One run, two games. That’s it. That is all the Kansas City
Royals have mustered against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday and Friday, IN
THE FRIENDLY CONFINES OF THEIR HOME FIELD. It is so upsetting that I can’t even
write about the fact that they gave out free zubaz pants last night. Sigh.
Currently, the Royals record stands at 20-21, and 10-9 at
home. They are tied for third place in the AL Central. They have scored 157
runs and allowed 157 runs. THEY ARE AS MEDIORCE AS YOU CAN GET. They are moon
pies, neither amazing nor terrible, but somewhere perfectly in the middle.
We all know that the problem is their offense. Baseball has
the longest season of all pro sports, and understandably, it takes time to get
into a rhythm. Patience is a key virtue in America’s pastime. However, we are
now a fourth of the way through the season and the Royals’ offense is barely exhibiting
any sign of life. Below is an actual EKG reading of the Royals’ offensive pulse.
Scary isn’t it?
As a Royals fan, it
is becoming so difficult to remain patient with them. I know that I come across
as very negative and pessimistic on this blog but I love the Royals and my
intent is to examine my favorite ballclub in ways that the casual fan might not
observe on their own. For example, last night I noticed that the Royals were
constantly hitting worthless flyouts:
Your casual fan might observe these as normal or part of the
game, but I saw in inordinate amount of flyouts last night. I stopped counting
after Nori Aoki’s mentioned above (which was the Royals’ sixth flyout in half
of a baseball game). The Royals typically are not a flyball hitting team (as
exhibited by their extreme lack of home runs and the ridiculous number of
groundouts by Billy Butler). There has been a lot written on the fact that the
Royals swing at more pitches outside the strike zone than other teams. While that
itself is a concern, they also make more contact with pitches outside the
strike zone. For the vast majority of hitters, the best hit balls will be
thrown in the strike zone, so if the Royals are hitting balls thrown outside
the strike zone, they have a lower chance of making solid contact, resulting in
weak hits, flyouts, groundouts and FEW (if any) HOME RUNS. Johnny Giavotella
hit a pop fly to shortstop that traveled maybe 20 feet high. I would bet that
pitch was nowhere near the strike zone.
I would like to blame the Royals’ coaching staff but as
professionals they are most likely preaching to the players to stay inside the
zone and wait for their pitch. It is the players who are to blame for the lack
of production (and GM Dayton Moore, who refuses to provide Ned Yost with players
who hit for power AND average). With 121 games left, the Royals have plenty of
time to turn things around and start producing, but it will start with the 9
men on the field, AND THEY WILL HAVE TO STOP HITTING WORTHLESS FLYOUTS AND STOP SWINGING AT PITCHES OUTSIDE THE STRIKE ZONE.
I hate to stay a Debbie Downer and Negative Nancy, but I also
wanted to look at the Royals runs scored per game. They currently have scored
157 runs, which is more total runs than only Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia,
Cincinnati and San Diego. Houston is the only American League team they score
more than. They average 3.83 runs per game, lower than the MLB average of 4.22
and the American League average of 4.4 runs per game. They have only hit 18
home runs, which is basically half of the MLB average of 37. If the Royals
added just 10 more home runs (giving them 28, still below MLB average), they
would be averaging over 4 runs per game and would likely have won a few more
games. Knowing that James Shields is leaving after this season (barring an
incredible miracle), I wouldn’t mind trading him before the July 31st deadline
and gaining a power bat for the future. It’s not like Shields is part of the
Royals’ plans for the future anyway…
They need to win their next two against Baltimore to stay
above .500 and challenge the White Sox for second place next week.
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