Contrary to Rumors, I'm Still Alive...

Wow, May 22 was my previous post on here, and I can't apologize enough for the lack of attention this blog has received over the past two months.

Have I given up hope in the Kansas City Royals? Nope. That's why I called this site Undying Royalty. Although some might have started to speculate about whether I was still a fan of the team, my loyalty remains in tact. I've just been keeping things to myself for awhile.

Have I still been keeping up with the team? Yes, I purchased MLB Extra Innings prior to the start of the season -- a fantastic purchase, I might add, although my one complaint is that I can't watch the pregame segments, or Royals Live after the game -- and I'd wager that I've watched at least as many, if not more, games than the average Royals fan.

Is the start of summer to blame? Partially. After I posted on May 22, I spent the next two weeks vacationing, the first at my in-laws in North Dakota, and the second fishing with my high school buddies at my parents' cabin. But that doesn't give me any reason to have failed to write a darn thing the past six weeks, and I'm sorry for that.

I will admit that I was pretty down on the team after that miserable stretch of the season in Boston and Toronto, which carried on into the 12-game losing streak. But Trey Hillman might have caught wind of my previous post, because Jimmy Gobble hasn't pitched in a game the Royals have won since he wrecked the team's chances to steal a win at Fenway Park on May 22*.

*My use of a Pozterisk here is to make everyone aware that Gobble hasn't let me down, going 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA in 14 appearances, beginning May 22. He has worked 13.1 innings, allowing 18 hits, 16 runs (all earned), while walking 11 and striking out just seven. Taking a closer look at his numbers, he has surrendered a horrendous line of .316/.435/.614, with four home runs allowed, two wild pitches, one hit batsman, and has been allowed to throw 283 pitches, only 157 of which have been for strikes. Now, could someone please remind me, why the hell is he still on the Royals' active roster?!

Whew, okay, I feel better.

So, no, I haven't fallen ill, died, or mysteriously vanished from the face of the Earth. My blood still runs Royal blue, and I have just as much disdain for the St. Louis Cardinals. Speaking of which, I have absolutely no idea why I didn't take full advantage of the Royals' dominance over that other team from the Show Me State. Who's your daddy, Redbirds? That's right, look to the other side of the state, and give Trey Hillman's boys the respect they earned.

Tonight, the second half of the season begins, and it will be interesting to see how well the Royals can work through a very tough stretch of games against teams with winning records at the All-Star break. At 10 games under the .500 mark, there are at least five games I can think of that should have fallen into the win column in the first half, and a record of 48-48 at the break would have made things much more intriguing. Not that things won't be worth following as is, though.

I'll be extremely interested to see what kind of moves Dayton Moore makes in the next two weeks, and I think those transactions will depend largely on how well the team fares to start the second half. If the Royals come out of the gates hot, and win several games against Chicago, Detroit, and Tampa Bay, then I could see Kansas City become buyers in this market. But I'd estimate the chances of winning six to eight of those 10 games is fairly minimal.

What's more likely to happen is that, because of this challenging stretch in the schedule, the Royals will be aggressively looking to make some moves to bolster the team's future. Mark Grudzielanek's days in a Kansas City uniform are likely coming to an end, and players like Ron Mahay and even guys like Zack Greinke, Billy Butler, David DeJesus, Mark Teahen, and Esteban German are likely to be involved in private trade discussions between Moore and other teams. I can only hope that Jimmy Gobble's name comes up, as well, but my prayers are rarely answered.

Yes, I'll be watching, and hopefully, I will once again be writing on a regular basis. Thanks for putting up with my extended leave of absence.

I Hope Trey Hillman Learned His Lesson...

The bases are loaded. The Royals trail the Red Sox, 7-3, because Jimmy Gobble had just walked a batter, and then allowed Dustin Pedroia to crush a double off the Green Monster. Gobble then intentionally walked Manny Ramirez to load the bases with two outs. Time for a right-hander -- like Ramon Ramirez, maybe -- to come in and face right-handed batter Mike Lowell, wouldn't you think?

I'm standing in my living room, in front of the TV, pacing back and forth and saying to myself, "Don't let Gobble face another right-handed batter...don't let Gobble face another right-handed batter..."

So, what does Royals manager Trey Hillman decide to do? You got it -- he leaves Jimmy Freakin' Gobble in there to face Lowell with the bases packed.

To better understand my frustration with this decision, here are some facts about Jimmy Gobble. Entering today's game, left-handers were just 2-for-22 (.091) against him this year, with eight strikeouts and a .312 OPS. But right-handed batters?, they were batting .389/.455/.556 with three doubles and a .500 BAbip. For his career, batters have a .343 average against Gobble with the bases loaded.

I swear on my life, I mumbled to myself, "The score will be at least 9-3 after this at bat." Then I corrected my thought by thinking that it might just be 8-3, because the chances of Gobble walking Lowell were just as bad.

The result? Lowell blasts one over the Green Monster for the second grand slam the Royals allowed in the game, and all of a sudden it was 11-3.

And the moral of this story...er, I mean, rant? Never, EVER, EVERRRRRR allow Jimmy Gobble to face right-handed batters again! Ever!! He should be a lefty-lefty specialist, and that's it.

I don't like Jimmy Gobble! I'm not commenting on Jimmy Gobble the human being, because I would bet that he's one of the nicest guys on the team. He just seems like he'd be a good friend, and a great person. But Jimmy Gobble the baseball player? I'd pick countless other relievers to use -- against a right-handed batter -- before I'd choose to go with the "Gobbstopper" in that situation.

I hope Trey Hillman learned a lesson from this, and uses Gobble ONLY as a lefty specialist.

This Day-Night Thing With Bannister Is Odd

If you're a Kansas City Royals fan, and you've been reading Royals-related blogs this week, then you might have already read about right-handed pitcher Brian Bannister and his bizarre stat splits between his performances during day games, and those at night.

I believe it was initially pointed out in the reader comments section on Joe Posnanski's blog, and then written about by Rany Jazayerli on his Rany on the Royals site.

For those who haven't seen this yet, Brian Bannister's stats during day games and night games are as follows:

Bannister in the Daytime (2008): 4-0, 0.62 ERA, 29 IP, 12 hits, 3 R (2 ER), 0 HR (no extra-base hits), 7 BB, 18 SO, 1 CG, .126 BAA, .320 OPS, -10 OPS+, .156 BABIP

Bannister at Night (2008): 0-5, 8.13 ERA, 27.2 IP, 40 hits, 25 R (25 ER), 6 HR (14 extra-base hits), 7 BB, 16 SO, 0 CG, .325 BAA, .914 OPS, 147 OPS+, .337 BABIP

Well, Mr. Bannister pitched again last night for the Royals, and wouldn't you know, he lost. Bannister worked 6.1 innings against the Florida Marlins, allowing seven hits, six earned runs, and one home run, while walking two and striking out five.

The odd thing was, when the game started, it was still light outside, and Bannister was faring pretty well until that daylight faded. Through six innings, he had limited Florida to a pair of runs on just four hits. That was, until the seventh inning -- yes, when it was dark -- and the Marlins struck for four runs on three hits, including the decisive three-run blast by pinch-hitter Wes Helms.

And, the good news out of this? Bannister's next scheduled outing comes Thursday at Fenway Park against the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

And, you're probably wondering, how is there any good news in that? Well, first pitch is slated for 12:35 p.m. CT.

Brian Bannister Photo Credit: Wilfredo Lee/AP

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