Preparing for the Royals
Kansas City has some good young talent this year. They're definitely putting the pieces together. Dejesus, their leadoff man, is a really good player. I always keep an eye on Jeff Weaver and they beat him up pretty good yesterday. There's no question I'm going to have to pitch well for us to win tomorrow night.
Tonight, I'll just spend some time in my room going over the Royals lineup in my head, visualizing what they look like in the box and how my pitches look against those guys. I do that the night before all of my starts. This helps me get mentally prepared for the scouting meeting tomorrow at the park.
When I first get to the stadium, I'm actually pretty laid back. I like to take it easy, but as the game gets closer I start to get more and more focused. I get really locked in about 30 minutes before the game. I grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a couple of Red Bulls and I'm ready to rock. That's a big part of my routine. I actually stole the peanut butter and jelly thing from Darin Erstad. He used to have two of them before every game. I can't do two of those, just one. The Red Bulls, that's all me. After the sandwiches and Red Bulls I get stretched out by the trainers, take a couple of advils and I'm ready go.

