Royals Report: Four Things About Getting Swept In Cleveland

The Royals lost their fourth straight game to the Cleveland Indians, falling 7-0 at Jacobs Field on Sunday. After losing on Thursday, the KC Royals have scored two runs in the last three games.

The Kansas City Royals wouldn’t beat many Little League teams with their current offensive production, much less a sold major-league squad like Cleveland. After throwing away Thursday’s game with a string of bad defensive plays and a meltdown from reliever Joakim Soria, the KC Royals looked deflated over the next three games.

RIght now, the team appears listless. However, it’s pretty hard to look much different when you get two hits, and four total base-runners, in a game like on Sunday.  Even a long rain delay after the sixth inning couldn’t break the Indian’s momentum (the Tribe led 5-0 after the 6th). Instead, the Royals continued to sleepwalk after the rain.

I must confess, I’m surprised the KC Royals are playing so poorly on the Father’s Day road trip, when the team brings along the players’ Dads. Typically, the Royals have played very well on these excursions since they began them a few years ago.

On to my five observations about Sunday’s drubbing:

Next: Chris Young

3) The Confidence Is Gone

Multiple studies show how golfers see the hole as bigger when they’re running good. Another study gave test subjects “new and improved” putters and saw them both perform better and perceive the hole as bigger than a control group who heard no commentary about their putters.

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During the Kansas City Royals 10-game string of 10 hits or more, it seemed as pitchers were throwing beach balls toward the plate. Now, it seems as if opponents are hurling BB’s.

After blowing a two-run eighth inning lead on Thursday, a game in which KC Royals hitters notched 12 hits, Indians pitchers have held the Royals to 3, 7, and 2 (through six innings) hits over the next three days. I don’t think it’s any accident that this collapse has coincided with blowing a won game on Thursday. The Kansas City Royals confidence seemed to evaporate along with their winning streak.

It’s pretty hard to play with “fire” or to mount heroic comebacks when no one gets on base.

The Kansas City Royals are having their annual father’s Day road trip where the team brings along the players’ Dads for some Father/Son bonding time. Maybe the Dads need to take their sons out for ice cream and remind them that everything will be OK.

For now, the “magic” triggered by facing adversity with three All-Stars suffering injuries seems to have run its course. That emotion was never going to carry the KC Royals through a season. Now, they have to pull out of their slump without an emotional rallying cry.

Remember Kansas City Royals fans, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

Next: Fragile Success

2) This Weekend’s Sudden Turn Shows How Fragile Success Is In MLB

The KC Royals had been roaring for more than two weeks headed into this four game series in Cleveland. They had won six straight series and six straight games. Their offense had slammed more than 10 hits and averaged seven runs per game over their last nine.

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The Kansas City Royals had zoomed from third to first place in the AL Central and looked every inch the defending champions. Then they blew a two-run eighth inning lead on Thursday.

That loss not only inspired the Indians, it struck at the KC Royals core identity. They HAVE to see themselves as the master of the late-innings after their success in crunch time the last two seasons. Thursday’s reversal of fortune apparently has punctured their balloon of belief and has sent the Kansas City Royals into a collective tailspin.

All of this has happened while the team has been pretty much the same guys that were walloping the opposition just a few days ago. Yes, Brett Eibner got injured on Tuesday, but I don’t see how that would have destroyed the team’s momentum. Eibner is a rookie with four games under his belt with the big club. The Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays without Eibner on Wednesday. Plus, Reymond Fuentes is hitting .345 in his place.

If there is any more clear example of belief coming from a triggering event like the collision between Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas, followed by failure after a dispiriting defeat than the KC Royals in the last 10 days, I’m not aware of it.

Of course, you have to consider that this season’s Kansas City Royals have an 19-7 record at home and 11-18 on the road.  Notice that their string of poor play coincided with beginning their current road trip.

This year’s KC Royals team REALLY likes their home cooking.

Next: Trade Market

1) Should The Royals Look For Help On The Trade Market?

The Kansas City Royals losing streak in Cleveland has brought this question back to the fore. The KC Royals were never going to keep putting up more than 10 hits per game over the long term, but that surge sort of tabled those questions as young players called up from Omaha performed well.

As these players cool off, and we begin to see what they can provide over the long-term, the weaknesses in the Kansas City Royals roster will become clearer.

The rotation looks like a problem going forward. Either someone needs to start throwing like an ace, the KC Royals find some help from current rehab projects Mike Minor or Jason Vargas, or the front-office goes shopping on the trade market.

The problem is how many trade pieces do the Kansas City Royals have that might attract teams looking for prospects? The Royals farm system is better off than most analysts believed this winter. Formerly stuck talents like Cheslor Cuthbert, Hunter Dozier, and Jorge Bonifacio raked in the early going in AAA.

Meanwhile, players like Whit Merrifield and Brett Eibner have shown well in Kansas City despite being 27-year-old prospects who looked more like AAAA players than major-league contributors. Even so, Kansas City’s top prospects Raul Mondesi Jr. is serving a 50-game PED violation suspension, and pitcher Kyle Zimmer is hurt once again.

Next: Six Trade Targets To Help Royals

These struggles leave Kansas City without top end trade chips to land prime rental talents like Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist were last season.