High hopes

Just a quick note, as I have to be at Rosenblatt pretty soon -- Spiderman is there today signing autographs for the wee ones, which will require extra staff a little earlier than usual.

Anyway, on to the topic at hand: High hopes.

Scott Elarton is scheduled to start for KC tonight against Mark Buehrle. It'll be his first big-league start since last July, and I pray that he does well. From a fan's perspective, of course I want him to do well because it will help the team -- and let's face it, the Royals need a LOT of help right now -- but I also want him to do well because he's coming off of labrum surgery, which I had a few months ago. But really, we need Elarton to come back strong, especially after Luke Hudson's disasterous start the other day against Oakland.

A lot is riding on the healthy and successful return of all of our hurt pitchers. It would be fantastic if Dotel's strained oblique would hurry up and cooperate, but but Soria has been a pretty dependable stand-in.

Brian Bannister has been brought back down to Omaha, and will throw here tonight. I'm pretty pumped; even if he didn't quite do well up in the majors, he usually looks like he has a handle on the AAA hitters. He is fun to watch.