The Ole Ball Game

Ninth inning, up 3-2, 1 out, 0-2 count on JJ Hardy, four batters later game over Royals lose 5-3. That one stung a little. A week ago the Royals suffered that historically bad loss to the Cleveland Indians, then on Sunday they were heading for a blowout, when they somehow turned a 7-1 loss into a close extra innings game, only to later literally hand the game back to St. Louis. But for a few more feet on Bryan Pena's fly ball, any show of control from Tim Collins, an Umpire with less of a grudge against the Royals, the old Joakim Soria, anyone but Roger Dorn Betemit at 3B and the Royals could be one game over .500 hanging with Detroit for 2nd place. Instead those baseball gods have handed the Royals a pair of crushing defeats which leaves them three games under .500 and fighting to stay in front of the Sox and out of fourth place. I guess it was bound to happen after all of the ridiculous walk-off wins the Royals have handed out to other teams this year, but man it was tough to watch that game. That leaves the Royals hovering just below .500, still hoping to patch together a respectable season and trying their hardest to give fans something to look forward to and that may be the best they're going to do for now.

Return of the long ball

If there was one good thing to have come from that Cardinals game it was seeing multiple HRs hit in the same game, I don't know about you but seeing that was a sight for sore eyes. We know that this isn't the Bronx Bombers, but mixing in a long ball here and there always helps the cause.

It could be so much worse

The Royals' pitchers are currently 2nd to last in the majors in strikeouts and have paired that with the second most walks issued. Add to that the most hits given up and third most HRs allowed and you almost wonder how they haven't been blown out of more games. Sure the offense is pretty good at times, but I'm starting to think that their defense is actually very, very good. Not just improved but well above average, luck certainly has played a role in the moderate success of the team but it seems that a big part of how they haven't been even worse could lie in the gloves.

Duffman

Mentioning how bad the Royals have been at striking out batters this season a perfect segue into praising the arrival of Danny Duffy. It's such a relief to see a pitcher in the starting rotation with good "stuff" again. I dare you to name one person in the Royals rotation that any major league hitter should be scared of facing. This is exactly what the rotation needs, hopefully he's here to stay and won't get sent back down to make room for the return of Kyle Davies.

Say it ain't so Joakim

Tonight's game really makes you wonder about the state of Joakim Soria. He could have been helped by Wilson on the hot corner, but hitters are getting very good swings off of him. I wouldn't be shocked to read the KC Star tomorrow to hear about how he is heading to the DL with some shoulder/elbow "stiffness" which lags into late season shut-down surgery, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if he never gives up another run for the rest of the year. That is just the nature of a closer. I just really hope that we haven't seen the last of the once dominant Soria.

Crowing

If there is one lesson that should be learned from the Soria troubles it is not that Aaron Crow should be our new closer - certainly there will be many fans who think this - but rather that he needs to be pushed into the starting rotation. The Royals have enough bullpen arms to put together two teams, but seeing Aaron Crow hang out in the pen and then come in for one inning is just a tease. The guy was a starter his entire life, just look at Joakim, sometimes things go bad very quickly in the pen and by then it is way too late to see if you could have had a good starter for a few years. Watching him throw 95mph and break off sliders one inning at a time just doesn't do it for me. Yes, it could all go horribly wrong, but at least you have to try; what's the worst that could happen? Crow blows out his arm trying to start, the Royals lose one or two more games this season and we never remember his name in three years? I'm sorry but I'm going to take that risk when David Glass surprises everyone and names me GM.

Enough Said

What else can you do except keep your fingers crossed for the next 115 games. In the previous PBR post we mentioned that the last home stand would go a long way toward showing us what kind of team the Royals are and they came out of it looking like a team that's just not quite 'there' yet. Hopefully it's coming, but we'll still probably have to see a few more of these games before it's all said and done.