Blue Review: Week Three

Overall Record: 9-10 (Tie 2nd in A.L. Central)
Record in Week Two: 2-5 (1-1 at SEA, 1-1 at LAA, 0-3 at OAK)
Home: 0-0
Away: 2-5
Current Streak: Lost 4
Upcoming Games: vs. CLE (3), vs. TOR (3)

60-60-42: It was an ugly week of baseball for the Royals. A 2-5 West Coast road trip, that ended with a three-game sweep at Oakland, to drop Kansas City under .500 for the first time this season. Yuck. But my brother, Matt -- the Cardinals fan -- made me feel better by sharing a theory about Major League Baseball that he heard from a friend. This idea has probably been widely discussed, but it made me feel a little better about the bad week for the Royals. He said that, basically, every MLB team wins 60 games, and loses 60 games during the course of a season, and it's those other 42 games that determine how successful a season is. So, if you think about it that way, Kansas City's 9-10 mark at this early stage of the season doesn't seem bad at all. Sure, it would have been nice to have won two of three games in Oakland and headed into this week at 11-8, but it wasn't meant to be. I just hope the games last week weren't part of the "other 42."

Invisible Offense: During the seven-game road trip through Seattle, Los Angeles and Oakland last week, Kansas City's offense combined for just 25 runs (3.57 RPG) and struck out 45 times, while drawing just 19 walks. The team's OBP was just .319, and once they reached base, the Royals were just 3-for-8 in stolen base attempts.

Pitching Falters: Kansas City got off to a great start this season due, in large part, because of solid numbers from its pitchers. Through the first 12 games of the season, Kansas City owned a team ERA of 2.58, had held opponents to a .234 batting average, and allowed just 92 hits and 32 runs (31 earned runs) in 108 innings pitched, while striking out 78 and walking 31. But in the seven games last week, the Royals had a team ERA of 6.83, with opponents hitting .315, and they allowed 76 hits and 45 runs (44 earned runs) in 58 innings, striking out 46 and walking 27.

Guillen Showing Signs of Life: Jose Guillen, who was signed as a free agent during the offseason to help bolster the Royals' offense, headed into last week with a meager averages of .122/.157/.163 and just two doubles through the first 12 games. But the trip through three cities he used to call home seems to have sparked some life into hit bat, as he batted .269/.296/.577 with five doubles and his first home run in a Kansas City uniform last week.

Teahen Struggling: Left fielder Mark Teahen got off to a great start to the season, batting .343/.452/.571 with four runs scored, three doubles, one triple, one home run, three runs batted in, seven walks, and six strikeouts through the first 10 games. But over the past nine games, Teahen has batted just .200/.282/.229 with two runs scored, one double, four walks, and eight strikeouts.

Royals Need Improvement from Meche

The Kansas City Royals have gotten off to a solid start to the 2008 season, winning eight of their first 14 games, and moving back and forth between first and second place in the American Legaue Central standings. But the team's ace, Gil Meche, has yet to contribute to that success.

Through his first three starts, Meche is 0-2 with an elevated 7.13 earned run average. His control has been off, as evidenced by 10 bases on balls issued in just 17.2 innings pitched, and he just seems to be struggling to throw breaking balls for strikes.

I was thinking I could simply look up the stats from Meche's first three starts of 2007, compare them to the numbers from his first three starts of 2008, and it would reveal an obvious reason for his stuggles, but his numbers are pretty consistent to what he had done to this point last year.

Through three games in 2007, Meche had thrown 296 pitches (187 for strikes), had allowed three home runs, and opponents were hitting .288/.329/.438 against him. Through three games this year, Meche has thrown 294 pitches (183 for strikes), has allowed three home runs, and opponents are batting .275/.367/.493 against him.

Those are fairly similar numbers for what is a drastic difference in ERA from one season to the next. I was particularly amazed at the similarities in his pitch totals, and the numbers that were thrown for strikes, because the biggest difference in 2007 and 2008 for Meche is in bases on balls. Last year at this point, Meche had surrendered four walks, but this year's total is 10, which also explains the difference in OBP.

Since Meche's control has been iffy, he might simply be throwing more balls over the middle of the plate so far this season. Those balls are getting hit hard, as nine of the 19 hits he's allowed this year have gone for extra bases, compared to just five of 21 at this point last year.

Meche also hasn't been helped by a continuing lack of run support when he's on the mound. In 2007, the Royals scored an average of just 3.84 runs per game when Meche pitched, which ranked last in the A.L. and was the fourth-worst average in all of baseball.

Kansas City added free agent slugger Jose Guillen to the middle of its lineup during the offseason, which many hoped would bolster the Royals' offensive woes. But Guillen enters tonight's game with a .158 batting average and has yet to hit a home run in a Royals uniform.

Guillen isn't the only player to blame for Meche's lack of run support, but his support this season has been even worse than last year's, at just 2.79 runs per game. I believe that much of that has to do with the fact that, as the Royals' ace, Meche is often matched up against opposing teams' aces. It's not simply a matter of bad luck, as some people seem to think.

Whatever the issue has been through three games, Kansas City fans are hoping that Meche can figure things out, tighten up his control, and find the form that helped him finish last season with nine wins and a 3.67 ERA.

Meche gets his fourth start of the season tonight in Anaheim against a tough Angels lineup. I'm hoping we see the return of last year's consistency on display once again. The Royals need their ace to be just that.

Gil Meche Photo Credit: Paul Battaglia/AP

Things Could Be Worse for Guillen

Just when I thought things couldn't get much worse for Jose Guillen, I found this article about David Ortiz, written by ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.

Ortiz, the four-time All-Star selection of the Boston Red Sox, the guy with the nickname "Big Papi," is in a dreadful slump to start the 2008 season. Yes, pretty close to matching Guillen's troubles at the plate. Ortiz is just 3-for-43 for a line of .070/.231/.140 with one home run, six runs scored, and three runs batted in. So, the Big Papi has essentially become the Big Pop Up.

Guillen, as any true Kansas City Royals fan would know, is batting just .122/.157/.163 with six hits (two doubles) in 49 at bats, five runs batted in, and three runs scored. All you have to do is take a look at the results of the poll on this site to see the level of KC fans' frustration with Guillen so far this year. He batted cleanup for the first 10 games of the season, and then switched places with designated hitter Billy Butler and has been batting fifth the past two games.

Something has to break this slump for Guillen, and I'm hoping it's this week's West Coast road swing through three of his former stomping grounds. The Royals open with a pair of games at Seattle, where Guillen played in 2007, then travel to Los Angeles for two games against an Angels team he played for in 2004, and end the trip with three games in Oakland, where he spent part of his 2003 season.

You have to figure that Guillen might want to show the Mariners' brass that they made a mistake by not signing him to a contract extension when they had a chance this offseason. He's even more likely to be out for blood when he faces Mike Scioscia's Angels. Guillen's time in Anaheim ended in an ugly manner, when he was suspended by Scioscia for making some critical comments about the manager, and he's been very open about the importance he places on the games any time he faces the Angels, or Scioscia, the rest of his career.

And, if nothing else, hopefully some warmer temperatures on the West Coast will bring Guillen's bat out of the freezer. Something needs to click, though, because writing a comparison to the Big Pop Up is getting pretty desperate. I'm banking on a big week from the Royals' new free agent slugger.

Jose Guillen Photo Credit: Duane Burleson/AP

Royals' Offense Needs a Jump Start

I went to a Storyhill concert last night with my wife -- I bought the tickets in January, and it was my Valentine's gift to her -- so I wasn't able to watch the Royals' 2-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins, but it doesn't seem like I really missed much.

Kansas City was shut out by the Twins for the second straight game, dropping its record to 6-5, and extending a streak of 26 consecutive innings in which the Royals have failed to score a run. Ouch.

For the first time in several years, the Royals have a solid pitching staff -- both rotation and bullpen -- that seems capable of having a successful season. Through 11 games, Kansas City's 12 pitchers have combined for a 2.82 earned run average to lead the American League. The Royals also lead the league with five saves, two shutouts, 89 hits allowed, and just 31 runs against.

Those figures are certainly the biggest reason behind Kansas City's 6-2 start to the season, but the offense has faltered in the last three games, resulting in the team's first three-game losing streak of the year.

Kansas City's offense ranks dead-last in the A.L. for home runs (4), bases on balls (24), and on-base percentage (.304), while ranking next-to-last in runs scored (33) and slugging percentage (.347).

New manager Trey Hillman has been tinkering with the lineup, trying to find the right combination, but nothing has seemed to work. Right fielder Jose Guillen, who signed a three-year, $36 million contract during the offseason in hopes of bolstering the middle of the Royals' lineup, is the target of many fans' ire.

Guillen, who hit 23 home runs and drove in 99 runs last year for Seattle, is batting just .133 with five RBI, three runs scored, and two doubles. His OPS is a miserable .348, and his OPS+ is -5.

It's difficult to have numbers much worse than Guillen's, but shortstop Tony Pena owns them. After opening the season with a game-winning RBI bloop-single to beat the Tigers in 11 innings, Pena has failed to record a hit. Entering today's game, he is batting .037/.071/.037 with eight strikeouts in 27 at bats.

This is not meant to be a rant about how bad Jose Guillen is. I understand that he has a history of slow starts in April, and that his numbers will eventually rise. You can't keep a player of his caliber out of the lineup, but I just hope that hitting coach Mike Barnett can help Guillen figure things out before he digs himself too big of a hole. Even if Guillen bats .300 over his next 20 at bats, his average would still be just .184, so it will take some consistent hitting to bolster his average.

On a positive note, several Royals players are off to solid starts. Designated hitter Billy Butler (.372), first baseman Ross Gload (.333), left fielder Mark Teahen (.316), and third baseman Alex Gordon (.311) all have plus-.300 averages and have played in all 11 games, while second baseman Mark Grudzielanek is batting .343 over nine games.

Teahen's numbers are most impressive in that group, as he's compiled a line of .316/.435/.526 with three doubles, a triple, and a home run for a 160 OPS+. But Gordon, who leads the team with six RBI, is tied for 28th-best in the A.L in that category.

The Royals will attempt to break out of their offensive funk when they play host to the Twins in the final game of their three-game series today at 1:10 p.m. Hopefully, the offense finds its way to the ballpark.

Mark Teahen Photo Credit: Duane Burleson/AP

Bannister Baffles Tigers, KC Improves to 2-0

If Wednesday's game against Detroit was a test for Brian Bannister, he wrecked the bell curve for the rest of the class.

Bannister (1-0) passed his first test of the season by completely mastering the Tigers' powerful lineup to help the Kansas City Royals improve to 2-0 on the young season with a 4-0 shutout victory at Comerica Park. The second-year right-hander pitched seven innings, yielding just two singles to Edgar Renteria, while striking out four and walking none.

Kansas City also was struggling offensively against Tigers' starter Kenny Rogers, but a series of doubles by Mark Grudzielanek, Jose Guillen, and Billy Butler plated two runs in the sixth to stake the Royals to a 2-0 lead. Butler's double would have been a home run in most ballparks, as he drove the ball more than 410 feet to center field.

In the eighth, the Royals stretched the lead to 4-0. Joey Gathright led off the inning by doubling down the left field line, followed by a walk issued to Grudzielanek. Gathright then scored on an infield single by Butler, and Grudzielanek scampered home to score on an RBI single to center by Mark Teahen.

Gathright and Butler each went 2-for-4 with a double, with Butler driving in a pair of runs, and Grudzielanek scoring twice for the Royals, who are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2003.

Leo Nunez took over for Bannister and surrendered a one-out walk, before getting out of the frame by getting Ivan Rodriguez to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

Joakim Soria struck out the side in the ninth to close out the victory for KC, which will attempt to sweep Detroit on Thursday when right-hander Zack Greinke makes his first start of the season by facing Tigers' righty Jeremy Bonderman. First pitch is slated for 12:05 p.m. Central.

Brian Bannister Photo Credit: Tony Dejak/AP

Kaegel's Description of Guillen is Interesting

I was reading the lead story, written by Dick Kaegel of MLB.com, on the Royals' official website this morning. And, just a few paragraphs into it, there was some wording used in reference to Jose Guillen that caught my attention.

Kaegel wrote: "One guy who is expected to hit home runs, though, is Jose Guillen who signed at considerable expense (three years for $36 million) to put juice into what has been a run-parched attack. He's averaged 26-plus homers and almost 94 RBIs in his past four full seasons."

Did you catch it? He said that Guillen would "put juice" into the attack. Now, in all probability, Kaegel didn't even realize that using the word juice to describe what Guillen will add to the Royals lineup was questionable. But isn't that a poor choice of words to employ when describing someone who's facing a possible suspension for allegedly purchasing PEDs? You almost have to wonder whether that was an intentionally subliminal jab taken at Guillen by an old-school writer like Kaegel.

Personally, I enjoy reading Kaegel's stories about the Royals. I think he does a fine job with his writing, and he's probably been crafting stories for as long as I've been alive -- I'm 38 years old, by the way. I think it would be challenging covering a baseball team over the course of a 162-game season, and trying to avoid having your storylines become stale or redundant.

But this description of Guillen was something that I felt needed to be brought to the attention of Royals fans in the blogosphere, to see whether I'm the only one who seemed to have noticed Kaegel's interesting choice of words. Did others feel it's as obvious and direct as it seems to me?

I'd love to have some feedback from readers to see if you agree. Was this simply a slip up, or do you think Kaegel knew full well what he was doing, and snickered, or sat back with a smirk on his face after typing that little statement? Writers who have lasted as long in the business as Kaegel has are clever, and by even wondering if it was intentional, I'm giving him the credit he deserves for being an intelligent and witty wordsmith.

But did this cross the line?

Jose Guillen Photo Credit: Getty Images