So, they did it!

The 70 win season materialized. The Royals have been as hot as anyone since September 10. They have gone 11-3 over their last 14 games. The team did better than I thought they would. I re-read my August post. I'd say I was a little upset. The Royals are improved. They won more than they did last year. They have a solid young line up. Perez has been very good. Gio is slow coming around. Moose is showing signs. Hoz is a stud. The team looks to be in place for a spell. The team will only get to 80 wins next year if they get better pitching. Starters are awful. The pen has a decent enough ERA. They just over exposed because the starters were awful early on. The O was so much better this year. They need to improve the percentage on stolen bases, but they need to run. They need to play better D. They need to up the power numbers some. Good 70 plus win season. Next year will be the Royals and 500.

August 10, I'm finished.

This Royals team is awful. They gave away the game tonight. They think they can throw everyone out so they throw the ball to the wrong base. It cost them the game tonight. Yost is stupid. Have Soria start the inning if you are going to use him anyway. He frustrates me. Let Crow piss all over himself then bring in Soria? Dumb. The team is awful. They are so fundamentally challenged. Oh well. Fuck the Royals. I'm sick and tired of the same old losing attitude. Good for Perez,Moose, Escobar, Gio, and Hoz. They may put together a 70 win season sometime. I highly doubt it. Jump throws and crazy swipes at first base are another "grow up" deal. Hold the ball. Hoz, my friend, the huge sweep to catch the low throws may look good on the ones you catch but it looks awful, because it is, on the plays you can make by keeping your glove back. Fancy bullshit. Sell that to the next guy. I get so pissed at myself for wasting time with this group of losers. They have lost 4 in a row now. They will probably lose 14. Good for them. It is football season as far as I'm concerned.

7 Game road trip---positive signs

Our Royals went on a 7 game road trip to Boston and Cleveland. They won 2 games in each place. Winning two games in Boston is a great thing. The way they went about it was cool. They win 3-1 in 14 innings and 4-3 in the last game. The two games in between, well, Boston racked up big numbers against the worst pitching staff in the majors. Winning the 14 game marathon to start the trip was awesome for the young Royals. Hosmer killed the ball at Fenway. Good! He needs to keep killing the Yankees and Red Sox. Butler was smoking hot. He clubbed the ball against the Sox. He hit blasts, absolute blasts, against the Sox. I have seen the Royals give games away at the wiffle ball park and I was so glad they came out of there with a split. The fact that Butler hit 5 homers in 4 games was cool. I hope he hits them more often but a great streak like that is something to behold. Hos was red hot, too. So you get two wins in Boston and head on off to surprising Cleveland. The Royals played there best overall game of the year against the Tribe. They won 12-0 and Francis was very, very good. Melky blasts a Grand Slam and poses like a goof ball. Then Butler gets buzzed! I don't like the fact that they threw at Butlers head. If Cabrera pisses you off get him next time up. Maybe Melky took it personally when you walked Gordon to load them up for him. It is always bush league to pose at the plate on a homer, always. Butler came back after that and hit another home run. Nice! Best game of the season, by far. I love it when they play well. 12-0 is awesome. The next game at Progressive Field was good too. The double play where Matt Treanor was concussed was cool. I missed the end of the game where Crow and Soria gave it away. Glad I missed it. Crow has been crap since the All Star selection. Man Alex Gordon deserved that. Crow can't handle the spot light. He scares me. The last game was a 5-3 Royals win. Frenchy was good. Gordon hit another homer and the Royals let a 4-2 lead drift away. They entered the top of the 9th only up 4-3. They get two quick outs then Getz lines a single up the middle. He steals second, which was cool. In the meantime Escobar goes 0-2 and looks like a reincarnation of Yuni. Alcides then proceeds to have the best AB I've seen by a Royals player this year. He battled for 14 pitches. He fouled off some tough ones and had the 3-2 count and he would not give in. It was fun to watch. Eventually he lined a single up the middle and gave the Royals a 5-3 lead. Soria needs the insurance. He, Soria, locked the game down and the Royals left the road feeling good about the trip. They played 7 games against competitive teams. They won 4 of those games. They played pretty well. The pitching was the down fall in the games they lost. But 3-1, 4-3, 5-3 wins means they must have had some good pitching too. That doesn't even include the shutout Francis and Wood threw. The team was good on a road trip that I feared would be result in 2 wins or fewer. The dog days are here and the Royals need to play well. I'm hoping that the younger guys can get as hot as the weather and carry the team to 70 wins.
Side bars, Moose is out of his league. He can't hit in the Bigs. His bat is too slow. His call up came too soon. He is a competitive kid but he can't make the adjustments that Hos makes. Hos gets tied up on the high pitch and he adjusts. Moose swings at the first pitch every AB. I like the kid and I hope he can adjust.
The Royals traded Betemit and Aviles at the deadline. The return doesn't really matter. Neither guy traded could catch an STD in Thailand. I'm glad Aviles is gone. The player coming from Boston is younger than him and he can actually play SS. I like what the team did at the deadline. They didn't throw out Melky and Frenchy. Those two have way outplayed their respective deals. Let them finish out the season. Hopefully the Royals will get better. I have big time doubts about the "farm". The prospects aren't that good, guys. Monty is getting shelled. Lamb is getting Tommy John. Odorizzi is in AA. Dwyer can't hit in AA. No real help from the best farm system ever. What a crock. What they do have is they have a 2B that needs a call up. Gio needs a chance. Getz isn't the answer. If he could play short then ok, but he can't. Gio can hit. He is way above 300 and he has a very good second hole hitter style about him. Hos, Gio, Escobar, Moose. That is a good infield that could pair up with a productive outfield and Butler at DH. I want to be optimistic, I really do. I just don't see the cavalry on the "farm" that everyone else sees. No pitching, none. No real hitters. Cain and Gio and Dyson I guess. The Royals need pitching, pitching, pitching and more pitching.
Oh, but the way, Bubba is a fool.7.5 mill is enough to offer. If he wants to play for Big Red, go ahead. No loss. Maybe next draft will have two great pitchers at the 5 spot and 7 spot.
That is enough for now!!!

93 games in. Not too many more wins.

The Royals have played 93 games. There isn't too many positive things to report on the team. They started out 10-4, remember that? Yeah, I don't remember that team either. They currently stand at 38-55. OK 28-51 in the last 79 games. The team isn't good. Hosmer has been almost as good as I expected. Moose isn't ready. The Royals were desperate and they brought him up. He is swimming up stream in the bigs. You can see Hos getting it, I don't see the same for Moose. He may catch on, it is very early. If he does become what it expected then the crazy amount of losses now will prove to be worth it. Billy frustrates me. He just can't produce runs. Hos has 1/3 more homers and 3 less RBI's than Billy. Do the math. Big and young and unproductive. Billy needs to produce or disappear. Hos, Moose, the outfield as a whole have been good. The cannons at the K are something to behold. All the assists are cool to watch. Frenchy has a big gun. They have played good D and contributed way more than I expected. I feel I should apologize to Melky and Frenchy. I thought they would be pedestrian at best. They have been good. Frenchy has slipped of late but he is still above water. So, you have good outfield play. Good D and better O from Escobar at short, and the team still sucks. The offense is slap and judy. They get hits but they don't score. Moose at third hasn't been the answer. Getz and whoever else hasn't been the answer at second. Treanor and Pena are trying but Matt is tired, you can see the age. Pena is trying but he just isn't that talented. Catcher, 3b,2b and a productive DH. That's all the offense needs. Maybe we can trade one of the farm boys for all that we need. I didn't buy the farm talk. You can see that it was just that, talk. Hos is the real deal. Moose isn't now, and may never be. Duffy is solid but he seems to be the only pitching "prospect" to even be close to the big leagues. Best farm system my butt. I'd assume the prospects are coming to KC, but nope, they are all at lower levels of the littles kicking tail. Great for them, not great for the big league team.
OK, enough about the offense and the lack of production from the greatest collection of farm hands ever. Lets talk pitching. Sorry it has to be done. Luke, awful. If there was another word that fit I'd use it. He strikes me as a complete mental midget. He folds from the stretch. I say this the night after he pitched well. I don't suspect he will pitch well again. Come on. Give him a 4 run lead and he will give up 6 the following inning. He and Billy are the same level of frustrating. Completely capable but just not producing. After Luke your pitching staff consists of 5 other starters. 6 starters, really? No Davies is complete trash. Francis, Chen, Paulino, and Duffy have been ok in spurts but they simply aren't that good. The Royals can't win 70 games the way the are put together. Mazzaro and OSullivan fizzled. Chen got hurt, but Come on, he is Chen. He is going to have a 4 era and he will battle. 4 runs is asking too much of our outfield to produce guys. Francis is up and down. He shows signs but he doesn't get support on the up nights. Duffy has a glimmer but he got sent down so garbage man Davies can get his starts. Kyle needs to be traded for a pair of cleats and some gum. The pen is overworked and underskilled. Crow gets to be an allstar then he blows a game with a balk. He hasn't pitched well since he found out people were watching, I guess. Wood, Coleman, Holland all have electric stuff. They just seem to be lacking the killer instinct. Soria seems to have gotten it back. I hope so. Teaford and Collins are somewhat solid. Two lefties need to keep it that way. Pitching sucks too bad for this team to win too many close, low scoring games. Offense is missing too many productive spots. 4 empty spots in the line up and poor starting pitching leads to, oh I don't know maybe a 28-51 record over 79 games. Spread that out over 162 and you don't get to 70 wins. Hey, maybe they can draft Bubba Starling again next year!
Another bad Royals season. Hey there is good news the NFL will get the CBA done. Yes, Go Steelers! They have issues.They have problems. I guarantee you they won't embarass themselves as an organization like the Royals do. Best farm system ever? Whatever. Go Royals, I still love them. Go Steelers! That is so much easier to cheer for.

50 Games in.

The Royals played a strange game for game 50. They were down 7-6 to the Rangers after the second inning. 6 runs in two innings and they were still behind! The game went sideways after that. The Royals pen held the Rangers scoreless for 12 innings! Paulino, just picked up from the Rockies, pitched well. Hell the whole pen minus Crow pitched great baseball. The game was won with homers by Melky, Hosmer and Pena. 12-7 in 14. Wow what a strange game. The Royals pen has a chance to be their savior. Paulino, Teaford, Collins, Coleman, Wood and Soria. I really like the fact they have two lefties in Teaford and Collins. Coleman will be the closer soon. Crow probably should be but he will probably be the next starter experiment. Collins has had control issues. I don't like to cry but the Royals have been squeezed by the plate umpire this year. That makes these young kids try to be perfect. Just a thought. The Cardinal game really stands out. You know the one with the Little League ump!
Hosmer is the real deal. The kid talks about having to make adjustments. Then he makes the adjustments and gets 4 hits. The Butler extension was good at the time, but it may be money wasted. Billy cannot produce. Hosmer already has more homers than Billy. He has played 19 games! He will pass Billy in RBI's soon. Kid is good, but Billy sucks at producing runs. 23 wins in 50 games. Not too bad. A good pace. 70 wins will be had if the pen and the offense continue to be good. Chen needs to get back. Francis needs to settle in. The big plus in the rotation is Duffy. Duffy and Hosmer are the start of some great things.
Here's hoping that game 50 starts the Royals on a 10-4 run! That would be cool.
Go Royals, get 70!

22-25

22 and 25. We might as well get used to the sub 500 record. The Royals have been 12 and 21 over the last 33. They aren't good. Soria is done. He lost another one tonight. He hasn't been able to get on track. If he isn't hurt then he is done fooling people. The 70 win plateau is within reach, but I don't see this team being tough enough. They lost a 9-8 game they should have won. They have won a quite a few games late, but that was then. They are hitting my disgust nerve. Soria has to be sat. Let Crow end the game. Hosmer has been fine. Butler and Gordon have cooled off. Butler hasn't really gotten untracked, he frustrates me. I've about had it with these guys. Duffy was good. The pen was good until Soria. He is finished Royals fans.
The positives? Not too many. Hosmer, Duffy are up and contributing. Frenchy has been outstanding. Gordon in the lead off spot is interesting.
The negatives? Soria being done. Yes done. Dude needs to DL or get the stuff fixed. He has been awful. This is 11 not last year. You don't get credit for previous years do you? If so when do you reach the credit limit?
Oh well Royals fans. Stay positive if you want. I'm done. 70 wins maybe.

Hosmer up, Kila gone.

The Royals were 12-9 when I posted last. That turned into 12-13 and they looked awful in Texas and Cleveland. They have rebounded and the record is now 17-14. 17 out of 70. That is good progress. The team is streaky. I think they play well at home and struggle on the road. You get to play 81 at home, but you have to play 81 out on the road. They need to get that figured out. Chen has been the ace. I'm so glad they signed him. Francis got rocked a couple of times but I see the old Jeff in there. He will be solid. Kila is gone and he should be. I don't know if he was pressing, trying to hard or whatever. He was awful at the plate. He looked lost in the box. He was over matched and he had zero chance against lefties. Kila being gone means we get to see Eric Hosmer. He has been raking in Omaha. He will get a chance against a pretty tough lefty in Gio tonight. I'm glad the Royals called him up. They generally wait to save money by avoiding Super Two status, but they went for it. That is a nice sign. Hopefully Hos will respond. I'm looking forward to it.
Frenchy, Aviles, Gordon, and Melky all have 20 plus RBI's after 31 games. I can't remember that happening too often for the Royals. Frenchy has been a solid, solid addition. His D is good and his bat has been fantastic. Gordon has continued his awesome play. Great D, productive hitting and good base running. The kid has come miles and miles. Melky is a hacker that will go through streaks. Glad he has been hot more often than not. Aviles is the anti Billy Butler. Aviles has way more RBI's than Billy. He also has 5 homers to Billy's 2. Think punch and judy Butler should hit lead off and let Mike bat clean up. It would be so nice to see Billy drive in some runs. He is pathetic. 13 RBI's. What, he doesn't have as many chances with men on base? Come on! Aviles has twice as many homers and almost twice as many RBI's in 40 less AB's. Butler is what he is. Willie Wilson hitter in Greg Luzinski's body. At least Bull hit they way he looked! Come on Billy! 2 out RBI's, not two out nobody on doubles.
Aaron Crow has been perfect, pretty much. They are going to need him in the rotation before the year is out, but he has been special to this point. Jeffress has potential. Adcock has been a pleasant surprise. Blake Wood gives me a rash. Throw strikes, Blake. Collins' arm will fall off by mid June. You MUST have two left handers in your pen. He has been OK, but he will burn out if they don't get him some help. Hopefully Soria isn't going to be cold anymore. He was putrid when they needed him and the temp was down. Seeing his ERA in the 7's was scary.
Overall, I'm excited to see Hos. I wish him luck. Aloha KK. I'm also glad that Jason Kendal will be gone longer. I can't stand that guy as a player. 17 down 53 to go. Go Royals lets get 70 wins!!