Royals Realm

Immediately after Alex Rodriguez’s two-run shot tied the game in the seventh inning, I was bracing for yet another stomach punch game.

How can one fan base keep coming back from so many of these kind of defeats?

In the past three weeks, we had endured a 12-game losing streak–Kansas City’s fourth in the past four years (the rest of the league had three such streaks combined). A streak that featured lowlights such as a no-hitter, the blowing of a five-run ninth-inning lead, and a complete game by Jesse Litsch.

Then there was Saturday’s brutal 12-11 defeat to the Yankees, which I thankfully was not able to watch.

Today’s game was looking like just another link in a near-impossible chain of collapses.

But in what ran counter to nearly everything that has happened in this horrific stretch, Jose Guillen hammered a Mariano Rivera cut-fastball to left to put the boys in blue up for good. It was about time one of his four weekend home runs led to a win.

The 3-2 win defied all sorts of recent norms, as the Royals somehow reversed the momentum of Saturday’s crushing loss (a loss that could have had a similar snowball effect to the no-hit game) and punctuated the best series by a Royals hitter in years.

Guillen batted .643 in the four-game set with four home runs and 10 RBI. It was the most homers and RBI ever hit by a visiting player in a series at Yankee Stadium. Royal hitters just don’t have these kind of games.

Who would have thought that among the three high-profile sluggers the Royals went after this offseason that Guillen would be having the best year? Certainly not me. After April, I thought Guillen was just another product of the alleged HGH he was on as a Mariner. OK, he still might be a product of a substance frowned upon, but it’s about time the Royals had one of them on their side.

KC was ready to throw a franchise-record contract at Torii Hunter (.268 BA/8 HR/31 RBI) and ready to overpay significantly for Andruw Jones. It now looks like Guillen (at the plate at least) may have been the correct signing. He leads the American League in doubles (21), is third in RBI (48), and is batting .354 since May 1. And in a lineup as anemic as Kansas City’s, 48 RBI is astounding.

This is the first legit power threat the Royals have had since Jermaine Dye or Mike Sweeney (in the three years where he was healthy). His numbers (.269/11/48) may look pedestrian compared to actual sluggers, but it’s simply unheard of in Kansas City.

In the previous three seasons, power has not been a word uttered when describing a Royals hitter. Last year was particularly demoralizing as Emil Brown led the team with 62 RBI (you read that correctly) and John Buck led the way with a staggering 18 home runs (ditto).

If he keeps hitting in the same realm he’s hitting now, no one will care about that temper tantrum where he called his teammates “babies,” and openly bashed the organization’s losing ways. I certainly applauded the tirade. The organization has no recent history of success and the Royals’ regulars have not been the best pressure players. They needed someone to do this.

It’s been hell to watch No. 3 hitters bunt for hits and catchers lead the team in home runs. Guillen’s comments were right on the money and I’m surprised no one had done this until now.

Twenty-two-year-old DH Billy Butler may not agree, as he is now living in some makeshift apartment in Omaha after getting demoted for being one of the “babies” Guillen was describing. It was probably for his own good, as Butler was regressing and turning into another patented Royal singles hitter. In time, the pudgy one-tool player will learn to appreciate the left fielder’s odd motivational method.

Despite the collective underachieving this team has done, its cleanup man is pulling his weight. The man is absolutely killing the ball and even though his team is not exactly making similar strides, it’s great to watch balls travel over fences with some regularity again.

Yeah, so I quit on this running diary out of sheer anger and much to my horror, things only got worse. Jon Lester ended up pitching a no-hitter. A freaking no-hitter. Something that had not been done to KC since Nolan Ryan in 1973.

I felt really bad rooting passionately for a cancer survivor to screw up the best day of his life, but any true fan would’ve done the same. If you wouldn’t have, you should not refer to yourself as a true fan. But, as a human, it didn’t feel that great to be dropping expletives after Lester fanned DeJesus and Collaspo.

Now I have to boycott the sports media for a good 24 hours to not hear obligatory praise and typical Royal comments. It feels like 2005 all over again. Except we’re actually good this year. Well, average. 21-23 in mid-May. I’ll take it. Let’s just hope this atrocity doesn’t spur a massive losing streak and derail a very promising season.

Welcome to the first and possibly most profane or obscure running diary ever created about the Kansas City Royals. I’ve always wanted to do this, so here you go live from a Gladstone living room: Royals at Red Sox.

6:05 - Looks as though the lineup is back to normal tonight, with the exception of Esteban German, a notoriously awful fielder, playing left field. This could be trouble.

6:08 - Facing one of those control pitchers (usually kill us) tonight in Jon Lester. This feels like the game last year when the Royals were on a roll and I got excited about facing Kason Gabbard, who had never started a game. This excitement was misguided as Gabbard pitched a four-hit shutout. Let’s hope things go a bit better.

6:10 - Splittorff is trying to fit in w/ the sub-35 crowd by uttering the phrase: “Manny being Manny.” Not a good sign for tonight’s broadcast or the phrase in general. If Splitty is using it, it’s on the verge of no longer being socially acceptable.

6:11 - Lester quietly gets a 1-2-3 first.

6:15 - Joel Goldberg informs us that David Ortiz is a mammoth-sized man. Had this sentence been said in 2002, he may be onto something.

6:17 - Hochevar 1-2-3, 24 more for the perfect game.

6:19 - Commercial airs about a monkey that chases and bites kids. Very wholesome entertainment. E.J. believes society has reached a point where monkeys are no longer funny. I’m in line to agree.

6:20 - Conversation derails into a “Dunston Checks In” reference. Probably better stop.

6:21 - Manny makes routine catch in left. I do not believe Ramirez could play left in any other ballpark in the majors. This tiny area of real estate suits him fine.

6:23 - Olivo misses a curveball by two feet. Splitty recommends the Pedro Cerrano treatment for him. He’d probably be out of baseball if pitchers collectively decided to do this.

6:25 - Teahen’s home-run droughts are being discussed. Duraflame is fuming somewhere as Splitty says he has all the tools to return to his 2006 form. That form is gone.

6:27 - “Nice comment there, Ryan.” Wow.

6:28 - Does anyone you know find those Sonic commercials remotely funny? What focus groups are they seeking out, the CBS audience?

6:35 - Walks Lowell, perfect game is gone.

6:36 - Matchup of AL’s top 2 batting average leaders in Kevin Youkilis and Mark Grudzielanek. Had to type this while this statistic is valid.

6:38 - No-hitter still intact. 21 to go.

6:40 - Billy Butler has definitely assumed the role of funniest Royal to watch run. This role was made famous by 5’9, 240-pound Matt Stairs from 2004-06.

6:42 - Lefevbre hammers asian man in stands who took the time to call for the foul ball and dropped it. Man, Lefebvre hates foul-ball catchers. Perhaps he had a bad experience dropping one himself on a big stage or he may have killed someone w/ one of his own fouls. It’s surely one of those two.

6:47 - J.D. Drew ground ball to right. The no-hitter is over.

6:50 - Just re-enacted the whole “Wayne and Garth meet Alice Cooper” sequence. This game is not the most fan-friendly.

6:51 - Just as I say this, Drew advances to third on a wild German throw. Concern is starting to set in.

6:53 - 1-0 Sox, Royals concede DP for run. I really don’t like this strategy. Runs are valuable.

6:54 - As soon as I say this, Ellsbury triples into center. So, that may have been a good idea.

6:55 - Shit. 4-pitch walk to Pedroia. Ortiz up w/ 2 on. On the fear of opposing hitter scale, Ortiz ranks just behind Pujols and Joe Crede (absolutely mauls the Royals).

6:56 - 6 straight balls. Fuck!

6:58 - Get a borderliner. 2-2, 2 out. Don’t do this to us, Luke!

7:00 -Not the time for stories, Splitty!

7:01 - Walked him. Shit on me. Loaded for Manny w/ a hitter’s strike zone.

7:02 - 20 Career Grand Slams. Are you kidding me?!

Jeff: You can spin that statistic any way you want.

7:03 - 2-0 again. Looking very much like bad things are about to happen.

E.J.: There is a possibility he won’t hit a grand slam.

7:05 - 3-2. Crowd roaring. Rookie likely overwhelmed, living room very nervous. Game and future of this diary depending on this pitch.

7:06 - Another foul.

E.J. compares this to 24. Not valid. Jack Bauer doesn’t need to be inserted into any real-life situation. He can diffuse whatever he wants. OK, I’m off topic. Let’s Go!

7:07 - Another foul on the sinker. Just shoot me in the spleen!

7:08 - Ditto.

7:09 - Walks him in. 10 fantasy points. 2-0. Hochevar wild.

7:10 - Fuck!!!!

Grud and Pena fighting over ball on infield. Wind blows it away from Grudz, 2 more runs score. This is classic Royals. God dammit! Good teams simply don’t do this. What the hell is Pena doing five feet on the wrong side of the base. This one’s probably done.

7:12 5-run third. Youk doubles into bullpen. Possibly ending this diary 2 hours early. Easily the worst outing of Hoch’s career. Not a good tone-setter for this pivotal series.

7:13 - Top it off, we play the goddamn Sonic bastards again. How can 2 men in their 30s film those commercials. Just trying my already tested patience.

7:15 - After a 6-1 week, I’m starting to feel like Nic Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas about now.

7:16 - John Mayberry bobbleheads being advertised. Who collects these things over the age of 14? Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?

7:24 - Ellsbury just steals second and third on consecutive pitches. Shoot me.

Continued…

This transformation is absolutely incredible.

Just two years ago, this bullpen was the laughing stock of the major leagues with a 53-percent save success rate.

Now, I’m tempted to change the channel when Soria toes the rubber in the ninth because I know the game is over.

The Wolf (nickname I’ve given Soria; let’s see how it goes) worked his magic again tonight, shutting down the Tigers’ last effort to preserve a 3-2 victory.

Wolf has been receiving the lion’s share of the credit, but his not-yet-household-name setup crew deserves just as much.

Ramon Ramirez and Leo Nunez are the heart of the bullpen. In short, this duo’s seventh- and eighth-inning success has been nothing short of surreal.

Think back with me, Royals fans, to 2006. We’ve got a 5-3 lead heading into the eighth inning. Andrew Sisco is on the mound, while Ambriorix Burgos warms up. How comfortable are you?

I can sure tell you I was far from it. It was panic-mode central in the Robinson living room and many others throughout Royals Nation. These two men, along with their less infamous mates, made up the worst ‘pen in the majors. They blew countless leads and may have cost Luke Hudson a large sum of money, as he was on his way to being a 12-15-game winner had this inept group not blown it for him.

Needless to say, no starting pitcher has any beef with the winning side of this ‘pen.

I probably shouldn’t imply that this group is without flaws, as Joel Peralta and would-be setup man Yasuhiko Yabuta have been horrendous. Those guys are only the mop-up men though and don’t see too many high-pressure situations (sans last Monday of course when Peralta gave up back-to-back homers in the ninth; needless to say, he won’t be seeing any of those situations anytime soon).

But the men that enter play with the lead are anything but horrendous as they have been the unsung catalyst to the Royal pitching staff’s stunning start.

Nunez (1.72 ERA, 15.2 IP) completely revived his career over the past two years. The 24-year-old was part of the 2005 bullpen, which was just as bad, only it didn’t have the opportunity to blow many leads because the team did not get them too often. As a rookie middle reliever, Nunez was awful, finishing the season with a 7.55 ERA. This led to a season and a half in the minors and being nearly left for dead by the organization’s higher-ups.

This included fans’ darling, Dayton Moore, as the GM agreed to trade the diminutive setup man last June to Oakland for mouthy outfielder Milton Bradley, but thankfully for the Royals, Bradley had a secret oblique injury that nullified everything.
Good thing too; Kansas City doesn’t need anymore players floundering in blue and flourishing somewhere else. I still have anger attacks when I see Emil Brown’s RBI totals flash across the ESPN bottom line.

Nunez was just supposed to be a middle or long relief guy, but his 95-mph heat and intense delivery are giving teams fits in the eighth inning. He owns that frame and that is such an underrated component of a successful team. Royals fans got a taste of that last season when Soria mowed down people in the setup role.

Nunez’s story is great, but I’m more impressed with Ramirez, who is the primary seventh-inning stopper. Ramirez has a 1.06 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched. For a player who was acquired from Colorado the week before the season started for a player to be named later, his performance is the biggest shocker.

Like Soria, he has wicked movement on his pitches, which makes up for the fact that he cannot bring the heat like his smaller setup counterpart can. But Ramirez is just as important as Nunez to this success. Let’s not forget pricey veteran Ron Mahay, who is the primary lefty in the sixth and seventh innings, much to Jimmy Gobble’s chagrin. Mahay (2.65 ERA, 17 IP) frequently goes more than one inning and despite a rough first two weeks, has really found his groove.

He does not have the stuff his younger and more flashy cohorts do, but Mahay, unlike Gobble this season, can get right-handed batters out as well. That’s a huge weapon to have.

I don’t even need to talk about Wolf or mention his ERA (I refuse to do so in fear of jinxing this video-game-esque start), he’s the goods and one of the best closers in baseball. But while he’s the most automatic, his three bridge men are the ones who should be getting some credit as well.

The overall talent of the 2007 middle relief corps was astonishing with Wolf, Greinke and David Riske stifling the AL in the seventh and eighth innings, but with Zack having emerged as the team’s best starter, the 2008 bullpen is even better. The relievers are providing the same type of production last years’ were. That really says something because everyone knew that crew was temporary, as Greinke and Soria are All-Star-caliber players and those guys simply don’t pitch in middle relief.

This current crew’s efficiency makes this pitching staff far better than 2007 because Greinke and Soria are allowed to thrive in their more important roles. I did not think this would happen because their talent was that good, but this setup trio has made a reality out of that and Royals fans for the first time in who knows how long, have a dominant relief unit to go along with three above-average starters.

How long can it last? Stupid question. Just enjoy it. With the often-anemic offense, these men are the driving force behind a team that’s off to its best start in five years.

When I interviewed Brian Bannister this winter, I felt like Chris Farley on “The Chris Farley Show.”

Had I known he would throw his season’s third masterful outing for my Royals by mid-May, I’m almost certain I wouldn’t have been able to contain myself.

I thought there was no way he could improve on what most experts called a “lucky” rookie season. Instead, he has been absolutely outstanding Sunday was the latest example, as his start helped salvage a lost week.

The 4-0 victory was the closest representation in a while of the team that controlled the Tigers in the season’s opening series.

Bannister was on his game and the bats did just enough, but by no means was this cause for immense celebration. But, after losing three in a row this week and 12 straight overall dating back to 2006 to Baltimore, I’ll take any sort of celebration.

Banny mixed his pitches and located very well and the Royals did what they usually do when they score runs: have single rallies with a few doubles mixed in. This worked as Teahen and Guillen drove in runs.

Joey Gathright once again proved why he’s easily the most fun Royal to watch in sprinting with reckless abandon into the scoreboard/wall in left field to make a catch. This grab was insane. The man collided receiver-style into the chain-link scoreboard portion of the wall, but this somehow managed to only be good enough for No. 6 on SportsCenter’s Top 10. I think that’s the “Royal exception bias” at work; they probably had some generic Kobe dunk or Tim Duncan hook-shot ahead of it.

The lineup that Trey Hillman trotted out there today was probably how it should be:

1. DeJesus, 2. Grudzielanek, 3. Gordon (he will have to learn to hit there eventually), 4. Guillen, 5. Butler, 6. Teahen, 7. Olivo, 8. Collaspo, 9. Gathright

Dave D is off to his usual great start while Grud is showing tremendous production at 38. I’m still not worried about the middle of the order. Guillen is heating up (by that I mean his average has climbed past .200) and Gordon and Butler can only get better with each game. Collaspo should be the shortstop and Pena and Gload should not be everyday players. And until teams figure out how to keep Gathright off base, he should continue to get four-to-five starts a week.

Even the commentators were on fire today, as Ryan Lefebvre all but called out the home-plate umpire, Jim Joyce, for his awful catcher’s interference call on Olivo in the fifth. But his best remark of the day came later when describing the current catcher platoon starter John Buck is in, said this: “In 2006, Buck shared time with Paul Bako and last year, Jason LaRue somehow got a lot of playing time.”

Zing! High comedy. Finally someone gives LaRue the treatment he deserved after carrying a .143 batting average into September last season.

But, this week was a near disaster. 2-5 in a week involving the Orioles is unacceptable for a team with .500 aspirations. Gil Meche’s below-average start is beginning to concern me and the lineup’s lack of plate discipline and any power is beyond the level of general concern. The trio of Butler, Gordon and Guillen has nine combined home runs through six weeks of baseball. Not appropriate even in the pitcher’s paradise that is Kaufmann Stadium. But it can only get better. I will continue to tell myself this until June.

The losses didn’t really hurt Kansas City though, with Minnesota having a bad week as well. The Royals’ AL Central deficit is still just three and a half games. At 16-21, that is simply amazing.

I missed Saturday’s game due to a movie-montage-esque bachelor party I attended, but heard the game was delayed due to rain on umbrella night at the K. I was only hoping something this great would happen.

Great in that the umbrella night was sponsored by Budweiser, which meant that only fans 21 and older could get them. I was debating this hilarious stipulation with my brother and we were hoping for rain that night. And, showing the sports gods do have humor, it happened; and it was cold rain. The drunks and of-age citizens were probably feeling like Frasier and Niles Crane under their umbrellas during this early delay, while their younger counterparts were drenched and forced to scamper to horrible seats just to avoid the downpour.

I can only imagine the exchanges between college sophomores and the stadium ushers. I imagine they went something like this:

Kid: C’mon man, it’s pouring here and you have about 500 umbrellas sitting in that box.

Usher: ID…sorry kid, maybe in a couple of years.

Kid: You’ve gotta be kidding me! I bought $20 tickets and will toss the damn umbrella when it stops raining. I’m 20 freaking years old; I’ve used these things my whole life.

Usher: I don’t make the rules, son. But the ball club says you’re not fit to handle this equipment (OK, he wouldn’t say that, but if the usher was a complete stiff, he would as that’s technically what the stipulation means.)

That actually wins the “most intriguing promotional clause” award for my entire tenure as a Royals fan. It was even funnier than the time in ‘06 when three-year starter or closer Jeremy Affeldt was demoted to middle relief just before “Jeremy Affeldt T-Shirt night.”

16-21 and just three and a half back in mid-May. I’ll take it. Especially considering at time last year, KC was 11-25 and 12 games out. The bats have to improve, but for now, this is passable for a perennial last-place team.

Luckily American Idol’s David Cook was there or I would have had a bad time at the K tonight.

It’s a good thing he sang the national anthem and “Take me out to the Ballgame” because that took my focus off the fact that the Orioles have now beaten Kansas City 11 straight times.

I am now totally not upset about the 7-4 stifling and am looking forward to the next Idol showcase for the pseudo Royals fan…oh wait, that was most of the other people in the stadium. I on the other hand spent a completely miserable three and a half hours at Kaufmann tonight watching thousands of fake Royals fans gush over some guy I’d never heard of while our team continued its near-impossible stretch of futility against the boys in orange.

What made matters worse was the loss came at the hands of Steve Trachsel, a 37-year-old journeyman with a 6.75 ERA. Incomprehensible defeat. Still unsure of how it all went down.

I guess I was too busy getting angry with fans singing along to Garth Brooks and this Cook guy when their alleged team is down three runs to a terrible pitcher.

Gil Meche continued his series of less-than-stellar performances, giving up two home runs and five runs overall. This is starting to get me worried that his 2007 season was a fluke and that he’ll never be able to go beyond six innings without throwing 120 pitches. The man is a foul-ball machine and even the most putrid of offenses have his pitch count in trouble by the fourth inning.

Alex Gordon gave the supposed No. 1 starter a two-run cushion with a home run in the first, but Meche allowed a Melvin Mora bomb in the third. While the game was still tied in the fifth, it felt as though KC was down by two or three as the crowd was disinterested and Meche had run his pitch count to more than 90.

Well, when Trey Hillman’s curious decision to walk No. 3 hitter Nick Markakis to get to the cleanup hitter Aubrey Huff (?) backfired in the form of a Huff three-run shot, the night made sense.

The Royals did manage to muster 10 hits, but Ross Gload and Miguel Olivo grounded into brutal inning-ending double plays in the seventh and ninth to strand a total of five runners on base. This sort of thing has become commonplace against Baltimore.

The loss did not appear to hurt the Royals, but the division-leading Twins, who were down 6-5 for four innings, got to Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth to put Kansas City three and a half games back in the Central.

It is unusual to only see the Royals down by less than four games, as this is usually the time they are trailing by 10 or more, but no AL Central team seems to be breaking away from the pack like in years past. This helps Kansas City by time while its hitters continue to struggle, but it’s only a matter of time before these losses to sub-par pitchers begin to cost them.

It would just feel better for those losses to come against New York or Boston, but this Baltimore streak has stretched beyond the point of embarrassing.

Luckily American Idol’s David Cook was there or I would have had a bad time at the K tonight.

It’s a good thing he sang the national anthem and “Take me out to the Ballgame” because that took my focus off the fact that the Orioles have now beaten Kansas City 11 straight times.

I am now totally not upset about the 7-4 stifling and am looking forward to the next Idol showcase for the pseudo Royals fan…oh wait, that was most of the other people in the stadium. I on the other hand spent a completely miserable three and a half hours at Kaufmann tonight watching thousands of fake Royals fans gush over some guy I’d never heard of while our team continued its near-impossible stretch of futility against the boys in orange.

What made matters worse was the loss came at the hands of Steve Trachsel, a 37-year-old journeyman with a 6.75 ERA. Incomprehensible defeat. Still unsure of how it all went down.

I guess I was too busy getting angry with fans singing along to Garth Brooks and this Cook guy when their alleged team is down three runs to a terrible pitcher.

Gil Meche continued his series of less-than-stellar performances, giving up two home runs and five runs overall. This is starting to get me worried that his 2007 season was a fluke and that he’ll never be able to go beyond six innings without throwing 120 pitches. The man is a foul-ball machine and even the most putrid of offenses have his pitch count in trouble by the fourth inning.

Alex Gordon gave the supposed No. 1 starter a two-run cushion with a home run in the first, but Meche allowed a Melvin Mora bomb in the third. While the game was still tied in the fifth, it felt as though KC was down by two or three as the crowd was disinterested and Meche had run his pitch count to more than 90.

Well, when Trey Hillman’s curious decision to walk No. 3 hitter Nick Markakis to get to the cleanup hitter Aubrey Huff (?) backfired in the form of a Huff three-run shot, the night made sense.

The Royals did manage to muster 10 hits, but Ross Gload and Miguel Olivo grounded into brutal inning-ending double plays in the seventh and ninth to strand a total of five runners on base. This sort of thing has become commonplace against Baltimore.

The loss did not appear to hurt the Royals, but the division-leading Twins, who were down 6-5 for four innings, got to Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth to put Kansas City three and a half games back in the Central.

It is unusual to only see the Royals down by less than four games, as this is usually the time they are trailing by 10 or more, but no AL Central team seems to be breaking away from the pack like in years past. This helps Kansas City by time while its hitters continue to struggle, but it’s only a matter of time before these losses to sub-par pitchers begin to cost them.

It would just feel better for those losses to come against New York or Boston, but this Baltimore streak has stretched beyond the point of embarrassing.

Where does Daniel Cabrera get off?

The man is without question, a mediocre pitcher, as he sports a 4.90 career ERA in just over four years of Major League service.

Well try telling that to the Kansas City Royals, a team who he owns.

Cabrera, who has a 2.57 career ERA against the boys in blue, stifled his whipping boys yet again Thursday night in the form of a 4-1 victory.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander improved his career record to 4-0 against Kansas City, as he struck out seven and allowed just three hits. In utterly humiliating fashion, Cabrera became the second pitcher to toss a complete game against the Royals this week. Ervin Santana did so on Monday in less than 100 pitches.

While I thought the Royals would suffer a letdown after Tuesday night’s 9-4 throttling of the Angels, I surely did not see this coming. Cabrera made the Royals’ lineup resemble the anemic 2006 version of itself, making Billy Butler and Mark Teahen resemble Matt Stairs and Angel Berroa in nightmarish fashion for Royals Nation.

It was so bad that the only run was driven in by the human rally-killer himself, Tony Pena Jr., which is awful because that just bought the AL’s worst position player at least another two weeks of faith from his manager.

While the Royals may have two young budding stars in Butler and Alex Gordon and they may have signed a $36-million outfielder, nights like this are a continuing reminder that they have a long way to go. These are exactly the kind of games the team made a living losing during their horrific ‘04-06 stretch; getting utterly silenced by average pitchers.

This is almost as bad as the night Jon Libber struck out 13 Royals last June, but it’s up there. If there was ever a game that screamed to the team that its current lineup cannot compete, this was it. With an abundance of quality relief pitchers and so few teams possessing the kind of bullpens Kansas City does, the logical thing to do is trade for someone else’s product, because the Royals do not have a single power bat in their system.

The team does not need Jimmy Gobble and Ron Mahay, just like it does not need two backup second basemen (Alberto Collaspo and Esteban German). Packaging Mahay and German may net a AAA bat that is blocked by a quality player at the Major-League level. Because at 15-19, the team miraculously is still just two and a half games out of first place, but if it continues to have consistent hideous games like this, the “GB” column in the newspaper will quickly begin to grow.

More nights like tonight and it won’t be long before that number reaches 10 games and the team starts shifting into annual fourth-place or bust mode.

This team has too much talent for that.