Originally Sidney Ponson was scheduled to start on Tuesday evening for the Kansas City Royals against the Oakland Athletics. However the club brings in Luke Hochevar from the triple-A team to take his place in the rotation. He was the overall number one draft pick in 2006 and made his major league debut in 2007. He was brilliant in six minor league starts, posting a 5-0 record with an ERA of 0.90 and 30 strikeouts (10 walks) in 40 innings. Ponson moves into the bullpen after going 1-4 with an ERA of 5.91 and 19 strikeouts (12 walks) in 35 big league innings this year. He had signed a minor league contract with the Royals organization following his nice performance at the World Baseball Classic for the Netherlands National Team and made the club out of spring training.
Ponson’s pitching coach at the 2009 WBC, Bert Blyleven, ate two night crawlers, some kind of worm, during Saturday’s night’s broadcast of the Minnesota Twins game. He honored Minnesota’s fishing opener and raised $ 15,000 for the Parkinson Association of Minnesota. Here is a picture gallery and a video.