Can the Royals get back to .500 this season?
Obviously, a three or four or even seven game winning streak wouldn't be that unlikely for even a sub.500 team, so it probably won't be out of the question, even in the short term, for another week or so. Still, going into Sunday's game, the Royals stood at 11-13, with a chance to hit 12-13 with a victory. Instead, they fell back to 11-14, only one game closer to .500 than they were at the end of the season-long seven-game slide. It would be something of a downer if the Royals were already below .500 for good by the end of April, especially after such a thrilling and hopeful start to the season.
Of course, it could always be worse, just ask the Rangers, who are already 7.5 games out of first and sporting the worst record in the A.L. by three games. The Royals have "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt," as David Brent would say, and it's not a good feeling.
Tonight's pitching matchup:
Can we get this "Tomko as de facto #2 starter" thing cleared up soon? I know it's silly, but it annoys me. Baseball players need to know their specific roles, or so I'm told every time I watch a game, and I don't want Banny and Greinke thinking they are the team's third and fourth starters respectively. They need to know they are better than that. As Hawk Harrelson or Tim McCarver or Skip Carey would tell you, whether you think you can or you can't, either way... YOU'RE RIGHT!