For those of you that don't know, Joe Posnanski of the KC Star does these "Banny Logs" on his personal blog, where he chronicles each of Royals pitcher Brian Bannister's starts. Joe -- and everyone else -- is infatuated with Bannister for a few reasons.

First, he's a good pitcher. Second, he's smart as hell. He combines both of those to be a rare breed of baseball player -- one who truly cares about the pajama/basement Sabermetric numbers, and a guy whose mental approach to the chess-like game of pitching is similar to that of Greg Maddux. That's not a direct comparison, but it's certainly valid. Anyway, Joe mentions a hilariously awesome text message exchange after the game.

It was like that. Banny was mostly working fastball as he does when he's successful, but his secondary pitches were generally not coming in the red-zone 84-85 mph range. Plus, it looked like Banny had a really good fastball. He got 11 swinging strikes, which is a lot for him, and most of those came on fastballs. He had his command too. I sent him a text after the game, and he wrote back to say: "Just had to let my Babip regress before I started dealing again."

Seriously, how can you not love this guy?

No. Seriously. How can you not? A major league pitcher -- arguably the ace on a major league team, depending on how you feel about Gil Meche -- totally monitors his BABIP. Most regular baseball fans don't monitor BABIP, but Bannister, he is all over that mess. The guy knows his stats; instead of some tangent about the changing world of baseball, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it.

Via Vegas Watch

The growing trend in baseball is for teams to sign their young players to contract extensions in hopes of locking them up before they become too expensive. While it's a smart financial move for all teams, it's generally a real good move for teams with lower payrolls. The Indians started it with Grady Sizemore a few years ago, then the Rockies followed suit with Troy Tulowitzki. This season it's been Evan Longoria and Hanley Ramirez reaping the rewards of baseball's new trend.

One smaller market team that is yet to adapt to this new philosophy is the Kansas City Royals, but that doesn't mean they don't have some young, talented players who wouldn't mind an extension.

"It's just kind of a feel thing," general manager Dayton Moore said. "Obviously, there has to be a willingness on both sides. We talk about a lot of things, but we're still very early in the process."

The Royals are loaded with young players who project as key players for years to come. Of those, the closest to free-agency are pitcher Zack Greinke and catcher John Buck. Both are on track to enter the market after the 2010 season.

Neither has been contacted by club officials about possible extensions.

Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria has been fantastic so far. I mean, ridiculously good. He's 8-for-8 in save situations, and has been damn near untouchable so far. In 13 innings of work, he's struck out 15 while allowing only one walk and three hits, all of which gives him an unbelievably low WHIP of 0.31.

He's even been garnering comparisons to a young Mariano Rivera already. Still, it's also gotten a lot of people in Kansas City wondering: what if the team moved Soria to the starting rotation? From Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star.

Soria is so good, so quick - and with seemingly no strain - that teammates and Royals officials can't help but wonder about someday moving him to the rotation. His use has become one of the perpetual talking points among Royals fans.

Royals manager Trey Hillman, not one who lacks confidence in his decisions, has even second-guessed himself when he hasn't used Soria.

The only problem the Royals have had with Soria is providing him with save chances - only eight in the first 33 games.

"I don't know if we've seen what he's capable of doing," says catcher John Buck. "Personally, I think he could be a really good starter. He has a lot of good other pitches that the league hasn't even seen. I've caught him in the bullpen. There's about three other pitches that nobody's ever seen, because he doesn't need 'em."

On Sunday it was reported that Kansas City Royals reliever John Bale had broken his hand after punching a door at the team's hotel on Friday night. While punching doors with your pitching hand is never the smartest thing to do, it's even dumber when you're already on the disabled list and scheduled to come off in a few days.

Now Bale is going to be out even longer, obviously, and on Monday he faced the media to apologize for his stupidity.

"This is tough," Bale said quietly as he addressed reporters. "I would like to apologize first of all to the Royals organization, teammates and my coaching staff for my actions. It was uncalled for. It was a moment of frustration. I wish I could do anything to take it back, but I can't.

"I have to try to move on the best that I can, support my teammates and do what I can to keep my arm in shape.

"Again, I would like to apologize to everybody. I feel like I let my teammates down. We are right in the thick of things, and I wish I could be on the field fighting with them."

Well, that's all well and good, John, but I can't help but feel your forgetting somebody here.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Kansas City Royals (14-16) vs. Los Angeles Angels (20-13) - 8:10PM Est.

Who the hell needs John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar? It's a question that many Angels fans have probably been asking themselves a bit the last few weeks. I mean, those two were only the two best starters on the Angels staff last year, winning a combined 37 games.

Who needs those 37 wins when you have Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana? Those two have pitched back-to-back all season long, and neither have bothered to try losing a game yet. Yesterday Saunders improved to 6-0 on the year with a win over the Orioles, and today Ervin will try to join his teammate at 6-0.

I remember one time as a kid, I think I was 12 or 13, I was home alone with my sister one night when the power went out in our house during a storm. My dad was just down the street, so I figured it would be best to go to him and let him know. So I took off running through the kitchen and down the hall to my bedroom, in complete darkness, to get my shoes and jacket.

Undeterred by the darkness, I ran full speed (like the wind!) down the hall until I went face first into my bedroom door. Oops! I learned a very valuable lesson that day, and that lesson was that a door can kick your ass if you're not careful. If only I had been around to inform Kansas City Royals pitcher John Bale of this.

Kansas City Royals left-hander John Bale, already on the disabled list due to a tight shoulder, broke his pitching hand punching a door at the team's hotel Friday night.

A club spokesman said Bale informed team officials he had pain in his hand after arriving at Progressive Field for Saturday night's game against Cleveland. X-rays were taken during the game, revealing the fracture on the side of his hand. Bale returned to Kansas City Sunday morning. He will be examined by team doctors, possibly as early as Monday.

Dumbass. At least I didn't know the door was closed when I ran into it, and I was only 12, so I'm expected to do stupid things. I'm not sure what the hell John was trying to accomplish here. Did that door say something about his mom? His wife?

The biggest kicker about this whole thing is that while Bale is already on the disabled list, he was scheduled to come off of it in a few days after throwing a simulated game earlier on Friday. Maybe Bale gave up a few simulated home runs to a simulated Alex Gordon, and then got confused thinking the door was a simulated punching bag. I don't know, all I know is he has to be feeling like an idiot right now.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Milwaukee Brewers (15-12) at Chicago Cubs (17-10) - 2:20 PM ET

So I'm flipping around my MLB extra innings package late last night and I see that they're still playing baseball in Chicago ... and I have to squint because the number on the screen can't be right: 19 runs? Really? The Cubs put up 19 against the Brewers? Alas, it was true. It shouldn't be that surprising. The Cubs were 13th in baseball in batting average last season and 18th in runs. This season, thanks in part to the acquisition of Kosuke Fukudome, and in part to the Cubs dedication to taking more pitches, they were second in both categories before last night's 19 run shenanigans.

The Brewers haven't been hitting as well this season, but they did win the first game of this series in Wrigley 10-7. So who better to calm down all this offense than Yovani Gallardo, who was injured to start the season but has a 0.64 ERA in his first two starts this season, and Carlos Zambrano, who's 4-1 so far with a 2.21 ERA? Maybe the wind will blow in too.

Apparently Alex Gordon has some serious beef with a pair of Texas radio show hosts, according to the KC Star; Brooks postulates that the two gentlemen in question are "afternoon hosts Mike Rhyner and Corby Davidson (though we might be wrong, Flanagan doesn't name them)".

Apparently, the two radio show hosts in question crossed the line in Spring Training when interviewing the wives of Gordon and Luke Hochevar. And because no direct apology has been issued, Gordon could still a little fired up about the possibility of running into the hosts.

The seemingly harmless interview took a nasty turn when Jamie was asked whether she knew who Yoko Ono was. When she said she did not, someone back in the booth or at the station hit a "drop" button that spewed the words "stupid b...." over the air. The same drop button was hit again moments later after Jamie answered another question.

Then later in the interview, one of the show's hosts made crude innuendos about Jamie and Ashley, urging his interviewer to "try and get them to kiss."

Royals upper management got wind of the interview and was furious, as was Gordon. Royals vice president of communications Mike Swanson demanded an apology from the station and the hosts.

Now, technically, that's not anyone actually calling the ladies in question the b-word. But it might actually be worse when you think about it -- instead of some Imus-like gut reaction to something, this was a premeditated load of a clip with the intention of it being used as "humorous" commentary.

Now the Royals are apparently more concerned about Gordon not running into the pair of hosts while in Texas. And frankly, I don't blame them. He still hasn't gotten a direct apology from the hosts, and he's got a pretty good reason to be fired up.

The Royals snapped a seven-game losing streak last night and they owe a big debt of gratitude to Toronto manager John Gibbons. The Blue Jay skipper made a bizarre decision in the eighth inning that helped spur a rally that turned a one-run game into an 8-4 loss.

With runners on second and third and one out, Tony Pena Jr. came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning. Pena would be the league's worst hitter if he qualified for the batting title. In fact, Pena's so bad that Joe Posnanski calls him the worst everyday hitter he's ever seen. That's saying something when you've watched every Royal game for more than a decade.

Anyway, Pena steps in and I'll let Posnanski take it from there.

And John Gibbons, after pitcher Scott Downs fell behind Pena 2-0 count, had him walked.

I'm just telling you ... I'd have fired somebody. I'm just telling you that intentionally walking Tony Pena Jr. or any other light-hitting middle infielder hitting .150 would be a fireable offense on my team. I'd have that written on a clubhouse sign.

David DeJesus singled to plate two runs and break the game open one batter later but that's besides the point. How do you pitch around the worst hitter in baseball to face anyone? Downs and DeJesus are both lefties and you set up the double play and so the hell what. These aren't theoretical situations, they're actual ones and Gibbons managed the game terribly.

(H/T Baseball Musings)

The Kansas City Royals have gotten off to a decent start this season, going 9-10 in their first 19 games, but any success they've had on the young season should be solely credited to their pitching staff. It's guys like Brian Bannister and Zack Greinke who have been solid as starters, and Joakim Soria, Jimmy Gobble, and Leo Nunez who've yet to give up a run working out of the pen (a combined 18.1 innings between them) that's responsible for any wins the team has gotten.

It damn sure hasn't been the offense, which has managed to score a Major League worst 63 runs (they're actually tied with the Giants) this season, and hasn't managed to score more than 6 runs in a single game. So obviously, the Royals could use some help on offense, and there are a few options out there. So why not go after Frank Thomas?

Sure, Frank has some pretty enticing offers from other teams at the moment, but the Royals could be a nice fit for him as well. Since he's still going to be getting paid by the Blue Jays this season, he'd probably be willing to accept a deal in line with the $500,000 the Athletics paid him in 2006. Which would work well within the Royals limited budget. I'm not sure the same could be said if the Royals tried to go after Barry Bonds, not to mention the headache that accompanies Barry where ever he goes.

The only drawback I could see to the Royals signing Thomas would be the fact that Billy Butler would have to move to first base, but even though Billy Boy isn't exactly a defensive standout, he couldn't do that much damage at first. This would also allow Ross Gload to return to more of the utility role he's better suited for.

If I were Dayton Moore, I'd probably be giving the Big Hurt a call in the next few days.