When to bet against KC

In his preview of the Royals at Baseball Primer, Mike Webber gives the following tip to gamblers: “One of our local broadcasters says that he has never seen a major league manager give up on a game, before it starts, like Tony Pena does.”

Mike gives as an example the Royals’ July 5 game last year, when Brad Voyles, Mike DiFelice, Jarrod Patterson, and Julius Matos were all starting. It’d be interesting to look through the Royals boxscores from 2003 for similar “give up” games, and I know I’ll keep an eye out in ’04 for more of the same. (Though I’m not a gambler, so I doubt I’ll be profiting on the tip.)