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Same Old Bumbling Royals Fall to Tigers on Opening Day

By Freneau
KANSAS CITY, MO - APRIL 05: Royals dance girls during pre-game festivities present the various emotional states experienced by fans during a Royals game. The front row is representing the bullpen. (Photo by G. Newman Lowrance/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO - APRIL 05: Royals dance girls during pre-game festivities present the various emotional states experienced by fans during a Royals game. The front row is representing the bullpen. (Photo by G. Newman Lowrance/Getty Images)
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It's nearly impossible not to, but we all really need to do our best not to read too much into today's game. Emotionally, the first game always occasions a strong response, but really, this is just one game. Remember, in the last few seasons, the Royals have actually won a fair number of dramatic first games, only to still have horrible seasons. Moreover, in spite of all that went so hilariously wrong, at one point the Royals were leading thanks to a Yuni-Bomb.

So, yea, it is still just one game. But that was ugly. And while it is confirmation bias to say so, it was predictable.

  • I hope Greinke enjoyed getting robbed of a win for the first time this season, 'cause it's gonna happen again. Greinke wasn't jaw-dropping, but he was once again good enough to deserve better. Instead, he suffered an unearned run in the first, thanks to a misplay in the infield (Bloomquist to blame?) and a double over Ankiel's head. He danced around some trouble in the 6th, and while he only surrendered a second run, that inning ended up being important, as he likely had to leave an inning early because of it. We know what happened in the 7th.
  • So here's your seventh. Colon allows a walk + single. In comes Tejeda, who promptly allows back to back doubles from Jackson and Damon. 5-4 Tigers. Tejeda then struck out Ordonez, then allowed a single Cabrera (6-4 Tigers) and is pulled. So in comes Juan Cruz, who allows a single and a double to make it 8-4. It's not often you get to see three pitchers be ineffective in one inning.
  • What happened in the bottom of the seventh was an absolutely vintage "Royals moment". Trailing 8-4, the Royals sorta rallied to begin the inning, with Kendall and Getz leading off with consecutive singles. After a DeJesus foul out, Scotty Pods singled to shallow center... and Kendall was thrown out at home for the second out. So instead of Butler coming to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, we had Butler coming up with just two on and two outs. You just can't get thrown out at home in that situation. I don't care who you want to blame, but that just can't happen. Ever.
  • The lineup hit pretty well, all told, and had the 7th gone differently, we might have had a much more interesting ninth. It didn't and we didn't.
  • Bloomquist: 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. Some good defense in the 6th, some bad in the first. Ankiel (the only other Royal to not reach base) and Bloomy really hampered the Royals offensively today. We have to take advantage of those games when Betancourt and Guillen don't go 0'fer.
  • I've got a total of 1643 comments total during the three game threads. Well done everyone.

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