Another year, another pathetic start.
The Royals fell to the Orioles 8-1 last night, and while the score is inflated a bit by the 8th inning grand slam off Welly, the Royals were never really in the game. This is to be expected when your offense completely craters.
As malappropriate as it may seem, the Royals of the current moment resemble a team caught in a playoff series in which it finds itself just completely unable to score runs. None of the jitterbugs at the bottom of the order step up, and none of the boppers ever deliver a big hit. This is how basically half of playoff series seem to end, with one team just totally shut down offensively. Its a nightmare theres really no way of waking up from, other than just awaiting the sunrise. The Royals are making the Orioles look like a playoff staff right now. The root of the problem is a complete lack of power, even in the form of doubles. Given the team's OBP issues anyway, the overall picture is of a system that just isn't working.
Run Totals This Season
7
1
1
3
5
2
1
6
4
1
1
Cominbed, Gordon, Shealy, Pena, Brown, Sanders, LaRue and Grudz have struck out 52 times while drawing only 6 walks. Shealy and Gordon both have more strikeouts than total bases. Yes, strikeouts are just another out, but these guys aren't Adam Dunn either: theres been no walks or power to counter-balance their decriptude. The Royals are 26th in runs-scored, despite being one of the few teams to have already played 11 games. The Royals have one more home run than ARod, and are now seven runs behind the Indians (39 to 32) despite the fact that the Tribe have only played seven games.
And on and on...
Tonight's game brings us the third episode of the Odalis Perez show, as Odie looks to bring his ERA under 10.00. The Orioles counter with Daniel Cabrera, who will probably strike out 10 batters easy.