The Royals are a somewhat disappointing 34-36 team. That is the easiest way to look at where they currently stand, what has happened during those 70 games has been something only a Royals fan could have expected. There was the early 17-10 "pitching wins championships" hot start, followed immediately by the 6-22 "fire everyone" spiral into last place, then came the resurrection period that saw the Royals God of Baseball step down from the heavens and lead the team on an 11-4 run in which they briefly reached .500 and regained 2nd place. Now what? So far June has been a very good month and if the Royals are to continue this roller-coaster season in a positive direction these next nine games need to go very well because July's schedule will be a different story. Three games against the suddenly pathetic Chi Sox, two against the suddenly beatable Braves and four more against the should-be-worse Twins. If there were ever a time to firmly establish themselves as no longer a part of the bottom of the division, that time would be now. 6-3 would be nice, but realistically we need to see a nice 7-2 run to finish out June if the Royals are really going to inspire hope for the rest of the season. First, a few questions need to be addressed:
Will Ned ever stop to look at Kelvin Herrera's stats? Yes, Kelvin Herrera and his 100mph fastball should be and have been better than what we've seen this season. But that doesn't change anything, Ned Yost only has eyes for the dominant 8th inning set-up man Kelvin Herrera, not the guy who has a 5.00 ERA, was recently demoted and blows the game every time he takes the mound. This can't continue, one way or another Ned has to give the 8th inning job to anyone else (yes, even Luke Hochevear).
Will Alex Gordon and/or Billy Butler cross the .800 OPS threshold again? These guys are by far our best hitters. Unfortunately, they've been just merely above average this season and if we're going to continually employ some of the worst hitters in baseball in RF, 3B, 2B and SS, we need to get better production out of them to offset the sub .600 OPS crew at other positions. Among other things, I'm pretty sure we're never going to catch Detroit when their third best hitter and 31-year-old SS has 100 points of OPS on our two best hitters.
Will Wil Myers out-hit Mike Moustakas & Jeff Francouer for the rest of June? This is so possible that I don't even want to keep track. The super prospect we traded in the off-season could actually be a better hitter than our veteran leader RF and future superstar 3B combined, right now! Now that these two are firmly planted in a quasi-platoon role, we can only assume that they will have a hard time eclipsing the recently promoted Wil Myers hitting in the middle of the Rays offense.
Will the starting rotation finally realize they're playing for the Royals? Again, our hot streak has been powered entirely by the starting rotation that is trying to wipe away many years of the Royals having the worst rotations in baseball. Every time Ervin Santana goes to the mound I sacrifice a bucket of chicken and hope this isn't the day it all goes south. With Jeremy Guthrie, Wade Davis and Luis Mendoza I've already made a deal with the devil to hand over my first 37 children in order to keep them passing as major league pitchers, we'll see how many more he wants.
Will Chris Getz finally be banished from earth for showing he can't even do the Little Things? Finally, Chris Getz failed at doing the one thing that was keeping him on the team: the sacrifice bunt. Now that this has happened, of course we're finally going to see Moore and Yost face the fact that he can no longer occupy a roster spot. Right? Please guys don't play the "good clubhouse guy" card, he hits .200, doesn't get on base, doesn't play anything more than an average 2nd base, has one HR in his Royals career and NOW he can't even sac bunt. It's over.
Hopefully we'll get some good answers to these questions and the Royals can keep their current fortunes moving in the right direction. If not, I'm bracing for another downward decent where we cozy up next to the Twins and Chi Sox and need a telescope to see the Tigers.
