also travel to Atlanta as well as Citi Field in New York to face the Mets and the prevoiusly mentioned stop in Philly...Kansas City will also continue its natural rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals, playing a 4-game home and home vs. the Redbirds on May 27-30, with the first two games slated for Kauffman Stadium and the last two for Busch. ROSTER BREAKDOWN--The Royals open the 2013 spring season with an average age of 27 years, 151 days on the 40-man roster, currently ranking 14th among Major League clubs...Kansas City actually has 41 players in camp on the 40-man roster, with Felipe Paulino currently on the 60-day disabled list as he recovers from Tommy John surgery...overall, there are 56 players in camp, counting Paulino...the breakdown includes 31 pitchers (7 non-roster), 5 catchers (2 non-roster), 12 infielders (4 non-roster) and 8 outfielders (3 non-roster)...among the 31 pitchers in camp, 12 are lefthanded. LITTLE HELP PLEASE--The Royals have brought over a trio of players from minor league camp to assist with today’s tilt: lefthander Jose Jimenez (#93), righthander Anthony Ortega (#95) and infielder Angel Franco (#82). NED’S THIRD FULL SEASON BEGINS--The 16th full-time manager in franchise history, Ned Yost, was named to his post on May 13, 2010 and recorded a 198-253 ledger since taking the reins...included was a 72-90 mark a year ago...this is his second stint as a big league manager after nearly six full campaigns at the helm for the Milwaukee Brewers (2003-2008)...he compiled a 457-502 record with the Brew Crew including a 166-146 mark in his last two seasons...Yost, a catcher during his playing days, began his coaching career in the Atlanta organization, including 12 straight seasons on Bobby Cox’s big league staff (1991-2002). ON THE RADIO--There are 20 games slated for KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network...Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart will be mikeside this spring...the next broadcast is slated for today from Surprise vs. the Angels. WEBCASTS AVAILABLE--When the Royals are not on 610 Sports this spring, Royals fans can get every exhibition game on the web by purchasing a subscription to Gameday Audio at royals.com...for a fee of $14.95, fans have the opportunity to hear live coverage of every Royals exhibition game, as well as all 162 regular season games and Major League Baseball’s post-season games...Steve Stewart anchors the Kansas City exhibition webcasts.