JOE POSNANSKI COMMENTARY

Even when he’s not at his best, Greinke is awesome

In some ways, this was the most impressive game of all. Zack Greinke did not always look his best Friday night. He could not pinpoint his pitches — he had his first two walks in the month of May. He felt himself working too hard. He did not get the electric atmosphere everyone had expected. He got into some pitch-count trouble and did not throw his fifth complete game of the season.

And still — he pitched to win. This is what the special ones do. Friday night, with the Royals coming off a six-game losing streak, with the game delayed by 2½ hours because of rain, with the Baltimore Orioles coming in with a clear plan to punch Greinke's pitches the other way, he pitched to win. And he won. He lasted seven innings, allowed only one run and walked off the mound with a six-run lead. He did what he came to do.

"For just a moment there I did think, 'It's time to end this (losing streak),'" Greinke said. "It was only for a minute. You can't do it alone."

He didn't do it alone. The Royals found their offense. But this was yet another side of the amazing season of Zack Greinke. All year, Greinke has been exhilarating, a national sensation. Friday night, though, he was a professional assassin. There's an old expression in golf: Driving is for show, putting is for dough. There's an old expression in bowling: Strikes are for show, spares are for dough. Friday night, Greinke pitched for dough.

Of course, his numbers are still mind-boggling. Greinke now has a 0.60 ERA for the season — the last guy to have an ERA that low eight games into a season was Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 (he was 8-0 with an 0.50 ERA then during the height of Fernando-mania).

Greinke has now gone 12 straight starts without giving up a home run. He has gone 10 straight starts without giving up more than two runs — and you have to go back to early August last year to find the last time he gave up more than three runs in a start. His strikeout to walk ratio this year is 65-10.

OK. You already know this: Zack Greinke is really good.

But Friday night was different. Sure, when Greinke has all his pitches going — when he is painting corners with his 96-mph fastball, when his slider is disappearing into thin air, when his curveball seems to stop halfway to the plate, when his change-up does the Chubby Checker twist, sure, it's not even fair. He's about unhittable on those days.

That's the Zack Greinke that will make you want to mark your calendar — his next start is scheduled for Thursday afternoon against the Indians here in Kansas City. And his start after that is scheduled for May 26, a night game at home against Detroit. You will probably want to buy your tickets now.

But Friday was different. Well, for one thing, we were all expecting a playoff-type atmosphere at Kauffman Stadium. The game was pretty much sold out coming into Friday. The Greinke buzz has overtaken Kansas City — he has become an event — and so this figured to be a pitch-by-pitch screamfest.

Then, the rain fell and fell, a classic Kansas City rain, sometimes it tumbled in sheets, sometimes it blew in waves, sometimes it felt like there was a giant faucet simply dumping water on the city. And so, we waited ... waited ... waited. On the scoreboard, the fans who waited it out played something called Royal Feud, a version of television's Family Feud, you know, without families. Or feuds. I have to admit, though, I enjoyed it. I got several of the top eight greatest movies ever made. I was surprised to see "Titanic" up there, but that's just me.

To reach Joe Posnanski, call 816-234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com

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