OAKLAND, Calif. — Jonathan Broxton hit Jonny Gomes on the first pitch he threw with the bases loaded in the 12th inning, forcing Jemile Weeks home for the winning run in the Oakland Athletics’ 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

Moments earlier, Broxton (0-1) plunked new A’s cleanup hitter Yoenis Cespedes on the first pitch to load the bases and the closer received a mound visit from pitching coach Dave Eiland.

It marked the third time the A’s won on a game-ending hit by pitch in Oakland history and first since Olmedo Saenz on July 20, 2002, against Texas.

Coco Crisp’s RBI groundout earlier in the 12th tied it at 4 after Billy Butler doubled home the go-ahead run in top half of the inning against Andrew Carignan (1-1).

A day after rain shortened the Royals’ 3-0 win following seven-plus innings, fans got their share of baseball in the finale.

Kansas City heads home for the first time since the start of spring training in mid-February at 3-3, but without the same momentum it would have had with a second winning road series after taking two of three at Los Angeles.

Oakland closer Grant Balfour pitched a scoreless ninth and 10th. He allowed Alcides Escobar’s leadoff single in the 10th and a two-out walk to Jeff Francoeur on four pitches before striking out Mike Moustakas.

The A’s now head out for their first real road trip — a seven-gamer — considering the two matchups with the Mariners in Tokyo two weeks ago counted as Oakland home games.

Kansas City’s Alex Gordon hit a tying home run off Brian Fuentes in the seventh.

Jose Mijares hit Josh Reddick with a breaking ball in the right shoulder area leading off the eighth, but the ball appeared to ricochet into Reddick’s helmet and he went down for a couple of minutes before leaving the game. Coco Crisp came in to run and Greg Holland relieved Mijares, but the A’s couldn’t capitalize.

Gomes hit a two-run homer in the fourth to put the A’s ahead and starter Brandon McCarthy in position for his first victory of the season before Fuentes gave it up.

Cespedes doubled, swiped third for his first steal and scored on catcher Brayan Pena’s throwing error to make it 1-0 Oakland in the second. Pena threw wildly into left field trying to get Cespedes at third on his steal.

Cespedes hit his first career single in the 11th after his initial five hits went for extra bases. The Cuban rookie wrapped up his first homestand 4 for 16 with two home runs and eight strikeouts.

Going into the 2012 season, I knew that the Kansas City Royals would be good. I knew that we had one of the best bullpens in all of baseball and that any game that the Royals were leading late would most likely be a win. I knew that we were set at almost every position and that our lineup contains several players that will be making annual trips to the All-Star game soon. I knew that our manager Ned Yost was the perfect guy to lead this young talented team.

The only real question I has was whether the starting pitching would show up. It would do little good to have a great bullpen if they were not handed a lead, and even the best offenses cant slug it out every night winning 9-8 games.

So far this season, though, the Royals’ starters have proven that they can do more than just show up. In fact, after one time through the rotation they are the best in all of baseball, posting a 1.55 ERA and a 3-1 record. Luis Mendoza is credited with the lone loss after coming up the loser in a 1-0 game against Oakland.

This pitching performance is even more impressive considering that all 5 games have been played on the road and that 3 of those games were against the powerful new Angels batting order starring Albert Pujols.

I know that it is too early in the season to go crazy over pitcher statistics, and, by the end of the season, they will probably not be the best in all of baseball, but there is a great deal of reason for fans to get excited over this. Our only question mark looks like it may have the potential to now be one of our strengths.

All 5 of these pitchers have shown flashes of brilliance over their careers. If they could begin to reach their potential this staff could be amazing. Imagine Luke Hochevar pitching like he did when he used only 80 pitches in a complete game in 2009.

The Royals would suddenly be a hot pick to win it all.

Another great stat is that they have also managed just 22 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched. That means that this team is playing defense and all the pressure is not on the shoulders of the pitchers. They know that if they just keep the ball in play they have 7 guys behind them that will take care of it.

I look for this trend to continue. I think at some point later this year major sports publications will be asking, “Where did these guys come from?”

This is all just one more reason to believe that 2012 is the year the Royals become kings of baseball again.

More from this author:
Five things to expect from the Royals in 2012

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Top movies for dads coming in the summer of 2012

Jacob was born and raised in Kansas City. He has been a die hard Kansas City Royals fan his entire life. He now lives in Gladstone, Mo. where he is raising the next generation of Royal’s fans.

The Minnesota Twins will play 72 regular-season games against AL Central opponents during the 2012 MLB season. Those opponents include the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. The home and away games will be evenly distributed at 36.

The Twins won’t play an AL Central opponent until they have a three-game home series with the Royals from April 27 through April 29. The Twins will host their final series against an AL Central opponent when they face the Tigers from September 28 through September 30. The Twins won’t play a divisional opponent away from Minnesota until May 16.

Here is a brief rundown of the Twins’ schedule against divisional opponents for the 2012 MLB season.

Complete MLB schedule can be found HERE.

April 2012 (3 Home, 0 Road)

April 27-29: Kansas City Royals

May 2012 (5 Home, 5 Road)

May 14-15: Cleveland Indians

May 16-17: at Detroit Tigers

May 22-24: at Chicago White Sox

May 25-27: Detroit Tigers

June 2012 (5 Home, 6 Road)

June 1-3: at Cleveland Indians

June 4-6: at Kansas City Royals

June 25-27: Chicago White Sox

June 29-30: Kansas City Royals

July 2012 (6 Home, 10 Road)

July 1: Kansas City Royals (Continued)

July 2-5: at Detroit Tigers

July 20-22: at Kansas City Royals

July 23-25: at Chicago White Sox

July 27-29: Cleveland Indians

July 30-31: Chicago White Sox

August 2012 (4 Home, 4 Road)

August 1: Chicago White Sox (Continued)

August 6-8: at Cleveland Indians

August 13-15: Detroit Tigers

August 31: at Kansas City Royals

September And October 2012 (13 Home, 11 Road)

September 1-2: at Kansas City Royals (Continued)

September 3-5: at Chicago White Sox

September 7-10: Cleveland Indians

September 11-13: Kansas City Royals

September 14-16: Chicago White Sox

September 18-20: at Cleveland Indians

September 21-23: at Detroit Tigers

September 28-30: Detroit Tigers

MLB schedules subject to change due to rainouts or any other unanticipated postponement.

Joshua Huffman grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a Green Bay Packers and Chicago Cubs enthusiast. He immediately gained an admiration for Cubs fans after watching numerous games on WGN during the mid-90s. His favorite Cubs moment was Kerry Wood’s(notes) 1-hitter, 20K extravaganza that was only denied of a no-hitter by Kevin Orie’s defensive blunder. As a Packers and Cubs fan, he suffered through Steve Bartman and “4th & 26″ in a span of three months. He can be found on Twitter HERE.

More from Yahoo! Contributor Network

AL Central Schedule for the 2012 Detroit Tigers

AL Central Schedule for the 2012 Chicago White Sox

AL Central Schedule for the 2012 Kansas City Royals

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Danny Duffy pitched six sharp innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 3-0 in a rain-shortened game on Tuesday night.

Mike Moustakas hit an RBI double in the fourth and Mitch Maier added a solo homer in the seventh for Kansas City, which lost 1-0 at Oakland on Monday night.

The start of the game was delayed 43 minutes by rain, and a steady drizzle continued throughout the night.

A second delay was called after Eric Hosmer struck out in the top of the eighth during a downpour. The bat slipped out of Hosmer’s hands and landed just above the steps in the Royals dugout, prompting umpires to call for the tarp. The game was officially called at 11:07 p.m. local time.

Duffy (1-0) allowed one hit, struck out eight and walked four in his first game of the season. Three of the left-hander’s five career wins have come in Oakland, and he had little problem keeping that streak going despite the wet conditions.

Crow pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for the save, his first in the majors.

Cliff Pennington doubled with one out in third for Oakland’s only hit, and he was picked off. Duffy pitched with runners on base in two other innings and got out of trouble each time with some help from Kansas City’s defense.

Both teams were pressing to get the game in regardless of the weather, since this is Kansas City’s lone trip to Northern California this season and rain is predicted for the Bay Area through the rest of the week as well.

Kansas City pushed across two runs in the fourth against Graham Godfrey. Billy Butler hit a leadoff double, took third on Jeff Francoeur’s bloop single and scored when Moustakas hit a long fly ball that glanced off the glove of center fielder Yoenis Cespedes. The Cuban rookie had turned and was running at a full sprint toward the wall when the ball hit the palm of his glove and bounced off.

Francoeur scored on Humberto Quintana’s sacrifice fly.

Duffy made it hold up, with a little help from the Royals defense.

First baseman Hosmer made a sliding grab of Jemile Weeks’ foul ball in the first, then Lorenzo Cain chased down Daric Barton’s deep fly ball to center to start an 8-4-3 double play in the second.

Even when he had control problems in the fifth, walking a pair of batters, Duffy worked out of trouble by striking out Pennington to end the threat.

Duffy earned his first major league victory here on June 4 when he held the A’s to two runs over six innings, then won in Oakland again on Sept. 6.

Maier, who entered the game as an injury replacement for Cain, homered off Jerry Blevins in the seventh. Cain left the game with a strained left groin following his double play in the second.

Godfrey (0-1) allowed six hits in six innings.

NOTES: A’s RHP Joey Devine will miss the season after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery for the second time in three years. Devine was already on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis. ”In instances like this you don’t even consider what it means to the club,” Melvin said. ”It’s all about him right now. There was a time (last year) when he was as good as anybody coming out of the bullpen.” … Melvin plans to rest LF Coco Crisp on Wednesday. … LHP Bruce Chen makes his second start of the season for the Royals on Wednesday after pitching six shutout innings against the Angels on opening day. … RHP Brandon McCarthy (0-1) pitches the series finale for the A’s, his third start in Oakland’s first seven games.

The Kansas City Royals will play 72 regular-season games against AL Central opponents during the 2012 MLB season. Those opponents include the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. The home and away games will be evenly distributed at 36.

The Royals will host their first game against an AL Central opponent when they play the Cleveland Indians from April 13 through April 15. They’ll finish their season with a three-game home series against the Tigers from October 1 through October 3. The Royals won’t host a divisional contest from April 19 through June 3.

Here is a brief rundown of the Royals’ schedule against divisional opponents for the 2012 MLB season.

Complete MLB schedule can be found HERE.

April 2012 (6 Home, 7 Road)

April 13-15: Cleveland Indians

April 16-18: Detroit Tigers

April 24-26: at Cleveland Indians

April 27-29: at Minnesota Twins

April 30: at Detroit Tigers

May 2012 (0 Home, 8 Road)

May 1-2: at Detroit Tigers (Continued)

May 11-13: at Chicago White Sox

May 28-30: at Cleveland Indians

June 2012 (3 Home, 2 Road)

June 4-6: Minnesota Twins

June 29-30: at Minnesota Twins

July 2012 (7 Home, 4 Road)

July 1: at Minnesota Twins (Continued)

July 6-8: at Detroit Tigers

July 13-15: Chicago White Sox

July 20-22: Minnesota Twins

July 31: Cleveland Indians

August 2012 (9 Home, 3 Road)

August 1-2: Cleveland Indians (Continued)

August 6-8: at Chicago White Sox

August 17-19: Chicago White Sox

August 28-30: Detroit Tigers

August 31: Minnesota Twins

September And October 2012 (11 Home, 12 Road)

September 1-2: Minnesota Twins (Continued)

September 7-9: at Chicago White Sox

September 11-13: at Minnesota Twins

September 18-20: Chicago White Sox

September 21-23: Cleveland Indians

September 25-27: at Detroit Tigers

September 28-30: at Cleveland Indians

October 1-3: Detroit Tigers

MLB schedules subject to change due to rainouts or any other unanticipated postponement.

Joshua Huffman grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a Green Bay Packers and Chicago Cubs enthusiast. He immediately gained an admiration for Cubs fans after watching numerous games on WGN during the mid-90s. His favorite Cubs moment was Kerry Wood’s(notes) 1-hitter, 20K extravaganza that was only denied of a no-hitter by Kevin Orie’s defensive blunder. As a Packers and Cubs fan, he suffered through Steve Bartman and “4th & 26″ in a span of three months. He can be found on Twitter HERE.

More from Yahoo! Contributor Network

AL Central Schedule for the 2012 Detroit Tigers

AL Central Schedule for the 2012 Chicago White Sox

Baseball fans are still split on interleague play.

Those that argue against it say that it takes away from a century’s worth of baseball tradition and makes for unbalanced schedules.

Those for it argue that it is a fun way for fans to see their favorite ballclub play against in-state rivals. If there was no interleague play, there would be no Chicago Cubs – Chicago White Sox, no New York Yankees – New York Mets and no Los Angeles Angels – Los Angeles Dodgers.

I know most Royals fans wish that the Cubs were coming to town this year, but there are still plenty of interleague series to be excited about. Highlighting this year’s interleague schedule is a home series against the Milwaukee Brewers and a home & home against the in-state rival St Louis Cardinals.

Kansas City Royals 2012 Interleague Schedule (All Times EDT)

Friday, May 18

Arizona at Kansas City – 8:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSAZ

Saturday, May 19

Arizona at Kansas City – 7:15 pm; TV: FOX

Sunday, May 20

Arizona at Kansas City – 2:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSAZ

Friday, June 8

Royals at Pittsburgh – 7:05 pm; TV: FSKC, ROOT

Saturday, June 9

Royals at Pittsburgh – 7:15 pm; TV: FOX

Sunday, June 10

Royals at Pittsburgh – 1:35 pm; TV: FSKC, ROOT

Tuesday, June 12

Milwaukee at Kansas City – 8:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSWI

Wednesday, June 13

Milwaukee at Kansas City – 8:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSWI

Thursday, June 14

Milwaukee at Kansas City – 8:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSWI

Friday, June 15

Royals at St Louis – 8:15 pm; TV: FSKC, FSMW

Saturday, June 16

Royals at St Louis – 2:15 pm; TV: FSKC, FSMW

Sunday, June 17

Royals at St Louis – 2:15 pm; TV: FSKC, FSMW

Monday, June 18

Royals at Houston – 8:05 pm; TV: FSKC, FSH

Tuesday, June 19

Royals at Houston – 8:05 pm; TV: FSKC, FSH

Wednesday, June 20

Royals at Houston – 2:05 pm; TV: FSH

Friday, June 22

St Louis at Kansas City – 8:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSMW

Saturday, June 23

St Louis at Kansas City – 2:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSMW

Sunday, June 24

St Louis at Kansas City – 2:10 pm; TV: FSKC, FSMW

Sources:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/kan/schedule

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Bruce Chen, who led the Kansas City Royals in wins the past two years, will be the opening day starter on April 6 at the Los Angeles Angels.

Manager Ned Yost made the announcement Tuesday after Chen had his best spring training outing in a 9-7 victory over Milwaukee, holding the Brewers to three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, while striking out six and walking one.

Chen, a 34-year-old left-hander, went 12-8 with a 3.77 ERA in 25 starts last year and is 24-15 the past two seasons.

Yost said right-hander Luke Hochevar, the 2011 opening day starter, and left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, would start the second and third games in the Angels series.

The Royals have not yet determined who will be the fourth and fifth game starters at Oakland.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) Bruce Chen, who led the Kansas City Royals in wins the past two years, will be the opening day starter on April 6 at the Los Angeles Angels.

Manager Ned Yost made the announcement Tuesday after Chen had his best spring training outing in a 9-7 victory over Milwaukee, holding the Brewers to three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, while striking out six and walking one.

Chen, a 34-year-old left-hander, went 12-8 with a 3.77 ERA in 25 starts last year and is 24-15 the past two seasons.

Yost said right-hander Luke Hochevar, the 2011 opening day starter, and left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the San Francisco Giants, would start the second and third games in the Angels series.

The Royals have not yet determined who will be the fourth and fifth game starters at Oakland.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Bruce Chen, who led the Kansas City Royals in wins the past two years, will be the opening day starter on April 6 at the Los Angeles Angels.

Manager Ned Yost made the announcement Tuesday after Chen had his best spring training outing in a 9-7 victory over Milwaukee, holding the Brewers to three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, while striking out six and walking one.

Chen, a 34-year-old left-hander, went 12-8 with a 3.77 ERA in 25 starts last year and is 24-15 the past two seasons.

Yost said right-hander Luke Hochevar, the 2011 opening day starter, and left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, would start the second and third games in the Angels series.

The Royals have not yet determined who will be the fourth and fifth game starters at Oakland.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) Luis Mendoza became the second Kansas City Royals pitcher to be led off the mound by a trainer in four games.

Mendoza was removed in the second inning after being struck in the left leg by a Brandon Allen single as the Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics 8-3 Wednesday.

Oakland was playing its last game in Arizona before leaving for Tokyo, where the A’s meet Seattle in an opening two-game series next Wednesday and Thursday.

”It’s just sore right now,” Mendoza said. ”I was scared because it really hurt. It was a hard ground ball, but it hit my hamstring, it hit muscle in the back of my leg. Right now, I’m glad it’s nothing serious. It was a big bruise.”

Royals closer Joakim Soria exited Sunday with ligament damage in his elbow. He is taking a few days to consider his options after receiving a second opinion. Soria has damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He had reconstructive elbow surgery in 2003 to replace the same ligament.

”No more,” Mendoza said of pitchers leaving prematurely for the trainer’s room.

Mendoza is 4-0 with a 0.77 ERA, giving up one run in 11 2-3 innings this spring.

”The ball got him on the back of the knee, a real meaty part,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”It’s just a bruise. It hit him pretty good. It’s not something to continue with at this point of the year. You don’t want to take a chance of it swelling or him altering his mechanics at all because he’s throwing the ball so well.”

Yost said Mendoza remains ”definitely right in the mix” as a rotation candidate.

Lorenzo Cain, who tops the Cactus League with a .500 batting average, homered to lead off the second inning. Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer each had two hits and drove in a run for the Royals, who won for the fifth time in six games. Max Ramirez contributed a two-run pinch single in the sixth to up his RBI total to 11 in 13 games.

A’s right-hander Graham Godfrey gave up three runs on six hits and two walks in three innings, throwing only 37 strikes in 75 pitches.

”Not very good,” Godfrey said of his location. ”That’s one thing I talked with Curt (Young, pitching coach) about. Typically I fill the zone up, throw a lot of strikes. Today was almost the opposite. It’s good to have that kind of outing now, learn from it and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Godfrey was familiar with Cain, who he faced last year when both were in the Pacific Coast League. Cain homered on a 3-1 pitch.

”He’s a good hitter,” Godfrey said. ”This spring he’s been doing pretty well. He was one of the guys I had to be careful of last year. It was a case where I was working behind a lot of hitters. I don’t want to walk anybody. I gave him a cookie and he did what he’s supposed to do with it.”

Godfrey worked out of a bases loaded jam in the third, retiring Cain on a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

”I thought I made some good pitches when I needed to,” Godfrey said. ”Sometime it worked out for me. Other times there was a broken bat flare where nobody was playing. I try not to be so result-oriented, but obviously it wasn’t the result I wanted, but most of the pitches were kind of where I wanted them. There were some good things and some bad things mixed with a little bad luck I thought.”

Minor leaguer Cedric Hunter homered for the A’s in the seventh.

NOTES: A’s 3B Scott Sizemore had surgery Wednesday to repair a left knee ligament tear and will miss the season. Sizemore hit 11 home runs with 52 RBIs in 93 games last season with Oakland after being acquired in a trade with Detroit. He injured the knee last month in the A’s first full-squad workout. . Yost said C Humberto Quintero and OF Jason Bourgeois, who were scheduled to arrive Wednesday night after being acquired in a trade with Houston, would be in the Royals lineup Thursday.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria will take a few days to consider his options after receiving a second opinion on his elbow injury.

Soria has damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He had reconstructive elbow surgery in 2003 to replace the same ligament.

After leaving Sunday’s game with pain in the elbow, Soria was examined Tuesday by Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles.

“He’s taking the day to sit back and think through things,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Wednesday. “We’ll give him a day or two and then we’ll go from there.”

Yost said he didn’t know what the options were.

Soria, a two-time All-Star, has 160 career saves, including a career-high 43 in 2010. Even if the 27-year-old Soria chooses not to have surgery, he would likely miss three months. If Tommy John surgery is necessary, he would miss the season.

“It’s going to be a serious blow to our ‘pen,” Yost said. “Jack was the guy that was the leader in the bullpen. He was the guy everybody looked up to. We think we’ll be covered down there, be able to absorb it. But, still, when you lose your leader, that hurts.”

Yost said Jonathan Broxton, Greg Holland and Aaron Crow were candidates to close games.

“All three of those guys are capable of doing that – they really are,” Yost said. “We’ll play it out. We may go with some combination of the two or three or whatever. We’ve got time left to think through it and figure out what’s best for our club.

“We think we’ve got a bullpen that we think is going to be filled with power-arm relievers. What combination we use them in might vary from day-to-day.”

Yost said he does not like a closer by committee, but “that could be an option.”

Broxton had 84 saves with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but needed arthroscopic elbow surgery Sept. 19 to remove a bone spur and fragments. Holland was 5-1 with a 1.80 ERA and four saves last year. Crow was an All-Star selection as a rookie, going 4-4 with a 2.76 ERA in 57 relief appearances.

Crow, a 2009 first-round pick out of Missouri, entered camp as a candidate for the rotation, but that has changed.

“I called Aaron into the office and told him now that Jack’s probably going to be gone for some time, I think it makes our club stronger with him in the ‘pen,” Yost said. “It gives us the ability to win on an everyday basis more with him in the ‘pen.”

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Updated Mar 21, 2012 5:54 PM ET

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria will take a few days to consider his options after receiving a second opinion on his elbow injury.

Soria has damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He had reconstructive elbow surgery in 2003 to replace the same ligament.

After leaving Sunday’s game with pain in the elbow, Soria was examined Tuesday by Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles.

”He’s taking the day to sit back and think through things,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Wednesday. ”We’ll give him a day or two and then we’ll go from there.”

Yost said he didn’t know what the options were.

Soria, a two-time All-Star, has 160 career saves, including a career-high 43 in 2010. Even if the 27-year-old Soria chooses not to have surgery, he would likely miss three months. If Tommy John surgery is necessary, he would miss the season.

”It’s going to be a serious blow to our ‘pen,” Yost said. ”Jack was the guy that was the leader in the bullpen. He was the guy everybody looked up to. We think we’ll be covered down there, be able to absorb it. But, still, when you lose your leader, that hurts.”

Yost said Jonathan Broxton, Greg Holland and Aaron Crow were candidates to close games.

”All three of those guys are capable of doing that – they really are,” Yost said. ”We’ll play it out. We may go with some combination of the two or three or whatever. We’ve got time left to think through it and figure out what’s best for our club.

”We think we’ve got a bullpen that we think is going to be filled with power-arm relievers. What combination we use them in might vary from day-to-day.”

Yost said he does not like a closer by committee, but ”that could be an option.”

Broxton had 84 saves with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but needed arthroscopic elbow surgery Sept. 19 to remove a bone spur and fragments. Holland was 5-1 with a 1.80 ERA and four saves last year. Crow was an All-Star selection as a rookie, going 4-4 with a 2.76 ERA in 57 relief appearances.

Crow, a 2009 first-round pick out of Missouri, entered camp as a candidate for the rotation, but that has changed.

”I called Aaron into the office and told him now that Jack’s probably going to be gone for some time, I think it makes our club stronger with him in the ‘pen,” Yost said. ”It gives us the ability to win on an everyday basis more with him in the ‘pen.”

As we cross the halfway point of spring training, one thing is becoming crystal clear. The Kansas City Royals lineup can hit the cover off the ball.

Of the nine players expected to be in the starting lineup once the regular season gets underway, six are hitting above a .300 AVG.

Four players are looking especially sharp down in Arizona. The franchise’s future superstars, Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer are both hitting over .350 and have a combined 4 HR, 7 2B and 24 RBIs in 70 AB. Billy Butler, who came into spring training in the best physical condition of his career, has also been tearing it up. Butler has 13 H and 6 RBIs in just 30 AB.

As the homeward stretch of spring training starts, the team’s biggest positive surprise has been the plate performance of Lorenzo Cain. The young centerfielder is hitting an eye popping .517 AVG with 15 H, of which 6 are doubles. 2012 will mark the first season in which Cain will be an everyday starter in the big leagues.

On the low end, both Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur have been struggling out of the gates. Both players are coming off successful seasons in 2011 and their power will be desperately needed for the Royals to contend for a playoff spot.

Here is a position by position look at the starting lineup of the Kansas City Royals with two weeks to go before Opening Day:

Outfield

Alex Gordon – LF: In 34 AB a .353 AVG, 12 H, 4 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBIs

Lorenzo Cain – CF: In 29 AB a .517 AVG, 15 H, 6 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBIs

Jeff Francoeur – RF: In 32 AB a .219 AVG, 7 H, 3 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBIs

Infield

Eric Hosmer – 1B: In 36 AB a .361 AVG, 13 H, 3 2B, 2 HR, 15 RBIs

Johnny Giavotella – 2B: In 33 AB a .242 AVG, 8 H, 3 2B, 0 HR, 4 RBIs

Mike Moustakas – 3B: In 27 AB a .185 AVG, 5 H, 0 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBIs

Alcides Escobar – SS: In 26 AB a .346 AVG, 9 H, 2 3B, 0 HR, 6 RBIs

Catcher, DH

Brayan Pena – C: In 23 AB a .304 AVG, 7 H, 3 2B, 0 HR, 0 RBIs

Billy Butler – DH: In 30 AB a .433 AVG, 13 H, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBIs

Alex Wibholm is an Iowa native and fan of the Kansas City Royals and AL Central Division. Alex attends several KC games every year.

Sources:

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/