The Road

Now that's Royals we all expected to see! Atrocious starting pitching, an offense that was always too little to late, Ned Yost Making all the WRONG moves, a bullpen showing its flaws and being productive in completely meaningless moments; just out and out over-matched. So the Royals go 0-for-the-road, but come home with a glimmer of a chance to still pull through April in second place with a winning record - mainly due to the divisional ineptitude - and shrug off the recent road trip?

Still harping on...

The Rotation was obviously horrible during the recent road trip and Ned should deservedly take some heat for this most idiotic of comments in which he believes that the Royals actually have a "top" of the rotation. If you can't laugh at that then your not a true Royals fan because there is nothing to distinguish any of these five Royals staring pitchers from the next (except maybe this) despite any assertions coming from captain Yosty. Not to say that O'Sullivan wouldn't have gotten pounded as well, but when you start going out on a limb as the manager of the KC Royals you should just know that it's going to blow-up in your face. Wouldn't it be great to see the Royals just outright release the entire starting rotation in exchange for the one in Omaha? Yeah we know that's not going to happen, so is there a solution or do you just keep handing these guys the ball? Most likely May will be the new spring training and whomever makes it through next month with an ERA under five, they'll get a shot to hang around the whole season, but the others may want to call seat on the Omaha travel bus or hope for a generous waiver claim from the Yankees. By the way Bryan Bannister is back on the market if we're interested?

Middling Middle

I wanted it to be for real too, but the dream of Butler, Gordon and someone else being a productive 3-4-5  took a big hit this week as those guys' average deflated just enough to make you wonder. Actually Jeff Francouer stayed reasonably hot, but no one cares as he'll be traded or hitting .220 by July unless he and Dayton are already working on that 5 year extension that keeps every Royals fan up at night. In perhaps the dumbest move of Yosty's brief tenure he decided to use Gordon at 1st and Dyson in center for consecutive games (both losses) to the befuddlement of most Royals fans. This alignment reeks of an injury-decimated-team, but the real injuries were based on Yost's world renowned psychoanalytical opinions of Kila's slow start and the idea that Melky's scorching hot bat MUST be in the line-up. I'm sorry but if you want to get Jarrod Dayson some ABs I'm all for it, but it comes at the cost of Melky's playing time, not Kila's. Just let the dude swing the bat until June or July, don't play head games. Ned I had you pegged as NOT Trey Hilman, but you're starting to remind me a lot of his nonsense; you can not pound a round peg into a square hole.


Where are you Mr. Soria & Mr. Crow?

Not that there have been a lot of opportunities, but Aaron Crow and Joakim Soria have not pitched during a meaningful inning since I-don't-know-when. But we've seen Luis Coleman and Blake Wood handle those situations (the few) with the deft skill of a brain surgeon. This is still more criticism of Yost, maybe deserved maybe not, but I think that's his job and I will admit that I originally thought he was doing something right. It's like he just dreams of these scenarios in which every game will be played in only the 8th and 9th innings and therefore he most not use those two until said opportunity arises. I admit that we're probably not going to see Joakim in the 5th, but with this starting rotation you never know.

Chris Getz and Alcides Escobar are mutually exclusive

Okay Yost you get some props for this one, you did not hesitate to acknowledge that the Royals are not able to support both of these guys in the same lineup and the winner is going to be Escobar when it comes to who has the only glove worthy of a .500 OPS (the fact that his answer was to get the heavy hitting Jarrod Dyson in the lineup was already discussed). Mike Aviles' recent home run  barrage (not to mention 2 full seasons as a good hitter) was enough make it obvious that Getz should only spell Betemit when his knees are really acting up and tag team with Jarrod Dyson as the late innging D-sub/pinch runner. Poor Mitch Maier, where does that leave you, if only he could go back to catching that would leave us with another less obvious hole in our line-up. I'm a Brayan Pena fan, but only if he just gets a shot to catch everyday, seeing him in the line-up twice a week is just depressing (at least he's got that motivational speaker career moving forward) and Matt Treanor has come back, so yes the Royals can NOT have both Getz and Escobar in the line-up, good observation Yosty.

Up Next

I guess we should feel somewhat relieved that the Tigers, White Sox and Twins have played just as bad as the Royals since we're still holding on to second place. BUT that was one ugly road trip, hopefully we'll see some life when we get back to the K and take on the league's worst offense in the Minnesota Twins (good medicine for Bruce Chen and the others). Keep your fingers crossed April may be a good month (for the Royals) after all.