Royals Report: Back To Losing After Friday The 13th Ends

The Royals  returned to their losing ways on Saturday night, falling to the Atlanta Braves 5-0 at Kauffman Stadium.

For one of the few times in my life, I’m rather unhappy to have predicted the future. Friday night I—rather cynically—Tweeted the following, hoping that the Kansas City Royals would show me up the next day:

See, you guys should all follow me on Twitter because you’ll hear cheery tweets like that during games. I’m fun.

Right now, the KC Royals appear to be caught in a time-loop that has brought back 2012-style baseball. I guess the Baseball Gods got tired of sprinkling their Divine Fairy Dust all over Kansas City and have now forced us to get back to reality.

I can’t say I’m really happy about it.

So, on to my observations about today’s debacle…er, I mean game:

Next: Dillon Gee

1) Dillon Gee Hurt By Rotation Injuries

Dillon Gee really wasn’t that bad on Saturday. He gave up three runs in 5.1 innings pitched, which isn’t really great. But, Gee had sailed through five innings without allowing a run while racking up five strikeouts.

In the sixth, the Braves strung together three hits (including two doubles) with two walks (one intentional), to plate three runs.

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Sigh.

With the KC Royals bats back in hibernation, the rally put the Royals down 3-0. So, where do the rotation injuries come into play?

The short list of healthy starters forces Danny Duffy into the rotation on Sunday, and since he’s not stretched out to start, he’ll be on a strict pitch count. That means the Kansas City Royals bullpen is looking at heavy use on Sunday. Thus, manager Ned Yost really wanted to get Gee through the sixth inning, especially given that he came into the frame with 70 pitches.

That meant Yost failed to bring Luke Hochevar into the game when Gee gave up a double to put runners on second and third with one out, and the KC Royals already down a run.

With Yost managing for tomorrow, the Braves plated two runs on second basaeman Kelly Johnson‘s single after Gee intentionally walked Freddie Freeman. When things are running bad, the pressures on your lineup and staff build up and can compromise your decisions that cause you to lose even more games.

The Kansas City Royals need to bust this self-perpetuating cycle.

Next: Brian Duensing

3) Ned Yost Is Looking For An Offensive Boost

Manager Ned Yost will never admit it, but his recent lineup shuffles are likely about him looking for an offensive spark.

Struggling second baseman Omar Infante has played in only one of the team’s last four games. Meanwhile, Yost has opted for Paulo Orlando in place of Jarrod Dyson in right the last two games.

Betsided

He’s announced that Omar Infante will not play more than four or five games a week in order to “rest” his elbow and prevent him from wearing down.

Right.

Yost knows as much as everyone else who isn’t producing. He’s spending more time with the team than any of us. Of course, he can’t throw anyone under the bus, or act concerned. But, actions speak louder than words.

Yost is looking to help his wallowing offense. He hopes that Christian Colon will start hitting with more regular play and that Orlando can get hot with Dyson simply not getting on base.

If Orlando doesn’t start hitting soon, I wouldn’t be surprised to see either Brett Eibner or Jorge Bonifacio get the call from AAA Omaha, since both are crushing the ball in the Pacific Coast League. After that, the KC Royals could look for help from the trade market.

General manager Dayton Moore brought back players while inflating his team payroll to $132 million in a clear win-now strategy. He can’t afford to let the losses pile up without making a move soon.

Next: Losing To Bad Teams

4) You Know You’re Running Bad When You Lose To Bad Teams

It was bad enough losing three out of four games in New York against the Yankees when they came into the series at 11-18. The Yankees weren’t hitting until slapping around Kansas City pitching for nine home runs and 25 runs in four games.

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It’s even worse when you lose to the Atlanta Braves, who pretty much gave up on the season before it even began. Oh yeah, and they were 8-26 coming to Kansas City on Friday.

Coming home was supposed to cure what ailed the KC Royals. For one day, on Friday the 13th, it looked like that narrative might play out. Then they lost 5-0 in a dispirited game on Saturday.

Losing teams almost always look bad. Observers like to use descriptions like “lazy”, “listless”, or “heartless”, which imply that the team is losing because they just didn’t care. Usually such depictions aren’t at all accurate, and are more about how fans are feeling about the team rather than anything going on inside the dugout.

It’s not that fans are ignorant, or are fickle, or stupid. It’s that we usually come to the game seeking an emotional experience and thus relate to the game with our feelings rather than our reason. I mean really, who pays 50 bucks a ticket (or more) to THINK about things?

So when the team disappoints us, we react emotionally and can lash out against the players we admire. That doesn’t make us bad fans. That makes us normal.

Next: Silver Linings

5) Silver Linings

If you’re one of those people who INSIST on always looking on the bright side, I can suppose you can take some solace from two-hit games from both Kendrys Morales and Salvador Perez.

Both badly need to get going for the KC Royals offense to pull out if its funk, and Morales has hits in two games in a row. HEY, it’s a HITTING STREAK.

Whoopie.

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Maybe you can say that Dillon Gee really was good except that Ned Yost failed to recognize the three-times through the order penalty. If Yost had managed him properly, maybe the Kansas City Royals would have still been in the game in the late innings.

But, then you’d still have the little problem of getting shut out.

Yeah.

Not a whole lot of ways of spinning a shutout to a pitcher that came in with a 5.06 ERA before the game started. Yeah, I know. The other guys get paid, too. And anyone can beat anyone else on a given day. And maybe the sun will come up tomorrow…

Why am I getting inordinate pleasure in imaging someone braining Little Orphan Annie over the head with a crowbar while singing that stupid song? Oh yeah. It’s because I’m an unhappy baseball fan.

Oh and let’s see, Luke Hochevar didn’t give up a run, I don’t have to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for another six whole months, and a meteor is unlikely to hit my house any time soon.

Oh forget it.

THE SKY IS FALLING!!! THE SEASON’S OVER!!! THE ROYALS SUCK!!!

Next: Why Trading For Nick Markakis Makes Sense

Ok, now I feel better.

NEXT GAME:

The KC Royals will send Danny Duffy (0-0, 3.00 ERA) to the mound against Matt Wisler (1-3, 3.27 ERA) for the Atlanta Braves 1:15 CST at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO Sunday, May15.