Well, I've been away planning a wedding and not really being able to keep up on the Royals as much as I'd like to, but I'll make up for it now with a long Royals recap. It's now 26 games into the season, or 16 percent of the season.

Pitching: Let's start with my favorite topics of conversation, Bannister and Grienke.

They both took a little bit of a hit this week, because they both gave up a few runs. We'll start with Bannister, as usual. Bannister hasn't won in the last two games. In his last two games, he's given up 7 runs over 11.2 innings. Not that good, but his last start, a 6.2 inning, 4 hit, 2 ER game is danged good, and just about what you could hope for out of a starter. However, the team's bats went out that day, and Banny was saddled with the 2-0 loss. He hasn't won since April 13, but in reality only had one bad game so far this year. His ERA is now 2.48, which I will take happily. Banny is playing better than most could have expected, he just needs to pick up a win or two to get back on track for everything.

Zack Greinke has really been the staff of this rotation. He hasn't had a game where you could say "He completely sucked in this game." In his weakest outing, he gave up two runs in 5 innings. He didn't really have great control, since he walked four, but still, that's not a great deal of suckage. Then, in his most recent start, he pitches a five-hit, 7-inning, 1 ER game. His ERA has ballooned a bit, up to 1.25, but he's 3-0, and the team has won four of the five games he's pitched. Keep it up, Zack. Until things change, let's just keep using my summations from the first of these: He's playing well and even if he regresses a bit, he'll still be darn good.

Luke Hochevar's debut wasn't too good. He went only 4.2 innings and gave up 6 ER. This is a bad thing. His second game was more what we expected. He went 6 innings and gave up only 1 ER to earn his first victory. Play more like your second game, and we'll like you. Play like the first, and we'll call you names.

The bullpen struggled a little bit in the last 10 games. Now, the only pitcher yet to give up a run is Joakim (aka Sueno -- The Mexican Dream) Soria. He's done well. I have nothing else to say about him, except he's been very, very good. He's a keeper.

Between Ramon Ramirez and Leo Nunez, they gave up 4 runs in the last 10 games. Quietly, though, Ron Mahay is at a solid 2.45 ERA in 11 innings of work. As a whole, they're no longer the Absolutely Deadly Force they once were, but they're still much better than a lot of other bullpens out there.

And, as always, Gil Meche update: In the last two games he's pitched, he's had one good game and one bad game. Unfortunately, both are recorded as losses on his ledger. Bad game: 8 runs in 3.1 innings. Ouch. Good game: 6.2 innings, 3 ER. Not bad, actually. However, the offense decided to only provide two runs of support that day, which was Sunday.

In all, the pitching started coming back to what you'd expect over a long season, but certain players are still doing well (Greinke, Soria) while others are struggling some (Meche, for instance). The bullpen's strong enough that if you take a lead to them, they likely won't lose it for you.

Hitting: It's funny how as it's warmed up, the team has cooled down.

Alex Gordon? Still hitting, just he's cooled off a touch. .296/.361/.449 is a pretty good line. He's leading the team in runs, total bases, and home runs. However, he's now leading the team in K's, even over Guillen. That's not so good. Alex, you can stop getting struck out. It's OK.

Teahen and Butler are bringing the wood with them to the plate. Teahen (.271/.358/.406) has a team-high 13 walks, and is close behind the team leaders in hits (also: strikeouts... gah). Butler is hitting .292/.349/.365. He's hit roughly the same number of hits as Gordon, with half the strikeouts. Other good hitters: Alberto Callaspo (.351/.415/.432) and Miguel Olivo (.233/.267/.512). Olivo is tied for the team lead in home runs with 3. Good job, Miguel. Grudzielanek hit three doubles today to boost his line, as well. His line is much nicer.

Productive/Uninspiring: John Buck, Ross Gload, Gathright. These guys are... just... I don't have anything horrible to say about them. But I don't have anything great, either. So, like last week, here's some random thoughts on these gents: Buck's 9 walks are second-most on the team, and tied with Gordon (ssh.... but Olivo's production is about the same as Buck's in about half the at-bats). ... Gload has made some nice defensive plays... Gathright is fast.

Have nots: Jose Guillen's line has improved! Yay! He's now .190/.221/.360. He's second on the team in strikeouts. It's not like he hasn't had opportunities, either. He's had the most at-bats of any player (100 even). However, he does have the fourth-most total bases on the team. Also, he's now leading the Royals in RBI with 15. Also, he's tied with Gordon and Olivo with the team-high 3 HRs. So... go explain that one. I don't know if he's getting hot like we want or what exactly it means. Color your own commentary here. Tony Pena, Jr. has also raised his line a bit. He's now hitting .139/.160/.181. He's spread five hits over the last ten games. Umm... thanks for the improvement, but I could appreciate those numbers at least doubled.

The Royals finally broke their 6-run ceiling with an 8-run game Friday and a 9-run win today. So that's good.

Standings: The Royals are in second place still! Yay! But they're tied with the Twins. Boo! The losing streak did not help, and put the Royals 2.5 games back from Chicago. The Royals are also 2 games under .500. The Indians and Tigers (where'd they come from?) are only a half-game behind the Royals. They're on pace for a 75-87 season. Would you be OK with that? I don't know. But will the Royals go 3-7 in a 10-game span all that often? Unlikely.

This period's roundup: Bannister and Greinke both had bad games. This is not good, as both are pitchers the Royals rely on for wins. The pitching as a whole regressed to what you might expect over a full year, but is still above average, or at least far above what Royals fans are used to seeing out of the pitching staff as a whole. The bats went a little colder, or maybe they just went down a bit as the sample size grew. I'll give my prediction for the next 6 games (back to the normal schedule a bit): I think with Bannister, Greinke and Hochevar on the mounds at least once, plus Meche/Tomko/Bannister again with only the second Bannister game at home, I think 3-3 would be good, 4-2 would be great and 2-4 would be disappointing.

Current record: 12-14, 2.5 games out of first place, tied for second with Minnesota, a half game ahead of both Cleveland and Detroit.