Royals’ Greinke studies M’s Hernandez

Three days after Kansas City’s flourishing ace struck out 15 Cleveland Indians, Greinke spent Friday night watching every move of Felix Hernandez, Seattle’s top young gun and a fellow contender for the American League’s Cy Young Award this season.

“Yeah, I’m probably going to watch him as close as I’ve watched anyone this year,” Greinke said hours before Hernandez held the lowly Royals to five hits and three runs for his 13th win in 18 decisions, a 6-3 victory over Kansas City.

Greinke, 12-8 with an AL-leading 2.43 ERA, said that from his scans of box scores and pitch counts, it appears to him as if Hernandez and Toronto ace Roy Halladay are excelling through efficiency as much as dominance. Greinke sounded intrigued by the idea of precise pitch location low in the strike zone getting quicker outs than strikeouts.

Greinke has 197 of those, second in the AL to the 211 of Detroit’s Justin Verlander.

“He seems like Halladay, in that they just let the ball get put in play to get a ground ball,” Greinke said of Hernandez, adding he was eager to see up close if that was so.

Noooooooooo! (looks to deal Greinke)