Manny Machado continues to play every day

KANSAS CITY - Royals starter Yordano Ventura delivered the first pitch this afternoon following a delay of 1 hour and 35 minutes. The sun isn't shining, but at least it stopped raining buckets.

Manny Machado, who belted his 26th home run last night, drew a six-pitch walk off Ventura. Well worth the wait.

Machado hasn't missed a game this season, with today marking No. 127. He's the only player in the majors this season with perfect lineup attendance.

Seattle's Kyle Seager also has appeared in 126 games, but the Mariners have played 127.

As Machado's name keeps surfacing in the lineup, I'm reminded how the media checked on him at the January minicamp to gauge whether he would be full-go in spring training following surgery on his right knee. And at spring training to gauge whether he would be ready on opening day.

We furiously took notes as he ran the bases and fielded ground balls hit directly at him. The first day he moved laterally was treated like the moon landing.

Machado practically beamed while telling everyone that he had two brand new knees, that there were no restrictions and he no longer thought about the possibility of sustaining another injury. He intended to keep playing and that's exactly what he's doine.

Manager Buck Showalter doesn't have any plans to sit Machado, who's batting .294/.358/.507 with 26 doubles, a triple, 26 home runs, 64 RBIs and 16 stolen bases in 22 attempts.

So 162 games isn't a problem for Showalter?

"Not yet, not yet," Showalter said. "He said he feels good, takes care of himself. His knees are stronger than they were before the surgery. What they did there made them better. I'm thinking of getting it done this offseason.

"I think it's a good learning experience for him because he's going to be a guy who's going to play every day in his career, about the discipline it's going to require, especially as he goes forward and he's not as physically able to do it, when he's 30 years old. And also, it's kind of like getting 200 innings as a pitcher. Once you get that behind you, you know you can do it.

"I know the confidence a lot of guys, whether it's the managers, coaches, from performing at a high level. Then you go home and say, 'OK, I can do this.' It makes your offseason a little more, it reminds you what you have to do to get there, because Manny had a big offseason physically to get there. I could tell early in the spring there were no physical issues with him. In fact, he's running better than I've ever seen him run."

He's showing no signs of slowing down.

Adam Jones also walked in the first, but Chris Davis struck out for the 166th time this season and Matt Wieters struck out looking. Ventura threw 27 pitches while his fastball repeatedly hit 100 mph on the stadium radar gun.