The Royals wrap up their California road trip this weekend with a three game series with Oakland.  With the Tigers getting their series with the red hot Rangers off to a humiliating start, this could be a great chance for the Royals to close the one game lead in the American League Central.  Here are the matchups by the numbers.

The A’s are coming off of a losing series against the Rangers.  They were out scored in that series by only a single run.  In 42 games, the A’s have scored 199 runs for an average of close to 5 runs a game.  Strangely enough, the number of runs scored against the A’s is an identical 199.  If the Royals can contain Oakland’s offense this weekend they are sure to like where they sit in the rankings come Monday morning.

Friday:

James Shields gets the start for the Royals.  Shields took the loss in his last game against the Yankees and a no decision against the White Sox.  Both were tough losses for the Royals as Shields only allowed 2 runs to New York and none at all to the Sox.  Shields has struck out close to a batter an inning and owns a 0.97 WHIP.  Look for Big Game James to keep the Oakland offense in check on Friday night.

The A’s will send Jarrod Parker to the hill on Friday to face Shields.  Parker has been pretty terrible thus far.  His only wins so far this year have only come when his team has provided great run support behind him such as his 10-6 win against the Angles.  His ERA is approaching 7 and has been allowing close to 2 base runners an inning.  If Parker turns this around on Friday it will be surprising.

Saturday:

Ervin Santana will start for the Royals.  Santana is coming off of a disappointing game against the Yankees giving up 8 hits, 2 of which were home runs.  The long ball can at times be Santana’s biggest weakness and as mentioned before, the A’s can hit.  Fortunately, the Coliseum is a pitcher friendly park and should help Santana keep in on the field.

Santana will face off against Tommy Milone.  Milone has been pretty hit or miss so far this year.  His ERA is a deceiving 3.71.  He has surrendered 13 earned runs in his last 5 starts, however in two of those starts he shut his opponents down completely.  The Royals hope they get the Tommy Milone that gives up an earned run per inning and not the Tommy Milone that gives up none at all.

Sunday:

Luis Mendoza gets the start on Sunday.  Mendoza has had a rough year so far.  Unlike Santana, his troubles extend past giving up home runs.  Mendoza has given up lots of hits as well as the occasional walk and he has yet to pitch past the 6^th inning.  The Royals are going to have to provide Mendoza with a lot of run support to keep this game in control.

Run support could be hard to come by though as A.J. Griffin will be starting for the A’s on Sunday.  Griffin posted a 3.06 ERA last year and has looked sharp so far.  His 3.48 ERA this year is somewhat bloated thanks to one horrendous start against the Red Sox where he gave up 7 runs in 4 innings.  The Royals will have to try to get to Griffin early for the finale of the series.

One of my favorite projects that I have the pleasure of putting together on a regular basis, Baseball Digest Classic Discussions takes on some of the hard hitting and more personal issues surrounding the game. At the end of August last season, the Discussion series took on the subject role models and higher standards for athletes.

In the series, I suggested that parents and fans take time to learn more about the players that they take their kids to see. Take a look at how the player interacts with fans, the charity work that is done off the field, and the projects that he involves himself in. Today, in the midst of a season ending injury and one of the most disappointing moments in his career, Adam Wainwright moved himself into Role Model status in my mind. In an open letter on a blog site set aside for discussions of fellowship, Wainwright addressed the 2011 season.

I truly believe I was better prepared to play ball this year than ever before. This was supposed to be my year. Everyone I know, and don’t know, was telling me this was my year to win the Cy Young. I had thrown 7 bullpen sessions in preparation to face hitters for the first time, and everything was going great. I honestly can’t remember a time where my delivery and overall confidence in my stuff was even close to where it is now. But, God had different plans than all that for me this year. While facing hitters the first time I felt a twinge in my elbow, and long story short I am scheduled to have Tommy John surgery on monday morning.

Strong in his faith, the result was a heart tugging, inspiring, and emotional. He takes his reader through the thought process of a teammate, an athlete, a husband and a Christian. During one point of his open letter, he stated:

I believe I can still greatly impact God’s Kingdom from this disabled list. And if any of you people who I just bragged about catch me slippin….please slap me around.

Not many people can admit the challenge they face is minor in the grand scheme of things. Very few athletes take the time to thank God for an injury instead of a strikeout. Not many athletes would take the time, just days after a season ending diagnosis, to reach out with a very personal letter to his fans.

The Cardinals have an ace on their staff and in the clubhouse. It is not because of his 20-win seasons or climbing strikeout rates. It is not because of his bull dog attitude or ability to command respect. It is because he is a teammate, a friend, a hard worker, and a man strong in his faith.

You can read the entire transcript here.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

It has become a staple around I-70 Baseball during the off-season to drop some links and spread some of our favorite sites out to you, our loyal readers.

This week the Cardinals hosted their Winter Warm Up, Albert Pujols laid out a deadline for his deal, and some minor acquisitions were made. Let’s check the links:

One of the newer blogs in the United Cardinal Bloggers checks in with his Two Cents on the Albert Pujols situation. Read friend of the site Dathan’s post by clicking here.

She may write for us at I-70, but I discovered her when she started working on the site she calls her own (along with her partners). This week, Angela Weinhold dug into her own archives for a story so vivid, it must be a dream.

Retro Simba takes a look at one of the newest Cardinals pitchers and takes a look at how effective he may or may not be for the redbirds. Read the insightful post here.

The Cardinal Nation Blog gathered up some pictures from this weekend’s winter warm up to display some Cardinal faces out to the rest of the world. Take a look at your redbirds by clicking here.

Dennis, known as gr33nazn on Twitter, brought one of the funniest and most entertaining pieces of the off-season. If you did not catch the post over at Pitchers Hit Eighth this weekend, do yourself a favor and click here.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

With less than a month until the wonderful “Pitchers and Catchers Report” story, some news has started to trickle in. Our Royals friends around the Internet have chimed in with some observations this week.

As is becoming a custom here on I-70 during the off-season, we suggest you give some other sites and writers some love and drop by to read what they have to say.

One of our favorite podcasts out there belongs to the talented guys at Broken Bat Single, and you can check in on their latest edition by clicking here.

The Royals brought back one of the most effective pitchers for the 2010 version of the ball club, Bruce Chen. Michael over at Kings Of Kauffman takes a look at the deal he received over here.

Craig over at Royals Authority took the time to break down the payroll of the 2011 bunch that the Royals will run out there. He openly wonders How Low Will The Payroll Go.

The Royals took a chance on Zach Miner for the upcoming season, and the folks at Royally Speaking break down who he is and what to expect from the young man. Read their breakdown here.

Finally, the trustworty Rany On The Royals breaks down the two left-handers that were signed this past week. One new to the franchise and one returning, they will look to shore up the rotation.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

This week on I-70 Baseball Radio, we will take a break from talking Cardinals and Royals and talk about baseball as a whole. More specifically, we will talk about the upcoming elections to the Baseball Hall Of Fame.

The folks in Cooperstown will announce the results of the Baseball Writers Association of America’s vote for the official inductees for 2011. The Baseball Bloggers Alliance held their unofficial vote, and voted for Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar to be enshrined.

A panel of sportswriters will join us for the show at 10 pm CST, which can be found by clicking here. Members of that panel are:

Kary Booher, Springfield Cardinals beat writer for the Springfield News Leader.
Shawn Anderson, who has been breaking down the candidates on his site The Hall Of Very Good.
Michael Lynch, who runs an amazing baseball site known as Seamheads.
Mark Healey, the online editor for I-70 Baseball’s parent site, Baseball Digest.

These gentlemen will join myself and Matt Kelsey to break down the 33 names on the Hall Of Fame ballot and help us determine who deserves to go, who deserves to be left in the cold, and who could go either way.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

The Royals sites are all a buzz as the team has traded ace pitcher Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers. Since I-70 got caught on the outside looking in for the first time this off-season, let’s round up what’s going on on the Internets out there.

When we start with the links, let’s start with our friend Jim Breen, who will join us on I-70 Baseball Radio tonight. Jim runs Milwaukee fan site Bernies Crew and broke the rumor that Greinke was headed to Milwaukee before anyone. You can read his original post here.

The guys over at Royals Authority figure that Things Just Got More Interesting as they break down the Greinke deal here.

The team of writers at Kings of Kauffman break down the trade, but they also chimed in with the “shocking” news that Greinke demanded a trade shortly after signing on with a new agent this week. Read their prelude to the storm by clicking here.

One of our standing links every week goes out to our favorite Podcast (other than our own). Give Nick a listen on his Broken Bat Single Podcast each week by clicking here.

Bob Dutton of the KC Star breaks down the deal as in depth as anyone on the Internet. Read his account of it all by clicking here.

That’s it for the links this week. Happy holidays to all or you from all of us.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

It has been a quiet week on the Cardinals front, but not so much for the division. The Brewers got better by working with the other I-70 team, but you will find the rundown of all of that on the Royals links today.

A few of the Cardinal sites out there paused for a few minutes to pay tribute to Bob Feller. You can read Retrosimba’s look at a young Rapid Robert by clicking here and I-70′s own Michael Metzger paying tribute to a fellow serviceman on his site, Stan Musial’s Stance, by clicking here.

Another alumni of the site, Bob Netherton, runs his own site that takes frequent walks down memory lane. This week, Bob takes a stance on the player (or the type of player) the Cardinals really need. Read up on Vince Coleman and what he did for the Cards by clicking here.

Our good friends over at CardsGM take a look at the Cardinals, with a Black Eyed Peas twist. You can give it a read by clicking here.

JD over at Bleed Cardinal Red With Me takes a look at John Sickel’s top 20 list of Cardinal Prospects for the upcoming season. Give it a read by clicking here.

If all else fails and you are feeling brave, drop by our friends at Cards Diaspora and check out the 12 Days of Cardinals Crapmas. Be careful though, they are not the most family friendly site.

It’s a slow time of year for Cardinal news, but the sites above do a good job of giving some quality content during the cold months.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

The Royals showed activity this week, delving into the free agent pool and bringing in a few outfielders. It kicked off a lot of discussion around the internet and we are here to round up some of our favorite thoughts of the week.

The Royals were start their week bringing Jeff Francoeur back into the folds. Of course, Rany Jazayerli takes full credit for the move over at his site, Rany On The Royals.

They were not done, though, and quickly acted again, bringing in Melky Cabrera to compete with the youngsters for a job. Jeff over at Royaly Speaking quickly named this “The Most Pointless Signing Of The Moore Era”.

It would not take long for the team at Royals Authority to chime in about the signing of both of these outfielders, and Craig Brown quickly acted, discussing “The Scare Pair”.

Gage Matthews of Kings of Kauffman penned his Letter To Dayton Moore and starts off taking it easy on the oft-critisized general manager. No worries, KofK fans, he gets his shots in before he wraps up.

The guys over at Royals Review get the post of the week, as they point out that this is not a new trend with Moore. Check out the Dayton Moore Incompetence Tournament going on over there right now.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

The Cardinals have decided to stir the rumor pot a little bit and make a move that everyone has been holding their breath for this off-season.

As we take a look around the Internet this week we find our favorite sites discussing Brendan Ryan, the backup catcher, the Baseball Bloggers’ Alliance and even a Christmas Carol. Enjoy some links and some material from various sources around Cardinal Nation and we will be back at it tomorrow with your history lesson from Bob Netherton.

The Cardinals traded away fan-favorite Brendan Ryan for various reasons, though the only one discussed publicly was his on field performance. While we broke down the trade right here on Sunday, so did our friends at The McBrayer Baseball Blog and Bleed Cardinal Red With Me.

Somewhat along those lines, Cardinals GM takes a look back at a time when defense was important to the Cardinals organization.

The guys over at everyone’s favorite rumor site, MLBTradeRumors, break down the Cardinals search for a backup backstop and it’s focus on creating a Molina Squared situation in St. Louis.

This past week, blogs around the Internet were asked to discuss their involvement in the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Over at Misc Baseball, they interviewed founder Daniel Shoptaw about the organization.

Finally, it would not be a complete post of mine if I did not suck up to the founder of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and the United Cardinal Bloggers. In all seriousness, Daniel put together one of the most creative pieces based on Cardinals baseball that I have read in a long time, and wrapped it up in a Christmas bow for all to see.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.