Royals Video

Davies' solid start

Davies induces the double play

Blue Jays Video

Eveland's scoreless start

Morrow strikes out eight

While Royals right-hander Kyle Davies is still searching for the consistency that is required to maintain a rotation spot, Jays lefty Dana Eveland has all but erased any doubts in his first two starts.

Davies has provided solid efforts in both of his first two starts of the season, but the results have not come easily as he has had to work in and out of trouble. He did impress the Royals in his last outing against the Tigers, wiggling out of a fifth-inning jam without allowing a run. His performance elicited praise from his manager.

"That was very resilient. Scrappy, resilient," manager Trey Hillman said. "You can probably come up with a lot better words than I can. But whatever words you come up with, I'll take 'em, because it was good to see."

Davies' recent performance shows a lot of progress from early in Spring Training, when he struggled with finding his tempo and his delivery. The right-hander's recent improvement in his command was especially notable to his skipper.

"He's done a better job than I anticipated commanding his fastball," Hillman said. "And the command of the fastball makes any pitcher better -- but especially him. He's got the curveball and he's got more of a cutter than a slider, but he's really got good command of his changeup."

Davies continues to improve, but he still has work to do to become a consistent force out of the back of the rotation.

Eveland, on the other hand, proves more and more every time out that he is here to stay for the Blue Jays.

The Jays continue to be pleased with the results from Eveland, who picked up his second win of the season last time out against the White Sox, allowing just two earned runs on three hits in six innings of work to earn the win.

"I'm hoping that they're happy with the way I'm throwing the ball," Eveland said. "I'm pleased with the way it's going so far."

Part of his success, Eveland feels, is his ability to make adjustments from start-to-start to keep hitters from adjusting to him. In his opener against the O's, Eveland succeeded by relying on his fastball and changeup. But against the White Sox, he threw more curveballs early in the count and picked his spots with his fastball and sinker.

"It helps," Eveland said. "They can't go back and really look at my last start and go, 'Oh, he's going to do this,' because I'm going to be a little different every time you see me, I hope -- that's my goal."

Royals: Offense sputters without Podsednik
With the the Majors' leading hitter, Scott Podsednik, out of the lineup dealing with personal issues, the Royals' offense couldn't get in gear in Toronto. One day after a 16-hit attack against the Twins, The Royals didn't register a hit until the sixth inning against Jays starter Brandon Morrow and only tallied five hits and one run in the contest. Podsednik led the Majors with a .457 average entering play on Monday.

Blue Jays: Tallet's start to be pushed back
During his last start against the Angels on Saturday, Brian Tallet experienced forearm soreness. While both Tallet and Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston have said they are not concerned, they have decided to skip Tallet's next scheduled start on Friday at Tampa Bay. Ricky Romero will now start on Friday. "Tallet is going to be OK," Gaston said. "He's just a little sore, so we'll give him a few more days."

Worth Noting
Davies has limited experience against the Jays, carrying a 1-1 record and a 4.61 ERA in two career starts. Eveland also has just two starts against his opponent in his career, going 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA.