Am I Just Dreaming, Or Could This Happen?

If you haven't read Jim Caple's feature on Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish, you should. And, if you're like me, it might cause you to dream of something that probably will never happen -- Darvish finding his way to Kansas City -- but since his former manager, Trey Hillman, currently manages the Royals, it's fun to think about.

Darvish is a 21-year old megastar in his fourth season as a member of the Hoikkado Nippon Ham Fighters, the team Hillman led to the 2006 and 2007 Japan Series, winning the title in 2006. This season, the 6-foot-5 Darvish is 5-1 with a 1.46 ERA, and he is far and away the top pitcher in Japanese baseball.

Normally, a player such as Darvish would have to play nine seasons in Japan before he would be eligible to sign as a free agent with a team in Major League Baseball. But corporations that own teams in Japan -- in this case, Nippon Ham -- can ask for a posting fee, which would allow an MLB team to have discussions with a player like Darvish before his nine years is up.

It's how Daisuke Matsuzaka wound up a member of the Boston Red Sox. Boston paid a posting fee of $50 million, and then signed Dice-K to a $52 million contract prior to the start of the 2007 season. It's still speculation, but Caple guesses that the fee to speak with Darvish could reach $75 million.

So, here's where my dreaming gets crazy. I actually sat back and wondered whether David Glass, who has deep, deep pockets, would actually ever try to make a huge splash by paying what it takes to get a pitcher like Darvish. I wondered whether the owners of Nippon Ham, who had a wonderful relationship with Trey Hillman, would allow the Royals to be the team with the shot to get Darvish. And I also daydreamed about the possibility of the free-spirited Darvish refusing to talk with any team but one managed by Hillman.

Yes, I know, I'm a crazy Royals fan, and those thoughts are absurd. But it's fun to think about. Read the article, and you'll be dreaming about Darvish wearing Powder Blue, too.

No Offense, But Royals' Offense Stinks

This is starting to get a little ridiculous. This Kansas City offense is bad, plain and simple, and if it wasn't for some great pitching to start the season, the Royals's 14-18 record would be noticeably worse.

Kansas City has scored three runs or less in 17 of 32 games this season, and its record in those games is 4-13. But the sad fact that is that Royals pitchers have held opponents to five runs or less in 13 of those 17 games. So the team has been benefitting from solid pitching, but the offense isn't holding up its end of the deal.

Heading into today's series finale against the Angels, the Royals rank last, or next-to-last, in the American League in the following categories: runs scored (110, 14th), doubles (49, 13th), home runs (16, 13th), walks (85, 13th), on-base percentage (.308, 13th), and slugging percentage (.350, 14th).

Here are some more ugly numbers to digest:

--Kansas City is batting just .237/.305/.321 in games at Kauffman Stadium
--In the Royals' 14 wins, the team has batted .279/.341/.414 with 63 runs scored (4.5 per game), 45 walks, 90 strikeouts, four sacrifice hits, 13 stolen bases in 20 attempts, and has grounded into just four double plays. But in the team's 18 losses, it is batting just .229/.279/.298 with 47 runs scored (2.6 per game), 40 walks, 110 strikeouts, only one sacrifice hit, just three stolen bases in nine attempts, and has grounded into 17 double plays.
--Royals substitutes are batting .182/.217/.182 with zero extra-base hits, and pinch hitters are hitting just .222/.222/.222
--Through 32 games, Kansas City has yet to have a batter lead off a game by drawing a walk
--Kansas City cleanup hitters have combined to produce a miserable line of .192/.261/.296 with four doubles, three home runs, and 24 strikeouts
--Without factoring in sacrifice hits or sacrifice flies, Royals players have accumulated 168 at bats against the first pitch in the count, which is 24 more at bats than in any other situation
--Kansas City hitters are batting .128/.146/.149 when facing an 0-2 count, and are a combined .177/.248/.246 in two-strike situations
--With the bases loaded, KC players are batting just .167/.154/.167 with no extra-base hits
--Oddly, Kansas City has an impressive line of .571/.607/.857 with a runner on third base, but those numbers fall to just .158/.200/.184 in the same situation with two outs
--With two outs and runners in scoring position, Royals batters are hitting just .229/.321/.288

Something needs to be done, and I'm thinking that Rany Jazayerli hit the nail on the head when he proposed that hitting coach Mike Barnett needs to be replaced. I don't like to see a guy lose his job, and I'm sure Barnett is a solid hitting instructor, but whatever he's been doing lately hasn't been sinking in, and it's time for a change.

Losing a Series to Texas is Embarrassing

I haven't written anything for awhile now, but can you really blame me? The Royals have lost 10 of their last 13 games, and today they wasted another solid pitching performance by Zack Greinke to drop a 2-1 decision to Sidney Ponson and the Texas Rangers. Yes, I repeat, Kansas City was held to one run by Sidney Ponson, and the loss allowed the team with the worst record in baseball to take two of three games in the series.

I'm embarrassed to call myself a Royals fan right now. If you take a look at the banner of this blog -- yes, the thing at the top of the main page -- this is one of those days where I need to commiserate.

This team's offense is horrid. Just plain awful. Kansas City ranks last in the American League for runs scored with 101. That's an average of 3.61 runs per game. Guys like Greinke just have to be frustrated. He should be 5-0 right now. And, when the Royals do break out and score a bunch of runs, like the nine they scored in Wednesday night's loss to the Rangers, the pitching falters.

Kansas City opened the season with the pitching staff looking like it was going to be pretty darn solid. But it was a small sample size, and we all should have known it wouldn't last. I feel foolish for having been excited about the team's two-point-something earned run average at one point. Now, pretty much all the team's ERA's except for those of Greinke (1.47), Ron Mahay (2.03), and the Three Amigos -- Joakim Soria (0.00), Ramon Ramirez (0.71), and Leo Nunez (2.38) -- have swelled to greater than 4.00.

The thing is, though, even at 12-16 the Royals aren't buried in the standings. Thanks to the 6-2 start to the season, Kansas City finished April at 12-15, and they're currently three games out of first place. But if they continue to stink things up by losing series to teams the realistically should beat, there will be much more grumbling coming from this Royals fan.

Royals Erupt for 6-Run 8th, Beat Jays 8-4

Finally, signs of life in the Royals' offense.

Kansas City averted what would have been a disappointing blown save by Leo Nunez, and scored six times in the bottom of the eighth inning to snap a seven-game losing streak with an 8-4 win against the Toronto Blue Jays Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals led 2-1 when Nunez took the mound for the top of the eighth, with Zack Greinke in line for his fourth win of the year, but the Blue Jays scored three times -- the first runs of the year allowed by Nunez -- to take a 4-2 lead.

But Kansas City rallied with its biggest single-inning scoring output of the year by scoring six runs on five hits, two walks, and two Toronto errors in the fateful eighth frame. Catcher John Buck's second double of the night drove in the winning run.

Despite the blown save, Nunez (2-0) got credit for the victory due to Kansas City's offensive explosion in the eighth. Greinke took a no decision after limiting Toronto to five hits and one earned run in seven innings. He struck out four and walked one, and the lone run scored on a solo home run to right center by Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay in the seventh.

Every Royals player with a plate appearance in the game had at least one hit, led by two hits apiece by Buck and center fielder David DeJesus. Buck and first baseman Ross Gload each scored a pair of runs, with Gload hustling for a crucial leadoff double, and then scoring the game's first run in the fifth inning.

Closer Joakim Soria came in and worked a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation to preserve the win and snap Kansas City's winless streak.

The Royals and Blue Jays play game two of the weekend series Saturday at 6:10, with Kansas City rookie right-hander Luke Hochevar (0-1, 11.57) facing Toronto right-hander Shaun Marcum (2-1, 3.42).

Ross Gload Photo Credit: Reuters Pictures

Back in the Cellar, Again

I'm really an optimist. But after 20-plus miserable years of watching their favorite baseball team, I'd have to guess that most Kansas City Royals fans are pessimists by this point, and someone told me once that "a pessimist is simply an optimist with experience." Well, I have to admit that there must be some measure of pessimism brewing inside me, because I knew that I'd be writing these words at some point this season...

The Kansas City Royals have fallen into fifth place in the American League Central Division.

After dropping both games of a doubleheader versus Cleveland Thursday night, by scores of 9-6 and 2-0, the Royals have now lost seven straight games to fall to 9-13 on the season. The Detroit Tigers, who started the season with a record of 2-10, are now a half game ahead of KC with a mark of 10-13. Even with the six runs scored in the first game of the twinbill tonight, the Royals have scored just 18 runs during the losing streak.

So, Kansas City's promising start to the 2008 season has turned into a pumpkin, and the team finds itself in a familiar spot in the A.L. Central -- looking up at the rest of the division from last place.

I don't like it at all. This offense was supposed to be improved, and all this losing brings out my inner pessimist. I guess that just speaks to my level of experience watching this organization. Ugh...

U-G-L-Y

I had to force myself to stay away from the computer for awhile after tonight's game, because that was just a sorry effort on the part of the Kansas City Royals. Pathetic. Awful. Anemic. Horrendous. And definitely, embarrassing.

For the past week, the Royals have looked an awful lot like last year's team, with very little offensive punch, and spotty pitching. What happened to the new attitude? Where's the team that opened with three wins in Detroit, and was on such a roll until heading to the West Coast last week?

Here are some thoughts:

--Something has to be wrong -- physically -- with Gil Meche. I mean, he gave me a glimmer of hope when he avoided trouble to escape with a 3-2 win against the Angels last Wednesday, but he was back to looking very hittable tonight. His ball was up in the zone, which resulted in only one ground ball out, and seven fly ball outs. He allowed two home runs, including the grand slam to Casey Blake in the fateful fourth inning. Meche is certainly not C.C. Sabathia. But I guess it helps me deal with his 8.00 ERA by realizing that even the best pitchers can get off to dreadful starts. Then again, I guess the Royals (and a temperature of 69 degrees at first pitch) were just the tonic that Sabathia needed to get his season back on track, and Meche can't face the Royals.

--My patience with Jose Guillen is starting to wear thin. The guy went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in the game tonight, and I see absolutely no emotion from him. Does he care that he's sucking? He just strikes out, and then casually strolls back to the dugout like it's no big deal. I want to see some fire in this guy! I want to know that he's pissed off that he just earned the Golden Sombrero. WTF, Jose?

--I think it's time to move Mark Teahen back to sixth or seventh in the order again. Since Teahen was moved up to third in the lineup, he's batting .254 (15-for-59) with 15 strikeouts and just two runs batted in.

--Yasuhiko Yabuta is obviously struggling with the transition to using the larger baseball (the ball used in Japan is slightly smaller), and I'm not sure how his contract works, but if it's possible to let him go figure things out in Omaha for awhile, that might not be a bad thing to do. Yabuta has appeared in seven games, allowing 11 hits and eight earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched, striking out four, but walking seven and compiling a 9.82 ERA.

--Jimmy Gobble needs to solely remain a lefty specialist out of the bullpen. He is most effective in that role, and performances like tonight's -- allowing three hits, three earned runs, walking two, and striking out two in two-thirds of an inning -- are commonplace when he is asked to face more than just a left-handed batter or two. He had good numbers last year for one reason, and that's because he was primarily expected to come in and retire lefties.

I'm hoping this five-game losing streak can be halted soon, before the Royals once again find themselved buried in the standings at the end of April. Such a promising start to the season has quickly become another frustrating first month of the season.

I am fairly patient, and tend to maintain a positive outlook, for the most part. I've read people's comments on some of the Royals message boards, and there are already people wondering if this season is over. There's even a poll which asks whether the Royals will get back to .500 this season. Even with tonight's horrid performance, that seems a little absurd, given that Kansas City is just two games below .500 at this point.

The ball will be in Brett Tomko's hands Wednesday night. Maybe one of these days the offense will bust out and score more than six runs to give the pitchers a little breathing room. I don't know if my heart can stand too many more 15-1 embarrassments.

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.