The news isn't good. Mike Grace is out for the season and the Montreal
Royals are damned. Suddenly, the prospects of catching up to Deadwood
are a lot grimmer now that the Royals' second-winningest pitcher will no
longer be with them.
The Royals have switched to a 4-man rotation, which might not be so bad
considering they have a strong bullpen of Arthur Rhodes, Bill Simas,
Santo Skinner and Jose Mesa. But there are doubts whether young pitcher
Kirk Rueter can cope with pitching every 4th day, especially because he
has had some rough outings of late. "We're all running out of gas, and
Mike's injury hasn't helped," said Rueter.
With the deadline fast approaching, the GM's phone has been relatively
silent. "With a rotation of Rueter, Reynoso, Cormier and Harnisch, and
Mesa closing the games, we have no reason to believe we can't make the
playoffs."
