The long lead-up to tonight's game

You're probably on your way home now, or home, or about to leave the office, but the Royals aren't set to play for another four hours. Aren't time zones great?

To occupy yourself: Sam Mellinger over at Ball Star is starting a series where he interviews opposing teams' beat writers/bloggers, and the first entry comes from a guy at The Seattle Times who wrote, "And now that the Angels are gone, things don't get any easier. The mighty Royals are coming to town. It might not last, but they're looking great so far, with the best starting pitching in the American League." Not one drip of sarcasm, either.

It's only a two-game set in Seattle, so we won't get to see Gil Meche face his former team, but Jose Guillen's available. It'll be interesting to see if he can use this series, of all series, to finally get on track.

And because we're in Seattle -- No. 2 in Forbes' curious list of America's most miserable sports cities -- we have to remind everyone to keep an eye out for this guy. We don't know anything about him except 1) he's awesome, and 2) he's awesome. (And loves Adrian Beltre.)

Pitching matchup:

KC (7-5): Zack Greinke, 2-0, 0.60 ERA
Seattle (6-7): Jarrod Washburn, 1-1, 3.00 ERA

POSTSCRIPT: Congratulations to Brian Bannister, who was named one of the AL's two players of the week. The other guy? Now this is just too coincidental, isn't it -- Raul Ibanez, former Royal, current Mariner.

POSTSCRIPT 2: As if on cue, Bannister takes your questions.