The Royals finished April with a 12-15 record and ended the fifth month of the year with a 22-34 mark (now 23-34). Considering the month contained the team's epic losing streak, an overall record of 10-19 in May wasn't a total disaster, and could have been much worse.
Let's take a look at how the boys in blue did at the plate in May. First, the team totals:
| Runs | BA | OBP | SLG | |
| K.C. Royals | 101 | .258 | .309 | .358 |
| AL Average | 120 | .257 | .322 | .395 |
101 runs is actually not last in the league, it's tied for 11th. The Angels also scored 101 (in one fewer game) and the Mariners and Indians were worse, scoring 99 and 98 runs respectively, as the new deadball era sweeps across the American League. Despite the advantage of the DH, scoring in the American League is lower than in the NL, which of course can 100% be attributed to PEDs testing. 100%. Everyone who used PEDs was a hitter in the AL. Moving on... The Royals only hit 12 homers in May, which is remarkable. Not surprisingly, no team in the AL was anywhere close to this number, as the league average was 24 homers.It isn't anything like a full consolation, but the Royals did rip 65 doubles in May, second-most in the American League. Weirdly, the Royals continue to not hit triples, despite having some decent triplers getting regular playing time. They hit just 2 in May. Then again, no one ever got poor betting against Joey Gathright's extra base hit totals.
Speaking of Gathright, now about those individual numbers, sorted by OPS:
| PAs | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
| Miguel Olivo | 75 | .333 | .355 | .583 | .939 |
| Jose Guillen | 109 | .308 | .327 | .495 | .823 |
| Alex Gordon | 120 | .262 | .352 | .393 | .745 |
| John Buck | 63 | .300 | .328 | .400 | .728 |
| David DeJesus | 120 | .272 | .317 | .377 | .694 |
| M. Grudzielanek | 94 | .276 | .330 | .356 | .686 |
| Mark Teahen | 103 | .239 | .320 | .337 | .657 |
| Esteban German | 30 | .259 | .323 | .296 | .619 |
| Billy Butler | 95 | .233 | .305 | .302 | .608 |
| Joey Gathright | 78 | .264 | .316 | .278 | .594 |
| Alberto Callaspo | 44 | .205 | .279 | .205 | .484 |
| Ross Gload | 39 | .154 | .175 | .205 | .380 |
| Tony Pena Jr. | 79 | .156 | .177 | .182 | .359 |
This is how you have a bad month. For a guy who probably won't be in the Major Leagues in 2010, Tony Pena Jr. has generated a ton of discussion this month, but he isn't standing alone in the forest of horribleness. Considering defensive value and where they play, it's certain that Ross Gload (another Dayton pickup) was the worse player in May, and Alberto Callaspo wasn't far behind. You can say the same for Billy Butler, who slugged .302 with no value on defense.
Other than Miguel Olivo's studliness and a decent month from Jose Guillen (characteristically a lack of walks drags down his performance, even when he's hitting over .300) nobody else stepped into the void. Although Gordon (and Teahen) continued to get his walks and John Buck tossed in his annual random month of hitting .300, there isn't much good displayed here. (Expect a .210 average from Buck in June.)
Pitching numbers will be up tomorrow.