So when do we decide we're to a significant point of the season? We're 1/5 of the way through the year. The Royals COULD do really well in the last 80 percent. The Royals COULD fall apart like a broken toy. But have we seen enough of the season to decide about the team by now? Here's the 20 percent report.

Pitching: Let's talk about the two studs and the young gun first.

Greinke is good. But he hasn't picked up the wins lately despite fairly dominant performances. He has only pitched once in the last several games, a loss, though he really shouldn't have gotten the L. He gave up four hits and 2 ER on solo shots. He also struck out nine. That's a winning performance most nights. Greinke's the ace right now.

In the last two games, Soria has not given up a hit. In two innings of work. In the only two games the Royals won in this period. He also struck out two. He's a hoss. I think that's about all I need to say about that.

Young gun: Luke Hochevar (pronounced Ho-Shaver, apparently, which makes me giggle) is doing pretty well. He's picked up two wins in two games thanks to going 6 innings and getting enough run support. In his last start, he pitched six innings, and gave up only 2 ER on 3 hits. If you throw out his poor first start, he's had something like a 2.25 ERA in his last two starts. Not bad, young man.

Now, two guys who went in opposite directions the last week. Gil Meche is starting to get his mojo going again. He had a great performance, going seven strong, giving up no walks on four hits and four strikeouts. That was "the performance [he] needed".

I hate saying this, but Bannister isn't doing so hot lately. I'm starting to get worried about him. His first three games were lights out. Then he sucked, then he had a two-run game with no run support (L) and then he sucked again recently. Tonight he... was below average. He gave up five runs. On 13 hits and two walks. Granted, all five runs were by Garret Anderson, but still: He's not doing well. I'm starting to wonder if teams are figuring him out or what exactly is going on. One more bad performance, and I'm officially putting him on my "watch carefully" list.

Sh.... Brett Tomko did well: 7 innings, 0 ER, 2 hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. I don't know what this means.

The bullpen has regressed some. They cost us one game, but then again, they didn't necessarily cost us the game, since we forgot to take our bats. But overall? Still not the best, not the worst.

HItting: Alex Gordon is the best hitter on the team. He hasn't done great in the last 5 appearances, though. 2 RBIs, 2 BBs, 3 hits in 20 plate appearances. But he's still leading the team in hits and total bases. .281/.346/.413

Billy Butler and Mark Teahen ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE, sort of. They are hitting well, but strangely with no power whatsoever. Between the two of them, they hit one extra base hit since I last wrote. It was a double by Butler. However, they're both hitting fairly regularly. Teahen's numbers remained almost exactly the same, at .271/.353/.381. But he's now leading the team in walks and is two hits behind Gordon for most hits. He's close behind in total bases, too. Butler, at .284/.349/.362. One hit shy of Gordon, the same amount of walks, and half the Ks. Only complaint? No power. You're big, bad Billy Butler. Bring the big, bad bat and it'll be better.

Other good hitters that need to be recognized: Alberto Callaspo (.350/.435/.425), David DeJesus (.318/.378/.424), Miguel Olivo (.273/.298/.582! Leads team in HRs, with 4... seriously. If this continues, the team leader will have 20 HRs). John Buck needs to be mentioned here. In his last seven games, his numbers are .313/.421/.563. His yearlong numbers are up to .238/.333/.363. Keep it up, Buck.

So-so: Grudzy's keeping up the wood (.280/.330/.333) but starting to lag a bit. Gload is exemplifying the sort of nondescript averageness that defines both the attractiveness and the problems with "grit." To say we need more production is to put it lightly.

The Guillen/TPJ Corner: Guillen's numbers are down from the last report. He's .now .165/.198/.306. He IS leading the team in RBI, though he didn't add any in the last week. He only has five walks and leads the team in Ks. I don't want to do this... I don't want to do this... But here are the stat's for Emil Brown in Oakland: .294/.321/.413. They have a 5 AB difference, so there's not a huge difference there. Brown has 17 more hits, 13 more RBIs, an equal number of walks and 1/3 the strikeouts. Also, he has three fewer extra base hits. Anyway... I hate doing that. Don't make me do it again, Jose. TPJ: .157/.174/.202. Again, that's slightly up. Good for you, TPJ.

The biggest issue is that the Royals just can't get runs on the board. The Royals didn't get more than 4 runs in the last 5 games. They averaged 2 runs a game. I don't know if there's a serious home run threat on the team. And there are few guys that are a threat for extra-base hits that become runs.

Standings: It seems this section is good news/ bad news every time. Good news: If you said the Royals were 2.5 games out of first place on May 7, you win a prize. They are 20th in the league in win/loss percentage. That's... an improvement, I guess. Bad news: They're 4 wins away from .500. The Royals are now in solid fourth, a game ahead of Detroit for fifth in the AL Central.

Summary: I can't help but think the Royals could be better than they are. The pitching is there. It's fantastic. It's exactly what we could have hoped for from them. But the offense is... staggeringly not getting enough runs. With a little run support, these Royals could be fairly dominant. Greinke is amazing. Hochevar looks for real. Meche looks like he got his Groove back. Bannister is struggling a bit, but even Tomko looked good. We just need more than 2-4 runs per game.

Wrap-up: 14-18, fourth in AL Central. 1 game behind Cleveland, one game up on Detroit. 2.5 games out of first and 1.5 games behind Chicago.