KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alex Gordon hit a three-run homer and matched a career high with four RBIs, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 7-3 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays in their series finale Wednesday. Nori Aoki, Johnny Giavotella and Billy Butler also drove in runs for the Royals, who have struggled to find offence all season. They had only scored more than four runs once in their first seven games, and lost 1-0 to Tampa Bay the previous night. Jeremy Guthrie (2-0) recovered from a sloppy start to hold the Rays to four hits over seven innings. The only run he allowed came on Desmond Jennings homer in the fourth. The Royals broke the game open with a five-run fifth off Jake Odorizzi (1-1), who was part of the blockbuster trade in 2012 that brought James Shields from Tampa Bay to Kansas City. The Royals went ahead on Butlers RBI groundout and Gordons run-scoring single in the fourth inning. Lorenzo Cain singled off Odorizzi to lead off the fifth, Aoki followed two batters later with a triple to right, and the flood gates were open. Giavotella, recalled from Triple-A Omaha to replace injured second baseman Omar Infante, hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1. Hosmer and Butler followed with back-to-back singles, and Gordon popped a pitch to right-centre that hung up long enough in the wind to land over the fence. It was a rough way for Odorizzi to return to Kauffman Stadium, where he made his big league debut with the Royals in 2012. He allowed all seven runs on 10 hits and a walk in five innings. The Royals squandered a scoring chance with runners on first and second and one out in the second inning when Mike Moustakas struck out and Gordon was thrown out heading to third. Royals manager Ned Yost trundled onto the field and challenged the call. After a review of 2 minutes, 10 seconds, the ruling made by third base umpire Quinn Wolcott was upheld. It hardly mattered the way the Royals were swinging -- and the way Guthrie was pitching. The right-hander, who turned 35 on Tuesday, was coming off a rough start against the White Sox. But Guthrie navigated trouble in each of the first three innings, leaving five Rays on base, and then retired his final 12 batters to hand the lead to his bullpen. Kelvin Herrera gave up two runs in the ninth for Kansas City. Notes: The Royals activated RHP Louis Coleman (bruised finger) from the DL and optioned RHP Aaron Brooks and LHP Donnie Joseph to Omaha prior to the game. ... Rays 3B Evan Longoria reached base three times. ... The Rays visit Cincinnati for a three-game set this weekend. Theyve never won at Great American Ball Park. ... Kansas City plays 13 of its next 16 on the road beginning Friday night in Minnesota. Houston Astros Store . Interestingly, the culprits were not rookies, but well paid, experienced pros. The first gaffe came in the 24th minute of arguably the biggest early season MLS game in history between Seattle and Toronto. Sounder newcomer Marco Pappa, (with over 100 MLS games, and 39 Guatemalan Caps to his name) attempted a back pass to one of his central defenders. Jose Cruz Jr. Jersey . Russia has spent about $51 billion to deliver the Sochi Olympics, which run Feb. 7-23, making them the most expensive games ever, even though as a winter event it hosts many fewer athletes than summer games do. https://www.cheapastros.com/223o-lance-mccullers-jr-jersey-astros.html . - The Denver Broncos kept rookie wide receiver Tavarres King from joining the Green Bay Packers by promoting him to their active roster Tuesday. Lance Mccullers Jr. Astros Jersey . - David Tomasek had two goals in regulation time and was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Belleville Bulls upset the Oshawa Generals 6-5 on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Joe Biagini Astros Jersey . "I could have been equipment manager but nooooo" from Lisa on Ice. Season 6, Episode 8.If there’s an individual skill that really remains underutilized by analysts and fans right now, it’s the ability of a player to draw penalties for his respective team. While the vast majority of a hockey game is played at even-strength, there is still a swath of goals scored on special teams. Getting your team into that position, of course, has value. Most importantly, drawing penalties has been identified as something of a repeatable talent, meaning that players who exhibit ability to consistently draw penalties will likely continue to do so. Broad Street Hockey investigated this in great detail in 2013, and concluded that drawing penalties is a “real talent that a player possesses”. The one caveat to drawing penalties as it pertains to goal differentials (and, ultimately, adding wins to the standings) is that the inverse is also true – players who take a lot of penalties cost their team valuable goals. So, drawing penalties has value, but it’s only valuable to the extent that the player does not give those penalties back in the form of penalties against. Let’s try and identify some of the league’s best and worst players on this front. For the sake of this article, we’ll limit our focus to the forward position for all regular skaters 2011-Present. We will pull each player’s total number of penalties drawn, and each player’s total number of penalties taken. Here’s our top-ten, sorted by differential: FORWARD PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL LEADERS SINCE 2011 PLAYER TEAM PEN. DRAWN PEN. TAKEN DIFFERENTIAL Jeff Skinner Carolina 97 30 +67 Dustin Brown Los Angeles 102 39 +63 Nazem Kadri Toronto 85 34 +51 Matt Duchene Colorado 57 12 +45 Darren Helm Detroit 50 8 +42 Mikkel Boedker Arizona 55 14 +41 Martin St. Louis N.Y. Rangers 54 14 +40 John Tavares N.Y. Islanders 68 30 +38 Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis 48 11 +37 Patric Hornqvist Pittsburgh 55 18 +37 Those are some massively favourable numbers, even accounting for the fact that the sample spans multiple years. But, maybe there’s a better way to capture the impact the player is having. What if we substituted penalties drawn for goals added (simply by multiplying total number of goals and power-play conversion rate, which sits at 18%), and then doing the same for goals added? PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL AS GOAL VALUE, 2011-PRESENT PLAYER TEAM EST. GOALS ADDED EST. GOALS AGAINST DIFFERENTIAL Jeff Skinner Carolina 17.5 5.4 +12.1 Dustin Brown Los Angeles 18.4 7.0 +11.3 Nazem Kadri Toronto 15.3 6.1 +9.2 Matt Duchene Colorado 10.3 2.2 +8.1 Darren Helm Detroit 9.0 1.4 +7.6 Mikkel Boedker Arizona 9.9 2.5 +7.4 Martin St. Louis N.Y. Rangers 9.7 2.5 +7.2 John Tavares N.Y. Islanders 12.2 5.4 +6.8 Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis 8.6 2.0 +6.7 Patric Hornqvist Pittsburgh 9.9 3.2 +6.7 You can see that Jeff Skinner and Dustin Brown (and Nazem Kadri, too) really are the cream of the crop as it pertains to drawing penalties. If you subscribe to the notion that three goals is worth a point in the standings, then they have added four points (or two wins) on just the ability to draw penalties.dddddddddddd Think of this alternatively: if Jeff Skinner or Dustin Brown had no measurable impact (let’s say zero points over the same timespan), they still would have added about four points in the standings from just a penalty point of view. Let’s look at the other end of the spectrum – the forwards who have hurt their teams the most from a penalty aspect. Again, we will focus on differential as opposed to just penalties taken, as it will give us a better idea as to the larger impact on goals and wins/losses. FORWARD PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL TRAILERS, 2011-PRESENT PLAYER TEAM PENALTIES DRAWN PENALTIES TAKEN DIFFERENTIAL Chris Neil Ottawa 40 85 -45 Ryan Reaves St. Louis 28 66 -38 Jarret Stoll Los Angeles 27 62 -35 Milan Lucic Boston 42 72 -30 Kyle Clifford Los Angeles 44 72 -28 Matt Hendricks Edmonton 50 78 -28 B.J. Crombeen Arizona 31 55 -24 Todd Bertuzzi None 16 39 -23 Zenon Konopka None 31 53 -22 Cody McLeod Colorado 41 63 -22 A lot of the league’s tough guys can be found on this list, from Chris Neil, to Ryan Reaves, to the notorious Milan Lucic. What’s important to remember is that not all ‘tough guys’ sit at the bottom of the penalty differential lists. For example, Brandon Prust (+1) and Antoine Roussel (+2) have long played the aggressive agitator role for their respective teams. Yet, neither has hurt his club from a penalty impact. That’s largely because they have been either more effective in reducing bad penalties, or more effective in enticing the opposition to take penalties through said agitation. How does our top group look from a goal aspect? PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL AS GOAL VALUE, 2011-PRESENT PLAYER TEAM EST. GOALS ADDED EST. GOALS AGAINST DIFFERENTIAL Chris Neil Ottawa 7.2 15.3 -8.1 Ryan Reaves St. Louis 5.0 11.9 -6.9 Jarret Stoll Los Angeles 4.9 11.2 -6.3 Milan Lucic Boston 7.6 13.0 -5.4 Kyle Clifford Los Angeles 7.9 13.0 -5.0 Matt Hendricks Edmonton 9.0 14.0 -5.0 B.J. Crombeen Arizona 5.6 9.9 -4.3 Todd Bertuzzi None 2.9 7.0 -4.1 Zenon Konopka None 5.6 9.5 -4.0 Cody McLeod Colorado 7.4 11.3 -4.0 So, again, view this through the prism of the impact penalties – and penalties only – have had on outcomes. Chris Neil and Ryan Reaves have cost their respective teams about two to three points in the standings. This, again, is just a sliver of the player’s overall impact (whether it’s been good or bad) on his team’s performance. From a penalty aspect, this group has had an unfavourable impact on their team’s position in the standings. Combine the penalty differentials to what we know about each player’s multi-year shot-differential and scoring-differentials, and you can get an even stronger idea about the players impact on the game. ' ' '